Updates

Hi, everyone

I’ve taken a few days off over the last week, largely to catch my breath and cope with the problem of the four of us being trapped inside the house.  (As a cancer survivor, I’ve had strict orders to stay indoors as much as possible – the letter I got from the NHS veers between practical advance and bureaucratic CYA.)  It’s starting to gnaw on me, even though I know I’m one of the lucky ones.  Many of my friends are in essential roles, facing the threat of infection as well as everything else; others are on furlough, facing the risk of losing their jobs, houses and such like as the country takes its first hesitant steps back to normality.  It’s striking to see just how many knock-on problems there are, each one requiring solutions that cause additional knock-on effects.

For example, wages are reduced or lost altogether; people can’t pay rent.  Landlords are ordered to minimise evictions where possible; landlords can’t pay their mortgages (or whatever) because they’ve lost their source of income.  Landlords get mortgage relief, banks start having money problems shortly afterwards.  It’s easy to think the banks are wealthy, but the blunt truth is that, if a number of mortgages are never repaid, the banks may be in some trouble.  And if they start to totter, a lot of other things will come crashing down.

It’s strange to see how people react.  Panic-buying toilet paper makes a certain amount of sense (I actually did that in Malaysia, partly because it was never easy to be sure it would be in the shops when you needed it.)  A lot of the shortages make sense too – long-life milk, pasta, rice … things that can be storied for a long time, without a fridge or freezer.  We’re living in interesting times.  It’s fairly clear why that’s considered a curse.

Anyway …

Everyone keeps asking about The Artful Apprentice.  I’m just waiting on the final set of edits (hopefully this week) and once they’re done, the book will be published. 

I’ve finished Nanette’s Tale, with the intention of adding it to Fantastic Schools II.  Fantastic Schools I should be out in May. 

I’ve also been looking at some of my older plots.  The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea – Their Darkest Hour II – is probably writable, with some minor edits.  The original version was too close to other books for my peace of mind, even if the story IS set in the UK.  I’ll see about doing it at some point, sooner rather than later (if people are interested).  I’ve also been studying the old The Succubus who fell in love story and thinking about finalising the plot.

There’s also The Royal Sorceress V: The Revolutionary War.  I’m still thinking about it, but the first set of ideas are too close to a few older books for them to work. 

Anyway … I start Knife Edge (The Empire’s Corps 17) tomorrow. 

Chris