Morn was tending the bar on a lazy afternoon while the piano player played something which would have been a dirge at another time, but seemed remarkably joyful for some reason. Possibly this was to do with the cat which was dozing on the lid of the piano, its tail hanging limply across the back of the instrument, yet swaying in time to the beat.  There was hardly a customer in the old place, and Morn wondered, not for the first time, if Esqwith herself was also having a lazy day of it, but who could tell what passed through the mind of such an entity. Bored as she was, Morn was considering asking Greyman to watch the bar a while as it was quiet, and heading off to spend some quality time with her tree, when Sonny held the door open and through it stepped the scruff itinerant writer who passed through the bar once in a while. Morn, who found the customer both irritating and fascinating in equal measure, sighed to herself, rooted out a bottle of Jim from under the counter and had poured him a drink before he took his customer place on the corner barstool.

“What news?” she asked him if he was good for little else, he always had some snippets of interest from his world, which was fairly average as worlds go, but had at least not been eaten by an elder god the Thursday before…

Hi there.

Strange things are afoot, I’m busy with a couple of projects and have lots of little snippets of this and that to divulge. Snippets that don’t perhaps warrant a full blog post on there own, or that I have mentioned elsewhere, but news of one sort or another that I want to pass on. Because times they are exciting… Well for me at least.

Hannibal news…

The second Hannibal Smyth Novel, ‘From Russia With Tassels’ which carries on directly from the end of the first book, is finally completed in the first full draft. As ever, because it’s me, the first full draft is probably the 3rd draft for the most part of about two-thirds of the novel. At press, I am 40 odd pages into the technical 2nd draft/ final pre editor draft, which I am working through slowly. But hopefully, I am still somewhere approaching on target to release it in the summer (or early autumn)

Hannibal news 2…

For those wanting a little more Hannibal in the meantime, he features in a short story, set a few years before ‘A Spider In The Eye’ entitled ‘The Cheesecake Dichotomy’ in an anthology that is been released in two weeks time by Sixth Element Publishing, called ‘Harvey Duckman Presents’ which I am delighted to feature in alongside many other great writers, including several I have featured on my blog before.

Signing news…

I’m actually doing a signing. I will be at SCS Scarbrough, in authors ally ( which is coincidently the bar…) on Saturday the 6th of April between 14:00 and 15:00 though I will be about in that area for most of the day. As well as my own books I’ll also have copies of the 6thE anthology which is being launched that weekend. Indeed many of the other writers from within that tome’s pages will also be there.

Passing Place news…

I am still, between other projects, working on the sequel to Passing Place ‘Something Red’, it’s taking a long time and has a lot further to go but there are about five chapters or so written, and the bulk of the project ( because a Passing Place novel is always a project) is planned in one form or the other. Hopefully, Morn will tell me a couple of stories if I hang about in Esqwiths for a few hours since I am there… Passing Place also now has a new cover.

Maybe’s Daughter news…

The other novel I am currently working on is another steampunk novel set in the 1880s, the first of a duo of novels ( which may end up a trilogy, but currently, I only plan two)  It is about half written, and is with a Beta reader. Eventually, it will see the light of day.  It is a little more serious than Hannibal, which is simply because it’s not been narrated by Hannibal… It does feature Constable Perkins though, who is not the brightest value in the steam engine…

Blog news…

I set myself an aim this year to have the blog have more visitors, be more entertaining, and to be more successful than the first two years. Which is not to say the first two years failed to live up to my expectations. I just wanted this year to be more successful than last. So far it has been and has attracted more of you lovely readers each month than the equivalent months in previous years

Blogs roundup…

I follow a fair few other blogs, and seldom remember to mention them, so here’s a brief round-up of ones you should take a moment and look at…

C G Hattan’s blog ( as she has recently updated it) 

Meredith Debonnaire’s read alonga Discworld (sadly now Tantamountless, but hopefully one day it will return

Peter Jame martins Folklore blog, because who doesn’t like folk law

Tales to tide you over, because it throws up interesting stuff all the time