Good morning lovely people, and welcome to a random and unexpected blog post… my first of 2024, and let’s be honest, my first in a long time. This poor neglected little website does not get a whole lot of attention and I really ought to remedy that.
So, let’s recap 2023:
- Reindeer Games did quite well in the Christmas of 2022 and so the start of 2023 saw a number of lovely reviews finding their way onto Amazon and Goodreads. That was awesome, and I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who read and supported my silly little Reindeer murdery self-published novella.
- The Book and the Blade was released by Parliament House Press! My debut novel! A dream come true.
- The book launch took place at Netherworld in Brisbane on my 41st birthday and we had an absolute ball! I met some amazing people there, including some lovely members of the Brisbane Writers Crew.
- I actually managed to get to a couple of Brisbane Writers Crew catch-ups, which were great, but my attendance was pretty poor at best (not a fan of driving in the city!) I’ll attempt to fix that in 2024.
- Albert the Great Australian Dragon – illustrated by the wonderfully talented Amy Carter was published at Easter.
- The publisher who had signed Rock Zombie sadly pulled the plug (well… stopped being a publisher altogether!)
- Book shop appearance at the excellent Highlands Books in Emerald!
- Wrote two stories (and narrated them!) for Pleased! A Beatles inspired anthology edited by the awesome Gayle Ramage.
- Had two stories published in the amazing Australian horror anthology, Nightmare Fuel, courtesy of the wonderful Emma Nayfie.
- The opening chapter of my comedy/fantasy novel, Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Orcs?! was read out by the exceptional lads of The Failing Writers Podcast.
- My Christmas ghost story, In The House of Trembling Madness, was also read out in the Christmas special of the same pod, thanks lads!
- Impromptu book signing at Book Face Orion, Springfield!
- Reindeer Games 2: Rein Harder with a Vengeance was released for Christmas and did quite well… though not as well as Reindeer Games 1 (for the second year running!)
- The Sword and the Hounds cover reveal!
- And I wrote three novels, two novellas, seven short stories, submitted to publishers twenty-one times, got four acceptances (short stories), twelve rejections, and radio silence from the rest…oh, and you know, went to work and earned a living and whatnot (plus moved house…and got bitten by a snake…and went through a tornado…but I did get a full size pool table for next to nothing so happy days!)
Damn. That’s a big year. So, what’s next?
Well, The Sword and the Hounds will be published in April, so I’m very much looking forward to that. If Rock Zombie doesn’t find a home by the middle of the year I’ve decided to self-publish it for Halloween. I wrote myself into a corner with Reindeer Games, so I’m going to have to write Reindeer Games 3: Sleigh by December. I’m also working on a series of Easter stories in the same vein, but that’ll be for 2025. This year I want to finish writing the ‘unnamed WW2’ novel I’ve had on the go for a year, create an Arthur Crazy graphic novel tie-in (to further explain an event that happens in The Sword and the Hounds), and get started on Arthur Crazy #5. I’d also like to find homes for The Dragoman and Won’t Somebody Please Think of the Orcs?! So, you know, nothing crazy 😀
Thanks for reading, folks!