Greetings
What to expect when you're reading
Now lets go around the room and introduce ourselves…
Even for the confident there is a powerful dread of the introduction. Words that are forced to be repeated in every new social context and yet somehow always are fumbled as if you’ve never needed to say your own name before.
How do we make ourselves appear interesting and not arrogant? Well, I suppose this is my newsletter, if this isn’t the place for bragging then there isn’t one, and you are here to be entertained. So let me make this read worth your time.
1. My writing
It’s never been a challenge to find my voice, I’ve been story telling for as long as I can remember. When you don’t want to go to school, you learn quickly how to describe all sorts of pains and ailments that are bad enough to keep you at home but not so terrible as to require a trip to the doctor. Most writers are excellent liars, a lesson taught to me by Markus Zusak.
Sometimes it is a matter of embellishment, of telling you about the small clay dish my father kept red chilies in on the day my sister and I decided to try them, and how I, refusing to be beat and a very cunning 7 year old, thought that if I just swallowed them whole then I could beat the heat. 6 chilies later I recall hiding under the table, hoping the spice wouldn’t find me there.
Sometimes it’s a matter of brevity. I could tell you about the movie that distracted me, causing me to hover in the doorway instead of staying in the kitchen. I could have told you that I needed to boil eggs because it was a chicken Caesar salad. But it’s simply more fun to tell you I once set fire to the kitchen making a salad.
2. My books
Ailyanna, a con artist who preys on for wealthy and dangerous, has finally found herself in a cell she can’t escape. An endless life of darkness ahead, and the threats of her past creeping ever closer, she can’t resist the kings offer: pull a con on one of the most dangerous nobles of all and find proof of his treason. In exchange, she’ll get a ticket across the boarder and away from the looming war. Forced to work with a team she doesn’t know, and the brick house of a constable who first caught her, in leading the mission, Ailyanna will need all her wits to pull this off and discover the secrets before her own are revealed.
THE HONORABLE CON will be released in e-book form on the 3rd of September this year.
3. My thoughts
I originally called this my hot takes, but in honest, I’m fairly mild. However I do think our current methods of communicating are often leaving nuance in the dust, which means I do often have a lot to say.
Be it the prevalence of spice in publishing and how it both counters and accidentally promotes a purity culture mindset, or how capitalism has created the expectation of immediate skill that fuels the rise of generative AI. You will find I am a yappy person if given only a little prompting.
4. My life
When you have a cute dog, you’ve got to shamelessly use it for engagement right? Her name is Syl, and she is a good dog.
I also have a cat, but he is less keen to pose for photos.
5. My newsletter
These newsletters will come out each month (unless there is special news to share). I will also be providing bonus material for my books, short stories, behind the scenes info about the publishing process and little illustrations.
And of course, discount codes when the books come on sale.
So in the words of my generation, hit that subscribe button.