The Story for Christmas 2015

Just before I begin my winter’s hibernation (I’m planning a lock down in January to draft my next novel), I feel obliged to try to recreate the success of my ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ blog-blitz of 2014.

Last week, I was going through my folders of dead books and found something I began as a blackly satirical novel in (according to the dates on the files) 2003.  It was about a major world oil crisis and war and the deceptions of Western politicians and the way the rest of us turn a blind eye because, even though it offends us, it’s also the way the lights stay on.   Given the current Middle East crisis, it suddenly seems wonderfully prescient, so I dusted it off and showed it to some people and they said, ‘Go on finish it.’  The truth is it isn’t going to get finished unless I make myself sit down and finish it, so here’s my commitment, Gentle Readers, I’m going to serialise it here over Christmas and New Year, finishing by Twelfth Night

It will be called: ‘Pride, More Pride And Quite a Lot of Extreme Prejudice’.  It will not be for Jane Austen fans.  I plan to take it out to something bigger than a short story but less than a novella and just to spread it out a bit this year, I’ll start with Part One on 12/12/2015 (that’s almost immediately after this post) and run episodes – let’s call them chapters – every couple of days.  (That also gives me a chance to rewrite the second half of the story in between the Christmas turkey and New Year champagne).  Enjoy and write comments, and if you happen to be a literary agent or publisher have them look at my new novel page.  I’m going to be looking for representation in 2016.

As a taster of what’s to come, and if you haven’t done so yet, here’s what happened in last year’s blog-blitz…

• The Partridge in the Pear Tree
• The Two Turtle Doves
• The Three French Hens
• The Four ‘Corley’ Birds
• The Five Gold Rings
• The Six Geese-A-Laying
• The Seven Swans-A-Swimming
• The Eight Maids-A-Milking
• The Nine Ladies Dancing
• The Ten Lords-A-Leaping
• The Eleven Pipers Piping
• The Twelve Drummers Drumming