New Logo

Introducing the new logo for the Clarke Fiction websites and brand.

It has an interesting history starting with a street market in the Karen suburb of Nairobi in Kenya. from where the original model on which it was based was carried to Phuket where it is now languishing.

A slightly different, non-animated version has been in use as my Instagram avatar for a while (check out @davidgeorgeclarke for a collection of my photos) and is also begging to be updated.

Over the next few weeks, this Clarke Fiction version will start to appear in our about-to-be-vamped up advertising and the front matter in my books at least.

I hope the little guy doesn’t run out of steam!

Audiobooks

Also pleased to let you know that I have finished the first version of the audiobook of ‘An Imperfect Revenge’ and it is about to be scrutinised by a few beta listeners. At the moment, it is not intended for sale, rather it will be offered free to anyone who signs up to my email list.

What email list?

You are right, it has yet to be resurrected, but it will happen soon. Meanwhile, watch this space, and if you are interested in the free audiobook, all eight and three-quarter hours of it, drop me a line and I’ll sort it out.

Catch up

Where does the time go?

After leaving Phuket, finally, at the end of July, it was back to Italy, high summer and a ton of work to do in a garden intent on returning to nature. Needless to say, more creative pursuits were put on the back burner for a while.

However, as the virus spirals every which way and as of last weekend, our part of Italy is in the red zone — maximum lockdown — we are hunkering down for a fast-approaching winter. Loads of wood cut and split, wine a-plenty and the olive harvest done and dusted, it’s time to get back to the keyboard and hit creative mode.

Progress on The Whistling Man is that the tale has been largely rewritten, although far from finished yet, and since there’s no longer any whistling, I’m looking for a new title. As yet nothing has materialised from the ether, but it’s out there somewhere, waiting to be recognised.

Meanwhile, there’s another project in hand, something I’ve been thinking about for a while — audiobooks. There’s an ever-increasing market out there for audiobooks and now seems like a good time to join in. However, if you go down the route of engaging a professional narrator, it all gets rather expensive, so I’m trying the alternative approach of doing it myself.

I’ve now bought a fancy mike, fancy headphones, a pop filter and downloaded free recording software — Audacity. Most importantly of all, I’ve created a sound studio. But before you start thinking of a Radio One state-of-the-art set-up, think instead of a Bedouin tent! Following the guidelines of a course I subscribed to  — Audiobooks Made Easy by Derek Doepker — I commandeered a pile of old duvets and bedspreads and built a sort of Wendy House that the average six-year-old would sell his or her younger sibling for. The aim is to minimise external sound, which up here in the woods is not a huge problem anyway. It works well enough, so over the next few weeks and months. I’ll be working my way through my seven titles with a view to getting some onto Audible, and one at least as part of a giveaway deal.

As it turns out, the timing is good since literally today, 21 November, Book Funnel have announced an expansion of their services into Audiobooks that will roll out in the new year. All very exciting.

The first book I’m recording is An Imperfect Revenge and I may well be releasing it chapter by chapter before long. I’ll keep you posted.

It’s the rainy season in Phuket — time to watch YouTube!

Twenty-twenty. A year no one will ever forget. The year that the world changed forever and many of its so-called leaders have been found sadly wanting. Not the least of these are the pitiful crowd in Westminster and across the ocean in Washington, both of whom seem hell-bent on killing as many people as possible with their incompetence.

Enough about them. While they dream up their latest measures to confound and confuse, we are spending our time in Phuket experiencing the rainy season for the first time in the twelve years we have been coming here. It’s June, and normally we would be in Tuscany. But this is 2020.

Phuket is actually an extremely safe place to be, among the safest in the world, as is Thailand in general since the virus outbreak in the country has been kept to a minimum thanks to prompt and sensible action by the government. Simply put, the government put the health and well-being of the people ahead of the economy. And they still are.

One of the measures taken was to extend all foreigners’ visas unconditionally until 31 July, which along with closing all the airports is why we are still here. These measures are under constant review and in a few weeks’ time when the results of other parts of the world relaxing restrictions will be more apparent,  we’ll know if we are staying or going.

Until then, we are enjoying the tropical rain with intermittent spells of sunshine. The rain is wonderful, inspirational, especially now I have moved my desk to be by the balcony doors with the rainforest just beyond. While I write, there is a constant background chatter of birds and insects that from time to time develops into a cacophony, and rain, sometimes steady, sometimes huge.

The Whistling Man

Progress on the latest book has been up and down. Having thought I’d finished it, I left it, came back to it, reviewed it and discovered I was anything but satisfied with it. But now, in the last day or so, after considering a number of alternative plot developments, I have hit on a modification to the story that I think really works. Quite a lot of rewriting is required, and I’m relying on the patter of rain, the jungle noises and the magical forest to keep me focussed.

YouTube

Another recent exciting development in the world of ClarkeFiction has been the creation of Gail’s YouTube channel, which happened towards the end of April. To date it has 151 subscribers and over 2900 views of the various videos.

The videos — there are now twelve — are presentations similar to those Gail gives in schools around the world — an introduction to the animals in the book and a few fascinating facts, then the book itself. Tens of thousands of schoolchildren have enjoyed these stories over the past ten years; now even more can enjoy them through the magic of YouTube.

The channel now has its own URL: www.youtube.com/c/gailclarkeauthor  But you don’t need to remember that; all you need to do is click on this link: GailClarkeAuthor

 

Rare Traits Trilogy Box Set … and More!

Hi there,

I thought it was time to bring you up to date with the latest news about my books.

Firstly, for the three people left in the world who haven’t yet read any or all of the Rare Traits Trilogy (OK, I accept there might be one or two more than that), I have recently used the wonderful Vellum software to create an ebook box set. Yes, all three books in the trilogy are now available as one ebook download. You can find it exclusively on Amazon by typing ‘The Rare Traits Trilogy’ into the search bar on your Amazon site. Moreover, since it’s also on Kindle Unlimited, if you happen to be a subscriber, then you can download it for free. Otherwise, the price is hardly bank-breaking: £4.99; $6.55 or about €5.99 – it depends on exchange rates — bargain of the year!

The second big piece of news is that my new book, ‘An Imperfect Revenge’, is almost ready and I am planning to publish it by the end of this month. There’s quite a bit of work still to do yet, but I’m confident I’ll get there.

I now have a draft design for the cover, but I’m not going to release it yet, largely because the draft is covered in Shutterstock watermarks. That will all change very soon, so I’m hoping that in a week or two, I’ll be able to give you a preview of the cover and the back blurb synopsis.

However, I know you’d like some idea of what it’s all about, so, as a preview to the preview, here we go. The book is set entirely in Tuscany with the time frame split almost exactly between the 1890s and the present day. The ‘Imperfect Revenge’ of the title refers to an overbearing aristocratic Italian artist, Salvatore Brocanti, who swears revenge on his unfaithful wife Isabella, the nature of the revenge on both wife and her lover being pretty horrific and centring around the massive villa and estate that is the family home. However, it all goes rather wrong and, owing to the nature of what the artist sets up, there are huge consequences in the present day for several people who break into the long-abandoned villa …

Watch this space!

 

Remorseless

Since we live in a world of alternative facts, another change to the title of my latest book should seem nothing out of the ordinary.

Alternative fact one was the working title of Unfinished Business, but as I pointed out in my previous post, this title has been over-used. Hence the move to alternative fact two: Murderous Motives. However, after cogitating on that for a while, mainly on my bike while charging around both the Lincolnshire countryside in semi-freezing conditions, and more recently the Kamala, Phuket countryside in tropical hothouse conditions, the niggling feeling that this wasn’t the best title grew.

So now it’s changed again to Remorseless, which I think is a stronger title and as you will see once you read it, has a wider meaning than its predecessor.

That’s it; no more alternatives. It will be Remorseless. That’s a fact. No more changes. All that remains is to finish up the editing and then get it out there since I’m sure you are itching to read it.

My other two missions for the month of February are firstly to continue with the plot outline of book six, provisionally called Ca’ Abandonata. Set entirely in Italy, this novel has a supernatural twist that is very different from all my previous books. The characters are all new too. So far it’s just at the drafting stage. If that goes well — it’s looking good so far — then writing will begin soon.

Mission two is to continue writing to as many literary agents as I can in the hope that Irrefutable Evidence and Remorseless might appeal to one of them. It’s an uphill battle that makes climbing Everest a breeze by comparison, but I’ll keep trying. If you happen to be best buddy with a literary agent who’s yearning for the next blockbuster, please let me know …

In the meantime, feedback on Remorseless is good and the hunt for toopies,tie-bows typos etc continues.

Another Great Review for Rare Traits

Things have been fairly subdued on the sales front over the past couple of months, so it’s very encouraging when another five star review pops up out of the blue.

On 29 June on Amazon US, a lady called Robyn Carter posted the following review, the first  for a while:
Best book I have read in long time. A rip roaring read. Can’t wait for book two. If you like art combined with science then this is for you

Many thanks, Robyn, I’m very grateful to you for your comments and the five stars

And what is happening to book two? Well, if you follow my FB page, you’ll know that having finished the first draft sometime ago now, I decided that firstly the ending, and then the beginning needed work – particularly the ending. So that’s where it’s at. The start of the book is now ready, apart from further proof reading and all that stuff, and I’m well on the way with the ending. Just a couple of chapter rewrites to go. After that, of course more proof reading and editing, so it will be a while, but let’s look for now at September as a target.

I’ll keep you posted.

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