Discovering Abigail.

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Rob

There is one aspect to being a writer, that does tend to irritate people a little, which simply put, is if you want to sit and talk about the weather with me, you will bore me to death, and I will probably get up and leave. I will not apologise for this, as I simply cannot sit and talk about menial things, like will it rain tomorrow?

I am a lover of real conversation, I like conversations about dreams, hope, aspirations, the universe, and interactions, and even people’s thoughts on modern sex, and I do use much of what I hear and see as a vehicle for stories. I always go away and think long and deep about whatever it is I have discussed and even look it up for other thoughts on the internet, and it all adds to the bank of data in my head for those moments sat writing. Add to that my love of simply observing people, and throw in my own life story, which has included a lot of deep conversations, about some very personal matters with people, and there is a recipe fit for a book, and actually, I have just written it, and its accompanying four other books that create the series entitled, ‘The Curio Chronicles.’

Abigail's Summer By Robin John Morgan. ISBN: 978-1910299-27-2

The first book, is an introduction to a whole list of new characters, the most obvious being Abigail, a nineteen year old university student, who is studying, Literature, Business, and Public Relations, for her degree. Abby is very intelligent, studies hard, and is an absolute book nerd, so if it is printed on paper, she will read it, but her greatest love in literature, is gothic horror, for which she is awarded her Uni nick name of ‘Deadly.’

Abigail was raised in the picturesque village of Wotton Dursley, a place she refers to as being stuck in the 1950’s, which she also states is like the Village of the Dammed. She has been raised by a wealthy family, and is very sheltered and naïve. Wotton is a place where how it looks, is the most important aspect of life, and the village is ruled by the Church Council, with the vicar’s wife Marjorie as the Chair Person. For Abigail, who hates her life in the village, because she has no means of expressing herself, her biggest and only act of rebellion, is to get as far away as possible, and so when it came to picking a university, she picked Manchester over four hundred miles away. Her Parents Edwin, a boring old accountant, and her controlling cleaning obsessed housewife mother Felicity, are mortified, and so Abigail’s departure to university, was not as smooth as it could have been.

On her first day she arrives, and finds herself lost, and having wandered around for hours dragging her large trunk of possessions, she knocks on the door of what she hopes is her dorm, and is confronted by a slightly taller, completely naked girl, with long white hair that has black patches on it, resembling birch bark, who gives her a huge smile, with sparkling green eyes, and says. “Hi Sweetie.”

Enter Birch, a girl who is one year older, having taken a year off to travel Europe with a promotions company, that was touring promoting authors. At twenty years old, with a mother who is a leading and world renown sex therapist, and a father who is a clinical psychologist university professor, Birch with her Manchester attitude, very high intelligence, is a Wiccan naturist, who is training in psychology, studying sexual practices and dysfunction, and literature, so that once she gets her doctorate, she can join her mother in practice.

For shy, naïve, Abby, who has been sheltered all her life, Birch is everything she never thought was possible, and they become instant friends. Over the first year, Birch’s open free spirited lifestyle rubs off on Abby, and she finally gets to embrace her freedom, and start her journey of deciding who she wants to be in life, and for Abby, Uni life becomes everything she has ever dreamed of, as her friendship with Birch becomes closer and closer. She discovers the joys of parties, alcohol, the odd tote on a spliff, and most importantly, the joy of sexual conquest. With the sexually liberated Birch at her side, she lets go, and goes wild, and embraces her freedom with a passion. Abby has her eyes well and truley opened to the reality of life in the north, and even gets to meet some of Birch’s friends from home.

All of this takes place before the book starts, and is briefly referred to throughout the story, the book starts with Abby sat in thought and starting to panic, as the first year of Uni is almost over, and suddenly she is faced with the reality of going home for the summer, and she is terrified, as she has changed a great deal, especially her appearance, of which she understands, the villagers will never accept her new image.

Abigail’s Summer, is the story of her return home, accompanied by Birch and the reaction she gets from her parents, and the villagers. From the moment she arrives there is conflict and misunderstandings which causes chaos around the village. I strongly feel that this is a story many will relate to, as we have all been through that time in our life, where we look inside to work out who we really are, and seek the answers to who that is, and this story follows Abigail’s journey of self discovery.

The book is actually very true to life, and is based on the many real life experiences of either myself, or my friends, or people I have worked with, either in a counselling role or just as supportive friend. The story is gritty at times and has a few situations in it that will challenge people’s perceptions, as it deals with modern life head on. Compared to Heirs to the Kingdom, for those fans and readers, this does have some similar threads, but this is definitely not a fantasy story, although it is a work of fiction.

Felicity looked at Birch. "oh God, how will i tell the vicar."

The main vehicle to drive the plot and the story is humour, and there are times when people will laugh, and as the chapter progresses, it will twist to show the cold reality of some aspects of life that we are all aware of, and yet in many cases choose to ignore. It does contain some very tongue in cheek moments reminiscent of Tom Sharp, or even the Carry On films of the seventies, and misunderstandings do open a situation up to some really funny moments in the story.

Birch is a wonderful character, who is calm in the centre of a whirlwind of madness and chaos, which is usually of her creation, and Abby plays off against that wonderfully as she panics and goes into meltdown, as she tries to control and maintain stability in the house. Through the story, the two of them attract others to them, the first being Debbie or Deb’s, who is at a different university in the south studying to be a biochemist, and the three of them become the core of the story and the endless strange and bizarre situations they find themselves in. It does not take the three of them very long to realise, the village has many hidden secrets of its own, and the hypocrisy of the residents becomes very apparent.

Deb's response to Abby's arrival in the village.

Like everything I write, there are strong themes and sub plots throughout the whole story, some relevant to this book, and some that will become apparent in the books that follow. In that aspect the story shares some similar aspects with HTTK, but this is a very modern story, that does confront some very current themes of the world today. Each crazy event is leading up to the final end of the book, which anyone who has read my books before knows, will twist in such a way, it will make for surprising reading.

I have allowed a few to read it prepublication, and I have some great feed back, and a few nervous looks, and raised eyebrows. The story is gritty in parts, and like most young teenagers of today, there is some foul language, and some scenes that are sexual. Is this a book of erotic fiction and sex, no it is not? I am not a lover of graphic sex books, and I like to think I add enough detail of description to paint a realistic picture, but it is not that graphic, if anything, it deals more with the inner dialogue of those involved in the act. It is a little more detailed than those moments of sexual involvement in HTTK, because for this book, it has to be, in Kingdom it was not completely relevant to the plot, but in this book, some of it is, especially as the book progresses into the rest of the series.

Ultimately there is a very important point of this first story, and it is very relevant for living today. I have used a fictional village, but the theme of this book and those that follow, which differ from book to book, do all address some important aspects of modern life, and I use a light hearted and almost comic way to deliver the story with impact, especially in the last three chapters.

Abigail's Summer by Robin John Morgan. Strong appeal to women and men alike.

I have been told this book will strongly appeal to women, and I can see that, it is after all written from Abigail’s point of view, something I have not done before, as I have always written from a narration point of view of an observer. I also think that males will learn a lot from this book, and enjoy it, ultimately, I will see after people have read it. This is not a fluff fiction, it is a serious story with some very important points in it, and a little after thought once the book has been read will show that. I think some age groups will be challenged by it, and not just the old, because the book does highlight how disconnected generations have become and why.

The Curio Chronicles no matter how challenging they may be for some readers, are an important set of books, with a very illuminating set of themes, and I am very happy with how they have turned out, and Abigail’s Summer is a great start to this series, and I really do think it should be on everyone’s reading list.

In the Buff, at the heart of the Village of the Dammed.

The irony of this story is, that in its first few weeks of issue to the public, it has been caught in the same problematic traps Abigail goes through in the book, of being restricted by those who feel they control everything. It has been hard to get the book out there, but ultimately, I really do feel if you order it and have to wait, it really is a book that is worth waiting for.

Abigail's Summer, available in print and digital from all book retailing sources. ISBN: 978-1-910299-27-2

It will be interesting to watch how it goes over the coming months, and as always love it, or hate it, jump onto my FB page and comment about it.

My thanks to everyone who has supported my stories, I always appreciate your support, and I hope you enjoy Abigail’s Summer.

The Arrival, and almost Departure, of Abigail.

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Rob

It is funny really as I look back on what has been the most stressful and heart-breaking week of my life, and then cast my mind back to last year.

The rise of the Covid virus sent shivers down my spine, as I got to see something not unsimilar to the rise of the Red Death, and realised very quickly that my thoughts back in the mid 1980’s were actually pretty accurate, as an unknown virus swept across the world creating havoc. Back in March 2020, it was frightening to watch the news media, and see some of my theories about the fragility of life become a reality.

People around me were scared, jobs were threatened, schools closed, and everyone went into survival mode, and spending stopped as people stayed home, and a whole new reality of life became apparent. We all wore masks, if we had to leave the house, something we all did with much trepidation. Business crashed, including my own, it was a difficult and frightening time to be alive.

Suddenly I had a lot of time on my hands, and so I focused on writing. Getting the last part of HTTK out was a priority, even though I knew few would sell as people sat on their cash, just in case their employers crashed also. I got the book out in July, but was not expecting a great deal, and in order to stay focused, I wrote another related story that went back to the very beginning of Heirs to the Kingdom, which I do hope to publish this year.

With that over with, I had to occupy my thoughts, we came out of the lockdown, only to find ourselves back in another one, so I did what I could with VCP, and then turned back to writing, and a project I shelved back in 2017. Back then I really wanted to write this book, but I was so tied up with Kingdom, it was not possible, I have a file filled with outlined ideas, and story plots, and in mid-October, I was sifting through it, when I came across what was at the time simply labelled ‘Students.’

For those not in the know, as I do keep a lot of my life private, I worked on and off for over twenty five years counselling, and in that time of talking with every generation, I have been privileged enough to gain a lot of insights, to areas of life that are not often visible to most of us.

I read through what was the synopsis for the book, it was late at night and I was really feeling that need to write, which I lovingly refer to as having itchy fingers. I reached the end of the synopsis and quickly realised this would actually make a great start to a story, and would create almost a full first chapter, and that was it, I reached the end, hit enter to drop a line and continued to write for the next five hours, creating notes on the story as I went. Somewhere around dawn, I collapsed into bed mentally exhausted, with a list of main characters, a rough sketched village map, and the first two chapters.

That became the pattern of my life for the next two weeks, I hammered away everyday making a few more notes, but basically, I was writing blind and, in the dark, just making it up as I went along, never knowing what the next chapter would be about. For myself, it felt like freedom, and reminded me very much of writing the Bowman of Loxley back in 2007, which was the same inspired and intense experience, and I was loving the fact I was writing something nothing at all like Kingdom.

The editing watered it down a little, it was real, very gritty, a little spicy, and had lots of twists and turns in it to keep the reader guessing, and the most wonderful thing about it all, was it contained lots of slightly tongue in cheek, and a little naughty humour. I have always struggled to write humour, Harry in Kingdom was not always an easy thing, and I would spend hours putting each little section riddled with misunderstanding together. Abigail was so different, it just flowed out of me as I thought back to all the stupid and bizarre moments of my own life, and that of friends.

What emerged was a book that whilst not as elaborate and heavily layered as Kingdom, still had a lot of great sub plots and layers, that would all weave through the story to the final ending. I hoped it would provide a good twist, and really engage the reader to take a long hard look at their own life and the lives of those around them. From the few to date that have read it, I think it has worked really well.

I will not deny, the book is very modern and fresh, and very off the cuff, and gritty, and for a lot of readers, I am assuming there will be a few WTF! moments, but I actually like that, books should make people think, and even with Kingdom, I created similar scenarios.

Abigail and her crazy friend Birch, encounter so much unpredictable madness, that it is my hope it keeps the story flowing, so far those who have read think it does, but ultimately the jury is still out on that. The last month of editing and formatting was such an exciting time for me, I guess with Kingdom I have become a little jaded, after 14 years and eight books, and not as excited as I should be, but this book had me chomping at the bit as the deadline drew closer, and seeing it formatted was thrilling, and even more so, as this was the first time, I was putting a digital version out at the same time.

Digital Kingdoms are coming soon, there has been a lot of set backs getting the right distribution, but that is now sorted and settled, and the Kingdom stories are almost ready, I just held back a little as I wanted to give Abigail a good run first. The day approached and I got the first test print, and it looked amazing, it was also so much fun to work on the cover, as my wife took on the task of cover design for me, and she produced such a great relevant and fantastic picture for it. I really was so excited, and could not wait for the moment when we hit the button, and it was published.

My joy was short lived, the following day when the book appeared on Amazon, it was listed as unavailable, with the comment “We do know when or if this item will be back in stock.” I could not believe it, and checked straight away with the distributor, but it was available and ready to print, it made no sense at all. The following day, June 13^th, the book was offered, but the delivery time was ‘one to two months’ Again my happiness was crushed. I checked again with the distributor, they were quite insistent the book was available, as it could be printed and shipped within 3 to 5 working days depending on the number of orders coming in.

Currently Unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock

All I can say is, when you are an author and you have put your heart and soul into a book, to experience this, is devastating. No reader is prepared to wait between one and two months for a book. I tried to contact Amazon, which as an author or publisher is impossible, their email no longer works, and their phones lines ring and ring, and when you do get through to the call system, you go round and round, all they are interested in is customer calls, not authors. It was frustrating and gut wrenching, my chances of selling my book were zero, it was literally dead in the water. I tried chat, and got a robot, and again got the same run around, it was impossible to get past it, because there is no chat box to write in, you just have generic answers to press, and no hope of speaking to a human being, and talk to someone who could help me. I cannot write how soul destroying it was to have to go through it. I spoke to another author on a forum who I know quite well, they told me, “They want you to publish with them and use their POD service, if you don’t, get used to this.” Another author told me. “It happened to me, and the only way I could get back on the platform was to give them an even bigger discount.” They added. “My book sells for twelve pounds, and at the end of all of it, I get just one pound and forty pence, after paying the print costs, Amazon takes the rest which is massively more than I make.”

Usually despatched within one to two months.

All Authors use POD (Print on Demand) it is an advanced system which means as you buy the book, it is printed and shipped automatically. Amazon has no reason to list any of our books for more than one month’s deliver time, they simply chose to, because they are a multi billion dollar company that rules supremely over the book world, and no one is big enough to challenge them, and so they can do as they wish, which means delaying delivery of anyone’s books, and it is wrong and it sucks.

Just like last year, it felt like my books were running in sync with my stories, last year I saw a virus not unsimilar in its spread to the one I created for Kingdom, and my latest book Abigail’s Summer, focus’s on the bullying tactics of those who feel they can control everything, and Amazon certainly do when it comes to book sales.

I really love Abigail’s Summer, the characters are probably not what you expect from me, but they really are wonderful, so much so I reached the end of the first book, and knew I could not walk away from them, and so wrote another four stories that took them from their first glorious summer together, right through ten years of life, friendships and troubles. What is now the Curio Chronicles will come out over the next few years, I was lucky, I wrote all of them before the first was even published, so they are done, apart from a few tweaks.

Working hard with VCP at the moment, I am working to make sure I never get hit in the face again. Abigail’s Summer will be available world wide and with a fast delivery to ensure anyone who wants to read it will do, it will take a few weeks to get it set up, but that is ongoing as I write, and in future I will not bother what Amazon does, as I will promote the hell out of the VCP links and do it myself.

To those of you who have stood by me and supported my writing since 2009, I would ask, that if you do read Abigail’s Summer, (If you actually get it before Summer ends) and you do enjoy it, because it is very different from HTTK, please help, share the links, talk, tell your friends, and encourage them to buy it or download it. I am one guy sat at a desk who loves to write, and create great stories, but at the moment that is threatened, as without sales, I will not be able to make it through, and will ultimately have to stop writing. I am working 18-hour days to get this book known and out there.

My story is not a lone one, as other authors have reached out with the same story, and I am helping them to follow my lead and build websites with their own delivery distribution worldwide built in. No one should bend to a bully, and Abigail’s Summer shows that, and I will back up my words in the book 1000%. There is a line in it that feels so appropriate at the moment, and you will find it in chapter thirty-two, and it simply reads.

ADULTS BULLY TOO!

My thanks as always to those who have supported my writing, I hope you all have a peaceful Summer.

Old Idea, Modern Twist.

Posted on March 22, 2018 by Rob

Light and spacious, and freedom of movement

One of the most visually identifiable aspects of HTTK is without doubt the cloak. In the first book Robbie and Billy both receive a new one, which was made by Steph and Runestone. It is a garment that in the very early stages of HTTK is pretty dominant, and in a lot of the conversations I have in regard to the books, most people just assume that I included the cloak to add to the modern/medieval feelings of the transit back in time in which all the characters live.

The symbolism of the hooded man has to be a long hooded and cloaked figure, and where I must admit a cloak was indeed the perfect vehicle for the image I wanted to create, I actually shied away from it at first. I was very aware when writing the first book that using the words Bowman and Loxley in the title, a lot of people would instantly think this was yet another Robin Hood story, which for those of you have read HTTK, you will know that is very much not the case.

I spent a lot of time creating the world in which my characters would live, and the most important aspect of it would be that it was set in the year 2038, so it would be a futuristic tale. I was embarking on a world torn apart and destroyed by a virus, which lead to anarchy and destruction, leaving those who survived with very little. The villain of the story with his Cutters would set about collecting as much of the old world life as possible, and so those who barely survived, were faced with the task of starting from scratch in a world outside of town and city life. In my mind they would have been left with very little and had literally only the clothes on their backs.

From disaster to the start of book one, twenty six years have elapsed, and as I planned the start of my world, it became quite clear that those survivors would have had to toil hard to make it through, and the most obvious factor here would be wear and tear of the few articles of clothing they possessed. I think it is quite obvious that they would have no choice but to create new clothing, and it is here that the skills of the old would be a major factor. I imagined those very few of the older generations would be the saviours of the masses, because they would still have the skills required to move the survivors forward. In my mind the elders of each community would be a vital part of survival, something I actually feel in today’s modern life where we take our older generations for granted, we all miss the point that their early life was set to a background long before modern technology, where they literally learned the skills to create and repair most things.

The elderly would become the teachers of the old skills, making them one of the most important aspects of a new community, as they still remember the crafts of weaving, patching, darning, knitting and crochet. Even if they were not able to handle the work load of creating a new cottage industry, they would still be able to teach the young, and this is yet another reason why characters such as the Kirk sisters, Agatha Patterdale and Ruben Stein are so very important to the village life of Loxley. I am not sure how many of the older generations you may have spotted, but they are there weaving in and out of the story throughout all the books. Alfie and Lee Sherman, Old Joe, Fuse and Alf the butcher play vital roles in this story; even Oscar Hargreaves had his part to play as book seller and more importantly printer.

Runestone and Steph run Trinkets and Trousers, the shop that supplies many articles of clothing, and if you notice employ quite a few extras weaving and sewing, even Maddy and Una who were raised at a time long before the modern world, are gratefully welcomed into the community and play their parts as teachers working in this industry.
I gave a lot of thought to the clothing, and did at first think some people would indeed seek out supplies to stock pile, enter Harry and Smokes and also the Cutters, but even with a great deal of salvage from the last remnants of the modern world, there still would not be enough to clothe a new generation of woodland living people, and so I turned my attention to more practical means of protection from the cold or the hot summer sun.

In today’s world wearing a cloak would be seen as old fashioned, and to be honest those who wear them would be considered quite strange and bonkers, I know as I actually own a real woollen woodsman cloak replicated perfectly to the medieval period. It is a heavy winter cloak, and it is both thick and heavy to wear, but I must confess it is so comfortable to wear, that I have on occasion slipped on and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Back in 2006 I made one out of a blanket as I looked at what would be the best and most suitable article of clothing to wear. Few people realise that actually the cloak has been worn for thousands of years, and its demise is relatively a recent thing. Wearing a cape or cloak was quite common right up until the mid-1940’s and in some circles they were still worn right through to the late 1980’s. I remember many hippies who wore poncho’s and wraps in the early seventies, and yes there was still the odd eccentric who wore a cloak during those days also. But the simple fact remains that the cloak has been around as a worldwide phenomenon for a very long time, but why I asked myself?

Simply put, I think it is because the cloak is possibly the easiest thing to make from a long rectangular piece of fabric. A basic cloak is easily fashioned and very practical, I made one and went out into the woodland to test it and see. I must admit I did not have very good sewing skills at the time, but by folding a section of the top of my blanket back on itself to make the shoulder section double thick, and then adding a basic lace tie, I found that I could lift the folded section over my head in the rain creating a hood like appearance, and actually found as I walked under the trees in the pouring rain it was very effective, and I remained surprisingly warm and dry.

My blanket cloak felt heavy to hold in one hand, but once thrown across my back it felt amazingly light, and where I thought it may restrict my movements, it was quite surprising how easily it flowed around me, moving with my own body’s movements so it never actually restricted any kind of gesture or position I took up. There is zero restriction on the arms, so the firing of a long bow would be completely unhindered.

One day when it rained quite hard, I took a second walk in the woodland just to see how waterproof it would be. Now you have to consider that it was just a plain thick blanket with no form of waterproofing whatsoever on it, I literally folded the top section over for a double protection on the shoulders and added a lace tie. To my complete surprise, I found it kept me bone dry. The weight of the cloak did increase a bit as it absorbed the heavy rain, but my shirt and pants were completely dry. I think it was during that storm I decided it was the right choice for the story as it made complete sense that in a survival situation it would be the easiest to manufacture, and the most practical to wear.

It had some other surprising points that added to my choice as well, the first being the silence of wearing it. Something we do not realise is how noisy modern clothing can be; we all know what it is like to be out in a bad storm in a thick modern coat, which is usually made of nylon type fabric. I think it is safe to say that we have become accustomed to that putter patter sound as the rain hits us on the shoulders or head. Especially when you pull your hood up, you can hear the rain driving onto you, and it can at times be so loud you cannot hear yourself think. I was out in a massive downpour and yet it was totally silent. The thick wool absorbed all the impact, and the result was I could hear every sound of the woodland clearly; something I noted would be of great advantage to a woodsman. Another one of my pet hates is wet hands, I hate the way modern macs create rivers in the creases that always run off your shoulders and down your sleeves soaking your hands, but with a cloak there were no rivers running off me and my hands were safely tucked within the cloak.

It was quite a warn day, but had it been cold and wintery, I could see how the cloak could be pulled tight around me to keep me warm, and when I crouched against a tree, the cloak folded in like a small protective tent, and I was safe, warm, and very dry. I had to wonder why we have accepted the modern coat, which can be cumbersome and annoying, when we have been wearing possibly the perfect outdoor attire for thousands of years. My makeshift handmade cloak passed all the tests of warmth, movement, and water proofing that I needed to tell me that it would be right to include it in the books, and to date, I think it has become a prominent feature of my lead characters, but only because it would practically be the perfect garment for that situation. I find it no coincidence that the modern day army use waterproofed long cloak like garments to cover their packs and themselves whilst out in the field. They may be nylon and camouflaged, but their purpose serves exactly the same purpose it has for a thousand years, it provides protection from the elements, can be used a make shift tent or blanket, and helps break up the shape by softening it into the background.

In 2008 my wife bought me a proper woodsman’s cloak made from thick wool and lined with cotton, and

A thick heavy woollen cloak, yet suprisingly light to wear

the experience of this well-made hand stitched garment, completely proved that the decision to use a cloak made by a master seamstress such as Runestone for Robbie, was indeed the right way to go, and any anxiety I had felt writing the first book, soon diminished as I knew I chosen perfectly.
It probably sounds quite bonkers, but I would thoroughly recommend buying yourself a good quality cloak with a hood, compared to today’s machine made coats, it is a far better garment for winter or the summer, and if you get a little too hot, cast it back over your shoulders and cool down, it really is a wonderful experience, and I have no idea why they fell out of fashion. To be honest I live in hope that one day they will brought back in a revival, and if they are, I will be one of the first out there wearing mine.

Happy New Year.

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Rob

As the clock strikes midnight, and we all move from one year into another, I guess I will not be that sad to see 2017 end, its not be the easiest of years.

2017 has felt like the popular theme of my HTTK work, I have faced some pretty overwhelming odds and had to fight my way through. The year began in what for me is a creative frenzy, and I was inspired and working really well, but unfortunately it was not long before life began to tap me on the shoulder, and point out that things were occurring which required a great deal of my attention.

This country has seen some pretty major upheavals in recent years, and the most significant being the Brexit vote, at first I was not overly concerned, but after several years of Austerity cuts in this country, it became very clear that the book market was suffering, as people had less and less for a luxury product such as books.

A great deal of my attention was switched to promotion, as I had to don my VCP hat, and do what I could to help bolster the promotions, to try and find new audiences for not just myself, but the other authors I represent, and that at times has meant prioritising their work over my own. It has been a long and hard struggle to get the word out this year, especially against the bigger publishers who were feeling the same bite, and pushed more of their resources into promotion on levels I could not possibly compete with. It’s been a creative year there is no doubt, as VCP has expanded in many more ways on social media and networking, to find audiences with more disposable income. It has felt like a long hard struggle, and at times I cannot deny it has been exhausting.

My greatest set back has been in the form of simple life, events and growing issues around family have diverted a great deal of my attention away from writing into dealing with day to day life. Emotionally this has been the toughest year I have had for some years, and it has been hard to focus on writing in the small amounts of down time I have had between drama and the problems around me. I have felt very frustrated for a great deal of the year, and torn between VCP, HTTK and Family, not the best recipe for focused writing.

It’s not all grim news, HTTK is alive and well, and even though I started out 2017 with an ambitious project of getting two books ready for print, I have completed a considerable amount of my goal, and both stories have had a significant amount done on them. My aim for the quieter moments of 2018 is to start and get them finished ASAP. HTTK eight is my priority, which will then be followed up later with a related story, which will take the story right back to the start of everything, and open up the back story of how the Merle worked its way into the line of the Dark One. Both are in good shape and just need to be completed, I have written a huge amount on the back story, which has allowed me to weave elements of it into the final book of the HTTK series, and as I start this new year, the last HTTK edition and getting it finished is my priority.

I am feeling the pressure to get more readers, and finish the book, and also to make this a book worth reading.

To all of you who have shown such great loyalty to my work, I wish you every happiness for this New Year. I hope that the paths you walk are greener and shaded from the brightness of distraction, and the focus of your lives this year is peaceful, safe, and productive.

Happy New Year to you all.

December 22nd 2007.

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Rob

The Market Garden Shop December 2007

The picture on this post is possibly the last picture taken of the “Market Garden Shop” on Denton Market, it may even be the last picture of a trading shop on the market ever. It was taken on December 14^th 2007, and within eight days of this moment, sadly the market and this little shop was closed forever bringing an end to 147 years of Market Trading Tradition in Denton, Greater Manchester in the UK.

Today 22^nd of December 2017 is not such a great day for myself and a great friend, as today marks ten years since we lost our business to a council hell bent on ignoring the wishes of those who used the market, and their ambition to create a town plaza in Denton. It is yet another example of how local councils ride rough shot over ordinary people to achieve a pointless goal. The plaza that is now empty of life and has killed off a great deal of the surrounding business has been yet another very expensive nail in the coffin of local community.

For my good friend Pru and myself, we fought a long and hard campaign to try and save the market, but the odds were always against us, and for our efforts we paid a very high price. Our health suffered greatly and we lost the one thing we loved the most, we lost our market trading businesses. The people lost so much more, especially when you consider the impact that local communities have felt in the last eight years of austerity. Never before has there been a greater need for traders who work on smaller margins to keep prices low for the poorer members of our communities, never has there been a greater need for Market Traders.

We warned back in 2007 that all the local markets would be hit hard, and today we can see we were right and should have been listened to, but our warnings fell on deaf ears, and the cost that has been paid will be felt this Christmas by a lot of people, our markets stand shrunken, overpriced and almost empty.

It has taken me ten years to recover from that terrible time, it’s been a process that was long and hard and at great personal cost, and I have been asked many times if a regret the fight that cost me everything? I regret that I lost everything; I will never regret facing the overwhelming odds of a fight that took everything I had. I fought for what was right, and I still believe that it was the correct thing to do for the many people of Denton who needed a voice. I am sorry that Pru and myself could not bring the small victory our customers hoped for, and have always regretted that, but I think we can both say, we did our best in an impossible situation.

I have many happy memories of working on the market, and today as I look back, they will bring me some cheer. Markets were the life blood of our communities at one time, they were filled with so many different kinds of people, and I was always proud to be there to serve them. I have met many very kind people, many grumpy old souls, and some of the most bonkers people ever, I have not forgotten them, I never will, and so today I feel a little sadness.

All things end, and life no matter how bleak eventually brightens up. The light at the end of the tunnel was my decision to recover my health and change my career, and as a result I became a full time writer. My stories contain some of the struggle of those times, and some of the joys, life for me changed but the darkness of those times shaped the way I tell my stories, and that is the positive in my own personal story. This tiny little wooden shop meant so much to me at the time, and sat here ten years later it means even more. It is here in this little wooden building that the quiet moments of thought and talk with friends brought about the motivation that began another journey. On December 22^nd 2007 I locked up my shop forever, and even though it has been demolished, and wiped from this earth, there on that cold empty plaza is a spot that will remain in my heart forever.

That spot to me is sacred, for it was there that I looked at my friend Louis, and told him of a story I had been working on for years, and I had begun to write it at last. In that little shop the very first draft of “The Bowman of Loxley” came into being, it was part one of a story that I had no idea would grow to a series of eight books, and bring pleasure to readers in many other countries from the one that I lived in. The Market Garden Shop, even though wiped from the face of the earth, is the birth place of Heirs to the Kingdom.

Let’s see the council try and take that away from me.

Merry Christmas Pru, and Louis, thanks for all your support and inspiration.

Blessed Yule Robbie, Runestone, and the Specialists.

The Author’s Kingdom #11

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Rob

The Author’s Kingdom is a series of articles, where the Author explains his perception of Heirs to the Kingdom. It is written to cover the festive season of Christmas 2016.

The science behind the fantasy

Some time ago I was asked by a reader if I believed in Aliens. Now I must admit at the time it felt like the oddest question ever in relation to HTTK. What followed was actually a very interesting conversation, and whereas the questioner had actually asked a question with some merit, I found in the conversation that followed some plus and some negative points to their thinking.

I am a writer, and an avid reader, and I think that one of the things that reading allows us to do is open our minds to the possibility of anything and everything. Before I give an explanation to the question and my answer, I will explain a little about my own view point when writing.

I do see myself as being very open minded, I am at heart a liberal person who believes in personal freedoms, which I do not deny conflicts with a few peoples closed view of the world. I like science, I am by far no expert, but I read a huge amount of all sorts of unusual and different subjects. Like most people some things I can accept, and there are a few things even I find a little too weird for even myself.

So back to the question. Do I believe in Aliens?

After some discussion with my questioner, I began to realise that their principle premise for asking was the Ruling Council. It suddenly made sense, as in the books I do indeed refer to them arriving in our solar system and discovering the Earth, on which half of them set up house on this planet and then start creating things such as humans and Fae. Ok now it made for a very good question, and I had to admit it was not at all how I had first thought of it. In all truth the Ruling Council was my way of building a creation that was an alternative to the whole God created the world in seven days event, you see I had set a line of people on the earth (White Circle/ Green Circle) that were not exactly the same as us, and so in my way this was one way of explaining their race and the powers they had. I suppose I was looking for a way to introduce the magic that is used throughout HTTK, but I must admit the alien theory did intrigue me, as in a way my idea of the Ruling Council did indeed point to the fact that they were not of this planet, and so therefore they could actually be perceived as alien lifeforms.

The questioner then went on to explain that they believed aliens walked amongst us and that the human race was actually manufactured by aliens, Ok so suddenly mid conversation I found myself walking into what I consider to be conspiracy theory territory, and so I began to tread lightly. The thing here is that the questioner made some really good points that I had never actually considered, and this indeed is one of the greatest things about talking to the readership, because it does provide that window on their thoughts. Do I think we are a product of alien creation, well having read the origin of species by Darwin, and garnering an understanding of his Theory of Evolution, I would possibly say that currently I think the world view (Darwin’s Theory) has more merit and is more believable, but again I am open to a good theory, so show me credible evidence and I will give it some thought.

I think the conversation remained with me for quite some time; well obviously it did because here I am some time later still pondering the question. How do you explain Runestone? Well actually the most simplistic way would be ‘well actually this is a fantasy,’ so I need no defined explanation, but in a way that would be wrong, because even though this is a fictitious tale, I do try on every level to create a believable scenario.

Ok so here goes…. Did you know there is a tribe living on an island in the South Pacific named Melanesia? Most people don’t. I read an article in a magazine many years ago that actually had the theory that the people who lived there have a type of DNA that includes the involvement of a third species. Now I have to admit at the time I thought it was pretty interesting, I mean we all know the story of the human development being a mixture of the Neanderthal and the Denisovans. Science points to the fact that these two distinct types of being were the initial man/ape like forms that at some point met and interbred to create what we all know today as the Homo Erectus or human being. The thing that fascinated me was that firstly science is exploring what they believe to be a third kind of species of man, and the second thing which really grabbed my attention was that these people all had sapphire blue or jade green eyes. Hmmm see where I went with that?

My questioner when given these facts was a little disappointed, and sort of elated at the same time, they announced maybe the third DNA from these people was alien, which ok suited their need to believe and who was I to kill their joy? I just was not ready to buy into the whole lizard Martian type theory just at that moment in time. The good news is since reading that article scientists have indeed isolated a third type of DNA in these people who previously we had no knowledge of, as to its origins, well science still has a long way to go so stay tuned.

The important point which my questioner missed was the very simple fact that here was an interesting and science based fact that I was able to take and manipulate to work for my story. It’s what I do, and to be honest they were a little disappointed in me because of it and clung to their aliens are invading us script, which to be honest I have no issue with, for all I know they may well have done, one thing I have always believed is that looking at the millions of solar systems we see through Hubble, I think only fool would think we are the only life form in the entire galaxy, I just have not met anything other than human beings yet to confirm my own private theory.

I use all sorts of facts to create my story, I do indeed allow my imagination to run wild, but I always try to find a logical explanation. So at this point I will turn away from ET and his supporters and try to explain my answer as to why I made the first Ruling Council the way I did.

In a nut shell I did not want one all seeing all powerful god. That pretty much sums it up; I did not want to get dragged into some form of religious dogma, which then embroiled the whole tale around some all-powerful creationist who set his children free to roam the planet whilst sitting in judgement of everyone. I wanted something slightly believable, but I also wanted something that was a little bit more human. I wanted something no faith could claim, this was to be a work of fantasy, and so I got imaginative and tried to pull something that was unique, but felt comfortable. In many ways I like the theory of the Greek gods, although when it comes to Greek mythology I have to confess I get tired of it, I did so much at school that I think it turned me off it for life, my wife however loves it, and she is the one the children consult, and she is good at rattling it off. The one thing that did always appeal to me was that the Greek gods were human in their approach to life, and yes in a way I pinched a little of it. You see Greek mythology has very human aspects to it, their gods are lovers of the same things and have the same failings as us, and I really do find that appealing. One of the things about most of the other faiths that has always been a little bit of contradiction for me is the whole concept of man being created in the supreme beings image. We are told we all God like, and then you read the books that contain all the words of this supreme God only to find out that pretty much everything that makes us human is banned by the god. The Greeks had one thing going in their favour, Human appetites. They love food, adore wine, they think and study, they are wildly sexual to the point of deviance, and have the power to take life and give life, and most importantly they bred with the humans to create lesser gods. This is a mixture I could use, in the Council we can see the qualities of us all, and that I feel is a much better working theory behind my characters. I adore the fact that Hearne carries his deep love for Eve so deeply within himself, I think we can relate to a ruling council who makes a mistake or can be wounded or killed as Eleanor was. These are the things that build a sense of identity within my Earth Faith, and we see them in Runestone and Jade and all the other members of the circle lines. I find it creates a deeper bond built on similar imperfections and makes them more believable as a result.

The example of the people of Melanesia helped me to realise that I could create lines that fitted into the human form and appeared human whilst still wielding unusual powers, and having created my first real line of different peoples, it was not long before I could use the same believability to create more. The Fae, a race of two distinct lines all based in the same theory of creation, and that led me to then take one of those lines and morph it into another as the Dark One does to create Houlen or Darkmares. I found a way to go into a complete realm of total fantasy but still had that small set of believable facts behind it all to back it up, and that made for better writing which leads the reader into a much deeper and more fascinating tale.

I like to create questions in everything I write, I think it is important that books make the readers think. Runestone and her families ability to communicate via their thoughts is yet another example. We all have that deep inner sense of being, and call it what you will as science still cannot fully answer it, but we do have an uncanny ability to suspect something only to find out we are right. That one human quality helps me explore the deep inner workings of Runestone and her family line, it’s almost like the old tale of someone after they discover their partner has been cheating, I have certainly been there in the past. You know something is not right, there is no evidence at all, and yet deep down inside you just know, and so you look and look hard. Most of the time being right and discovering the truth is not satisfying, and yet something deep and primal within you had set you on the right path to discovery. It is still something science cannot explain, and yet we all know it to be true, and again it is one of the most fascinating things about the human condition, we believe it to be true with no evidence to prove it all because we have felt it and we have experienced it. These are the simple aspects of human life that allow me to take a thin thread of fact and weave it into a believable story line, and let’s be honest no one questions Runestone’s abilities because of it. She just turns to Robbie, smiles and says. “Trust me I know stuff,” and bang I have you caught in the web of believability, for no other reason than at some point in your life you have been there, and experienced the very same thing.

I don’t need Mars, Saturn, Venus or Buddha, I have no need for a Christian or Islamic God figure, I have five entities of energy, who create a lifeform from what was the primordial soup of life and they inhabited it with all their human qualities. They learned from their own experiences and created other life forms the same way that were likened to them, and their creations held all the same qualities, and those are the very same qualities as you and me, and that creates a situation where they become more believable, because we can all identify with them because we all have made the same errors of judgement.

My Grandfather was a head teacher, or head master as the position was known back then, he became the inspiration behind Albanlin. He once said to me when I was commenting on a book, if the facts support how believable the character is, and if they have something in common with you, then you will identify with them quicker, and as a result you will understand them better. He must have seen the writer in me long before I did, but I find today many years after he is gone, because he died when I was just 17 years old, he gave me some of the best advice ever in that small statement for writing. I must admit I have also passed it on to other writers as a really good way of expressing how I create and write my characters. You only need the smallest seed to germinate, and then you have a story worth telling based on that one grain of truth, everything that follows is built on that foundation, and as I think about it whilst writing this particular piece, I realise that my habit of sewing science, history, mythology and human behaviour into my tale, has actually brought it to life better than I ever expected it to. Is it based on aliens, well to be honest none that I am currently aware of, although I must admit, at the time it was indeed a very fascinating and well thought out theory.

The Author’s Kingdom (Introduction)

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Rob

Every two years over the Christmas period, I try to add more behind the scenes detail to this series of books I have been writing since 2007. It has always taken the format of something that I could add to the website each day or every few days to create extra interest and depth to the series. I started with this festive event mainly due to those who read the books, as my way of firstly thanking them, and secondly, because with this series, it is impossible for me to add everything that I have written as background detail to the actual printed books, so really this is my way of ensuring I get as much of this tale out as possible for the enjoyment of the reader.

This year (2016) I have decided to use the HTTK blog as a vehicle, mainly because it gives me more freedom and space to include a great deal of information. So what is the “Author’s Kingdom” all about?

This year has seen the seventh book arrive, which can only mean that I am currently busy putting together the final chapters of this tale, and so I thought that as I near the end, I would open up my writing world, and show you more of my side of things when it comes to how HTTK goes together in the actual stages of writing.

THE KINGDOM AS SEEN BY THE AUTHOR.

Heirs to the Kingdom through my eyes, is an immensely personal thing, this is after all my work, but it is also far more than just a story to me as the author. Simply put, HTTK is every thought, every person I have met, every feeling I have felt, my joys and my pain in the life I have lived.

I have created the kind of world I would like to walk in, and then within the confines of that world, I have added characters and relationships, actions and adventures, places of interest or I have loved to visit, and even though the world I have created is a figment of my own imagination, it is built on something deeply personal and very real indeed. In a nut shell, it is who I truly am, written from the point of view of all my characters.

Like most people, my life has been filled with joys and sadness, I see myself as a relatively ordinary person, who has shared a life of ups and downs, and each event has shaped me into the kind of person who decided one day to sit down and empty the contents of their head onto a page. My head is a busy place, I always have some internal dialogue constantly coursing through it, and everything I encounter is a spark that creates yet more activity, and that is one of the reasons why I write. Writing allows me to spill out all the dialogue and store it on paper, or in today’s modern world the computer, and that for a short time gives me a sense of calm until my mind fills up again.

To set the scene for what is to come over the following days, I will say that yes I am a typical writer, I can be very social when I feel I want to be, which kills my creativity, or I can be the quite deeply thoughtful introvert, who questions the world around me in private and then pulls it apart to see exactly how everything fits. I am truly at my happiest alone, something that annoys many of those who are around me in this life, as they fail to see that it is in those moments my mind truly has the space to think and open up, and that is when my writing is at its most intense.

It is my belief that a book should challenge the reader in some way. I honestly believe a huge part of the joy of reading is that it allows you to walk in the shoes of another, and then watch a scenario from their perspective. Reading not only informs us of facts and situations we would not normally find ourselves in, it allows us to connect and feel the emotions of others, as they face situations that we may or may not encounter within our own lives.

Life is not a simple thing, we have the so called rules of society, but life is not that easy at times, and we all tend to find ourselves at some point where the rules of our society do not appear to fit us at that time. There have been many occasions where I have felt the idea of one set of rules for everyone just is not appropriate, and as I have aged, I have seen that they have become less and less relevant in my own life, as I choose the way I wish to live, and that has had an effect on the characters that I have created within Heirs to the Kingdom.

Human beings are indeed complicated and contradictory, and that is just wonderful material for writers, especially in the modern landscape of today’s unclear world. If you take for example the role of a parent. Just this one area of my story displays a great many different aspects of what a parent can be, for example we see Jess who is loving yet stern, and the rock that holds the family together. Opal on the other hand is absent from her children’s lives, and yet due to the love she showered on her children in youth, and due to the lessons she taught them, all her children feel connected and loved by her. I am sure many people know others in a similar situation, and yet Morgan has raised her son Mason very differently, she is strict and cool in her affections, and teaches the value of power, her punishments can be severe, and I think this again shows in her son. Modern day society paints a glorious picture of motherhood, and we are taught from an early age that we must love our mother, but what if you don’t? Mason is a prime example, he detests his mother, and he finds her tiresome and annoying and feels very little towards her. It is a situation I have found to be very real in life, I have met a few who feel as Mason does, and I actually think that if there is valid reasons for it, then contrary to popular opinion, it is quite a natural thing to feel disconnected and alienated from the one person that society dictates we must love.

It is a challenging situation for many readers, which is why it is there in the book. Heirs to the Kingdom has many such layers within the pages, some I know readers have encountered, and maybe some they have not, and so over this series of blog posts I intend to unravel why I have added certain aspects of life and characteristics to the characters and the story, and hopefully it will peel back some of the layers to reveal a few of the hidden gems in this tale.

Heirs to the Kingdom has been an absolute labour of love for me to write, I started to organise it back in 2006 after many years of preparation, and I have pretty much worked on it every day since. Although it has been a long journey for me to write such and in depth piece of work, it has been a wonderful journey that has also taught me a huge amount about life and myself. 2017 will see the final conclusion of this story, which I am now writing, and even though it has remained a relatively unheard of body of work, for those of you who have encountered it, and supported it, I am truly delighted it has been something that has brought all of you pleasure. I look forward to sharing more of it with you before the end, so watch this blog over this festive period for more articles written to enhance your experience and add to your enjoyment, and hopefully you gain a little more insight into not just the tail, but also the man who wrote it.

My Thanks

Ten Years On

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Rob

Hello New Year 2016

On January 1^st 2006 I found myself alone in the house for the first time in many years.

2005 had been a long and hard year, I had separated from my long-time girlfriend, and I had worked very hard over the year to build my business in my new shop at Denton, and things had for a while been going fine, but in the September earlier that year, it had been announced that the land my shop was on was going to be redeveloped.

I had no idea at the time how hard things were going to get, it was New Year and I was hopeful, although being home alone with little work to do I was bored. Like most New Years, filled with hope for a better year, I thought I would have a good clear out whilst I had a few days off, and so I started with my spare room. The room had once been my daughter’s old bed room, but she had moved out and was living her life, and so I thought it would make it into an office. I set up my computer and organised all my work files, packed the last of my daughter’s things in boxes to deliver to her, and gave the place a really good vacuuming out.

It had been a busy morning when I decided to take a few minutes with a coffee as I eyed up the room, pretty much everything had been done, except for the large four drawer filing cabinet. As I opened the first drawer to reveal files and papers I had not seen for a while, I had no idea of how the contents of those draws would bring back a flood of memories, and some of the hopes and dreams I had been forced to give up as I took care of raising a daughter alone. The files and the papers within dated back seventeen years to 1989, and they contained what is today recognised as Heirs to the Kingdom.

This was the story I had told my daughter as a small child, this was the story that for some odd reason I had never been truly able to shake from my mind. It was that silly stupid thing that over the years I had slipped off and day dreamed about, it was a curious thing that for some unexplained mad reason, I had over the years thought what if? At that point I had reached for a pad to write notes on, and then placed in the filing cabinet until a time when I was ready to do more.

I sat on the floor as I went through endless notes, sketches and scribbles, and in some strange way, which made no sense to me at all, the time felt right to sort it all out into some kind of understandable order. I had no idea of how big a task it would be, as I switched on the computer, and as I worked through the pile, I began to type up the hand written notes onto Microsoft Word files.

Typing it all up into some form of understandable order took far longer than expected. As I added file after file to the computer I felt an overwhelming desire to improve what had been written as notes, and soon what should have been the simple task of transcribing my notes, became the long drawn out process of expanding the notes into a fully detailed background for the story I had told to my very young little girl. I created a history, family details, village life, and a better and fuller description of all the characters.

Completing the background work in full detail took me over a year of long evenings, as I still had to work, but it filled in the gaps of my life alone and kept me occupied and busy. The story at that time was still very vague and disjointed, and I had a file named “Bits Box” into which all the bits of story were placed until I could give them a correct running order. When I opened the file it contained a long four thick list of files with all sorts of odd names like, ‘Robbie and Billy go hunting’ or ‘Scones in Ann Kirks shop’ a lot of it made little sense to look at, but deep within my mind I knew the order and the placing of every part, I had never really thought of editing it together in its entirety, after all that would be daft because then it would become a story, a tale of adventure, hell it could probably be a book?

It makes me laugh today to think back, how could I ever of thought I could write a book? I mean we are talking about me, you know the fanatical horticulturalist, I mean I have spent 30 years growing stuff and advising people how to get the best from their small gardens. I think I can say without any fears, I was good at my job, I knew my stuff and I worked very hard at it, I loved it, I saw myself as the plants man, the guy who loved the wilds and adored the wonder and splendour of trees. Back then I was pretty certain I was not a writer, I mean when I left school I had considered it, probably more than anything else, I really did fancy training in journalism, but I had been told it is not for you, I had been told I would never make it, and so I turned to the only other thing I liked, I became a Horticulturalist. It made sense and for years it had felt right, and yet here I was behind the scenes as I went through life writing stuff down in the form of short stories and poems, and this bowman story, well that had been a sort of an on-going thread for years.

No one knew, it was my thing, something I did to amuse myself, but looking at what I done over the last 17 years, I must admit there was a secret deep down part of me that whispered in my ear, “go on do it, write the thing.” I suppose I thought what if it turns out terrible, it’s not like anyone will know?

What started on New Years day 2006, has influenced all aspects of who I am. I often argued with myself, and to be honest regretted publishing the books that have been written, but I cannot deny writing this has changed my life for the better. I am truly an introvert, I love to be alone away from people focused on a project, and wow does writing cater right to the centre of my soul? I love it, it opens my mind and allows me to tap into every aspect of the person that I am, it opens my heart and soul and allows for them mix in way I never thought was possible, and although it leaves me exhilarated and exhausted, it the happiest I think I have ever been. Sat alone with an empty page and the creativity buzzing in my head and running into my fingers is simply the best feeling on earth, and if I am truly honest, I wish I had not listened to my school advisors, and done this when I was 16 years old instead of waiting to my mid-forties to take the plunge.

On December 22^nd 2007 I lost my business to a council hell bent of turning me out and building their idea of what people wanted, ironically it’s a civic square lined with trees and a fountain, and it was a tough time and left me very ill as I lost everything including my life’s savings. The cost was high, but eight years on I think maybe it was fate working to show me another way of being, maybe I was getting to old to work from dawn till dusk outside in the rain, snow, and freezing winds, maybe it was time to slow down and sit at the desk and use my mind instead of my hands to craft a living.

When I took a break in 2008 to write rather than rebuild from the ashes of my old horticultural business it surprised a lot of people, even today people look at me in total shock and surprise to hear I have finished in horticulture, in many ways it surprises me, but like all things in my life, I worked hard and researched deeply to gain as much knowledge as I can to do the best job I can, and I found it deeply satisfying. I published with an indie publisher in 2009 and got out the first three books over two years, but I was unhappy with them and always felt that I could have done it better, so in 2013 after a huge amount of deep thought I withdrew my contracts and decided to go it alone with my own publishing company initially meant only for my work, I now have six in the series out and for sale and feel very happy with them

I started writing the first book in the series in May 2007, I knew then it was going to be called the Bowman of Loxley, I must admit I did not think that as I sit on the eve of what will be the tenth year since I began clearing out the old filing cabinet, I would still be writing the same story, but in this year of 2016, it feel it’s fitting that I will complete the first draft of the last book, and bring my story to its final ending.

Writing this story has been life changing. Through HTTK I met a young woman through a friend who was doing the artwork for me, she read the first manuscripts, and really enjoyed them to a point where she asked if there was anything she could do to help? I needed advice on using the internet, and she became in a way my unofficial PA and researcher, guiding me into publishing and promoting the story worldwide. Today she is my wife, and probably the most versed on the complexity of the story, as she is now the only one who reads the rough stuff and helps me to polish it up for print. I have three children now, a step son and two daughters, and through writing and research, I have managed to set up my own publishing company as a vehicle for my writing, and a few others, I never would have guessed that my life could turn around and change so much.

Commercially it is not easy to be a writer these days, like all things in the modern world today, people want everything for less and less, and so life can be a struggle and less extravagant that my horticultural days. But when I way that up with the facts that I work about the same amount of hours, but I am dry, warm, and surrounded by my family, I cannot deny it is a better way of being. Heirs to the Kingdom is not a best seller, but that really does not matter, because I do have a small dedicated following that really enjoy the books, and for me that is exactly what writing is all about. I share my hopes and my dreams through the lives of the characters I have created, and it is a wonderful and fulfilling way to be, and as I end this wonderful series of stories, I feel excited as to what I can do next, that I hope will be another little adventure.

Like ten years ago, I have no idea as to what the future may hold, but I am happy to know that as I am now past the 50 years of age mark, I can slip slowly into a life around a family I love, sat at my desk using my wild imagination spliced with my dreams, and continue to create other stories to share with those who would wish to read them, and frankly life just does not get better than that.

Happy New Year to all of you, live with peace and in safety, and be happy throughout 2016.

RJM.

Truce for Christmas.

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Rob

This is a very special time of year for families, it matters not what your faith may be, because a vast part of the world has been swept into the hustle that is Christmas. For many it is a time of peace and quiet, as the shops close and most of the countries take a pause, to allow those of faith to celebrate their own unique customs and rituals that represent their own ideas of family and their celebration of it.

It is a time I think, most of us consider as a time of peace and goodwill to all, and so it is very unlikely that many of us would be thinking of war. Sadly today there are parts of the world caught in conflict, and even though many of those involved will be placed somewhere on guard and watching, far away from their loved ones, in the backs of the minds of those individuals, there may be doubts as to why on this time more than most, men would want to fight and kill each other.

I am very much opposed to war, as those of you who know me will agree, it is a belief that runs deep within me that most ordinary simple men do not want to leave home and have to kill others. Many feel the pressures and are forced into enlisting, a great many feel a sense of duty, but if you were to ask them all how they feel deep down inside, I think you would find that they simply would much rather find a better way to resolve the conflicts they have been caught up in.

This year more than any other, I find it to be a poignant fact, as we celebrate an event that is 100 years old and highlights my point perfectly. I refer to the celebrated Christmas Truce of 1914, where enemies for a short while walked out onto the battlefield, and stood as the men they truly were, and wished each other Merry Christmas.

Soldiers meet in a temporary peace for Christmas

It is a fact of history that the Pope had called out on December 7^th 1914 for there to be a ceasefire, but those in charge on all sides of the war refused to make any form of official agreement, and they ordered the troops to stay alert and be combat ready. I love the fact that all along those cold miserable front lines of France, groups of both German and English soldiers defied their officials as they sang carols and hymns across the no mans land together, and eventually walked unarmed out onto the battlefield where they stood face to face, and wished each other Merry Christmas.

It stands I feel, as testament to the character of ordinary men, and reinforces my view that there is always another way to resolve a conflict, as long as the simple man makes a stand for what is morally the right thing to do. War is never about ordinary people, they are just the casualties that become swept up into the conflict, war is about the greed and lust for power of the individual, who drives that power to force an issue and embroils the others around them.

There are many cases in history that show us that there were men on all sides who took a stand against those who ruled them, but I don’t think the message here can be given a greater significance, than the simple act of those simple soldiers 100 years ago. Mankind has come so far in this world, and yet we still stumble and fall into conflicts that kill, maim, and wound men, women, and children across the planet. Most people shy away from doing something about it, they fear the system and so remain silent, so maybe it is the time to stand up and use the one weapon we all have and use it, and that is simply our voice. Speak out against the wars and injustice, and think more about peaceful solutions, and then voice those thoughts to others. Time and time again it has been proven that when we all speak up with one clear voice, those who lead eventually listen, and maybe 100 years after such an act of peace and goodwill, we too should take a stand as simple ordinary people, and say with a loud clear voice enough is enough.

World war one and two wiped out a generation of young men, and killed countless women and children, because as we know, regardless of what NATO or the UN may say, civilians die in vast numbers in all combat situations, as they get caught in the middle, just look at the media of 2014 and it clearly shows the despair created from the loss of loved ones.

The human race has the intelligence and the technology to wipe out poverty and world hunger, we have the capabilities to provide everyone with a home and a stable lifestyle, and yet even though today many will remember the unofficial truce of 1914, sadly despite all our advances, as humans we have learned little. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could learn from one hundred years ago today, and decide that from now on, the best way to honour those soldiers who as enemies, met and wished each a Merry Christmas, would be to do likewise? There is far too much hate in the world and it is bringing the world down, maybe we should learn and sit with our enemies and try for once to find a peaceful solution. Tolerance should walk beside us, and a smile should be our greeting, not bayonets or bullets.

Whatever your faith may be, and wherever you are on this planet today, I wish you a time of peace and safety, beyond today and into the coming New Year. RJM.

Soldiers meet on the battle field in France 1914

Behind the Words.

Posted on December 24, 2014 by Rob

One of the biggest drawbacks to being a writer, is there is this expectation that all writers should court the public to gain more readers, and therefore sales. In an age of public profiles on the internet, and socially sharing the contents of your lunch on Twitter, writers are expected to list every detail of their life, along with endless photos of themselves, with the aim of showing everyone on the planet how swell you are, so people will immediately run out and buy your books.

Every help blog and writers aide is the same, sell, sell, sell yourself or you will never make it as a writer. There appears to be this unwritten rule that the public must see and love a writer, before they are able to understand the stories they like, otherwise how could they ever read your books? If like me you are 80% introvert and just 20% extravert, and a quiet isolated life is your choice, then the thought of any of this instils very deep terrors indeed.

I have been published for a little over five years, I have been writing for most of my adult life, and if I am very honest, I had no intentions whatsoever of publishing Heirs to the Kingdom, I was if anything pushed. You see the thing here is very simply in a nut shell, I am not being rude, but, I don’t want you to know me, I don’t want you to know every detail of my personal life, I have zero intentions of showing the world my life, family or how I choose to live. I hate being photographed, and would rather be alone in the woodland than at the heart of a press conference or in huge crowds. The whole point of writing is that very fact, I write fantasy, not my life, and yet I am constantly pushed to sell my life so it will sell my books.

Call me old fashioned, or introverted, but isn’t the whole point of a book the words? I love John Wyndham, Arthur Conan Doyle, Tolkien and H.G. Wells, never met any of them as they largely lived before my time. I have read a great deal about their lives in their autobiographies, but that was only years after reading and loving the books that they wrote. Their stories sold me at the time of reading, I did not care who they were, it was their words on paper that exploded my imagination and sent me to the library or bookstore to find yet more of their books, and to be honest, I still think that is how it should be.

I like my comfort zone, and to be honest you should too, because if you take me out of it, I simply cannot write. Writing can be intense, I sit alone away from everything, I put on my head phones and play inspiring music, I am surrounded by files that hold the results of my research, which also includes pages filled with pictures of places, clothing, weapons and fantasy art, and I drink endless cups of coffee as I sit with a cigarette (that is usually unlit as I forgot to light it) hanging from my lip, as I reach that zone that allows everything to flow from my mind into the words on the page. It is mentally exhausting and exhilarating at the same time, and the world ceases to exist until I have finished the chapter or piece I am working on. There are times when it takes just an hour, and others where it takes almost all of the day, but the result is the start of what will appear in the next book.

I can tell you now; there is nothing within that process I want to share with the rest of the world. I am scruffy and relaxed, usually unshaven; I have even written naked on hot days, (Honestly you don’t want that picture believe me). I laugh as I make up the funnier sections and feel the tears in my eyes as I rip at my emotions to get those special moments just perfect. I talk to the characters as if they were present, as I try to work out if the conversations are flowing right, and too be quite honest, if you were walk in and film it, most of the world would think I was insane. The one thing I know without any doubt at all is that those moments are private and should remain so.

Ok I get that it is me, I understand that as the writer I impart a lot of myself into the story, after all it is my brain, my imagination and partly my view of the world, but it is also not me, and this is where knowing me is a pointless exercise. To explain it a little simpler, I pretend, yup you got it, I actually try and wear the shoes of another and make them do things I could never do. I do not hunt, actually I am a vegetarian, and have been for 25 years. I do love trees, but I have never killed anyone, (I am actually quite happy about that) and I never would, Mason Knox is very capable, and yes I wrote him, but that does not mean any aspect of him is me.

The words together free from any ideas of who the writer is, allow the reader to judge the story completely free of any bias, and that is the whole point of writing, it is and should be to a certain extent an anonymous act. Modern social networking has decayed one of the most important boundaries of any writer, as it has asked all of us to remove our privacy and reveal everything about who we are, but sadly knowing the writer will not enhance your experience of the book, if anything it will cloud it. Take my word for it, find a book by a writer who you know nothing about and sit quietly and ingest their words, once you have taken the words inside yourself, then let your imagination fly and paint the pictures chapter by chapter, and you will experience reading at its best, because that is the only way we should ever read a book. Who wrote it should be the last thing you think about it, and as to what their eye colour is or what pants they wear on the train, should never be anything other than the Author’s concern.

Sadly the world has taken a shift over the last few decades and we have become preoccupied with Celebrities, a whole industry has grown up around them, and it appears that writers are being dragged screaming into the mix, but the reality of it from a writers point of view, is that we would much prefer not to be. I understand there are those individuals who court the cameras and enjoy the exposure they get, but they are actually a very small number. The world has rolled into 24 hour news, and we have reached a point where media has become the only sales tool of anything creative, and it is a sad fact of modern reality that digging into the private life of any individual appears to be the way books, movies, art and music is sold today. Gone are the days where a news report would project a picture of the author or the book in the background screen, it has to be a live interview that is the feature of the moment, and sadly for the very many introverted and creative people who write, that is more than a little bit uncomfortable.

I use social networks, I have a few accounts across the many, none of them really feature me, I try to focus on just the stories. I do give opinions from the point of view as the one who wrote the books, I also provide insights and alternative theories as to why maybe the stories twist and turn as they do. I love to talk about the characters and what they like, and will do so for as long as people ask, just don’t ask me to tweet my lunch menu, sadly I am incapable of doing so.

It may sound odd, but the only reason I ever published HTTK was simply because I was asked to. It took a great deal on my part to share the story with those very few early readers, writing is a deeply private part of the person I am, and writing comes from the quiet isolated part of my life, it is from my comfort zone. I do not deny I can step out when required to meet and talk with people about the stories I write, but for me that takes a lot of effort and is emotionally draining, I am by nature reclusive, only feeling at ease around small well known individuals, and it is because of these very facts, that I am able to pour emotion into what I write and connect with the readers using words. I know a few creative people, and we all agree that being isolated is the place where our creation comes from, sadly the roar and turmoil of the crowd is not a very creative space to be in, something I am sure my wife who is my only witness during writing can testify to.

I often bring to mind an interview I read with Dan Brown which came out after he had published the Davinci Code, which had become a huge success. He actually told the press that actually his life was very normal and boring, and he had no plans at all to change it. I remember reading it as if a light had flashed inspiration before me, as I completely understood him. It was a wonderful moment of clarity, as he was an A list selling author who admitted he did not want the press intrusion, he did not want to tour the endless streams of press and TV interviews, all he wanted to do was stay at home with his family in his quiet rural home and write, everything else was just another distraction that prevented him writing.

To conclude, I think, I can safely say I am a writer. I write every day, some days it flows, and on others it staggers just a little, but it is a process that I am unable to switch off. I write my books, and endless amounts of short posts that I either blog, or store up on file for later use. I have a Facebook Page, and anyone can message it to ask me something, so in that respect I am always available. There are few days when I am not sat staring into space, putting together the pictures I see in my mind with the right words, and I feel it is very important to do the best I can to make the things I write as interesting as possible. In between those moments of creation (Which I do not control) I do everything else, including update social media and plan other things I feel may be of interest to those who read what I write. The more time I spend talking in the media, the less I write, and I am driven by some inner compulsion to write, so that tends to win over the day.

It makes me happy, and having spent 30 years outdoors in all weathers working in horticulture, I find being warm and dry surrounded by my family, who are a huge part of who I am suits me more and more as I get older. I am dedicated to writing the best story I possibly can, because that is what I feel the reader expects, and knowing out there in the huge world are people who have smiled, or shed a tear having read my words matters a great deal, it matters not if I have ever met them, it is simply wonderful just knowing I helped make their day a little bit better. No amount of media or press will ever change that, because that moment when I write that small piece which warms your day, is far greater than anything else I could ever do in front of a camera, and that for me is what writing is really all about.

heirstothekingdom.com blog

Robin John Morgan shares his thoughts on Life, Writing, Publishing and his published works

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