It had to happen, and indeed it has. 

We’ve achieved our first bloodbath. 

The body count has just rang to the tune of six.

The pressure that was building, it’s now been released, and in doing so Amy has removed some very bad people from circulation.

So far we’ve had some near misses, some nasty  violent incidents, but today we’ve encountered out first release of Badb and the flapping of the carrion crows. 

Now six bodies lie where once they breathed walked and talked, but let us not weep for these who we have now killed. 

Rest assured they were indeed very bad people, who in the context of the story suffered their just deserts – do not mourn for their passing, it’s not needed.

Amy is in Gotham (New York) seeking to rescue Trua, trying to find a tiny pregnant fairy in a seething city of people, and buildings that reach up to the sky. 

Let us not assume that our pregnant woman is merely a passive victim unable or incapable at directing their own future – because she isn’t a mere sideshow curiosity.

Trua is also a strong (tiny) woman in command of her own destiny, as too is Charlotte

Of Charlotte more is to follow…

So, we’ve exorcised a particular demon, became as Lady Macbeth in a blood splattered hallway – the wallpaper forever ruined – and now we move on.

More will follow, more deaths, as sure as day follows night, we will shoot, stab, chop and use whatever means we have at our disposal to terminate with extreme prejudice some more very bad people and their enablers.

The Amy Grace Adventures Volume 3 Gotham are progressing nicely, thank you very much for asking.

 

Rip it up and start again…

Lyrics from a song? 

You know, I think indeed they are!

These words also reflect what’s been going on with Amy and book #3. 

We were so far in front, progress was good, all was confident and cock-a-hoop and as it should be, and then somehow an idea created itself, and this niggling thought said why don’t you change a few things? 

What was the possible harm in listening to whispered suggestion echoing around my subconscious asking why don’t you change a few things 180?

Yeah why not rip it up and start again? 

So, being the fool that we are, we listened, and we did as we were bid.

We changed victim to victor, beaten to beater, dominator to submissive, and the whole hue of the book changed. 

All the effort was poured into just two characters; just two incidents were changed. 

Two characters and two unrelated incidents were changed, and I think Gotham is now all the better for it.

We sit here reviewing the results of our labours, inevitably we ask ourselves why so obvious a thing took so long and took so much effort? 

The answer on time and effort I cannot fully answer, but for the result I can confidently state that it was most definitely worth it! 

 

De La Soul would have you believe that 3 is the magic number, but they and Aleister Crowley are wrong.

10,000 is THE magic number!

It is the milestone that counts, the progress marker from which all others hang.

It is the point, when reached, that allows you to relax a little as the story now has a beginning, has structure and the genesis of the plot etched onto the computer screen.

The blinking cursor now transformed into an impatient friend, no longer a tormenting Audrey loudly screaming “Feed Me Seymour Feed Me!”

10,000 words safely extracted from your chaos of your head, from which the impatient imagination that is thousands more words further down the line can now try to structure a joined flowing narrative.

A collection of phrases, fights, demons and blood splattered saloons all now have purpose, all now have space to tell their tales – and that is liberating. 

The first 10,000 take forever, the next 10,000 are impatient words released from the pressurised confine that now flow faster and faster from cortex to keyboard. 

Plots will flow, will expand, be titivated, be nudged to an acceptable and readable form, and some will be abandoned before after or during this process, but, it is the first 10,000 words that count.

A foundation is now complete.

Amy Grace of County Leitrim, by way of Cairo, Khartoum, Peshawar the North West Frontier and so many other places after these, is safely in New York – and nobody has died. 

Although so is Ebenezer Cochran – so, hey let’s not discount a reasonable body count just yet!

2.5 stars out of 5.

And we plod on, inexorably forward, progress maintained by accepting any motion as positive. 

It is indeed beyond a truism that glaciers move quicker across continents than I progress towards becoming a published author. 

But drip, drip, drip, we perceiver. 

We carry the nervousness of the second album as the dead dog across our shoulders – maybe it’s just a slow burn, maybe it’s one of those read twice to appreciate kind of books? 

Or, indeed possibly, just maybe, it’s not just ahead of the readership curve, possibly, maybe, it’s just not any good? 

Can you throw so many ideas into a mix and expect them all to work? 

Does one idea detract and distract from the other? 

I’m not too sure.

Doubt sits on my shoulder.

Maybe it’s a misunderstood classic? 

Maybe indeed I should just let it go, move on, have confidence in what I’ve written, and stop looking for applause that’s just not going to come?

Do I need the echo chamber validation?

But standing in the arena, with dust on my shoes, I do look up into the sea of watching faces and focus on the direction of the pointing thumbs.

Standing at the top of the ten-meter board, looking across the sharp concrete edge, the water has never looked further away. 

Tempting, but terrifying.

Unperturbed we move Amy through additional adventures in the young city of New York.  We seek allies, and we vanquish enemies while trying desperately to save our friends.

Echoes from the chasing pack are growing louder, the Latimer siblings are moving to remove the embarrassing annoyance of the woman with red hair, and that woman is…  well you’ll have to read the book to find out just what she is doing.

But, it is a less complex intertwined story than Magic, a tale that sticks to the relative simplicity of the debut.

Album three continues like its predecessors as a no holds barred, unforgiving, harsh, and at times unbelievably cruel, venture into the dark underbelly of life. 

We have Pinkerton Agents, opiate smugglers and the whiff of requited love in the air for our heroine.   

As for the curtains, yeah they’re blue as an echo of the plight of the impoverished victims of global tyranny – shhsh it’s kinda obvious… 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well the first one is always the easiest, for debutants the critics are generally more sympathetic. Idiosyncratic structure accepted as ‘style’, unique phrasing lauded as refreshing, the darkness of the story enjoyed as something genuinely different, something challenging.

And then comes the sequel, the second album, the sophomore effort, the attempted follow on to the well-received debut.

You cannot simply regurgitate the first album, rephrase the same chords, you need to expand your sound, stretch your style – experiment a little.

Hmmmm

Reviews are kind, but the second album isn’t viewed in its own merit, it cannot be, it is the sibling to the successful and enjoyed older and established child. Some so loved the original that any variation is a betrayal, some uneasy with the continued violence, and some, a precious few, enjoying the continued ride.

It’s different… but Darks Side of the Moon, part two, it is not!

While Magic is a direct follow on to Thomas Payne, it is a development of the story, a growth of the character from events that have been. Thomas ends, it has a purpose which it delivers. Magic tidy’s up the deliberate lose ends, but then has to move on, has to travel both with Amy and the reader to somewhere new, to something else.

Magic; fairies; satanic ritual sacrifice; sadistic abuse and the loss of love – a romp through the flowers Magic is most definitely not, but then again neither was Thomas Payne.

I take the critique, accept the valued opinion which I purposely sought, and sit now elbows deep in Gotham, aware of what was loved, what was less enjoyed, and hopeful that this will deliver a blend that satisfies me, satisfies the story, and hopefully something that satisfies the reader.

We live in hope.

 

 

 

So, you write, you finish, you send for review and then you patiently wait for responses. 

But what do you do next? 

While the critiques are deliberating over your latest submission, what do you do?

Hmmm – I’ve opted to read, to research and to cogitate.

We have moved away from Amy and her plight, and stepped into being on the losing side during a civil war.

We’ve taken as our backdrop the Irish civil war, the chaos murder and vengeance that swirled around a country in the midst of painful change.

We are scribbling ideas around “The Big House”, and importantly we are enjoying it.

The changes that happened during this period of time in Ireland were profound, and arguably echo with us still. 

People moved from being highly respected members of society, some were honoured as heroes, yet in the near blink of an eye, they became pariahs subject to ostracization, boycott and murder.

Some used the overarching conflict between the two states to settle resentment that was a deep and dark as the bog and turf on which they stood, some fabricated grudges to pursue nothing more than spiteful resentment. 

And some just liked the chaos and the opportunity to be bad!

“The Big House” is a tale of a discovered past, of secrets that had been hidden for a long time, and the pain that their uncovering brings.

Oh, and the job, it’s still an open vacancy for the right candidate!

TellingTallTales.com are excited to offer the opportunity to appoint a suitably dynamic Literary Agent to represent a promising unpublished author. 

Additional information about the author, completed novels, works in progress and contact details can be located at TellingTallTales.com

TellingTallTales.com is an equal opportunities employer.

And then it’s all over…

Just like that it ends.

No fanfare, no marching bands, not even a wee advert in the Times court announcements.

One moment you are knee deep in murder and mayhem, and then ‘poof’ you’re not!

All of sudden you’ve finished the latest instalment of Amy and her sufferings, the current narrative has run its course, a new chapter beckons.

Amy Grace Volume 2: Magic has been written.

300+ pages taking in revenge and retribution, the hollow yet compelling need for vengeance, and the mercy that is a second chance to right a previous callous (if understandable) wrong.

It all happens in this volume.

We have magic, we have mythical forest creatures seeking assistance to save themselves from the vicious fairies that are hunting them to extinction.

We have a mad man murdering women in a cave to summon a deity that refuses to answer.

We have his unbelievably cruel and sadistic sidekick, who hates women especially prostitutes…

We meet women trapped in prostitution, women (young girls) that Amy rescues.

We have a love that blossoms and we have its tragic loss.

We have evil folk, cruel and sadistic people who do as they want merely because they can – oh and because they enjoy it!

We have young Amy seeking to right innumerable wrongs, trying to take on a rich and powerful railway family of California and their two equally sadistic children.

Amy is doing all of this, and more, while trying to survive a ransom placed upon her head and the many mercenaries keen to collect it.

And running throughout the story we have magic, lightening that needs to be ridden and a lost love mourned.

Magic is a worthy successor to Thomas Payne, a rollercoaster ride taking Amy and Ariel across America and the length of California, new adventures taken, new friends made and old ones revisited.

When you read it, I hope you like it.

Bain sult as an turas!

What is the cross over moment, between people back-slapping enthusing your ambition, and then quietly, politely, disappointedly, lamenting your lack of success? 

Oh, your wring a book – awesome, follow your dreams dude, go for it!

Then…

Oh, not been published then – why, isn’t it any good???

Or the classic…

Let it go dude, it was a pipedream, you tired, you failed – FFS move on!!!

Ah, the joy that is scribbling tall tales from the depths of your imagination, and the struggle to have other people (paying people) read them!

It would be nice, really nice, for my enthusiasm to be rewarded, acknowledged even with a positive reply from an agent. But, until that fateful day we keep scribbling away, hitting the keyboard with the unrelenting enthusiasm of a steroid filled gym bunny – one more try, one more attempt…   

Amy Grace Volume 2: Magic is now close, very close to being finished. 

This tale discusses the futility of vengeance, the hollow nature that such an act brings, the morality of prostitution… 

This is a tale that takes you through an ancient wood, populated by a dying species, that seek the help from a passing warrior, the help that she gives, and the fairies that she kills.   

We dip our toes into murder mayhem and lost love, the empty desolate space that is a lost love… 

Oh, and through it all we delve into the realms of magic, the good stuff, and the very bad stuff. 

To paraphrase, volume 2 isn’t just your average ho-hum everyday fairy-tale – it is more, so very much more*.   

So, when its available, I hope you obtain a copy, and most of all I earnestly hope that you enjoy the ride!

 

*it helps if you’ve read volume #1 Thomas Payne.

Ah, the untold joy of the re-write! 

The endless task of correcting this, and clarifying ‘that’; a refuge taken when I should be writing a 500-word distilled synopsis of the 130,000-word tale of Amy Grace and Thomas Payne.  

I think I’m suffering from creative defensiveness.  

Every twist, every turn in the book, I wrote them because they add value depth and richness to the story, and trying to create a pithy synopsis, that sticks just to pertinent points, is harder than it sounds. 

What are the pertinent points?

What do you omit? 

Do you (as I fear) run the risk of summarising the plot in too simplistic a manner? 

Does the whole story just become “girl travels world to seek revenge”? 

Yeah, I know, first world problems and all that self-indulgent kinda thing. 

But, here I am happily taking ‘volume 2’ into San Francisco, yet painfully failing to create this one-page synopsis for ‘volume 1’. 

And why you ask do we need a synopsis?

Ah, that is because yet again we are touting our wares, pimping our creation, offering up for sale our labour, and trying very hard to meet the required criteria of a very crammed and competitive market place. 

It is the perennial struggle to convince busy people that my offering does indeed have (commercial) value, to provide what they want, what they need, in order to filter Amy from the chaff. 

She deserves the best opportunity for her tale to be told, and for such a justice to happen, I need to create this superb captivating synopsis that engages and captures the attention of the targeted agent. 

Bugger, I need an agent to talk to other agents on my behalf!

So, anyway, this red-haired young woman travels the world and kills some people…