2nd July 2022
Have a look at the new ‘Buy a Book’ page. You can now order books from the website, to be delivered to your door. While you are buying books, you might like to sign up for our monthly newsletter.
18th June 2022
A treat for the resident felines
I had promised the girls a safe way to the top of the wardrobe and here it is. It takes up a bit too much space because of overhanging shelves, so it may be relegated to the model railway room and replaced by something a little smaller. Essa ‘helped’ build it and approves the design.
31st May 2022
Platinum Jubilee Weekend
Are you looking forward to spending your weekend curling up with a good book and going on an adventure. The End of the Beginning is on sale, just for you.
1st May 2022
There is a new video advert for the updated ‘The Hope of the World’.
Naturally, it is too large to go on the website, but it is available on my pinned tweet at Twitter, on Facebook and on Amazon.
‘The Hope of the World’ looks really good in hardback.
2nd March 2022
There is a new video advert for the updated ‘The End of the Beginning’.
Unfortunately, the video is too large to use on the website, but you can find it on Twitter, Facebook and my author’s page at Amazon.
The best news is that ‘The End of the Beginning’ is now also available in hardback.
29th December 2021
So, 2021 hasn’t been my year. It doesn’t like me, and I can’t wait to see the back of it.
2020 was ok. Yes, I missed the children and the grandchildren, but Mark and I were together. I could talk to the children on the phone, or Skype with them. I sent little gifts to the grandchildren, and they sent me postcards and flowers. Mark and I were together, I managed to write two books and started the third. Mark’s health deteriorated during the year. We looked at the possibility of fitting a stairlift, but unfortunately Victorian builders didn’t allow for stairlifts in 1835.
I lost Mark early in 2021. He had stayed with me for as long as he could and I am pleased that at the end, it was quick. For him, that was best, although it was a hell of a shock for me and for his family. Grandchild number eight was born a week before Mark died. Mark only saw him on a video call, but at least he saw him. Mark’s death put an end to my writing for the time being, I couldn’t focus on anything very much. My family have always been incredibly supportive, even the daughter who suddenly found herself housing the lifetime collection of model railway paraphernalia that had been bequeathed to her husband. I’m talking a lot of stuff here!
Twenty weeks after Mark’s death, I lost Alf. He too had been unwell for some time, but it was another blow. Suddenly, it was just Finn and me in the house. I could almost see her watching me saying “It’s either you or me and I’m not going anywhere.”
I have a ten second answerphone message that Mark recorded for my phone. It isn’t a great message, but it is still there. If you phone me and I don’t answer, there he is. I have it saved on every electronic device in the house, and I have listened to it hundreds of times. It always brings tears to my eyes. Having said that, it doesn’t take much to bring on the tears. I have cried every day.
It hasn’t helped that after ignoring my breathing problems and erratic heart rate for some time (probably, three or four years, if I am honest), I have been forced to pay attention. My mobility, which wasn’t great before, has worsened and the DVLA asked, very politely, for my licence. That’s reasonable, I’m not fit to drive. It does, however, limit my day-to-day activities. I have become a 21st century hermit. I am ok with that, there isn’t anything that I particularly want to do.
I brought Essa into the house in September. It was my attempt to find a way of looking forward instead of back. To a certain extent, it has worked. Essa is growing fast and is keeping both Finn and me occupied. Most of the time, the girls play, Finn is quick to hiss if the youngster really upsets her. Essa submits quickly, then pounces when Finn turns away. Younger sisters can be such a pain sometimes.
I have made contact during the year, with lots of others who have lost someone dear to them during the pandemic. We all stand together, supporting each other and sharing steps forward to a new world. As a science fiction writer, I can’t avoid a new world, now, can I?
I have given myself until the end of this year, to float around without direction. It is my intention to begin to focus more as we move into 2022. I don’t intend to bully myself. If I can’t do it, then I will make another plan, something that I can achieve. I have to find a way to move on, but it isn’t easy. Of course, part of the problem is that I don’t want to move on. I don’t want to move away from Mark, to become a person he didn’t know. Unfortunately, there are a lot of things in life that we have no choice over. This is one of them.
Look for me to be more active in 2022. If I’m not, give me a nudge. I hope that Project Aiishi will make an appearance. I just have to get myself back into that multiverse.