Tag Archives: launch

A Birthday

picture of moon over seaIt is a year today that my first book Dreaming the Moon was officially released in paperback. It was launched with titles from six other authors at a fantastic event in Lyme Regis organised by Magic Oxygen Publishing, which also incorporated the announcement of the winners of the first Magic Oxygen Literary Prize. It was a wonderful day, both an honour and very humbling to be surrounded by so much creativity and talent.

 

So Happy Birthday to my book and here’s a little excerpt from it:

There was a sharp stinging sensation on her left calf. Instinctively she reached down and rubbed it, thinking that she had been stung. Several seconds later, there was another on her hip, more of a blow this time, and then again on her shoulder. Robyn began to walk but the strikes continued and she noticed that small pebbles were falling all around her. There was a chittering in the scrubby grass and gorse either side of the path, high pitched spiteful laughter, leaves rustling and twigs snapping despite the stillness of the air. Robyn broke into a jog then a run as the stones became a hailstorm. She could just make out creatures in the grass, small twiggy limbed figures with long noses and angry eyes. There seemed to be a lot of them. And then the first one leapt onto her back, its gnarly fingers yanking at her hair.

“Get off me,” she shrieked, grabbing frantically behind her and flinging it away by its spindly arm. Another one had attached itself to her leg. Stones were still raining down on her, dust rising around her as she ran. Panic was nearly choking her now as she felt more of them grabbing at her, leaping in front of her, trying to trip her and bring her down. She stumbled, twisting her ankle but managing to keep her footing, slowing under the onslaught of pinching and scratching and stones. Just as she felt that she couldn’t go on, she heard Fiona’s voice, a memory in her head. “There are charms that will protect you from the fey, should you need it. Salt’s one, iron’s another, they’re the strongest. But red thread, bells and chimes, even turning your clothes inside out will work.”

Robyn grabbed the bottom of her T-shirt and wrenched it over her head, dislodging several of the little demons and sending them flying. Slowing momentarily, she flung it back on inside out, immediately relieved to find that the rest of them fell away. The storm of pebbles continued however and she accelerated back up to a run despite the pain in her ankle, not slowing until she reached the garden at the back of the shop. She fumbled desperately for her key, struggling to get it into the lock with her shaking hands, and flung herself through the kitchen door, collapsing onto one of the chairs as her knees gave way.

Jim was standing by the counter waiting for the kettle to boil.

You can check out my titles and those of the other Magic Oxygen authors using the link at the top of the page.

 

 

Come along and meet me in Lyme Regis

It’s nearly release day and the excitement is building! I’ll be at The Hub on Saturday 14th February from 11:00am with lots of other authors as we launch our new books into the big wide world. Come down and see us and in the meantime have a play with this fabulous heart created by web wizard and widget magician Simon West. It will take you on an adventure all it’s own.

Izzy

The Magic Oxygen Literary Prize

MOLP posterMagic Oxygen, as you will be aware if you have clicked on ‘My Publisher’ at the top of this page, are the wonderful people who have published my books. But unless you have visited their website you may not be aware that they take pride in having a much fairer and greener ethos than most other companies out there. And they are very keen on encouraging creativity, wordplay and storytelling (most usually accompanied by a lovely cup of tea and some biscuits.)

This is why in June this year they launched the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize, a competition with two categories, short stories up to 4000 words and poems up to 50 lines. Each category carries a first prize of £1000, with a second prize of £300, a third prize of £100 and two highly commended prizes of £50. All the winning entries will be published in an anthology. Not only that but, true to their ethics, they have pledged to plant a tree for every entry they receive, to create the Magic Oxygen Word Forest.

It’s only £5 to enter and is open worldwide to anyone over 16. And it doesn’t close until 30th November 2014. So pick up your pens and get writing. Get your entry in! You’ve got nothing to lose and everything potentially to gain and what’s the very worst that could happen? You’ll have helped to grow not just a tree but the amazing and wonderful art of words.

For more details about the Magic Oxygen Literary Prize and further information about the Word Forest, go to http://www.magicoxygen.co.uk/competition/

Good luck!

Launch Day!

When Joe Met Alice coverToday ‘When Joe Met Alice’ has officially entered the big wide world, and a long held dream has been realised. I have had something published! Please excuse me if I sound a little excited – in fact no, make that a big excited. As a writer you hope one day you will find yourself in print, be it paper and ink or pixels and screen, but that is tempered by all sorts of things, the vagaries of the market, what’s hot and what’s not, writer’s block, a good dose of self doubt etc., etc. However, at the risk of starting to sound like someone making a bad Oscar’s speech, I have been lucky enough to have family and friends that encouraged, enthused and occasionally nagged me, until the light at the end of the tunnel turned into sunshine and Magic Oxygen. Thank you, all of you, for having faith and telling me I could. I couldn’t have done it without you!

So… if you are champing at the bit to buy it head over to Amazon for the Kindle version or SmashWords for other e-Book versions.

The Final Countdown

Clock faceWell, the day is nearly here and I can hardly believe it. Tomorrow ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is officially released as an e-book, and will be available in all the usual places. ‘When Joe Met Alice’ is a romance with a magical twist, set around Halloween, which is why I’m so pleased it’s coming out now, so close to the day itself. Not surprisingly, I love Halloween, the history and the mystery, the chance to dress up and have fun, while remembering all those that have gone before. It’s a night where in the past I’ve scared myself silly swapping ghost stories with friends and watching daft horror films from behind a cushion. However now I prefer something a little gentler and kinder to my sleep pattern. Alice and Joe gave me the perfect story to celebrate with. So if you like something bitter-sweet and a little spooky, let me invite you into their world tomorrow. I hope you enjoy it!

New book coming soon – When Joe Met Alice

when_joe_met_aliceI am so excited that When Joe Met Alice is coming out at the end of October; how appropriate, since Halloween is a part of it. I wrote it over several months after Alice wandered into my head one day and it became apparent that her story needed to be told. When it was finished, several people liked it and said ‘You should get that published.’ But how? Where? That was when Magic Oxygen came to my rescue. Simon is nothing short of a web wizard and Tracey has such a great eye for detail. They have helped me to put together all the things I hadn’t even thought about, bio, cover and all. I had a vague idea of a cover image, which has been translated into absolute perfection, as you can see; my gorgeous ‘Alice’ is the lovely Lucy West. Thank you Lucy!