It's been a year!

Let me say thank you. No really, let me.

Feb 14, 2025

Hello and good morning, dear readers,

It may come as a surprise to you (it certainly was to me) that I’ve been on Substack as an author for a year. I think the 25th of February 2024 was the very first time I published on here. I’d recently come up with the idea that I would write fiction on Substack and see what happens.

I’ll tell you what happened if you care about numbers—I ended up with 1000 subscribers and sold over 350 books! Since that first newsletter, there have been over 200 newsletters sent your way, including the serial of Oceanus and The Spider. Thanks for being here.

This place has changed my life, and so have you. I know I mentioned numbers there, but it’s the unquantifiable stuff that brings me back to the keyboard every day. I love being part of a community of talented people, getting to read a wide range of things that are good for my brain, and talking directly to you, the readers. You’re all wonderful. Sharing my fiction with you is an honour. I’m not the type of writer who can just lock myself away and not discuss or share what I’m working on, so I’m glad I’ve found you here.

Giveaway

I’ve done subscriber giveaways before, but they raised a couple of questions for me:

Does this person want the item I am giving away?
Are they even aware I’ve emailed them?

So, rather than do another random giveaway, the entry requirements are as follows:

Comment on this newsletter or reply to this email to be entered.

That’s all you have to do.

There are two types of prize for this giveaway:

The reader prize (2 available):

A signed copy of Oceanus or The Spider. You can indicate in your entry which title you’d like to win a signed copy of. I’ll post that to anyone, anywhere in the world.

The writer prize (2 available):

A free critique of a piece of work including feedback notes for development. The word limit is 5,000. This can be a chapter of a novel, or a short story. This fiction community here has done so much for me and I’d love to give something back. Just indicate whether you’d like to win the writer prize in your comment/reply. I read a wide range of genres, have a Bachelors and a Masters degree in English Literature and taught English for nearly a decade so all genres are welcome—it’s how you tell the story that counts.

There are two types of prizes because my subscriber base is made up of both readers and fellow writers, and some of you may already have a copy of the novels. It’s best if you just tell me what you would like to win.

Entry closes on Friday 28th February 2025.

I’ll be back on Sunday with more of The Ring.