Hope this Wednesday finds you all well, now a couple of things before our main presentation.
Harvey Duckman Presents…
I spoke about this anthology last week but I wanted to remind everyone that it was officially launching at Sci Fi Scarborough this weekend! So if any viewers are at the convention, you can go and say hi to the awesome publishers 6e Publishing and pick up a copy of this awesome anthology!
If you can’t get to the event, don’t worry, there’s plenty of time to get your preorders in from Amazon.
A Boy and a Rat update:
So for all those that don’t know, I’m currently writing the first full length Brennan and Riz novel, in the form of a prequel. I’m currently over a third of the way through and I’ll start periodically posting teasers here on the blog do you can see what’s hopefully coming out this year…
I’ve just finished Chapter 9, and so far, I’m getting good feedback from my beta reader on how it’s shaping up. Look out next time for a small sneak peek.
Vector Unit Orphan's War
Work continues apace on this story, with chapter 4 having recently been uploaded. This chapter (The Siblings Part) sees Drake having to say goodbye to Ava as she arrives at the hospital to begin her life saving treatment.
If you follow the #Vss365 tag on twitter you might find a little reference I put in to one of the best writers to use that tag.
Click here to check out the chapter!
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Now for this weeks main feature…
The Yeti in the Snow
Or the original full title, The Yorkshire Yeti in the Snow, which was sadly lost due to constraints with the cover. When I first started writing, I’ve always wanted to do a seasonal story of some kind, a holiday special if you will for one of my story series. In fact back in the distant past of 2008, I started writing one that was never finished sadly, other things needed the attention in my life.
Flash forward to the summer of 2018 and a brainstorming session with my publisher where I gently dropped the idea of doing a seasonal themed Brennan and Riz tale, thus the groundwork was laid for Brennan and Riz to have a busy Christmas…
With it agreed that the story would be wrote, and knowing that I had to have it ideally finished before the end of October (I was entering NaNoWriMo the following November so needed all hands on that) I had to settle on a plot. You would think that Christmas Folklore would mean I was spoilt for choice for ideas, but did the world really need a Brennan and Riz vs the Krampus then? (let me know if you think it will be a good idea, feedback is always welcome!) so I needed another idea.
Enter the Yeti. Thinking about folklore connected with the season was much easier, and I quickly settled on the abominable snowman (to use another name), while they are quite common in folklore in the Tibetan region and outlying areas, the Yeti didn’t make much of an appearance in the west till the nineteenth century, when people were studying the cultures of the region. They have been depicted in various different ways through the media since their introduction, from being smart to being the missing link in human evolution (along with their sometimes related cousins, Bigfoot). So I had the creature from folklore, and the plot was beginning to form. It still needed something else. Given their history and the angle I wanted to take (Intelligent creatures that shared parts of our world but wanted to be left to their own society) I needed a villain.
I have already said that I was entering NaNoWriMo, and I already had plans for it, one of which was one of the antagonists in the story, taking sometime from the Halloween Preston park story and going with it further, the idea of the Fae who didn’t fit into the two established Councils. I decided that Azure Fractal, would be linked to this, taking inspiration from the Fae who I would be writing about in the prequel, allowing it to sync up nicely.
I had also decided quite early on that Valarie would reappear in this tale, as she was becoming a fan favorite through feedback I was getting. It’s always fun to give her and Riz scenes together as they have a nice back and forth. The last thing I needed was the location, and this was perhaps the easiest part.
Ten years ago, my parents and my then girlfriend (now my wife) went on a great winters walk to where my father delivered parcels for his job, this was the Yorkshire Dales, a stunning place during normal weather. When we went it was covered in snow, giving it a new appeal, and proving fertile ground for my imagination. The best part is, as this wasn’t connected to any existing folklore in the region, I get to revisit it at some point.
With everything in place, crafting the story wasn’t so difficult, and the climax saw a nice twist on the old formula, by Brennan being the one captured and needing rescued by the surprisingly efficient team of Riz and Valarie. The only thing I regret there is not being able to show what it was like from their point of view, given the perspective the stories use.
I’m not sure if I would use the Yeti’s again in the future, though I know some people would like to know about Riz’s connection with them, just like his connection with the gods. If there’s a story there, I’ll tell it, though I’m not sure Brennan and Riz will want me sending up to the Himalayas…
Click here to purchase the story from Amazon!
It's also free to read for those on Kindle Unlimited!
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Join me next week where I’ll talk about A Walk Through the Pleasure Gardens, till then everyone, keep safe and don’t upset any yeti’s…
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