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Dramatica Pro – software for writers
While we’re on the topic of software for writers I thought I’d have a look at Dramatica Pro (http://www.dramatica.com, $209 for the download version). Some programs for authors are designed to support...
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Brontë country
I’ve just spent a week in Yorkshire visiting my parents, who live in the shadow of Ilkley Moor. It’s not far from Haworth where the Brontë sisters lived. We drove up in warm sunshine. Then, in the...
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The Protein Man
UPDATE: A pdf of Eight Passion Proteins With Care can now be downloaded from the blog by clicking on the link below: Eight Passion Proteins With Care In 1987 I went on a CND (Campaign for Nuclear...
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Off to Italy
Just a quick couple of pieces of news: 1) There won’t be a post for a couple of weeks as I’m off on my hols to Lake Como in Italy, staying at a hotel in the beautiful village of Cernobbio. I’ve set...
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In search of the perfect notebook
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Dr Jones’s diary. When I worked for Scotland Yard in the 1980s I had a Filofax, which was pretty standard for people living in London at the time. I took it with me...
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German Expressionist Flyer
Ruth’s flying machine from Thumb I’ve been working on some art/visualisation pieces for Thumb. As I mentioned before I wanted to capture the feel of the German Expressionist artists and films of the...
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Countdown to Thumb
A flat singularity carried the unfinished body of God through an empty universe. The colossus lay on his back, a being so vast he might easily have put his arms around a world, if any still existed....
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Thumb – Out Now!
The universe is empty. The stars are dead. The worlds are no more. The last humans struggle to create a god to save them from the utter end. In the shadow of this colossus Max Ocel rescues a beautiful...
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Thumb available in paperback!
Thumb is now available in paperback from Amazon, priced $9.99 in the US, £7.99 in the UK and €11.17 in Europe. I confess to being biased but I’m really happy with the quality – the book looks and...
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Shakespeare Beyond Doubt
I’ve just finished reading the collection of essays Shakespeare Beyond Doubt, edited by Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells. The book is designed to counter the increasing number of what it politely...
View ArticleFirst Draft in 30 Days – Karen S. Wiesner
I’ve always been very suspicious of books or computer programs that offer up a system for writing, as you can probably tell by my comments on Dramatica Pro. The methodologies proposed often claim to...
View ArticleThe Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett
Like a moth to the flame I find myself once again drawn into the strange world of the Shakespeare authorship question, though this time it’s through the entirely charming and entertaining novel The...
View ArticleVisualising Ragged Claws in 3D
The first draft of my next novel and sequel to Thumb, Ragged Claws, is now finished and tucked safely in a drawer for a month. It’s hard not to keep re-reading and tinkering, but I know from experience...
View ArticleDark Fantasy: is it suitable for the servants?
This week’s post is a guest article by Jane Dougherty, the author of the wonderfully grim fantasy novel The Dark Citadel. First in a series, it tells of a future religious/fascist dystopian society...
View ArticleOlivetti Lettera 32
A Happy New Year to everyone! This is my one hundredth post and I thought I’d follow tradition by talking about what Santa brought me for Christmas. When I was eight years old, and a precocious little...
View ArticleYou’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack – Tom Gauld
A while back I posted one of Tom Gauld’s cartoons on this blog and wrote a brief piece for my newsletter. His work is so clever, and pushes so many of the right buttons for an Eng-Lit professor turned...
View ArticleRagged Claws Cover Art
The great news is that the manuscript for Ragged Claws is back from my editor, John Jarrold, and ready for the final knocking into shape before release. The book is 99% finished, with just a few minor...
View ArticleRagged Claws available on March 16th!
Max and Abby are trapped in the city of Interosseous where the inhabitants navigate through the treacherous streets using the giant faces in the sky. If humanity is to survive Max must contact the...
View ArticleRagged Claws out now!
Goodreads Book Giveaway Ragged Claws by John Guy Collick Giveaway ends March 31, 2014. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win Ragged Claws, second volume in The Book of the Colossus, is...
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