HEADS AND TALES - AN UPDATE

Kathleen enjoying a cuddle with my daughter's little dog

Themis with his ipad!

A small portion of Kathleen's MSs

Whilst as far as this blog is concerned, I may have seemed to do nothing for the last few weeks, I have been beavering away, and had no time to spare to write posts.

VISITING KATHLEEN, FINDING TREASURE

Kathleen is now living in sheltered accommodation and her house- (which she once called "Hell Hall", so no regrets there) - is sold, and I have come into a wonderful collection of manuscripts, books, lecture notes, photos, and notebooks.

Kathleen herself doesn't want any of these possessions any more, but I was interested to see that her own copy of Moon in Leo was in her room, sitting by her bed, and very well thumbed. Kathleen and her cousin, who manages her affairs, are very happy for me to take charge of these papers and become, in effect, Kathleen's literary executor.

The estate agent who sold the house very kindly kept the stuff- a full carload- in his office until my daughter was able to pick them up. it took twelve trips to her flat from her car to get them home, where they filled her spare room. They then filled our car, and are now filling my office! And it will take us many months to sort and catalogue the thousands of pages we have got.

Partially sorted papers and books in my office

It is very exciting though: I have already found a beautifully written story about Guinevere called The Once and Future Queen, which I will probably publish as an eBook. It has an unusual feminist angle, and is not at all the normal romantic stuff. Look out  for it! There may also be a fifth novel- we have found several chapters and copious notes, maps and even photos of the settings- all Cumbrian. Meanwhile, work continues on Bride of the Spear and the other books in the Kingdoms of the North Trilogy.

ROYALTY FREE FICTION

I love Deborah Swift's blog- Royalty Free Fiction, with its many posts by different writers. Deborah says, 'History is full of ordinary people with extraordinary stories', and she invites authors to tell the story behind the story. She asked me to tell the story of Moon in Leo, and I was delighted, but found it very difficult to write, as I had to tell Kathleen's own harrowing story. It was painfully difficult to distance myself enough to do it! I will post a notice here when the Moon in Leo story is published, but meanwhile please visit this intriguing blog. You will not be disappointed, but you may be a little poorer, as you will want to read all the books featured! I did.

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

The main activity that has dominated my life recently however, has been all-consuming. I have been working closely with author Julia Newsome to bring out her novel The Boy with Two Heads- her first full length novel for young adults. We had originally hoped to get it onto bookshelves before Christmas, but as Julia and I are obsessive perfectionists, it has taken longer than expected. You will soon be able to pre-order it on Amazon however, in plenty of time for the Olympics. More on this soon...

And this blog is due an overhaul too! I will fit it all in somehow, but the Christmas cards might be a bit late!