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.