Rae of Light

SciFi Picked Me It came as quite a revelation that SciFi was my chosen genre for my second novel. At the time I didn’t analyse my choice but now I think I understand the why. The genre gives me the freedom to explore ideas to an end point which could be. I can people my world with whomever I please. The very possibility thrills me. Fantasy does this too, but there is something linked to the here and now in SciFi which cannot be escaped I feel. It centres around the fact technology is moving at such a pace now that in my lifespan telephones have evolved into flat slabs of plastic, keyboards can be rolled up and you can tell your TV what you want to watch. Hell, our house didn't get a Blaupunkt TV till I was 13. When I’m reading SciFi these days, it feels as though I’m reading predictions of a future lurking on the very near horizon. Book the 1st Where Rainbows Hide was born out of my love for chimpanzees. As a child I always wanted to have one as a pet and was distr...

Why SciFi? For years Sci Fi has been the purview of male writers. Specifically white male writers. This is the reason Octavia Butler was repeatedly asked in interviews: Why Science Fiction? And her response was always “Why not!” My introduction to screen Sci Fi was through my mother. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, television meant that series such as Dr Who and Star Trek were making their way onto the small screen. I didn’t learn about Dr Who till I came to the UK and went to university. Because of my mother however, Beam me up Scottie, Lieutenant Uhura kissing Captain Kirk and Vulcan salutes regularly featured in conversations. This at a time in my particular part of the world, when cross-racial kissing was frowned upon and not every household owned a TV. The wealthiest families polished their set with Mr Sheen every Friday before friends came round to watch The World at War or Dallas after dinner. Interestingly, I initially only consumed Sci Fi on the smal...

Originally a guest post on Rita Carla Monticelli's blog. Before settling down to writing and self-publishing I used to be a full time teacher in an inner city London school. Regardless of the country you teach in, anyone will tell you this is a challenging environment. Very quickly into my teaching practice I realised I had a knack for communicating with children with Special Needs (SEN as it’s called here in the UK). Most times when people think of Special Needs they latch onto the idea of a child with learning difficulties. Several times during my 13 year teaching stint I was reminded that while the majority of my students did indeed have these difficulties there were others whose behaviour marked them as SEN when in fact they were highly intelligent. Their lack of engagement with the average classroom content and insular or confrontational attitude masked their talent. At the very start of my teaching career, a...

I'm thrilled to announce that Where Rainbows Hide has been included in a mass e-book GIVEAWAY hosted by well known author and pod-caster, Paul Teague . Can you spot my little baby in the fabulous line up above? Get your FREE books here Scifi/Dystopian Giveaway

An e-book GIVEAWAY Hosted by Scott Ferrell and featuring over 30 writers, including myself, of   amazing young adult stories that fall under the genres of fantasy and sci-fi in all of their many forms. Get your free books here Imagination Set Free

I managed to finish ahead of time which was a small miracle to be sure So last year I foolishly set myself the challenge of reading 100 books in a year.   I wasn’t really thinking clearly and the number 100 just popped into my head when I spotted the challenge on Goodreads .    I won’t be doing that again because it was an almost impossible task and I hate setting myself up to fail.   Luckily, I didn’t fail but that was predominantly down to the help of my wonderful students. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, but I do try to do something different or learn something new every year if at all possible. This year I’m opting to do things a little differently.  I’m giving myself a very practical challenge combined with one I know is going to be filled with fun.  So firstly I’ve decided that if I want to fulfil my ambition of eventually retiring to an Italian island I’d better improve on the smattering of Italian I currently ...

I’m celebrating!   Where Rainbows Hide is now available to buy through Amazon .  About The Book It is a Science Fiction novel for young adults with a 19 year old protagonist at odds with her world and struggling to make important life decisions.   Neera Luxquaera still has no clue where her life is going.   Hopelessly drifting from one job to the next she finally applies for a job onboard a shuttle heading out on an expedition beyond her Domed world.    Will this last ditch attempt to find her niche in a fractured world finally help her see the rainbows she’s been searching for so long? See Preview Here ______________________________________________________________ The great news is that I appear to be on schedule with all my republishing plans for this year.  I reaped the benefits of joining The Alliance of Independent Authors immediately as I was able to gain valuable advice from members on their Faceb...

Ever since Indie (formerly known as Autharium ) closed down in February this year I’ve been trying to sort out the republication of the two books I had published through them.  I found myself hesitant and uncertain of which direction to take.  Should I once more tackle the traditional route or should I persist in my stubbornness and continue to self-publish? I took the opportunity to rework the books I’d previously published and at the same time continued working on new projects.  But I know that deep down I’ve been dithering and feeling a little unsettled about the whole process.  After all, Indie had sorted out the two things which terrified me:  formatting the text and royalties.  I would now have to tackle these on my own along with front cover design and marketing.  by Nathan Vidler I’ve been extremely lucky in the front cover stakes.  For my first novel ( Six Dead Men ) a friend’s son used an image from his unive...

Now it's back to writing about my writing process and it's time to focus on the antagonists I write. It seems I don’t mind having male and female antagonists even though I’ve plumped so heavily for females in the protagonist camp. Robert Deed ( Six Dead Men ) Terence Ire ( Six Dead Men ) Zaq ( Where Rainbows Hide ) Irina Bushka ( Where Rainbows Hide ) The Authorities ( When Rainbows Cry ) Kastaspella aka Jocasta Incantata ( Of Dragons & Witches series ) Grief/Brairton ( Sharp Dark Things ) Robert Deed’s name in this list may well surprise you.  Let me explain.  To begin with, his main aim is to prove Madison Bricot guilty of her boyfriend’s murder.  The twists and turns of the plot however mean he ends up sharing protagonist status with Madison.  He ultimately has too sound a nature to be the villain and his role shifts to that of the main romantic interest.  But then, that was my aim all along, to trick the reader into t...