I am slowly starting to ease myself into the autumn and picking up the Arcane Publishing business where I left it back in mid-August... Still a lot of work to do which is not Arcane/book-related, but I now can find some time here and there to dedicate myself to a few tasks...

The writing of my third novel The Right Place still hasn't resumed and I don't think it will happen before December, but I have applied to a few exciting events to sell my books and I hope to post about them in the forthcoming weeks... I am particularly excited by one of the them which would be a huge promo coup for The Right Place, but I need to be accepted first so won't say anything more about it! 

I am happy to announce that on Sunday 24th September, I will be helping my partner-in-crime Matt ArtPix on his stall at the fabulous Loulou's Vintage Fair at Paintworks in Bristol (I love that area of Bristol as it's got the wonderful Arnos Vale cemetery too!). The last Loulou's vintage fair in the city was back before Covid hit and it was a roaring success, so we hope that this event will become a regular feature in our events calendar! I will be posting about the stock I'll be taking on the day on the ARCANE INSTAGRAM PAGE so head there for some lovely books! 

More announcements to be made soon, so watch this space! 

I will be away from my websites and social media over the next few weeks and months as I try and raise the funds that will allow me to complete and publish my third novel. 
I am planning on going back to draft 1 of The Right Place in the winter and hopefully publish in 2025. 
The bookselling side of Arcane Publishing (selling preloved, vintage and rare books) is slowing down as well for a few months as we think about how to further develop the venture in these challenging times... 
Watch this space! 

I had a lovely day yesterday at the Shire Hall Summer Market in Dorchester!
It really is a beautiful and interesting venue. 
Thankfully, I will be back there as a punter soon to see their exhibition Smugglers: Beneath the Surface. 
One of the featured Dorset smugglers will be Isaac Gulliver, the real-life “King of the Dorset Smugglers” who is the inspiration behind Algernon Sinclar, the ancestor of Sir Ron Sinclair, owner of the Genius Loci manor house in my third novel, The Right Place.

I hope to pick up the first draft again at some point in the winter. My goal is to make 2024 the year when I finish off draft 1, edit the book and publish it towards the end of the year/early 2025. Never say never... 

This is the cover of my much-neglected work-in-progress, my third novel, The Right Place.
It is Dorset-based and inspired by the song "The Wind" by PJ Harvey about St Catherine's Chapel in Abbotsbury.
I have taken the lyrics of the song and used them to build up the back story of one of my main characters. And of course, the chapel itself plays a central part in the novel.
Back in August 2021, I grinded to a halt at 50,000 words and haven't touched it since, because writing novels sadly doesn't pay the bills.
I started working on this book 10 years ago, and it really should be published by now... And there's a fun fourth novel behind it which is clamouring for attention too!
The cover is a specially commissioned, original artwork by West Dorset-based artist Sam Cannon Art and the cover design is by Matt ArtPix. The font you see here will probably not be the final one as we will need to play with it a bit longer before we get to the final one.
I hope to be able to go back to my first draft this autumn or winter, because I can feel that this time, if I start again, I can complete it.
I have changed the publishing schedule at least 6 or 7 times since its inception, so I will no longer use a pub date in my promotional material! It will remain on "TBC" for the forseeable future.
I will have copies of my first two novels I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth for sale on my stall at Shire Hall Museum 's summer market on Saturday 15th July, though. More on this later! 

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." ~Friedrich Nietzsche

This quote appears at the top of the “About” page on this very website, and it is not a random one: since as far as I can remember, this is the way I have been living my life. And it was lovely yesterday to see so many young people at the Bristol Alternative Market daring to be different, and so many traders selling their wares. There was some fantastic art, loads of clothes, records, and so, so much more! The Trinity Centre is a truly fantastic venue, a real gem!
Thank you to the people who bought books, especially to the ones who purchased copies of The Book of Thoth! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This book has a special place in my heart!
The next book, The Right Place, inspired by the PJ Harvey song “The Wind”, should be published in early 2025, but I can’t promise anything as the publishing schedule has been changed to many times!
Also, a special shout-out to the young girl who bought the “Black in Fashion” book and who is going to study textiles and make clothes: good luck! I love it when young people are creatively ambitious!
Yesterday reminded me of the 10+years I spent as a music journalist in London writing for alternative culture/music magazines, and of how alternative venues/clubs/events have always been so safe and welcoming to anyone who dared to be different or were different being of no fault of their own. Long may it last!
I don’t do a lot of markets, but I still have one left to do under the Arcane Publishing banner this spring/summer and I will announce it in a separate post. It will be much closer to home this time!

Arcane Publishing will have a stall at the high-quality event The Poundbury Independent on Sunday 14th May. On the Arcane stall, you will find some lovely preloved books and of course, copies of my first published novels, I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth. 
For more information and pictures about the stock I will be taking on the day, head to the Arcane Publishing blog HERE and the Arcane Instagram Page HERE. 

I am really very excited that Arcane has been chosen to trade at this unique event in Dorset! 

I haven't been very active on this blog recently or indeed on the Arcane Publishing website. This is because the cost of living crisis has forced me to prioritise work that brings in actual money, and as a self-employed individual, I basically need to say yes to everything that comes my way! Luckily, I've been able to ditch the supply teaching for now and I've been working from home again which is bliss... I hope to be able to pick up the first draft of my third novel The Right Place in the autumn/winter this year for a publication of late 2024/early 2025. Yes, I know... It has languished untouched since August 2021! 
More news on The Right Place and on our (hopefully) forthcoming online bookshop soon!  

My dream House: the perfect writer's house, the Gothic-looking Stair House. The large plot on which it is located, which extends up to the very edge of the cliff, would make an ideal mini-nature reserve.
Do you think they'd accept an offer?