alex_beecroft

Well. This is a thing, isn’t it?

I’m sure you’ve suspected by now, from the lack of activity from me either on the blog or my newsletter, that I’m having an extended period of writer’s block. I’m afraid that means that all the new novels I’d talked about 9 months ago haven’t been written and may never be written. (Never say never – the muse may yet come back.)

Still, in a time like this when the world is in the grip of a pandemic – (never thought I’d actually live in interesting times. Not sure I like it.) – I have to do something to help, and I thought I’d start off by making the Trowchester books free. This way at least anyone who’s stuck inside will have four books to read.

Amazon doesn’t allow you to list books for free without having to ask them to do it and them reminding you in a snotty voice that they might allow it this time, but you should remember that they’re doing you a favour and can change their minds at any time. So I’ve left them alone on Amazon. Eventually they will cotton on and reduce the price to 99p by themselves. But for free books right now, you can get them here:

If you can’t get along with any of the above stores because you need the mobi format and they only have epub, let me know and I’ll just send you the mobi version.

Also, if you fancy a missing scene or two from any of my books, let me know what you particularly want to see and I’ll do my best to write it for you.

Stay safe!

Alex

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Today I have EL Croucher, author of Horned, Winged Blessed on the blog. She’s talking about her experience as an indie author and why she chose that as her route rather than waiting for pro publishers.

Take it away Emi Louise!

1. Why did you choose to go indie rather than going for the traditional publishing route?

For me, it’s a matter of being proactive and managing my own project. I’ve always enjoyed that type of management, so working on Horned Winged Blessed and my previous novel as self-published books was part of the fun for me.

The feeling of a random sale, knowing that I created all of this buzz myself… and the time I get back when it’s all done! I enjoy each and every moment of the process, just as much as I do writing and editing.

2. How are you getting your books out there? (Smashwords? Lulu? Createspace? Other sites? Printing & warehousing at home? Etc)

Currently, I’m hosting a large-scale launch party and inviting friends new and old. I will have a “share and pass on” scheme in which I’ll encourage those who bought a book to pass it on after reading it. I also have an Instagram account (@emi13230), on which I have a following that support me as an LGBTQ+ writer.

Finally, I have my website (ELCroucher.com), which is my main hub for information and blog posts.

3. If you went for a print version, why? If you didn’t, why not?

I did, because I am a reader of hard copies myself. Amazon provides the service for minimal effort, so any self-published author going through them would be silly not to!

4. How much of your time do you spend marketing and promoting your book?

Far more than I ever did writing it. I have several PR and Marketing managers, that are all friends as well. They have jumped on board to the project and believe in this book just as much as I do. Together we work on SNS content, blog posts, marketing strategies and press releases.

It’s all part of the fun!

5. Which form of promotion works best for you? Why do you think this is?

For me it’s Instagram, because I naturally gravitate to aesthetics. I promote my life as an author, and transgender woman. That allows my audience to connect and relate with me, eventually leading to a bond that makes them want to invest their time in me and my writing.

I feel that the process is organic and fair. There is no falsehood or “buy buy buy” element to it.

6. Do you spend a great deal of time on Goodreads?

In all honesty… not really. There is something about the website’s UI that I just cannot click with. I’m sure it’s a great site and I’m well aware that many people love it, but it’s just not for me. ?

7. If it’s not too rude to ask, how are you feeling about the progress of your book?

At the end of the day, I’m just a single person. There is only so much I can do. With that in mind, I’m incredibly proud of what Horned Winged Blessed has become. I read the book myself for fun. I still cry at the sad bits and laugh at the jokes. If I have a single fan that says they enjoyed it, then it is all more than worth it.

However, on a more positive note, HWB has now grown into a beast that is no longer just fueled by me. No way. It has eager beta readers, editors, a cover artist, PR managers and actual fans that care about it. That makes my heart melt with joy!

So all-in-all, I’m more than happy with the progress of this book.

8. Would you indie publish again?

Absolutely. Of course, if I was offered a contract I wouldn’t turn it down or anything.

9. If you used a professional editor or cover artist, do you want to use this space to give them a mention, so other writers can find the good ones too?

Definitely!

Thank you to my three beta readers – you know who you are. <3
Jake Ratcliff, my editor, wrote some of the funniest comments to my original transcript that I was belly-laughing while I went through them. He deserves a golden shovel award for the amount of plot holes he filled up!

Dawn M Larder was my cover artist, and I think I must have gone to her with no less than 10 drafts. I’m not kidding. We originally tried a concept that just wasn’t working, so when we gave up with that we moved to the current cover art. However, even that took several attempts to really capture the darkness and the dystopian vibe.

Thank you also to everyone that has helped with the PR side, the marketing, proofreading, samples and general ideas!

We finally got there!

10. What would be a good resource to make your life simpler, as an indie author? What do you wish was out there but just doesn’t seem to be?

In an ideal world, I would love to see the traditional publishing companies wake up to the realisation that the way books are published is changing. Language is changing. Reading habits are changing. I think that a deep modernisation is in order across the board.

That sounds about right. Now, tell us about your book!

About The Book

Follow Joan on her adventure of discovery, as she learns the hard way that her post-apocalyptic utopia isn’t always full of rainbows and Merlot.

Yes, she lives on the nicer side of the settlement, as the daughter of the Mother Founder. But after a life-threatening attack on her home, she soon realises that many out there are against the Silver Party regime.

Horned Winged Blessed is the story of one girl fighting against a tyrannous government, elected to power amidst the unending chaos of World War III. Heavily enriched in their pagan values, the Silver Party are to thank for pulling Broken Britain up from the brink of a depression, but at what cost?

Will Joan decide to take down the Silver Party from the inside…

…or will she go on to fight alongside the rebel faction that allures her so intensely?

Title: Horned Winged Blessed

Author: E L Croucher

Category: LGBTQ+ Dystopian Fiction

Publication Date: 29^th November 2019 (Pre-release as of 10^th Nov)

Publisher: Amazon

Editor: Jake Ratcliff

Cover Artist: Dawn M Larder

Buy Links

Amazon UK| Amazon US

Thanks Emi Louise! Sounds great 🙂

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Today I’m welcoming a new author into the fold. Jessica’s first book, The Paladin’s Path, goes live today. I was lucky enough to be able to read an ARC copy and found it lively and unique, a real page turner.

I know some of you have enjoyed my blend of fantasy and sweet, low-key m/m romance. The Paladin’s Path falls in a very similar niche of the genre 🙂

I sent Jessica my now infamous pick and mix questionnaire so we could get to know her a little more, and now I hand over to her 🙂

How did you come to write The Paladin’s Path? What was your inspiration?

I was inspired to write The Paladin’s Path while binge watching a LOT of kdramas in 2017. The historical dramas all include at least one person who is a martial artist of some kind, and a lot of them have homoerotic subtext – brothers-in-arms, friends-turned-enemies, ride-or-die friends, and the like. So the basis for a group of warriors working to defend a prince/queen came from that. And because I was irritated at the lack of representation in the shows I was watching, I made sure every main character in my book was some form of LGBT.

How you’re feeling on the brink of being a new author?

I’m excited. I got excited once it was edited. I got excited when I gave out my ARC copies. The reviews from those ARC copies have been so amazingly positive so far that just thinking about them turns me into a creature of sunlight and sparkles. I know there won’t be a huge blowout of people reading my book, but getting it out into the world and having anyone read it, and enjoy it, and get something out of it? It’s invigorating.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?

I like to think I have an amazing imagination, but ironically I have a very hard time fully realizing who my characters are if I can’t pick a face claim. Even if, by the end of writing the book, my mental image of them no longer matches that face claim. So, while they aren’t based on real people in fact, I do base them on real faces. Their personalities, hopes and fears, likes and dislikes, and the rest are from my head.

Do you believe in Happily Ever After?

I love Happily Ever After endings, or at least Happily Ever After For Now. I like when stories end with hope.

What’s the one thing readers can always count on when they pick up a book written by you?

Readers can always count on relationships where characters are supportive of each other. I don’t write couples (or even friendships) where one character is abusive or cruel toward the other.

Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

Of my original characters, I think Kres is my favorite. He tries very hard at everything he does. He is very optimistic and supportive of his friends. He’s a problem solver. He never backs down from a challenge. I love him very much, and he’s not even part of the main couple in The Paladin’s Path.

What’s the funniest scene you’ve ever written?

I think the funniest thing I’ve written is one of my fanfictions for Teen Wolf. It’s based on a tumblr post about really embarrassing attempts at flirting. It’s an AU that covered several years of Stiles attempting to flirt with Derek and absolutely, utterly failing. Reviewers said it gave them lots of secondhand embarrassment but was also hilarious, and every time I reread it myself I laugh.

Do you have a day job?

When I’m not writing on my couch, I am living in my classroom, teaching Ancient World History to 11-year-olds.

Where can your readers find you?

My twitter

My tumblr

My instagram

Thanks, Jessica!

Now for the all important info. Where can we get it? Fortunately you can get hold of whichever format you like at this link here 🙂

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Looking at that Greta Thunberg post going around, and yeah, she’s not the only one furious with policy makers and corporations willing to destroy the planet in 10 years to make a profit now.

What can we do to help, as relatively powerless people.

1. is obviously vote for the people who will make good decisions on ecology

But that’s not something we can do this instant, and things need to be done right now. It’s not enough to be angry about it. Lets act!

As individuals, we can change our own habits. God knows I’ve heard enough people on here whining “me giving up plastic won’t make a difference when industry is still churning it out.” But you’ve seen all the “Millenials are killing x industry” articles. If enough people change their individual habits, you have a groundswell. You have a movement that industry cannot and will not ignore. Industries are already trialing plastic substitutes. The minute their bottom line suffers because consumers are switching to greener alternatives, they’ll start getting serious about keeping up with the new demand.

2. Here are some things we can do

Switch to a green energy provider (you’ll have to google to find one in your own country)
Go zero waste.
Make your own cleaning products
Make your own deodorant (mix 20mls milk of magnesia with 20mls witch hazel, add 0.5 tsp baking soda and 10 drops essential oil of choice, pour into the last roll-on deodorant bottle you’ll ever have to buy.)
Stop using shampoo and conditioner
Buy your food from a shop that uses no packaging. If you can’t find such a shop in your area, consider teaming up with your neighbours and making one.
Use less stuff; buy stuff second hand if you can, try not to use tumble-driers or dishwashers, switch your devices off rather than leaving them in standby. Walk, bike or electric bike where you can instead of driving…

It’s true that this stuff doesn’t make a lot of difference when done by one individual, but if it’s done by a million individuals then it makes an impact, and it takes a single pebble to start an avalanche. Maybe you can be the pebble.

So what else can relatively powerless people do when they face a corporation or a government that they can’t do anything about as individuals?

3. Team up. Find your local eco-organization. (It’ll probably be on Facebook, at least in the UK.) If you can’t find one for your town, you can make one. Now you have a group of people who can collectively run letter-writing campaigns, shame the local supermarkets into changing their ways, band together with the groups in the rest of the state/county and start putting pressure on local politicians, spread ideas and recruit new people who hadn’t thought about this stuff yet.

It’s much easier to change the minds of those in power if there’s a big groundswell of popular opinion with you. And doing something about the environment is an idea whose time has come. You won’t be alone. You’ve just got to look at all the people who turned out for the climate strike to see that.

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"" (Watch on YouTube)

Icelandic descendants of Vikings singing a hymn in a German train station. They totally need to be on the next Thor soundtrack.

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Oh man oh man oh man. 6 guys, and it FILLS THE SPACE. Luck of the architecture – and they know how to pull it off. Nothing is easy making vocal music in a space not built for it. I want to do this kind of thing – randomly perform multipart harmony in public spaces.

And it reminds me of Bjork: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiN_YTyaNtI

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My god this is beautiful.

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Oh my god, the bass voice is superb.

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This makes me feel so many things. Gods, it’s gorgeous and so evocative and wow. I need to find out what hymn this is.

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It’s Hear, Heavenly Creator (I don’t know how that’s spelled in Icelandic, and I don’t have the characters on my keyboard for the letters anyway haha).

It’s… old as balls. Like 11th century old.

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I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this video and it never fails to give me chills. There’s just something about knowing how old it is, that they’re singing the same words and notes their ancestors did, unchanged over almost a thousand years, that makes my heart and soul ache in the best way.

Also the harmonization is gorgeous, I’m so weak for men’s chorale.

Translated lyrics for the curious (transcribed from this video, I do not speak Icelandic so I can’t judge the accuracy):

Listen, smith of the heavens,
[to] what the poet asks.
May softly come unto me
Your mercy.
So I call on Thee,
for You have created me.
I am Thy slave,
you are my Lord.

God, I call on Thee
to heal me.
Remember me, mild one,
most we need Thee.
Drive out, oh King of Suns,
generous and great,
every human sorrow
from the city of the heart.

Watch over me, mild one,
most we need Thee,
truly every moment
in the world of men.
Send us, Son of the Virgin,
good causes;
all aid is from Thee
in my heart.

I suspect this is a more literal translation, but there’s something incredibly poetic and lovely about “smith of the heavens” as a synonym for “heavenly creator”.

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I can finally announce that the ebook is out and available today!

Bad boys don’t tame easy.

Victor is a bad man. Is there anything he won’t do for power and money? Destroy a local business so he can buy it cheap? Kick out its owners and turn it into a cash cow? He relishes the chance.

Idris is a good man in possession of a renowned tea-house. He’s put his heart and soul into the place. It’s everything he has and wants… Except for Victor. He wants Victor too. Can the love of a compassionate man restore a predator’s withered soul? Or is Idris doomed to lose his life’s work, and his heart with it?

~

A contemporary mm romance, Seeing Red is a long-awaited new installment of the critically acclaimed Trowchester Series. Each book in the series is a standalone, and can be read in any order.

Buy Now

If you get it, and I can beg one last favour, can I ask that you review it on Amazon after you read it?

When I was pro-published it didn’t matter so much whether I got reviews or not, but for an indie author they make a huge difference to how well I can promote and advertise it.

Thank you!

And finally – as a way of saying thank you for putting up with all the chat about Seeing Red recently. I would like to point out that The Reluctant Berserker is currently available for free on Amazon, and will be free until Friday. You could snap them both up together 😉

Free book

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Well, I think I’ve done everything I can to prepare for the release of Seeing Red tomorrow. I’ve still got to write a Newsletter, reminding my list that it’s out – but I can’t really do that until tomorrow.

I’ve engaged Vibrant Promotions to do me a blog tour starting on the 18th and carrying on until the 24th. This is my first experience of using a marketing service to do for me what Riptide used to do. Will it work as well?

I’ll be interested to find out.

I’m not really sure what I’m doing, tbh. But that’s never stopped me before.

On an unrelated note, I’ve also joined the @sunbeam.city instance of mastodon, where I can talk about solarpunk and permaculture gardening all I like. Whether or not I end up being as inactive there as I am everywhere else remains to be seen. But if you’re interested, you can find me here:

Mastodon

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I’ve had some wonderful pre-publication reviews on Seeing Red. It’s always good knowing that it’s going to go out into the world with a guarantee that actual readers have loved it.

Eagle eyed viewers may spot that I’ve slightly changed the cover again

I’m also both amused and hugely relieved that the reviews are split down the middle with half of the readers loving Idris and the other half loving Victor. That is perfect and exactly how it ought to be.

I loved them both for very different reasons. I like to see they both have folk who will take their sides 🙂

“Quality writing full of depth and detail. Author doesn’t shy away from difficult subjects or morally dubious characters, and addresses the issue of nature vs nurture in a way that damn near broke my heart.
Idris is adorable, if too innocent and trusting, a character that is easy to like and root for. He shines off the page like sunshine, making even the morally dubious Victor glow.”

from Lillian Francis

“Victor’s story is heartbreaking. Page by page, I saw him practically reset all his previous beliefs in order to eventually consider himself a man worthy of being loved and capable of loving in return. …
Seeing Red is a beautiful story of two troubled souls finding each other, bringing hope,color and love into the other’s life. I love it so, so much and I highly recommend it.”

on Amazon Italy

“I was lucky to get an advance copy of this super book, the latest in Alex Beecroft’s Trowchester series of standalone tales. She does the characters so well. … All the Trowchester people are like old friends as they appear in this novel. The only problem now is the wait for the next Trowchester tale! I’ve read this twice already – its a keeper”

on Amazon UK

Also how lucky am I that I have people all over the world who like my books? Really lucky and delighted!

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I’m going to be taking over Coffee Time Romance’s blog all day on the 20th of May to help promote Seeing Red.

This seems like a great opportunity for a bit of a Q&A.

Do you have questions you would like to ask me in particular? Or just things you would like to ask any author?

Let me know, and I’ll be sure to answer them on that day.

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Seeing Red has a release date! And a cover, and a blurb 🙂

As per usual, while I’ve dropped off the internet I’ve been paddling madly under the surface. I’ve finished edits on Seeing Red. I’ve changed the cover art to make sure both main characters were included. I’ve written the blurb. I’ve formatted the paperback and that is going through Amazon’s checks as we speak. I’m busy attempting to arrange some publicity for it.

I will be releasing it on May 15th 2019 – ie next month

BLURB: Bad boys don’t tame easy.

Victor is a bad man. Is there anything he won’t do for power and money?

Destroy a local business so he can buy it cheap? Kick out its owners and turn it into a cash cow? He relishes the chance.

Idris is a good man in possession of a renowned tea-house. He’s put his heart and soul into the place. It’s everything he has and wants…

Except for Victor.

He wants Victor too.

Can the love of a compassionate man restore a predator’s withered soul? Or is Idris doomed to lose his life’s work, and his heart with it?

A contemporary mm romance, Seeing Red is a long-awaited new installment of the critically acclaimed Trowchester Series.

Each book in the series is a standalone, and can be read in any order.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

I am not, in fact.

So what have you been doing? And why are you talking to yourself? Have you finally lost your marbles?

Well, I can’t completely rule that out–I may never have known where my marbles were to begin with. However, I have been working on the first draft of the next Trowchester book, and I now have that completed.

It’s been a struggle switching back to romance after having taken so much time off to write mystery and sci-fi, but I made myself cry a couple of times. So I consider that a good sign.

Now I’m going to let it sit for a week while I wrestle with Kindle Unlimited, Amazon Associates, Facebook Ads, setting up a newsletter opt-in bundle and such like. Then I’ll come back and do a second draft. I already know at least three scenes are missing, so they need adding. It’ll be about 75,000 words when it’s done.

Meanwhile I’ve been learning Photoshop and knitting. Not together, though!

Behold my first book cover made entirely in Photoshop (rather than Gimp.) The text options are so much better!

Base image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay

Oh, there’s another thing for me to do – set up a cover art blog. This year is the year I add Cover Artist to my three-different-flavours-of-author portfolio.

If any cover artists are out there reading, can you give me any advice? Yet again I am starting a thing before I know how to do it.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

I told you about my steampunk guns, didn’t I? I’ve been getting into steampunk in my Alex Oliver persona (and in real life!) I bought a box containing two ray-guy shaped water pistols in the Age Concern charity shop for £2. The low price was sort of justified because one of them had neither a trigger nor a stopper.

At any rate, I thought “Ooh, I bet with a bit of a paint job these will turn into just what I want for my steampunk persona. I fettled one of them myself – you can see what I made of that a couple of posts back. But I also gave the other one to my daughter’s partner, Shay of Space-and-Serenity-Designs https://www.facebook.com/Space-and-Serenity-Designs-213276859262999/ to see what he would come up with.

I am so pleased with this! Look at it, it’s got a proper compressed gas cannister thingy instead of its missing plug, and it’s so shiny! I like the fact that the rings look like they’ve seen some wear – it’s the pistol of an airship Indiana Jones type professor. It’s seen heavy use 🙂

The gauge measures “Destructo ray intensity” and goes from tingle through light stun to a final setting of ash pile.

I do like the fact that the two guns have turned out quite differently. My explanation is that I found both of them in the ruins of Atlantis, one with its power crystal intact and one without. But both had to be restored to operation via modern steampunk technology, hence the clockwork activator on the black one and the gas power-and-gauge on this one.

I’m very happy with it indeed. I will wear it proudly.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

“I was surprised you accepted our invitation, Lady Artemis,” Jasper said as he and the lady edged out of the crowd in the ballroom and approached the punchbowl. “I thought you despised me.” “Oh, that little indiscretion?” Lady Artemis gave an affected shrug, dismissing the thought of the worst time in Jasper’s life as if it was a tiny peccadillo. She had been the bane of his life in London, where she had interested herself in the life of his parish, and—he had thought—influenced his parishioners to ignore and berate him. “Nonsense, that actually made me fond of you. It is Catholics I can’t stand, my dear boy. Sodomites are perfectly charming.”

Even now in his own house, Jasper jumped at that. The memory of the pillory was in him at all times; he would never forget that he was vulnerable, that his fellow men were cruel, or that one wrong word to the wrong person could ruin his life. “I pray you, do not say that so loud.”
“Hah,” Lady Artemis reached up and toyed with the golden anchor that hung from a chain from the ship that surmounted her piled wig. She was a great benefactor of the poor, and Jasper had wished to be on friendlier terms with her, but now was the first time it had seemed that his ambition might succeed. “I forget sometimes that you are not a great man in yourself—so close are your ties with young Charles. He would not let you come to harm, surely?”

Jasper’ spirits, never terribly robust these days, dipped. It must have shown on his face, for the lady grabbed her cup of punch in one hand, his arm in the other and hauled him into the smaller solar—now abandoned, as it was the middle of the night.

A great desire for council came over him, and there was something about her that had even him wishing to spill his secrets. Which was odd, when he thought about it. Something like a compulsion. Perhaps she had put something in his glass? But no, he hadn’t yet sipped. His eye caught the jewels in her ears and saw the spell carved in the green jade—oh. A fellow dabbler in the arcane, and one who already knew what he was.

“I’m not sure how sturdy my relationship with Charles is,” he said, the words pouring out of him in a tide. “He cheated on me, and I cannot forget or forgive it. I keep trying, and at times I think I’ve succeeded, but it comes back. Every time it comes back.”

“Cheated?” Artemis scoffed. “What, are you two married? Have you made declarations of fidelity? What nonsense! Do you not know that a man of Charles’s stature would never give fidelity to his wife, let alone—if you will pardon the expression—a man of a certain nature. You ask too much!”

Jasper knew it, but it wasn’t pleasant to hear. In his nightly fretting, he had considered that the problem was not Charles at all, but his own unwarranted jealousy. “Yet, because I am not married, what is to prevent any of these flings from becoming more important to him than I am?” That was the crux of the matter. “I want him to be in my life permanently. I want a commitment from him, so that no matter where his affections lead him, I am always his partner and at the very least his friend.”

Jasper had not known this about himself before. He’d supposed that marriage was a noble thing, a melding of two into a single flesh, and had not seen its practical application as a legal contract which could be relied on when human nature failed.

“You must find some other contract,” Lady Artemis said as though she was reading his mind. Her sharp little eyes were embedded in rolls of fat—her figure was ample and her face one of those moon-round visages with high cheeks and heavy brows. But her eyes were extraordinary, a gold that gleamed even in their shadowed recesses. “Buy a house with him. Doubtless it frets him to dwell here in your ancestral manor, as though he was a penniless guest. Having somewhere of his own will tie him down.”

“I had not considered that,” Jasper admitted. He had supposed Charles would enjoy being out from under George’s thumb, but if that meant putting him under Jasper’s perhaps it was no improvement. “Yet anywhere else in the country we would come into too much scrutiny, living together.”

“Not in London,” Lady Artemis pointed out. “London does not pry into people’s business if they are discrete, and if they keep those in the know happy. In London you could find more purchase for your talents—you are ghost hunters I believe, and solvers of murderous crimes?”

Jasper laughed. It was true enough, and their reputation was spreading both among Charles’s friends and among the esoteric underworld that he frequented. But she had a point. Why not go to London—sell the Admiral’s house and pool the money with whatever inheritance Charles was entitled to, then buy somewhere that would truly belong to both of them? The deed of ownership would be more binding than a common man’s marriage. It would make for something—some tangible proof that he was more important to Charles than anyone else.

Speak of the devil. Charles flung open the door of the solar and ran in. His blond hair was dishevelled and his pink coat seemed to be smoking at the hems. When he caught sight of Jasper a kind of impatient gladness flashed across his face, followed at once by irritation. “Your daughter is setting fire to the curtains again.”

Jasper nodded curtly to Lady Artemis and took off running. His ‘daughter’ was having troubles these days. He had supposed it was due to his own troubles with Charles, but the sinister bent of her outbursts continued whether they were speaking or not. He would not like to confess it to anyone, but there were at times moments when he wished he had not told her he would look after her.

He skidded into the library, to find that Lily was standing next to the great drapes. Her face was full of Satanic evil, and flames enveloped her tiny form– now the size of a girl of five. She was sweet and open-faced when she was in her normal mein, as a silvery apparition with bows in her plaited hair. But today her eyes were all black, and a flame seemed to dance in the centre of them even as it did around her ethereal body.

“Lily,” Jasper urged her, fighting his own desire to back away, “Come now, tell me what the difficulty is. What has made you so very angry?”

“I am in hell!” she cried, and pitiably he saw her own expression on the swollen, feverish face. “Help me, daddy. They won’t let me go! Help me! YOU ARE A FAILURE AS A FATHER AND A SINNER WHO DESERVES TO BURN.”

That was not her voice. Jasper staggered back and collided with Lady Artemis who had entered the library behind him and stood wheezing with the effort of having climbed the stairs.

“Oh goodness!” she said, her gaze very clearly fixed on Lily. This was confirmation of the suspicion Jasper had had when he saw the esoteric designs on her earrings. The lady was a witch. She could see Lily, at least, because she went down on one knee and held out a hand to her as a man might try to coax a snarling dog. “Come now, pet. Can you tell the nasty man to go away? Do that for your daddy, can’t you? He is getting very concerned.”
“He doesn’t care,” Lily said, turning half away. Her small voice was her own again, and as they watched, her normal pearly lines emerged from the flames as though water had been poured on her. “He’s too busy worrying about my cousin. Because my cousin is a Latham, and the Lathams can’t control their bestial urges.”

“Pshaw!” Charles said, sounding very like his brother. He ran past Lily to beat the flames out of the curtains and prevent them from setting alight to the books. “I never had a bestial urge in my life.”

Jasper shook his head. He did love the young idiot. But he wished he could reach out and wrap Lily in his arms and hold her away from all things that might harm her.

“I’m so sorry, Lily,” he said instead, also going down on his knees. “I thought this was you, being angry. I had no idea something on the other side was working through you. I am going to find a way of making it leave permanently, you’ll see. You shall not endure this alone any more. I am with you.”

Charles shook his head and reached down an imperious hand, which Jasper caught without thinking about it. “We are with you, Lily,” he said. “But we also have a party going on. Do you think you could avoid setting fire to the house or the guests until they’re gone?”

“I suppose.” There were no tear tracks on Lily’s shining face. Jasper had discovered over the last year that her emotional range was narrower than that of a living child. There had been nothing but calm acceptance or rage from her, and sometimes a wisdom that seemed unnatural. “Promise you’ll save me?”

“I promise, Jasper said, watching her disappear with the words. God, it was an evening of vows, wasn’t it?

“How extraordinary,” Lady Artemis said, fingering the scorch marks on the curtains as if to prove they were real. “I didn’t know you had a ghost child, Charles.”

“It’s not something I drop into casual conversation,” Charles scoffed, still rather frazzled. “Nor something I honestly know how to deal with.”

“She called you ‘cousin.’”

“It’s a long story.”

Lady Artemis snorted. “I’ll bet. Well then, what do you propose to do about this?”

Jasper had been wondering that himself. It seemed to him that the ghost child inhabited an afterlife in which other more sinister presences also dwelt. She was like a little conduit through which they could insert themselves into the world. “We should close the conduit,” he said, trusting Charles at least to follow. “I mean, we should deny this other presence a right of access to her—body, for lack of a better word.”

“How exactly do you propose to do that?” Lady Artemis said, “I have never heard of such a case.”

“She was killed in her mother’s womb,” Jasper explained. “This life after death of hers is an extraordinary circumstance in itself. But I think we must start with a baptism. God knows what unholy things might be able to batten themselves onto her, given that she is un-baptised and her mother for so long was interred outside consecrated ground.”

“Well,” Lady Artemis gave her supremely unconcerned shrug again. “I may not like Catholics but I will admit that their rituals are efficacious. Perhaps you will indeed be able to clear it up so simply. But I fear it is far more complicated than that, and I have to say, rather you than me. I don’t think I will visit again until this is finished. One way or another. Good luck! You will need it.”

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

For my own benefit, mostly, so that on those days like today when I feel that I’ve achieved nothing in my life, I can see at a glance how many books I’ve written, and (perhaps) feel better.

Created with GIMP
Created with GIMP

Have I missed some? I feel as though I might have missed one or two.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

Most of my hobbies include a craftwork element. Since finding out that Steampunk was the same, I’ve been having a crack at making my very first prop.

I’m not 100% sure about this, but I think it’s a good first go. First of all, I was lucky enough to find a pair of these:

in the local Age Concern charity shop for £2 the pair. https://www.amazon.com/Schylling-RRG-Retro-Ray-Gun/dp/B013WLV8XQ

One of them has been taken by my son-in-law, who has been making props far longer than me, and while I eagerly await seeing what he’s done with it, this is what I’ve done with mine:

Courtesy of black primer, stone-effect paint, more black primer, rub n buff in silver and gold, a blue crystal from a broken necklace and a bit of watchwork from a broken brooch. Also a bit of copper wire wound around a drinking straw to make a spring.

If exposed wires are good enough for Kylo Ren’s lightsaber, they’re good enough for my ray-gun.

Now onto the more difficult task of figuring out how to make it a holster!

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

I got a nice email from Coffee Time Romance this morning inviting me to submit the answer to a question, which they would then promote in their newsletter. This seemed like a great thing to me, and I wrote out a long answer for them and hit the submit button. Then everything froze and I don’t know whether it went through or not. If it did, I’m sorry for repeating it here. If it didn’t, at least I had copied what I wrote before I lost it 🙂

*QUESTION: How much of your real life bleeds over into your books? And do you worry that someone will be able to tell the fact from the fiction?*

I used to write specifically to get away from my real life. In those early days you would find me imaginatively on the decks of tall ships or the bridges of starships, a very long way away from everything of my current reality. I’d used reading as an escape since I could follow the words of The Hobbit, and writing was a natural escalation from that. I liked the fact that I could control these worlds and they would contain nothing that really hurt me.

But as I’ve grown into myself and begun to accept that I will never be a swashbuckling hero with the world’s fate in my hands, I’ve learned to love the life I’m actually living. When I moved into the English fenlands, I found a place where I could put down roots. I spent my first five years feeling blessed every time I came out of my house and saw the view – I’m surrounded by flowering countryside. And that began to work its way into my books before I was even aware of it. The first sign was the frequency with which my heroes took up morris dancing – first in Under the Hill and then also in Blue Eyed Stranger.

Then it really kicked in, and The Reluctant Berserker https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XVZ46LJ was knitted together out of one thread of my lifetime of Anglo-Saxon re-enactment and study and another of love for the fenland landscape. There is a strong element of me trying to give you the glory of this place – the fact that it’s a balm to the soul to live in this much beauty.

I don’t worry that people may be able to tell the fact from the fiction because I’m not hiding any of this. If you’ve ever tried, you’ll know that in fact it’s much harder to bring a real place to recognizable life in fiction than it is to simply make one up. If I describe a flowering hedgerow in a way that makes a reader picture it intensely enough to almost be there, does it really matter if I drew it from reality or not?

I have only this life, and in this life I have been fortunate enough to receive some beautiful things. I’d like to share them because I hope you enjoy them too.

Hey! Answering questions is fun If you would like to ask me anything (within reason, of course) go ahead and either ask here or through my contact form or email. I’ll do my best to give you as comprehensive answer as I can and be grateful for the prompt.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

Guess who got a year’s subscription to Photoshop as a Christmas present 🙂 It doesn’t half make moodboards easier to create.

I’m going into the new year cautiously optimistic about the three pen-names thing. I have just finished writing a space opera, and a cozy mystery before that, and now I’m eager to write a mm romance again. I think having the ability to change genres in an organized way will really help me when I’m having my next attack of “I cannot stand to write another [whatever genre] novel ever again!” And it may mean that you’re not subjected to quite so many Frankenstein’s monsters of novels that don’t belong in any category in future.

As you can probably see from the moodboard, I’m itching to start the next Trowchester novel, Seeing Red, but I just have to get the edits on Starship Ragnarok done first. Hopefully Seeing Red will be underway by the end of the month, though.

I have a marvellous new program called Book Report which is telling me all sorts of things I didn’t originally know about my books. One of which things is that Leanne was quite right to suggest that more people liked The Reluctant Berserker than I had previously thought. So that may eventually get the sequel I originally half planned for it after all 🙂 (After I’ve written Seeing Red and the Age of Sail book I promised you, of course!)

It’s nice to have some enthusiasm again, and even better to have accurate information on which to base a plan for what to do with it.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

How cool is this? https://wiki.ezvid.com/m/OLuxM0gLspvj9 Contraband Hearts joins books by ZA Maxfield and JL Merrow on this list of top 11 mm romances.

The vid at the top is narrated by a strange robot voice which pronounces slavers (people who take slaves) as slavers (drools a lot), and the actors they’ve got for Perry and Tomas would not have been my first choice, but that’s just me being curmdgeonly.

I’m actually delighted by the whole thing. There are actors playing Perry and Tomas for a start! That’s more than I’ve ever had for a book of mine before. It’s worth watching just for that 🙂

They obviously liked the Porthkennack books, because they’ve also mentioned my Foxglove Copse and JL Merrow’s Love at First Hate from the same series.

Hah, I’ve still got it 🙂 (She says with a total lack of shame.)

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

Did I say I’m sprucing up my backlist? I feel sure you must have noticed that by now 🙂

This week I’ve been improving the books’ description pages on Amazon and flexing what I’ve learned about writing better blurbs.

But one of the other things I’ve learned since really getting into the self-publishing mindset is that when people want a book of one genre and they see a book with a cover that looks like it belongs to a different genre, they don’t go “oh, how unique and interesting!” They go, “That doesn’t look like the type of book I want. I’ll give it a pass.”

Which means that if your cover is too ‘unique and interesting’ you’re actually putting readers off. What you need is cover art that looks similar to all the other covers in your genre, so that readers are reassured that they are indeed buying something that they want.

It really grieved me to have to replace these two covers, because I was so pleased with them both when I first made them. And I still look at them with pleasure. They are nice book covers – for a Fantasy and for some kind of literary fiction about the surfer lifestyle.

But goddammit, I am trying to make a living here, so I’m going to take the hit and hammer that genre button for all I’m worth. Which means that these books now look like this:

On the plus side, sometimes you can spend days trawling through stock-photo sites looking for the perfect picture, but that picture of Kjartan, which genuinely looks like him fell into my hands in less than an hour. How often is it that you can go looking for a white-haired elf prince and actually find a good photo? Vanishingly rare. It must be an omen.

I think I’m going to keep a cover-art graveyard on this site. I surely can’t be the only one who finds the constant evolution of images interesting.

Also I think some of them might make good posters.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

I bought “How to Write A Sizzling Synopsis” by Bryan Cohen recently and read it yesterday at a coffee shop, where I had gone because I felt too ill to actually go into the gym even though I’d come into town to do just that.

It’s quite a short book, with large text, and normally I come out of these ‘how to’ writing books with the feeling that I’ve had maybe one sentence-worth of good advice after having read 100 pages of blather. But this one is really good, and I think quite worthwhile. I’ve taken on board most of its suggestions and re-written some of my book blurbs, in the hope that more people will be moved to buy my books. For example:

Under the Hill

Old Blurb

Voted Best multicultural fantasy of 2013 by the Swirl Awards, and now presented in one volume, Under the Hill is a contemporary fantasy adventure story featuring dragons, elves and world war two fighter planes.

Targeted for abduction by the Faerie Queen, Ben Chaudhry reluctantly turns to Chris Gatrell and his eccentric Paranormal Defence Agency for help.

But it’s hard to keep anything out of the snatching hands of determined elves. Chris himself was abducted from his own time – shot down in WWII, and shot forward seventy years in time, stranded far from his wartime sweetheart Geoff and his Lancaster bomber crew.

When the inevitable happens and Ben is abducted, he finds himself a major player in a game of elven politics that may lead to the invasion of Britain.

Chris has to convince the police he didn’t just murder Ben and hide the body. Determined not to lose another sweetheart to the elves’ treachery, he presses the ghosts of his old crew back into action for a rescue attempt.

But Geoff isn’t dead at all – he’s been on ice in Elfland all this time. Now he has a dragon and he’s not afraid to use it. If only he could be entirely sure which of the elf queens is the real enemy—the one whose army is poised to take back planet Earth for elf-kind.

In the cataclysmic battle to come, more than one lover—human and elf alike—may forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.

New Blurb

The fairies at the bottom of the garden are coming back with an army.

Ben is a modern, sceptical man but the fairies are trying to abduct him. When he hires Chris’s paranormal defence agency to protect him, he doesn’t expect to fall in love.

Chris is a refugee from his own time. He’s lost one lover to the elves already. Terrified, but determined that this time he’ll do better, he promises Ben that the elves will get him over his dead body.

If only that wasn’t looking so likely.

Under The Hill was voted Best Multicultural Fantasy 2013 in the mm romance Swirl Awards. Previously presented in two books, this new edition has the whole story in one volume. If you love KJ Charles’ Green Men and Magpie Lord books, you’ll love this.

Buy Under The Hill now and prepare to be enchanted.

~*~*~
Basically the advice was to simplify everything, focus on the characters, cut as much as you possibly could cut and include a clear call to action at the end. And considering that Amazon now only gives you about 200 words above the cut, you’ve really got no space to work with. Making it short is the way to go. What do you think?

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Romance.

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