N.O.A. Rawle: Through the Eyes of a Stranger

You may or may not know this but today is Aunts and Uncles Day and so it seems most fitting to catch up with Karen J. Carlisle, fellow of The Scribblers' Den and the author behind Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire. I've managed to get her to take a break from her hectic schedule and answer a few questions about Aunt Enid and other projects she is working on. Why don't you get yourself a nice cup of tea and join us? So Karen, most of your novels are in the Steampunk genre, what made you take a break from writing Steampunk this time? I’d written three (slightly dark) steampunk books. I needed something a little more light-hearted. I delved into my WIP progress box for the steampunk adventure novel I had almost completed… At the same time I was going through some old photos and reminiscing… and reading an article on garden gnomes. I wondered where mine had disappeared to. Then a few things fell into place. Could garden gnomes move? What colour would hydrangeas be ...

AUNT ENID: PROTECTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE Manos, the gnome from my home. I never really liked gnomes, but I'm looking at Manos in a whole different light these days, and I'm thinking of planting hydrangeas outside my door. Karen J. Carlisle and her latest book Aunt Enid: Protector Extaodinaire are to blame! I've watched this book grow from the beginning when Karen J. Carlisle announced to the writers' group The Scribblers’ Den that she was writing something not Steampunk. Knowing her Steampunk fiction well, I was really looking forward to reading Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire. What do you know? I won a copy of the ebook in her Facebook book launch. (I would have bought it anyway so this was just an extra bonus!) Aunt Enid is a feisty octogenarian with an uncanny ability at winning bingo, a garden full of gnomes and a freezer stuffed with scones. Kind of like anyone's favourite aunt really, except that Aunt Enid has a secret; she is protecting all...

Once upon a time there was a writer who lived in house surrounded by titanic fruit trees. She was a little known writer who wrote mostly for her own pleasure and because, at times, it felt like there was a ravenous word demon roiling inside her. She loved creating worlds of wonder and impossibility, etching out visual and sensual nuances with language. Then one day, because she had a whole lot of other stuff to do, she had to abandon tug-of-war with the demon and wean herself off creative word usage. It was hard going and she missed it dearly, but there was no other quick and easy way to feed her family, and a ten-hour day job didn't leave much energy to play with words. How she longed for the summer, a time of freedom and fruitful work at her ageing laptop. In her notebooks she had been scribbling dreams and visions of other worlds, she had been visited by so many characters that she was beginning to feel her head would explode. The summer inevitably arrived and finally she s...

A guest post by David Wiley When I sat down to write Monster Huntress, I didn’t know much about the world in which it was taking place. I knew the type of world I wanted, but it transformed and evolved over the course of revisions, always growing either in size or in the details. While the story of Monster Huntress visits only a small portion of the world I’ve created, there are some lessons I’ve learned from J.R.R. Tolkien that have had a ripple effect toward my approach to worldbuilding. The biggest of those lessons was to provide the promise of something greater. What I mean by that is there is something more out there beyond what the reader is experiencing. There is a larger world, other events going on. There is a rich history, filled with named heroes and battles and events that can be referred to over the course of the book. The reader doesn’t need to know what the Wizard Wars were, for instance, but knowing that there was some massive war hundreds of years ago is important ...

The saying goes  All good things come come to those who wait,  and so here it is. Her Dark Voice Volume Two, edited by Theresa Derwin and published by Quantum Corsets. I'm really looking forward to this anthology for many reasons. It is the second time that I have worked with Theresa Derwin - the last time being the  Once Bitten  anthology (currently free on Amazon Unlimited for kindle edition) from Knightwatch Press. Theresa is a super editor and staunch supporter of  Women in Horror . Then there's the fact that this anthology will raise money for the charity  Breast Cancer Now . I have pledged all my royalties to the charity. The launch is planned to coincide with  Edge Lit 2018 , where there will be author readings and so much more. My story will be nestled with a whole bunch of great reads from some superior authors. More on that later. Until then, feast your eyes on the cover!