Widowed at sixteen and facing bankruptcy, Bethany Rose resolves to rebuild broken dreams. Morgan seems perfect, but he is a member of a mysterious and secretive occult order. Can he protect Bethany Rose from power-crazed assassins plotting to control the order? Terrified by visitations from a faceless black-robed spectre, Bethany runs to Morgan - and straight into danger. They want to be together. But will love keep them apart? Paperback: ISBN-13: 978-1478253211 ISBN-10: 1478253215 Ebook: ISBN: 9781476124902 ASIN: B008XNJRGY (for Kindle)    

One of our garden's visitors A friend challenged me to sum up the themes of my novels in just two or three words. After a few moments, I said that Tamsin is about making choices, Rowan is about taking responsibility, Bethany Rose is about overcoming adversity;and Fabian is about taking control. It was an interesting exercise as I'd not consciously thought about it before. Have a go yourself, either with something you've written or with a few favourites novels. If you're wondering what's happening on the writing front: (a) I've nearly finished correcting the proof copy of Bethany Rose ; (b) the Seaside Stories anthology is still receiving a few submissions; (c) I'm selecting and completing work for another short story collection; and (d) there was an article about cryonics in Marie Claire magazine's August issue which featured me and two friends. I hadn't known the relevant magazine issue had come out until Freddie told me. She and I have b

I enjoyed this video, which shows what one man has done with the gardening space available to him.  It demonstrates how even small and seemingly uninteresting spaces can be transformed into something lovely.  The idea reminds me of the late Geoff Hamilton's BBC series, Paradise Gardens , in which he promoted a similar idea.  The series is a pleasure to watch for its own sake; it has a dreamy, tranquil quality as well as being grounded in practicality. A quick Google search for "gardening in small spaces" offered me 82,800,000 results.  Clearly there're plenty of ideas out there, such as using tubs, drain pipes, old tires, vertical gardens, home-made greenhouses, wooden palette boards and even a derelict car to house both ornamental and food plants. Our garden is a fairly decent size.  I keep talking about putting in a pond...and maybe a duck or two could then be added to the menagerie which hasn't been so small in a long time.  Having now got only one dog, on

Kate Wilhelm has been a writer since 1956, and after having had more than 30 novels published, (see her Amazon Author Page ) she has now embraced self-publishing and digital self-publishing in response to a long series of unsatisfactory publishing contracts.  With the help of relatives, she has now set up Infinity Box Press to re-release her back catalogue. It surely says a lot about the current situation in traditional publishing when a writer of this lady's experience and stature rejects a familiar route in preference for indie self-publishing.  Good for her!  I wish her well. Well, the July ebook bargains promo on Smashwords is over now.  Throughout the month of July I offered two ebooks free, and it was interesting to see that Spanish Jones was chosen by far more people than The Karens .  Maybe people don't expect me to have penned a sci-fi story?  The whole genre pigeon-holing issue leaves me a bit puzzled.  Ok, so I mostly write urban fantasy or dark urban fantasy -

Joyce Grenfell AKA Chuckzilla 4th August 2012 approx. 6 years old Joyce Grenfell and Hattie Jacques in younger days   

Azalea in flower in Stapledon Woods on Caldy Hill I've got into the habit of incorrectly referring to the woodland covering Caldy Hill as Caldy Woods, when it's actually called Stapledon Woods - named after the sci-fi writer William Olaf Stapledon.  I've only just learned this!  I knew he'd been born in Wallasey and lived in Wirral somewhere, but to find that the very woods where my fictional "last prince of the Caldy fae" AKA the Peacock King lives.  (How can he be a prince and a king at the same time?  It's a long story...) I find this bit of synchronicity really exciting.   It was Olaf's books which first introduced me to sci-fi when I was in my very early teens.  I read Odd John, and went on from there.  And here we are, with me placing some of my stories in the very woods named after him! See my photos of Stapledon Woods here .    

Jeannie Faulkner Barber writes crime and suspense novels, including Taste of Fire and  Scent of double Deception.   She is the co-author of a new fantasy novel, Destiny Never Sleeps , which is due out in 2012. Learn more about Jeannie's work in this interview with me here.