Friday, November 6, 2015

The Vampire President and The Headmistress

When I set out to write this story I only intended a short story, similar to the Guardians of the Rasselas. I soon realized I was going to have a LOT of fun writing this very different vampire story. Take a species of alien, driven from their own galaxy by a relentless enemy, a Martian apocalypse that led to them eventually seeking refuge on earth and one recently made immortal headmistress who's been cajoled into being Boswell's ambassador to them and you have just the start of the plot.

Since I was finally starting to get deeply into dream yoga as I wrote this my imagination took flight. Which you'll see if you read the story. Along the way there were plenty of opportunities to entwine other metaphysics as well as myths and legends into the plot.

There's probably room for a later tale set on Mars but that's for later on.

You can find the paperback on Amazon, Bookdepository and other online vendors:


The ebook is widely available.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

Don't label me!

I am thrilled to be finally releasing this story which is out now on kindle   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B012IVHGHI , Smashwords and Google play. Other vendor sites to follow. There will be a paperback version. I chose a waterlily, from my own garden, for the cover as it symbolises rising above the mud that life sometimes mires us in. Sathi, Hideo and George all have lives that in one way or the other have been uprooted by events outside their control. Against the odds they find their destinies on the other side of the planet.

This is their story. The book, number five iin the series, also continues the story of Boswell, its paranormal and kinky inhabitants and their ongoing struggle to free the planet from enslavement by their arch enemy the Din.

I especially enjoyed writing the little side plot of Ang and the Delphine emissary.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Guardians of the Rasselas: an off the grid sci-fi fantasy romance

A pre-Christmas visit to one of our favorite fishing spots caused a bit of a shock when we realized the water level had dropped significantly since we had visited it two years earlier. Where we'd previously launched the boat was now bare gravel. The last figure I saw recently said the lake was down 38 metres. Last year this wilderness area only got about 2/3 of its normal rainfall. Of course, like everything in my life it got my imagination going. A novella demanded to be written before I could continue on with writing my fifth novel. So here it is: "Guardian's of the Rasselas".

In a world run by those driven by greed a few brave souls still work on the side of the planet and its inhabitants. Long ago Eleni's family were entrusted with the guardianship of the knowledge and sworn to keep it secret. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family Eleni's brother Yiannos has inherited the role from his psychic grandmother. But all is not well in their small family. Eleni opts to avoid the dubious pleasure of Christmas with the family by camping out at her favorite lake only to be faced with a shocking discovery. Having dropped his retail addicted wife and cousins at the airport, to do even more shopping, Eleni's father JJ realizes the time has come to make a life changing decision. Eleni's discoveries at the lake will change all their lives. And while Eleni and JJ might not be the guardian it is their affinity with stone that will reawaken more than just a parched landscape.

Guardians of the Rasselas is a novella set loosely within the world of the Left Hand Adventures series but it can be read independently. It contains adult references, diverse sexual relationships and some Australian slang.

Available in paperback or ebook: Amazon, Google Play (shortly), Smashwords and other vendors as it is distributed.

A Short Introduction to the Sattvic Diet: A diet for the mind, body and soul. A way of life

http://www.amazon.com/Short-Introduction-Sattvic-Diet-soul-ebook/dp/B00TM8R8K6/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8


When I initially conceived of this booklet I was thinking more about the recipes for some of the vegan dishes mentioned in my series of novels Left Hand Adventures. First up I was going to call it Simon's Cookbook after one of the main characters in the series. I soon realized once I started writing it that it had potentially a much wider audience. Being vegetarian by choice and variously allergic or food intolerant to gluten, mushrooms, most dairy and a range of preservatives, colorings and other nasties I've had to develop my own recipes over the years. Mostly because no one cookbook seemed to address all my needs.

Having had to manage myself, even while tripping around New Zealand, Japan and some remote parts of outback Australia, I've acquired a keen interest in finding what I can safely eat when away from home.

More recently, delving into genetics by getting my 23andme test done gave me a springboard for learning about myself from another point of view. Along the way I learnt about obscure things like the methylation cycle and how some genes regulate it, or don't if you have an unfavorable mutation or two.

Mix all that with a life long interest in yoga and relaxation as a path to well being and a happy mind and you have what I've summarised in this book. I'm hoping it will be of use to others like myself as well as those wanting to pursue the ancient Sattvic diet which probably not coincidentally most of what works for me fits within. In some ways I could kick myself for not following this regime sooner but then maybe my learning path was meant to be. I've tried as much as possible to keep any yoga dogma to a minimum and provide references for those wanting to research further.

You can find the booklet on Kindle, Google Play, Smashwords and for those who want a paperback version these one of those available too, at as close to production cost as I could make it.

If you have a recipe you think should be included in a future addition please let me know.


Saturday, January 10, 2015

Don't call me kitten - cover and publishing details

After the trials and tribulations of 2014 things seem to be coming together in 2015. My partner finally got his old bike ready enough to get it on a trailer and get it to where we wanted to do the photo shoot for the cover of Don't call me kitten. Since we are going to sell our beloved bike soon we wanted to immortalize it for old times sake and what nicer way than on the cover of one of my books. We waited for the right evening lighting and then propped me up on a brick to give me the same height as Helena. Of course Helena is blonde and I haven't quite got her build so it was a lot of work to hide hair and features that didn't suit the character. A small build Celtic-Australian just doesn't come off as a tall big build Russian blonde bombshell. Being an indie author on a non-existent budget you make do. I hope you like the cover. Baring any hiccups the book should be up on most major vendor sites by tomorrow, if not sooner. If you can't wait you'll find it on Smashwords in the meantime. The Google version will have to wait a couple of days until I can access a different PC or faster WiFi as this one doesn't seem to want to talk to the Google book publishing site. It might be just throwing a tizzy because I was using the Firefox browser for the job. Firefox seems to be a little less problematic on the wireless internet we have here. Hoping to get connected to a high speed service within the month, if they can get around to deciding that our address really does exist. At the moment we exist on some databases but not on others. Pretty normal really for the rural back blocks of Australia.

Here's the book's info. I had to limit it or I would have included spoilers:

Zex is a diplomat who specializes in delicate war zone negotiations. He is pulled out of his current assignment to be part of an emergency response team heading out to deal with a new foe. In Moscow Helena is in debt to the Russian Mafia and shadowed by a condor that's not really there. She must forge a life for herself and her sister, trying to make the best of bad lot. Deep in the jungles of South America a small town faces being wiped off the map. I can't tell you much more than that or I'd spoil the story. However, I can say this is book 4 of the Left hand adventures series and includes many of the characters from the previous books. The question is how long will Sakla tolerate the town's existence and the danger its inhabitants pose to his global corporate empire.

Don't forget your feedback on ratings site is invaluable so please consider leaving some wherever you source the book or on Good Reads, Shelfari or Library Thing.

In other news Book 5 is progressing but a visit to one of our favorite lakes just before Christmas truly shocked us.  There was still a lake to be sure but the drop in the lake level was truly mind blowing. It's triggered an idea for a novella I've got side-tracked into writing.

 
 I think this is where a new heroine Eleni will find the crystallized remains of the rest of Thex's team. Those who were hacked (to death?) at the start of it all. Until now they were at the bottom of the lake, concealed from all. I always did wonder how I was going to deal with them. They were a little bit of a loose end - a loose end whose story deserves to be told.