June 2024. Season Five Ebooks. Audio Books. New Books. More Books.... Lots of Bookstuff.

Hello,

I wanted to pop an update onto my site about some awesome news I had a few days ago.

Posting on social media just doesn’t reach everyone. So, I figured I’d do an old-fashioned blog to try and reach the gorgeously gorgeous readers browsing through my site.

It’s been an odd first half of the year in many ways. I’d spent most of 2023 writing eight new episodes for Season Five of The Undead.

That process was a real journey for me. The series is big, both in terms of episode numbers, audience, and of course, the actual story itself with multiple storylines and lots of characters.

I wanted to focus on other characters and see how they all functioned without constant battles and motion. Would they turn on each other? What nuances would show? How would their relationships to each other develop, or fracture?

The multiple episodic format also allowed me to shift focus onto other parts of the story.

I loved the process and creating eight stories within one bigger narrative with each episode building towards the climax.

So far, six episodes have been released, with The Undead 32 coming out this Friday (21st June). The feedback from readers has been outstanding.

While The Undead episodes have been coming out, I’ve been busy re-writing a novel I released in 2014 called Huntington House. I always loved the character and the basic opening of the story, but I never really liked the rest of it. The whole thing has been re-written with a new story and plot and new characters. It’s still Mike Humber going to stay in Huntington House, but the rest is all new – and I absolutely bloody love it. It’s super dark and twisty. That’ll be out mid to end of August 2024 under a new title.

I’d also previously written a novel that sits in the same universe as A Town Called Discovery – An Old Lady novel (as yet untitled), but with a new setting and new characters. Time travel and parallel worlds. Really exciting and gritty and full of fun and action and adventure.

I never released it because one of the characters in that story popped off the pages – so when I finished, and once the new Mike Humber book was re-written, I then wrote a whole bunch of material developing that single character from the other story.

I knew the character development would also impact the first story – which is why I held it back. But now that character and her world is developed, I can now go back and tweak the other one and get that geared up for release towards the end of 2024.

The other big thing I’ve been developing is The Writing Class for the Working Class, which are short tutorial videos I put out on TikTok giving guidance to working class people who are interested in writing fiction with guided lessons from the very start,  and all through the key stages of actually writing a novel. Blending. Dialogue. Characterisation. Good rules. Bad rules etc.

I love making those videos. They are developing a big audience too. The traction is really high and growing all the time. It feels rewarding and somewhat fulfilling to see so many positive comments from people who have always wanted to write but didn’t know where to start.

And then there was my stance on NO AI and coming out against AI produced books on Amazon and the dangers AI poses to the arts. That took off too.

All of that is to say I have been extremely busy. I’m working seven days a week at the moment. I have been for months. And I can feel it too. I’m knackered and burning out.

That prompted me to advertise and take on a PA, which should help take some pressure off. I had over 60 responses to the advert within a week. Blimey!

Then this weekend, on Sunday 16th June, I received a notification that I was now one of the top ten most downloaded authors on Amazon in the UK.

I was so busy that I hardly took any notice at first.

The notification comes via the Amazon KDP system which rewards the most highest performing authors each month. I’m nearly always in the top 100, and have been in the top 50 quite a bit, and even the top 20 a few times.

But this was different. The reward was higher, and on checking, I realised I am now in the top ten.

That really caught me out. It made me stop and think and take stock at how far I have come. It’s so easy to get caught up in all the finer workings and the minutia of it all with releases and dealing with social media and writing new plots and stories to miss that growth.

I knew from the sales, reviews and traction online that my profile has increased a lot. I’ve been featured in big news outlets in the UK and the US several times now, and I’m on Wikipedia.

But even knowing all that didn’t actually resonate because I was absorbing all of those developments day by day while working and doing all of those things.

It’s been very hard work getting here, but what a thing though. I think it will take a little while to process that, but I also felt a need to share it as many of you have been on that journey with me for a long time.

The Undead 32 will be out this week. The Undead 33, which is the final episode in Season Five will be out Mid-July.

The first audio for Season Five, which is Part 22 should be out on 1st Aug. I’ll post as soon as I know more.

There you go! June 2024. Ebooks. Audio Books. New Books and More Books!

Much love! 🥰