Pre-order my debut

As I revealed the other day, my debut novel is coming soon, well thanks to some hard work that soon is closer than expected. I have set the release date as November 3rd and you can pre-order the book between now and then

Where There’s A Will

(excerpt)

Crash smashed a fist into the chauffeur’s kidney a second time, he then pulled him away from Jim and threw him into the side of the van. A kick to the back of the knee made Brian fall forward, and Crash smashed his head into the side door of the van. Twice more he did that until the chauffeur’s body went limp and blood ran down his face.

“Get on with it,” he snapped at his partners, who were still trying to drag Alice from the car. From the back pocket of Jim’s combat trousers, he took the envelope that was sticking out, which he shoved into the inside pocket of Brian Jacob’s jacket. That done, he returned to his previous position behind the wheel, where he revved the engine impatiently.

With two men pulling at her, Alice found it impossible to save herself, and, with a final heave, she was yanked from the Bentley to land with a painful thud on the concrete.

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If that sounds good, you can pre-order the book at the following links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Bargains, bargains, bargains

You like a bargain, don’t you? Of course you do, who doesn’t.

Well, for all of you out there who like a bargain, or better yet, something free, the writer’s group I am part of on Goodreads has a big event this weekend with lots of books listed as free or at reduced prices in a variety of genres. If you’d like to fill up your kindle with some new reading material, here’s the place you need to go  http://events.supportindieauthors.com/event.php

There’s some great reads here, and some great authors to support, so please dig into your pockets, you won’t have to find much, and you’ll be hard-pressed to get a better return on your investment.

Golfing stories – part 1

One of my followers reminded me, just yesterday, of the fun I used to have when I played golf, which I haven’t done for several years now, so I thought I would share a few anecdotes with you, I hope you like them.

The Deer

My friend and I, let’s call him Barry (that’s not his real name, but since I’m using a pen name I should really use an alias for those involved), played regularly at a golf course not far from where we lived; it wasn’t a top-notch place, by any stretch of the imagination – there was an airport just over the road, so it was noisy at times, and the river that ran along the side of one of the holes had a tendency to flood in winter, shutting three of the holes.

There were good points to the course as well, it was reasonably priced, the staff and the other members were all friendly and helpful, and it was a little out in the country, so there were some nice views.

The hole this story takes place at needs a bit of description, so you can picture it in your mind; it’s a double dog-leg 500 yard par 5 with the river on one side and the house belonging to the club’s owner on the other and surrounded by trees – the fairway runs for about 170 yards before narrowing down to about 25 yards, meaning you have to be accurate or you’re in trouble. You can see almost nothing of the fairway beyond where it narrows because it dog-legs to the left behind the trees to run alongside a paddock that has at least one horse in it at all times.

Okay, that’s enough scene-setting, on with the story

Barry and I were playing a round one Saturday and made it to the fifth hole, we walked up to the tee and began getting ready to play the hole; Barry was in the lead so he got to tee off first, he he put his tee down, ball on top of it, and looked around to check the way was clear and work out where the wind was coming from so he could line himself up. That done, he set himself up and got ready.

I was looking down the fairway to see where the ball went, ready to laugh if he found the river, as he often did (I was more likely to find the owner’s garden, or the ditch at the side of the fairway) when, just as Barry began his back-swing, a blur of movement came from behind the trees and raced up the fairway towards up.

We barely had a chance to realise what was approaching us, a deer that was bigger than either of us, when it was upon us. Obviously we crapped ourselves, as you do when a very large animal that has the capacity to hurt you badly bears down on you at speed, and froze, not at all sure what we should do.

Before we could do anything, like dive out of the way, the deer made a sudden turn and gracefully jumped the fence next to us, landing on the riverbank on the other side of it. In no time at all it was gone, like it had never been there.

Although the course was out in the countryside, this was the first and only time I saw a deer there.

As you can imagine, neither one of us played the hole very well, even by our own poor golfing standards, we were too thrown by having nearly been run down by a deer.

Imagine this coming straight for you – scary

 

Coming soon…

It seems like now would be a good time to tell all of you that there is only a week to go until my debut novel is released. I have all but finished the editing, the formatting will only take a day or so to get organised, and the cover has already been created, so next Thursday it is.

I will be pressing the publish button in time for it to go live somewhere between Thursday and Friday (you can never be sure how long it will take Amazon to get a book onto its virtual shelves).

For the time being I will have Where There’s A Will exclusively on Amazon, which will make it possible for people in Amazon Prime to get it through the Kindle Owners Lending Library and Kindle Unlimited.

Now that’s out of the way, here’s a bit about the book

Where There’s A Will

Inspector Stone Book One

Alex R Carver

An armed robbery, a kidnapping, and an enemy that’s closer than anyone realises.

Inspector Stone has to put aside problems at home and an ambitious underling when the daughter of a local businessman is kidnapped, and a multi-million Euro ransom demanded for her return.
Can he find her and return her safely to her parents when the kidnappers are dangerously close to home?

Coming 3rd November 2016

Filthy Rich

Three illegitimate children discover they each have a claim to the fortune of one of NZ’s wealthiest men, John Truebridge. With so much money on the line, John’s legitimate family will do anything to stop these new, unexpected heirs!

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I stumbled across this series quite by accident, and this is one fall I’m glad I had; the characters are interesting and compelling, and their loyalties shift with every episode until you don’t know who’s working with who, what they’re after, or who you should be rooting for.

In keeping with the nature of this series, which has more surprises than I can count, the ending is shocking and completely unexpected, with actions and revelations I did not see coming. I don’t know if there is going to be a second series, but I really hope there will be because I want to know what’s next for the characters.

If you haven’t seen this yet, and you like a good drama, then make sure you check it out; I’m sure you’ll love it as much as I did.

Mirth Defects

Clint Forgy

I was given an advanced copy of this book for review and I’m glad I was. I like comedy but as a visual medium, it’s not a genre I usually read because it’s very hard to get right, so I was a little nervous about this book; my uncertainty disappeared by the end of the first page. This is exactly my sense of humour; it’s a little anarchic, a little crazy, a little cringe-inducing, a little bit of everything really, and a lot of good.
This is the tale of JD, growing up amongst his family and friends; he is a massively confident young man, who’s not afraid of a challenge, knows what he wants, and is determined to get it – at no time, though, does he cross the line into being cocky or unpleasant, and that’s difficult to manage.
JD is well-written, his personality lends itself to caricature but Clint Forgy manages to avoid that and keep him as a very realistic, if slightly over the top, character, the sort you would have a great time with if you were mates. The same can be said for his friends and family, they are all believable (I’ve known a few people in my time who would have fitted right in with them, myself included for the sense of humour) and that is important because one or two of the scenes and situations descriptions are a little too madcap – if it wasn’t for the writing and the believable characters they might ruin the book.
There are a few pop-culture references that I felt were unnecessary, but that’s just my opinion.

If you enjoy a humorous tale, then this is almost certainly going to tickle your funny bone and I recommend you give it a go.

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If you’d like to know more about the author, look him up on his site and see more of his humour, which will probably make you laugh out loud.

Sunday Sample

Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now here on Arcbookblog is put up a regular sample to show where I am with my writing. I have a bad habit of procrastinating, however, with the result that I haven’t done as intended – I’m changing that today, though.

Without further ado, here is my first Sunday Sample, it’s chapter 33 of Where There’s A Will, which has just received it’s first editing pass of three (just to be sure there are no typos or other errors that readers wouldn’t like)

33

Stone was in his office, reading the reports from his various teams when he received the summons. He had spoken to the DCI after the briefing earlier, so he couldn’t imagine what his superior needed to see him about urgently – if there had been any developments, he should have been notified before the DCI.
“Nate, we’ve got a problem,” Collins said without preamble.
Another one, Stone couldn’t help thinking, after an armed robbery; a hit-and-run and a kidnapping in less than a week, he could only wonder what else had happened. “What sort of problem, sir?” he asked.
“I understand Detective Grey told you he couldn’t find DS Mason earlier.” Stone responded in the affirmative. “Well he’s been found; it seems he was on the way to work when he witnessed a purse snatching – he left his car and gave chase; unfortunately, during the chase he fell down the steps of the East Walk Underpass, broke his leg and knocked himself out. While he was out of it someone, presumably the purse snatcher, took his wallet and mobile, not to mention his keys, warrant card and cuffs.
“Which is why we’ve only just found out where he is. Once he woke up he was able to tell people who he is, and let us know where he is. Apparently, he’s going to be out of action for about two months, perhaps longer, which, I’m afraid to say, means you’re going to have to take over the investigation into the festival robbery and the hit-and-run, while running the kidnapping.”
“That’s not going to be easy, sir,” Stone said. He didn’t like the thought of trying to run two important investigations simultaneously.
“I appreciate that, Nate, but there’s nothing to be done about it,” Collins told his inspector. “Both the festival robbery and the Keating kidnapping are too important to leave to a junior officer. I’m sure between you and Stephen you’ll manage.” He had confidence in Stone. “You’re both very good officers, and you’re making good progress with the kidnapping.”
Stone recognised the compliment for the flattery it was, still, he accepted it with a nod of gratitude. “I’ll do my best, sir,” he said. “As will Steven.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Now, you’d better check in with Grey, I believe he’s made some progress with the festival investigation.”
Stone nodded. “Yes, sir, he called me earlier. He had a couple of witnesses come forward first thing this morning with a description of the car used in the hit-and-run, they were also able to provide the license number of the vehicle, apparently.”
“I know; things have progressed beyond that, however. I don’t know the details; you’ll have to check with Grey to get them, but I do know he’s been busy while we tried to locate Mason.”
“Before you go,” Collins stopped Stone as he was heading for the door. “You should know, I was forced to release Ben Logan earlier, his solicitor was kind enough to point out that he had been in custody for twenty-four hours. I reviewed the evidence, but there wasn’t enough to charge him, or to justify keeping him for any longer.
“I realise he’s almost certainly the second person from the festival,” he said quickly to forestall a protest that Stone showed no sign of actually making. “But right now there’s no evidence to back that up. I hope you also realise that there’s only five or six hours left for you to find enough evidence to charge Jerry Logan, and David Ashford; if you can’t they’ll have to be released as well.”
“Surely there’s enough circumstantial evidence to justify holding Jerry for another twenty-four hours,” Stone said, “even if we can’t yet charge him.”
Collins looked dubious. “I’ll review the evidence an hour before he has to be released,” he said. “But right now, I’ll probably order his release, unless you can come up with something more definite than you currently have – the identification of Jerry Logan from his tattoo is far too tentative, while the lack of a confirmed alibi means nothing, since you can’t prove he was involved with the robbery. “As for Mr Ashford – you have no evidence against him whatsoever.”
Stone accepted that with a nod. “I’ll see what I can come up with between now and seven. Since Mason didn’t make it to work this morning, I believe Jerry Logan and Mr Ashford are still waiting to be questioned; I’ll make that a priority while Inspector Evans is able to keep an eye on things at the Keatings’, he should be able to handle anything that comes up until I can get there.”

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I hope you like it, and it whets your appetite- if you’d like to read more of the book, which has been nominated for an Ethereal award, you can read the unedited version on Wattpad

Rocky Horror – Let’s Do The Time Warp Again

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Let’s Do The Time Warp Again

For those of you who don’t know the plot to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, here it is

A straitlaced, square couple, seeking shelter from a storm, find themselves in the castle of a transsexual alien mad scientist intent on creating a buff bodybuilder.

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This has been called a lot of things since it was announced, a remake, an homage, a re-invention, so I’m not really sure what it should be called; all I can tell you is that the plot is the same, the characters from the original are all there, and the setting is the same. There are minor differences but in essence it’s the same film with a different cast and better production values (although that’s debatable at times)

I’m a huge fan of the original with Tim Curry and Richard O’Brien, so I was a little dubious before I watched this; I’m not going to say it’s terrible, as some fans have been doing – they have their right to that opinion – but it does suffer by comparison, and I very much doubt that RHPS would have become the classic it is if this had been the first version.

The songs, for the most part, remain as they were in the original, and that is to the good since they are a large part of what made it so popular, but they don’t seem to be sung with the same enthusiasm and enjoyment as was the case with Tim Curry et al. The only exception to this is Victoria Justice (I confess I may be a little biased here because I think she’s gorgeous) who does seem to enjoy herself to the extreme and to have a lot of fun with the role, which coupled with her being a very good singer makes her the best in this as far as I’m concerned.

I think the biggest misfire for me is Adam Lambert, it isn’t that he’s bad, not at all, it’s just that from what I’ve seen a big thing is made of his being a part of the show but he’s barely in it – he plays Eddie, who *spoiler* is killed shortly after arriving on screen.

Other problems for me are; Tim Curry as the criminologist, I’m pleased that he had a part in this but, and I don’t like to say this, the stroke he had in 2012 means he isn’t able to bring the role to life as he once would have; the overall appearance, the sets and the costumes and the overall production are all decent, but they look too clean, the original had a dirtiness (I’m not sure that’s quite the right word for it) that made everything appear used and lived in, whereas in this version it all looks brand new and therefore a little false.

Overall, I think people who have never seen the original are going to like this more than those who are already fans of RHPS, nonetheless, if you approach this with the right attitude, it’s a fun evening’s entertainment, and you still get to enjoy singing along to the songs.

In case you need an extra reason for watching this here’s Victoria Justice and Ryan McCartan in their underwear.

 

Game of Thrones

A Song Of Fire And Ice Book One

George R R Martin

‘When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground’Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.

From the fertile south, where heat breeds conspiracy, to the vast and savage eastern lands, all the way to the frozen north, kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords and honest men . . . all will play the Game of Thrones.

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This book is fantastic; I honestly don’t think there’s any other way to describe it. This is an incredibly complex story, only the first part of it in fact because it’s a 7 book series, with some of the best and most realised characters in fiction as far as I’m concerned.

The story is told from the perspective of multiple characters, and they are all given equal ‘screen’ time, with every chapter showing events as seen through the eyes of someone different. Because of this, you occasionally see the same incident from different angles, and the result is that no-one is painted as entirely black or white, and the more you read the more you learn about the characters, and the more you want to learn.

I like some characters – Tyrion and Ayra being my favourites – more than others, but they’re all really well written, as are the situations they get involved in, which are set in vastly different locations.

Some scenes may disturb readers because of the violence they describe but this is hard fantasy, and the type of world described is one that used to exist, which helps to make this book so good.

 

Video game irritations- part 1

I have been a keen video game player for many years now, and I enjoy a variety of different styles of games. However, as the years have passed I have noticed a number of features being introduced to games that I find irritating.

Today I thought I’d mention a few of them, if only to get them off my chest.

Single player campaigns

Once a single player game in a FPS game, used to last for a considerable amount of time, 20+ hours, and in some cases more than 50 hours, this was good as it enabled a person to become invested in a character.

There are games where the single player campaign takes a considerable amount of time to get through, most notably role-playing games like Skyrim and strategy games like Age of Empires, but when it comes to FPS games, it seems as though there is little interest from the developers in making a lengthy single player campaign, they only care about multiplayer.

The campaigns in the Call of Duty series seem to last for no more than about six hours, if you are a competent player; no sooner do you get into the campaign than it’s over.

I enjoy FPS games, especially the Call of Duty series – there have been some great missions, such as ‘All Ghillied Up’ pictured

Perhaps the single best mission I’ve ever played – All Ghillied Up, CoD MW1

but I don’t like multiplayer, which leaves me with a bit of problem. For the price I have to pay for the games, it seems as though there is a massive lack of balance between single player and multiplayer.

Those who enjoy multiplayer get hundreds of hours of game play out of each Call of Duty title, and while I don’t expect anything like that, single-player is after all a different type of game entirely, I would like a more lengthy campaign that enables me to feel I have gotten value for my money.

I’m sure the developers will neither notice nor care about this post, but I think they should either do one of two things: create a more lengthy single-player campaign with better replayability, or provide a degree of separation between the single-player and multiplayer versions of the game, with both versions selling for a price and the combined version available for a better price than the two separately.