Portal Chronicles Book Three

Where oh where is book three?
Of late I seem to have had a spate of requests asking about a third book in the series.

The good news is that the third book is known to me.
The bad news is that apart from the first chapter and prologue, it is still in my head.

It sadly comes down to a question of economics and an active life.
With two 'children', actually now adults, living at home and both going to University and College, plus the mortgage and the cost of living (have you seen the price of food and heating oil these days!!!) I simply cannot currently earn enough from writing to pay our bills.

As such my main focus is on my IT support, training and web design company, LITES PC, leaving little time for my pen :-(

I promise that I will try to get moving on the third volume and I have made some 'life changes' to try to free up more time.

As a taster: book three will be about Swiftaxe, King of the Dwarves (who remembers what happened to him in The Spider Gem?) The book will take place on a new world and follow his adventures.



Sorry about the delays but I will get there!

Taff

Portalia

Portalia south, north, east and west
To ease the travel on any quest,
The knot, the peaks and the old oak tree,
Servant chains amount to three
A ring to trigger a call to home,
Returns all three to their Runestone
A stone-made key makes up the set,
Unlocking the paths of the portal net

Read more on my main site at www.lovesey.net

The Shimmering Gate - Under the Moon version

I have now received the edits for The Shimmering Gate from Under the Moon, the new publisher.

I'll work on these over the next few weeks which means we should be on track for a release of the new version, with illustrations, later this year.

I'll pop updates here as I have them and will put artwork on my main site at http://www.lovesey.net/ .

Spider Gem paperback nearly ready

I know it's been somewhat drawn out, but the paper back copy of the new edition of The Spider Gem is almost ready.
I received the latest incarnation last week and it's now looking much better with the illustrations much clearer and the formatting issues that I raised early, corrected.
I'm hoping that the paperback will be available during August.

Keep up to date via this blog and my web site http://www.lovesey.net/

You can order the ebook of the latest version (with illustrations) from the publisher's web site at http://www.underthemoon.org/

Taff

New Artwork for The Spider Gem - Zarn the Dwarf

Check out the latest artwork from Kayleigh Taylor, one of my readers.
Kayleigh has sent me a great Manga style intepretation of Zarn.

You can find it here:

www.lovesey.net/artwork.html

New Spider Gem Review

Check out a new review for The Spider Gem at Aurora:

http://aurorareviews.blogspot.com/2010/06/spider-gem-book-one-of-portal.html

Copies available from http://www.lovesey.net/

Super Spurs Head for Europe!

I had to say something! After 43 years of torment supporting Spurs we finally get a Champs League spot.
Go Spurs

East Midlands International CiCLE Classic

The next public event that I am attending is the CiCle Classic race in Oakham.
For more information on this exciting event, check out the information at:

http://www.cicleclassic.co.uk/

I will be in the Victoria Hall with the Craft Fair doing book signings and answering questions about writing publishing. I'll have both copies of The Portal Chronicles with me and I can also provide assistance on IT related side of writing and publishing.

Nottingham Central Library

A big thank you for those that attended the New Writers UK event in Nottingham Central Library yesterday.
I delivered a small workshop on finding and selecting cover art for your books and this seemed to be received well. Other authors delivered sessions on Research, Children's Writing and Short Stories v Novels.
For those of you that had a chat with me and who may have more questions, you can contact me via my website at www.lovesey.net

Taff

Connor's Folly - a recommended read

As I struggle to find time to write book three, for those looking for a good read I can recommend a fellow independent author, Rob Auty and his Trance Warriors series.
Rob has recently launched the second book in his series, Connor's Folly. You can link to this here.
The first book in the series, The Siege of Scarn is also available.
Rob's home page is www.trancewarriors.com

In the Trance Warriors Rob has created an excellent fantasy world and with some fresh and unique ideas. Try it. You won't be disappointed.

Of course for those of you still ctaching up with my own work, as usual you can find it via my web site at www.lovesey.net

Taff

Cottesmore Primary School Visit

I have reschedued the visit to Cottesmore Primary School to 4th May.
I'm looking forward to the visit and hope that all the children are too.

Blog and old adages

Remember that old adage 'out of sight out of mind'
I now know what my Nan Davies was talking about. I recently upgraded my PC and 'lost' my daily task reminder to do my blog.
I've just recreated it so hopefully I'll be more reliable again with regards updates.

Keep smiling
Taff

New Version of Spider Gem - No Price Change

One major concern I had about moving to a US based publisher was the cost of copies to me when the international shipping was added in.

Looks like all is well. I've just received a quote for a typical print and shipment and it looks like I can continue to sell copies at the current price of £7.99.

This is brilliant as I really didn't want to push the UK author signed cost up.

The latest version of The Spider Gem will be available to purchase by end of March. It has the original plotline but has been edited and had extensive proof reading to improve the quality and, of course, the exciting addition of artwork at various points throughout the book.

Electrical Stores Tricks to grab Your Money!

Most of us are familiar with the push by electrical sales retailers (such as Comet, Currys, Dixons etc) to sell you lucrative equipment insurance deals (lucrative to them that is) but it seems they now have a new 'trick'.

With the advent of Digital and HD TV consumers will find that when purchasing their new HD sets that they will require HDMI cables to take advantage of the new higher definition picture.
This is where the stores, or is it the manufacturers, or more likely both, are taking people for a ride.

In the local major electrical retail store at Stamford I recently wanted to purchase a 3meter HDMI lead for an installation that I was doing. The cables in the store ranged from £30 (for the cheap and cheerful) to £80 for the enthusiast. The cable that I recommended was a screened HDMI cable with gold plating to improve connectivity and signal quality. The cost in the store £40.
As I am 'in the know' I refused to pay this. Drove home and purchased the same specification cable online for around £5. I even paid the £6 to have it delivered next day and still saved £29 on the electrical store price.

Watch out for this one.
If you want direction as to where to buy contact me via my IT site at http://www.litespc.co.uk

The Spider Gem and all that...

I have finished the review of the hard copy. Nearly there now for print copies of 'Spider'.
As ever, in the meantime, ebook copies are available via my web site www.lovesey.net

Just been looking at the Apple iPad. Great device but I'm wondering where the market will be. I can see it being useful in many places, especially universities, but will it replace a more traditional laptop. Probably not.

Draft Copy - The Spider Gem

The draft copy of The Spider Gem has arrived for my review.
It should take me a week or so to go through the copy and then its back to the publisher for the final tweaks. Nearly there now.

I'll create a gallery of the images over on my web site at www.lovesey.net
Will confimr on the blog when the images are loaded.

Cough! Splutter! Aaaaa-tishoooo!

I hate having winter virusses !
I've been struggling witha chesty cough for weeks but it has really hit hard over the weekend and I've been up most of the night. Did manage to watch a few films that have been sitting on the hard drive for a few months (King Arthur, The Shooter), so I guess there is some positive!
Finally couldn't stand it any longer so went to the Doc and he relucatntly prescribed anti-biotics. Like getting blood from a stone!
Wish me well...

Colour Plates in new Spider Gem

Much to my surprise the publisher has included a couple of colour plates inside the new copy of The Spider Gem. The fire eagle looks superb and there is now a colour map of Portalia.
Looking forward to when the hard copies are available.

Paper copy The Spider Gem

The proof paper copies of The Spider Gem have been shipped for my review. Hopefully they'll be here by end of next week. After that it shouldn't be too long until the copies are available for purchase.
In the meantime, as mentioned before, the ebook is available via my website www.lovesey.net
I also still have a few copies of the original version. These too are available via my web site.

Dawn of the eBook

After a number of false dawns, the day of the ebook as a popular format is fast approaching.

At last weeks Consumer Electronic SHow held in Las Vegas, there were numerous new ebook readers on display and the devices proved to be one of the hottest topics on show.

Read more about the show here http://www.cesweb.org/

So what does this mean to small press, PoD and self published authors? Bottom line is that if you haven't already considered the ebook format for your work, now is the time to start preparing. With so many comopanies jockeying for position, the market will start to accelerate.

Thankfully I am already on track with The Spider Gem available at www.underthemoon.org and The Shimmering Gate to follow later in 2010.

Cottesmore School Reading

I have booked a reading session with Cottesmore Primary School on March 25th.
I'll be reading Morty the Skeleton to the younger classes and Portal Chronicles to the older ones.

LITES PC - Web design

As you may know I also have my own one-man IT company, LITES PC (http://www.litespc.co.uk/) which stands for Lovesey Information Technology Education and Support.

This beast has continued to grow in all the main areas, support, training and website design. In fact the website design has really taken off of late. I have now also added SEO skills to my portfolio after attending a course on Google SEO, very interesting.

I guess indirectly LITES is responsible for my lack of writing time, however, ultimately it is those darned bills that are the main reason. LOL

I'm trying to strike a better balance between writing and LITES work this year which will hopefully result in good progress for book three. Of course if there are any major publishers out there that want to sign up Portal Chronicles then I'd happily accept an advance and write full time! ;-)

Website Updated

I have just published new information on my web site.
It now contains a link to the new US illustrated version of The Spider Gem and includes a new map of Portalia and an image of the new cover.

You can check out the changes at:

http://www.lovesey.net

Avatar

I must applaud James Cameron's latest creation.

Put simply this was the best movie experience of my life (a sentiment echoed by my Dad who is now in his 70s)

We travelled the 2hrs to Birmingham to take in the IMAX 3D version and we were blown away. The movie is almost three hours long but it doesn't seem like it. The special effects are excellent but more so it has a strong story line and plucked at my emotions a number of times.

Astounding!

Hats off to Mr Cameron

Book Three Finally Under Way

OK, you'd better sit down.... I've finally got book three of The Portal Chronicles underway.
Having carried the idea around for the best part of 2 years I'm hoping that the fact that I have the first two chapters well advanced will drive me on.
So what's it about?
All I'll say at the moment is that it tells the story of a character that disappeared in book one during the battle of Fortown.

The Spider Gem - New Release

The Spider Gem has now been re-released by Under the Moon (http://www.underthemoon.org/), a US Small press publisher based in Minnesota.

Having greatly benefitted from some professional editing and now complete with new cover and internal illustrations, The Spider Gem can currently be purchased in ebook format for $5.99 via my web site (http://www.lovesey.net/) or via the publisher.

Paper copy book versions are to follow soon.

The new edition of book two, The Shimmering Gate should follow during Fall 2010.

Blog neglect

I admit it. I have neglected my BLOG of late. OK, my New Year's resolution is to try to keep it up to date as I know there are a few out there that come visiting.
I'll start tomorrow with a ctach up of all that has occurred in the past few weeks.