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8/1/2025 The Right Place and Abbotsbury: 2025 South side of St Catherine's Chapel I feel like I have been going on about my third novel The Right Place for ages... which of course I have! The first chapter of The Right Place was written in 2012 during a week-long creative writing Lab (you can read all about it HERE. It's actually heartbreaking to see my picture of the very much missed Christopher Fowler!). This book definitely is the one that seems to never get finished. My first two novels, I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth got written, edited and published between 2010 and 2015 (I also found the time to launch Arcane Publishing as a proper publishing imprint!) So 2025 is the year that it gets completed and edited - publication in the first half of 2026 (if everything goes to plan). As I start writing again, I needed to revisit one of the main locations of my novel, St Catherine's Chapel in Abbotsbury. Yesterday, the sun was out and the Dorset landscape looked divine, and so this was perfect. As I resurrect my much-neglected blogs and websites, I will post more updates on the writing and publishing process. On this blog (and on INSTAGRAM), you will also find nature, culture, live music and books, books and more books!   Door to the turret - this is an important place in the novel!  Niche inside the chapel, unusually empty - these small niches feature in The Right Place  Lonely prayer card to St Catherine - the novel's characters ponder the appearance of those prayers and offerings  The ghostly shadow of a window appears on the wall of the chapel  View of St Catherine's Hill from the Coastal Path  Looking towards Grove Lane and "Grove Cottage", Kat's house in The Right Place  Provisional design for the cover (art by Sam Cannon; design by Matt ArtPix) 26/12/2024 Looking forward to 2025... Our Christmas Day walk yesterday 25/12/2024... This gloomy, eerie photograph is the perfect illustration of our year. 2024 has been an unpleasant year for us till the very end here at ArtPix/Arcane HQ, so much so that we've decided on a near-complete re-set in the New Year.
I will concentrate on my much-neglected publishing imprint and will finally complete the first draft of The Right Place and prepare it for publication, and I now want to get started properly on my fourth novel, Hell Lane: A Barton Stacey Mystery. I also hope to set up my online pre-loved, vintage and rare books bookshop by the end of the year. Watch this space, we will be much more active on here and in the real world in 2025! Please keep an eye on the Arcane Instagram page HERE!  ** UPDATE**
Sadly, due to Storm Bert battering the UK, Sunday trading at @mapperton_estate was cancelled. Thank you to all the people who came and bought books from us! Watch this space for more news... I am thrilled to announce that Arcane Publishing will have a stall at the famous Mapperton Christmas Market at the enchanting @mapperton_estate in Dorset on the 23rd and 24th November 2024. I will bring a carefully curated selection of beautiful pre-loved, vintage and rare books to this special event (fashion, architecture, art, first/early editions and more ...), as well as copies of my first two novels, I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth. This will be the only event for Arcane Publishing in 2024. I am now ending Arcane's hiatus. After an extremely challenging year, I am planning on finally working on developing Arcane Publishing further in 2025 and completing and publishing my third novel, The Right Place. I hope to do more quality markets next year and to launch an online shop to go with my websites and instagram. The Mapperton Christmas Market Mapperton Estate Mapperton Beaminster Dorset DT8 3NR Saturday 23rd November: open 10am to 6pm Sunday 24th November: open 10am to 4pm You will need to book your tickets on the Mapperton Estate website. 14/10/2024 Hiatus... Unfortunately, I've had to put all things Arcane Publishing on ice until November.
More news in November! Watch this space!  I will be helping Matt ArtPix on his stall at the fab Taunton's Vintage and Salvage Fair this Sunday 28th July.
I will bring some very cheap Arcane stock I'd like to get rid of - vintage and pre-loved books at very low prices! It's been quiet here on the book and writing side of things as real life has basically taken over. I hope to resume work on The Right Place this Autumn/Winter, but this will depend on my work schedule... Ah, if only writing paid the bills! More news to follow soon, watch this space! And do keep an eye on the Arcane Publishing Instagram page HERE!  "The movers move, The shakers shake, the winners write their history But from high on the high hills, it all looks like nothing. [...] All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision From down in the maze of walls you can't see what's coming But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing." @newmodelarmy - High, from the 2007 album "High" I always think about those lyrics when I walk on top of one of Dorset's ancient hills. They are even more relevant in times such as these. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to run to the hills if I want time out. It works every time! Yesterday, we had an amazing day on Hambledon Hill - a Neolithic ceremonial burial site, an Iron Age hill fort as well as the location of an English Civil War battle!  The churchyard of St Nicholas's church in the timeless village of Child Okeford is a true oasis of calm. Just sit on the bench and listen to the insects buzzing around you... Forget about the darkness in the world for a while...
There hasn't been any writing for a while here as real life has taken over, but it looks like I might be able to pick up my pen again (well, keyboard) and finally complete the first draft of The Right Place this winter. I will have some more news later in the summer, so watch this space! 2/6/2024 A little update... I have been quiet on here but not idle! The past few weeks have been incredibly busy here at Arcane/ArtPix towers... I have been working very hard indeed to secure the future of Arcane Publishing. If everything goes to plan, I should be able to go back to my third novel, The Right Place, by the autumn. I still dream of a 2025 pub date, but this might now not be possible. Let's see what happens! I have acquired quite a few new items for my stock of vintage and pre-loved books, but sadly I am not able to do many events this year. I am happy to say that I have booked a two-day event for late November though, a very, very exciting venue... More on this in due time! The picture which illustrates this post was taken a few weeks ago in our old playground, London (we were there on a secret mission...). We went to have a look at the newly refurbished Battersea Power Station... It's sadly becoming more and more apparent that our dear capital city is no longer for people like us... But you know what they say: Once a Londoner, always a Londoner! We hope to go back and explore some more later this year (and now that we have managed to find a ULEZ-complaint car, why not indulge ourselves?) I still try to post regularly on the Arcane Publishing Instagram - I have added a few of my new stock on there this week!  |
AuthorI think therefore I write. Archives
January 2025
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