Today I was given an extra day off i.e. there was no route for me. That is not a good thing as that means no dosh for today. Apparently training someone tomorrow so should be an easy-ish day. Hope so as I want to get back for the Liverpool match if possible. Still the day off today has meant I could finish the book I was reading, which was my first Robert Rankin: 'Armageddon: The Musical.' An enjoyable orchestrated televised armageddon romp dodah.

I've now got two books on my Kindle to read. Namely: 'DeadCades' and a beta-read of a fellow Flash Dog. Really looking forward to getting stuck into DeadCades but first up I need to finish the beta-read so that I can pass my comments on in a timely fashion. Hoping to get that sorted by the weekend, as the weekend may be a little short of reading time as I'll no doubt be chasing the last visit to Liverpool of the Giants - which apparently may well be the last visit of the Giants to anywhere. Loved following them around the city last time.





Next week the city is going to be packed and buzzing with it once more. Though I'll no doubt miss the very end as it'll coincide with a certain Man City v Liverpool match.

It's the First of bloody October for crying out loud! Where has the year gone? Anyway the good thing about that is that October is the month of Halloween, ain't it? So there's no better time to release a horror anthology I reckon. And so here it is, the latest anthology pulled together by the infamous Shakes and Ellis: 'DeadCades - The Infernal Decimation'. Click on Tim Youster's brilliant cover below and it'll take you to that there Amazon lot and there you'll be able to purchase it. I know I'll be reading it this week. Dang! I've a lot of reading on at the moment.

My story, which is for the 2020s, is right at the very end so you'll have lots of great stories to read first before getting to my vision of the future. When you've finished reading it don't forget to put up a review on Amazon and/or GoodReads.



Now I've just got to get Amazon Author Central to get my name added as a contributor. I'm hoping it'll be easier than last time.

The cover reveal for the upcoming 'DeadCades' book has us getting more excited for the book. Tim Youster is once again the artist for the third Infernal Clock cover and he has done a fabulous job, he just keeps getting better.


DeadCades cover by Tim Youster

Now the cover is out it makes the book seem that bit more real and it's expected that we should be able to get our hands on a Kindle version of it by early October. Together with the fabulous cover Steph and David have managed to snag a fantastic author to write the introduction for the anthology too; Christina Dalcher, the author of this summer's super hot noval'VOX'. DeadCades is going to be boss. Just a week or two to wait. Watch this space...

For Twitterers you can follow Tim @TimYouster and Christina @CVDalcher

Today started badly. Up for work then get a text saying 'there's not enough routes, stay at home'. Been promised work for rest of week, so not the end of the world - just like to pick my weekend (today's my Sunday I guess (after last Sunday was my Saturday)). The damn gig economy.

On the positive side it's given me time to get my Infernal Clock Questionnaire finished and sent of to Steph ready for DeadCades. It'll probably need more editing than the actual story did - sorry Steph.

It'll also give me time to type up my edits from the weekend for Project: Jaipur - yes, Jaipur is still alive, write a blog or two (including this) and get stuck into more writing (probably on Jaipur) and yes, I will manage a bit of guitar strumming.

Last night I rushed out a quick Fantasy Footy team, naffly named the Anfield of Dreams. May have time to revisit it today to swop a few players - and maybe rename. Starting point anyway is:



Keeping faith in Salah and Firmino though think it'll be hard for them to repeat last year's heights. Not a Man Utd player in sight - which is nice.

Looking forward to the Deadcades Anthology which is due for release in just a couple of months. Such great authors in there and they've nearly all got website things where you can read about them and their writings.

• Deborah Sheldon : 1880s
• Martin Fuller : 1890s
• R.J. Meldrum : 1900s
• Sian Brighal : 1910s
• Alyson Faye : 1920s
• Chris Milam : 1930s
• Sal Page : 1940s
• Christopher Long : 1950s
• Robert Lupton : 1960s
• Stephanie Ellis : 1970s
• Stuart Conover : 1980s
• David Shakes : 1990s
• Rushelle Dillon : 2000s
• Marie McKay : 2010s
• A.J. Walker : 2020s

Yep, I'm the future - that's never been said before! Then again it could be why the future doesn't look good.

There's plenty of class acts and familiar names within the drabblers and dribblers too:

* Christopher Stanley * Michael Carter * Andrea Allison * Sean Fraser * Pattyann McCarthy * Dominic Davis * Ewan Smith * Arthur Unk * Bart Van Goethem * Voima Oy * F.E. Clark * Marc Nash * Stella Turner * C.R. Smith * Catherine Connolly *

Keep an eye on the Infernal Clock website to see how it progresses. Though I dare say I may mention it a few times.

Last week on the evening before going to Bishop's Castle I finally sent out the draft of the DeadCades story to the editor, Steph. It was great to get it out. I was given a little kick to do it when I saw Shake's Tweet that he was close to getting his done - and let's face it I didn't want to be the last one.



Awaiting edits sometime over the next week or two. And then I can look forward to getting my hands on the book in the months ahead. With all the great authors in it (and me) it's definitely going to be a doozy.

The first two books of the Infernal Clock trilogy (the Infernal Clock and Calendark), which I am proud to have been included in, are available from that Amazon behemoth if you ain't already got them.

It was time today to get some writing done. I thought I'd nip out for a few hours into town and give it a go in a few places and see what worked in terms of getting a fair chunk of the Deadcades story progressed for Infernal Clock.

I had just under 1400 words already written and the ultimate aim for these stories are around 5000 words. Having given the initial 1400 words a re-read at the weekend I am pretty happy with them. Although it has started as a police procedural largely and horror is yet to surface (if you don't include simple dead bodies as horror). My aim for today was a minimum of 1000 words.



I first headed for the coffee shop downstairs in the Liverpool Central Library - I was in need of some caffeine before starting after all. That went really rather well. In just over an hour whilst perched on a soft comfy sofa with my Americano I got 1000 words done in one sitting. Jeez. But I was on a roll so it was time to go onwards and upwards up to the Picton Reading Room after bladder emptying (those medium coffees really are quite large aren't they?).



The cafe had been busy enough downstairs but the Picton was packed with largely university aged (children I tell you!) boys and girls filling all the central tables. A bit of a shame as I've always liked working on those tables. Anyway, needs must and all that so I ended up getting one of the single seats around the periphery and plugging in my laptop there. It really is a nice environment to work in - even if again I had the laptop on my lap rather than a table. An hour and twenty five later and I had down another 1400 words. Bloody hell, flying!



It was now time to redeposit some more of that caffeine and then pop out for some lunch. I couldn't avoid the unbeatable All Day Breakfast at the Shiraz on Williamson Sq. I'm a sucker for it. Then it was time for at least a little more of the writing whilst on the roll. This time I went to somewhere where it may prove a bit more difficult (beers and music) but it had some advantages (tables and plugs) - I headed to The Head of Steam on Hanover Street. And yes, bang! Another 1150 words in a little over an hour.



I'm sure the last 1000 words will prove the least useable but they in any case do sketch out how the story will go.

So whilst I left the house wanting to do 1000 words I ended up doing 3600 (i.e. I've got 5000 words of a 5000 word story). Job well and truly smashed.

Now I've got to get it printed, read, redrafted and then again and again. It's good to feel it moving; even if it proves that only the first 1400 words are still any good. What have I learned from an afternoon of writing in three quite different environments (albeit two being in the library - the Picton is different to the cafe I can assure you). Well, I can write anywhere really. I dare say attempting to write for more than an hour or two in a pub would be the most difficult in terms of the music background (in some pubs) and the consistency of the writing (after a couple of stronger beers). Whilst in all three locations I almost wrote a 1000 words an hour or so the key finding is probably that if I ensure I set aside an hour a day then 500 words a day or more really is very attainable. And I should do that.

I should. But will I?

Thanks to the Head of Steam I even managed to update my website with this wee blog. And I have a Titanic 'Iceberg' to boot. It's a win, win, win. Huzzah!

Started writing the story for the final instalment of the Infernal Clock trilogy: DeadCades.



Already it has changed from the story I thought was going to write. I'd said before that I had a good idea for a story setting which I thought I could use for this almost as a testing ground. However that setting is probably a few decades later and would also, at least as a first tale, warrant a bigger story. In any case whilst driving along minding my own business the other day another story came into head apparently from nowhere. I think it must have been floating through the cosmos and got to somewhere in north Wales around the A55 whilst I was driving past and 'hey presto!' it popped into my coconut head. Story particles are like that; I reckon they'll find story particles in the Large Hadron Collider at some point. Fairy Tales will prove to be fundamental particles. Probably.

Anyways, I think it's a good idea - well of course I do!

However I am only 1200 words into a 5000 word story and I can feel it may need 15k words to tell it so I'll have to see where it goes. I haven't got to any scary bits yet, which is a bit of a worry in a horror tale (though there are two dead bodies).

Good to put pen to paper (well plastic keys into aluminium shell) and get it started. I'm using Scrivener but to be honest I could just type it out into any word processor with this length of story. But I'll find a few things out about Scrivener no doubt whilst I'm using it so it's worth using it rather than Pages anyway.

This morning I also blasted out a quick rough and ready story for Microcosms for the second successive week. Not sure I'll be writing that frequently for it, but I got told there wasn't a route (i.e. work) for me this morning so I had the time (even if I didn't want to have the time). Ho hum.

Had a couple of days thinking about my story for Infernal Clock: Deadcades and hadn't really got anywhere. Waking up this morning in a dream state I tried to push the dream in a good direction (ie futuristic and rather bad); would be nice to have the story pop into my head without much effort. But the method failed miserably with a dream that went nowhere scary or interesting at all. I'd have been better off just trying to dream about Salma Hayek walking into it, not that she ever turns up these days (I think she's too busy for personal appearances even disembodied ones).


Too busy

Anyway without Salma or a suitable Deadcade dream I had to lie there a bit and think about my story possibilities and you know what I think I've got it. I've had an idea for a long while about a larger (kinda book length) story setting and I think I can use this short (5000 word) story as a proving ground. Though the story itself would be darker and deadlier than my original ideas for the book it will show if the setting and general ideas have possibilities. Now it's time to start writing it or sketching it out.



Could be fun. In a dark way.

Great to see the announcement this weekend of 'DeadCades' the third and final installment of the Infernal Clock Trilogy. The first anthology - curated and edited by David Shakes and Steph Ellis - was the Infernal Clock (April 2017) and featured twenty four stories based around different hours of the day (which will be why there was 24 stories). My story in it predictably was closing time (11pm) and therefore ended the book.


The second anthology was Calendark (December 2017) which was based around the calendar (see, there was a clue in the title) with specific days throughout the year featuring many festivals well and lesser known - my story was set around All Souls Day.



And now the final anthology goes on the next stage out ... each story will be set in a specific decade from the 1880s through to the 2020s; that's fifteen decades. I chose the final decade as I spend so much time reading SF & F it seemed appropriate. I'm not saying just because it's the future my story will include elements of SF - after all it's only 2 years away - but we'll see where my keyboard takes me.

The author's for the DeadCades are listed below. If you click on the list it'll take you through to the Infernal Clock website which is worth following to see how the new book progresses and if you fancy getting into the book yourself there is the opportunity to write a drabble. Get drabbling!

Yes, the day is here, it's come around very quickly. 'Calendark: The Infernal Almanac' is Out Now!

Get yourself on over to Amazon and get the lovely Paperback or download it on to your clever Kindle device thingy and start reading it now.



I've only read two stories (and one of them was mine) so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it myself.

There's all these lovely authors in it, including two of us from The Poised Pen writing group:

• David Shakes
• Stephanie Ellis
• Craig Anderson
• Sian Brighal
• F. E. Clark
• Catherine Connolly
• Christina Dalcher
• Mark A. King
• Marie McKay
• Chris Milam
• Sal Page
• Ewan Smith
• Chris Stanley
• Clive Tern
• AJ Walker

I'm gonna read the stories in the order they come, it is based around the calendar after all; Tick-tock that Infernal Clock.

Once again many thanks go to the Editor-in-Chief - Stephanie Ellis, the Concept Man - David Shakes and the artist - Tim Youster. Well done guys.

Really looking forward to Calendark - the second of the time-based horror trilogy curated by Steph Ellis & David Shakes. The first was the Infernal Clock, which featured 24 stories each centred on an hour of the day. My story was predictably set at closing time - Last Orders folks!

Calendark is to feature sixteen stories each based around a specific day on the year. There are fourteen great writers in it (and I'm going to be in it too). I'm sure it's going to be a cracker and I can't wait to get it in my hands in paperback (and probably on my Kindle).

The authors featuring in Calendark:

• David Shakes
• Stephanie Ellis
• Craig Anderson
• Sian Brighal
• F. E. Clark
• Catherine Connolly
• Christina Dalcher
• Mark A. King
• Marie McKay
• Chris Milam
• Sal Page
• Ewan Smith
• Chris Stanley
• Clive Tern
• AJ Walker

A few familiar names in there, with a strong showing from the FlashDogs which is great to see. Special mention must go to Steph Ellis and David Shakes for their work in bringing the idea to fruition. It is not exactly a thankless task, for there have been many thanks. And so there should be! One more ... thanks!

Keep an eye on the Infernal Clock blogspot to see how it's going. Or then again you can just keep an eye on here. Let's face it I may mention it.

If you haven't seen the Infernal Clock you can find it on Amazon (just click here).

Infernal Clock Interview

With the release of the fabulous Infernal Clock Shakes asked all the contributors a few choice questions as an 'interview'. My favourite bit was the 666 questions. Some were easier than others however I don't think I've done too bad in terms of picking my bad. Here were my picks:


Who do you think are the 6 most evil humans in history?


Ghengis Khan and Josef Stalin


Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot


Nigel Farage and Kelvin McKenzie

Who do you regard as the 6 most evil villains in literature or film?



Joffrey Baratheon and The Dark Lord, Sauron


The Cylons, Battlestar Galactica and Alex in A Clockwork Orange


Sideshow Bob and Sephiroth (Final Fantasy VII)


(if I can’t use a video game then Baron Greenback!)


What do you think are the 6 most disgusting meals or food products ever created?





Andouillette (far and away the worst thing I’ve eaten - French cuisine my arse) and Blancmange



Turkish Delight and US ‘chocolate' products e.g. Hershey Bars and Oreos


Russian cold soups e.g. Okroshka and Liver


Click here for the link to the full interview sans photos and to see all the interviews from the other authors.


Infernal Clock available in Paperback and on Kindle now