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Author Interview – KJ Baker
This month, I caught up with paranormal romance author KJ Baker about her books: So, KJ Baker, tell me about yourself Witty? Charming? Seriously? Okay, since I’m a writer I suppose I should talk about writing? OK OK, how did you become a writer? I don’t ever remember making a conscious decision to become a writer. It’s just something I’ve always done, as though it’s written into my DNA. I wrote my first book when I was six years old – complete with home-made cover made from a cereal box. It was called The Golden Pheasant and was awesome! (at least in the mind of a six year old girl).…
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The latest Rise Of The Dragons book is here!
Book 5: Attack on Avalon is out now! And check out the cover – this might be my favourite one yet! Can she survive an ancient evil or will it end in fire and blood? New boyfriend, new flat; Amethyst’s life is going well. Until she’s ported into the mystical realm of Avalon where she must battle an ancient enemy to protect the known universe. If you like sarcasm, magic and British settings, you’ll enjoy this book.
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Author Interview – Jamie Davis
Last year, I was lucky enough to have a short story selected for an urban fantasy anthology and I connected with one of my co-authors for his podcast to chat about magic roundabouts (you can find the show here). Now his Extreme Medical Services book is on sale ($0.99 or free in Kindle Unlimited – seriously this is a bargain people!) and I was delighted to catch up with him again. So Jamie, tell us a bit about yourself. I consider myself something of a wandering soul. I’ve done many things over the course of my life, from TV audio engineer, to mr. Mom, to paramedic, to nurse. I even…
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Christmas Short Story
Spoiler alert – this short story is set after Equinox Betrayal, book 3 in the Rise of Dragons series so you might want to finish reading that first… Amethyst & Lorandir’s First Christmas Together I stalled the car as I pulled up outside my family home. Marco had leant us his ancient Volkswagen while he was back in Italy for Christmas and I had cursed the old car and its sticky windscreen wipers the whole journey. We couldn’t even listen to any decent music as the radio was permanently tuned to BBC Radio Four and I was starving after hearing about alternative Christmas roasts for the last hour. I slammed…
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Author Interview – Wayne Turmel
A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to be part of a clubhouse group with Jamie Davis and he introduced me to Wayne Turmel. At the time Wayne was venturing into the murky world of urban fantasy fiction. Now his first book in the genre is published, I caught up with him for a chat. So Wayne, over to you. Tell us about yourself… I’m a writer and speaker who lives in Las Vegas. I was a standup comedian for almost 20 years, which brought me from Canada to the US where I met The Duchess, 30 years later, here I am. I’ve written 14 books, most of…
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Author Interview – Katie Zaber
I caught up with author Katie Zaber, author of DNA Angels N Demons for a quick interview this month. Katie Zaber knows the best way to decide who is cooking dinner is with a Nerf gun fight in the living room. Her boyfriend is an exceptional cook. When she isn’t baking, reading, or going to wine tastings, she’s busy planning her next trip to Six Flags Great Adventure or Long Beach Island, New Jersey. As a child, her parents would read stories about Atlantis and other fictional places that she dreamed of exploring, fueling her love of history, adventure, and fantasy. These days, she finds herself captivated by her many…
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Bee Bold Makebox review
I got another Makebox for Mother’s Day this year – the Bee Bold kit – and have finally found time to finish it! (You can check out my review of the Bee Kind box here) The kit contained everything needed to make 2 embroidery pictures, one of a flowery bee, made using satin stich, catherine wheel stitch for the roses and my favourite – french knots. The other was a rainbow, made using chain stitch, with flowers at either end. The kit included charcoal paper to transfer the design, pins, a needle, thread felt backing and ribbon so these can be hung on the wall in their hoops. There was…
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Upcycled Wire Lampshade
Following on from the oriental lamp upcycling post, here’s part 2: the upcycled wire lampshade. For this I used: An old circular lampshade (I got mine for a couple of pounds at a charity shop) Fencing wire Wire cutters Floristry wire Spray paint (I used copper) Sticks from the garden First I removed the material from the lampshade, leaving the wire frame. I washed the frame with warm water and a scouring pad to get rid of any glue. Then I measured how tall I wanted the lampshade to be and cut the wire to size. Watch out with cutting the wire, I cut my fingers several times on the…
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Rise of Dragons urban fantasy series
I am loving the artwork for my debut urban fantasy series under the pen name G Clatworthy! It’s Bridget Jones meets Lord of the Rings and doesn’t take itself too seriously! The series follows Amethyst, a half-dwarf jeweller and weaponsmith, as she deals with kidnappings, crazy cults and dragons. You can follow along on patreon and order Book 1: Awakening here. If you can’t wait for the next book, click here for your free copy of the prequel: Kobold Clean-Up. “Don’t even worry about it!” – Amethyst Haernson Book 1: Awakening She wants a quiet life. They want to awaken a slumbering dragon. Can she survive an encounter with a…
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Upcycled lamp
Kitsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer containing precious metal, celebrating the full life of the piece and making something beautiful out of something broken. This was my inspiration for this upcycled lamp. As you can see, it is an old lamp base made out of an oriental style vase and had a lot of areas where the paint had chipped away. I used gold leaf to fill in these gaps before painting over with a clear varnish (I actually used nail varnish here!). I think it looks a lot better and means I can keep it in our guest bedroom rather than throwing it away!…
