“Expecting someone?” Sally handed out plates of food from the trolley. “Chicken drumsticks?” “That’s for me, dear,” said Babs. “We’re not expecting anyone, no.” “Meat pie?” “Me please,” said Constance. “Here you are. That gentleman by the bar’s been watching you all. Don’t you think he looks dapper? Or maybe Read more
“Here they come. Seven pm on the dot.” Harold, landlord of the Graveyard Tap public house, nodded to the four elderly women as they sauntered in. “They’re not regulars.” Sally finished pulling a pint of ale. “They’re here every Halloween,” he said. “We always reserve the table by the fire Read more
I’m one of those authors who likes to prepare as much as possible before I begin to work on a new novel. One aspect of that preparation is plenty of research. You might think that because I write fantasy stories, the whole concept will be born from my imagination but Read more
Back in 2019, in the run up to the release of Haven Wakes, I wrote a blog post about the inspiration behind the novel. I wrote about magic, the colourful folk I’d grown up with, and literary characters who had stayed with me for years. Now, with a release date Read more
I’ve been so head down in editing Book 2 of the Haven Chronicles that I completely forgot about writing a blog post until today, which unfortunately (or fortunately, in my case) coincided with me taking two hours out of my working day to get my hair done for the first time since Autumn 2020. Now, I’m back at my desk freshly coiff-ed and raring to go. Except…
Today, I’d like to introduce you to M J Mallon, YA author, poet, photographer and book blogger. 1. When did you first call yourself a writer? I’d say I first called myself a writer when I started my blog six years ago. A lot has happened since then: I published Read more
“So it’s more like super-hero powers than wands and spells then?” “Super-hero. I like that,” said Hartley. “It’s actually a little of each.” Haven Wakes, and the other books in the Haven Chronicles series, are filled with magic. I knew from the outset that I didn’t want to copy what Read more
In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re full-on into shopping mode in time for the festive season. One of the best presents, in my opinion, that you can give is a book. I suppose I would say that as a writer, but I’m not flogging my own novel in today’s blog Read more
NaNoWriMo (or to the uninitiated ‘National Novel Writing Month’) kicks off at the beginning of November. So what’s it all about? Well, the aim is to write write write for the entire month, working towards a total word count of 50,000. I’ve never yet made it all the way to Read more
It’s been one week since Haven Wakes was published by Burning Chair, and I’ve been delighted with the response so far – so many kind words, reviews, and shout-outs on social media. So what now? Well, I suppose I’d better write the next book in the series. Book two in Read more