ANARII IMAGE BOARD

Sites, descriptions etc - faces are 'types' not the actual people.

 

ANARII

ANARII

A SAMPLER:

The cave closed itself about him like a womb of cold stone, the colour of molasses. Somewhere, water dripped steadily.  In the dark, he touched the damp rock and recoiled, fumbling in his jacket for the torch. Gingerly, he began to edge forward, up the steep path illuminated by the small beam of light. He should have called out to Williams to let him know that someone was coming. Poor Williams, alone in the cave when the generator failed. He paused, listening, hoping to hear a voice, a cough, a sign that Williams was somewhere ahead of him. The cave was silent.

‘Williams, it's Dodd. Where are you? Come on Williams, stop messing about, where are you?’ 

He waited but only the faint echo of his own voice answered him. Slowly, he felt his way along the narrowing edge until he reached the gallery. The place stretched out to gloomy darkness at the farthest end. Out of that darkness, two great eyes regarded him with cold detachment. He gasped, then shook his head at his own stupidity. It was the painting, just the cave painting, now partially uncovered. How quickly the rational man disintegrates when faced with the darkness of a cave, especially this cave.

Something else caught the light of the torch, near the very edge of the gallery, where it dropped away fifty feet to the lower cave. It was Williams' Nikon, lying on its side without the lens cap. Fragments of ledge crumbled under him dust rising to settle on his trousers as he knelt cautiously beside it. Even before he shone the torch downwards, he suspected, he dreaded what he would see there. Williams' body was sprawled awkwardly on the cave floor where he had fallen when the lights went out.

Poor devil, and all to get a few more shots of the wall painting. Dodd began to retrace his way back to the lower level, hoping to find the photographer alive but unconscious. Suddenly, the hair on the back of his neck prickled. He stopped. 

Someone was in the gallery. He could sense them, almost feel their breath on his back. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He listened, but the only sound was the water dripping softly, a sleeper’s heartbeat, Williams had once called it.  He felt eyes watching him, cold, unfriendly eyes, coming out towards him from that clammy gloom. Malevolence was creeping towards him lifting dust motes in his torch beam. 

All thoughts of Williams left him. In panic, he dropped the camera and broke into a run. The uneven ground made him stumble and once, he almost joined Williams down below.  Somehow, he reached the iron grill at the cave entrance, throwing himself at it. 

It held firm, locked from the outside with the key gone. Behind him, in the darkness of the cave, came the sound of crumbling rock and the distant pounding of water.

 

THE PEAK DISTRICT

 At the request of one of my Twitter buddies, here is a map of the Peak District. It straddles four counties and has some of the best scenery in the country.

FEBRUARY ALREADY

SCATTERING - REVAMP

I can't believe we've already gobbled up January and today, on Valentine's Day, (well, it is in Australia) this is the first time I've opened my blog since December.

That's probably because I have been doing a lot of editing, a whole book's worth of editing. 

I felt something was wrong with 'Scattering' but it took SuperEd to realise why I was struggling. The first book in the trilogy, 'Harrowing' was written completely from my MC, Lexi's point of view. That worked fairly well when most of the action took place around her but 'Scattering' needed to encompass action in several locations.

Lexi was inevitably doing a lot of 'telling' and usually after the fact, often retold from people had been there. Added to that, I was 'filling in' with events at the farm, and not too interesting events either. The story was getting lost.

So, with one eye on how I would take it, SuperEd suggested that I rewrite the book in third person, adding the events being experienced by those who were actually there. This also gave me more scope to examine their emotions, showing their reactions and tightening up everything.

A month later and it's done! now it's waiting for SuperEd to check it out. I'm sure there will be rewrites but I am happier with the result. It also gives another dimension to the title. No only does it refer to the next stage in the growing/farming process but the focus is spread, scattered in several locations.

GOODBYE 2021

I'm going to be asking this question on Twitter but I'll ask, and answer it here in my blog too.

A. Highlights of your year 

B. Low points of the year

C. Regrets

D. What do you hope for in 2022?

A. For me, it was the fact that my family did get together at Christmas. I did complete NaNoWriMo, although the novel remains incomplete. I gained new friends both on line and in my local community, and my health is fine.

B. Bad news is always a low point and there has been a steady stream of that this year. For me personally? You know there hasn't been a really shocking event, but I was sad we couldn't go to France.

C.I would have liked to get my second book of The Farm trilogy out for Christmas but it couldn't be done. I always think I could have been more patient, more accepting and more encouraging. 

D. Check my end of year thoughts and plans for my 2022 writing. Also, I'd like to get an editor and a publisher for 'Over the Hills' before I finally cave in and put it on Amazon.

Finally - on a high note. We have booked our trip to France for 2022. Not sure if we'll get there but it's something to look forward to, for now.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

End of Year Status

So, despite the orb-shaped virus (that shall remain nameless and goodness knows what strain we'll be living under in the future), it's been a busy year both for my writing and in other aspects of my life. 

I haven't published anything since 'Black Mantle' but there are several WIPs that are nearing completion.

📙Scattering - Book 2 of The Farm series

This is in it's final edit before we launch it into the Indi-Universe, sometime early in 2022.

📘Reaping - Book 3 of The Farm series

Currently working through my final draft before I offer it up for diagnostic evaluation by SuperEd.

📗Anarii 

Stand alone novel about a Swiss village and a water goddess. Still trying to decide if this should be a YA novel or for an adult audience. I have rough drafts for each and I can't decide which to settle on.

📗Over The Hills 

YA story set during the Second World War in Southern France. The story of two teenagers, one, a German Jew avoiding the round-up of Jews by the Vichy authorities, the other, the daughter of a village doctor. Surrounded by Nazi spies and Marquis resistance fighters, the two decide on a course of action that could end in their deaths in the Pyrenees mountains.

📔First Draft - This Year's NaNoWriMo effort 'Maybe Next Time'

YA Time travel enables a girl to visit a village in 1913. Through regular trips, she becomes involved in a family's troubles and the effects that the First World War has on village life. The Spanish Flu is about to take the lives of many of villagers. Does she risk changing history to save a friend or watch them die?

SCATTERING - Final Edit

The survivors of the pandemic are beginning to imagine a better future, but a second wave of sickness, coupled with unrest in the cities brings new challenges for the people of The Farm and their neighbours. When Sheffield is once more in turmoil, Lexi finds herself at the centre of a desperate plan to restore order. Help comes from an unexpected source and the Laughton's are the key to solving a mystery.

Hopefully this will be published in the early part of 2022.

(Image by Jack Nick - FreeImages.com)