Christmas Delights and More Writing Inspirations

On our recent travels in our motorhome we came across an old farm that's been restored into a steam museum, wedding and party venue, with some cute little gift shops. It reminded me of places like Portmerion in North Wales (but on a much smaller scale), or Last Drop Village in Bolton close to my own home.

Thursford was all ready to receive Father Christmas and his elves visiting for the month in an amazing winter wonderland. As I have recently had an idea for a teen/YA fantasy trilogy, I thought this place was amazing. My new book idea is very different from The Beyond Series of books as it whisks the reader away to a whole new world and dimension of fun and magic, with some scary intrigue and thrills along the journey.

So I felt it very fitting that I was transported to this beautiful wonderland for just an hour or so, making me feel like a kid again, which was fantastic.

Above Santa's Grotto

Moving snow scenes

Angry snowmen!

Obviously my new idea doesn't include angry looking snowmen, but - oooh hang on..., just kidding. But it did feel like I was walking through a magical fantasy world.

We also stayed in a caravan park in a woodland close to Thursford in Norfolk. Naturally, me being me, I felt this looked more like Narnia. Ever since I first read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the idea of an alternate universe existed beyond a wardrobe was the most amazing and scary story I'd read at that point in my young and impressionable life.

All it needs is a lamp-post!

I had a working title for my new trilogy, but I've discovered there is something a little similar already out there... so I will have to get my thinking cap on for catchy titles. But think Narnia, meets Doctor Who, with magical making Goonies on Halloween!! Hmm, that's quite an eclectic mix, but hopefully it will work.

Lycan Lamia Book Four Cover Revealed

Well, I've had an exciting week with writing and books. Firstly I finished editing Lycan Lamia, Book Four in The Beyond Series and so the book is now ready for publication in January 2015 as promised. Hurrah!!

So I have decided to reveal the new book cover for all too see. And I have to say I love this one just as much as the others, Phil Newton from 11 out of 10 has excelled himself yet again with his creative design.

My other great new is that this weekend I had the most amazing, realistic dream ever. It felt like I was in a real place, that my powers were real, the strange creatures and the land I was moving around in felt so real. I woke up to write a synopsis for a new high fantasy trilogy. Not content with creating a supernatural story filled with fanastical creatures here on Earth (the Beyond Series, if you haven't already read the books), I've now created a whole new dimensional world. (I haven't decided what I'm calling this place, but I could describe it in minute detail.) Anyhoo, I need to iron out a few creases in the plot, but the characters are all there ready to start an adventure.

Don't forget you can get Didikai Witch Demon Lupus and Vampire Sorceress on Kindle and in Paperback.

Excited Inspiration From Whitby Goth Weekend

I finally made it to Whitby for Halloween, and wow, it didn't disappoint.

The place is so very atmospheric. First we walked up the 199 steps to the Abbey where I saw someone impressively dressed up like Vampire Lestat, and he had a baby vampire following him around! Aww. We then went to the Abbey itself, where they had organised an outdoor play of Bram Stokers Dracula. There were just three actors who played all the characters. I love watching live performances as I feel part of the show, even if you're just watching, but the crowds interaction, and the actors ab-libs made the show very funny, and very entertaining indeed. We watched the last performance of the day, and so were treated to watching the Abbey lights switch on, which only happens for Halloween. When looking up at the stone ruins lit with blues, greens, and reds as dusk falls, it takes on a whole new eerie ambience.

We then did a ghost walk, which I still love, even if I think the person taking me on the ghost walk isn’t that fantastic, one still gets a sense of local myths and legends, and to walk through the small, winding, cobbled streets in the dark is always atmospheric and creepy, especially at Halloween.

On Halloween itself, we walked around Robin Hoods Bay, which was rife with smugglers in its day. The best way to describe the place is a miniature fishing village on a very, very steep hill. I can see why smugglers and pirates liked the place. Back in its time, unless you lived there you probably wouldn’t have bothered to negotiate the steep hills, cliffs, and tight winding streets. The place is very quaint though.

In the evening we went back into Whitby, and it was bonkers busy! There were goths and steampunkers dressed up to the nines, people like myself who wanted to join in, and dress up a little bit and be a part of the scene, and then there were the people who just came to watch the shenanigans. There were some amazing outfits and then there were some really creepy ones, like the clown IT from Steven Kings film, or the guy whose makeup looked like he had reptilian skin under his human face, like the scifi series ‘V' and Death came to the pub for a few drinkies! Very good and very creepy. Naturally the place was bursting at the seams with people, but we managed to stay out until past midnight. 

The amount of pimped out hearses parked up there was amazing, and I guess some people just love living the whole undead lifestyle for real. For me though, I’m quite happy to just write about it. The place was so atmospheric, I was even inspired by a new horror story as part of the Fifth Book in The Beyond Series AND I'm sooo excited because I've also come up with a new trilogy of spooky books for teens and young adults, purely from last nights dream. Yep, I woke this morning, leapt out of bed and wrote the full synopsis AND book titles for three, yes three new books and a whole new series. I'm not giving anything away just yet and that’s all I’m going to say for now…. Mwah hahahaaaaa!

Book Four Mutterings and a Cult Film In The Making

As I finished writing Lycan Lamia, my fourth book in The Beyond Series last week, I celebrated with a spot of Werewolf wine from Southwold… Then indulged in a week of NOT writing anything until this blog. Seven weeks to thrash out a novel is no mean feat, but mine is brimming with yet more ideas and I completed the first chapter of my next writing project the same day. There I was eating my my quiche and salad from the local deli, when BOOM!!! The first chapter of Mink Coats exploded in my head and I felt compelled to write it before I forgot it.

Mink Coats is not the full title, it is quite a long and unusual one, but I don’t wish to reveal it just yet, because I love the title as much as the idea. It has nothing to do with The Beyond Series or the supernatural. A gritty true life story of the struggles just one of many women whose hope and dreams were destroyed by war time 40’s Britain. My Nan wrote her memoires and gave me the honour of reading them. She asked me to write her life story once she had passed on to her higher calling and I intend to honour it by writing it as a fiction novel.

So last night I went to the cinema and watched a low budget, but great film, which apparently is gaining cult status… Northern Soul. Set in the Manchester area in early 1970s, it follows a young man in the bleak times of striking, power cuts and a lot of political upheaval, the boy finds his escapism through soul music and disco dancing and was introduced to a underground sensation called Northern Soul, ultimately though the scene was shrouded with drugs, mainly amphetamines so the teens could keep going until the morning. It reminded me a lot of the rave scene of the nineties.

The protagonist hits rock bottom when he experiences the harsher side of drugs and life, but crawls out the abyss and dark path he was on to make amends with family and friends. I wanted to watch this film, because it was set in my home town and I was over the moon with excitement when my house, street and park by my street appeared several times. Yes… I witnessed some of the filming last summer and the sleepless nights of film crews floodlighting my little cobbled street like a football pitch and me awake with lots of over exuberant, loud discussions about the film whilst I was trying to sleep was well worth it.

Exciting Caravan News…. I blogged last week I was looking for my caravan I used to stay in when I was a little sprog holidaying in Porthmadog. Well I found one, Riveira Monaco… and now I know its correct name, I googled it and found a plethora of photos of my beloved holiday home. I’m happy now, I’ve seen it as I remembered it. Obsession over with, onto the next one.

Hobbies Can Come In The Strangest Forms

As we travel around the UK for a year in our motorhome, promoting my Beyond Series of books we are staying at different campsites every couple of days.

This is great for me, because one of my greatest pleasures is a small town in Wales, Portmadoc. I guess it comes from holidaying at Greenacres Caravan Park every year of my childhood from being about four years old to my early teens. I loved the place so much we bought our Welsh gold wedding rings from a Portmadoc jewellers and I had my Hen Weekend there too.

As a child I found staying in a caravan, cute, cosy and magical, which is probably where my obsession with the gypsy lifestyle originates from. My obsession with caravans, in particular retro caravans from the 70s and 80s, when I used to holiday as a child.

So you can imagine my excitement and thrill to be travelling around the UK and staying in the less well known and smaller caravan sites that do not insist on Static Owners upgrading their vans every ten years.

To my delight there is now a plethora of vintage retro caravans to find and explore on each site we visit. My mission now is to find the exact same caravan we stayed in when I was a child, my happy childhood holidays, before Bradley Bear, Sidney Seagull, Lizzy Lizard, Loopy Rabbit and all the other money grabbing commercialism of todays British Caravan Holiday sites... Yes my friends I am in search of a 1982 Cosalt Monacco Caravan. If you see one or know someone who has one please let me know. But for now, here are some of the beautiful vintage and well cared for caravans that I remember occupying the caravan site I used go to.

Canterbury and Chaucers The Canterbury Tales Review

First we visited the Cathederal and learnt about Thomas Beckett's murder and his Martyrdom and  the reason why there were so many pilgrims heading to Canterbury in Medieval times. Although I studied History at school this was something we never covered and I'd heard of Thomas Beckett, Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales, but I didn't actually know the details... Now I do.

Parts of the Cathederal were like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter, so I got all excited.

We went for a punt along the river whilst being told stories of the history of Canterbury, which was very pleasant, despite it being late September and we're meant to be in Autumn, the weather has been extremely kind so far.




We then went to an interactive museum called The Canterbury Tales and learned why Geoffrey Chaucer was making a pilgrimage to Canterbury from London and why there were many other pilgrims on the expedition with him or why they all decided to tell stories in the first place. I found this fascinating part of our Great British history. I was so impressed I bought my very own copy of The Canterbury Tales and I've just finished it, well the modernised English version, but still I understand what it's all about now!




I have to say I really enjoyed reading it and Chaucers' description of his fellow pilgrims did do justice to me being able to picture them all sat on their horses travelling along treacherous country roads to Canterbury during medieval times and the sense of humour of the age is also very transparent in his writing. 

Some of the stories were a tad - dated - shall we say and I felt a bit 'hey ho' when I read them, especially about the love of a Princess and a chivalrus knight or two, I mean some of the stories the man falls in love as they stare at a woman they never speak to and end up working for them and following them around like love sick puppies, unable to speak of their love, but would kill anyone who tried to love said Princess instead... Today that would be classed as stalking!

However, I did like the moral tales from the Wife of Bath about the Knight learning his lesson about what women desire from a haggard old witch and the Pardoners Tale about three terrible young men with murder in mind plotting to meet Death, only to have Death meet them when their greed became too much.

All in all it was fun to read some old famous English literature, I feel a little more cultured and have a better understanding of some of my own countries earlier history... It may come in handy when writing about one of my older immortal characters in The Beyond!! You never know. 

Beyond Series Book Details

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Promotional Work For The Beyond

So everyone thinks you can just write a book, because everyone's got a book in them, (apparently)!
But then you have to find an agent and publisher or if you're impatient you self publish. Which ever route to publication you choose, the writer now has to do their own promotional work too, (unless of course you're JK Rowling or Stephen King in which case you could write a sick note and you'd sell a trillion copies!).

So this year my husband and I decided to invest in a large motor-home and travel the UK for a whole year to see our great country and what it has to offer. Obviously we decided that we could use this time for me to write more, but also to promote my books (as I'm a modest gal who struggles to push herself forward, I was the shy kid sat at the back corner of the classroom at school, that sort of thing), which I'm not the best at.

So my wonderful hubby came up with this...

We are going to be doing book signings and scifi/fantasy convention along the way so I will be announcing these on facebook, twitter and here on my blog about our journey. I also have a Travelling Blog I write for the charities we are raising funds for as we journey around the country as well.

First confirmed date is  Em-Con 15th March 2015 and we will be in Whitby for Halloween (venue to be confirmed.

More promo piccy's to follow... Don't want to spoil you all at once, do I?
Oh if you want a signed copy of any of my books please go to My Website click on Contact Alison and we arrange for that to be sent to you.

If you see our van on the road, give us a wave or we'll see you at one f the many venues we'll be at this year.