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Dear Readers, by subscribing to my email list you will receive a free copy of “A Fitting Revenge”, a thriller that has gained an average of 4.5 star reviews for which I’m really grateful.

Being on my email list will mean you’ll get advanced notification of my next thriller, “CJ”, which will be published later this summer. This website tells you about both books and a little about me as well. Please search around.

Do please sign up and get your free copy of “A Fitting Revenge”.

Following on from A Fitting Revenge, which has been well received (4.5* on Goodreads and Amazon), my next book, titled CJ, has been edited with some encouraging compliments from the lady that did it (as well as kindly pointing out where the wheels were falling off). Anyway, it has now gone for a proofread and I hope to publish in a couple of months. While waiting for that, I’m resurrecting an unfinished story and turning it into a third thriller which probably won’t see the light of day until next year.

I’m sure everyone at some point thinks back to when they made a significant decision and wonders what their life would be like had they made a different choice. Thoughts like: What would have happened if I had got married/joined the army/emigrated/took the other job, where would I be today? As mentioned previously, this thriller has a plot which was difficult to assemble, as CJ, a young man, reaches a certain point in his life, a crossroads which presents him with a choice of which route to take. Debating this, he divides, with C taking one path and J another. C is cautious and J is adventurous, but both of them have to face a common enemy in their separate lives which end (as far as the book goes) in very different ways.

I have an addiction to Scandinavian crime. It’s often horrific, dark and vicious – think Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbo. I’m currently reading Jo Nesbo’s latest Harry Hole thriller, The Thirst, and it’s no different. Perhaps Hole has a few more rather serious personal problems than previously. They interfere with his work and tend to drag the story out a small degree. But Nesbo is not one for including unnecessary detail, so I’m sure Hole’s trials have a bearing on what happens later. Certainly, the story has me hooked and I look forward to my next reading session every day. As with all the Harry Hole novels, I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Hello Folks,

I’ve just signed a petition created by the Alliance of Independent Authors that supports an ongoing campaign to encourage and aid literary events, festivals, prizes, reviewers, booksellers and other interested parties to find ways to include self-publishing authors in their programmes, events, listings and reviews.
Any authors out there who are interested in supporting their position in this crazy world are encouraged to help ALLi in its quest.
Please go to: https://www.allianceindependentauthor… and register your support
Thanks,

CA

Hello Loyal Followers,

Just to let you know that A Fitting Revenge has been reduced to GBP 0.99 and equivalent world wide.  This is a limited time offer, so please make the most of the cheap price.

My second novel, CJ, has been self edited to the point of  boredom on my part, and it’s time for it to go to a professional editor.  It has been really difficult to structure, because it tells the story of the same man who takes two different paths in life simultaneously, following a decisive episode.  CJ divides into C and J, each adopting a separate part of the original character.  Of course, these two men have common friends and a common enemy, and those people have fixed events in their lives that are not influenced by either C or J, and they have to react to C and J in different ways, because the two take different actions.

The book explores what what would happen in this person’s life had he made a different choice at a decisive moment.  Haven’t we all wondered what our lives would be like if we had chosen a different partner, or joined the army instead of going to university, or become a stuntman instead of being an accountant?

If the editor tells me I’m wasting my time with this, then I shall humbly retreat and think of something less difficult.

Happy reading.

Some of my friends have asked me if Alastair, the main protagonist in A Fitting Revenge, is based on me. One person has said she now sees me in a different light (I don’t know if that’s good or bad). Well, the short answer is NO, Alastair and I are not the same person. Yes, we share a love of climbing and the iconic Land Rover Defender and the British countryside and flying helicopters and travel, but so far I have not reached the point at which my reason has gone out of the window when I’ve been very, very angry (and I have). I’m more calculating in such circumstances. It’s true that there are some parts of the book which are based on personal experiences (and which author does not use real material to create fiction?). For example, I know a couple who are very close, yet currently live miles apart. Their situation provided me with a useful means to shift one of the characters out of the way for a while. I’m not going to say which other personal experiences make up the story as that might spoil it, although I will add that the description of trauma is accurate.

Hello, this is me thinking about working hard on my second novel (CJ) in which one of the protagonists spends some time in South America. He is following a route that I took some years ago through Bolivia and up onto the Altiplano. A visit to the Salar de Uyuni was a completely unforgettable experience and I urge the adventurous among you to add it to your bucket list. You need to go when the Salar has had rain or taken water from the outflow of Lake Titicaca; it’s truly amazing. My friend then pays a visit to Titicaca itself and follows that by trekking to Machu Picchu. I must emphasise that this is not a travelog, he faces a number of serious problems while on this journey.
Currently, progress has slowed as I diverted from writing to refer to notes and photos from my trip. This to ensure that my descriptions are correct. It’s great fun, but it does postpone publication.
If you gather that I like South America you are correct, especially Chile, and especially Patagonia.