Jul 29 2015

A Conference with a View

My first GCLS Conference and what a fantastic experience! The words and photos on this blog barely begin to describe the effect of the time spent in New Orleans.

When I first saw the programme for this event last August, I didn’t hesitate to book. Dorothy Allison’s name jumped out and grabbed me. I’ve read all her books and although my life experiences have been nothing like hers, the power of her writing drew me in. What I didn’t expect when I attended the reading she gave, was the extra dynamics she could project – taking the words from the page and giving them life. That and her keynote speech were the exceptional highlights of the conference for me.

There were other wonderful times throughout the three and a half days (not nearly long enough) – meeting people, taking part in panels and even doing a reading of my own.

Another reason for making the long trip from the UK was the opportunity to meet my publisher and other Affinity authors for the first time. We are a diverse group with the others having come from Australia, New Zealand, as well as covering most of the United States from Washington State to Florida and places in-between—but we bonded well and had a great time getting to know each other. There was a lot of laughter.

Nancy did a great job with the table display, so I couldn’t resist having my photo taken with it on the first day. Many thanks to everyone who stopped by the Affinity table to talk with us and buy books.

The city of New Orleans is fascinating and I was pleased to have a room with a view, looking down on the Mississippi River. I could have sat and watched the ships going past all day. Only being there for a week and spending most of that time in the hotel, I didn’t see a lot of the city, but what I did see was delightful. Great to see that Katrina hadn’t succeeded in destroying the vibrant spirit of the people who live and work there.

My wife didn’t come with me but she had a bottle of Champagne delivered to my room when I arrived. Not wanting to drink alone, I shared this with some of the Affinity crew by way of celebrating completing my first public reading session without falling over, although I did start to lose my voice part way through. (And a kind woman in the audience brought me a glass of water.)

Affinity eBook Press is celebrating their 5^th year in publishing and with nine authors present for this event, they pushed the boat out (pun intended) in hospitality terms. And these women can party! I’m a lightweight on the drinking front and was in awe when Erin O’Reilly and J M Dragon downed their Fireballs in one. (I think several more were consumed after I’d gone to bed.) Saturday night there was cause for further celebration when ‘The One’ by J M Dragon received a Goldie Award.

Heartfelt thanks to the GCLS for their professional organisation of such a fantastic event. I met some lovely people and look forward to the developing of friendships through social media until we have the chance to meet again in person.

My books:

Arc Over Time – available from Affinity eBooks /Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / iTunes

Starting Over – available from Affinity eBook Press / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books / Smashwords / iTunes.

Jul 10 2015

Den’s Dilemma

Last week, I featured Jasmine Pepper, one of the characters from my second novel, Arc Over Time. This week, I’m giving you a look at Denise Sullivan.

Denise, usually called Den, is a journalist who lives in London and is in a sort-of long distance relationship with Dr Kathryn Moss, who lives two hundred miles north of the capital and looks like planning to move even further north. I say it’s a ‘sort-of’ LDR because Den is more committed to the relationship than Kathryn.

At the end of Chapter One, all seems to be well with these two. They’ve kissed and made up and had a weekend of great sex before Kathryn heads back up north. However, in Chapter Two, a week has passed and Den is feeling frustrated as she hasn’t had so much as a text message from her lover and she isn’t answering her phone calls.

So, it seems like a night out on the town might be a good idea…or not:

Excerpt from Chapter Two:

Den looked around the sparsely furnished room. No books anywhere. What had she let herself in for? The idea of a casual shag with this woman had seemed like a good idea an hour ago when they were dancing at the club.

A few beers, music, flashing lights, it hadn’t taken much to get in the mood, trying to recapture the carefree self who had revelled in nights like this. That was before she met Kathryn. And now, a Friday night, five days since Kathryn left on the early morning train, and she’d only had one short text from her. Den had tried to ring her but always got the answering service. She’d left messages, but nothing. It was as if the Saturday and Sunday before hadn’t happened.

Now, in this stranger’s house, hearing the toilet flush, the initial flash of desire left as quickly as it had appeared. She knew she couldn’t do this; it would just be going through the motions. Not fair to Lindy or Lucy, or whatever her name was. Shit.

A vision emerged from the bathroom. The woman looked pretty hot, stripped down to her underwear. A lacy black bra barely containing full, rounded breasts, and skimpy panties that covered even less of her mound of luscious-looking dark curls. Den could feel her body responding. She licked her lips.

“Look, I’m sorry, Lindy. But I can’t do this.”

“It’s Libby. What’s the matter, babe? Don’t you like what you see?” she arched her back provocatively.

“Sure. I like it a lot. But I have to go.” Den backed towards the door.

“You’re fucked up! You know that?” Libby’s full bottom lip trembled.

“Yeah, I know.” There was no graceful way to make her exit. “Maybe some other time. Bye.”

She stumbled out onto the street, not even sure where she was. They’d been glued to each other’s lips in the taxi ride from the club. Pulling out her phone, she clicked onto the map. Google would help her out.

Walking to the end of the road, she found her location before the phone app did. It wasn’t far from Henry’s. Christ, I hope I’m not going to run into Libby in one of my locals any time soon.

How do things work out for Den and Kathryn? Well, it’s all in the book. Although this is a sequel to my debut novel, Starting Over, I’m pleased that several reviewers have commented that it can be read as a stand-alone story.

The latest review now on Planet London’s website makes this point very well. And if I weren’t married already, I would be proposing to the reviewer who finished off the review with this comment: “Jen Silver is an accomplished writer and her book is an engaging read that wouldn’t be out of place on a shelf with fiction from the US.”

Golden Crown Literary Society

On another note – I’m counting down the days to my trip to NOLA for the GCLS conference. My publisher, Affinity E-book Press, is celebrating their fifth anniversary and ten of their authors will be at the event. This month they also published their 100^th book. So, please stop by the Affinity table in the Vendor area and say hello (and maybe pick up a paperback or two!).

Romance abounds in these two books:

Arc Over Time – available from Affinity eBooks /Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / iTunes

Starting Over – available from Affinity eBook Press / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books / Smashwords / iTunes.

Jul 2 2015

Jasmine-scented sex scenes

As mentioned in a previous post, Arc Over Time is a sequel to Starting Over and mainly explores the developing relationship between archaeology professor, Dr Kathryn Moss, and journalist Denise Sullivan. However, one of the other characters featured is Jasmine Pepper. She wasn’t very popular in the first book but as Den’s friend she does have more of a role in the second one.

A business meeting in Chapter One sets the stage for a new direction in Jas’s love life—subsequent events, as they developed—caught me by surprise, and Jasmine as well.

Excerpt from Chapter Two:

Just walking up the road to Max’s house was a thrill. This was a part of London she could only dream about living in. Her parents had helped her pay the deposit on her small garden flat in Stoke Newington and she was still paying off the mortgage ten years later.

She stopped outside the large white Georgian house, the engorged purple flowers of the climbing wisteria vine hanging lusciously over the front door. Taking a deep breath, Jas lifted the brass knocker but the door opened before it fell back in place.

“Ms Pepper. Please come in.” The speaker was dressed in a maid’s outfit, although a more risqué version than any worn by those employed at nearby royal palaces. When the maid turned to lead her down the hall, Jas got a view of the young woman’s bare cheeks. She swallowed nervously. What was she letting herself in for?

Max was leaning against the fireplace in the large sitting room where the scantily-clad maid had taken her. The sight of her hostess looking imposingly handsome dressed in a close-fitting tuxedo dispelled her misgivings. Whatever this evening was leading to, it was likely to be more fun than a lonely night in front of the telly watching repeats of Rizzoli & Isles.

I was aware, as I was writing this and later scenes involving Jasmine and Max, that my mother would be reading this book. It is dedicated to her, after all. She didn’t comment after reading it, other than to say she enjoyed the story. However, she had obviously felt the need to warn her two elderly lesbian friends that they might find the content a bit risqué as I received an email from one of them saying: “I fear I must disappoint your mother in not being shocked by anything (have to admit that I’d have liked to have had even a bit more of Max and her carrying-ons)”. I think, of the reviews I’ve received so far for Arc Over Time, this is the comment that has been most pleasing.

My mother’s friend also went on to say how much she enjoyed the descriptions of the Huddersfield area in West Yorkshire as it’s where she grew up.

If you haven’t taken the plunge yet into the world of Starting Over and Arc Over Time, why not? It’s an exciting journey for all the characters, but Jasmine definitely has the ride of her life this time around.

After reading that excerpt, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a cold drink…

(Disclaimer: the flowers pictured above are the closest I have to Jasmine growing in my garden. Apologies in advance to any horticulturalists who will know what they are.)

Romance abounds in these two books:

Arc Over Time, released by Affinity eBooks in May 2015 – available from Affinity eBooks /Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / iTunes

My debut novel, Starting Over – available from Affinity eBook Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bella Books,Smashwords, and iTunes.

Jun 20 2015

Book giveaways, reviews and audio recordings

It’s been a busy time on a number of fronts.

Book giveaways:

My guest blog on the UK Lesbian Fiction site went live Friday, 12 June…Voices in my Head.

Readers were just asked to leave a comment on the blog to be eligible for the draw to receive one of my books, signed. The response was great and as a result, I decided on not just one, but three giveaways. The lucky winners were selected via the Random number generator yesterday and notified by UK Lesfic today.

Last weekend I spent 8 hours on The Grill in the Lesbian Book Readers Club on Facebook.

The group has 4,279 members (as of writing) and a good number of these came on and asked questions, keeping me busy. The time passed quickly and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. At the end of the sessions on Sunday, I had to pick a winner for a giveaway from amongst the many questioners. With the help again of the Random Number generator, a winner was selected with the book duly dispatched.

Reviews

Last Saturday morning, I found out that Rainbow Book Reviews had posted a lovely review of Arc Over Time.

The reviewer, jj, certainly engaged with the characters and particularly ‘got’ the personality of Dr Kathryn Moss. As jj had also read and reviewed the first book Starting Over, I was greatly encouraged by this observation: “This book not only serves the reader of the opening book very well, but expands, appends, and gratifyingly pushes the boundaries on most of the original book’s direction and adds new ones I found above and beyond my expectations.”

Then on Friday morning, I downloaded the July issue of Diva and was thrilled to see Arc Over Time included on the Books page (p35 in the magazine) – next to a feature on one of my favourite romance writers of all time – Daphne du Maurier.

Audio recording

Earlier in the week I decided to emulate one of my fellow Affinity writers, Annette Mori, and try out a recording website, Chirbit. It seemed like a good way to practise for the reading I’m scheduled to do at the GCLS Conference. I’m not sure if this is what I am going to read in July but it is the right length at just under 5 minutes: the last scene in Chapter 3 of Arc Over Time. (Note: contains spoilers for anyone who’s not read Starting Over)

Arc Over Time, released by Affinity eBooks in May 2015 – available from Affinity eBooks /Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / iTunes

My debut novel, Starting Over – available from Affinity eBook Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bella Books,Smashwords, and iTunes.

May 25 2015

Journeys back in time

Taking a break from digging, my partner joined me for a weekend in a country house hotel where we indulged in a glass of champagne to celebrate the publication of my second novel, Arc Over Time.

On the Saturday we drove over to Vindolanda so that Anne could see the dig site. It was her first visit and she was amazed by the sheer scale of the work being undertaken there. The Vindolanda blog gives a good idea of what is being uncovered this season and what they hope to find with the help of the many volunteer excavators. I was there for period 4 of the digging season – May 10 to 22. During that time we uncovered a Roman road, the remains of a roundhouse from the year 209, found coins, small blades, a ring, lots of broken pottery and animal bones and teeth. In the vicus, the settlement outside the fort, the archaeologists are excavating at a much deeper level, six feet down. Only last week, this is where they found large sections of a leather tent, in excellent condition, made from goat skins. As well as enjoying the dig experience, I also met some lovely people – volunteers from all over the UK as well as Australia, Canada and the US.

Anne and I managed to dodge the raindrops during our walk around the fort and after a tour of the museum, we drove to a place called Alston to take a short trip on a railway line that is being restored along with the steam engine and train carriages. Below is the quintessentially English countryside view from the window.

All in all, it has been a busy few weeks. But now I need to carry on – promoting my new book and preparing myself for the GCLS Conference in New Orleans. Hope to see some of you there.

Arc Over Time, released by Affinity eBooks in May 2015 – available from Affinity eBooks / Amazon.com / Amazon.co.uk / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords.

May 8 2015

The adventure continues

Two years ago, when I retired, I thought of things I might do with my time. I even told friends and family that I was going to take up cooking. My wife was delighted and presented me with a Delia Smith cookbook when I arrived home from my last day at work. Two years on, Delia is still languishing at the back of a cupboard. (Nigella – I might have taken the book out to look at the cover once in a while.) However, during this time I have written several novels, two of them published.

Unfortunately for the cooking venture, I had already embarked on writing the first chapter of what became my debut novel, Starting Over. No one in the book makes anything more complicated than scrambled eggs. (Vegetarian lasagna gets a mention, but don’t ask me how to make it.) In fact, scrambled eggs make several appearances. (This is something I can cook…write about what you know!)

During my research on pottery—as one of the main characters is a potter—I stumbled across Vindolanda, the site of a Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall. My interest was further piqued when I discovered they had an ongoing volunteer dig programme. I could actually volunteer to spend two weeks on a real live archaeological dig. So, I booked a place for the start of the next digging season, April 2014.

I drove up to Northumberland on a beautiful early spring day. It’s roughly a three-hour drive from where I live so I took my time, but even so I was too early to book into my accommodation. To fill in time I visited Housesteads, the largest excavated fort site on the Wall. It was a rainy, windswept day and looking out from the high point of the North Gate, I could imagine how bleak it was for the soldiers on duty.

From there it was just a short drive to Vindolanda. Approaching it from the north, I realised I had chanced on the best way to see it for the first time. The sun came out and lit up the landscape. It was an impressive sight, when I turned off the main road and saw the excavation laid out below.

Why is Vindolanda so interesting? One of the main reasons is the discovery of the writing tablets. (The Romans gave us a lot of things, but no, they didn’t invent the iPad.) From the 1970s onwards, a number of these postcard size scraps have been found each year – small strips of wood with writing on them. It’s taken decades for scholars to translate the Latin handwriting, and the words offer amazing insights into how the occupants of the forts lived. And there is more than one fort – thought to be at least nine separate forts dating from the first century to the fourth.

So, I find myself on the verge of a return to Vindolanda. It won’t be the same…a different group of volunteers, later in the season, and seeing what was uncovered after I left the year before. But I’m looking forward to spending another two weeks on my knees, scraping away in the dirt, culling the debris of the past.

And it helps pass the time while I await the publication of my second novel, Arc Over Time – published by Affinity Ebook Press on 15 May 2015. Head over to their website if you want to read the first chapter.

My debut novel, Starting Over, is available from Affinity eBook Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bella Books,Smashwords, and iTunes.

Apr 29 2015

Choosing a title

Authors often get asked how they choose titles for their books. Do they have a working title or do they always know what it should be called?

In my case, I like to have a title at the beginning, rather than just calling it ‘work in progress’. Sometimes I’ve changed it part way through, but for my first published novel, Starting Over, the name stuck. As the story progressed, it became obvious that the title was a perfect fit.

Where did the title come from, then? It actually came from a song. At the time I started writing the book, I had just discovered a singer-songwriter duo – Chris While and Julie Matthews – and downloaded their ‘Best of’ album. I played it over and over again loving their combination of voice, guitar and lyrics. Knowing that they are also lesbians, added to the enjoyment of their songs. One of the tracks on the album was called “Starting All Over” – with a haunting tune and words that stayed in my mind.

(Now, in hindsight, I think perhaps I should have called it something else. There are a lot of books called Starting Over on Amazon. Mainly romances as well, but some are self-help books.)

The title of my second book, Arc Over Time (due to be released on 15 May), can also be credited to While and Matthews. On one of their other albums was a song called “Bridge Over Time”. So, why didn’t I stick with that? I think because the story is about a developing relationship as well as the connection with a historical character from the past.

I’ve also learned to be wary of title acronyms. My first published short story is called There Was A Time – which I thought was fine until I received an email from my publisher shortly before publication, just using the initials of each of the words of the title in the subject line. (Before I read the email I thought I had seriously upset them in some way.) I would have found another name if I thought the story would be referred to only by its initials. But I do smile when I see the cover.

What will my next book be called? Watch this space…and I’ll keep listening to While and Matthews.

Starting Over is available from Affinity eBook Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bella Books,Smashwords, and iTunes.

Apr 24 2015

“Never start a novel with dialogue.”

I’ve seen this listed many times as one of the top ten rules for how not to start a story. And I can understand the reason why. Readers don’t know who the characters are, so why will they care enough to read on with a bit of random dialogue thrown at them in the first sentence.

(I’ve also been warned about starting sentences with ‘And’. All in all, I’m not very good at following the rules.)

So my second novel, Arc Over Time, starts this way:

“She calls, you go running.” Jasmine looked at her friend in disgust. “Aren’t you fed up being second best?”

Now, I suppose the purists could construe this as a disastrous beginning. But I like to leap straight into a scene and as this book is a sequel, my thought is that most readers will have read the first one, Starting Over. They will, therefore, have an inkling who Jasmine is and the relationship she’s referring to. The following paragraphs give more background information and, right or wrong, I felt that this opening was the best way to introduce the reader to the story.

Anyway, feel free to let me know what you think. Was this a good way to start, or not?

The first chapter is available to read on the Affinity website. (Arc Over Time will be released as an ebook on 15 May 2015.)