Oct 21 2025

Of Pumpkins and Penguins

Halloween is almost upon us. However, Hebden Bridge isn’t hosting a Pumpkin Trail this year. These photos are from a few years ago when pumpkin carving took place in St George’s Square and delightful pumpkin scenes were scattered through the town.

Meanwhile, the garden centre in Walsden has certainly gone all out with Mr Riggs’ Pumpkin Patch. My knowledge of the large orange fruit is fairly limited, so I didn’t know there were white pumpkins (and some other different-coloured squash varieties as well). Also thought it was a vegetable until I Googled it. (That reminds me of a debate in one of Jasper Fforde’s books – was the Gingerbread Man a cake or a biscuit (cookie in US-speak)?)

Speaking of tasty snacks, it’s now come to light that a Penguin is no longer classed as a ‘chocolate’ biscuit. The manufacturers say that consumers won’t notice a difference in taste. Now that the coating is out of the wrapper so to speak, we will be testing this claim for authenticity.

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:

A Wild Moon Rises: Audible UK/ Audible US / Apple Books / Kobo / Nook (B&N) / Storytel / Google Play / Libro.fm / Audiobooks / Everand (Scribd) / Spotify

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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

Starting Over: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

Changing Perspectives: Audible / Amazon /Apple Books / Beek / Chirp / Everand (Scribd) / Google Play / Kobo / Nook / Spotify

Sep 2 2025

AI…good or bad?

“The Medium is the Message”

These words by Canadian philosopher Marshall McLuhan were a catch-phrase when I was growing up in the sixties. Along with “Global village” – a concept also attributed to McLuhan. People around the world were now connected through the technologies of the time. One of the main concerns was the impact of television on behaviour…the good and the bad effects. His ideas from the last century are even more relevant today. Although the messages in the media are now more accessible on a personal level.

“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and thereafter the tools shape us.”

This is another McLuhan quote which I think epitomises where we are with AI at this moment in time. At first it was a tool with limited use…search engines, auto-correct on our texts and emails…to the overarching use now. We’re realising the negative effects too late to pull back. So the only option is to embrace it but be aware of its limitations. For example, if students use it to write essays, they need to do fact-checking, where possible, and also check any references provided – as they are may not actually exist. Spelling is still a useful skill. Otherwise how do you know if the auto-correct is correct.

Ever since the invention of photo-enhancing software, it’s been possible to create fake images. But that needed a degree of mastering the full range of an application’s features which not everyone undertook. My use of Photoshop, for example, was limited to cropping and lightening or darkening photographs. Now more advanced features can be done easily with AI tools. A swipe of your finger and the overflowing rubbish bin spoiling a scenic view is gone.

We’re seeing the damaging effects on all creative arts, not just photography: writing, acting, painting. Where does it end? Everything you view or experience can be or has been faked.

Soon, as anyone who reads/watches science-fiction knows, human beings will be surplus to requirements. And, who is to say that’s a bad thing considering the mess we’ve managed to make of living on this planet.

On a different note, I hope you’ve all enjoyed a lovely summer. It’s been a dry and sunny one for most parts of the UK. Here in Yorkshire, we have a hosepipe ban in place as the reservoirs, rivers and canals are at extremely low levels. Now that we’re in September, I’m sure the rains will come and we can start moaning about the cold and wet.

If you haven’t read any of my books, then here’s a link to my publisher’s website. I can assure you that none of them have been written with the help of AI. My own un-artificial, limited level of intelligence came up with the stories.

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:

A Wild Moon Rises: Audible UK/ Audible US / Apple Books / Kobo / Nook (B&N) / Storytel / Google Play / Libro.fm / Audiobooks / Everand (Scribd) / Spotify

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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

Starting Over: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

Changing Perspectives: Audible / Amazon /Apple Books / Beek / Chirp / Everand (Scribd) / Google Play / Kobo / Nook / Spotify

Jul 11 2025

Cats in books

I conducted a survey of how may cats have featured in my novels. So far, it’s a total of 13 in ten books.

Fleur and Soames: The Starling Hill Trilogy (Starting Over/Arc Over Time/Carved in Stone)

Stevie: The Circle Dance

Hermione: Running From Love

Slinky and Babs: Deuce

Jasper: Country Living

Marge, Bart, and Korky: Darcy Comes Home

JonSnow/Dusty and Micah: Changing Times

Loki: A Wild Moon Rises

I’m very much a cat person, while my wife prefers dogs. But we have neither as pets because of allergies. Therefore, I’m stuck for photos of resident cats to accompany this blog post. However, there is this limited selection of visitors and neighbouring felines.

Piddles: rescued from freezing outside our door. Taken in by the family next door and so named by the children as she wasn’t house-trained.

Sammy: seen through neighbouring window in his favourite bird-watching spot.

Ginger: real name not known but a fairly regular visitor as he roams around the area. Always up for a scratch and a cuddle.

So if you’re looking for summer reading featuring lesbians with cats, there’s a fine selection available with the links below.

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:

A Wild Moon Rises: Audible UK/ Audible US / Apple Books / Kobo / Nook (B&N) / Storytel / Google Play / Libro.fm / Audiobooks / Everand (Scribd) / Spotify

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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

Starting Over: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

Changing Perspectives: Audible / Amazon / Apple Books / Beek / Chirp

Apr 11 2025

Covid killed my café coffee habit

I was a regular customer of several coffee shops in Hebden Bridge until March 2020. After that, lockdowns came and went, but my frequent consumption of cappuccinos never returned. I saved a lot of money plus additional calories – because where there was coffee, there was very likely cake.

One of my usual haunts was Mooch on Market Street. It became a favourite when I discovered the shelf containing books for sale had a selection of lesbian fiction titles, some dating back to the last century. I know I picked up a Stoner Mctavish book there as well as one of Joan Nestle’s anthologies.

On publication of my first book, Starting Over, I asked the owner if it was okay for me to add one of my books to the shelf. She was happy with that and over the years I’ve placed at least one of each of my novels there. A Wild Moon Rises is the latest one to be added.

The selection has dwindled somewhat since my coffee days, but I was pleased to see five of my titles have disappeared. I hope they’ve gone to good homes.

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:

A Wild Moon Rises: Audible UK/ Audible US / Apple Books / Kobo / Nook (B&N) / Storytel / Google Play / Libro.fm / Audiobooks / Everand (Scribd) / Spotify

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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

Starting Over: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

Changing Perspectives: Audible / Amazon / Apple Books / Beek / Chirp

Mar 11 2025

Where to buy LGBTQ+ books?

This is a hot topic at the moment with many readers wanting to boycott a certain outlet. It has been pointed out by many other authors (and some readers) that this will only hurt the little people…ie. independent authors and small publishers. (And even the larger publishers in our community will suffer as they don’t have the same financial resources as mainstream ones).

Looking for an alternative? My publisher, Affinity Rainbow Publications, has a website. You can purchase ebooks directly from them. Well worth a look and you may come across some authors you hadn’t heard of before.

All my novels and audio books with links to a range of outlets are listed here. After Affinity, Amazon is next one named on the list because that’s where most of my sales come from. There’s no getting away from the fact that it has the widest reach on a global scale that no other company can match. But, the alternatives are there to use – for ebooks anyway.

Print books are another matter altogether. Amazon’s Print On Demand service is also a boon to small businesses. Mainstream publishers can deal with large print runs in terms of not just the print costs but also distribution and storage.

So, here is where to find my books. Please have a browse and maybe take a chance on a lesser-known author and publisher.

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:

A Wild Moon Rises: Audible UK/ Audible US / Apple Books / Kobo / Nook (B&N) / Storytel / Google Play / Libro.fm / Audiobooks / Everand (Scribd) / Spotify

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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

Starting Over: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

Changing Perspectives: Audible / Amazon / Apple Books / Beek / Chirp

Jul 21 2024

Coming Soon: A Wild Moon Rises

Ten days to the release date of my new book on August 1^st. Number thirteen, lucky for some. Or should I count in my novella, Three Mile Cache, and call it number thirteen and a half to be on the safe side. I’m not superstitious, really. Am I?

Releasing a new novel always brings on a bout of imposter syndrome. Is the story any good, etc. No matter how times I’ve been in this position, it’s still nerve-wracking.

Like my other books, this one is a romance. The main setting, after the prologue and first few chapters, is the north of England at the seaside. Family history is also a feature, along with questions of inheritance, a persistent ex-lover, and new connections.

(Published by Affinity Rainbow Publications)

Setting the scene:

A Wild Moon Rises: released August 1st 2024

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:

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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)

Jul 1 2023

GCLS Past and Present

I’ve been hit this week with a bittersweet nostalgia…seeing all the photos posted on social media of this year’s Golden Crown Literary Society’s conference in Denver. (The city locations for each yearly conference may change, but the hotel carpets have the same eye-wateringly exuberant patterns!)

I attended three conferences in past years and had amazing experiences in each one. The first was at New Orleans in 2015. A lot of firsts at that event…meeting the Affinity team, other authors and readers, participating on panels, and doing a reading in front of an audience, signing books. It was all very new and exciting.

*New Orleans: Annette Mori, Jen Silver, C D Cain, Ali Spooner*

The following year the conference was held in Washington DC. Highlights include: Annette Mori winning a Goldie for her book, Locked Inside; getting my photo taken with Lee Lynch, asking Katherine V Forrest to sign a copy of Curious Wine (and surprised she knew my name); seeing Velvet Lounger dressed up as Frank-N-Furter for the Rocky Horror Picture Show evening.

2017 was my last GCLS conference, held in Chicago. It had some very fine moments too. Lots of fun and laughter, especially with the Affinity crew.

*Affinity authors in Chicago: Angela Koenig, Renee MacKenzie, Annette Mori, Ali Spooner, Jen Silver*

So, thank you to the delegates sharing their experiences from the Denver conference. It’s good to see familiar faces and new. Wishing all the finalists good luck for tonight’s awards ceremony (1 July 2023).

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:

Country Living: Audible UK / Audible US / Audible DE / Audible CA / Audible AU / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Apple Books

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)

Oct 10 2022

October books

My debut novel, Starting Over, was published on 1 October 2014. So it seemed auspicious that my 12th novel was released on 1 October 2022. It’s also fitting that Changing Times begins in October…the start of the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness” (as observed by John Keats in his poem, To Autumn).

Changing Times is set in London 2023 and has a cast of characters ranging in age from 20s to 70s. It is something of a family saga, with the older folks from Changing Perspectives interacting with the younger generation. The focus is mainly on the lives and loves of Holly and Luc Barker.

Back in 1993, Holly and Luc were very young, aged four and six. And several of the other young people who come into the story weren’t yet born. That’s why I think of the book as a family saga. The older generation are dealing with the changes taking place in their bodies and minds as they age. And the younger ones are now in the front line of a rapidly changing world.

But the one thing that doesn’t change, regardless of age, is the quest for romance and the recognition that long-term loving relationships are possible. I hope readers will enjoy this story as the family dramas play out with dysfunctional families and families of choice.

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

Aug 30 2022

Coming soon…Changing Times

During lock-down months of inactivity over the last few years, you would think I had loads of time to write. Instead, I felt a kind of inertia. Trying to write new books took longer than usual. I could have spent the time planning, if writing wasn’t happening. But that didn’t manifest itself in any way.

Book number twelve finally started to take shape in my mind, albeit slowly. It has its roots in the one I started writing over thirty years ago. Changing Perspectives was eventually finished and published in 2017. I was happy with the end of the story. It seemed a good place to leave my characters. A sequel wasn’t even a consideration back then. With all my books, though, I’ve never actually written ‘The End.’ My thinking on this is that unless they do a Hamlet where everyone dies, the characters carry on with their lives.

Towards the end of last year, it occurred to me that a lot will have happened to those characters whose story was set in 1993. There were children, some not yet born, who would now be adults. What kind of lives did they lead? What would they be doing now? As for the older generation…now in their late sixties, early seventies…how did they fare?

So, from these seeds, a story idea began to grow. The result is Changing Times.

Thirty years on from when we first met Dani Barker and Camila Callaghan in Changing Perspectives, they’re enjoying marriage and semi-retirement in a luxury flat near London.

Dani’s niece, Holly, runs their mixed media business, now gaining a foothold in the highly competitive online games market. Holly’s older sibling, Luc, influences people to take action on climate issues with their website, Gaia One: One Earth, One Chance.

Romance has been in short supply for both Holly and Luc. Immersed in her work, Holly’s dating life is non-existent. For Luc, family prejudices stand in the way of a relationship with the love of their life.

Can Holly and Luc succeed in making the changes necessary to achieve their own happy ever afters?

I certainly enjoyed revisiting the older characters who are, after all, closer to my age. It was also fascinating to discover how the younger generation developed through the intervening years. Although Changing Times is a sequel, I think readers will be able to appreciate the story without having read Changing Perspectives.

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

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

Jan 5 2022

Another new year

I was going to do an end of year blog. But, here it is – the fifth of January already. What was there to say about 2021? It was very similar to 2020. The main difference was getting vaccinated: three jabs for Covid 19 and a flu jab. Although this did have the effect of making us feel a bit safer about going out, we stuck to travel within England and didn’t go anywhere without masks and hand sanitiser.

2020 was such a strange year that I found writing difficult, so I wasn’t expecting to be able to release a new novel in 2021. However, an idea did start to percolate in my benumbed brain after Christmas last year and the result was Darcy Comes Home. (Check out this lovely book review)

My publisher also released Three Mile Cache, a novella I’ve had sitting in a drawer for almost thirty years. They also decided to release each of the stories from the limited edition Affinity 10th Anniversary Christmas Anthology separately. My contribution was Winterbourne Revisited.

So, with very little to say at the moment, here are a few photos from our travels last year.

My publisher also gave their website a facelift. Please check it out – all their books are competitively priced – and there are some freebies on offer too.

Here’s hoping for a less restrictive year (going into our third year in the time of Covid). Whatever happens, take the time to enjoy some good reading along the way.

Links for Darcy Comes Home:

Affinity Rainbow Publications / Amazon UK / Amazon US / Amazon CA / Amazon AU / Amazon DE / Amazon FR / Bella Books / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords / Apple iTunes

Audiobooks:

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