Good evening all. I have the pleasure in revealing to you the map of Evania. I have to say I got a thrill at seeing the world in my head laid out in this form. The wonderful artist Jamie Noble Frier, @thenobleartist, (check out his website at thenobleartist.com), created this artwork for my forthcoming books from the world. The first series, THE DRAGON'S EYE QUEST is currently being worked on and its first book should be ready later this year, if I can get my head and fingers into gear. You may have read posts by me indicating that the first book should have been out long before now, but I want to get this right and being a winger, not an outliner, I write a lot of a story only to go back and make many changes. What can I say, it'll be done when its done.

If you want to get a feel for the world, check out my short story THE LITTLE MIRACLE. (There is a story brewing from this, a second novelette perhaps).

​1987 was the year I received terrible news, and learned at the tender age of 7 and three-quarters, the harsh reality of life: we don’t live forever. My best friend back then was Andrew Dockrill and he along with his mother and sister went on holiday in Europe. I don’t know where they went, I was too young to remember, but none of them returned. They were among the 193 that perished in the disaster when the Herald of Free Enterprise collapsed just off the coast of Zeebrugge.

I remember during break-time, Andrew and me would sit on a bench in front of the bike sheds in the playground, and chat about our favourite cartoon, The Chuckle Hounds. On that day, 6th March, I remember looking around the room while the class was told of the tragedy and how Andrew wouldn’t be coming home. Some of my class mates cried. I couldn’t I told myself, ‘I must be strong for them.’ Most looked my way, knowing how close we were, and I was true to my word. It wasn’t until I got home did my cheeks run with sorrow.

For many, swimming classes were a lot of fun. I would get into the pool, swim to the other side and when I turned to come back, found Andrew not with me but sitting on the side, crying. I never knew what was wrong exactly, but he was my best friend and I wasn’t going to let him sit up there alone. I swam back to where I had started, climbed out of the pool and sat next to him. I’m not sure what we talked about, but soon tears were forgotten and we’d giggle and laugh, most likely about the Chuckle Hounds, or some cartoon or other we’d seen.

​What I still wonder, and what harrowed me for many nights after, was whether Andrew had an inner sense, a foreboding of what was to come.

​The commemorative tree at Abbott’s Hall School planted for Andrew and his sister Emma, plus Mark Lenox (whom I did not know). I played my part and helped dig a portion of the ground, along with any of my classmates who wanted to be a part of the momentous occasion. It still stands there today.

Yes I'm a few weeks late with this, but they say it's fashionable don't they.

So what to expect from me this year. Well, in a previous post you may have read a little about my dedicating my Beyond Endless Tides series to Andrew Dockrill. I can hardly believe it but this year marks the thirtieth, THIRTIETH anniversary of the ferry disaster that shook so many lives. (I'll be writing a full post about Andrew and the Zebrugge Ferry Disaster nearer the time.) I am currently putting together an omnibus edition of the Beyond Endless Tides trilogy and this will, or should, I think, be out in Hardback for release on 6th March. I will also be creating a leather bound edition, possibly two copies only. One will be available to win in a competition (to be announced later), the other, and the reason for creating a leather bound book will be going to author Patrick Rothfuss to be auctioned off to raise money for his charitable work with Heifers, a charity who give the less fortunate a heifer, which they take milk from, and produce more heifers for neighbours. They help with other bits and pieces too, and you can find out more at Heifers International. To find out more about Patrick Rothfuss and donate to win books and other assortments, check out Worldbuilders

I am planning to be very busy on writing over the next few months. Not only finishing the first manuscript from Evania, Dragon's Eye Quest series, but I also have another project in mind. I won't give too much away, but it is a thriller set in the modernish world. A girl in her early twenties receives a suspicious and horrifying email, from which sparks her to become her own investigator. I can't for the life of me think where the idea came from so can't give a valid answer. Saying that many of the happenings are from moments in my own life that got me thinking, 'What a way to die'. I'm hoping to have the full manuscript finished by the end of April, first draft anyway, and it is something I will look to publish next year.

The rest of the year I'm sure I'll write the second book in Dragon's Eye Quest, find a few short stories to write, which I find come to me as and when, and probably start thinking of Book 3 in Dragon's Eye Quest.

That's all from me for now.

Be good to those who are good to you. Piss on those who aren't, especially if they're on fire and you've had a good dose of wine. (OK, I've recently rallied through Game of Thrones in readiness for series 7.)

Best wishes,
Charles.

So the next installment of Beyond Endless Tides comes out in 6 days on the 3rd October. The Gradonzaras is the third novella in the trilogy series, and the last for a while. It wraps up the story, but leaves it very open for me to return to the undersea world in the near future, after I've written a few novels from Evania.

Before I go into that, I'd just like to say a few words about the debut series. My original idea for a merfolk story was an amalgamation of fantasy with sci fi. I sent this to John Jarrold, and he told me a few things that I was doing wrong with my writing, but more importantly he thought the concept in that story, odd. It got me thinking and the idea of merfolk needing to live on land came to mind, but I wanted to start from the beginning, ergo Morg's story. (Though, some may argue, this isn't the beginning, and I'd have to go farther back to when the very first mating took place. Which may be another novella at some stage.)) I've been fascinated with the ocean my whole life, and when I lost my best friend at 8 years old in the Zebrugge Ferry Disaster, I found a little comfort, on some distorted level in the back of my conscience, in believing in merfolk, and thinking he was rescued by one, changed into a merboy and has lived ever since in the depths. This is to a degree why I dedicate these books to Andrew.

Evania is what I'm about now, and what I'm scribbling notes on, well, I've been doing that a whole lotta years, but now I'm concentrating my attention on the world, where magic is drawn on from your Source in the body, with various ways to 'power up', dragons are in this world, but since the Great Purge, no more than two exist, though most only know about one. One must find the other for them to rise again. Will this happen? You'll have to wait and see, but Daykkor plays a pivotal role in their story. Daykkor is a rare breed himself for he is a natural, a very powerful magician. Having been kept apart from the world, like so many others when non-magicians became scared of magicians and started killing them, he knows nothing of his parents, and wants only the truth. Harried by nightmares of the large flying dragons in his dreams, if he should ever leave Ardonia, he will first find his true identity, then resign to discover more about why he's been having the nightmares.

More will follow as I write the first novel, and if you sign up to my newsletter you'll get the news first. Plus a free copy of The Little Miracle which is set in Evania. See right pane.

Check out my author interview over on Library of Erana

The Release of THE GRADONZARAS is 6 weeks away!

Get The Aquithus Bearer on your Kindle for FREE!

Ends Sunday 21st

​THE AQUITHUS BEARER

There's much more that goes into formatting than I ever realised. I say this now because I've been doing so with the third novella in the Beyond Endless Tides series, and once I started I wanted all three to look the same across the editions. Hence, all e-books have now been created the same, and all paperbacks the same. Smashwords, however flagged up too many variants on font size, so it has gone a bit more basic, as I hastily reformatted both mer-worded, and English vernacular editions for a re-upload early this morning. (I eagerly await their approval).

The Show/Hide formatting symbols toggle button is a must whenever undertaking this process. However, you soon tire of seeing those little dots which show you extra space presses where you didn't want them. Gggrrrrrrrr!

If you haven't formatted yet, be WARNED. A strong coffee, and a lot of time is needed as you work through your manuscript. And a LOT of patience, especially if the place you are uploading to keeps returning your upload for revisions. TAKE YOUR TIME and get it right to begin with, it will save you much heartache, and headache come to think of it, when you are ready to publish.

If, like me, you use Word and are not aware of Styles, learn how to use them. Once they are set, they pay dividends in aiding  the formatting process. You can make changes to the whole document, say chapter headings, in a few easy click through's, and if we're talking about a novel of hundreds of thousands of words long you can save a heck of a lot of time if you change your mind about a font size, type, or whether you want it BOLD or not, halfway through the formatting. And, once set up, you can change the main text of your story from one font to another, which is a great advantage if you want to create a difference between editions.

The following video is a great guide to getting started, by author India Drummond. Though, please be aware of Widow/Orpan control. Turning this function on will cause fluctuations in where your text ends on each page of your PRINT book, and can make it look untidy. If this is what you want by all means turn it on, I've since removed this feature from all my future manuscripts as I wasn't happy with the end result in my paperbacks.

Here's the full wrap around cover for the paperback edition of The Gradonzaras. Release date for this is 3rd October 2016.