It's about time I posted something, I guess. It's been a while 😊

Audiobook News

I can tell you that a brand new recording of Off Track will be coming to brand new platforms (including Spotify and Chirp) in the near future.

Kindle Unlimited

All my books will be leaving Kindle Unlimited at the end of their current terms as a result of Amazon's frankly absurd policy of deleting author accounts because their books have been pirated. There's a petition here if you think that's ridiculous too.

• For Off Track, that date is June 4th.
• For Earth Twelve, it's July 4th.

This does mean that my books will be appearing on many more platforms once they are no longer exclusive to Amazon.

Another Way

The prequel to Off Track, which takes place from Lara's perspective has an outline now, and a new cover concept.

I'm hoping this will come out around the same time as...

Nexus

Come the end of May, I will finally be able to hire an editor for Nexus, which means the book shouldn't be in limbo much longer. I'm hoping that you will be able to read it by the end of July, but I don't currently know if that's a bit too optimistic. I'll try to keep you updated 😉

Doorways and Destinies

And finally, I'm working on a collection of short stories set in the Primordials universe. They won't all feature Eden and the gang, but some will. I don't currently have a timescale, but three of the stories are written so far.

• The Singer - A more in-depth look at the poverty stricken areas of Earth Twelve
• Left Behind - A story from Lara's past
• Belonging - The struggle of a new character (introduced in Nexus) and her attempt to find her place in the universe.

I think that's all for now!

Yes, that's right. This is perhaps the most ambitious project I've ever set myself, but 2023 marks the start of my attempt to adapt Off Track into a stage musical.

There is a huge amount to deal with to make this happen.

Where does one start when adapting a book into a musical and having relatively few contacts in the industry?

I'm planning to start with a single song. It'll probably be something from early on in the eventual show, something that features only Eden, and something that doesn't give too much away. I'm hoping that'll happen in the first half of this year, and I'll start posting teasers at some point, and eventually the full song.

This will be used, along with other avenues such as advertising, to get crowdfunding, sponsorship and other funding. It's going to be expensive, so I'll need all the help I can get.

I'll hopefully have a reasonable script by this point, and more songs written. I'll need to complete it, then I'll need to figure out some way of workshopping the show. Getting feedback, revising it. Making it as good as it can be.

Depending on the stage of funding at this point, there may be a full cast recording which will be for sale and streamable.

Following this, I hope to be able to stage a full production at the Edinburgh Fringe at some point in the next few years, which I'll also record for sale, and offer streaming tickets for, too.

That's my endgame. If it proves to be successful enough that the production can continue elsewhere, great, but I'm under no illusions. Musicals are expensive and the market still seems quite subdued-post COVID. Hopefully that'll change before I come to stage Off Track.

There's a new story on the site! It's entitled Projection, and it features Megan Young, who is a new character in the upcoming Primordials Book 3, Nexus. If you're eagerly awaiting that book, this might be a nice way to learn about a new character before she officially joins the cast.

I've also added a dark mode to the story section so you can read with a light of a dark background, depending on your preference!

I've sucked at keeping this site updated in the past. A large part of that is because of how inflexible it was to the kind of updates I wanted to post, but now I've redone the whole thing and I'm intending to keep it somewhat up to date, and to offer way more content. Book reviews, maybe some interviews, a world guide, and a selection of short stories. Some of the stories are open to the world while some require membership of my newsletter.

I will also start posting stories and snippets of upcoming work on Patreon in the event that anyone is interested in those.

The Conspiracy is an adventure tale that winds its way skilfully through a variety of settings and themes with a very relatable cast of protagonists as well as some pretty interesting antagonists. There are multiple viewpoints, which can sometimes be a miss for me, particularly in book 1 of a series (I'm looking at you, The Expanse), but it works well here.

I assumed based on my reading of snippets prior to reading the book that I would probably get along well with both David and Pam, and that certainly proved to be the case. Interactions between characters are well written but there's some naivety which is occasionally frustrating, although not in a bad way. It's more just wishing the characters could see what I can see! Character development is nevertheless meticulously considered and well executed.

Part of the book is set in Peru, and as I've actually been there (twice), it was nice to have that nostalgia triggered, and it was completely believable.

It's an exciting debut, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes.

Buy it here (US) or Buy it here (UK)

While work continues on getting Nexus (Book 3) ready to go, I also continue to work on Book 4, including the cover, which currently looks something like this.

I'm also continuing to work on what will eventually be a major prequel novella for the series, and will feature the story of how Lara boarded the train. The cover for that looks like this at the moment: