Almost Halloween

Today is one of the highlights of my year. I love Halloween. I don't particularly enjoy the incessant opening of the front door and handing out sweets for 4 hours on the actual evening. Especially not to the 6' tall teenagers to come round with a Halloween costume consisting of a mask and uttering a very low "Trick or Treat" at me at 9 pm. I suppose the small humans in their various witch and vampire costumes are OK. I just like skulls and skeletons and gruesome stuff. 

Today we went to Broadwitch Hauntfest. For a flat fee the four of us got to wander around four haunted houses and one haunted outside bit as many times as we wanted. It was loud, menacing, pitch black, had flashing lights, spinning things and lots of dead people hanging around. We go every year and I love it. I'm not allowed to go in the evening when the actors jump out at you. I think the kids think I'd get too excited. We go in the morning when we don't have to queue and we get each haunted house to ourselves.

Having been squished by inflated corridors, had ceilings threaten to collapse on me and sat in a church of skeletons for a rest, I have pictures (none of the insides, I was having too much fun going into the hiding places and pulling faces at the family when they caught up with me.)

These are my new lights.

I require this wallpaper everywhere.

This is difficult to walk along when you're walking the way they want you to, but nigh on impossible to walk back the way you came. I know. I tried. And it's only the tunnel that spins. I love it. Dizzy.

I've got to wait another year before I go again now. Boo.

I see me here, I see me there

I see me bloody everywhere!

I'm spluttering my way through a stinking cold at the moment. I have to admit it's a damn sight better than the throat thing that led up to it. At least now I know I should be OK for the weekend. For a while I thought I was coming down with man flu, which would be a neat trick!

Cossie decided to climb out of her vivarium just as I was about to tip half a dozen locusts in there for her. I don't speak lizard. Unsure of what she wanted, I sat on the stool in front of her home with the arm she'd climbed on in the air until it started going numb. Eventually, I relocated her onto my shoulder and brought her downstairs and sat on the sofa until she climbed off me onto the floor. All she did then was sit there giving me what may or may not be warning signals. I took her back upstairs again to her house, fed her and left her to it because I had appointments booked. Who knows.

Book news: Whilst I have been getting ahead with writing Missing Remnants and Iridessian Haunts for Radish Fiction, I've also been blogged.

http://www.agirlandherebooks.com/2017/10/read-excerpt-from-iridessian-haunts-by.html

http://www.agirlandherebooks.com/2017/10/read-excerpt-from-missing-remnants-by.html

and 

https://princessofthelight.wordpress.com/2017/10/12/amy-j-hamilton-e-introduces-radish_fiction-books-radishfiction-app-writing/

Radish Fiction is new and I'm still trying to spread the word.

Is quite clearly mad!

People who know me well, realise that already. I have just started writing a new serial on Radish Fiction. That would be perfectly normal if I hadn't already got one on the go I haven't finished yet. There is, therefore, much writing going on with my novelty syringe pens in my notebooks.

Radish Fiction, for those who missed it, is an app-based, digital, serial fiction platform. Download the app to your device for free. The first three chapters of any book are free. They are currently running an offer on Radish coins. All authors are invited to write for Radish. I don’t think they have particularly low standards, I must, therefore, not be rubbish!

Back to my moment of madness:

I'd like to introduce you to Kanner and Nix who are scouting the primitive planet of Iridessia. If the planet is suitable for human habitation, the construction companies will move in. Iridessia has all the usual things, solid ground, breathable atmosphere, water source, ghosts.

The pair is sent to investigate a cave system where they encounter things even the most scientific minds will fail to explain. Or did they? Kanner and Nix can’t agree on the events that took place in the cave.

My other 'clean' story on Radish has received very high praise.

For those of you who like a murder mystery, look no further than Missing Remnants. Track is investigating the murders and disappearances the Authority refuses to touch. Strange messages are relayed to him via the screens and service robots. He’s been stalked, attacked, kidnapped, his apartment has been broken into and his modular pet robot dog Banyon was dismantled. If he can work out why he might be able to solve the mystery of the Missing Remnants.

Missing Remnants has recently received a five-star rating. I've been told it's quite addictive.

So, come and have a read of my stories on Radish Fiction. They are some of the best stories ever written, said no-one ever...

Happy Anniversary

Our anniversary was in July, I know, I'm late. We did buy each other cards in the correct week though. It took us a month to go out for dinner. Look, after 16 years of marriage we finally bought each other exactly the same card. We've been trying to do that for years!

I don't have blonde hair. It's currently purple, soon to be mauve.

It's the end of September and I can honestly say I don't feel like I've had a summer or a holiday. Yet, apparently they both happened. I think summer is open to debate. The holiday was just wet. Two weeks in Wales and it rained virtually every day. Even the locals were surprised. Not to mention the traffic doubling the journey time to 9 hours. We did get out and about and saw some interesting places. And the car only ended up in a ditch once. Here are some pictures of summer not being soggy:

Aberglasney House and Gardens

Angle Bay Beach

A view from Pembroke Castle. It almost killed me getting up there.

Since we've been back, I've been dealing with a variety of things. I sought treatment for a hereditary joint condition for me and the kids. On the one hand it's unfortunate that the kids have inherited my hypermobility spectrum disorder because the condition does cause a lot of fatigue and pain. On the other hand-at least now they've been diagnosed, no $(*%&*$^ can accuse me of being a hypochondriac or a drama queen. After suffering since I was at primary school I cannot tell you how exhausted I am with the constant dismissive attitudes of people who assume I'm just making a fuss. Oh look, there's a cliff... off you go!

On a more positive note, there is a university application going on for this Cyberman for next year.

Taken at the Museum of Childhood

We've also had the inevitable long-winded search for suitable school shoes. Honestly, with feet as painful as ours, the kids should be allowed to wear trainers. And of course I've been writing. If I'd not been writing, either the men in white coats would have carted me away by now or I'd be in an orange jumpsuit or UK equivalent somewhere.

It'll be October in a couple of days and I like Halloween. I've booked tickets for us to go to the local farm for their Halloween event. Five different haunted castles to wander around as many times as you like. We went round them five times last year, including the nauseating spinning one! 

Introducing "Missing Remnants" on Radish Fiction

Hello world, it's been a while, I trust you're well.

Not only am I very smug over that cover-I'm also thrilled with the way the story of Detective Track is shaping up. To recap- I managed to infiltrate Radish Fiction. It's OK, I'm not sure they've realised yet. Authors publish fiction an episode at a time and readers get a bite sized chunk of fiction to read on a weekly basis on the Radish Fiction app. As well as throwing Modified and Nate and Day up there, I am writing something brand new.

A murder mystery set on a space station. I could have set it in London, but I'd only have got geographical details wrong. So I wimped out and set it in space like I always do. There's nothing like my imagination to get me out of doing research!

Here's what my latest character has to say for himself.

"My name's Track. Until they benched me for three months, I'm pretty sure I was one of Si-Cross 4's best detectives. Now they want me to take up knitting or do some self-help course for ninety days while I adjust my attitude. Well, they know what they can do with that idea. There was a dead woman at my front door and they're closing the case already. If they're not going to investigate, I will. About the only thing I have left to lose is my life. They'll come after me and they know I can't outrun them with the chip in my knee, but I have no intention of letting this go. Something isn't right on this station and someone needs to stand up to the Authority. I'll do it, or die trying."

Yeah, bit dramatic, but I love him anyway.

FREE BOOKS. LOADS OF THEM ONLY UNTIL 30th JULY

Everyone likes something for free. For a limited time only, 24th July-30th July if you're after books to download for the summer that won't cost a penny, go to this link:

http://www.andreadomanski.com/promo

It includes a link to the free download of my book Modified, (for which I infiltrated the humour section.) The direct link to mine is: 

https://www.instafreebie.com/free/GwAQz

Free, loads of them. All different genres. Why are you still here? I've got nothing else of any interest to say. Go away.

I like radishes...

This is worthy of a blog post. 
Radish Fiction is an app that publishes bite-sized serialised fiction. 

Some works are published for free in their entirety, in the unsurprisingly named Free setting (like Wattpad.) The first three chapters of anything are always free. If a book is set to Freemium, the first three chapters are free and the reader then either waits a week for the next chapter to become available for free or pays a small amount of coins (just like any other app/game coins) to release the next chapter. 

There is a Premium option where the chapters always have to be released with coins.

Radish authors are there by invitation only.

The reason I'm telling you this?...

I've just been invited to join Radish as an author.

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that Modified will be available for free as soon as I've uploaded it all. 

I already have so many ideas for future stories.

Nobody told me to stop it, so I wrote another one.

Announcing the Sci-Fi/Erotica/Humour sequel quite literally no-one was waiting for. Well OK, maybe those three people in the corner.

Meet Nate and Day (Lunar Medical Book 2.) They will be let loose on humankind from 14th July in various formats including ebook, paperback, naked, and Enceffian Telepathy especially for that weirdo reading over your shoulder.

Can the team make it back to the planet in one piece? Will they find survivors to bring back to the LMED-1 moon base. Will Nate and Day be able to redress the… well… themselves, it is erotica.

Full of whatever it was that made Modified an enjoyable read, Nate and Day has a snappy title and a really good cover.

Nate and Day is available to pre-order HERE

And if you successfully managed to avoid it first time around, Modified is now 99p (or something completely different outside the UK.) Available HERE as well as other eBook sellers.

Meanwhile as everyone melts-I'm writing hot stuff!

It's hot in more ways than one at the moment. I believe the temperature outside is somewhere near 30C. That's hot for all those who work in Fahrenheit (apparently I got that spelling right first time-surprised me!)

In my writing corner, where my living room fan appears to be cooling the coffee table more than me, I'm putting the finishing touches to my second novel. I have a cover, I have a title, words have been written. It will be released to all three of you who are "eagerly" awaiting it in a few weeks. (Don't ask me for a date, something will only happen and I'll miss it. It's been one of those lives!)

But first here is the new (yes another new one) cover for my first book. It's a series, both covers are of a similar design, it had to be done, don't complain at me, I only write the things. I promise to leave it alone now. The cover that is, there's no guaranteeing I won't fiddle with other things.

Say hi to Fiona and Day. I quite like him-in a "purely unprofessional manner."

Strange place to keep your socks and other nonsense.

Fell off the face of the planet for a couple of weeks there. I would like to be able to report that I have won a literary award, the lottery and a new bathroom suite, but I haven't. Come to think of it, if I'd won the lottery I would be able to afford a new bathroom suite and as for an award for writing-Oh the hilarity!

Laptop screen was grubby, grabbed the first thing to hand to wipe it down-a sock I took off last week that was still on the sofa next to me. Turns out used socks are as good as anything else to get dust off a touchscreen. It doesn't smell, it also didn't stick to the wall when I chucked it, so I guess that's OK to wear again, if I don't start cleaning things with it.

My eyesight isn't superb at the moment. According to tests my long vision with my contact lenses is 20/20. Close vision is something else entirely. Unfortunately, I don't have long arms to type at a distance, so everything on the screen needs to be made mahoosive in order for me to see it. With that in mind, I converted a version of Nate and Day to a mobi file so I could read it on my phone. Blimey, wish I'd done that with book one, it is so much easier to read than trying to focus on the laptop. I'm regressing into someone that needs words big enough to fill four to a line.

Speaking of which, I am currently on what I hope to be the last edit of Nate and Day-Lunar Medical book 2. It's a damn good romp interspersed with some very powerful scenes. If nothing else I am very good at writing destruction and angst. I've written a roller coaster. I am working with an excellent cover designer who is producing covers for both books, so I can keep the series in similar designs.

In Pet News-Crunch the tortoise has ventured out into the garden a few times now that the weather is warmer. She has discovered that dandelions are OK to eat, but only after we broke the flowers off and gave them to her. She's only about 9cm long and the flowers were about a foot above her head. 

In Mum News-our 13 year old son out grew the trousers I bought him just two months ago. He's barely worn them. He's now surpassed his age in trousers. Last week these new/old ones were above the tops of his socks. When did that happen?

In business news-due to lack of necessity and fatigue, I quit working evenings. This means that as the kids get home from school later due to after school events, I can cook dinner without having to worry about getting it done before the clients arrive. That decision has been a long time in the making and has inconvenienced a sum total of no people.

Dragon, shoes, intravenous need for caffeine and a new book

The trouble with chronic fatigue type conditions is that they are on going. There are good days and bad days. I'm lucky, I'm someone who is virtually always functioning to varying degrees, however, just because I do, doesn't mean I'm feeling OK doing it. Having chronic fatigue doesn't mean an individual is bed bound. That's not me. Today I don't mind telling you I'm bloody knackered and all my other symptoms are also making their presence known.

Thanks to the individuals who set off the ransomware attack at the weekend, my husband had to work an extra day and that put our plans at the weekend back. I ended up doing too much yesterday and I'm suffering for it today. And that's how it goes. It's like rebooting every morning without enough energy as it is for the entire day. But if you do too much on one day, the effects of the fatigue escalate over the coming days. Remember there is no such thing as refreshing sleep, that's for normal people.

Now for anyone who read Oh For the Love of All Things Caffeinated which included the mention of acquiring suitable school shoes for a 13 year old boy who walks 3 miles a day, I purchased a pair for £48. I've checked back. That was at the beginning of March this year. THEY NOW RUB BLISTERS. Well I'll be buggered if I'm going to shell out another £48 for a pair just for him to outgrow them in two months. (Although that would be the summer holidays) So whilst away at the weekend we stopped off at the same shop's factory outlet store and picked up a pair for £18. I'm now forced to weigh up if it's worth travelling 50 minutes by car to save £30 on a pair of shoes.

NOT A SCHOOL SHOE

Cossie the bearded dragon has been off her game recently. I think that's partly my fault. Last week it took me several hours to realise that her heat lamp wasn't working. I keep a spare bulb, so I changed it, it worked, I ordered a new spare. I ordered 100 locusts which is what she gets through in just over a week. Cossie stopped eating. I'm now feeding the locusts in the box and watching Cossie give the ones in her vivarium a ride on her head!

Today, Cossie's heat lamp died again. I changed the bulb for the new spare. Nothing. I changed the fuse in the plug, the new spare works the old spare is dead. £6 down the drain. Hopefully when she's warmed up a bit she'll start eating again. I don't care if insects are becoming the latest must have food item, I'm not eating locusts.

I have finished writing Nate and Day, the second book in the Lunar Medical series. I'm currently looking for beta readers, you never know I might have inadvertently dug a plot hole. If I don't find anyone to read it I'll hit publish when I've bought a cover, I am eager to release the book for the three people who are waiting for it. Yes, that many, I'm impressed too...