21% Free!

If you tootle across to this page here, you can read – for free and without signing up for anything – the first 21% of The Wound of Words in ebook form.

21% is, you may think, a rather odd percentage to set for a sample size or preview of a book. Well, it is odd. But not prime – or at least, not in the mathematical sense.

21% is just enough to get you to the end of the third chapter (if you go for the online reader option) or tantalizingly just short of the end of the third chapter (if you prefer epub, mobi or lrf).

Like a certain father who shall remain nameless, it stops just at a good bit and you have to wait till next time to find out What Happens Next – next time, in this instance, being Release Day, May 15.

I am, however, mulling over the possibility of a presale (so you can buy and read before Release Day) just for the readers of this blog – do let me know if that appeals.

Progress is also happening on the paperback front, but as with so much in the world at present, nothing is certain until it happens. I’ll keep you posted.

What Kind of Garden?

You’ve probably all seen the magazine-type articles which promise to tell you what clothing style is right for you. You may have taken the quizzes, or even tried to follow their advice. But the problem, I find, is that they have a limited number of stereotyped options: French chic, bohemian, avant-garde, glamorous… For some reason “time-travelling Anabaptist” never makes the list.

As it is with clothing style, so also with garden style – including, alas, an increasingly rapid change in fashions. Suggested styles may include cottage, Mediterranean, formal, Japanese, coastal, prairie or post-modern (plants optional). But again, what if you and your dream garden don’t fit neatly into one of those boxes?

What if your garden style is, er… whatever this is?
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Coming Soon to a Screen Near You

So, I have some bad news, some good news, and some more bad news.

Bad news #1 is that there is a global pandemic on at the moment (you may have noticed, even if, like me, the major difference in your life is the explosion in your email inbox) and this has Repercussions. Many people are seeing Very Bad Repercussions Indeed, so let us all be thankful that the repercussions for publishing books are not quite so dire.

They do, however, mean that I am unable to give you a date when The Wound of Words will be available in paperback (and the date I gave to the National Library will need to be amended). I can’t sign off on distribution until I’ve seen a proof copy, and I won’t be seeing a proof copy until such time as postal services are available for non-essential traffic – and that’s assuming the Print On Demand facility is still up and running. (Subscribe on the Home page if you want to be the first to know when the paperback does become available.)

Enough of the bad news for now: have some good news! The cover for The Wound of Words is complete! Feast your eyes upon this:

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