A new edition - Prophets of Baal

We all know that you can't judge a book by its cover, but people tell me that the original cover for 'Prophets of Baal' was not really inspirational.  The more I looked at it myself from the point of view of a newcomer, the more I felt it looked as though the story must be about a small boat sailor who spends his time observing seagulls.

Now I have nothing against sailing.  Far from it, as readers of a recent blog post will have noted.  And I am also quite a keen bird photographer.  In fact the seagull that used to feature  on the cover was a photograph that I took myself.

However the old cover was supposed to pose this question: 'Can witches transform themselves into gulls and perform sea magic whilst they're at it?'  It rather seems that the picture must have been asking this question in a very obscure language that not too many readers understood. So I decided to turn to a professional* instead of trying to express myself in pictures as well as words.

There is a question posed in the book that is considerably more fundamental.  That question is: 'Can a modern woman be as glamorous as the lady on the new cover and still be a witch?'  Well, I suppose you might be able to guess the answer.  But what will you do about it?

This is the original synopsis.

What's it about? Well, if you love that old detective genre classic the English country house murder, here's a new twist for you! Naïve young private investigator Toby Le Tocq is soon all at sea in more ways than one when he takes a casual interest in a two hundred year old case. Locals are strangely divided. Some want to drive him away, whilst two beautiful and aristocratic women compete for his affections. But is it really just blind luck? In the blood of the two rivals flows an ancient power of sorcery. When Toby falls for the younger witch he is enmeshed in a web of intrigue, crime and revenge. Behind it all is the battle for control of a vast demonic power. If the girl he loves is to be saved from death, Toby faces not just a struggle to understand the occult but an ancient battle for supremacy that somehow he cannot help believing he has fought before. And unknown to Toby, both sides have picked him to play a leading role in the latest round!

Buy from Smashwords
Buy from Apple
Buy from Barnes and Noble (US)
Buy from Nook GB

*(I am indebted to Cristi Iancu at dreamstime.com.)

Publication Day!

'The Prophets of Baal' is published today on Smashwords and is also available from Apple GB, from Barnes and Noble (US) and from Nook GB.

Several other stores don't take shipments before the official publication date, so I am optimistic that copies will be available elsewhere soon.

In answer to a query, I have not yet arranged for the book to be available through a print on demand service, but I have not ruled out the idea. My inclination was to test the waters of the electronic market first.

I expect there to be a few nervous days, if not weeks. However as far as writing goes there is nothing else for me to do about it. My job is now to become my own marketing agent. At least I have confidence in the product that I'm trying to sell!

What's it about? Well, if you love that old detective genre classic the English country house murder, here's a new twist for you! Naïve young private investigator Toby Le Tocq is soon all at sea in more ways than one when he takes a casual interest in a two hundred year old case. Locals are strangely divided. Some want to drive him away, whilst two beautiful and aristocratic women compete for his affections. But is it really just blind luck? In the blood of the two rivals flows an ancient power of sorcery. When Toby falls for the younger witch he is enmeshed in a web of intrigue, crime and revenge. Behind it all is the battle for control of a vast demonic power. If the girl he loves is to be saved from death, Toby faces not just a struggle to understand the occult but an ancient battle for supremacy that somehow he cannot help believing he has fought before. And unknown to Toby, both sides have picked him to play a leading role in the latest round!

Buy from Smashwords
Buy from Apple
Buy from Barnes and Noble (US)
Buy from Nook GB

The Prophets of Baal

Some readers may have noticed that my novel, The Prophets of Baal, is to be electronically published on 25th November. It will be available in formats suitable for all popular e-readers as well as for PC and home printing. It should be nicely in time for the Christmas market, but for me one of the main advantages of a long lead-in to the day itself is to ensure that I had as many bugs as possible out of the published version. My wife very kindly helped with proof reading.

Independent publishing does cut out the middle man, which means that authors no longer have to appeal to agents and print publishers in the hope that someone will choose to put their work before the public. We are familiar with the horror stories about how many times famous writers and famous books were rejected before becoming best-selling classics. This knowledge consoles us when we receive the same sort of rejections ourselves. Of course it was not only good writers and good books that used to be rejected. The modern e-market obliges readers to sort the wheat from the chaff themselves and some people reckon that there is an awful lot of chaff out there.

Even when you have written a good story and expressed it in good language, your responsibility as a writer who intends to publish independently is not finished. You will not have the services of a publisher's editor. Naturally you are attached to your own work and you do not like to feel that there is a surplus word in your manuscript.  Well, of course you can follow the plot; you know the plot already. What about the reader who may become lost in your digressions and sub-plots? I decided to do my own editing, in the process of which The Prophets of Baal was reduced from over 200,000 words to under 164,000. I couldn't find very much more to cut. I re-wrote some of what remained in the interests of clarity and I hope that what I have left for you is a good read.

I don't mean to say that what I cut was not interesting or even that it was not relevant. I did feel in retrospect that it was not necessary. It did not contribute substantially to the plot or the characters and therefore it slowed down the development of the story. Sometimes as a reader myself I feel that I lack some information and I am usually happy for an author to give relevant information at that point. At other times I feel that I am suffering from information overload and I want to know what is actually happening to the characters. That sort of passage is what I was looking for when I did my editing.

Another advantage of a long lead time was to allow prospective purchasers some time in which to download a free sample of the book. My free 20% should amount to over 30,000 words, which is beyond the half way mark of a standard 50,000 word novel, so I hope no-one feels they are buying a pig in a poke, even though this is my first published novel.

I do hope that you enjoy it!

Pre-order from B&N  or Apple

Introducing Myself

I am a writer. Most of the time I write stories. From time to time I write poetry or articles. Once in a blue moon I write a play.

As a general rule I quite like what I write. That does not make me unique; very few people spend their time writing things that they don't like. Occasionally magazine editors say that they like what I write too, but only rarely do they like it enough to print it. This means that mostly you don't get to read what I write.

This blog is going to be different. You can make your own decision whether to read it; you won't need an editor to take the decision on your behalf.

It's also going to be different in that I am not going to be writing stories here. I have had the good fortune to travel quite widely and many of the places and things that I have seen are worthy of comment. I am also lucky to live in Sliabh Mannan (left) where people and nature are close together and affect each other in important ways. So I shall be writing about landscape, buildings, creatures and habitats.

I may sometimes write about people, but I don't intend to spend an inordinate amount of time on politics. There is no shortage of political commentary and I am more interested in how people think than in what they conclude.

So there are my ground rules. Welcome to The View from Sliabh Mannan.