mountain of ideas

Anafon valley from Drum, looking NW towards Anglesey

My feet have been itching to have rough rocks under them for weeks. My brain needed me to return to Anafon and so today I did. I had planned a cycle-camping trip this week but the appalling weather – the remains of Hurricane Bill (named after my dad? – he liked the  raw power of storms) relegated my outing to this one dryish day.

Anafon is a kind of hidden valley in that because it is a dead end, very few bother to walk up it. Nevertheless, it possesses a desolate beauty and suited being the location of a hideaway for the fugitives from an apocalyptic virus in my scifi Left Luggage. (still looking for a wise publisher). My wife was also walking but up in the Lake District with a group from the science conference she’s attending. Funny to think both of us hiking up in the hills a hundred miles apart. I tried  shouting a greeting (no signal on my phone) but I’m hard of hearing so didn’t hear her response.

I’ve done my walk before and so anticipated the vistas and exhiliration with increased pulse. Of course climbing steadily uphill for the first hour from the Aber Falls carpark sent me into near tachycardia. That’s when I saw the signpost leading up to Drum, the summit of which was my destination for lunch. Enroute I met a feral pony on the track. She seemed reluctant to move but we exchanged greetings. Some of my words reflected on how much these wild ponies stink! I know all horses have a strong odour but my, after rain the feral ones, with no grooming, made me run towards fresh air – uphill.

I add a photo of the Anafon valley. You can see Anglesey in the distance beyond, and the Irish Sea. With binoculars and the ability to see around the Earth’s curvature I could have seen my wife on her walk.

Signpost to the mountain of Drum

feral pony on my track - or I am on its

From the slopes of Drum looking NW towards Anglesey. Anafon valley on the left

Signed off by angels

I’ve had more successful signings, only 12 copies signed and sold. This was because my fans had mistakenly joined a huge queue a few hundred yards away at WH Smiths. The author, her pen raising friction-burn smoke, was Lorna Byrne, and her book – Angels in My Hair. I thought it was chick lit and asked the manager at Waterstones, but he’d not heard of her. I sneaked out and asked one of her mesmerised queue. Lorna is Irish and since a baby has seen and talked to angels. Her wisdom and advice from the ethereal is in the book, Angels in My Hair. Against the angels what chance had I? Hey ho.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy conversations with folk wanting author-signed books (often no matter the genre).

Two summer-dressedundressed women approached me, eagerly. Okay it was me who was the more eager. Where’s Katie Price’s book? I pointed. They weren’t the first to  think I was an employee on an information desk. Next time I’m making a name plate. Geoff Nelder – Author signing! Maybe an arrow too.

One man asked me about Escaping Reality. So I gave him the humorous thriller concept – fugitve escaping jail – across the moors to the Lake District and then to Amsterdam to prove his innocence. More chat with the man and he was really interested. Eventually I said – Do you want me to sign a copy for you?
“Oh, no,” he said, “I only read biographies.”

The white maltesers were eaten mainly by children, me and my daughter when she brought baby Oliver to puzzle over seeing  grandad in a new context. I bought him a baby book to read-chew.

My conceptual stereotypes was knocked again. In spite of my  urgings I do sometimes find I’m struggling to think outside the box, and the box gets smaller. For example a young woman pushing a chariot with a restless baby ambled past. She held another child in her free arm. Mid-twenties and hassled. Nevertheless, I said: “Would you like a free bookmark?” She stopped, put down a 2-year-old girl, who promptly vanished into the shop. The woman spoke in council-house lingo (I recognize it because I was brought up in Hesters Way, Cheltenham and taught for decades in the Lache, Chester). Without high expectations I asked her if she liked humorous thrillers (Escaping Reality) or Science Fiction mysteries (Exit, Pursued by a Bee)? To my ashamed amazement she gave me a neat rundown of time-related science fiction novels over the last half century! She admitted, while her other kids  waffled  maltesers, that my use of microscopic time differences is unusual, Enough so for her to ask for a signed copy. Just shows that signings bring you closer to the readers, who shatter preconceptions.
Anyway, Waterstones want me back. I told them perhaps near Christmas, but I’ll check on where Lorna is first. May her angels keep her well but whisper to go sign in another city.

Signing today

I have my book signing of scifi Exit, Pursued by a Bee, and humorous thriller Escaping Reality, in Waterstones, Trafford Centre today, Sat Aug 15th 1-4pm. Good to see you there if poss. Free sweets

Over the weekend, Dave Haslett from Ideas4Writers and I met up in Exmouth to record a conversation about How to Win Short Story Competitions. We prepared well in all aspects except our voices. Sore throats after 3 hours- hah.

While down there I visited the lovely city of Exeter. There are two Waterstones in Exeter, both on High Street, about 500 yards apart. The scifi buyer in one said he’d stock Exit. The other branch scifi buyer was away but staff took details. I asked but the two branches don’t coordinate their buying. In fact the staff of one told me she’d not met any of the staff of the other!  I’d been in Exeter half an hour and was on first name terms with two Waterstones staff who worked within shouting distance but didn’t know each other. I should  start a Waterstones get-to-know-ourselves service!

Apparently, something called The Hub is being introduced for book distribution / ordering for Waterstones – not sure if its good news or not for small press. I’ll see what I can find out in the Trafford Centre Waterstones today.

Exmouth x2

Off to Exmouth tomorrow morning by train. It will take me, and the train, 5 hours so I’ll have plenty of time to prepare. The main reason for going to Exmouth is to meet up with Dave Haslett, who runs the excellent Ideas4writers website. We are to have a conversation exchanging our experience and views of how to win a short story competition. CDs will be cut and so some of the mystery can be revealed to budding competitors. watch this space – or one later.

Reason number two for visitiing Exmouth is to visit to a house my dad and stepmum lived in about 6 years ago. More a holiday chalet. Appropriate then because my dad moved house every two or three years telling me he was on a constant holiday. The single-story dwelling in Hartley Road was a happy place for him in that he used it to walk to the beach and to visit the Devon seaside villages and their endless charming cafes.

It will be a nostalgic trip for me. He died just over two months ago – I wonder if his ghost will join me looking for lost spoons. I hope his potted plants are still there. Several didn’t make it onto the removal lorry. Come to think about it, a box of cutlery didnt either. Umm. I wonder if I’ll find my dad’s ghost hunting for lost spoons?

Prestwick and Bicycle clips

Prestwick – a three plane book, but only one can land – is the first thriller to be launched at BeWrite Books as I arrived. Written by David Hough, it’s a cliff-hanger great read and you can find details here.

Bicycle Clips: Warm pre-breakfast bike ride this morning. 20 Celsius so I didn’t really need my flourescent yellow shower proof jacket. I had to stop and tuck it on top of my panniers. At least it added  to visibility for motorists charging up behind me. Actually there weren’t many. I choose quiet rural lanes so that it is mainly tractors and other cyclists who overtake me. On busier roads I’ve slipped into the habit of switching on my rear LED even in daytime. I use the rolling light mode cos the straight on / off flash seems annoying to me. To my surprise having the rear light on does seem to make overtaking drivers keep back more until it is safer and to overtake farther from my elbow. Maybe they think I must be such an amateur and so keep their distance.

With mixed feelings I’ve finished the first and second draft of  magic realism fantasy, Xaghra’s Revenge. It’s based on the true mass-abduction of the Mediterranean island of Gozo in 1551 by pirates, and the fictional retribution. Immense satisfaction in doing the research on Gozo and Malta, and in the writing. It’s been lacerated by my fellow critquers in the BSFA Orbiters and is being given another close read  by Les Floyd. I’ve sent a synopsis and three chaps to my US agent, but now thinking it might be better published by a UK or European publisher.  I’ve a feeling the Americans know little about the Maltese islands whereas Brits and Germans use it as their sunshine location.

Exit, Pursued by a Bee is still selling online. Also at Borders in Cheshire Oaks and hey, I have a book signing in Waterstones, Trafford Centre, Manchester on Saturday August 15th 1-4pm. There will be sweets. Because Exit has metallic spheres emerging from the Earth, I need spherical silver confectionary. Sadly the nearest I can find are white chocolate Maltesers and Imperial Mints. I wonder if they gather time too? Come along to my signing, even if only for a natter, point and laugh.