I have neglected this blog for so long, and my only excuse is that I've been so busy with full-time work, family and, of course, writing. Now one manuscript is ready and plenty more are in the pipeline... but to get you in the mood for the follow-up to Under An Amber S...

  I've been trying to post my review of Jennie Ensor's brilliant Blind Side for a few weeks now but Amazon continues to insist that the last review I posted 'violated their rules'. I have absolutely no idea what I've done wrong and haven't managed to get to the bottom...

The other day, I happened upon the image shown here that had appeared in a Michael Rosen blog post and that was being commented upon on social media. I confess that I can’t remember if I saw it on Twitter or on Facebook; whichever, I tried to find the conversation agai...

   Recently, I decided that I needed to put aside my kindle for a while, with its beguiling temptations of frothy, easily digested psychological thrillers and the like, in order to read something more challenging. More fulfilling. And, in the case of The Magus, just pl...

  I recently returned from a half-term visit to Montenegro and took the opportunity to snap some of the pictures that I've not quite got round to before. I've uploaded a bunch of them into the Under An Amber Sky gallery so do take a look if you fancy seeing some of the...

‘Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.’ So said the late, great Mark Twain and I’m trying to take his advice but it’s not easy. All writers know that we should sit at our desks and get down x thousand words per day, come what may, but knowin...

So the new school term has started and it's back to work - new classes to get to know, new texts to teach, new colleagues to befriend. Thankfully, there are also lots of new books to read - including one by my alter-ego, Alex Day. The Missing Twin is a sensational and...

I was browsing through some Amazon reviews of a book I was thinking about buying and someone asked the question, 'Why are all books described as 'gripping' when many of them clearly aren't?' Reading this brought a wry smile to my face as I had also had this thought man...

I've been so ridiculously busy the past month or so, with exam season here in the UK making school and home frantic, plus of course the publication of Under An Amber Sky https://goo.gl/yK9KXL at the end of May. Something had to give and it's been my blog; I simply have...

I was so excited to go onto Goodreads and find the very first review for UNDER AN AMBER SKY. It's from Anne and she really loved the book. I'm sure you can appreciate the relief an author feels when someone bothers to pen a review - and it's a good one. Even if Anne is...