The Inconvenient Unborn - Book Trailer.

Here's the book trailer for my forthcoming book, "The Inconvenient Unborn", which tells the story of two feuding families.

The story is mainly located on the south coast in and around Lymington, and is set in the near future.

It is due for release on March 1st 2016. Stay tuned for more information on that.

England in the near future - Though you may not like what you see.

352 pages, and it will be available in paperback and as an Ebook.

Horses and Dogs and Humans at Beaulieu Point-to-Point Horse Races in the New Forest - Boxing Day 2016

And the gorse in full flower at Christmas too! 

And despite the wet under foot conditons and the blustery day, a good time was had by all, even though my companion fell over in the muck!!!

Yes, I Am Now On Twitter  (At Long Last!!!)

Yes I am now on TWITTER - so why not follow me and I will probably follow you too - (I don't follow sex, violence, hatred or any sites that bear no relevance to Books and Publishing and Writing.

You will find me @thebookbloke.

Follow @thebookbloke

Tweets by @thebookbloke

Hope to see you there in the Twittersphere,

have a great day,

David C. 

First Person or Third Person?

When Writing or Reading Do You Have a Preference, and Why?

If you are a scribbler, which point of view (POV) do you prefer to write in, and if you are reader, do you have any preference when choosing books to read?

The reason I pose this question is because my friend, Anne, a voracious reader of chicklit, (she gets through a mountain of the stuff every month!) but will only ever buy books written in the third person. She detests stories written in the first, so much so that one of my recent books, Down into the Darkness, albeit a short one, she would not touch, when I mentioned it was written in the first person.

I found I quite enjoyed the change, and have even started writing another one that way, provisionally entitled ROWENA, though I suspect I shall always write my longer books in the third person, for it seems more natural to me. The first person choice appears to suit shorter stories and novellas much better, though I have no idea why that is.

I mentioned that Anne refused point blank to read DITD on Goodreads, and was quite surprised to receive several lovely letters (emails to you and me!) telling me that they absolutely adored first person books, and would only ever buy such things, and I should keep writing them, so clearly there is a big divide amongst some folk as to their preference.

It’s interesting that one of the most successful writers of today, Lee Child, when writing his eponymous hero, Jack Reacher, varies between telling the stories in the first and the third. I wonder what the thinking is behind that. Maybe he simply enjoys the change.

And also that John Irving, when presenting one of his tome-like books to his publisher, was told, or maybe more likely, advised, that it was okay, for a first draft, but it would have been much better if written in the first person, and could he please go away and re-write it accordingly, to which he blew out hard, and went off and duly did as requested, and of course the book went on to sell millions of copies. Perhaps afterwards he was glad he took their advice!

So, I pose this question to you today dear reader, or writer, which POV do you prefer, and why exactly is that?

Have a great day,

And night,

Have fun,

David Carter.

© David Carter 2015

Frankenstein:

Did you know that Mary Shelley was only eighteen when she began writing Frankenstein?

Amazing imagination!!! Wish I'd been there....

David C

Here's the link...  silly me!

Original John Sutton Painting of Appledore Quay

I have just added a lovely John Sutton original painting to my Ebay store and it is now up for sale.

Here's the pic:

and here's his signature on the picture:

and here's the link on ebay where you can find out so much more about this cracking original painting.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

David C.

Poppies, Paris and Poetry....

Here’s a pic of my well-worn poppy this year, and I know it’s a bit late, but better late than never, as the say. 

And especially fitting after the despicable events in Paris. I feel so sorry for all those young kids who went out on a Friday night (thought that was supposed to be a holy day, btw, but never mind!) to a music concert, and never came back. 

What kind of god could ever justify such a thing?

Makes no sense at all to me, and practically everyone else. 

Anyway, people of Paris, the whole civilised world is grieving with you, that’s for sure.

And here’s the topical poetry, and there’s a question for you to follow. You’ll know this piece, but do you know who wrote it? Answer in a tick.

Here are the important words first:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Yes it’s In Flanders Fields of course, and particularly apt it is this week, methinks, and it was written by?

Bet you didn’t know. I certainly didn’t.

Here’s the answer, courtesy of Wikipedia, and thank you for that.

"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it.

"In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch

It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war.

So there you have it, John McCrae. I’ll remember that now.

Peace to all,

David.

“Down into the Darkness” Giveaway Draw Now Live on Goodreads.com

If you fancy trying to win a free copy of my new book then can I draw your attention to the Giveaway draw on Goodreads.com that started yesterday and runs until June 11^th 2015.

There are ten copies to be won and all you have to do is lodge your interest and your name and address with Goodreads and they will conduct the draw independently as soon as the draw closes on June 11th.

This is for a hard copy of the paperback book, not a PDF. Mobi, or ebook copy, so why not add your name to the draw? As they say: someone has to win, so why not you?

Best of luck,

David Carter.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Down into the Darkness

by David Carter

Giveaway ends June 11, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to Win

The Turn of the Tide by Margaret Henderson Smith. Book Review

“The Turn of the Tide” is Margaret Henderson Smith’s latest episode in the ongoing saga of the accident prone Harriet Glover.

   Harriet is a teacher and is still besotted with, or should I say deeply in love with, her boss, one Joris Sanderson, though it seems she often wishes she felt different about that.

   Joris, or Mr Sanderson, as Harriet still insists on calling him, has apparently everything a man could desire. He’s a doctor, headmaster, Knight of the realm with friends in high places, and I mean stratospheric, as in Prime Ministers and the like, and you don’t get much higher than that.

   And now Harriet is pregnant and Joris, sorry Mr Sanderson, is the father, though no one else knows that, and in the meantime he has a bevy of beauties hanging around, former girlfriends and lovers, and even mothers of his children, and others eyeing up Joris’s fabulous house and extravagant lifestyle and wishing and hoping and thinking and scheming that one day Joris could be theirs and theirs alone. Not that Harriet is without admirers too, though she’s inclined to stand back and keep her counsel and play her cards very close to her chest.

   There’s something of the Real Housewives of Cheshire going on here, every time I see that programme I think of a rampaging Harriet, who despite being pregnant still gets herself into all kinds of scrapes, from mugging cab drivers and stealing his cab, to crossing swords with crazy drug soaked rappers.

   There are a lot of characters here too, as you might expect, seeing as this is the fifth book in the series, so you may wish to go back and start at the beginning, though you don’t need to do that as “The Turn of the Tide” stands alone as a separate novel, and there’s a very useful guide to all the players at the beginning of the book to keep you onside at all times.

   I particularly liked the ending, though I will say no more on that here, and it had me wondering as to whether “The Turn of the Tide” is indeed the end of the road for Harriet Glover and her consonant dropping chums, but then again, somehow I doubt that, for Harriet has an exciting future before her, and I suspect there’s still much intrigue to be told and stories to unfold.