Ches

Thanks for this recommendation! I loved it. (Cost me a 3am bedtime at the end 😄 )
Then I was looking at reviews for it and stumbled on yours. Very much agree on all points 😁

Until my niblings get older, I have to find reasons why a teenage character doesn't use slang. So far I've used posh and brought up in an isolated magic commune, or relied on situational appropriate mirroring. But it's limiting.

I made an mdb thesaurus for London slang from my era. Beautiful relic!

Just got round to reading The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. Bit weird I haven't yet, but it's nice having more to read. He's been a (very)long-time inspiration - I'm hoping this refresher might help drive my next novel. Got a plot and characters, but felt a bit flat, and now I have some oomph!

I'm really enjoying @alethearlyons.bsky.social's The Somnia! So happy to be back in that world with those characters. Gripped from chapter one!

I chose this book first after moving house (and associated packing and unpacking) 😁

I’m creating several starter packs for indie writers – one for each genre – that I then would regularly post links to. If interested in being in a starter back, please reply with your genre.
#Indieauthor #authorsky #writersky #writingcommunity #authorsofsky #booksky

I finished reading the Alex Verus series (Benedict Jacka) and was not disappointed. The final book was impressively action-packed and satisfying. Everything that went before built to it - amazing (and enviable!) planning behind that.

Derelict, eccentric or threatening indoor spaces (had to give it some thought!). I also like writing nightclub scenes. (I would like to be better at spooky and creepy - I rush things too much to build suspense 😄 )

I finished editing and publishing a 9-book series, and weeks later found book 10 on the harddrive. I forgot I wrote it. Had it printed and read it, and blimey is it slow and dull. No loss there! Series ends at 9 😄
Some you trunk, some you plain forget.

Woah, someone in Australia bought one of my novels! How on earth did they find it? I don't do marketing 😄
I hope they liked it, and that it made them smile as much as their £2.46 did me!
How the hell did they come across it? Baffling. Maybe they'll get the rest of the trilogy. The other 15 books...😄

Editing this latest book was a pain. Past me was very indecisive about word choices, and left me options, thousands of them. Maxed 20 pages a day, usually fewer, but I've chugged through and today, it's done! Do a little every day, and you get there in the end.

I very much enjoyed the launch chat, and you are lovely people, the lot of you 💙 Really had me chuckling there, too 😁

Picture of Alethea Lyons. Book cover of The Insomnia by Alethea Lyons depicting a large tree in winter against a night sky and rolling hills. Book launch party March 4th at 1 pm central. Background is an old library with purple tint.

See you in a few hours. Links below.

Phew! 😁
I arranged a slightly fancier background for it, this time 😄 and now it's happily snuggled with Reawakening in my bookshelf.

I thought it was a bit early! I double checked the release date because I wasn't expecting it quite so soon 😄 Ooh gosh if you've planned a special reveal I can take down my post. Just say ☺️

Paperback The Somnia by Alethea Lyons, on a pale blanket in a shaft of sunlight.

The third book of my prize came!Just released, The Somnia by @alethearlyons.bsky.social - very exciting. There's a launch party online tomorrow, I believe: that's how new it is! Gorgeous cover, intriguing blurb 😁

Thanks, @brigidsgatepress.bsky.social, this is brilliant ☺️

Hehehe, yeah, we'll go with an artistic pop 😁

Ooh thanks for that - insider intel from the source ☺️

They do look great together! (Probably look even better on some deep velvet, rather than beige 😄 )
As long as it doesn't spoil The Somnia, I'm groovy 😁

Books: Reawakening by Alethea Lyons and Enter the Darkness by Sarah Budd

I received two of my prize books from @brigidsgatepress.bsky.social and am duly excited. (Still can't believe I won something 😄 ) They look beautiful and I can't wait to read them. Top of my to-read stack!
Thanks again, @alethearlyons.bsky.social ☺️

Do you get flashbacks to scenes you've written (or read)? There's this one (bloody awful) book I wrote, and I often see scenes from it at random mundane moments. I can't work out why that story, above others. Why that character. It's bizarre but been going on years, so now kinda comforting 😄

@buffyrevamped.bsky.social is a very funny one-man show recapping the series from Spike's point of view. My cheeks hurt from laughing. Beautifully done, with plenty for the experts & my less expert friend was just as entertained. The energy is incredible - don't know how he does it! Recommended.

Book cover art of Lichenlast by HE Staunton. Linocut of cabin amongst trees with a blue glow spilling out.

Gentle, magic story about life, aging and death. Bisexual, kind cast; no romance; occasional sex; lots of tea. #urbanfantasy in English countryside. Nothing much happens in a nice way. Kinda funny. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0DXDBCZWV

Thank you ☺️ I don't really win things, so that my competition karma (as it were) has been saved for books is brilliant 😁

I have every confidence I'll enjoy them very much 🥰

Ooh nifty! I hope you enjoy The Hiding like I did 🙂

(I'm a bit slow to find Kat Richardson 😄 )

Blimey! I just won three books from @brigidsgatepress.bsky.social through this platform. Incredibly unexpected. Bluesky has hugely increased my to-read pile, and now in a new way 😄
Also thanks @alethearlyons.bsky.social for mentioning the competition (and writing the books I want 😁 )

In the last year and cosy, no. I just started reading Greywalker by Kat Richardson - kinda thought the tech was oldish, but didn't twig 20 years ago 😄 Proper PI MC. Alethea Lyons (recent) certainly has a detectivey investigating plot but MC isn't strictly a PI. Good luck!

Reawakening and The Somnia (when it releases in March) by Alethea Lyons.

My process is very papery. I've just sent 3 novels off for wirebound printing. The markups I make are part of a penultimate edit, then I get a paperback & write edits in a notepad. I notice different things in print. Plus no screens at bedtime.
Only a small part of why I often need more bookshelves!

Every time I travel through London (proper), I'm reminded of Kate Griffin's exceptional descriptions (Midnight Mayor series) and that I could do better - very inspiring. Her description of the square mile predawn is etched into my memory, so familiar from traipsing home after a club night!

The idea of a book going into a bin is unthinkable, so I'm glad the last owner and I saved it that fate!
Yeah, it is a completely different scale from piracy. Hard to believe people do that to books. Especially while libraries exist!

I tend to sample a new series buying secondhand. I feel guilty about the lack of royalties, but good about the re-use aspect. That the secondhand book I just got is signed has added complexity - feels like an undeserved win!