Rae of Light

I’m hoping to do my best Henry V imitation and exhort many of you to join my A dvance R eading T eam ( ART ) immediately. A quick Thank You here to my current dream team. You know who you are so I won't embarrass you by naming names. What exactly is an ART? An A dvance R eading T eam is an indie author’s first line of both attack and defense. The war terminology is out in full force now. What I mean by this is that they spot glaring errors and help us authors gain support and enthusiasm which is so crucial when launching a book. What do you get out of it? As a member of my ART you would get: A FREE advance e-copy of any upcoming books The opportunity to name a character in my next book Your name listed in the front matter if you have provided feedback in the review period   What do I get out of it? In return, at the time of the book’s official release, I’ll ask you for an honest review either on Amazon, Goodreads or both. This is because r...

I hope you’ve all had a very good start to your New Year. Many are asking what the year of the Rat holds for us. For myself I’m hoping the rat’s aptitude for survival and its prodigious breeding capacity bodes well. I’ve thankfully survived the bad bout of migraines brought on by my Lupus last year. It made me reassess my needs and how I want to live my life going forward. I made the tough decision to give up my teaching which has provided me with the bulk of my income to date. For years I’ve wanted to concentrate solely on my writing and I think now is the time to do it, nerve-wracking though it may be. I’ve got a clutch of stories, poems and novels incubating and ready to hatch. Those born in the Year of the Rat are said to be ‘industrious and thrifty, diligent and positive’. While I’m not a product of one of the Rat years I certainly hope the traits of this particular rodent will rub off on me. I’m going to need all these to complete and publish the projects I have in mi...

Happy New Year! Wishing you PEACE, LOVE, HAPPINESS & every good thing the world has to offer for 2020

Wishing you all the very best for this festive season. Thank you for all your support over the course of this year. I look forward to bringing new and improved writing to you in the New Year and hope all your most fervent wishes come true.

You are of course aware of my obsession with books being turned into films. Not too long ago I insisted the book is ALWAYS better. See my September post if you’ve forgotten. Whenever I hear an adaptation of a favourite or classic novel is being produced for the small or large screen I inevitably cringe. Can you blame me? Let’s review a summary of the evidence yet again: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – a total disaster Dracula – Wynona Ryder War of The Worlds – Tom Cruise posturing Emma – Gwynnyth Paltrow’s attempt at an English accent Chocolat – great eye candy and nothing more Northern Lights – even the title was too complicated for Hollywood and had to be changed to The Golden Compass The list could go on and on but I’ll stop there because thankfully in 2016 a seed change occurred, particularly in #gogglebox adaptations. It all started with the Beeb’s excellent production of Le Carrè’s The Night Manager . The cast choice was superb and the pace exactly wh...

Yes, the ominous title says it all. My publishing plans for 2019 have been put on hold. In the last 2 to 3 months I’ve been struggling to bring a flare up of my Lupus under control. This mainly consisted of migraines on a daily basis. Unfortunately I haven’t quite succeeded.   Together with my homeopath I’ve more or less managed to get the migraines under control. Visits to the doctor have been endless. Not to mention all the blood tests I’ve had to endure - my favourite thing. I’ve tried to keep my writing and other plans going as per usual but after 5 hours in A&E one evening earlier this month I’ve finally had to admit I need some time away from the laptop. I will still be working on my writing projects but at a much slower pace than usual. This does however mean that the promised release of several books will probably only happen towards the middle of 2020 and beyond. I apologise for this as I know several people were keen to read The Witch Adoption Projec...

In the UK October is Black History Month and inevitably has me thinking about who I admire most. I usually write a related post but in principal I disagree with the idea of only one month to celebrate what should be an ongoing acknowledgement. Invariably though, it’s during this month that I think about the people who inspire me because the question is asked of so many children in classrooms during this time. But heroes needn’t be living beings. It’s entirely possible to have literary heroes too. Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about those heroes in books and films I admire despite their race, gender or obvious unheroic flaws. And since I’m currently participating in an e-book giveaway about atypical heroes it seems fitting to be writing about this particular topic now. So firstly, here is a list of my favourite books containing atypical heroes and heroines. It is fairly long but I will only subject you to a few of them. If you haven’t read any of these books as yet then I ...