The House of Clementine

 

How we came to publish this one

This is the fourth novel in my Peace Child series. Book 1, The Prophecy was the novel that formed part of my PhD thesis: Peace Child, Towards a Global Definition of the Young Adult Novel. It was the first time I’d written for YA and the first time I’d written SF. The SF was a way of exploring society and the novel interacted with the theory of what a YA novel was. I researched this by reading a lot of YA novels in many languages and in other Englishes and examining their publishing and labelling  process.

I’m actually almost at the end of the edits of my sixth Peace Child novel. There is one more to come and there is one waiting in the wings to be published                

The title

All of the Peace Child novels have a very strong sideways sub plot. This one here is of that of the House of Clementine which started off innocently enough: a family became good at growing clementine and soon become a dynasty. Corruption set in The House of Clementine can never be fully inclusive. It has an outside. This is also important in the novel I am currently finishing.                                                                 

Some notes about the process

Although I own the publishing company this still went through all the normal processes.

The cover

The book is illustrated throughout by Ashleigh James, my older daughter. She has                       provided the cover of all of the Peace Child novels.  

Some notes about style

I’m told I have a very simple style and I believe in plain English. I believe there is good use of the senses in this book and that helps to portray the setting. I have tried to maintain a good narrative balance.

Who we think the reader is

As we have published through The Red Telephone we’re primarily seeing this as a Young Adult novel. It is at the older end of that. There is romance and implicit sex. Certainly those adults who enjoy reading young adult books ought to like this.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

What else

All of the Peace Child books grapple with current issues. In this one a president wants to build a barrier around his planet. However he is not orange and he is quite young and slim. He does indeed though have a special relationship with the House of Clementine. As with all of the Peace Child books a sub-plot includes or seems to include the supernatural.  

Review copies

It’s always great if you can buy the book and give us a review. Just click on the link to be taken to our bookshop. If you would like to review and you are strapped for cash, just get in touch for a free PDF. 

Find your copy here 

 

Other Ways of Being

Okay, so this is a collection of my own stories. Most of them have been published elsewhere or listed in a competition. Again, just like the collection I mentioned last time, this book went through all the same processes that all of our books go through:

·         Three stages of editing

·         Proof read (in this case I was a proof-reader and another in-house person proof read)

·         Design

·         Cover designs that produces a cover that looks attractive, is technically sound and speaks to the market place

·         First level marketing

So, here’s the blurb:

"Other Ways of Being" is an anthology of stories that ask us many questions about:
otherness: Is a stranger a threat or is he just trying to help? It may be as clever as being a fortune-teller but is it helpful?

• other times: Is the wild woman really a little girl that she used to know? Will they be safe now or should they worry about the bright soldiers marching? Which horror does the deep sleeper hide?
• other histories: Who was that strange child? How did they manage to feed so many people?
• other worlds: Can a couple remain together even when their natures threaten to keep them apart? Is a seemingly incompetent wizard cleverer than he seems? What happens when an alien makes a mistake and almost gives himself away? Do animals help each other in their struggle against the damage that humans are doing? Who exactly is the lady in blue? Is Bradley’s the best story ever?
• our near futures: Can a man survive in a dystopian future if he has no more human contact? What can ATMs do when society goes moneyless? What happens when the money runs out? Just how smart will the smartphone get? Or driverless cars for that matter? Where will we find sanctuary when the extremists start winning? What happens to the clones when the blueprint gets sick?
• other sexualities and genders: Will we get used to Toni?

Find it on Amazon here.