Update on The Next Book

The last few months have been full of change, but one thing that remained constant is the seemingly never ending journey of completing Blood, the follow up to Dream Weaver. I was feeling quite proud of myself after the eighth draft, but when I reviewed it I was quickly humbled, and so a ninth draft was started. That has now finished and once I’ve finished reading Leviathan Falls, the last of The Expanse books, I will read through the draft and see if I’ve ironed out the last of the wrinkles this time.

One thing I’m aiming for with Blood is tension, and I think—I hope—I’ve kept that tension running through each chapter. Anyway, progress is being made, even if it feels slow, but slow progress is still progress. I may have missed my October deadline for publishing Blood, but I still hope to have it finished by the end of October.

I’ve been working on the cover, and though it has taken more effort compared to Dream Weaver, the cover is finally finished and I’m pleased with it. A cover reveal will follow once the final draft is done and dusted, so hopefully soon.

Book 3 (Ghost) has also started in earnest. I have a partially completed first draft from before, but my ideas have changed quite a bit since then, so I will be starting over and there are new characters and new places to map out. A rough plot is finished, which is a new thing for me. Usually I just write and see where the story goes, but there were too many ideas to keep track of this time, so I’ve decided to take a more organised approach before putting pen to paper.

So Blood will cross the finish line soon enough, even if the going feels slow.

Introducing the Dream Weavers

Over the course of writing Dream Weaver, I started to play around with creating images using generative AI. It’s proved to be a useful tool in fixing a character, or a place in my head when writing. AI generated images are hit and miss, and sometimes it takes several attempts to get one I like. Sometimes it takes some photoshop to nudge it along the finish line. Occasionally I get exactly what I imagined on the first try, (but only occasionally).

Dream weavers are magical creatures that use magical energy to give comfort, inspiration, direction and truth as people sleep. Although they are magical creatures, they took a human shape so they could better empathise with those they were serving.

Alongside the weavers are the dream wraiths, which are an evolution of the weavers. Instead of weaving dreams, they steal them, taking back the magic that’s been given. Wraiths can change their form into a shape that is more efficient at locating and stealing the magic, but when not stealing dreams they tend to maintain their old, familiar, dream weaver shape.

Here’s are some of the dream weavers and dream wraiths from the story.

Man with long white hair, wearing a long blue coat, stands looking out at the sea

A man in a long green coat on a winter's day

A man with black hair in a snow covered park

A creature with porcelain like skin and a featureless face with one oval eye

A hooded figure stands alone in an abandoned housing estate on a winter night

7 Years In The Making

It was about seven and a half years ago that I started to re-work two of my short stories into a novel. Back then it was a simple stand alone story, but it didn’t take long for one story to turn into a trilogy and then into a pentalogy. It pulled in an old screenplay I wrote back in the early 1990s and a character languishing without a story at all, expanding the world into something that has become so much more than I could ever have envisioned at the start.

Juggling writing and work proved a challenge, taking three years just to finish the first draft, but after eleven drafts, feedback, revisions, rejections and challenges, Dream Weaver is finally released into the wild.

Cover of Dream Weaver Book. Young Girl with magical power holds a light in her hands

An explosion rips the heart out of Little Rock, leaving the city in ruins.

In the aftermath appear the Dream Weavers Vermilion and Argentis, magical creatures who have come to offer comfort amid the chaos. They soon discover the cause of the devastation—Starla, a young girl who has done the impossible and harnessed the power of magic.

Vermilion and Argentis must guide Starla to master the magic before she re-shapes reality and destroys more than just a city, or before darker, malevolent forces claim her power for themselves.

DREAM WEAVER is a dark urban fantasy that will take you on a thrilling journey through the world of magic. With vivid settings and intriguing characters, this first instalment in the Samsara Tula series introduces a world where magic and reality collide.

Paperback and eBook versions are available on Amazon.