Sunday, 11 November 2018

4 day #countdown

4 days to go till the launch of Agricola's Bane!

It's now a really exciting time for me, even more so because my blog launch tour is revving up now. Today you'll find me visiting my old friend Tim Taylor (Crooked Cat Books)  who has kindly offered to share my launch information for Book 4.

Tim has been one of the few readers to have read all three books of the series and who has written excellent reviews on them, for which he has my unending thanks. Since Tim is also a historical author, I appreciate very much the constructive comments he has given me - helpful in the manner that all reviews should be.

Meanwhile you'll also find that on my Facebook Author page there's a #competition going on for a SIGNED copy of Agricola's Bane to one lucky winner who shares the post with the Pre-Order link.
You'll find that post pinned to the top of the page HERE

See you over at Tim' blog HERE today.

Slainthe!


Friday, 9 November 2018

#6 day count down

#FridayFeelings

They're fantastic! I've been beavering away, preparing more things for the launch of Agricola's Bane - the eBook next week on the 15th, and the local paperback launch the following week on the 22nd Nov.

I've got a fabulous Blog Tour organised with 16 lovely Bloggers helping me to spread the word. I'm about to add them to a sidebar to make it nice and easy to see where I'll be appearing during the coming weeks.

Yesterday, I emailed off 10 Press Releases to local newspapers and another few to local radio stations. It's time consuming but in only a matter of hours I've had a tremendous response but I'm keeping that first one a nice little secret for a whiley. :-)

I'll send off a few more Press Releases to other Scottish Newspapers this afternoon, and then it'll be time to get some excerpts all ready to use for publicity. To start the ball rolling here's one to whet the appetite for my lovely young female warrior- Enya. If the image at left makes her look intense- it's true, she can be!




When Enya reached Colm, the soldier she had poled to the ground squealed and bleated as he squirmed to free his upper arm from the entrapment, his attempt to break the shaft unsuccessful. Frantically swinging it in her direction, the young auxiliary whirled and bucked to avoid the slashes of her blade. As she raised her long knife anew, the end of the spear walloped against her jaw, the impact splintering the tip, the sudden pain excruciating. The blow was not sound enough to knock her over, but the jarring sent the man sprawling. Landing heavily on his side, he yelped when the pole cracked asunder, the spear tip still stuck firmly in his upper arm. Forcing him onto his front with one well aimed boot roll, Enya clipped away the shallow helmet neck-guard with her knife.
She had him at her mercy but she would give him none.
Striking repeatedly at the freed flesh with her long blade, which was not much shorter than the Roman’s gladius, a white hot rage engulfed her. Blood spattered and bone cracked.
Would her Celtic lands never be free of the Roman scum? The next cut was for Ruoridh. Another hack was for her cousin, Beathan, and more for Feargus’ dead kin from Monymusk. Her blade continued a repetitious slashing. Her brother would be found or avenged. Either way, she vowed to remove as many of the Roman usurpers as she could.
“Enya!”
Fergus’ noisy reprimand eventually penetrated her frenzy. Lowering her blade she stared at him, the thudding inside her chest almost engulfing her.
It was his palms cradling her shoulders and his soft voice at her ear that reminded her to breathe properly. “Enough. He will trouble Colm no longer.”

Slainthe! 

Wednesday, 7 November 2018

#Agricola's Bane launch prep

#WhatsHappenedWednesday



#WhatsHappenedWednesday is a hashtag on a Facebook group that I've joined, used for displaying what an author has been up to, and for sharing the latest news. 

I've been very poor at posting on here recently, but I claim many valid reasons for that. For the last umpteen weeks, I've been getting my Agricola's Bane ebook and paperback versions ready for publication. That took up plenty of hours in my day but I'm delighted that progress is right on track now. 

Another fabulous reason is that I went on a little jaunt down to Liverpool, spending time with old friends, some of whom I met when I was 7 years old. When the group of 6 of us were about 12/13 years old we went to see The Beatles in a live performance at the Odeon, Glasgow. The reason for us going to Liverpool last week was a pure nostalgia trip, down Penny Lane, if you like. We've been talking about going for years but eventually got around to it last week. More of that trip soon. 

Back home now it has been back to normal for me, with 2 days grandkid minding on Monday and Tuesday of this week, and today was a solid writing day, though not of new work. Today, I completed the last half of the blog promotional posts for the launch of Agricola's Bane, Book 4 of my Celtic Fervour Series. The posts have all been sent to those very kind authors who have agreed to host me on my little launch tour. I'll be adding a sidebar notice about the tour very soon. 

Tomorrow, I'll be dedicating some time to writing and sending a Press Release to the local newspapers etc. Busy, busy! 

I made the advertising banner above to use on Facebook and Twitter. Agricola's Bane is AVAILABLE NOW in paperback from Amazon and the eBook can be pre-ordered before the launch on the 15th Nov. 2018.


Slainthe!