27 October 2021

Strid: A Luminous Beings Mystery Launch Day!

It's here! It's finally here!!! The Luminous Beings series has officially begun as its first volume is published today. Click here or on the cover there to visit the book on Amazon, where it is in Kindle, paperback, and hardback format as of today! I can barely believe this day has arrived because it seems forever since Lucy and Annie first knocked on my door to tell me their story.

Several years ago, in what I lovingly call The Before Times, my sewing partner, Rennie ride-or-die, and friend Anne suggested that I should write a book about a duo that solved crime and looked steampunk-fabulous while larking about with giant hounds...not unlike those called Baskervilles. This was after I wrote a short piece about a train heist gone wrong, a mysterious woman with an Irish Wolfhound, and a gun that could shoot a rope of pure electricity rather than bullets. 

I did, and after several revisions and the decision not to include ALL the characters I came up with in one book (because that, children, is how 200k word count/800p fantasy novels are born), I managed to produce the lovely book-baby shown here. It is a steampunk-adjacent reimagining of West Yorkshire in the Edwardian industrial age, with a retelling of Irish mythology, an underwater gorge, and some very large hounds. 

Lucy and Annie Boyd were orphaned when their father and mother disappeared under strange circumstances. Annie, a tinkerer and inventor, had been working on some clockwork to help her mother after an accident in the mill - but losing her mother did not destroy her interest in creating. Lucy, a bookworm and general loose cannon, helps her sister test her creations with an eye to helping local law enforcement solve crime and clean up the village of Ingrow where they live.

How could they know that the murders at the mill were linked to ancient Celtic warring fae, who made their entrance into the human realm via the Strid, a dangerous underwater gorge in the middle of the River Wharfe?

This book is the product of a love affair with the North of England, and I hope that it will intrigue and inspire you as much as that part of the world did for me - and that you find your own Annie to round out your Lucy, and an Aoife and a Beaux to watch your back.

Just be careful where you discharge those weapons, okay?



25 October 2021

Music Monday: Spoilers, Sweetie

Okay, this is the last Monday before Nanowrimo starts, so I'm going to share with you a cinematic trailer from a game, and I want to show you what it is like for me as a writer. Sometimes when I heard a piece of music I can SEE the story unfolding along with it. For this one, I was running errands and this piece came on and y'all...I got to a traffic light and just cried. 

I know y'all are not surprised at all...at the very least I'm sharing my crazy.  Enjoy - the video is beautifully done.

18 October 2021

Music Monday: Unstoppable

 Going along with my love of superheroes and super ballads...this one is a great one for writing inspiration, coupled with one of the best superhero movies I've seen in ages and it doesn't even have Loki! (wrong pantheon) This isn't the original music video but it certainly fits.




Unstoppable
by Sia

All smiles, I know what it takes to fool this town
I'll do it 'til the sun goes down and all through the night time
Oh yeah
Oh yeah, I'll tell you what you wanna hear
Leave my sunglasses on while I shed a tear
It's never the right time
Yeah, yeah

I put my armor on, show you how strong how I am
I put my armor on, I'll show you that I am
I'm unstoppable
I'm a Porsche with no brakes
I'm invincible
Yeah, I win every single game
I'm so powerful
I don't need batteries to play
I'm so confident
Yeah, I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today

Break down, only alone I will cry on out
You'll never see what's hiding out
Hiding out deep down
Yeah, yeah
I know, I've heard that to let your feelings go
Is the only way to make friendships grow
But I'm too afraid now
Yeah, yeah

I put my armor on, show you how strong how I am
I put my armor on, I'll show you that I am
I'm unstoppable
I'm a Porsche with no breaks
I'm invincible
Yeah, I win every single game
I'm so powerful
I don't need batteries to play
I'm so confident
Yeah, I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today

I put my armor on, show you how strong how I am
I put my armor on, I'll show you that I am
I'm unstoppable
I'm a Porsche with no breaks
I'm invincible
Yeah, I win every single game
I'm so powerful
I don't need batteries to play
I'm so confident
Yeah, I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today

11 October 2021

Music Monday: Still Feeling It

This song always gets me up and moving, but the lyrics sometimes weigh heavy. Here's to your Mondayest Mondays. May you boogie through them until Tuesday, at least.



Feel It Still
by Portugal

Can't keep my hands to myself
Think I'll dust 'em off, put 'em back up on the shelf
In case my little baby girl is in need
Am I coming out of left field?

Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now
I been feeling it since 1966, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now
Let me kick it like it's 1986, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still

Got another mouth to feed
Leave her with a baby sitter, mama, call the grave digger
Gone with the fallen leaves
Am I coming out of left field?

Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now
I been feeling it since 1966, now
Might've had your fill, but you feel it still

Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now
Let me kick it like it's 1986, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still

We could fight a war for peace
(Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now)
Give in to that easy living
Goodbye to my hopes and dreams
Stop flipping for my enemies
We could wait until the walls come down
(Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now)
It's time to give a little to the
Kids in the middle, but oh 'til it falls
Won't bother me

Is it coming?
Is it coming?
Is it coming?
Is it coming?
Is it coming?
Is it coming back?

Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, yeah
Your love is an abyss for my heart to eclipse, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now
I've been feeling it since 1966, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still
Ooh woo, I'm a rebel just for kicks, now
Let me kick it like it's 1986, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still
Might've had your fill, but you feel it still

07 October 2021

Is this...Throw WAY BACK Thursday?

Y'all. Just...watch. I am enchanted. The line about being able to afford one's own sword and not needing said knight...perfection.

04 October 2021

Music Monday: Say MY Name

I have never made my love for Tom Hiddleston's Loki a secret. Let's just start there. Loki, the Norse trickster god in their original form AND the MCU's Loki have both inspired a lot of my antagonists AND protagonists, and the Hiddleston Loki is no different. If you can listen to this song and not think of Loki...specifically that clip from ComicCon when the MCU was hyping Thor:Dark World when Hiddleston appears and interrupts a panel as Loki...

Anyway, this video, Loki || Say My Name [collab with StoryDetective], is a perfect blend of the two and I love it. Enjoy, and know that this song will be blaring every time I sit down to write.


Spectrum
by Florence + the Machine

When we first came here
We were cold and we were clear
With no colours in our skin
We were light and paper's thin

And when we first came here
We were cold and we were clear
With no colours in our skin
Until we let the spectrum in

Say my name
And every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

Say my name
As every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

Say my name
As every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

And when we come for you
We'll be dressed up all in blue
With the ocean in our arms
Kiss your eyes and kiss your palms

And when it's time to pray
We'll be dressed up all in grey
With metal on our tongues
And silver in our lungs

Say my name
And every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

Say my name
As every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

Say my name
As every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

And when we come back we'll be dressed in black
And you'll scream my name aloud
And we won't eat and we won't sleep
We'll drag bodies from the ground

So say my name
And every colour illuminates
And we are shining
And we'll never be afraid again

Say my name
As every colour illuminates

Say my name
As every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

Say my name
As every colour illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again
Say my name
We are shining
Say my name
Say my name
And we will never be afraid again

01 October 2021

It's here! Sorta...

Strid preorder opens today!!

A magical detective tale set in Victorian Yorkshire. Irish mythology meets the Industrial North through a deadly underwater gorge. Sisters Lucy and Annie must find their roots to save West Riding from an ancient threat.

Cast your mind back to a Yorkshire that could have been...



Head to Amazon and preorder your copy today! Strid releases on 27 October and I can't wait for you to meet Lucy and Annie.

Music Monday: Of Living Masterpieces

I will admit to being low-key obsessed and potentially hyper fixated on the latest album from an artist I'd never really heard of before...