Needs no words, really.

Character Chart

I found this which is useful when starting a new novel. I've always used this method, as I find it helps when working on characterization in scenes.

Character Chart

One thing I do want, but can't find, is a balloon chart showing character relationships, as my books are tangled webs and it's hard remembering who knows who, and how. I'll probably have to knock one up myself. If I do, I'll post it.

Song that defines my book

If there's one song/video/band/sound that defines Swallow (and particularly my main character, Wolf Taylor) it's this. Around 1min40sec onwards, Nikki Sixx is throwing a tantrum backstage at the doors, and he's Wolf to a tee. Behaviour, looks (kinda), everything. Hehe. Squash Nikki and Sebastian Bach together, and we're getting close to Wolf.

Authonomy Picks - Part 1

At authonomy we get a watch list, where we can save up to 30 books that we want to read. I always run out of space, because after I've backed a book, I often return it to my watch list if I want to read further...which presents a predicament when wanting to add new books. So what I am going to do is link the ones I enjoyed and backed here instead, so I can free up space for new ones.

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The Beauregarde Affair

Brian M. Talgo

Snakes & Drugs & Rock 'n Roll? If you can't remember the 70's, you can always read about someone else's. Like mine, for example.

Are you a child of the 70’s? Can’t remember? Then this might be just ticket for you. Or maybe you’re Generation X, completely enervated after hearing all those rheumy-eyed, greybeard hipsters carry on about how things were soooo much cooler, Man, back in the good old daze. Need some ammo for your counterattack? Here’s a heap of it.

The Beauregarde Affair chronicles a month's-worth of misadventure, starring Mr. T and his hopeless housemates at 591 Morningside Drive. Existentially adrift as the '60's segue into the 70’s, they belatedly await the arrival of The Revolution, which, like most of their pipedreams, never seems to materialize. If you thought it was all sex and drugs and you-know-what, then think again. Because here is a world populated by incarcerated hognose snakes, junk-food thieving socialists, The Thing, Coca Cola prophylactics, Snootch, Floridian rats the size of small Scotties, .357 magnum totting silversmiths, Gorp, sexually abused pizzas and The Mule, a master carpenter who wouldn’t know a right angle from a wrong one.

A slice of life from a time gone by, a story of youthful folly, of stumbling cluelessly into the gaping maw of the age of Aquarius and living to tell the tale.

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The Classic Rock Code

Pete Turvey

Dedicated to all those who have rocked on the classic rock journey

In the beginning,
Back in nineteen fifty-five,
Man didn't know about a rock 'n' roll show,
And all that jive,
The white man had the smoltz,
The black man had the blues,
No one knew what they was gonna do,
But Tchaikovsky had the news,
He said -
"Let there be light", and there was light,
"Let there be sound", and there was sound,
"Let there be drums", and there was drums,
"Let there be guitar", and there was guitar,
"Let there be rock",
And it came to pass,
That rock 'n' roll was born,
All across the land every rockin' band,
Was blowing up a storm,
The guitarman got famous,
The businessman got rich,
And in every bar there was a super star,
With a seven year itch,
There were fifteen million fingers,
Learning how to play,
And you could hear the fingers picking,
And this is what they had to say,
"Let there be .......Guitar",
One night in a club called `The Shaking Hand',
There was a ninety-two decibel rocking band,
The music was good and the music was loud,
And the singer turned and he said to the crowd -
"Let there be rock" - AC/DC (1977)

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Sunset on Sunset

D.P. Evans

A Hollywood murder mystery, with shades of the supernatural, offers a dark, bittersweet and occasionally insightful look at the twilight of the Rock generation.

An aging ex-Rock Star stalks the murderer of his oldest friend through Hollywood's clubs, alternative community and supernatural underground, uncovering a trail of dead that leads back thirty years while his quarry manipulates everyone from the L.A.P.D. to the local preternatural heavyweights against him.




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The Codex file

Miles Etherton

Michael's wife is murdered as internet access is banned. Only a band of hackers and industrial espionage can unravel the Codex file and discover why.

Forget everything you think you know about the internet. If you think nefarious web sites peddling a cocktail of online scams, illegal pornography, racial hatred and vicious computer viruses was all you had to worry about - think again. The government has banned access to the internet and the world wide web, dubbing it an illegal, unregulated zone. Sounds good news doesn't it, until you know that its replacement controls every aspect of your life, from digital content, provision of your gas, water and electricity, and all your money. And with everything and everybody connected, we're all now potential targets if we oppose it.

Do you still feel safe?
Empowered?
Connected?

Welcome to the future of the internet. Welcome to the Codex file.

Michael Robertson’s family has been murdered to protect the covert government project linked to establishing a new UK internet. Piecing together what happened leads him to four computers hackers, vehemently opposed to the new network, who provide the only means to hunt down the killers. But uncovering the truth leads to industrial espionage and a plot that leads right to the heart of government as he seeks the truth behind the Codex file.

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BLOTTO

Ted Smith

And so, what would you fuckin' well do with five point three million quid in your pocket eh?

Blotto is a contempory novel, written in the vernacular, that explores the turmoil that besets a haples s man when he wins a veritable fortune on the British National Lottery.

Derek lives in Bristol, England, and is a person of estate (housing that is) and is little more than a soak, a pisshead - the poor bastard. And as one might expect with this mind bending change in financial status, we find him on a roller coaster of ridiculous excess.

But hold on a tick - before you think you've got the measure - this ingenu's world is really turned inside-out and upside-down when a man, a foreign man, arrives on his doorstep claiming to be his long lost father. You see, Derek had been told that his dad had died when he was no more than a babe-in-arms.

So he must decide; is this man yet another freeloader, circling him like a vulture, seeking his pound of flesh? Or, inconceivably, is he for real? And if this be the case then his family must have sold him a lie throughout his life - musn't they?

The events, as they unfold, shake Derek to his very core.

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The Quest For Light

Bradford A. Combs

This young adult fantasy novel introduces a multitude of fantastic worlds and characters while dealing with broken homes and the pains of status segragation.

Elliott Schultz, a loner by nature, has never been there for his twice-divorced mother and hurting younger brother. However, a dream the night before the first day of school is the beginning of an adventure that will show him the true value of family.

Alongside his semi-popular best friend, the high school bully, and the most beautiful girl in school, Elliott travels from one vastly different world to the next facing a multitude of dangers and personalities. Underwater kingdoms, landless skies, and even Earth itself aren't safe from the darkness that threatens to claim them. The quest will conclude with the salvation of the Lady of Light, the one person who offers this corrupted web of worlds its true redemption. However, a great evil pursues Elliott and his company, the very evil that darkened the web in the first place.

I've never really known the feeling of having actually lost a parent. Then in 2006, my mother and stepfather of twenty years separated, and though it saddened me, the real pain was felt by my three younger siblings. Seeing their various reactions I was inspired to craft this novel with real life issues facing many of today's youth.

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Sell

Nicole John

Livin' the dream! Or at least Nick Jones believes he is until his fiftieth birthday and a rogue gray hair show up.

Nick Jones lives and sells the American Dream. He is perfection and because of that, turning fifty is simply a milestone—nothing more, nothing less. Until he meets Dave Harris, a more perfect version of himself. Nick’s father has hired him to help Nick close the deal, but Nick has never needed help before…

The façade that is Nick’s life begins to unravel with the discovery of his first gray, a tightening chest and a dead father who begins showing up in some strange places. Nick realizes that sometimes life isn’t what we believe it to be and that growing up is difficult even at fifty.

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Anvil

S E Harper

Heaven's shameful secret is revealed in a frantic chase across England's backside involving bitter fallen angels, sheep-terrorists, love, ducks, hostages and a battered, orange Maestro.

Bitter angel Anvil Marvell has been sent to earth to track down his father, Gregory, who was dismissed from Heaven for challenging God and for just generally being more popular. Anvil hypnotises ruthless conwoman-in-hiding Netta into using her latest corrupt business - selling fake quests by which errant offspring can earn parental approval - to find Gregory. Yet his true intentions are far more ambitious

than winning over a vain and foolish father. However it seems Anvil has underestimated femme-fatale Netta who discovers Gregory not only has two hopeless mortal sons and a duck-obsessed wife, but also a vast fortune and the recipe for life itself. Add in terrorist sheep, a couple more angels, a technologically-inept God, stray doughnut jam and some good old-fashioned bigamy and a frantic chase across England begins...

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Berlin Nights

David Paul Scarlett

Take a broken hearted Englishman, a purple hippy, a large breasted nympho, and The Chipmunk, set them in Berlin and watch the chaos ensue.

This contemporary comedy finds Matthew Masters, a rather awkward Englishman, plunging into a crazy new life in gritty Berlin. Matthew, after all, has nothing to lose. After finding his girlfriend (Her) in bed with another man, Berlin seems like the perfect antidote. But try as he might, he cannot get Her off his mind.

Matthew ends up in one crisis after another. A couple of sleeping girls, a rabid rat and an uncontrollable erection are always going to spell trouble. He needs a new woman and fast. But hippy Bruno is the boss’s frustrated wife, large breasted Angel is his roommate’s lover and Fleur is too much of a mystery. Matthew’s acquaintances are no better. His boss is struggling with his sexuality, his roommate is a Communist lothario and his drug dealer talks in a strange psychobabble.

A running feud with his ex East German Secret Police neighbour adds to his problems, but through it all he decides that the woman of his dreams is The Chipmunk . Two problems: she is pregnant and her crazy ex boyfriend is in town. With the help of an unlikely ally, Matthew rescues The Chipmunk from her deranged ex and wins her heart.

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Europa

Tim Lemon

Murder, assault, computer hacking, white collar theft and la Cosa Nostra. Two young Britons uncover scandal and corruption at the heart of the European Union.

The European Parliament and Commission in Brussels is the centre of power, influence and money for modern Europe. Here un-elected officials control billions of euros in grants and subsidies. So why has one of those all-powerful civil servants

fallen to his death from his tower block office? Has it anything to do with the olive oil subsidies he controlled? Are the rumours of Mafia involvement in the heart of the European government true? Two young Britons, a beautiful young female journalist and a washed up young politician decide to investigate...... before long they are embroiled in a scandal involving murder, assault, computer hacking, white collar theft and the Cosa Nostra. Will they live to see justice?

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Crazy Old Lady-in-Waiting?

Spinster.

Everyone says they hate the tag. I like it. It reminds me of my childhood violin teacher, Miss Genin, a tiny old lady with crepe paper skin, living in a house full of antiques, with round spectacles on a chain round her neck and a tissue tucked up her sleeve. Maybe that set the tone for my future – I remember thinking “I want to be just like her when I grow up.”

Many years ago, I stopped dating and gave up on relationships. Aside from the odd times when I could really use a partner, e.g. when I’m too sick to fetch medicine from the pharmacy, I’m moving heavy furniture, or I’m cold in bed in winter etc, it’s never been much of an issue. Sure, I’ve always been a little apprehensive about being single for life, but having a family was something I saw as a distant plan. Now the kids thing is looming. Like Rachel said in Friends on her thirtieth birthday, you have to meet a guy, get to know them, spend quality couple time together before getting engaged, then married a year or two to enjoy each other before children…it’s okay for men. As long as they can aim and fire, they’re okay.

Winter brings a multitude of colds, flus and viruses. I must have caught one, because the other morning, I woke up, dying to use the bathroom, sat down, went dizzy, fell off the toilet and hit my head on the duck board as I blacked out. As I touched my swollen brow, it got me thinking.

I. Might. Die. Alone. Will my cats delightedly dine on my corpse? Will my body empty itself of fluids and seep through the floor, to the apartment below? Just how long will it take for my family to realise something’s up anyway?

Mostly, it’s fun being single. I never had to grow up, because there’s never been anyone else’s age-appropriate behaviour to fall in line with. I can party hard, sleep late, heck, I can stay in my PJs all day, should I choose (and I often do). I’ve passed the stage when relatives enquire about my love life. At first, it was: “So, are you courting?” then it moved on to: “Have you met a nice man yet?” Now we’re at the resigned silent stage and they ask my younger cousins about their love lives instead. I don’t know whether to be relieved or put out. They’ve consigned me to the mad old cat lady pile already, and I don’t have my bus pass yet.

When I was younger, I missed out on many gigs, because I didn’t want to go alone. Now I’ve bitten the bullet, I’ve seen all my favourite bands, in countries I never would have visited before. I just have to make sure I write it all down, so I don’t forget the best bits a companion might remember. And I never have to consider someone sitting up late at night, worrying about my whereabouts, while I’m painting the town red. When rock bands invite me on the tour bus, I go!

However, the crisis is creeping up on me and I’m considering the benefits of having a partner and children. At least one of them has to look after me when I’m old and infirm, right? As long as they don’t put me in a residential home - but that can be fixed by warning them that if they do, they get nothing in my will. I’ve thought it through.

But being the cool, crazy aunt isn’t so bad. I’ll get to play with the babies and give them back when they start wailing. I shall embrace my singleness and be as deranged as I please. Give me my pearls, and hand me my leather. I’m off for another adventure.

Query writing and a new novel in the works

I'm scared to stop writing, in case I get blocked again. Also, and mainly, because if I stop writing now, Swallow may be consigned to a virtual desk drawer and be a fading dream. I started writing it (under the title Wolf Moon) around 6 yrs ago, and I'm not waiting any longer to get an agent! Anyhoo, while ideas for a query are percolating in my exhausted brain, I started another book, which is tentatively called Headliner.

I'm not sure about Jessica, I think I'm going to make her meaner and more selfish. You'll all know how your characters determine themselves! I've included my original pitch for Swallow, too, as Headliner is a semi-sequel, so I can show how they are linked (click titles to go to the books on Authonomy). I'm working on a new version later today.
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Swallow by Ilyria Moon

The rules are simple in the entertainment industry. Play the game, get burned.

Wolf Taylor. Talented, arrogant and lacking in morals. All that matters is performing onstage, nailing his next conquest and getting his next fix. He'll do anything for fame, even if it means hurting those who care about him. It’s all about rock ‘n’ roll, right?

Luna Halliwell. Hurt, naive and hopeful. It isn’t a wise move for an emotionally-unstable, anorexic teen to fall in love with a narcissistic rock star in rehab.

Secrets and lies are uncovered along the journey of a young woman dropped into the wild celebrity jungle.

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Headliner by Ilyria Moon

Everyone wants a piece of the action, but the spotlight can be lethal.

'Sapphic' sunk without trace while the lead singer, Wolf Taylor, recuperated from an accident. Now he wants the fame and his wife back. He doesn't bank on a love child landing on his doorstep, and a minx enthralling him. Can Wolf get the dream he desires, and win over the fans?

Jessica is a small-town girl with a dream in her heart and a chip on her shoulder. She heads for bright city lights, and is enticed into LA’s murky sex industry. She needs cash, and fast. To what lengths will she go, to survive?

Summer Knowles wants to be bigger than Jenna Jameson. Feisty and fun, yet wary as a fox, she has fought porcelain-veneered tooth and acrylic nail to get ahead. Clawing her way from the bottom to the top, Summer will do anything to protect her success. That is, if her stalker doesn’t catch up with her first.

Lexie Hunter is on the run. After spending a year in South America, she figures she can live in the US without fear of arrest. Los Angeles seems as good a place as any. But should she trust the criminal mastermind enabling her continuing freedom?

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Sample chapters of Headliner are on Authonomy. The full Swallow manuscript is there also, for the time being.

And here's the cover for Swallow. I haven't worked on one for Headliner yet, in case I change the title. The title from Swallow came when I was three-quarters into the book, so I shall be prudent.

Ilyria Moon x

Finished!

I finished my manuscript today. Kinda. I still need to edit and polish and strain through a sieve, but the actual storyline is all down on 'paper', woohoo!

I thought I would feel elated beyond belief when I finally reached this point, but I just feel exhausted. I'm eager to start editing now, but I have to attend to other matters for a change, like debts and looking for a job. I sacrificed having money, in order to finish my book by the end of December, and I beat my deadline by 4 weeks, so I'm pleased about that. If I can get a tight edit done by New Year, I'll be a happy bunny.

It's almost three am; I finally ate today around half an hour ago, when my stomach was gnawing so badly, I thought I might DIE. A male friend said I looked like I've lost weight, the other day. I told him I've been working on my book. I don't think he made the connection, hehe.

So, anyhoo, I'm saving the champagne for when it's edited. Or maybe when I get a copy printed out. It's going to take a lot of ink.