It’s nearly the end of the month and ‘A Case of Make Believe’ is off to the proofreader tomorrow. The blurb is more or less done, the author’s notes are complete apart from a section about sewers (you’ll see), the cover is done, and I will finish it when I have had the back text checked. Usually, Andjela adds this and finishes the cover but she’s due to have a baby any day now, so we’ve made this alternative arrangement.
I’ll show you the full cover on Saturday, so stay tuned.
Soon…
Coming up next month, apart from the release of ‘A Case of Make Believe’, we have two promos to help out with. One is what’s becoming my standard (and successful) Mayhem and Motives promo where several of us mystery writers get together to cross-share titles via one page. The others are an LGBTQ etc., Romance and Fiction promo, into which I have entered Banyak & Fecks, and an LGBTQ etc., romance promo into which I have put ‘The Mentor of Barrenmoor Ridge’ and ‘The Mentor of Lonemarsh House.’ There will be a newsletter coming out with all the details soon, so make sure you are subscribed.
You can subscribe here or by using the box at the top of the righthand column on any page.
Bobby
For those who have read ‘Bobby’, the biography of my gay godfather, you will know that he was acquainted with Shirley Bassey (now Dame Shirley Bassey, singer of ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Diamonds are Forever’ and other great songs). I am about to send a copy of the book to Dame Shirley, or to her office, which may or may not reach her, because of all the famous people he met in his life, she is the only one still alive. Bob would have liked her to have a copy, I am sure, and I’d be interested to know if she remembers him, and the way her dog used to leap into his pond after she’d just had it groomed. (The dog, not the pond.) So, that’s this week’s admin, as is composing and arranging the newsletter, sending off the MS for ‘Make Believe’ and starting on the next book… Whatever that is going to be… I will have a look around some old newspapers from February 1893 and see what springs to mind.
You will soon get to see another character too, so keep your eyes peeled.
That’s the title of the biography of my godfather. I started working with him on this in 2004 when I was selling my house in the UK. We spent over eight hours in interviews while he told me his life history, and it’s a fascinating one. It’s also a very gay one because he knew he was ‘different’ back in the 1920s, and left home when he was 14 (in 1933) to explore London, where he became a rent boy. He did that job, as he saw it, from the age of 14 to 19, before going to war in the Navy. There is much more that comes after too.
I am hoping that I’ll be able to put up some of our recorded interviews as audio files on my website within the next couple of months. More news about that in due course.
Meanwhile…
August Promos!
This is how I am getting my books known, and your participation is much appreciated. All you need do is click the link to the promo and browse some titles, no need to buy anything unless you want to, and it doesn’t cost a thing. What it does do is help authors like me receive more attention, and that’s always a good thing.
This is a varied selection of 27 titles including biographies.
It also runs all month.
I have entered my biography of my gay godfather into this promo in the hope it will gather more attention. I have to say, it’s done very well in its first month, and that’s because I have been able to share it on social media historical info pages and groups. Places like ‘Memories of Old London’ have been interested because Bobby was from south London and lived most of his life in the city, while his life spanned from 1919 to 2007.
That’s it for now. I hope you have a great August. Thanks as always for your interest and support.
Today’s blog post is a general chat about what’s going on, what’s coming up, and what’s new. I have had family staying for the last couple of weeks, so I’ve not been able to get much done, but I have been working in the background and now I have two projects on the go. Here are a few notes.
After being held up in a most unusual queue at Amazon for six days, Will has launched himself into the world. This is the first book where Will Merrit is the central character, rather than his older and more cumbersome brother, Jack. Both brothers are called to an isolated castle to attend the reading of a will, and the reason why becomes clear only when the will is read.
Although it has only been on sale for a couple of days, Where There’s a Will has already overtaken Deviant Desire and Finding a Way for the number of sales this month. Interestingly, it has sold more paperbacks than Kindle versions, which is nice to see because it means the book will be on display on several bookshelves around the world.
What’s the Next Delamere File?
I have been searching for the next title and story, and I now have some possibles. I am thinking of setting the next one in the world of magic, magicians, Mr Maskelyne and Cooke’s entertainment at the Egyptian Rooms, or something similar. I have a draft title, ‘A Case of Make Believe’ but that’s tentative. I do, though, have a challenge set by a friend who said he would buy five copies if I included a character by a certain name – and that’s something I intend to do, no matter what the story ends up being. ‘Cutthroat Fanny’, or ‘Fanny Razor’, is the madam at a Clerkenwell molly house (boy brothel), and she’s an arch criminal, of course. She may well be the sister of Violet Flay from the earlier books.
I am about to start on this story, but first…
Bobby – A Life Worth Living
I have been working on this for several years off and on – mainly off, actually, for one reason or another. Now, though, I am at the stage where Andjela is thinking up a cover, and I am on my final proofing before sending the text off to the boys to be formatted. Expect yet another Jackson Marsh in a few weeks’ time.
This though, is not a novel, but the true story of my godfather.
Born in Gambole Road, Tooting in 1919, Uncle Bob was my godfather. Lovely, dear, but why write his biography? Mainly, because many years ago, he asked me to. He had a story he wanted the world to hear. Here’s the opening:
Robert Charles Thompson was many things in his life, among them he was a son, a schoolboy, a teenage sex worker, a gunner in the Royal Navy, a mushroom farmer, a landlord, and head housekeeper at a prestigious London hotel. He was also my godfather and very, very gay.
Uncle Bob’s story begins in Tooting, London, in 1919 and ends in Peacehaven, East Sussex, in 2007. He wanted the book to be called, ‘Bobby, a Life Worth Living,’ because he always said that was what he had had. It might easily have been called ‘The gay story of 20th century Britain’, as you will see.
The hotel in question is the Hyde Park Hotel, London, where he met many famous people including David Bowie, Winston Churchill and the Dali Lama.
I’m hoping Bobby will be out before the end of the month.
Promotions
As you may know, I have been involved a few promotions this year, and they are proving very useful for gathering new readers. Also, I hope, they have been useful to other authors too, because where I publicise my books as being in them, so everyone else involved does the same, and we do a joint group promo to help each other out. You can find out more about these via my newsletter (there will be one early next week), here, and on my Facebook page and private group. Coming up in July, we have a promo with lots of historical fiction, two others that revolve around crime stories past and present, and one that’s all about pure MM romance (The Mentor of Barrenmoor Ridge will be in that one.)
Watch these spaces for more details.
And Finally
This weekend will be taken up by finishing ‘Bobby’ and plotting ‘A Case of Make Believe’ or whatever it will be called. On Monday, work will begin on the next Delamere, and I have an idea that we may see a couple of Larkspur Academy men make guest appearances…
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