NEWS

News and information about my next book, Animal training, Police Dog work, Animal Art and even the best places for Coffee, as everyone needs coffee.

"The youth stood like a statue, his jaw set and eyes fixed in mesmeric fascination on the jumble of stones below. It was quiet now, almost peaceful; the voices that had driven him here - mercilessly tormenting him – had died away, but there was no going back… A shadow raced across the parkland as the moon slid behind a streamer of cloud. When it emerged again the ledge was empty and the fickle wind rose once more, carrying with it the memory of a thin, high scream."

Taken from Time To Pay

Whats happening?

Wandering Books

Have you ever wondered where your books travel to?

Some of us like to hold onto books and cherish them, others read and pass on.

For those books that get passed on, have you ever thought about where they go, what the book sees on those travels?

Well, for a bit of fun, I thought I would put 50 of my books out into the world.

I have left them in random places where, I hope, people will discover them and pick them up. Read them, I hope enjoy them, and then pass them on.

Pass them to friends or simply leave them somewhere for someone else to discover and carry on the adventure.

It would be great to see where they go and how far they travel.

If you find one, please get in touch, (email or facebook) maybe with a picture of where you found it or where you leave it.

Each book has a note in the front to explain that its not lost and is waiting to be picked up and read. They each have a number.

(Try not to leave it where there are other books, as it might get mistaken for “someones” book. Also, maybe not left out in the weather, as it might get cold and doesn’t respond well to rain)

10 Week Creative Writing Course

Introductory price of £300.00

Location: Devizes Book Shop, Handle House, Sidmouth Road, DEVIZES, SN10 1LD

Starting in January 2025

Join me for a Ten week course on creative writing where I will take you through the processes for creating your story as well as how to get it in front of Publishers and agents.

Writing Course – Modules

Overview

Week 1 – Introductions & Course Aims: Motivation and inspiration. What sort of writer do you want to be? Do you have what it takes?

Week 2 - Research, Preparation & Getting Started: How much and what sort of research? The writing process. First line hooks.

Week 3 – Style: Commercial or literary? 1st or 3rd Person? Present or past tense? Cosy or gritty and confrontational? Genre-appropriate pace. Timekeepers.

Week 4 – Plotting & Structure: To plan or not to plan? Beginning, middle and end. How to beat writer’s block.

Week 5 – Sense of Place: Painting the setting and drawing your readers in. How much descriptive prose is too much?

Week 6 – Character Building: Character profiles. Creating “Real” people your readers can believe & invest in.

Week 7 – The Mechanics of Writing: Show or tell. Exposition. Believable conversation, and well-crafted action scenes.

Week 8 – Prologues, Epilogues & Finishing that first draft: Getting out of your own way and how to get those thoughts down in some sort of order so that the serious business of editing can begin.

Week 9 – Winding it up, editing & formatting: When and how to end your novel. How to edit and format your work in preparation for submission.

Week 10 – Agents, Publishers & the Submission Process: Traditional v Self-publishing. Do you really need an agent? Synopses and Query letters – how to write a good pitch. Online presence and Marketing.

Please send me a message (using the form below)
for further information about the course, start date/times etc.

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BAD BLOOD

Bad Blood is my 11th and latest novel and brings Ben Copperfield (Outside Chance) back into the spotlight to solve another problem with his companion, the lurcher, Mouse.

As a freelance journalist, Ben is well placed to observe events and he's not the sort of chap who can stand by and let injustices go unchallenged - a trait which causes some friction between him and his long-term girlfriend...

Artwork

Under another "hat" I work as an animal portrait artist painting dogs, cats and horses in pastels. I work on commission from photographs and pride myself in achieving a close likeness of each pet, and bringing their character through to the finished work.

Take a look at my Artwork page for examples and by all means contact me through this website or my Facebook page, if you are interested in commissioning a portrait for yourself or as a gift.

Commission a hand painted portrait of your pet

Daniel Whelan and Taz

It's a fact that had Daniel and Taz not been forced to leave the police force, they would not be featuring as the heroes of my books.

Their role in the police dog handler unit, though no less important, was not as a detective team, but more as a resource to be employed when needed - rather like the helicopter or armed response unit. They would have been used to track suspects who had fled the scene of a crime or traffic incident, to help in crowd control and raids, to apprehend criminals resisting arrest or running from officers on foot and to find vulnerable missing persons; called out, deployed and then stood down once the job was done.

A valuable tool to get a job done, but on strict hours and not involved in cracking cases, hence I needed Daniel and Taz to be freelance.

Coffee

Caffé Nero, one of my favourite places for Coffee, In June, unusually, they chose three musicians to be their Artists of the Month. They played together as a band on the Caffé Nero stage at the recent Black Deer Music festival and received a standing ovation!

Training

One of the sports I enjoy with my own dogs is Trailing. This involves training dogs to find people, or even lost pets, by following their unique scent trail.

A dog's nose is up to 100K more sensitive than yours or mine; for every scent receptor in a human nose, a dog's nose has 50, so it is something of a superpower!

When trailing, a dog will be shown a scent article which may be an item of clothing or possession belonging to the missing person, or even just something that person or animal has recently touched, such as a car door handle or a park bench, and then tasked to follow the ground scent to find their quarry.

In trailing a dog can use a combination pf ground scent and air scent, and should indicate on any items dropped by the "runner" along the way. Trailing dogs practice their craft in all environments and over all kinds of terrain, from countryside and coast, to industrial parks and town centres. Engrossed in their work, they learn to ignore distractions such as people and other dogs.

Any and all dogs can be used for trailing and as well as being fun for the handler, it provides a naturally fulfilling outlet for dogs - who are by nature, hunters - to do this in a safe, controlled and constructive way.

On finding their target, the dog is given a food treat or a toy as a reward for a job well done.

Horse Riding

One of my abiding passions, although I no longer own my own horse; it was fantastic to see that there was some good coverage of the riding events at the Paris Olympics, and didn't our GB team do well?

Discover more about the world of Animal Training, and my thoughts on the world around us, as well as details about events and forthcoming titles.