May 20 2023

Listen in to Country Living

Country Living has been out on audio for a few weeks now. But it still feels new. Hearing the characters come to life is always a delight. Nicola Victoria Vincent has a great repertoire of different voices and accents and her narration always delivers another dimension to the story.

Because my books feature mainly older women, we had fun finding examples of actors or newsreaders whose voices might fit particular characters. For a professional woman based in London, I thought of Emily Maitlis. Then for another character with a less serious background, maybe Jennifer Saunders. Some of the suggestions ranged from Clare Balding to Nicola Walker to Sarah Lancashire. Certainly no shortage of choice. Possibly the biggest challenge was finding a suitable candidate for a young woman from Canada. Quite a range of voices, including the more local Hebden Bridge ones. But nothing that Nicola couldn’t handle.

So, if you want to have a listen, check it out here: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

Changing Times

Reviews have been very few and far between for this book, but the ones received so far have been very positive. It was wonderful to see these words along with a five star rating on Amazon.de:

Continuing 30 years later.
Written wonderful and very interesting to find out what happened to characters of Changing Perspective
A absolutely must read ….and for sure some tears are included.
Anyone who enjoyed Changing Perspective can simply not pass this on up.

Many thanks to the German reader who posted this.

Check out Changing Times: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon AU / Amazon DE / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Google Play / Smashwords / Apple Books

Apr 5 2023

Cheshire getaway

Our two day break last week was a mix of sunshine and showers weather-wise. We saw a lot of the countryside and included a visit to the Boars Head pub (no apostrophe), Beeston Castle, the Cavern bookshop (indeed cavernous with tons of books), and the market town of Nantwich. The hotel gardens had some interesting features. Still early spring, so only a few trees starting to blossom. Overall a good trip and invigorating to see new places.

Food at the Boars Head — Think we ordered too much food.

Entering the Victorian built gateway to Beeston Castle

Looks to be having second thoughts about swimming.

Maybe she’s thinking she should have shaved her legs.

St Mary’s church in Nantwich. Built with local sandstone (needs a bit of a clean).

Changing Times review certificate from LesBiReviewed.

Changing Times – published 1 October 2022: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon AU / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Google Play / Smashwords / Apple Books

Print and eBooks by Jen Silver are available from Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon, Bella Books, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Apple Books

Audiobooks – narrated by Nicola Victoria Vincent:

Darcy Comes Home: Audibl e U K / Amazon UK / Amazon US / iTunes

Starting Over: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / iTunes

Changing Perspectives: Audible / Amazon / iTunes / Beek / Chirp / Scribd / Google Play / Kobo / Nook (also on Spotify)

Apr 6 2020

Lockdown comfort reading

Books I’ve been re-reading over the last three weeks:

I started with Swallows and Amazons, a regular source of comfort reads. Coot Club and The Big Six are gentle stories about sailing on the Norfolk Broads. I’ve never sailed in my life and never quite mastered rowing or paddling a canoe either. But I love these stories and marvel at how self-sufficient these children are. However, when Arthur Ransome wrote the stories in the 1930s, it was a very different world.

coot_six

After messing about in boats, I moved on to more adult fare with Jasper Fforde. I read books 1 to 5 of the Thursday Next series. They’re all good fun but I think my favourite is the third one – The Well of Lost Plots when Thursday has to hide out in an unpublished novel and continues with her training as a Jurisfiction agent under Miss Havisham.

fforde_five

Time then for a complete change of scene and on to some lesfic. My first stop here was an old favourite, which I discovered on the Mooch café’s Books for sale shelf five years ago. (I got it signed by the wonderful Karin K when I attended my first GCLS Conference in New Orleans in 2015.) Just Like That, for anyone who doesn’t know, is a delightful lesbian take on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. (And the glass of wine is relevant!)

Karin_that

After that, I needed more Kallmaker and found I had her very first published novel on my Kindle. In Every Port is a great coming out story with historical overtones, set at the time of Harvey Milk’s assassination and the Jonestown massacre.

Sticking with old favourites, I then moved on to detective stories starting with Murder at the Nightwood Bar and The Beverley Malibu by Katherine V Forrest. KVF never disappoints.

malibu_mine

That brings me up to date as I’ve just started on the first of the Lauren Laurano series – Everything You Have is Mine by Sandra Scoppettone.

So, why all the reading? Apart from the obvious – only going out when necessary. The writing is just not happening. Making notes for this blog is the most I’ve been able to do. I’m at the halfway point in my next WIP – but it’s not progressed past there in the last month.

For something else to do, I’ve recorded myself reading Chapter One of Country Living. No need for any professional audio book narrators to be worried. I’m no good at character voices and don’t have the skill to edit out the occasional bleep or stumble. And I certainly can’t compete with the lovely Clare Ashton who is reading her book Poppy Jenkins chapter by chapter (available on YouTube). But here is the audio file, if you want to listen.

CL_Jen

Reviews for Country Living

There haven’t been many, but I am very grateful for the reviews I’ve received so far for Country Living. (All five stars!) This one appeared on the Amazon UK site on 27 March:

Heart warming, fast moving and so true to life!

After 20 years of living together, marriage and comfortable ‘rubbing along’, you think you know someone – but maybe you don’t! This cracking story so well written. I became fully immersed in the sadness of middle aged Peri who suddenly realises her wife has been cheating on her and has to start rebuilding her life. Set in Yorkshire, England, the vivid writing transports you to the hills, dales and farm life of this beautiful countryside. And as always with Jen Silver’s books the plot is multi layered delivering a cool and sparkling look at contemporary life and adding real ‘edge’ to the story. Balancing out the romances, there are secrets, intrigues and surprise twists. Young and middle aged characters have experiences so recognisable – I felt I truly reading about people I know. There are always high expectations of Jen Silver’s books and ‘Country Living’ is one of her best.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far. Hope you’re staying safe and maybe enjoying rereading some of your own comfort reads.

Country Living – published 1 March 2020 – availabe from: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon AU / Amazon DE / Amazon FR / Bella Books / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Mar 17 2018

Of sheds and other things…

Two years ago I posted a blog about finding the loaded gun. Not in the real sense, but in the literary one. I’ve also written about being stuck in the mushy middle. This is where I am now with my current work-in-progress. In the middle of a bog and sinking fast. And I haven’t located the metaphorical ‘loaded gun’.

Anyway this started me thinking about another way of looking at the problem. A few weeks ago we had our garden shed removed. It had been in place for 24 years and was rotting away. (Bear with me, this will relate to the writing shortly.) Taking it away wasn’t a problem – seeing what was underneath was. The archaeological finds weren’t very interesting. Old bricks, rubber matting, bits of pipe and so on…even an old golf ball.

rubble

So before we have a new shed installed, we need to have this heap of slag dug out and a level base laid. I figured this was a useful analogy for writing a novel. A firm foundation is required. The question I’m asking myself on my current WIP is…am I trying to build my story on a large pile of crap? At 28,000 words, this is an uncomfortable thought.

(Note: if you read my ‘Writing blues’ blog posted on 10 Feb – I abandoned the extension of the ‘Maybe This Christmas’ story and went back to the previous WIP. I have, since then, only managed another six thousand words on this project and passed the 15 March deadline when I had planned to have the first draft finished. Hence my dilemma!)

project_target

To quote John Cleese’s famous line from Monty Python’s Flying Circus…“And now for something completely different”…time to move on, perhaps.

Portrait woman

Last Friday morning, I was greeted with this lovely review of Changing Perspectives by Kate Cudahy. I love the fact that she really ‘got’ the two main characters, Dani and Camila. The opening paragraph of the review certainly gave me an early morning buzz:

This is such a delight of a book – I enjoyed it so much that I read it in two days and then felt sorry there wasn’t more. Set in the early 90s, Changing Perspectives is more than just a romance. It also sensitively unpacks the whole concept of kink and why some girls (and guys) are into it.

New book

I have a new book coming out in June, published by Affinity Rainbow Publications. Calling Home is quite different from my other books and I will have a cover reveal soon as well as the back of the book description to share. In the meantime, here’s a taster:

Berry opened her eyes to see Galen standing by the bed holding her duvet. Relief swept through her until her brain registered that the light was on and she was naked.

“Um, sorry.” Galen dropped the duvet back down and Berry brought it up to her chin. “I heard a noise.” She sat down at the end of the bed. “Are you okay? Can I get you anything?”

“Water,” she managed to croak out. There was a glass on her bedside cabinet but it was empty. Berry didn’t remember drinking it.

‘Okay. Be right back.” Galen took the glass into the bathroom to fill it. “Sip it slowly,” she said when she came back.

Berry didn’t know which was more embarrassing—the fact that Saff must have told Galen about her nightmares, or that Galen had seen her naked. However, it did have the effect of banishing the memories that held her captive most nights.

When she had drained the last of the water, Galen took the glass from her. “Do you want some more?”

“No, or I’ll be peeing all night. If you could just fill it again and leave it here, that would be great.”

Now that Berry was more awake she realised Galen was only wearing a tank top and boxer shorts. The view from both the front and the back was mesmerising.

Galen placed the full glass on the cabinet. “Would you like me to stay for a while? Help you get back to sleep.”

“That’s not necessary. I should be okay now.”

“Well, it will save me a trip down the hall. Scoot over and I’ll get the light.”

Berry thought that sleep was going to be impossible with Galen lying next to her but when she opened her eyes again the morning light was streaming through her open windows. And she was alone.

And while I wait for my writing muse to return from wherever she’s sunning herself enjoying a mojito or two, I will sit here and contemplate the meaning of sheds.

7books

Buying Links:

Changing Perspectives: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Running From Love: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Circle Dance: Affinity eBooks /Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Christmas at Winterbourne: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK /Barnes & Noble /Bella Books / Smashwords /Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy:

Starting Over: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books /Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Arc Over Time: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Carved in Stone: Affinity eBooks / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble / Bella Books/ Smashwords / Apple iTunes

The Starling Hill Trilogy Omnibus edition: Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords

Nov 21 2017

A change of perspective

Before Changing Perspectives was released I told family and friends that this book was somewhat different from my other published novels…a trigger warning of sorts. They’ve all been very supportive, buying and reading my work, even if lesbian romance isn’t their preferred reading material. (My brother worries about what it does to his Amazon account algorithm – suggestions coming up of what he might like based on his recent purchases! And he’s moved my books to a top shelf in his living room so that his young grandson can’t reach them.)

So I was delighted when my mother sent an email saying she’d read the book…and enjoyed it! In her words: “Might have skipped quickly over some parts but people are entitled to their pleasures.”

What a lovely way of expressing it.

The joy of getting my hands on the print version!

Reviews and comments from other readers have been positive so far. I’m happy for my characters. It took years to gain the confidence to put their story out there. Six novels later, I thought it was time…all it needed was a change of perspective…from me.

Excerpt:

Camila stood by the window watching the play of morning light on the water. The tide was in and there were little waves. She watched several rowers going past; it was the start of a bright, breezy day.

She turned back to look at Dani, asleep. The bedclothes were a tangled mess and Dani was sprawled inelegantly amongst the heap. Camila could see the unmistakable outline of welts across Dani’s buttocks. They would have to talk about it, but she didn’t know how to start. It wasn’t something she had any experience with and it was easy to react negatively—shocked, revolted—but what did she really feel? What did Dani really feel?

She had a choice, of course—leave now and never see Dani again. It had been fun, two nights of the best sex she had ever had. Keep the memory intact. Before anything went wrong. Before they found out what they didn’t like about each other.

But she couldn’t, not right away. She felt tears starting; Dani had somehow unlocked the floodgates, emotions she didn’t know she had. Looking at Dani, remembering her touch, she was getting wet. Camila wanted her to touch her again now. She was sure it had never been like this with Allison, even in their early days together.

“Dani.” She shook her shoulder gently. Dani rolled over and opened her eyes. Camila couldn’t read her expression. Was she just sleepy, or was she wondering where she was and why? Camila bent over and kissed her. Dani seemed awake enough to immediately find and grasp one of her breasts. Dani knew exactly what she wanted; her touch was firm and accurate. Camila heard herself crying out her pleasure, her desire for more. She had never been a “screamer”. She had never thought of herself as being very sensual at all. She had been wrong.

Is this likely to work out? Dani, the out and proud leather dyke…with Camila, the rigidly closeted ice queen both at work and in her very private life. As the back of the book blurb states: