Thriller writer, archaeologist and traveller
Writing Non-Fiction #2 Everyone has a book inside them, the cliché goes – and wits will say that in most cases it should stay there. Take a look at the week’s top ten book listings in your Sunday newspaper, or online. Quite a few are by people who are not primarily writers; they made their... Continue Reading →
The Jeffrey Flint archaeology mystery series has a new home. Joffe books acquired Lume Books in April 2023, including its backlists. The Flint e-books remain available through Amazon, including as a box set of all five. Joffe Books Website
If you aspire to be a published writer yet find the path to becoming a novelist a tricky one, it is worth considering that there is much more non-fiction published than fiction. Manuals, educational books, guidebooks, popular science, hobbies, lifestyle, business and craft books fill the shelves of the bookshops. Narrative history, travel books, biographies... Continue Reading →
The Alderney Literary Festival was the first on my calendar this year and lived up to its usual high standards. It has special attractions, not the least in that it is organised by some lovely people on the very special island of Alderney. It also has a unique focus on historical novels, biography and historical... Continue Reading →
Writing is not very photogenic. Between the cover reveals and the book signings there are mornings tapping at the computer and afternoons quietly reading research books, all punctuated by country walks to work out this scene or that and simply stretch my back. Before this year's conference season and travel season begins, here are a... Continue Reading →
Winter keeps up its stubborn rear-guard action, but at least dismal February is done with. All three of my personas have been distracted during the cold months. Normal life stopped for Christmas, then stopped again for my second helping of covid. Essential family commitments ate up much of January and February, squeezing my writing time.... Continue Reading →
Peter Le Vasseur's Painting Treasure Trove was completed in 2021, just in time to be included as the frontispiece for A Brush With Life. It is a complex work with a simple message. A logger peers into a hole he has created in the rainforest canopy and for the first time recognises the diversity of... Continue Reading →
Most authors writing the biography of an artist have a straightforward task. The artworks are complete, and any meaning or symbolism embedded in art is fixed. It is slightly more complex if the artist is still alive and still producing new works, but a line can still be drawn. Time Limit (1979) Peter Le Vasseur... Continue Reading →
Blackshirt Masquerade is historical fiction, so required a fair amount of research before it could be plotted, and then top-up research whilst drafts were in progress. It is set in 1935 when Hugh Clifton is persuaded by MI5 to infiltrate Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. Much of the action and intrigue takes place... Continue Reading →
All too often, angst-ridden writers post about how they have lost or messed up their work in progress. Surprisingly this includes traditionally published authors with many books behind them; laptops are stolen, manuscripts are corrupted or deleted in their entirety. The writer’s biggest crisis is losing an entire book – the modern equivalent of leaving... Continue Reading →