Booked! 2014

Very tickled to be attending this and looking forward to meeting other authors and readers. Can't wait!

This convention will take place in Bristol in the Mercure Holland House Hotel and Spa. You can find out more about it by visiting the Booked! blog HERE

World Book Night 2014

I'm really looking forward to celebrating World Book Night on April 23rd in Waterstones, Ballymena with Tony MacAulay and DJ McCune (yes, I will be taking my autograph book!!!). It promises to be a fun night - wine, chat, readings and books all around - so if you're in the area then please call in and say hello.

DJ McCune

Tony MacAulay

Me!

Reversal of (phone) Fortune.

Towards the end of last summer (remember summer? sunshine, heat, beach days? Yeah, it's been a while) I reversed over my phone. I know, I know. I was going to wash the car, you see, and was reversing it back up the drive with the door open, my phone slipped out of my pocket and CRUNCH! 

My poor phone went into emergency surgery (on the kitchen table, lots of sellotape involved) and, apart from a rash of spider-webby cracks on the screen, he still worked. I celebrated (of course).

I was aware from the beginning that the sellotape surgery was not going to be a long term solution and eventually my phone and I were going to have to part company but, as with all things that have the potential to break my heart, I put it to the back of my mind and carried on as though it wasn't a big deal.

Now, I don't know about you but I had never really considered what a huge part of my life that little bundle of electronics had become - he's just THERE. 

Until he started to act up.

Nothing major really, at the beginning, just the odd little quirk that I found endearing - like I can't answer/make a call normally - the phone has to be on speaker. Funny, right? Slightly inconvenient but no big deal. Recently, however, my trusty pal has gone into a downward spiral of little eccentricities that can no longer be laughed off; he is selective about which texts he lets me know about; some days he will allow me to post to Facebook, tweet on Twitter etc etc with no problems, 24 hours later? No chance of any communication with the outside world. Added to the fact that he chooses which games he will allow me to play (this changes on an hourly basis depending on his mood) and has now begun to 'forget' search requests (for example - I decide to check my sales on Amazon and hit the Amazon bookmark...he starts to search and then the search bar goes blank and the phone sits there doing a phone version of looking around and frowning in confusion) and I have starting to get very concerned about his health.

My contract is up around September time. He may not make it :(

WARNING! This Book May Be Cursed!!

It's taken a very looooooooong time to get this book written, edited, covered, and published (over 20 years!) and every step along the way there have been obstacles and pitfalls. However, since I'm a stubborn cow (and I really, really wanted to tell this story!) I kept at it; so when I say that I'm delighted to finally be able to list links for my new book then I'm understating how utterly delighted (and exhausted) I am.

This is my new book baby! 

"Shannon's ordered life in a beautiful seaside town in Northern Ireland is about to be blown apart; her psychic gifts keep her secretly employed by the US government but have also caught the attention of a dangerous terrorist group and. forced to flee to Dublin, Shannon has very little time to decide who to trust." 

When I started this book back in 1991, I was writing stories for no-one but myself to read. The Good Friday Agreement was still 7 years away and 'The Troubles' were still a huge part of life in Northern Ireland. I'd read about the U.S. government's 'Stargate' Program and I was intrigued by the idea of psychic phenomena being used in counter-terrorism and espionage. Naturally the idea of such abilities being put to use in my own country worked its way into a story.

Since there have been so many changes over the past 20+ years, this book has gone through more re-writes and edits than any other story I've ever written. The core idea is the same, the location (my hometown at the time - Portstewart) never changed but it feels like everything else in the universe did!

So many things have gone wrong with the publication of this book (too many to go into - maybe that's a post for another time) that I was starting to feel the universe was trying its damnedest NOT to let me publish it but like I said, I'm stubborn (and my mum LOVED it!).

So here are the links:

The eBook via Smashwords

The eBook via Amazon UK

The eBook via Amazon US

The paperback via Waterstones

The paperback via Amazon UK

The paperback via Amazon US

Thrilled, Delighted, Honoured, Proud!

So it's been a tough year (and it's not over yet!) and this week hammered home to me how much has changed in the last twelve months and how much more it will change before my personal life gets sorted out. In the work-write-kids-eat-sleep- repeat of everyday and the feeling that nothing is ever quite finished or good enough, it's very easy to get lost in a downward spiral.

Thankfully the powers that be in the universe have decided to give me an early Christmas present ...and on Friday 13th as well! (They obviously have a wickedly wonderful sense of humour)

Not only have my book babies made it onto a 'Top 12' Christmas list but the list is on the blog of Uproar Comics who I am in awe of and all fangirly (if that's not a real word then it should be!) over. Excited much? Me? Yes, thank you!

Check out the blog post HERE and please feel free to do a little happy dance with me (and the Doctor!). Oh, and be sure to check out the rest of the Uproar Blog - there are some really fabulous posts on there.

Best wishes

Creative Writing Workshop

Looking forward to this! And yes, I know I'm much too old to attend but they are very kindly allowing me to go along and chat about writing. Happy days :)

You Meet Some Interesting People in Bookshops....

I had a book signing in Waterstones, Coleraine on Saturday 2nd November. The weather was atrocious - in Northern Ireland we call that kind of rain 'a deluge'...it just comes down in sheets and doesn't stop for ages; great fat drops of water thundering out of the sky and soaking everyone in seconds. It was okay though - I was happy inside a nice warm shop, surrounded by books, drinking coffee and signing books while I watched the lads from Uproar Comics sign their copies of Zombies Hi and draw zombie portraits of the customers. It was excellent.

One of the most common questions I get asked at book signings is 'What are your books about?' And the man who stopped by my table around 3pm didn't disappoint. He lifted one of my books, flicked through it and asked 'So, what's this about?"  I launched into my description about Emily, demons, angels, teenage angst and paranormal romance. The man nodded, put the book down and lifted another. "So, are you famous?" he asked. "Um...no, sorry," I told him. He nodded again, put the book down, lifted the third in the series, flicked through it and said "So, have you written any books about witches?"

Now at this point my mouth dropped open - the new series that I'm writing is indeed about witches but no-one, and I mean NO-ONE knows about it. "Um..." I managed to splutter. The man seemed unconcerned about my lack of brain-to-mouth coordination, he set the book down and said, "Hold on a minute." Off he went and I got distracted by someone else wanting some signed books, got lost in chatting about the new books that's coming out soon, giggled at the antics of the Uproar Comics clan as they clowned about biting each other on the neck for photos and then the man came back and showed me a photo on his phone - it was of the cover of a book about a history of witches. "I don't really like witches," he told me, "But I thought you might find that book interesting."

I think I managed to thank him and he nodded, said it had been nice chatting to me and he'd be sure to come back and buy some of my books and then he disappeared out into the rain. 

As chance encounters go it was right up there on my 'well-that-was-weird' scale but I've taken it as a sign that I should keep going with this series (I was wavering a little) so thank you mystery man!