How many central characters should a novel have? One or two? Three? Or… Most novels have a hero or heroine, or in some cases, a pair of heroes or heroines. In creating what I hoped would be a new thriller series, I realised I’d gone a bit overboard in character-creation mode and for a while,…
Category: Book Covers
‘The Boy Who Wasn’t There’ by Kristi Helvig
My Review (5 stars out of 5) In this short story, when Max the thief and sex-worker Skye, bump into each other in a café, it seems they’re being pursued by the same man. However, in their attempt to escape, things go awry and the two become separated. The story moves along at a good…
Midtown Hustler by Leopold Borstinski *COVER REVEAL*
I’m delighted to be part of the Damppebbles cover reveal for Leopold Borstinski’s new book – Midtown Hustler. This is volume three in the Alex Cohen series of violent historical novels, ripping through the early years of the Jewish New York mob. Here’s the blurb: Can you keep your gelt and freedom when the cops…
The Secret Novel-Writing Formula (Maybe)…
Writing a book series can feel as if you’re recreating the same thing over and over. And if the series is successful, maybe that’s exactly what’s going on – that, to some extent, the author dips into a kind of magic formula as a basis for each new volume. If that’s true, is it a…
Indie Author Interview – Gordon Bickerstaff
Glasgow-born thriller writer Gordon Bickerstaff has turned his hand to a plethora of interests, from biochemistry and garden maintenance to DIY and spying. Well, perhaps that last one is based more in his imagination than real life, but maybe not – read on to find out more… What prompted you to start writing? I’ve read…
Book Covers, Book Reviews, Books, Characters, Children's Books, design, Editing, Horror, Indie Authors, Interview, Ken Stark, Paranormal, Social Media, Technique, Teen & Young Adult, Writing, Young Adult
Indie Author Interview – Ken Stark
Canadian-born author Ken Stark grew up on a diet on comic books and disaster movies so it’s no surprise that he ended up writing horror novels. Dig in for a scary ride… You are known mainly for writing horror, so what scares you? Not much, actually. I can imagine myself getting scared in certain situations,…
Book Covers, Characters, Crime, design, detective, Editing, Humour, Indie Authors, Interview, Joy Mutter, murder, mystery, Psychological, Writing
Indie Author Interview – Joy Mutter
From paranormal and psychological crime thrillers, to autobiographies and non-fiction, she’s done it all. So who is the real Joy Mutter? For the Hostile series you created a rather unusual entity as its villain – where did this idea come from? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas. My overactive imagination kicked into overdrive…
Author Interview – Jacky Dahlhaus
Australian-born writer Jacky Dahlhaus is the author of the ‘Suckers’ series, starting with her first book, ‘Living Like a Vampire’. When did you first become interested in writing and publishing your own work? I only began writing one-and-a-half years ago and never thought about publishing until I finished my first novel. It was completely new…
Branding Schmanding – Indie Author Identity
There are a lot of statistics tossed around about how important book covers are, and while we could argue percentages all day, I reckon most people would agree it’s the image on a book’s cover that plays the biggest part in the decision-making process when it comes to parting with our cash. But how much…
A Book Cover Paints A Thousand Words…
When I started putting ideas together for the cover of my middle-grade book ‘The House That Wasn’t There’, it’s fair to say I didn’t really know what I was doing. The problem was that, as usual, I’d come up with a title that intrigued me, but part of that intrigue meant I had to work…
Colin Garrow 