A New Year

Happy New Year, everyone who reads this blog...and to everyone else who doesn't!  Last year, my agent and friend, Dot Lumley died.  I sincerely hope better things will happen this year.  She was someone who kept me on the straight and narrow - from a writing perspective - and was always optimistic about my work.  Without her, some of the later Falconers would not have come about, so I have a lot to thank her for.  I am now beginning to plan out the full-length Georgian novel I have been thinking about.  Using my characters from short stories - Joe Malinferno and Doll Pocket - I will start what I hope might be a new series taking them through the events of the 1820s in England, and off to Egypt in pursuit of their interest in all things Egyptian.  The life of Giovanni Belzoni will be my guide to the times and the place.  A real-life (even larger-than-life) character, Belzoni was responsible for bringing some of the first artefacts to England from under the noses of the French in Egypt.  In return he was poorly treated, perhaps because he was not a gentleman, and a foreigner to boot.  He died in Africa, searching for Timbuktu.

This year heralds the arrival of the tenth Medieval Murderers book "The Deadliest Sin".  Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins are swapped by pilgrims in Norfolk, as they vie to claim the deadliest of them all.  Look out for it.  Plans are afoot for the next book.
That's the new year for me as a writer.  My enthusiasm for amateur drama will also take up some time, as I will be acting in a play at the Stables, Hastings in March, and directing in May.  I also have the trip to our 'sister' drama group in Chicago coming up in June.  Lots to look forward to in 2014.

Falconer rides off into the sunset

The last Falconer should be available soon, published by Ostara Publishing, who produce my back catalogue in Print on Demand and ebook format.  They are now moving into original publications with Falconer and the Rain of Blood.  I'll tell you more when I know the details.
My mind is preoccupied at present with directing the play 'Crown Matrimonial' at the Stables Theatre, Hastings.  Performance dates are 12 to 20 April - if you are in the neighbourhood, do come along.  One of my cast was taken ill yesterday with only three days to go to opening night!  I won't say panic ensued because it didn't - merely some cursing and swearing and the twisting of arms.  The show must go on.
The Cyprus situation has been interesting viewed from the safety of England.  As you may know from reading this blog, my wife and I lived there for a number of years until just recently.  We got out almost in time, as some of our money is still there, and won't be extractable for a while.  We will have to play a waiting game.  I feel sorry for people who have life-savings in Cypriot banks who could see it all disappearing.  You don't imagine that can happen when you open a bank account, do you?  It just shows what ephemeral stuff money is - mostly a piece of paper promising to pay the face value of the note.  From my researches into the Mongol Empire, I learned that the Mongol/Chinese culture was responsible for introducing us to the bank note.  Kubilai Khan wanted all the gold and jewels that merchants had in his empire and gave them bank notes in return.  Did all our present problems start with him then?  My next contribution to the Medieval Murderers book 'Seven Deadly Sins' explores the banking crash of the 14th century.  The story is called 'Greed'.  See, you thought it was a modern phenomenon, didn't you?
I must go now, as I have to paint some walls, and clean the carpet in Queen Mary's rooms in Marlborough House.  Purely in the imaginary world recreated on stage at the The Stables Theatre, of course.

An ending and a beginning

It's taken me some time to get back to writing in my blog.  I have been struggling with the final Falconer novel, which I had planned to finish by the end of September.  It took me to the end of December.  It was as though William Falconer himself did not want to 'die' (spoiler alert - he doesn't die in the book).  I write in a pretty tight fashion, such that I will never be able to write a 500-page blockbuster.  But when I completed the first draft of 'Falconer and the Rain of Blood' it was very short, so I had to work through expanding my ideas and descriptions.  I even added another layer of the story, bringing King Edward into it.  Finally, despite all his delaying tactics,Falconer's final story was completed.
I hope it will appear some time in the new year (2013), which reminds me to say Happy New Year to everyone.  Come on, I'm only two weeks late!  Another year has begun, and I have a couple of short stories to write for the Medieval Murderers' tenth book.  We were going to write tales based on the Ten Commandments, but it was thought that, though 'Thou shalt not kill.' was a fine theme for a story, it was too difficult to make something of 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' and some others.  Much better to work on the Seven Deadly Sins, and I volunteered for Greed and Gluttony.  Don't ask me why.
I am also giving some thought to expanding my stories set in Regency England.  I do like the characters, Joe Malinferno and Doll Pocket, and the chance they give me to inject more humour into my stories.  So far they have only appeared in short stories in anthologies and in other Medieval Murderers books.  They deserve a full length run, I think.  I will pull together their story so far, and send them off to Egypt to uncover tombs and mummies.  More on that when I get time.
That's all the news to date, other than to mention that I am pursuing my hobby of amateur dramatics still.  Tomorrow I start to work on a production of 'Crown Matrimonial' that I am directing.  For those of you who don't know, it's a play about the abdication of Edward VIII which concentrates on the personal lives of Queen Mary and her sons David (Edward VIII) and Bertie (George VI) and the impact David's decision had on those around him.  If you are in Hastings in April, come along.  It's on at the Stables Theatre from 12 to 20 April and the website is www.stables-theatre.co.uk

Strands

Life has been a little busy of late, so I apologise for not writing anything until now.  I have managed to squeeze in a walking holiday in Gran Canaria, and a trip to my old haunts in Cornwall.  I have also started rehearsing for the Stables Theatre's production of  "A Christmas Carol".  I have several lines in the Chorus, and two small parts as Scrooge's headmaster, and a dealer in rags and second-hand goods called Old Joe.  This latter character is describes as grey-haired and seventy, so why did I get the part?  My great acting skills, I guess.
In between all this, I am still making my way towards the end of the last Falconer.  I seem reluctant to finish, but I am getting there.  Of course Falconer may still figure in the stories I write with the Medieval Murderers.  Who knows?  We have a contract for our tenth book due in 2014, and being the tenth it will be based on the Ten Commandments.  With five or maybe six of us writing, it means two stories each, especially with a prologue and an epilogue to write.  So there is ample scope for two of my regular characters to appear.Who will it be?
What I also have in mind is to write a full-length novel using my Regency characters, Joe Malinferno and Doll Pocket.  They are a little bit more fun to write about than either Falconer or Zuliani, and there's plenty of new historical facts to mine for stories.  Malinferno was imagined after my reading of the engineer and Egyptologist Giovanni Belzoni.  He was no 'toff' like most people involved in mining Egypt for relics at the time, but a simple working man with a background as a circus strong man.  He worked for the British Museum, figuring out how to move vast statues in impossible conditions, and was responsible for digging out Abu Simbel.  In the end he was badly treated by the establishment - I suspect because of his lowly origins.  I have only written short stories so far using Malinferno and Pocket, and want to expand their lives into full-length books.  Go to my website to discover the books where they have appeared.
Ah well, back to Falconer.

A K Benedict

I have just spent two weeks of evenings buried in the dark of a theatre.  My favourite pastime is amateur drama, and recently the theatre I am involved with had a blank space due to an illness of a member of the cast of a play in rehearsal.  It was decided to revive a production of "The 39 Steps", last put on a year ago, to fill the gap.  From a standing start to first night took just over a week, and I was working backstage changing the set.  It is an hilarious spoof of the film and book, and involves lots of quick scene changes, so I was very busy along with the rest of the crew.  All the many parts are played by only four actors, who worked their socks off to put on an amazing show.
One of the actors is also the author and composer A K Benedict.  We know her by her real first name, but as there is another author with the same name, she goes by the initials A K as a writer.  She has written a lot of great material, but her first full-length novel is due out Feb 2013 from Orion.  It's called "The Beauty of Murder".  Look out for it, buy it, read it and enjoy.

Some personal bits and pieces

Those of you who look at my website, will know my enthusiasm for theatre, particularly amateur theatre.  Since moving to Hastings, on England's south coast (yes, that Hastings - famous Battle of etc), I have got involved with the Stables Theatre.  In order to learn how it works, I have been sitting in on, and helping with, a production of Terence Rattigan's 'The Winslow Boy'.  This is a retelling of an actual case in the UK from just before the First World War concerning a young boy at Osborne naval college who was accused of stealing a five shilling postal order ( a fairly small amount of money, even in those days).  As a military cadet, he was not entitled to defend himself in a civil court and was deemed guilty.  His father would not give up the case, however, and virtually bankrupted himself petitioning the government to exonerate his boy.  As the play puts it, the criterion finally was 'Let right be done.'  So it raises the subtle difference between right and justice - that is, if the legal concept of justice cannot be achieved, then right can prevail at least.  Ironically, the real-life 'Winslow Boy', George Archer-Shee was killed in the First World War age 19.

I am still working on the next, and possibly final, Falconer.  I know, that's what Conan Doyle said when he sent Holmes over the Reichenbach Falls, but I want to send my man off in a blaze of glory.  So a return would be a whimper.  Mind you, if the money was right...(wishful thinking, I know, in today's publishing climate).  That's not to say he may not reappear in a Medieval Murderers story some time.  I have the next two of those lined up, including a tenth anniversary volume.  The eighth Medieval Murderers book - 'The First Murder' - is due out soon.

Just to update you on Facebook Timeline, I have got it working and I haven't had any of my life erased!  Well, that's a relief.