A Depraved Indifference

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While we eagerly await the publication of ‘Snake Hill’ (any day now), I have come up with a working title for the next instalment of the Delamere Files, ‘A Depraved Indifference.’

I was doing some legal research the other day, as you do, when I came across something I’d not seen before. There was no reason why I should have done because a) I am not a lawyer, and b) it’s to do with American law, but I liked the term and what it implies. The paragraph was this: If the risk of death or bodily harm is great enough, ignoring it demonstrates a “depraved indifference” to human life and the resulting death is considered to have been committed with malice aforethought.

A depraved indifference to human life… I wondered if there was an English law equivalent in 1893, and I am still researching that, but the story I am now embarking on may not have anything to do with law or that phrase in the way it is meant. What I might do is use that expression/term/whatever to inspire the rest of the story. In Delamere 10, Will has already cited it (and I’m only on chapter two) while settling a case for the CID. Anyway, the point was to let you know I have started on some ideas for the next book, which has had me locked into this view for a while…

And this is the first draft text for chapter one of the next book, in case you want to zoom in and read.

I will be interrupted soon by the arrival of the files for number nine, which I will check through and upload as soon as we’re all happy that Snake Hill is good to go.

Meanwhile, you may have noticed I put three new links at the top right of the page, just beneath the newsletter sign up. My Facebook page, my BluSky profile, and now, my BookBub link, so if you use that service, you can follow me there. I ought to add my Goodreads link too, I suppose. (Note for later.) Meanwhile-meanwhile, a new promo has just arrived, so if you want to be among the first to see these new spy, mystery and suspense titles, just click the banner.

Snake Hill. A Further Update.

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Not long to go now, and you will be able to order/download a copy of the latest Delamere adventure, ‘Snake Hill.’

If you scroll down, you will see the cover and the blurb, but that’s all I can share with you at the moment. I am finishing my last read of it this weekend and will then send the MS to the formatting wizards while I wait for the full cover for the paperback version. I hope to release it during this coming week, but it will depend on when I receive the appropriate files. I’ll keep you informed on my social media.

Talking of which, if anyone uses BlueSky, I have an account there now: @jacksonmarsh.bsky.social so feel free to follow.

In the meantime, I have written a 5,000 pastiche or parody or piece of satire for my other blog where I chat about life on this Greek island. Next week, I will be presenting a section of this piece every day. What is it? Well, have you seen the play or film, ‘Shirley Valentine’? If you have, you will know it’s about a woman coming to Greece and finding herself during a kind of midlife crisis.

Well, my piece of satire answers the question, what would be Shirley’s experience of Greece if the story happened now? Hopefully, readers will find it amusing. If you want to check it out, click over to my Symi Dream blog on Monday and follow the adventure.

Talking of adventure, if you still haven’t checked out this month’s list of books on special promo, then try this one:

MM or MM+ Romance You’ll find 179 MM titles in this collection of MM romances. So many topless hunks, I don’t know where to start. Maybe with one of my own, and ‘The Mentor of Wildhill Farm,’ probably, of all my 50 books, the one with the most heat. In fact, it’s probably 60% heat, and the rest is story. It was my first Jackson Marsh and has a twist at the end you either love or hate.

Click the banner.

I’ll be back on Wednesday with more news on ‘Snake Hill.’

Snake Hill Cover

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Well, my dears, it’s here. The front cover for Delamere nine, ‘Snake Hill.’ Hang on, though, or as Baxter would say, Hold your pony, mate, not so fast. First you have to promise to click the promo link and check out a few titles that should open on another page.

MM & MM+ Romance

You’ll find 179 MM titles in this collection of MM romances. So many topless hunks I don’t know where to start. Maybe with one of my own, and ‘The Mentor of Wildhill Farm,’ probably, of all my 50 books, the one with the most heat. In fact, it’s probably 60% heat, and the rest is story. It was my first Jackson Marsh and has a twist at the end you either love or hate.

Click the banner

Wildhill Farm

Talking of the Mentor of Wildhill Farm, yes, it was my first ‘go’ at a queer romance, though there’s more heat than there is romance, and I had an idea towards the end to turn it into a series set in the same place. Then, I realised that it would soon be repetitive, and decided it was the place that was important. However, also vital was the old/younger mentor/mentee pairing, but that couldn’t always happen in the same location, so… Barrenmoor Ridge, Lonemarsh House, Lostwood Hall came next (maybe not exactly in that order), and onwards to other standalones like ‘The Stoker Connection’ which gave me a chance to play with ‘Dracula’, as it were, and to relive something from my teens. (I used to work in the theatre where the two MCs meet.) You can find all my titles here.

Anyway, I’m wandering from the point. The cover for Snake Hill, where is it? What is it? What’s the blurb?

The cover is coming in a moment, but as for what is it? That will become apparent when you read it, which I hope you can start to do next week – soon, at any rate. What’s the blurb? Here’s the blurb:

Albert Arbon collapses at Delamere House after a three-day trek. His only son, Robert, has vanished after seeing a strange light in the Suffolk sky, and Arbon is desperate to find him.

Detectives Jack and Baxter, with young Simeon, accompany Arbon back to his remote Suffolk farmhouse, only to find themselves faced with a combination of rural legends seemingly tied to a series of unsettling events. A body lies inexplicably in the middle of an untouched wheat field. Other children have gone missing. There is talk of a ‘fire snake’, and no-one dare share the secrets of what can be seen from Snake Hill.

As the investigation deepens, Jack must navigate more than the mystery. He must also face the burdens of responsibility — not only for uncovering the truth and doing the right thing, but also for guiding Simeon, a boy on the cusp of manhood, who’s willing to risk everything to prove himself.

And as for the full cover… Click the title…

A Glossary of East Anglia

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The next Delamere book, ‘Snake Hill’, mostly takes place in Suffolk. To keep things as authentic as I could, I trawled around for a dictionary of Suffolk words and phrases, and came upon:

A Glossary of Words Used in East Anglia (1895)

Author: Rye, Walter (1843-1929)

The subtitle reads, Founded on that of Forby. With Numerous Corrections and Additions. It was published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, and the version I used was transcribed by Universidad de Salamanca.

You know how I like dialect. ‘Holywell Street’ comes with Baxter’s glossary, if you ned to revise his East End expressions, but in ‘Snake Hill’, we have an East Anglian glossary. For those who may not know:

East Anglia is an area of the East of England often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included.

The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia (Angeln), in what is now Northern Germany. East Anglia is a predominantly rural region and contains mainly flat or low-lying and agricultural land. [Wiki]

So, ahead of publication, here are some of the words I have used in the story. I put this here so you can do some background reading before the book arrives on your Kindle or doormat later in the month.

Badly                          In ill health. Sometimes sadly badly.

Barley-bird                  The nightingale, which comes to us in the season of sowing barley.

Biddie                         Young chicken.

Black Shuck                In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog.

Brank                          Buckwheat

Buck                            To spring or bound with agility.        

Carre                           A stoat.

Clamp                         A mound of earth lined with straw to keep potatoes or mangold wurzel through the winter.

Clevers, or Cluvers     Tussocks or tufts of coarse grass.

Closen                         Enclosed fields; plural of close.

Clutter                         Confusion, disorder.

Cob-boy                      One who is between boy and man.

Dere                            Dire, sad.

Doker                          A diminutive used with respect to young animals.

Duffy dow                   Young pigeon not fully fledged.

Fleck                           The down of hares or rabbits torn off by the dogs.

Flick                            Hare’s or rabbit’s down.

Heads and Holls         Prominences and hollows tumbled confusedly together.

Hingle                         To snare. Poachers hingle hares and rabbits.

Hoven                         Swollen.

Huckle                        To bend down with pain.

Jug                              To squat, and nestle close together, as partridges at night.

Mamble                       To eat with seeming indifference.

Maul                            Clayey or marly solid, adhering to the spade or ploughshare.

Mawth-dog                 The phantom of a dog (in Norfolk).

Mewting                     The whistling of a boy without any regard or idea of time or harmony.

Mump                         A hop and a jump.

Nabble                        To gnaw.

Needles                       A common weed among corn.

Pin basket                   The youngest child in a family.

Plounce                       To plunge with a loud noise.

Quackle                       To interrupt breathing.

Ranny                          The shrew-mouse. (Plural, rannies.)

Ravary                        A violent mad fit of passion.

Roblet                         A young cock.

Sadly Badly                Very ill.

Smouching men          Smugglers (Smouch, 1) to kiss 2) to smuggle.

Smuddered                  Smothered. Choked to death.

Springer                      A youth.

Stour                           Stiff or stout.

Tom Poker                  The great bugbear and terror of naughty children, who inhabits dark closets, holes under the stairs.

Traptles                       The small pellets of the dung of sheep, hares, rabbits, &c.

Trunket                       A game at ball, played with short sticks.

Wiff/Wiffing               The sudden turning of a hare when coursed. Wishly                         Earnestly, wishfully, with longing.

Snake Hill. Delamere Files Book Nine. Update.

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Hi all,
A quick thing before we get to news of ‘Snake Hill.’

Newsletter

If you are subscribed to my newsletter, you should have received one yesterday with news on Snake Hill, and news of a few more interesting promos to check out.

If you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter, you can do it now on this page. Just check out the top right of the column or go to the newsletter page.

If you do sign up, and you have any problems, will you let me know? I’ve not had many new joiners for a while now, and I wonder if it is something to do with the process. Looking forward to having you on board. Thank you.

Snake Hill Update

The news on Delamere Nine is that it will be going off to the proofreader in a day or so. Meanwhile, I have commissioned a cover from Andjela, and I will show you that when I have it. I have also commissioned a drawing of one of the characters, the protagonist in this case, as it is he who sets off the chain of events that lead to all kinds of madness and mayhem, thrills (I hope) and adventure. I have drafted a vague blurb, and here it is:

When Albert Arbon arrives on Delamere’s doorstep after a three-day trek, his desperation is unmistakable — his son Robert has vanished following a night of strange lights in the Suffolk sky.

Detectives Jack and Baxter, with young Simeon, accompany Arbon back to his remote farmhouse, only to find themselves facing a tangle of rural legends and unsettling events. A body lies inexplicably in the middle of an untouched wheat field. Other children have gone missing, and no-one dare speak of the Fire Snake or share the secrets of Snake Hill.

As the investigation deepens, Jack must navigate more than a mystery. He must face the burdens of responsibility — not only for uncovering the truth, but for guiding Simeon, a boy on the cusp of manhood, who’s willing to risk everything to prove himself.

As I may have mentioned, there’s a background theme of growing up, coming of age, rites of passage, paternal responsibility, father and son… that kind of thing. Also, this is the first book in the series that (apart from a couple of chapters) takes place outside of London, putting Jack and Bax in a brand new environment.

Some of the dialogue and some of the stories told within the story make use of the East Anglian dialect. On Saturday, I will start to introduce you to some of the wonderful words and their meanings in this dialect. So, tune back in on Saturday…

And remember about the newsletter… And, take a look at this promo in the meantime:

MAYHEM & MOTIVES: Mystery, Thriller, & Suspense Reads – August Edition
Here’s my usual entry with Book-Mojo’s monthly collection of thrillers. This month, there’s a whopping 144 titles to browse, including, for the first time, my Holywell Street. I wonder if a topless Baxter will be enough to draw in some new readers?

Click the banner to find the books.

Finding a Title

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Delamere Nine

Delamere Nine, which is nearly ready for the proofreader, now has a title and I will get to it after we’ve had a quick look at the other titles in the series. These are my reasons for those titles, and the process may help other indie authors when trying to think of a title.

Finding a Way

When I set about starting the Delamere series, I had no idea what the title of book one should be. I knew I wanted the series to be about the detective agency, and for us to see James Wright at work, and I knew something else: The best way to put the reader into a situation is to do it through the eyes of someone new to that situation, that way, we can explore the new world as they do. Enter Jack Merrit, a man who needs a change in life, who craves love (but doesn’t know it), and a man who is doing everything he can to see himself and his brother through hard times. There has to be a way out of one life and into the next, surely? Yes, and Jack accidentally finds it via Larkin Chase and Jimmy Wright. Hence, the title of the book, ‘Finding a Way.’ I also wanted something that tied in with Jack being a cab driver and finding a route to happiness, adventure, and eventually love, but ‘Finding a Route’ sounded like a gardening magazine.

Other Titles in the Delamere Series

A Fall from Grace. A shameful downfall was never far away from the Victorian homosexual. The upper classes and the rich could often get away with being found out if they fled abroad or had enough standing (I am thinking of Lord Sommerset et al in the Cleaveland Street scandal), the poor would be the ones to get locked up, but the middle classes could fall either way. That’s one of the Falls of the title; the other, clearly, is the physical fall that starts the story way back in the past. The fall from Grace Tower at Sinfords School.

Follow the Van. A play on words, a ‘van’ being, in this case, the prize Jack must find, and to find it, he must follow the clues. It is also a line from a music hall song, and this story takes place in and around the music halls of London. The first line of the chorus of the song is ‘My old man…’ Jack is also on the trail of his father, his ‘old man’ in English slang. Hence: My old man said follow the van…’

Where There’s a Will. Not the most inventive of titles, but I wanted this one to be almost tongue-in-cheek. Will Merrit leads the case, which is to do with finding a missing will before the midnight hour.

A Case of Make Believe. Again, a play on words. The story concerns magicians and a disappearing boy, Ronny Felman, who was meant to disappear, but also meant to reappear, and didn’t. In this story, we have many make-believe magic tricks as the magicians make us believe one thing, but we’re actually seeing another. We also have the villains and their ‘make-believe’ Grand Guignol murders, which are actually real. Then, we have Jack coming to believe in himself more. He makes himself believe he can do this job.

Grave Developments. Well, there’s a body in a grave that shouldn’t be there, and things develop from that sticky situation. The detectives also use photography, so as the images develop, so does the story.

Acts of Faith. I can’t give you too much about this one for it will give the game away, but it’s to do with murders being committed on particular saints’ days throughout a few-year period. But who is committing them?

Holywell Street. And now, things become more straightforward. Holywell Street is the name of the street where the main action happens, i.e. the crime, the investigation and the resolve/climax, which is slightly different to others in the series.

Delamere Nine

Which brings me to number nine and the title. I was racking my brains for a few days about this one. It has a background subject (boys to men, coming of age), it has a ‘gimmick’ which I shan’t tell you about, but it’s something that was popular in Victorian times and still relatively new, and it takes place out of London, so we’re all out of our depth. Neil started reading the first draft the other day and more or less immediately came up with the title. ‘Why not call it Snake Hill?’ he said. ‘It’s the main feature of the story.’

So, just as Holywell Street is Holywell Street, so Delamere Nine will be titled ‘Snake Hill’ for reasons that will become apparent when you read it. This, I hope you will be able to do by the end of the month.

And now, the promos begin!

I am taking part in a few more free-to-browse promos this month, so the more views you can give these, the better (for me and for the other indie authors in the promo). Here’s the first – more will be announced along the way and in next week’s newsletter.

LGBTQIA+ Characters in Romance (All pairings)

There are 63 titles in this promotion, all with various LGBTQIA+ pairings. I have my mentors and students from Barrenmoor Ridge in this promo. The cover that most caught my eye? ‘Two Souls and A Pocket Watch’ by Inka York (Victorian vampires). I may have to grab a copy.

Click the banner to reach the promo page.

Still Untitled

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A quick update. This is new. I don’t think I’ve ever finished a first draft before deciding on its title. Not until yesterday, that is. I rounded off the first draft of Delamere Nine yesterday, and I am reasonably pleased with it, though I’d like it to have a little more emotional depth, so I need to work that in during the next stages. I also realised how many Suffolk and East Anglian dialect words I used, so there will have to be another glossary at the start of the book.

I can’t start thinking about a cover until I have a title, but once I have, I will also commission a drawing, but who will it be of this time…?

This story has a background theme of coming of age. The emotional theme is tied in with that as there’s some father and son discussion, a mild debate about when do boys become men, and so on, and there is an action theme which is to do with smuggling. There are also two mysteries, the main one, which develops into something else, and then a side one which ties in, and hopefully isn’t too easy, and yet isn’t too unrealistic.

All will be revealed in time… For now, it’s on to the second draft.

A Note on AI Generated Emails from Alleged Publicists

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I want to quote from two emails I received yesterday. I have put what was sent in italics to make it easier to differentiate between my bleating and theirs. Here’s the first line:

Thank you for writing Holywell Street a story that doesn’t just confront hidden darkness but does so with an emotional undercurrent that lingers.

Apparently, I’ve confronted hidden darkness. If I’ve confronted it, it can’t be hidden, surely? It goes on with more AI generated jargon including phrases such as caught between justice and personal consequence, the path forward, and leaves a lasting weight.

Leaves a lasting weight…? What, like too many cream cakes?

I was then asked a couple of questions, including: how did you keep Jack’s emotional core grounded without losing momentum in the plot’s twists?

Answer: You tell me – you purport to have read the book.

Then we get to the meat of the thing with: I help authors build ripple-effect visibility…

Ripple-effect visibility?

Apparently, my story has emotional depth beneath genre. Sorry, love, don’t understand.

I’d be glad to send over a visibility outline…

A what outline? I looked it up and am none the wiser. I’ve heard of visible panty line; it comes about after eating too many cream cakes and creating a lasting weight that ripples beneath.

Anyway… I replied with a couple of questions and a lot of cynicism, had another reply, and then followed that up with ‘So, what’s the cost?’ To which I received a breakdown of levels of ‘support’ and how much I could expect to pay for each one, and it was all so well written, I had to reach for a glossary:

In-depth alignment assessment. Custom reader discovery map. Quiet outreach. Curated spaces with reflective readers. Organic outreach. Immersive visibility layer. Ongoing traction. Gentle book visibility audit. And my fave: 30-day soft ripple tracking. I am now thinking of ice cream.

If pressed to respond to this softly rippling enquiry into whether I want to waste money, I shall reply, Do us a favour, love. I ain’t stupid.

On the same day, I received another email from someone with a strangely similar-but-different name. This one was about my godfather’s biography, ‘Bobby,’ and began:

I knew Bobby: A Life Worth Living was more than memoir. It’s a testimony. Raw, rich, and revelatory.

I can’t even say the word revelatory without breaking it down. Re-vel-a-tory. Revel a Tory? Rhymes with la-va-tory. (Well, it does and it doesn’t.)

There then followed a mashup of the blurb which I suspect was created by AI and was clearly based on the blurb I had written by using my own brain and creativity. This was followed by the almost punchline: I run a visibility service…

Oh, here we go. In this case, I was offered a personalized visibility snapshot.

No, not a clue, and I’m not going to ask or even bother to look it up as it’s clearly something to do with corporate publicity speak as spoken by machines and twiddled with by chancers “feeding off vulnerable self-published authors who don’t have the usual publishing house/agent/publicist infrastructure to protect them,” as a friend of mine put it when we discussed the emails. He also suggested “They’re not going to offer you anything you couldn’t organise for yourself with a little bit of work…” and I agree. So, I shall ignore them from now on. In fact, I will mark them as spam in Mailwasher, and if they persist, I shall bounce them back so they can confront their own hidden darkness, and I will do it with an emotional undercurrent that lingers.

It does make me wonder, though, how many people will fall for these scams, and scammers who are being more and more helped by AI. It’s so obvious to me when someone has used Crap GTP to create a paragraph or even an entire email. The writing is just too… too… Well, it’s just not normal. Considering it’s been spewed from a machine, it’s too emotional at times, too florid to have been written by anyone with self-respect. Makes me shudder.

Delamere Nine Update

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Hi folks. I didn’t post a Saturday blog as I was up to my eyes in other work, and today, I have only a quick update on Delamere nine and life in general.

First of all, I am at 82,000 words of the first draft and nearing the climax. When I work on a first draft, it’s not simply a case of blasting through and reaching the end. If I did that, I’d have a first draft finished in roughly a month, whereas it takes me about two. The main reason is that I am constantly going back and reading earlier chapters, and as I read them, I alter them. Some days I will sit here and write 4,000 words and say, ‘That’s chapter ten done,’ or whatever. Other days, I will say, ‘The head isn’t in the right place today,’ and then I will go back and edit, improve and change earlier chapters. It’s a question of mood. Today, for example, I have to do some other work first, then I have some non-writing jobs to se to, so any time I have, I will probably use it to make notes, or go back and do come checking. If the creative head isn’t in the right place (or the write place, you might say), then there’s no point in pushing it.

I thought this chap reminded me of a young Ronny.

It’s also very warm here right now, with temperatures up to 40° in the daytime and around 30° at night. There are still the household chores to see to, though Neil is usually the poor old thing who sees to them while I am working. He’s out this morning, so I have to water the plants, make sure the water barrel fills, do some washing while doing other things, because it’s a day when the water comes in. We only have one barrel, and once the water stops coming in, whatever is in the barrel must last us until the next fill up two, sometimes three or four, days later.

And talking of water, I must research a place on the River Orwell in Suffolk, which is where I left Jack and Baxter yesterday, in a pub, surrounded by a gang of evil smugglers. Must get on!

Here’s a MM Romance collection you might like to browse:

A Flight of Fancy

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What’s that then? Well, it’s currently the working title of the next Delamere Story. I am up to 70,000 words of the first draft, and things are coming together nicely. I wasn’t sure what this was going to be about (apart from a mystery), but not long after starting, I decided it was going to have as its background the theme of fathers and sons. Or, in the case of Delamere, Uncle Jack and ‘adopted’ nephew, Simeon, mirrored against a father and son relationship. It also encompasses smugglers, the countryside, a young man’s imagination and stories, folklore (to a certain extent) and something else which I will keep as a surprise.

There’s a mystery, of course, and for this one, we’re leaving London and heading to Suffolk. Be warned, dialect is being used, and there will be additions to Baxter’s Glossary.

That’s all for today, where it is 37° outside with 75% humidity. Eek! I have the fan on full blast, and my fingers are still sticking to the keyboard. But before I go…

MM Romantic Suspense

Deviant Desire is in this collection of 29 titles that includes work by Ann Barwell (Shadowboxing).

Got sizzling MM couples dodging bullets while dodging their feelings? These MM romantic suspense novels deserve the spotlight. Whether they’re protection specialists, former military, or civilians caught in deadly conspiracies, if they’re battling danger while battling attraction, they’re here.

https://books.bookfunnel.com/MMRsuspense/rql3a21who