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20/2/2025 February update: Plans afoot! It is a wet and gloomy day today in Dorset and the ArtPix/Arcane HQ is a hive of activity as we beaver away at our various projects.
The Arcane office is filled with incense and The Mighty Sieben's fabulous music - a lot of plotting is taking place! Work has resumed on the first draft of my third novel The Right Place and I hope to publish in Spring 2026. A decision has finally been taken regarding launching an online Arcane Bookshop! This, I hope, will happen in June/July 2025. Watch this space and follow the Arcane updates on Instagram HERE! I'm going to be out and about quite a bit over the next few months so there will be books, music, countryside, architecture and more!  Incredibly, January 2025 is the 10th anniversary of the publication of my second novel, The Book of Thoth. In 2023, I missed the 10th anniversary of my first novel, I Am a Muse, because I had mostly stepped back from promoting Arcane and my books. As I attempt to resurrect my much-neglected imprint this year, I couldn't let yet another 10th anniversary pass me by! If I am a Muse was more an experiment than anything else (I just wanted to see whether I had it in me to write a book, something I'd been dreaming of since the age of six!) The Book of Thoth is the book I am the most proud of - and it was an absolute joy to write! It was also hard work, with a lot of research, planning and editing. This is the first book fully designed and typeset by my partner in life and crime Matt ArtPix who had designed the cover for I Am a Muse. As the true design creative he is, he got the idea behind the cover straight away and came up with the perfect cover! I wanted the cover to be the opposite of what people would expect for a Gothic novel, and I also wished to express time-travel, ghostly apparitions with a hint of Ancient Egypt and Art Deco! There are also loads of lovely little design details dotted around the book. The beginning of 2025 is still very slow and we are still half-hibernating here at Arcane/ArtPix towers, BUT plans are afoot! Watch this space (and go to our INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT for music, books, nature, art and more!)  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! |
AuthorI think therefore I write. Archives
October 2025
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