Today, I am over the water in Rhodes, but I thought I’d jot something down for today ahead of time, and include two new promotions, one of which starts today.
Firstly, though, Holywell Street, The Delamere Mysteries book eight…
I have started on chapter four of the first draft, and so far so good in terms of flow. However, I need to take a pause to get a few things straight in my head, or else I will be typing for hours only to rip the pages from the invisible typewriter and have to start again.
Having what I call first draft ideas on the page isn’t a bad thing, but you have to be able to tell the difference between talking to yourself and writing a novel. For example, by the time Holywell Street opens, the dynamic in Delamere House has shifted, and so has some of the furniture. I write out a couple of pages of what was what, and what room has changed to what, but this isn’t for the book, it’s to get things straight in my own mind.
As an example, what was the sitting room is now an office housing Baxter and Charlie, with a desk also for Jack who, though he now has the study, often prefers to work alongside his men.
One day, I’ll put up a fuller description so you can take a walk with me around Delamere Houe, but I shall need to draw a plan, and I’m not very good at that. If anyone has an architect’s program that will draw rooms/layouts and wants to draw me a floorplan…
Never mind, I’ll get to it one day. So, the news is that Book Eight is progressing at the rate of roughly half a chapter a day, and I hope it’s another intriguing case. Meanwhile, ‘Acts of Faith’ is doing well and proving popular – thank you for the private messages! And I am off to get ready for a day on a different island, so… back soon.
If you want to help these indie authors by clicking these two new promotions and having a browse or a buy, feel free to do so. The second one only comes online today – which is tomorrow as I write, which is why the image is faint. It will be fine when you click through.
Historical Fiction Romance & Mysteries
Genres: General Fiction / Historical Fiction, Mystery & Suspense / Historical Mystery, and Romance / Historical
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Tales to Devour. Begin Reading This Hour!
Genres: General Fiction / Literary Fiction, Mystery & Suspense / Mystery, and Sci-Fi & Fantasy / Science Fiction
Today, I want to share a gallery with you. When I was in London briefly in February, we stayed in Drury Lane, and as we only had a day and two evenings there, we stayed around the Covent Garden area. While there, I attempted to take some photos of places mentioned in the Clearwater, Larkspur and Delamere mysteries, and so, what I have today are some of them, with notes to explain what they are.
Before you venture into the gallery, though, you might like to know I have, this morning, completed work on ‘Acts of Faith’ and will be sending it to the layout team later today. They are going to do their best to have it back to me in time for me to send up to Amazon on Wednesday – but they are busy, and I may yet find issues with uploading (rare, but not unknown). All being well, you’ll be able to start on it next week. So, here’s the gallery in no particular order.
Bow Street Magistrates Court and police station. This appears in several books, but Fallen Splendour in particular, when Silas is arrested. I think it is now some kind of hotel or restaurant, and there is/was a police museum there too.The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This is the setting for the grand finale of ‘Unspeakable Acts.’Neil having lunch at La Garrick, not, sadly, the Garrick Club which you can see through the window. Archer, Lord Clearwater, is a member of this club.Charing Cross railways station features in several of the books.This is beneath Charing Cross station. The row of arches used to house the entrance to the famous Heaven nightclub, but also, still houses the entrance to what was the Charing Cross Music Hall, as visited by Jack Merrit and Max Pascoe where they interview Marie Lloyd in ‘Follow the Van.’A bust of WS Gilbert on the Embankment, near the Savoy Theatre.The Embankment looking downstream.A plaque on the side of the Savoy Theatre, the venue for the climax of ‘Speaking in Silence.’The cobbles of Covent Garden that Silas, Micky-Nick, Fecker and other homeless lads would have walked back in the 1880s.The Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus. Now home to a Harry Potter play, Clearwater and others including Jasper Blackwood, attended the opening performance of ‘Ivanhoe’, by Sir Arthur Sullivan in 1891.A Penhaligon’s shop in Covent Garden. Archer and Silas both wear Penhaligon’s, and when I was there, I was very tempted to buy the perfume they wear, Hamam Bouquet, but the only size they had was too big for my carry-on luggage, and the price too big for my pocket. I went for a smaller bottle of Halfeti instead.This isn’t London. In fact, it is the proposed interior of a block of flats in Folkestone. However, it is/was the auditorium of the theatre I worked in back in the late 1970s, The Lease Pavilion Theatre. The gallery and arches are the same, and form a classic music hall style setup, as often described in my stories.
I have some new promos to share with you, plus some news on what I am up to. Let’s start with me. I am now over halfway through writing the first draft of ‘Acts of Faith’ the next book in the Delamere Files series (book number seven). I am aiming to finish the first draft by the end of this month, so, all being well, you might expect the book out in March. Maybe on Clearwater’s (and my) birthday on the 26th, we will see.
I am pleased to report that my three 19th century mystery series have been doing well, with some rising up and down various charts and reaching lofty heights (usually after a new release). My other books are doing okay too, but don’t get as much publicity as the Clearwater, Larkspur and Delamere collection, and that’s why I have some others in a promo this month, and they are ones you may not have heard of.
Here are the details of what you can find after February 1st (and, in the case of one, after February 8th, but I’ll remind you about that later too).
Discover New Crime Series
Here, you can find 34 titles, some of which are mine: Deviant Desire, Guardians of the poor etc. Also, though, you will see The Saddling, The Witchling and The Easting, three in a series of books also by me. The main character of these three goes on a journey of self-discovery in a place that hasn’t changed for hundreds of years and yet exists in the 20th century… I don’t want to give too much away, but think ‘The Wicker Man’ meets ‘Witness’ but gay…
I’m not 100% sure about this one, tbh. The header tells us you can find free books and ARCs at this promo, but mine aren’t being given away for free. Maybe I’m in the wrong group for this one, but take a look and see what you can come up with. There are 47 titles, including Banyak & Fecks and the Mentor of Barrenmoor Ridge.
Find some series starters in the crime genre with this promo where there are over 60 titles to explore, each with blurbs and links to where you can download or order them. Again, my usual suspects are in there, but this is one of the promos that does me well, so I’m staying right there.
This is where I find most of my new readers these days, I’m sure of it. I work with Book Mojo from time to time and they do me well, so I like to support them back. In this case, they have 35 titles on offer.
There, that’s what’s happening with my self-promo this month. Feel free to throw those links around to all and sundry and do your bit to support indie authors.
If you’ve been reading the Delamere files, you will have noticed Jack uses a couple of what might seem odd expressions. One of these is, ‘Have a word.’ He says it as Londoners these days might say, ‘Leave it out,’ or ‘Do you mind?’ That’s one of his characteristics, in the same way it’s Baxter’s to use a lot of East End street cant (slang). As you may know, I like to have my characters use idioms in their speech as it makes them more individual.
One of the issues facing new writers, it seems, is to differentiate characters one from the other. A common trap to fall into (and I do it myself) is to describe an entering character right off the bat. Stoker does this when Harker first meets Count Dracula (ignore the coloured bocks, it’s from a learn English site:
That was Stoker’s style, and it’s one way of saying, ‘Here, meet the character,’ but these days, I am trying to ween myself from that easy way out and drip feed the details and build the character as the story goes along. One way to ensure your characters stand out from each other, is to hear them speak as you write their dialogue, and one way I do that is to use slang.
Baxter, for example, had a Scottish father so would have picked up some Scottish idioms in early life, and a London mother, ditto. He grew up around horses in a stable, then got kicked out onto the streets. He would have been, and is, full of colourful street language, horse-talk, Scotishisms and East End cant. Me being me like to be as accurate as possible with times, places, events, history and language within the scope of a novel, so I’m forever diving into my books as I write my London and other characters. One of my favourite books for this, as I’ve said before, is ‘The Vulgar Tongue.’ Although compiled in the early 19th century, this collection of street cant and slang is invaluable when writing dialogue from particular characters.
For example. Yesterday, I was writing a scene about Baxter but from Jack’s point of view. Bax had been up all night drinking coffee with lots of sugar in it, so he was what we’d now called hyper, and he was talking to Jack who was brought up in Limehouse, so they more or less understood each other when Baxter said,
‘Like I said, looks like they’d been on and off more times than a cockish Corinthian’s been on and off the Lady Abbess in a knocking shop.’
I was going to use another word for ‘knocking shop’ such as nanny house, nugging house, pushing school, snoozing ken, academy (which were all in use in the early 19th century), but for clarity, I went with a more modern term. A ‘cockish’ Corinthian is a hybrid as I made up ‘cockish’ to mean randy (which was not commonly in use until 1950s), but Corinthian was a word used to describe men who frequented brothels, where the Lady (or Mother) Abbess was the madam.
‘Like I said, looks like they’d been on and off more times than a cockish Corinthian’s been on and off the Lady Abbess in a knocking shop.’
Here’s another note. You might have noticed Jack (and Baxter) use the word ‘Lob’ for their, er, dangly bits. The word, ‘Lob’ in old cant referred to the till in a shop, and to ‘frisk a lob’ was to rob a till. Baxter, and other ex-rent boys of Whitechapel, use the word because their, er, dangly bits, were how they made money, so the front of their trousers became where they kept the ‘lob.’
Yes, the words are vulgarities, but that’s how many of my characters would have spoken because it was a) how they were brought up, and b) all they knew. As they progress through the series, they change, of course. Where Will is learning to control his OCD, so Jack is learning to curb his vernacular, though some characters, such as Baxter and Ronny, are still having issues with that. (Ronny, btw, has been diagnosed as having a mild case of what we now call Tourette’s, mixed with 14 years of bad habits.)
While trawling my dictionary looking for suitable words to slip into Baxter’s vocabulary, I came across an expression I am going to have to throw into the next book at some point: Dicked in the nob.
Any ideas?
No, it doesn’t mean that – wash your mouth out…
It means silly or crazed. ‘That boy was dicked in the nob.’ Imagine saying that now.
Anyway, the point of this ramble was to bring the book to your attention, The Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose. I have a hard copy and a free PDF copy I found, and that’s much easier to trawl through because you can search for the word you want an alternative for.
While doing that, I found the book includes a section of a poem which I’ve put here so you can see a few choice words and also see how the book works.
FLASH PANNEYS. Houses to which thieves and prostitutes resort. Next for his favourite MOT (Girl) the KIDDEY (Youth) looks about, And if she’s in a FLASH PANNEY (Brothel) he swears he’ll have her out; So he FENCES (Pawns) all his TOGS (Clothes) to buy her DUDS, (Wearing Apparel) and then He FRISKS (Robs) his master’s LOB (Till) to take her from the bawdy KEN (House).
FLASH. A periwig. Rum flash; a fine long wig. Queer flash; a miserable weather−beaten caxon (wig).
I’ll be back on Wednesday with an update on the next book and its progress. Meanwhile, here is a promo you might want to browse.
‘Grave Developments’ is the title of the next book in the Delamere Files series. The ‘file’ in this case (or, in other words, the case in this case), revolves around the finding of a body with no face. This is discovered in a shallow grave, and the person who finds it, wants the Delamere boys to investigate ahead of reporting the thing to the police. Why? Therein lies the tale.
The first draft is now at the 86,000-word mark, and I have broken off around the time of the crisis to work on the ensuing climax and finale, and then, I will go back and finish sticking the two sections together. I’m doing this because I can’t be sure how long the climax will take to play out until I’ve written it, and the body of the book before it feels like it is done. Jack can go no further in his investigation, so something needs to happen to trigger the ending, but I have so many options, I need to see what works before I decide which one is best.
The life of an author, eh?
The latest addition to the research file. A snap of the cover of The People weekly newspaper from 1893, ‘A Newspaper for all Classes.’
Talking of which, my life just got a little quieter for a while, as Neil has just this minute left to go to Scotland to see the children and grandchildren, leaving me home alone for 12 days before meeting him for a three-day break in Rhodes on his way back. So, I have 12 days to finish Grave Developments, commission a drawing and cover, and then have the book proofed and typeset before publication. That, I aim to do before Christmas, so stay tuned, and keep reading.
On the subject of which, this set of non-fictional books might be of interest, might inspire you, or might offer you something alternative while you wait. Have a click, have a browse, and I’ll be back on Saturday, hopefully, with more news of the Clearwater world.
I think it was in 2013 that a film crew came to this island and tried to make a film version of a book I had written, or was writing. It’s a long story – the one behind the film, not the book – but this company had asked me to come up with a horror story that could be cheaply and easily filmed. So, I did, and we agreed it would be set here because the location is atmospheric, and I could write the script around locations I knew to be easily accessible. I had the book already on the go, ‘The Judas Inheritance’ (under my original name), and so, putting together a scripted version was straightforward. For me, but not for ‘them.’ By the time they started filming, we had raised the necessary but very limited budget, we (being Neil and I) had arranged an army of keen volunteers to assist with everything from giving free accommodation to making meals, I had become the location manager, and they were using script draft number 12 which, thanks to everyone knowing better than the writer, bore little resemblance to the original story.
They also ignored my advice about where to film, so they spent much time and effort moving equipment to tricky locations, resulting in a lack of filming time, and then the producer had a breakdown, fell out with the director who did nothing but complain and demand more money even though he knew what he’d let himself in for, and… I could go on. It was a farce created by a group of ‘professionals’ who had no idea, and took no notice of people who lived here who’d given up time, jobs, money and effort. It was not a pleasant experience and worst of all, the investors saw no return and none of the things they had been promised. Still…
‘The Judas Inheritance’ is the title of the book. The film was eventually titled something else and although it won some awards at minor film festivals, I think that was more out of sympathy than anything else. It’s a horror story written in the first and third person, and constructed very much along film storytelling lines. The blurb reads thus:
An ancient curse? Desperation in the economic crisis? What is causing the suicides of so many adults and children on this small Greek island? When Chris Trelawney arrives on the island to take away his late father’s belongings, he finds that he has been left little more than a mystery. Was his father mad at the time of his death, or did he actually believe that he had awakened a powerful evil? An ancient evil that now stalks the islanders, growing stronger by the day. A curse that will cause the death of everyone around Chris unless he allows himself to believe that such things exist. But when he discovers the truth, Chris realises that death is the easy option.
Standard stuff and written long before I invented Jackson Marsh, but still, a good read, I believe. (There are some production photos that Neil took at the bottom of this page.)
I mention it because I have books in a promo that’s promoting thrillers, psychological thrillers and suspense reads, and I wanted to point you in its direction. There are some great covers to browse, with lots of night scenes, creepy castles and dripping knives, and some great titles too. ‘The Judas Inheritance’ isn’t among them because that’s under my Collins name and I can only afford to promote one pen name at the moment, but if you want to take a look at ‘Judas’ just click here.
If you’d like to support other authors and get some ideas for spooky Halloween reading, then click this banner:
Today’s work-in-progress update concerns a few things. Let’s start with the last release.
I am pleased to say ‘A Case of Make Believe’ is doing well, but so is the whole series. That’s thanks in part to the Mayhem & Motives book promotion which you can find by following this link:
In case you’ve not heard the news yet, the fifth book in the Delamere series is available in paperback, as well as Kindle and KU.
So, that’s that, and this is this: Book Six – as yet untitled but with a working title of ‘Snapshot.’ (Which sounds far too modern a title in my opinion.) For some reason, I have decided to make the story’s client a deacon/preacher/minister at the independent Congregationalist chapel which existed in Stoke Newington at the time. Why? Because the chapel was opposite Abney Park one of London’s seven park cemeteries and a place I used to visit. Why? Because I only lived down the road in Kingsland (in Larkin Chase’s house, actually), and it was a nice place to relax. One day, after a hard motorbike journey from working out in Essex, I came back that way and, as it was summer, stopped there to take a walk and unwind. I was wearing my bike leathers and carrying my ‘lid’ as I won’t go on even a moped without leathers and a crash helmet, and strolled among the trees and old monuments, mausoleums and shrubbery until I became aware that I was being followed by a few older men.
Turns out, the park was also a big cruising ground. Well, I didn’t know until later when I made some enquiries among my buddies at the pub in Balls Pond Road, who stared at me as if I should have known this fact from birth.
So, I may well put in such an incident as I write my way through the first draft of Number Six. At the same time, I am trying to research exactly what it meant to be a Congregationalist, so I can learn the appropriate terms (minister, preacher, deacon?), and learn how such an independent organisation would have been run.
If anyone has a resource, I’d love to hear about it.
Meanwhile, I will leave you with part of a review, the first for ‘Make Believe’ and this clip comes with a huge thanks to Anthony for taking the time to write it.
Jackson Marsh takes us on a frightening journey into a world of illusion and mayhem mesmerizing us with his skilful writing. Those of us familiar with his other works will be glad to welcome back some of his characters from previous series, and a couple of new ones.
Jackson Marsh takes us on a frightening journey into a world of illusion and mayhem mesmerizing us with his skilful writing. Those of us familiar with his other works will be glad to welcome back some of his characters from previous series, and a couple of new ones.
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.
Yesterday I put a post on my personal and Jackson Marsh Facebook pages – a little quiz that went like this:
Just for fun – and NO Googling, because you either know or you don’t. What on earth has all of the following:
A spine, shoulder, tail, pin, toe, face, edge, heel, point and scales?
The answer is at the bottom of this page, if you click the link, you’ll find an image with all those things labelled, and you might be surprised.
Here are a few more clues:
I came across this information while researching for ‘A Case of Make Believe.’
The thing in question is not that big.
It was used more in the 19th century than it is now.
Not everyone would have one, but if you did have one, you’d know if you didn’t use it properly.
Before I give you the answer, I’d just like to bring you up to date on the currently running Crime Story promo which is still running and will be until the end of the month. If you’re into crime novels, then there are plenty to spark your interest here:
And now, the answer to the quiz – but have one last think before you click the button…
What on earth has all of the following:
A spine, shoulder, tail, pin, toe, face, edge, heel, point and scales?
It’s time for a roundup of what’s going on in my Jackson Marsh world right now, and life’s a varied bag of pick-n-mix, to say the least. Here’s the roundup.
Where There’s a Will
The draft is with the proofreader, and Andjela and I are working on the cover. The first thing to get right is the face of Will Merrit, and here’s one of the mock-ups she’s managed to produce from the original photo.
There are things to tweak on that draft version, but we’ll get there.
Delamere Files Book Five
I have started researching the history and details of the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, and in particular, the world of Maskelyne and Cooke’s mysterious entertainments. The magic shows as we might call them these days. I did some work in this area when I wrote ‘Seeing through Shadows’ in the Larkspur Series, because it’s where Chester Cadman met the man who duped him, and ‘Shadows’ is about Chester cracking the case of the Larkspur Ghost. I am currently thinking about writing an investigation that takes place in the world of onstage magicians.
The first thing I need is a title because I want to add that to the end of book four.
Bobby
This is my late godfather’s life story, which is a lot about growing up and being gay during the 20th century. I am now working on the section which is my reminiscences of the man, while the rest of the text is being read and checked by Neil and others. I will have to ask Andjela to do me another cover, and the layout may have to wait until July when I will next be able to afford to pay for the work, but the book should come along in the next couple of months. Meanwhile, here’s a photo of me and Bobby, taken, I reckon in 1971 when my parents had not long bought the house behind us.
Here’s a strange numbers thing. I have a godson who is currently 16 while I am 61, and pointed out to him today that the phenomenon of our ages being reversible will not happen again. He was born when I was 44. My godfather was also 44 when I was born, so when I was 16 he was 61, and that phenomenon never happened again.
Promotions
There are several excellent promotions running at the moment, and I am in them. They are a mix of Academy Series Starters (all genres but in an academic setting), Mayhem and Motives, a collection of great titles in the mystery, action & adventure field, and Pride Month, which is all to do with general LGBT fiction including Sci-fi and Fantasy, and in my case, historical mystery.
All of these promos cost you nothing to view and there are loads of new titles and authors for you to check out, so plenty of ideas for summer reading. Many of the books, or all of them in some promo cases, are available on KU, so if you’re signed up for that, you now have a new and exciting library of gay lit to see you through.
The Strange Case of the Missing Man
We are living through a local mystery right now here on Symi, because a TV presenter and journalist has mysteriously vanished. Last Wednesday, Michael Mosley set off to walk back from a beach via a well-used and open route and hasn’t been since. We’ve been doing what we can to help, and that’s mainly been deflecting journalists and pointing them towards the authorities, and guiding some of the family around the village to show them the lie of the land as the search continues.
And Onwards
So, for me, it’s now back to the typo-writer, and onto the final chapter of Bobby, while thinking up a title for book five, doing a jigsaw to free up my mind, trying to stay cool (nearly 40 degrees again yesterday), drinking lots of water (at least five litres yesterday), and looking forward to a family visit that starts next weekend. As usual, it’s all go.
Thanks for reading, and thanks to everyone who’s been clicking on the promos and getting me a good referral reputation, and to everyone who is currently reading and buying the books. It generates a small income, but as it’s the only one I have, it’s very well received!
Find all Jackson Marsh titles here:
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