The Reason for the Silence... such as it is.

As per usual I begin with an apology - and this the most earnest of those so far: so very sorry for the abruptness and the length (!) of my silence.

I am in fact, still alive, still working, and most significantly, preparing for fatherhood.

I do suffer from chronic, low level depression which most often presents itself as a strong desire to be left alone and excessive computer gaming :\ ... yet the main reason for the sudden stop was more particularly two things:

1/ fear, as I approach the moment/scene in ECONOMOUS that motivated me to start his story in the first place; &

2/ realising that I had no idea who Miss Swift actually is (since *-SPOILERS AHEAD!-* I want to make her a main character) and not being able to proceed without her being better realised.

Well, happy day \o/, thanks to my writers' group of Michael Hawke, Ben Morton & Rikki Lambert, I have a much clearer sense of her now (and quite different she is from how I have penned her so far) so proceeding can begin again.

That said, I am currently in the thick of illustrating a growing list of picture books which have most of my creative professional attention, and what of that is left for writing I am thinking of applying to the other fruit of the WRITERS' GROUP: the continuing story of Europe, the Branden Rose, taking up where FACTOTUM left off. Excitingly (for me, at least) I have a beginning, middle and sense of the end (or a final catalysing moment to work towards), so it now simply awaits for me to take the start I have already and turn it into a finished tale.

I would like to thank you all for your persistence and Tom Wamstad for his expressed concern (which prompted me to speak up at last). I am still here, a little overwhelmed, but getting there.

For my next post I shall seek to respond to the comments from the last long ago post, so stay tuned...)

Time to confess: it seems I am not the author of MBT after all...

Well, it appears that I am not the writer of the Monster-Blood Tattoo / The Foundling's Tale series after all.

Apparently - if you can credit it - it was THIS person!

It seems I have been tricking you all along - either that or I look remarkably like Michaela Conlin of the TV show Bones.

Maybe this is why I do not post upon this blog as often as would be good to do!


*Just for the record: I AM the author of Monster-Blood Tattoo / The Foundling's Tale series, what this other person is on about eludes me entirely - some form of online role-play perhaps? Anyone else got any idea?


Also, thankyou to all of you gave an opinion about the two word choices for rams: I will be using both: Achmë  for an over-gunned frigate, Lyonne (I agree that this is a better spelling) for an older standard gunned frigate... though Scion also is a rather good name... Hmmm...


I do not mind at all of the Looney Tunes association of Achmë  one bit - that is part of the fun of the whole process: taking s well used/context specific word and giving it a new handle to hook on to. Think on it: I gave a major character the name of an entire continent and managed to get away with that :D

Well look ye here!

This! did arrive on my doorstep this morning!!!


It is finished! Never thought I would see the day of the three spines lined up 1 - 2 - 3.

And so you have continuing proof the Factotum is indeed on its way to you all, that every day is another day closer to official release, that the book is done and will soon be in the process of delivery to you local book-pusher.