And we're off!

Hot on the heels of a stunning new review for Split Decision, I'm pleased to say that I've just finished the first chapter of my newest book, which is unlike any other I have written.

Then again, I say that every time. And every time it's true.

That's because all my books are so different, both in storyline and in the style in which they are written.

Why? Because I'm a great believer in the idea that the story and the characters themselves should dictate how the book will be written, the particular point of view it will take, the direction, the pace, even the tense used to write it in. 

So with my books, you will find some written in the first person; some in the third, some in the past tense, others in the present. 

Try a couple and you'll soon see the advantages of this. Go on, live a little!

Happy Reading!

 

Review Time

Here's another review. I have to say that I wish she'd put what she liked first and what she didn't, last, but there it is...


**** Split Decision by Carmen Capuano ****
3* review from Nicole @ EBR

Although I read through Split Decision by Carmen Capuano fairly quickly, I still found that it was quite a difficult book to sit down and review, because although there were many interesting points to this story, it was also a complicated and confusing one until everything came together at the end.

I will say that it deals with a very sensitive topic and I felt that not enough was discussed or expounded upon in regards to the aftermath and the emotional ramifications of that traumatic event for the character. Until all these events and moments come together and you have that clarification on what is going on, the story was a little monotonous in the first few chapters as we establish the friendship between the two girls and the "sliding doors" moment when her fate was decided with her decisions.

I was unsure at times of who the book's main demographic would be, what the target audience was. The characters are so young but the incidents and issues are very much of a mature nature, at times it read like a cautionary YA novel for teenagers, but other times it felt more developed and grown up. The other problem I experienced was the setting. I wasn't sure where this story takes place as the dialogue switches between American and British colloquialisms, there are American characters, Greek characters and I'm assuming English? I like to have everything around me fully established, whether it be the geographical setting, or the characters heritage.
Now that the negative is out of the way I will say that once the story gained momentum and we were thrown into the drama and chaos of that one night, I really started to like the story. Happening in real time almost, it became thrilling, dangerous, heartbreaking and gained the depth and entertainment factor that the story sorely lacked in the beginning.

I really enjoyed the male characters in Split Decision, we have two very different people, with two very different outlooks in life, two men completely dissimilar in moral values and I liked how the bad was highlighted and distinguished from the good and sweet. The dialogue too seemed to become something 'more',

'But most of all what I see is the indifference people show to each other." He raised his beer to his lips and took a long swallow. I waited for him to continue but he didn't seem inclined to.
"You can't save the world." It was a lame response and I knew it but there was nothing else I could say.

"No I can't save the world. But I can save those I care about." His eyes blazed with passion. There was a hidden depth to his words that I wasn't ready to probe.'

Over all it was a good read, it's just getting past those first few chapters inside a giggly teenage girls overly dramatic head that might prove difficult for some but trust me when you do read on it will be worth it. The story picks up speed and added drama and the characters seem to develop over the ensuing chapters too.
*********************************************************************************************
How was Natalie to know that the decision she was about to
make between two potential dates, would forever be a pivotal point in her life? That it would mark the time where childhood innocence ended?
How could she even imagine that the wrong decision would send her life spiralling into the stuff of nightmares from where she might not come out alive?
Life takes a cruel twist of fate when Natalie, a completely average [almost] 16 year old, is forced to make a split-second decision... a decision that will change her future and forever alter her perception of trust, love and the realities of life.
Buy link---->
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Split-Decision-Carme…/…/ref=sr_1_2…

Firstly, can I please thank the wonderful audience who attended my most recent talk, last week. Not only was I told that my books are captivating and that my writing is beautiful, but I was also given cake afterwards. [I love this job!]

Today I am writing, so here is a little bit of a chapter from the book I'm currently working on, set in a dystopian world where things are beginning to fall apart...

“Where is he?" I am panicked and I expect her to try to calm me down. She doesn’t.

“There were complications,” she says distractedly. She moves as if to walk past me but I grab her arm, harnessing her in place. Her face is so close that I can feel her breath against my skin but only for a second, before she turns away.

“What do you mean complications?” I manage to spit the entire sentence out, even though the words threaten to choke me. Bile coats the inside of my mouth and I can’t seem to entirely swallow it back down. I am more afraid than I have ever been before.

Happy Reading!

Coming Event!

Don't forget that this Thursday you can find me at Lord Morton's Tearooms, where I will be giving a talk about my books, my love of writing and my plotlines.

For details contact 01299851201. I can't wait to see you there!

Happy Reading!

Today I am writing. And as usual when I am writing, I am eating chocolate. But this time it's not just any old chocolate, it's a very special chocolate that came from the wonderful MacDonald Burlington Hotel, which I attended for an event last night [more to follow later].

So here is a little peak at what I have just written :-

It seemed to take a long time before they got to the edge of the trees and with every step his heart thudded harder in his chest, obscenely loud in the quiet night.

They entered the dense undergrowth which grew below the soaring trees, full of trepidation and without a real plan, bunching close together, wary of ambush.

The forest seemed unnaturally quiet. No owls hooted or birds cooed. The only sounds were the brittle cracks of unseen twigs which littered the forest floor.

The almost preternatural silence was deafening. A solid wall of muteness seemed to surround them, so that the only noises were the ones they made themselves.

Taylor wished with all his heart that he had somehow made Matilda stay behind, that he had managed to convince her that the risk of their people losing her was too great… But to Matilda’s ears they would merely have been words and words could be no substitute for action.

 

These characters are heading for trouble and Matilda is destined to be in the thick of it. Why won't that woman ever listen? Now who is it she reminds me of...

 

Happy Reading!

 

Carmen.

I continue to be surprised by the content and the characters in The Owners books. Even though it is I myself who writes them, there are elements of surprise in every twist and turn.

Do you remember me telling you about one of the characters who I had only just realised was a dangerously bad man? Well it turned out today that he met his match in a character who up until now was not a main player but rather a supporting one. Seems she was just biding her time, I guess.

And that's one of the things I love most about this series - every volume picks out the people it needs to tell that part of the story, so that in effect, we get to meet all of the characters at different stages in their lives.

I guess it is a bit like looking at our own lives, slicing out little periods discrete in time and examining who was important in our lives then and why. If like me, you have changed jobs several times, moved home, been married and divorced, you will see that your world was inhabited not with one set of friends or family but a multitude of different ones who all played their own parts.

If like many of my friends, you are fortunate enough to have been in a long-term stable relationship, perhaps you will be able to see how the dynamics of this has changed over time...

'Cos that's life - there is always change, even if you can't see it clearly at the time.


Happy Reading!

Like a black Jesus, Denzel appeared to be waiting to welcome his lambs back into the fold; to be offering redemption.

But deliverance from sin was not an option, nor was it Denzel’s to offer.

Taken from The Owners Volume VI: Blood Sky.

This is the volume where everything turns and twists around once more, where what you thought was happening is not what actually happens...

Humans are complex characters and that is something I have tried very hard to get across in my books. Sometimes you think you know the very soul of a person, only to be proved wrong at the worst possible time.

My poor characters are finding that truth out...I hope that they have the strength of character to endure what will come to pass.

Happy reading. 

I watched Saving Mr Banks the other night. I wasn't looking forward to the film and it certainly wasn't my choice but even so I enjoyed it immensely.


You see I had erroneously been told that it was about the making of Mary Poppins by Mr Walt Disney but in actual fact it was about so much more than that... Within minutes it became clear that it was about the author's own childhood and how she had striven to find a meaning in her father's death, which she had witnessed at an early age. For her, this was not just a story full of light and jollity but instead had the gravitas of a psychological interpretation of how families can be drawn tighter or fall apart or in very rare instances, perform both feats simultaneously.


The real plot of the film as I understood it, was to show a woman writer who was staunch in her belief of how her characters should be portrayed and her writing integrity upheld. At the very end we heard the real voice of the author, her prim, properly enunciated tones allowing or disallowing changes to the manuscript for its celluloid interpretation. It brought a lump to my throat.


We are all so much more than we seem on first glance. Long live Mary Poppins!


P.S. My new novel Split Decisions is now finished. I hope it will be out soon.

Many thanks to those who turned out to meet me at Droitwich Library on Wednesday morning and at Bromsgrove Library on Wednesday evening. I had a great time talking about writing and my books.


Today I have been giving a talk to Halesowen Reading Group, a lovely, interested and interesting group of ladies. What pleased me most was the comment that one lady made to me after the talk. She confessed that she had not been looking forward to the event at all as she was not the least bit interested in sci-fi but had been so intrigued and interested by my talk she was actually the first of the group to buy a signed copy! Moreover, she asked if she could put my name forward to do a talk with the school she works at!


Another lady told me her grandson is already a fan, having bought the first three volumes with his pocket money and is looking forward to the recently released 4th volume. The same lady then went on to buy signed copies of the volumes for herself.


So you can see why I am all of a glow even if the scene outside my window looks like it is trying to depict the setting of Volume II.


On Monday the kids go back to school and I go back to writing...can't wait!


Happy Reading!


:)

This way up ^

Today I am happy and not even the rain which bounces off the sodden earth in my back garden can dampen my mood.


I am currently working on another edit of Split Decisions. As I have stated before, it's a very different book to The Owners and as such, I have kept it mostly under wraps. But the part I have just been working on is neither controversial nor contentious and I thought you just might like a little snippet, so here it is:-

I swallowed the lump which sat uncomfortably in my throat. I was not a bitch, not the sort of girl who sniggered behind another’s back at their stupidity and misfortune. I knew that about myself but it was suddenly not enough – I needed Suzie to know it too.

“It’s not about you, Suzie,” I said quietly, searching for the right words to say and unable to find them. Tongue-tied and embarrassed I realised how the sniggering must have been perceived. I tried to explain. “I was…I mean we were laughing at me, not…anything else.” I had been about to say ‘you’ rather than ‘anything else’ and managed to stop myself just in the nick of time. But even though it was the truth it was a lame excuse.  And we both knew it.

I have loved writing this book every bit as much as I loved writing The Owners but it has been nice to have a departure from sci-fi for a change.

By the middle of April I will be moving on to another book, one which is forming in the back of my mind at the moment, awaiting its chance to leap onto the pristine white screen as I type it out.

In the meantime - happy reading.

A snippet from my latest book The decision.


This book is very different to The Owners series both in content and in writing style. In particular it will appeal to fans of Stephenie Meyer, as it has a strong love interest theme which blends and interacts with the plotline. Here is a little taster:-


“Oh!” I was unaccountably sad, as though he was leaving me already. I had no hold over him, no right to ask him to stay and yet I felt crushed at the thought that he was prepared to leave me at some future date.  


Funnily enough, I started this book years ago but had to abandon it to pursue something else. Only now that I have come back to it can I see so much more clearly where the story is going. It is hard hitting and reflects the world we live in today...not an easy thing to do in many ways.


I will keep you posted as to how it's getting on.


In the meantime I hope that The Owners Volume IV will be out in less than two weeks! Exciting times!

This will hopefully be the cover for The Owners, Volume IV: A New Epoch. Isn't is beautiful? It was specially created for me by the wonderfully talented Martin Darcy. Visit his Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/martin.darcy2?fref=ts.

Before I tell you about my adventures in Redditch last Saturday, when I was doing a book signing event, let me show you this.

It is an open letter to the readers and comes at the end of Volume VI. I think it adequately conveys how I feel.

A word from the author.

I am very sad to say that this volume sees an end to the story of Jack, Georgia, Seth, Laurie and all the others.

I have tried to give each and every one of them their time in the sun, a little space to tell their own stories and I think it has been the making of them…

More than a few tears have been shed by me in writing these books and I will miss the characters dearly – they have become a part of my everyday life. Their voices sound in my head, their images flit before my eyes and I’m sure that they will remain in my heart forever.

But I wonder if you are left uneasy that you do not know how things will ultimately work out for them?

So just in case you do, I would like to reassure you that they continue to face their tribulations in life, as indeed we all do but from the end of this volume, their road becomes a little smoother, a little less fraught and climactic!

Volume VII will see some new characters arrive, so I hope you will join me in welcoming them and wishing Bon Voyage to the old ones we loved so well…

Goodbye Jack, Georgia, Laurie, Seth, Parm, Delilah, Eden and all you others. X  

Carmen Capuano.

Now to tell you about Saturday! 

The shopping centre was busy and there was a lot of interest in my books. Sales were high and it was lovely to speak to readers of all ages.

 

But that's not what I wanted to tell you about. What I want to tell you is far, far stranger...

First of all I was approached by some old friends whom I haven't seen properly in a few years as they were originally friends of an old ex-partner from twenty years ago. We exchanged pleasantries and then promised to meet up at Christmas.

Some time later, I had a further revelation.

Stationed as I was by the side of a broken elevator, I was addressed by a stunning woman who initially turned to me to enquire how she could get to the upper floor.

But on turning around to answer her question, I triggered a recognition on her part.

"Carmen!" she exclaimed. "Don't you recognise me?"

Now the truth is that I speak to so many people and in so many different places that although I often remember a face, I cannot always put a name to it.

But there was something about her which was incredible familiar!

It turned out that she was my ex-sister-in-law from over twenty years ago, when that same ex as mentioned above, had been my current partner.  

We had both been young women at the time and although once she revealed her identity to me, it seemed ridiculous that I should not immediately identify her, as we had been in each others' lives for eight years, it also seemed a ridiculously long time ago.

We talked and caught up on how life had been for us in the intervening years and there was a warmth between us that I don't ever remember feeling away back then.

It seemed that life had mellowed us both and the former rivalry that I remember so well, had crumbled into the dust of time.

And it made me wonder why we had ever been rivals in the first place!

With a melancholy sadness in my heart I watched her depart. She was a part of my old life and had no place in my here-and-now but it was strange to hear about the family I had once been a part of and no longer was. [There's a book in there - just wait!]

But the day was to get even stranger.

Some time after she left, a very ordinary but well presented gentleman approached me.

"You have some clairvoyance in you," he declared, eyeing me with his head cocked to one side as if peering into my very soul.

I didn't know at first whether he was referring to the plots within my books and how they could so easily come to pass, or whether it was something deeper.

"Well..." I responded unsure what to say.

"I know you do, because I have some too!" he said.

And you know what I thought? I thought ok, crackpot alert!

But then he said some things about me and my life which really made me wonder, because they referred to things which had actually come to pass.

So between seeing long lost in-laws and this man, I had a rather strange day.

I made great sales and had a good time but there was also that sense of the Ghost Of Christmas Past, courtesy of all my visitors and I began to feel the whole thing was more than a little spooky...

So this Saturday, when I am doing signings in WHSmith in Birmingham, if you once brought a cat to the vet's I used to work in, or bought one of my old houses, perhaps it might be best NOT to tell me...I might just freak out entirely and run away screaming.

Because if the Ghost of Christmas past keeps turning up, I dread to think what the Ghost of Christmas Future is going to show me!

 

Merry Christmas folks and Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you know I have been incredibly busy writing Volume VI of the Owners series. But now that I'm more than half-way through, I think it's time to finish editing my series for children aged 8-10 and finally get them out on the shelves.

The Mellillia books are funny and quirky and are very different to The Owners books. But that is only part of the appeal. Writing books for children requires a certain mind-set - a way of looking at things differently from how we normally view them. It's a refreshing take on our lives as adults and I find myself smiling even as I write.

With The Owners, the writing is more intense, more frenetic and I barely have time to breathe as the words hurtle themselves out of me and onto the screen.


And then there is my adult book which still requires me to sit down and get on with it. This is very different again from either of the two series I have previously mentioned but is just as intense as The Owners but in a very different way.

Finally, there are the other eighty odd stories I still have to write. By my calculation that means I will have to live to about 120 just to get them all out there...

Now where did I put those multi-vitamins again? And why did I just make coffee with cold water...guess the brain won't hold up to 120 after all ;)

I'm coming to the close of Volume VI : Blood Sky and am feeling a little uneasy. Perhaps I should explain.

As you already know, Volumes I-III have already been released but Volumes IV -VI have been deliberately held back. This is because they were all so closely linked, so tied-in together, that I wanted to release them all at once...to give the reader the fullest experience of the journey the characters must undertake.

But that journey has now reached its final destination and this part of the epic tale that is The Owners, is done.  

I have birthed these characters, given life to them through my own blood, sweat and tears and now it is almost time to say goodbye to them and my heart quivers with fear and grief. I will miss them dearly - the sounds of their voices in my head, their easy way with one another and their solidarity in times of trouble. But most of all I will miss their willingness to share their story with me, the eagerness with which they jumped into every plot and how they filled every line with their vitality.

But it is time to bring forth the new blood...the characters who will strut their stuff in Volume VII and inhabit my thoughts and dreams as much as Jack, Georgia and all the others always have.

And of course, there, right at the end of the path, Little, Loni and San are waiting for me, waiting eagerly to come back and finish their part of the saga...and how can I deny them?

The Owners Volumes I-X

Nothing will ever be quite the same again!

Here is the very latest from The Owners Volume VI : Blood Sky

Perhaps because of the rapid beating of her heart and the icy fingers of dread which no doubt worked their way down her spine, her features seemed more defined, more entrancing.

Pity he would have to kill her in the end.

 

 

Sorry!

Sorry readers...I feel I have neglected you a little but I have been so busy writing Volume VI and taking bookings for my talks/ creative writing sessions, that I have not had any time to blog!

In fact I have spent a large part of today booking in schools and exhibitions etc. who want me to conduct talks/ creative writing sessions and so on. So here is the schedule for the next couple of weeks.

I will be at a school in Sandwell doing author talks next week, followed by the Women of the Year Luncheon Awards on 11th October and I will also be holding talks about writing sci-fi and conducting writing workshops at Avoncroft Museum on November 16th.

In between these times I may be coming to a library or school near you...just when you thought you were safe...!

I hope to see you at one of these events. But if you can't make them you can still contact me at Carmen.capuano@ymail.com

Happy reading!

Carmen.

A reminder

Just to remind you about my book trailer videos.

Here is the very first one,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrCQumMKD0s

Like a black Jesus, Denzel appeared to be waiting to welcome his lambs back into the fold; to be offering redemption.

But deliverance from sin was not an option , nor was it Denzel’s to offer.

Taken from The Owners Volume VI: Blood Sky.

This is the volume where everything turns and twists around once more, where what you thought was happening is not what actually happens...

Humans are complex characters and that is something I have tried very hard to get across in my books. Sometimes you think you know the very soul of a person, only to be proved wrong at the worst possible time.

My poor characters are finding that truth out...I hope that they have the strength of character to endure what will come to pass.

Happy reading. 

The Owners, Volume VI : Blood Sky

Now that she was approaching the crux of the matter, she didn’t really know where to begin. Here where she was at with her own personal knowledge? Or further back so that they could all get the wider picture.

This volume is flying along and I am already on chapter 7.

Don't forget you can find me at the Andromeda One sci-fi convention at The Custard Factory on Saturday, along with a whole host of other authors.

I will be selling my books at a discounted rate for the occasion and will sign them for you too!

Have a great weekend, whatever you are getting up to!