I finally got the monkey off my back.

A short-story first conceived at the end of 2016 threatened to forever remain a work-in-progress. It was high time I released something new. My last published piece was the short story Spectrum in June ’16.

The new story – Crystal Clear – is available for pre-order now. It is released tomorrow (July 31st).

Here’s the sales pitch:

A mysterious ancient artifact washes up on the beach of a small coastal town.
For one man, the discovery is about to radically change his life for the better.
But for those around him, it leaves a trail of unimaginable destruction.

It’s 11,500 words (about an hours reading) – perfect as a lunchtime read or for a Monday morning commute. The links on where to get it are:

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon Canada
(also available in other territories)

Best of all, it costs less than $1.

I’ve now got a clear road ahead to focus on my third novel – Raising Lazarus. I’m really excited about this story, not least because I haven’t read the original draft since I completed it at the end of 2015 (!).

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I’ve recently been thinking that it would be a good idea to do a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure‘ story for kids. I used to love reading them when I was younger – being able to influence the choices in a story line meant that I was more invested in the outcome.

It would lend itself well to Kindle and electronic devices, skipping between scenes seamlessly. These books already exist on the Kindle store with varied success. Personally, I can see myself reading to my six-year old nephew Sean in his very own adventure book: ‘Sean and the Pirates‘, ‘Sean and the Haunted House‘, etc.

I think it would be a great way to get kids reading and excited about books again. Accompanied with some neat illustrations, an exciting story-line and strong characters, if done well, it would help transform storytelling into a fun activity again.

I created my own interactive story on this blog last year. I quickly realised that supplying more options meant that there are lots of threads that needed to be neatly tied up to provide a unique journey for the reader. My little ‘experiment’ eventually took me eighteen hours to complete. All in all – it was probably 2-3 minutes for the reader. Lesson learnt.

You can check it out here: YOU WAKE UP (Choose Your Own Adventure)