When Frank, a staid, middle-aged, confirmed bachelor takes his new, diplomat Thai bride to a friend’s apartment on the Costa del Sol for their dream honeymoon, they are in Nirvana… until the ghouls of a secret Scandinavian society torment the superstitious young woman to the point of seeking death to end her suffering. Frank is way out of his depth… What is he to do to save the first love of his life?
The Ghouls of Calle Goya
This novel, often called just Calle Goya is the perplexing story of how Evil can result from the happiest of circumstances and good intentions, and how madness can be the result.
It is based on a true story and is set in Norway, the UK, Spain and Thailand.
Calle Goya is available in several languages in several ebook formats (Barnes & Noble, GooglePlay, iTunes, Kindle, Kobo), paperback and possibly even audiobook (Amazon/Audible) too.
The cover is an original in crayon by Aliya.
Click a link below to learn more about the availability of the book in the language of your choice:
Dragons in the Clouds is a well-edited novel in the third person in the genre of historical fiction or fantasy and is aimed at young teenagers.
The story of Dragons in the Clouds is actually set in in two epochs and on two continents. The main characters in the present day setting of the United States are Ray Evans and his young daughter, Reilly; and at some unspecified time in the distant past, in the kingdom of Albion, we meet King Arturus, Merlinius, Sir Solomon, David and his pet baby dragon, Rago. It is difficult to say who or what is the main protagonist of them.
The story takes the form of Ray Evans recounting to his daughter a legend told to him by the elderly owner of a toy shop he met on his latest business tip to London. Mr Evans meets him when he goes in to purchase a toy dragon that he sees in the shop window.
The Kingdom of Albion
The main body of Dragons in the Clouds is set in the ancient Kingdom of Albion, which seems to be somewhere in Europe, but that is not explicit. The king of Albion, Arturus, is worried by public unrest caused by his people’s fear of the dragons living in the land. In actual fact, there are two species of dragons: the carnivores and the herbivores. However, most people cannot distinguish between the two types and so fear them all.
In an attempt to garner favour and quell the unrest, Arturus sets his royal knights, led by Sir Solomon, the task of exterminating all the dragons in the country. Without wishing to give too much away, some people find this grossly unfair, and set about trying to save the harmless plant-eaters, which leads to all kinds of battles between humans and humans, dragons and dragons and even humans and dragons.
Thunder and Lightening
These exciting battles lead to the main theme of the Dragons in the Clouds, which is how thunder and lightening came into existence.
Although Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair is aimed at a readership much younger than myself, I enjoyed the story and am certain that ten-twelve years olds will love it’s unique plot and story-line. If I have a criticism, it is a small, personal one: I prefer not to see famous names from history and mythology used in this way, as it could blur the original stories (as Disney often has).
The cover and the title are completely appropriate to the body of the story and I give Dragons in the Clouds by David Blair five out of five stars!
Our unique interview with author David Blair can be found here: David Blair
3 Do you prefer to read a particular genre? I like all genres
4 Do you write in the same genre? If not which one? I have written a fantasy, a western, and a contemporary crime drama
5 Have you always written and what got you started professionally? I got involved in story telling in the 8th grade. I wrote, directed and starred in a student film called ‘’Destination Destiny’’ I then picked up writing again in my early thirties. A movie producer friend of mine, challenged me to co-write a screenplay. And from that point on, I was hooked.
6 How many books have you published? One, ‘’Dragons in the Clouds’’ is my first published work. Although I do have other completed manuscripts waiting in the wings.
7 Which one would you like to tell us about? ‘’Dragons in the Clouds’’ of course.
8 Why did you write this book and what is it about?‘’Dragons in the Clouds’’ first started out as a project for ‘’Puff the Magic Dragon’’ that beloved song recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. I was having lunch with the hair stylist for Universal movie producer Kathleen Kennedy’s hair stylist. I mentioned that I was working on a story based on Puff, then about a month later I read in Variety – the industry magazine – that Kennedy had bought the rights to Puff. Needless to say, that taught me a lesson to keep my mouth shut.
‘’Dragons in the Clouds” is a epic adventure that takes place in a time when Dragons were alive and freely roamed the land. The people during this time were getting eaten by a vicious specie of Dragon, the meat eaters. The ruling king of this period finally orders the total annihilation of all living Dragons. A powerful wizard named Merlinius, does not agree with the Kings order, for he knows that all Dragons are not what they seem. For Merlinius is friends to a species of Dragons, the plant eaters. So to protect his Dragon friends, Merlinius grants a family of Dragons the spell of weightlessness and then tells them to fly up and to hide in the cover of the Clouds. And for them to only come down at night to feed.
An unforeseen ability of the Dragons’ weightless spell is that their fire now looks like that of lightning and their roar now sounds like thunder. An apprentice to the wizard who has grandeur of his own has meat eating Dragons hidden deep within a cave and he too, gives them the same spell of weightlessness. Now enters a widowed mother and her young son who also has befriended a dragon, though a very young one. They suddenly find themselves caught between the king’s order and the battle that has begun between the two species of Dragons. A battle that will determine control of the skies above the Kingdom of Albion. The apprentice’s plan has consequences that may bring the Kingdom and perhaps the very world we live in today to a devastating end.
9 Book cover and ISBN/ASIN:
Dragons in the Clouds
ISBN -13: 978-1-949809-17-6 ASIN – B07KCQ8173
10 What would you like your next book to be on? I have a contemporary crime drama I am excited to publish. Titled ‘’Meaner than the Devil”
11 If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would you go and why? The centre of the milky Way. I heard that is the centre or origin of the Universe. The Nebula would also be awesome to get a closer look at.
12 Is there anything you can share about yourself or your work that not many people know? I love to write, When I get in the zone, I could write for hours and hours.
13 What is your favourite foreign food? Toss up between Italian and Mexican food.
14 Are you, or have you ever been a terrorist? Hurting people is evil, Wouldn’t have any part of that.
15 Have you ever accidentally called your spouse/partner by the name of a character in your latest book and if so what was his or her reaction? LOL, no.
You can read our review of ‘Dragons in the Clouds’ by David Blair on this site here: ‘Dragons in the Clouds’
It has taken me most of this year so far to get my first audiobook – A Night In Annwn – read as an audiobook, but the process is now complete and you can listen to the first fifteen minutes below free of charge.
It does take quite a long time, but this is not really anyone’s fault. Rather it is a completely different process and the author has to learn the new role of Director.
The Director
The Director, not unlike as you see in film credits, is in charge of setting the guidelines and choosing the producer according to criteria that he sets. This mainly has to do with the voice of the producer (narrator) of the audiobook.
When the Director has shortlisted a few voices, then auditions have to be held, and a final producer selected. From then on the Director has to be available to answer any production queries that arise on the fly.
Eventually, the chapters are ready to be edited, and the Director comes back to the fore, for each chapter has to be listened to and compared with the original text.
Alterations can still be made at this stage, and a cover has to be made. It is the Director’s responsibility to get all this done to his satisfaction. When the book has been approved, the audio company’s Quality Control takes over. Nevertheless, the Director may still get the audiobook back for editing.
Quality Control
Once it passes that stage, it goes on to the aggregators ( Amazon, Audible and Apple) to be checked by their Quality Control systems. About a week after that, the audiobook will go live.
A Night In Annwn is one of my favourite books because it is so different, and the wonderful reader, Andrew McGuirk, adds an extra dimension to the words and atmosphere.
There Be Demons by M. K. Theodoratus is a (Contemporary) Fantasy Fiction written in the third person and set in a city called Trebridge on a world called Andron, where most people are human. However, demons and imps led by the evil Lord Vetis and his somewhat silly lieutentant, Abraxus, have plans to invade, for which purpose they have established at least one seep, which is like a worm-hole, from their world into Andron.
The main seep is in a soon-to-be demolished cmmunity church called St. Edmund’s, and it is closely guarded by four gargoyles, who are sworn to protect mankind. Nevertheless, these protectors of humanity still require human help and this comes in the form of four teenage school friends led by a wilful girl named Britt. The head gargoyle, Gillen, is very concerned when his promised psychic reinforcements are just teenagers.
Britt and her friends study at a school run by nuns on the poorer side of town and the nuns play a role in the ultimate battle with the evil ones who seek to possess them. The penultimate scene us the battle between the human and the demon teams.
There is a correlation between the society, the church and the religion in There Be Demons with American society and the Christian (Catholic) Church, and it is interesting to match up the parallels.
I thoroughly enjoyed There Be Demons even though it is not my preferred genre. I thought that the characters were well drawn, and that the book’s title and cover were appropriate for the story. It is also well written, and well, although not perfectly, edited, which can easily be corrected.
If fantasy stories are your genre, I am sure that you will enjoy There Be Demons by M. K. Theodoratus. I would read a sequel. Well done, Miss Theodoratus, full marks in my book!
3 Do you prefer to read a particular genre? I mostly read various forms of fantasy or mystery books, though I read other stuff too.
4 Do you write in the same genre? If not which one? I write fantasy since I never could break my “make-believe” habit. In reality, I’m a hermit who doesn’t interact much with the outside world anymore, so creating fantasies where I can ignore the intricacies of the faddish world work best for me.
5 Have you always written and what got you started professionally? Started writing in the sixth grade when my teacher introduced me to the concept of me creating my own stories on paper. Have written since then. I sold mostly non-fiction. I didn’t start getting ending on most of my fiction until I retired. Writing keeps me busy and out of mischief.
6 How many books have you published? There Be Demons is the only book I’ve published, but I do have a list of several novellas and free short stories set in Andor. Once There Be Demons had a contract with a mom & pop publisher and I tried to build a platform for them. Must say the reviews for all of my available stories are decent.
7 Which one would you like to tell us about? Actually, I’d like to mention the There Be Demons sequence. The whole thing started with an idea about how would a gargoyle protect a city. Night for the Gargoyles was born, featuring Gillen as loadstar, and sold to Spectra Magazine, a defunct ezine out of the UK. But I kept wondering how Gillen would cope trying to teach the headstrong teen-aged girl he admired. There Be Demons was born. While I shopped it, I wrote On the Run set in the same world. The sequence runs: Showdown at Crossings, Night for the Gargoyles, There Be Demons, On the Run, and Rendezvous with Demons, if it gets written. [Rendezvous is about 30,000 words of sloppy notes and some chapters at the moment
8 Why did you write this book book and what is it about? See the book review here: There Be Demons
9 Book cover and ISBN/ASIN: ISBN: 0999203908 – ASIN: B075Q6KJST
There Be Demons
10 What would you like your next book to be on? It’s a little complicated. I have edits of a Far Isles Half-Elven novella in my computer I’d like to finish. Then, I don’t final edits on the sequel/stand-alone book titled On the Run. Then, I’m working on a new book is a possible trilogy. The working title is Rendezvous with Demons, featuring Britt/Cahal and Pillar/Nate plus other characters facing down a demon team of Vetis/Grylerrque.
11 If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would you go and why? My back yard. It’s relaxing under the trees watching the birds and butterflies do their thing. It’s my favourite place to read though I read mostly in my comfy chair in the living room.
12 What is your favourite foreign food? I don’t do favourites–either books or food. It all depends on my mood. Mostly I cook plain American, Mexican, and Greek. I learned to cook decent Asian food back in the day when my town didn’t have any good Asian restaurants. My least go-to food is Indian though I often cook curries with a heavy Asian accent.
13 Are you, or have you ever been a terrorist? I used to cause terror regularly, mostly when I was younger. I have strong opinions and wasn’t shy about sharing them, especially in public meetings.
Thank you very much for this interview M. K. Theodoatus, I look forward to your nrxt book.
Crater’s Edge is a well-edited novel written in the third person in the genre of futuristic, off-world, fantasy or science-fiction.
The main protagonist is Kalen Trinner, an experienced mining engineer-cum-trouble-shooter. In the course of his job, the mining company sends him to a mine at Area 20 in Three Craters on the planet Taidor, because the population is experiencing an unusual amount of adverse phenomena. For some reason, sickness is growing among the miners, and malfunctions in the plant and equipment are becoming a more and more common experience.
Futuristic
In the time of this story at Crater’s Edge, mankind has still not managed to control the birth rate, but they have come up with an ingenious method to adapt to it. They have the population living in shifts! That is, people have their own homes, but they share the streets, amenities and even their jobs. In essence, there are two such shifts, which people call (time) Zones – Unity and Early.
These two Zones exist completely apart. The people from each are prohibited from meeting each other, which means that all public places have to be cleared at the end of each shift. Presumably, because of this, each Zone develops a distinct character, feel, or way of behaving.
In a strange way, the only point of contact is through the notes that the person doing your job in the other Zone – called one’s Duplicate – leaves at the end of the day. In this way, plant, offices and businesses are running twenty-four hours a day every day.
Crater’s Edge
Crater’s Edge portrays a unique answer to the problems of overcrowding that reminds me of some of the situations that the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise encountered during their voyages. Weird, outlandish solutions that don’t quite work, which allows us, from our present-day, Earthly perspective to wonder how those other-planetary leaders came up with them!
I thoroughly enjoyed Crater’s Edge by Lucy Andrews. I really enjoyed Miss Andrews’ unique storyline and the well-drawn characters and locations. Furthermore, I also thought that there was the right amount of detail concerning the mining operations themselves. Nevertheless, if I have a criticism, it is personal and small. I thought that the cliff-hanger ending was a little abrupt.
However, the cover and the title also match the storyline of Crater’s Edge. Therefore, I have no hesitation in giving Lucy Andrews five out of five stars for her novel Crater’s Edge.
Well done!
You can find a unique interview with this author on this blog by clicking her name: Lucy Andrews .
Yes, I usually read either historical or science fiction novels. When I read a book, I want to be transported out of normal daily life to places I’ve never been to.
Do you write in the same genre? :
My first novel is science fiction. I decided to write the sort of book that I would want to read. I realised that if I set my novel in the future, there would be no constraint on the sort of society I could put my characters in. I could create a whole world and a different way of living unlike contemporary society and take my characters to unusual places and situations. I wanted to create a world that would stretch the imagination and pose questions about the way people live, the things they do and why. Science fiction enables the author more freedom to do this than setting a book in the past or present.
Have you always written and what got you started professionally? :
I’ve always wanted to write a novel but never had the time until recently. I’ve had a busy career and first tried my hand at writing short stories for women’s magazines several years ago. I wasn’t very successful, primarily because women’s fiction isn’t a genre I particularly enjoy. I eventually woke up to the fact that what I really wanted to write was science fiction which I hadn’t tried before. As I was still working it took me some time to write my first novel and it is only within the last year that I’ve been able to give up the “day job” to focus on writing.
How many books have you published? :
Crater’s Edge is my first novel.
Why did you write Crater’s Edge and what is it about? :
I wanted to write an exciting adventure story that readers would enjoy on one level, but at the same time the book explores serious issues on a deeper level. The story is set in 2235 on a planet that is being colonised. As there is restricted space, the characters live in two different time zones. My main characters are an engineer, Kalen and a geologist, Sera. Kalen’s job is to trouble-shoot mining problems, but when he is sent to the new construction site at Three-Craters, things begin to unravel. All is not as it seems. Kalen’s search for the truth about the problems on the site, end up taking him on a dangerous journey. The book explores love, betrayal and treason. Kalen has a hard time! By the end of the book, everything is revealed, but I’ve tried to keep the reader guessing.
Crater’s Edge by Lucy Andrews
ISBN – 10 162526674X (UK); ISBN – 13 978-1625266743 (US); ASIN – B07771GBBN
What would you like your next book to be on? :
I’m writing a sequel to Crater’s Edge. Although Crater’s Edge is complete in itself, I thought it would be fun to take the story to the next level. Things are going to get pretty nasty for my characters. I’ve got a great storyline and I’ve dreamt up some very frightening challenges for them.
If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would you go and why? :
I would like to experience weightlessness, so I could feel something akin to being able to fly. A closer view of the Milky Way would be wonderful.
Is there anything you can share about yourself or your work that not many people know? :
I spent many summer weekends for over ten years playing a musketeer and can load and fire a 17th century match-lock musket in under 30 seconds. That is a reproduction musket not an original one!
What is your favourite foreign food? :
I love Thai Pad Si-Ew
Thank you, Lucy Andrews for sharing that information with us.
A review of Crater’s Edge by Lucy Andrews can be found on this blog here: Crater’s Edge – Review
