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New Goth Pagan Rock Mag!

Out now, and available as a PDF publication from  HERE . Way back in the 1990s, Cyrkel Spynn was an independent goth zine run by Alan Miller, (or Crazy Alan Craw, as he was then known). This publication had featured several peices by me, plus plenty of other writers. The zine scene was a lively, wonderfully creative and quirky, low-cost way of sharing and exploring multiple subcultures. The internet plus the rising cost of snail mail pretty much killed that scene off, but all things change. Last year, I was in the process of updating some information and wondered if there was any lingering trace of Cyrkel Spynn floating around the internet. A quick search led me to the DMMG DisAssociation Music & Media Group webpage, (so new it was still under construction), where, with a lovely example of synchronicity, I read of Alan's plan to reboot the magazine. To cut a long story short, the newly published magazine is now available, and it really is absolutely packed with interviews, book...
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Our Lives in Books

Our Lives in Books, compiled by Bob Stone, will be available to buy on Amazon tomorrow. It features a whole raft of talented writers, from the well known to those who are published here for the very first time. And here is a preview of some of the illustrations included in it, made by The Raggy Rat. This publication features a non-fiction essay be me, and the theme of the entire contents is the love of reading. ASIN: B0H8YWPPBR ISBN-13: 979-818497960

Cyanotype Printing - A Simple Craft for Kids of All Ages (Ahem!)

 

Progress!

  It's getting there, honest! There are 1.5 scenes to write, and the end will be reached. (And then there'll be endless edits and rewrites...) But progress on the fifth Artisan-Sorcerer novel is moving forward. I have the front cover waiting. Watch this space for the reveal. There are new covers for the others in the series, too. A publication date? I'm not going to rush this. The end of October, perhaps? Is that too optimistic? Time will tell.

Our Lives in Books

Our Lives in Books , compiled and edited by Bob Stone, should be available on Amazon by Thursday July 23rd. One of my non-fiction peices, Reading is a Journey , is included in its pages, and I'm really looking forward to reading what everyone else has to say about their favourite novels. Here's the contents list: Click on the image to view it larger ASIN: B0H8YWPPBR ISBN-13: 979-818497960

My Latest Video:- Birkenhead Park, and my Small Urban Garden

 

AI Covers Courting Controversy!

  In recent weeks, I've been busy creating new book covers as I have almost finished writing the first draft of the 5th Artisan-Sorcerer novel. It's been tricky ensuring the details on the covers are right, that the figures look exactly like the characters in the story in my head, and that the covers, when viewed together, present a clear visual theme to prospective readers. I'm not ready to reveal the covers just yet. I need to sit with the designs for a while, waiting to make sure they're right. The image above is an older "explainer" graphic, which I will need to update to match the new, improved covers. I've now pinned-up print-outs of the covers so I can patiently study them over the next week or so. There is so much to consider, such as text size, visual language, creating a visual hook, and so on. Back in my art school days I took Design, and Critical Studies, amongst other subjects. The courses didn't touch on book cover design, unfortunately, ...