ASCENSION

I'm excited to announce that I am about to re-release Ascension.

I originally wrote this book around 2010 and it was published by a traditional publisher but now I'm releasing it under my own publishing brand. It's a very dark novel and a very important one to me, as it was one of the first books I ever wrote.

I hope you enjoy it. x

I conducted a second book signing and book talk/reading last night at Bleakhouse Library and had a wonderful time yet again.


It's always lovely to speak to a receptive audience and the folk who turned out to see me last night were both welcoming and interesting. I talked about my series of books The Owners and also about my novel Split Decisions, which is just starting on the editing process. In return I was asked lots of questions about the development of the plot within The Owners and my writing in general.


But what struck me most was how enthusiastic the audience were. As a writer it is easy to get caught up with the characters and plots of your own fabrication but it is quite another to see it in a reader.


I hope that the audience enjoyed it as much as I did!


I am returning to Bleakhouse on the 4th of April as I have been invited to deliver a prize to a winner of a school/library literacy competition. Again I will be talking about writing and available for book signings.


How I love my job! :)

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.

If you would like to have a chat with me about books, writing or indeed anything else, you can find me at the Science Fiction Family Fun Day at Avoncroft Museum on Sat. 16th November where I will be selling signed copies of the books and holding a creative writing workshop.

Toodle-pip!


http://www.avoncroft.org.uk/visiting-whats-on/events-programme/

Pigeon Post!

I have been feeling rather ambivalent the last few days. Last Thursday I took the wood pigeon we have been looking after for the last six months to a permanent rescue centre.

It was hard to hand him over but as he had lost the very tips of one wing and seemed unable to grow back his flight feathers, it seemed the kindest thing to do.

In a terrible state when I brought him here after being savaged by a cat, it was very touch and go whether or not he would actually live. But he did and he coped well, eating until he was a huge barrel of a bird and eying up the dogs with no fear whatsoever....

But he was alone with no other pigeon company and so I took the decision to put him in a rescue centre where he would have the company of his own kind. Rightly or wrongly, it is my belief that this is important.

So whilst we were pleased for him, we also knew that we would feel his absence deeply.

We miss you Mr Fluffy but hope that you live a long and happy life with all your new pigeon friends . xxx

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.

Read all about it!

This is a real picture. The people trapped here were rescued alive fortunately but things might have turned out very differently indeed.

The world is becoming just like I predicted....The Owners Volume II : Storm Clouds.

If you haven't yet read it, you are missing out.

A little bit of Sci-Fi does you good.

If you still have not got a signed copy of my books, you will be able to get one at the Andromeda One Sci-Fi convention in Birmingham on Sat 21st September! I'll be looking out for you :)

There will be lots to see and do so don't miss out. Book your ticket now!

First chapter of book 6!

The Owners, Volume VI : Blood Sky

Here is a little snippet of the brand new Chapter I

Perhaps he would never be the same again. Perhaps when he told his brother Noah and Dan and Aaron what he had seen and now knew to be true, none of them would ever be the same again.

He stumbled over the ground, eager to be back within the safe confines of his home, back in the bosom of his family. But he knew that even then this sickness in his soul would not be purged. Nor could he actually ever let it be. He had to hold fast to it, hold firm. He owed it to those poor, poor souls.

                        ****************

Ah ha...got you there, didn't I? You thought that just because I had started a new book, that I wouldn't also be moving on to Volume VI of the Owners.

Do you really think I have a choice? These characters bang around in my head, demanding a voice. There is only so long they can be ignored...

So don't worry I will keep you up to date on the saga.

Happy reading!

All quiet on the western front.

Yes I have been a little quiet lately but bear with me...there are many projects on the back burner right  now but as soon as the kids have gone back to school, the heat will be turned RIGHT UP!

Volume V of the Owners cries out to be edited - I hear its calls in my sleep and Volume VI invades my every waking thought. These characters are desperate for their tales to be put down on paper and who am I to stand in their way?

The wait is almost over...The Owners, Volume IV is on its way to a Kindle near you! Make sure you are charged up and ready to go!

They shoot horses, don't they?

It is a strange world indeed. A world full of contrasts and complexities so deep, that sometimes I have to just stop and wonder at it all.

As you already know, the human condition perplexes me greatly and although I know I will never get to the bottom of its deep well of understanding, I do like to drink deeply of it every now and again.

I have recently joined a new Facebook group. Not having even previously known of their existence, I came across this group of random individuals, who dedicate much of their spare time to the
collection and care of injured birds, mostly pigeons.

And what a revelation! Big hairy, bearded men, the sort I would possibly have crossed the street to avoid, are pictured lovingly regarding a healed or healing bird, which sits perched on their shoulder. Heavily tattooed young women with neon hair, hold the injured birds up to the camera, to show their injuries and ask for or give advice on specific wound treatments.

And I realised something about myself in the process. Having come from Glasgow [albeit a long time ago when I was eighteen], I thought that I judged people by their actions, rather than their image. But I was wrong. I am just as judgemental as is the next person.

Now don't get me wrong. These lovely people are nutty as fruit cakes but in a lovely way. And I'm sure now that if they read this blog they will agree. Let me explain.

It's not what they do, the rescuing and caring for birds, which is the nutty part. No, that is the most commendable part of their characters. The care, the diligence and the concern they show for each and every one of their charges, is heart-renderingly wonderful.

The nutty part, is the bit that comes after, where they proceed to let the birds fly around their houses or nest up in the curtains! But it is a nuttiness born of consideration and love, a real ability to actually do what most of us can only say - to live and let live.

And of course, I am as nutty as the rest of them. I, after all, have an injured wood pigeon in my kitchen which flaps around the kitchen and the back garden. That's why the conversation I have just had with one of my children hit me so hard.

I was asked by my daughter why she had [in a film] seen a horse being shot after it had a broken leg. I had to explain that although the injuries would heal, that most people found the process too expensive. And that, added to the fact that the horse would never be able to be ridden as well afterwards, caused it to be condemned to a death sentence.

My eldest was mortified. Why were there no laws to stop this? Why were there no charities that would take in the horses? I explained there were charities but that they were most probably swamped with requests.

But awful as that situation is,  I was not disheartened by it as I once  would have been. Through this group I can see that there are kind and humane people in all walks of life. And that just because you can't instantly spot them, doesn't mean they don't exist. Because I know that somewhere, someone will be working with these horses just as my group is with birds.

You see what I am trying to say, is that these people have restored my faith  in human nature. They have given me back what was lost through countless news programmes or newspaper articles which report on only the horrors of the world.

There are good people out there...and not just a few. So stand up you strangely bearded men and neon barneted women, with your piercings and your tattoos, arise you quiet damsels or shy withdrawn young men and come forward all you others who look just like you and I.

Come forward all of you, for you are my heroes.

Latest Review

Here is a review which has just come through to my Facebook, from a lovely lady called Lisa Dean.

" I have really enjoyed the first two books of this series. The characters are interesting and as a reader I really care about their journey. The story lines are interesting and you can imagine being in the world they inhabit. My daughter (aged 13) and father (aged 73) have both enjoyed the books and we look forward as a family to reading the next one so we can discuss it together."

Well Lisa, daughter and father, I hope you will not be disappointed with the next instalments!

Whip-crack away!

 

There was a funny comment today which made me realise how much of a slave-driver I am to myself. One of the mums I met today said, "I see your books are doing really well, I keep hearing about them everywhere...you are on your third aren't you?"

And my response was the inevitable, "actually I will be starting my sixth in October."

Who said you need a boss behind you to crack the whip? I am more than capable of cracking my own whip, thank you very much.  :)

Wrong again!

Ok, ok, far be if from me not to admit I was wrong!

I got everyone up this morning, screaming in a hoarse whisper that it was already quarter to eight and that just because it was the last day of term, they should not all be late.

And last day of term or not, it's a busy one. Sophia has her leavers assembly and Ryan has a dental appointment. In between those times a courier had to be booked and four bathrooms were in desperate need of cleaning.

It was only on emerging dripping from the shower and pulling clothes over me, even as I rushed downstairs, that I found all three of my children at the dining room table, enjoying a leisurely breakfast.

"What are you doing? It's quarter to nine!" I whispered, still unable to talk properly due to my tonsillectomy.

"No, mum, it's quarter to eight! You got us all up an hour early!" I was told emphatically and rather irately!!

OOPS!

Never mind, the courier is booked and the bathrooms are all sparkling.... ;)

Pigeon Power

In Glasgow there is a place in the centre of the city called George Square.

When I was little and lived in Glasgow, my mother used to take me there with bags of corn to feed the birds.

I would sprinkle the seed on my arms and legs and sit with all four limbs outstretched, as the pigeons came and settled onto me to feed and strut about.

Last year I went there with my children. Light of heart and heavy of bag [containing pounds and pounds of corn] I was full of anticipation. I'm not the sort to go all teary-eyed at Christmas but I find the thought of communing with nature and all nature's creatures unbelievably humbling.

But the pigeons were mostly gone and the city itself was almost unrecognisable to me. Yet what hurt the most were not the new unknown shops and buildings that had emerged but the absence of the susurration of beating wings and the loss of the childlike sense of wonder as hundreds of birds flocked to my side for food and admiration.
 
So, come on Glasgow, bring the birds back and let your children have wonder in their souls again.

Pigeon racing?

Now let's see what is going on here...I have three children, two dogs and a pigeon.

The pigeon was supposed to be a temporary fixture but it's looking to me like he has had that conversation with someone, who has reliably informed him that children don't leave the nest till they are into their thirties nowadays...

Sorry Mr Fluffy but it's not in either of our interests for you to stick around that long! There are sunsets to cruise around, days of light and promise where warm winds will caress and gently buffet your wings as you stretch them and look to the horizon...go pigeon, go!

I'll let you know if he takes the hint.

Tonsil update.

Well it is now 9:50 pm and I'm afraid the self-medicational glass of gin and coke has now worn well-and-truly off!

My body is suffused with pain which I find difficult to comprehend as I only had my tonsils operated on but I feel as if an Olympic pole vaulter has used me as a landing pad over an extended period of time.

Every part of me aches and my throat seems to be peeling the flesh off itself much like a bad paint job, on a damp wall, on a hot day...the skin is bubbling and sloughing off.

I can't cough and I can't blow my nose. If I even try, the air seems to get caught somewhere up in the swollen regions of my throat and just pushes itself noisily out, accomplishing nothing.

I am utterly miserable ...but dear readers I can take some comfort in knowing you have had a laugh at my unfortunate situation.

I hope that I will be better both in body and mind when next I blog.
 :(

Nearly there!!!

I have one more chapter to go...watch this space!

The Owners, Volume V:Eyon Rising

Well Volume V is nearly written. Two chapters, two full edits and a couple of proof readings to go...then lots of production decisions and it will be ready!

I can't believe I am half way through the series already...

But yesterday, a friend told me that she is currently reading Volume II: Storm Clouds and has not been able to put it down. Apparently her teenage daughter is waiting in line to get her hands on the book, so as you can imagine I was really pleased.

Anyway, here is a little bit from Chapter 22 of Volume V {I don't think it gives too much away}

As the silvery tinkle of the child’s delighted laughter continued to echo in his ears, Dan hoped against hope that it was a sign, a presentiment of how the situation could be peaceably resolved.

But as the child’s mirth melted away, the laughter was replaced by the hunting call of a bird of prey, echoing sharp and clear and sending a chill up his spine, as it scooped its unsuspecting quarry from mid-air.  And in his heart, lodged the fear that it was that particular sound which would prove to be the  true foreboding for what was yet to come.

Failure to Launch!!!

I have just had my very own Failure To Launch moment!

Perhaps you remember the film? Its where Sarah Jessica Parker has a job that involves getting grown men to fall in love with her - so much so, that they decide the time has come to leave home and venture out on their own, in the process.

Now don't panic [I almost typed "Don't panic Mr Mannering" as for some reason Dad's Army sprang to mind], I am not talking about making my eldest leave home at the grand old age of 13.

What I am talking about is the pigeon. In fact what has happened since 4pm today has been so reminiscent of a scene from Dad's Army that has been strangely combined with an episode of Faulty Towers, that it is no wonder the apt phrase sprang immediately to mind.

You see, I had decided that today was the day! Today the pigeon would fly free! So after a quick examination, I released it into the garden. Where it proceeded to sit on the grass and regard me as if I was insane [it may have a point there, granted].

Unlike every other bird I have rescued and rehabilitated, this one did not want to leave! So I went indoors and watched it through the window.

It wasn't long before next door's cat had realised something unusual was afoot. Stealthily, it wound it's sleek, black, lithe body along the fence, watching the pigeon with beady eyes. The pigeon flapped its wings, fluttered and failed to fly off. It seemed that its flight feathers were not quite long enough.

Now normally I would have waited till they were equal in length to the ones on the other side but recently the bird seemed eager for the off, so I took it at its word, as it were. But clearly it could not gain momentum or enough height to scarper quick-smart. 

Well what's a girl to do? I couldn't let the cat have Fluffy [yes, I know, stupid name for a bird] for its tea. I hadn't looked after it for nearly three months just to fatten it up for the cat...

So there I was, chasing the cat off and racing round the garden in my crocs playing catch the pigeon, whilst the dogs watched me from the conservatory, huge grins on their faces, wondering what the game was and why they couldn't join in...

I tore around the garden, heart thudding in my chest, talking to this bird and telling it that it would just need to stay a little longer, for it's own sake. Luckily it listened and believed me and was easily caught once more. If anything, it seemed relieved when I deposited it back in its cage!

So if you are reading this and wondering if I am completely crazy, I have to tell you that sometimes, in the very darkest hour of the night, I wonder that too!

Anyway, for now the pigeon is back in its cage...let's hope the next time brings success ! If not, I may well be signing its name under all of ours on the Christmas card list this year....

Work? Or Play?

You know the saying about all work and no play making Jack a dull boy? Well today I took heed of it...

I love writing...not so much the actual doing of it but the result at the end of a morning, when I have filled previously blank pages with lines of text.

But not today. Today I took a day off and did something completely different. And I feel so much better for it.

So, now that I have had a little break and a little 'me' time, rest assured I will be right back on track asap.

The Owners, Volume V: Eyon Rising is coming soon...