Tush Writing Update for 2014

Tush's Writing Update for 2014

(Pic is: a guitar pick I caught in the audience from my favourite band, around 2005.)

Hello! And I'm sorry updates have been relatively quiet... Real life has been changing a lot for me; shit happens, life goes on. Basically I will be doing a major MOVE soon, so 2014 will likely be spent adjusting, adapting, and moving forward.

I can't wait :)

While I haven't written anything new, I am pleased to say I will have TWO brand new releases for 2014 (which were already written, yippee!) and are just going into editing stages now. 

Estimated releases for both, summer 2014. More details as and when I have them :)

Another Bar Tender Tale: Love on the Rocks, will be released with Dreamspinner Press.

It is a spin off from previous novella, A Bar Tender Tale, which was released with Dreamspinner back in 2012. My apologies to fans of the first story, but original couple Nathan and Auryn will not be in the spin off. Current character, Justin, simply took up too much page space with his effervescent personality!

Justin was one of Nathan’s bar colleagues from Rainbows. Justin’s story is really sweet, and I’m looking forward to its release. (ETA August 2014.)

 

Pic is: fond memories of gigs past, used as inspiration for my 'big' upcoming project! 

Moving onto my big project, which is novel length, I absolutely can’t wait to share it with you. It is a spin off from the Crucifox universe, but aside from some brief mentions and cameos it is its own standalone novel. 

Phoenix (Death Rose #1) will be released with Less Than Three Press.

A little background: the first proper ‘band’ book I wrote was Crucifox and, yes, The Green-eyed Monster is the first in the Crucifox series (which is taking longer than originally anticipated to complete. Because life happens, basically). The stories run parallel.

While Crucifox is very much about the band itself, with an insider’s view looking out, I’d always had plans for another point of view.

In the same universe but with a different band, thus a different story. So many of those band names were too awesome to pass up, so please get ready to welcome Death Rose into the spotlight. 

(If you get the pun, well done and have a cookie.)

Many years ago (ahem!) before I started working with bands, I was simply a fan. A wide eyed teenager who thought that the guys up onstage were gods, and I absolutely worshipped

them.

Still do, if I’m honest. But now I have more life experience and know that these guys are just people like you or me... just very, very talented people.

What I wanted to do with the Phoenix novel was to show my love of music the way I originally discovered it: as a fan. 

A fan who went to gigs, was madly in love with the guitarist (yeah, it’s always the guitarist… or the singer!) and if there was a chance of getting backstage to meet the band, that was absolutely the best thing that could ever happen. 

Pic is: a wristband to get backstage at Brixton Academy, London. Quite a recent gig for me; 2013. I really wish I'd kept more of these wristbands and passes.

My novel, Phoenix, is seen through the eyes of a teenage boy, Alex, and his journey as he goes to gigs and tries to meet his favourite band. What I wanted to capture with this story was the heart-stopping joy something so simple like a strip of paper around a wrist, or a laminate around a neck, could feel like. 

Access all areas is like a drug, but more addictive.

 ~ ~ ~

On a parting note, yes there are a few brief mentions of the band Death Rose in The Green-eyed Monster, mostly derivative as narrator Sky can’t stand them:

“…our spandex-clad pals, Death Rose…”  is one of my favourite quotes describing the band. 

He he he.

Bring on summer 2014!