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Recent Posts
- Behind the scenes – or – Why I did not write two new books during lockdown. May 18, 2022
- Happy Endings or Not? April 29, 2022
- What I’m reading (March 2022) March 15, 2022
- Viewpoint March 8, 2022
- Do You Need an Editor? March 1, 2022
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Tag Archives: books
Behind the scenes – or – Why I did not write two new books during lockdown.
During lockdown I had the time/opportunity to write two novels. Did I do it? Of course not. Why not? I guess the reason is multi-layered and complex culminating in writerly inactivity. I didn’t exactly stop writing, but I ceased to … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, science fiction, writing
Tagged Amber Crown, behind the scenes, books, fantasy, jacey bedford, reading, science fiction, The Amber Crown, writing, writing during lockdown
1 Comment
Viewpoint
I’m in a Facebook writers’ group for writers of all levels. Someone asked what the POV (point of view) limit was on a traditionally published debut novel. The answer, of course is: there isn’t one. Sometimes you find prescriptive pieces … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, science fiction
Tagged books, crossways, empire of dust, fantasy, jacey bedford, Nimbus, POV, psi-tech, psi-tech trilogy, reading, rowankind, silverwold, viewpoint, Winterwood, writing, writing advice
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Do You Need an Editor?
Yes, you absolutely do need an editor, but when? There’s a thread on one of the writers’ groups on Facebook as to whether you need to pay for a professional editor before you start punting your book to agents and … Continue reading
Does it Need a Map?
I should have asked this question earlier in the process of publishing, but I left it until the last minute. The answer from the office was, ‘No. If Sheila had thought it needed a map she would have said so.’ … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, historical fiction, reading
Tagged Amber Crown, Baltic, books, fantasy, Fantasy maps, jacey bedford, Maps, political fantasy, reading, The Amber Crown, writing
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The Amber Crown is published today – 11th January 2022
After what seems like an age, the Amber Crown is out today. I’d already written a first draft before I sold my first book to DAW in 2013. That sale led to six books (two trilogies), so I didn’t have … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, historical fiction, reading, writing, writing
Tagged Amber Crown, Baltic Fantasy, books, fantasy, historical fantasy, jacey bedford, reading, The Amber Crown, writing
4 Comments
Countdown to The Amber Crown – One Week to Go
Only one week to go to publication of The Amber Crown, and there’s still so much to do. I’ve been writing blog posts for John Scalzi’s Big Idea, and Chuck Wendig’s blog, plus a piece for Jean Book Nerd, Paul … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, historical fiction, reading
Tagged Baltic Fantasy, books, fantasy, historical fantasy, jacey bedford, reading, The Amber Crown, writing
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Countdown to The Amber Crown – (less than) 2 Weeks to Go
Happy New Year to all. This is my last post for 2021 and the penultimate post leading up to The Amber Crown. If you already have it on pre-order, thank you very much. If not, you can pre-order it now … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, writing
Tagged books, fantasy, fantasy books, jacey bedford, reading, The Amber Crown, writing
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The Amber Crown’s First Review
Though it’s not due out until 11th January 2022, ARCs (Advance Reading Copies) are going out now, and the first review of The Amber Crown is here on Nimue Brown’s blog. It’s a very considered and thoughtful review without giving … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading
Tagged Amber Crown, Baltic, books, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, jacey bedford, new book, The Amber Crown, writing
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Lois McMaster Bujold: Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen – Vorkosiverse #16 – for your reading pleasure
If, like me, you are a fan of not only Lois McMaster Bujold’s writing in general, but her Vorkosigan series in particular, you probaby grabbed it on its first day of publication. I jumped the gun and shelled out for … Continue reading
Posted in reading, science fiction
Tagged books, Lois McMaster Bujold, miles vorkosigan, science fiction, Vorkosigan, widow
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Genevieve Cogman: The Invisible Library – For your reading pleasure
This is the first in an ongoing series, and a terrific starting point. As an ex librarian I have a fondness for anything library-oriented so I wanted to like this a lot – and I did. Genevieve Cogman’s debut novel … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading
Tagged books, fantasy food, For your reading pleasure, Genevieve Cogman, reading, steampunk
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How to Write a Speculative Fiction Book
I’m not going to be able to teach you how to write a book in the twelve hundred or so words in this blog post – even presuming I have the skills. Yes I’ve written books, seven published so far … Continue reading
Posted in writing
Tagged books, characterisation, crossways, empire of dust, fantasy, jacey bedford, plot, plotting, reading, rowankind, Silverwolf, Winterwood, worldbuilding, writing, writing advice
2 Comments
Space Opera
I write science fiction. I’m pretty sure my sub-genre is (so far) space opera. I’m happy with that definition. I grew up reading my dad’s Lensman books and the distinctive Gollancz yellow jacketed SF which (sadly) I only have a … Continue reading
Posted in reading, science fiction, writing
Tagged books, crossways, empire of dust, jacey bedford, Nimbus, psi-tech, science fiction, space opera, writing
2 Comments
Sherwood Smith – Rondo Allegro – For Your Reading Pleasure
I’ve always enjoyed reading Sherwood Smith’s fantasies, in particular the Inda sequence, and I just realised there are more books in her bibliography that I misse4d, so I can see I’m going to have to spend some time catching up. … Continue reading
Posted in historical fiction, music, reading
Tagged books, For your reading pleasure, reading, Sherwood Smith, writing
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Brent Weeks – The Way of Shadows – The Night Angel Trilogy #1 – For your reading pleasure
I discovered Tanya Huff in 2003, Lois McMaster Bujold was a couple of years after that and Patricia Briggs in 2008. Brent Weeks become my discovery of the year in 2009. His Night Angel trilogy is riveting. Having bought the … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, writing
Tagged books, Brent Weeks, fantasy, For your reading pleasure
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Lisa Shearin’s Raine Benares books – for your reading pleasure.
I’ll be perfectly honest, though I liked the first Raine Benares book, Magic Lost, Trouble Found I wasn’t 100% in love with it. Luckily I liked it enough to get the second book, Armed and Magical, which picks up just … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, writing
Tagged books, fantasy, For your reading pleasure, Lisa Shearin, Raine Benares
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Books etc. for Christmas
2020 has not been the year it was supposed to be. (Not fit for purpose. Can I get a refund?) I didn’t get anywhere as much writing done as I could have, but I read, and re-read an awful lot. … Continue reading
Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora – for your reading pleasure
Thoroughly absorbing, interesting characters who are changed by events that happen to them, great backstory, twisty plot in the front-story leading to nail-biting tension. Highly recommended. Trying not to give away too many spoilers we get to see the formation … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, science fiction, writing
Tagged book blogs, books, fantasy, For your reading pleasure, reviews, Scott Lynch
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Boy Wizards on the Lam. Three series beginnings – for your reading pleasure
This is the first of my new alternate Tuesday reading posts, so I thought I’d dip back in time to tell you about three books that are each the first in their own well-loved series. They all owe something to … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, science fiction, writing
Tagged Benedict Jacka, book blog, books, fabtasy, For your reading pleasure, Jim Hines, Kevin Hearne, Magic, reading, reviews, urban fantasy
3 Comments
How Much is Too Much History? – A guest post by David Tallerman
Though I’ve gone on to write a couple of things since, my novel To End All Wars, out last week from publisher Aethon, was my first stab at writing historical fiction. It was a dramatic about-turn for me after years … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, writing
Tagged books, David Tallerman, First World War, guest blog, guest post, historical fantasy, historical fiction, history, World War I
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2019 – Retrospective
2019 has been a pretty good year. I did a few conventions, read a lot of books, finished editing a couple of my own, saw a lot of movies, kept up with the day job, organised (and attended) a couple … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, reading, science fiction, writing
Tagged Artisan, books, Breanna Teintze, Jamie Lee Moyer, Jodi Taylor, movies, Sebastien de Castell, T Kingfisher
2 Comments
Book Browsing
This is a revamp of a post from 2013, updated The tor.com blog had a feature on book browsing back in September 2013 and it prompted this original post, reminding me that I so very rarely got to browse real … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged book browsing, book shops, book stores, books, jacey bedford, reading
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What I Like to Read, and Why
Though I have a large collection of paper books, some of them from my childhood, I mostly read fiction on Kindle these days. It’s not that I prefer electronic to dead tree books, but books are books and it’s the … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged books, characterisation, jacey bedford, Joe Abercrombie, Lois McMaster Bujold, reading, Sebastien de Castell, writing
1 Comment
My 2018 Reading
It’s getting towards the end of the year and this is the time I usually post a summary of my reading. I’ve kept a booklog since 2009, and oh, how I wish I’d started decades ago. I post my booklog … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged authors, blogging, blogs, books, fantasy, fantasy books, reading, sci-fi
4 Comments
Winterwood Chapter One – Read it Here
In anticipation of the publication of Rowankind, due on 27th November, the third book in my Rowankind Trilogy, I offer for your delectation, the first chapter of Winterwood. It’s the beginning of the trilogy, Rowankind is the finale – with … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, writing
Tagged books, jacey bedford, novels, rowankind, Rowankind trilogy, Silverwolf, Winterwood
13 Comments
Dropping a Pebble in the Pond
I used to think that if I could only get one book published by a major publisher I would be able to die happy (though I did not necessarily plan that particular event soon). Now I have five books published … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged books, publicity, publishing, reading, reviewing, word of mouth
2 Comments
Writing New Series Vs. Sequels – A guest blog by Gail Z. Martin
Readers ask, “What do you like better, starting a new series or writing another book in an existing series?” That’s like asking, “What do you like more, going to visit old friends or taking a trip somewhere you’ve never been … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged authors, books, gail z martin, guest blog, guest post, novels, writing
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Bladdered or Shitfaced? The gentle art of word choice and the bogglement of page-proofing.
No, I’m neither bladdered not shitfaced – that’s one of my characters. I’m sober as the proverbial judge, and doing page proofs. Five hundred and thirty four pages of closely printed text – almost one hundred and seventy thousand words. … Continue reading
Posted in science fiction, writing
Tagged ben benjamin, books, Cara Carlinni, editing, jacey bedford, Nimbus, proofreading, psi-tech, psi-tech trilogy, sci-fi, science fiction, SF, space opera, writing
4 Comments
Corwen Silverwolf Speaks
Denby Hall, September 1801 I don’t usually get the opportunity to say much. It’s not that I’m henpecked, you understand, but—well—my author is female and she lets my beloved, Rossalinde, tell the story. So it’s nice, for once, to be … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, writing
Tagged books, characters, Corwen, Corwen Deverell, fantasy books, historical fantasy, jacey bedford, Magic, reading, Ross Tremayne, shapechanger, Silverwolf, Winterwood, wolf, writing
2 Comments
Cover Reveal: Nimbus
Nimbus isn’t due until October 2017, but I just got the cover and permission to let you all see it. So here it is: Nimbus, the third in the Psi-Tech trilogy. Cover by the fabulously talented Stephan Martiniere. In a … Continue reading
Posted in science fiction, writing
Tagged book cover, books, DAW, jacey bedford, Nimbus, science fiction, writing
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Pitfalls of Publishing, or Lest I Forget
I’m now in the fortunate position of having three books published by DAW, with two more due out in January 2017 and October 2017, but achieving a novel publishing deal took years from my first short story sale to a … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged book deal, book one, book two, books, crossways, empire of dust, Silv, Winterwood
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What’s in a name?
When writing historical fiction it’s sometimes difficult to pin down names. Things change and sometimes the change is gradual. For instance I live in a tiny Yorkshire village called Birdsedge, or maybe it’s Birds Edge. No one really seems to … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, writing
Tagged books, historical fantasy, research, Silverwolf, Winterwood, writing
4 Comments
Fantasycon-By-The-Sea, 2016
Grand Hotel, Scarborough, 23rd – 25th September , 2016 Fantasycon was… interesting. It remains the most writerly of cons with most panels aimed at writers and peopled by writers and industry professionals. Its progamme is hard to fault and there … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, Uncategorized
Tagged books, conventions, fantasycon, writers
2 Comments
Editing Anthologies – A Guest Post by Joshua Palmatier
I’m often asked what it’s like to edit anthologies. What’s the process, why do I do it, etc.? The answer to why I do it is easy: because it’s fun! Patricia Bray and I started editing anthologies for DAW Books … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, science fiction, writing
Tagged anthologies, books, editing, guest blog, guest post, publishing, writing
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Silverwolf
I’m in that weird space inbetween finishing a book and sending it to my editor. I’m giving myself a few days and then going to have one final read-through. My eagle-eyed friend, H., is checking it for typos because no … Continue reading
Posted in fantasy, writing
Tagged book cover, books, Corwen, publication, Ross, Silverwolf, Winterwood, writing
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Winterwood Cover
Winterwood has barely hit the shops, but I’ve just seen the potential cover for Silverwolf, the sequel which I’ve been writing since last September. Everything works so far ahead in the publishing industry that you always feel as though you … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged book cover, books, cover, cover art, DAW, Winterwood, writing
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Winterwood Interviews and Reviews
Winterwood (and Crossways) recent interviews and reviews 13th February Thanks to Sherwood Smith for the nice mention for Crossways in her article on Book View Cafe entitled ‘My Genre is Growing Up.’ 10th February Interview here at Civilian Reader. 8th … Continue reading
Happy Book Day To Me: Winterwood Published Today
Yay! Tuesday 2nd February 2016 and my third novel, Winterwood, is published today by DAW in the USA and Canada. It’s available in the UK as an import from that well known company named after a South American river. Winterwood … Continue reading
Fan mail
I just received this from Hugh, a friend in Canada, who is currently in the middle of reading Crossways. I think it may constitute genuine fan mail even though we do know each other personally. Hugh McMillan is a very … Continue reading
My Writing Year – 2015
It’s been a pretty good year in the word-mines with my second book, Crossways released in August to some decent reviews – though not many of them, which I understand is pretty normal for a second book in a series. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 2015, books, crossways, publication, Winterwood, writing
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Guest Blog: Toby Venables Answers Five Questions
Q1: Tell us your biography and background in three sentences or fewer. I was born with one hand up by the side of my head, like I was raising it to ask something – so, questioning from the start, but … Continue reading
What did I say about good reviews?
So there you have it. The RT review, and a Top Pick at that! The second encouraging review for Winterwood and it’s not even out until 2nd February! Whoo-hoo! Widen the doors I need to get my head through! But … Continue reading
You never get Blasé About… a Good Review
From Publishers Weekly Winterwood Jacey Bedford, Author Swashbuckling adventure collides with mystical mayhem on land and at sea in this rousing historical fantasy series launch set in a magic-infused England in 1800. Rossalinde Tremayne has done well for herself as … Continue reading
So Many Books, So Little Time.
A TARDIS or a Time-Turner would be a great help. My bookshelves groan under the weight of unread books and my Kindles are bursting at the seams. Yes I have more than one Kindle – three to be precise, a … Continue reading
Gail Z Martin – Five Questions – Guest Post
I’d like to welcome Gail Z Martin to the guest spot on Tales from the Typeface. She’s an American author who writes epic and urban fantasy as well as science fiction. She’s also been kind enough to offer some downloadable … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged authors, books, fantasy books, five questions, gail z martin, guest blog, guest post, writing
2 Comments
Winterwood Cover Revealed at Fantasy Book Cafe
I’ll be putting the cover of Winterwood up here in a few days but in the meantime there’s an exclusive cover reveal at Fantasy Book Cafe.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged book, book cover, books, Corwen, cover, Magic, Pirate, Ross Tremayne, rowankind, Sailing Ships, Silverwolf, Winterwood, writing
2 Comments
What has NaNoWriMo Ever Done for Us?
NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is an annual write-a-thon-fest which takes place in November. You sign up to the site and commit to writing 50,000 words in a month. There are various incentives. For starters, just having someone acknowledge … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 2015, books, children's books, NaNoWriMo, Silverwolf, Winterwood, writing
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CROSSWAYS is OUT TODAY!
It’s BOOK DAY! Crossways, my second novel, is out today. What starts out as a search for survivors turns into a battle for survival. Space stations, corrupt corporations, telepathy, relationships and something moving in the depths of foldspace. Not read … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ben benjamin, book two, books, Cara Carlinni, crossways, psi-tech, publication
6 Comments
SFSF Social #3 – 27th June 2015
I have been invited to be a guest at the upcoming SF social in Sheffield. This is what they have to say about it on their blog. I hope to see some of you there. SFSF Social #3 – 27th … Continue reading