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!

Small but perfectly formed.

I'm not good with directions. I seem to have no knowledge of which way up to hold a map and whether a turn is to the left or the right...and yet I managed to find my way to an event I had been invited to, at Bar Opus in Birmingham, even though I tend to get lost if I stray too far from New Street.

Bar Opus is situated at Snowhill, an area I am not at all familiar with. Large windows front the building and there is an outside seating area too. Initially I took up residence there, happy to watch the world go by in all its hustle and bustle.

In addition to the shoppers outside, I had a good view of the staff working in the open plan kitchen and this is something I have always enjoyed [not to see other people working whilst I am relaxing, you understand] but to see how professional chefs carry out their trade.

Looking at the menu, I have to say it wasn't extensive, but it did offer some interesting food combinations with some ingredients being prepared in such as way as to make the completed dish both unique and enticing. 'Scorched lemon' was one such ingredient. How and why anyone would chose to scorch a lemon is beyond me, but I was assured by one of the customers that it gave an edge to the dish it was used within.

The décor was a little retro and the overall effect of the place was small and sophisticated with an extensive range of alcoholic beverages on display. But there was one thing I didn't like - the two unisex toilet cubicles. Now quite frankly I don't want to share a bathroom with a man unless I intend to marry him! And as the two cubicles were separate, I couldn't see why one hadn't been allocated to men and the other to women.

I don't know what men think about this latest trend, but I can tell you one thing - women don't like it! It may well be very cosmopolitan but its also downright embarrassing for men and women alike!

So if you fancy a quick drink in a lovely bar with perhaps a bite to eat from an interesting menu, then Bar Opus is the place for you. Just make sure your bladder is empty before you arrive, otherwise that woman queuing behind you just might be me.

Split Decision - out now!

Holiday Heaven or Holiday Hell?

 

I have just returned from a holiday in Spain. Am I calmer after the break, more relaxed, less wound like a coiled spring? Probably not. For the truth is that the moment you are home, yes, literally that moment, it becomes clear how much you have to do just to get back on track with everyday life. All the lounging about and dipping into sun-dappled pools is nothing more than a memory and even that seems distant.

Add to this the fact that there were elements of pure fiasco during the holiday and I have to wonder if all the frantic organising was even worth it.

It certainly started with an adventure. I had pre-booked [and pre-paid] airport parking as that seemed like a sensible thing to do. But as I approached Birmingham Airport it became clear that Car Park 7 had no road signs leading to it, unlike numbers 1-6.

Not owning a sat. nav. anymore, [if you want the ludicrous story of how that was lost, you will have to go back to a blog post from about a year ago] I resorted to reading the directions I had printed out. Let’s just say I drove around the same island five times, each time taking a different exit, only to return defeated.

By this time my blood pressure was up, the kids in the back were starting to ask when the plane took off and would we be on it, and I was still none the wiser.

The time was fast approaching 5am when we were due to check in for our flight, and everywhere seemed deserted. There was no one around to even ask where I should have been heading.

In desperation, I pulled in to Car Park 1 and pressed the button on the intercom for assistance. I explained that I was lost and needed help to find Car Park 7. Unfortunately the disembodied voice didn’t seem to know where that was either! There followed an interminably long wait whilst he consulted a map and finally delivered the sage advice that I should, “Go back to the roundabout and pick up the signs for number 7.”

Defeated, I had to reverse the car out of the one-way system, invoking incredulous stares from the other motorists and head back to the same island I had already been around five times!

Since most of them led to other car parks, I chose the one route which didn’t and followed it for some time in the hope that it would be right. Guess what? I still didn’t find the car park I needed. I returned to the original roundabout. The time was 5:30am and I was in a cold sweat.

This time I pulled into car Park 5 and up to the intercom barrier. I pressed the button and waited. “Look I’m lost. I have paid for Car Park 7 but I can’t find it. I have been around and around… and if you don’t help me I am going to miss my flight and …”

I was cut off by a bored voice. “Oh, it’s you again. Didn’t you find it then?” Now don’t ask me why it never occurred to me that it would be the same man from Car Park 1, but it didn’t. Then to have him state the blatantly obvious was almost too much for me. I felt steam coming out of my ears. Very slowly, one vertebrae at a time, I felt myself turn towards the little camera that regarded me so intrusively. Behind my eyes I saw an image of how I must appear to him and I sharpened my gaze.

Before I could say anything I heard him clear his throat and say anxiously, “Wait there. I will get a supervisor to direct you.”

Wait there? Where did he think I was going to go? Round and round the roundabout on a pleasure jaunt, whirling suitcases and children from the car window in wild abandonment, in the hope that some of them would land close to the terminal and might actually make it to the plane?

Finally a supervisor arrived. It took only a short conversation for him to see that by now directions were going to be lost on me. He opened up the barrier and let me park, for which I will be eternally grateful.

By the time we got to the duty free shops, all my previous cares had been forgotten. Almost. Gleefully, my ten year old daughter and I sampled the perfumes and the make-up, drawing on our hands thick lines of every colour available.

Now lots of cosmetics claim to be waterproof… but few actually are. In the toilets, I lathered up my hands and worked at the smears of green and blue and red, rubbing and scraping at my skin. The make-up refused to dissolve and wash away but it did move, smearing itself over both hands, so that it looked like I had been bare-knuckle boxing with Mike Tyson. Again and again I washed my hands, each time more frantically than before, cursing under my breath so that I must have looked more than a little like a modern-day Lady Macbeth. All that was needed was for me to shriek, “Out, damned spot!” and I might even have got an Oscar.

So as usual we ended up making a frenzied dash for the plane, with me trying in vain to hide my monstrous looking hands from everyone. I took solace in the family pack of chocolate raisins I had bought for the journey, doling them out for myself and the children.

It was a turbulent flight, particularly noticeable when on one jolt, I dropped several of the sweets and they clattered softly to the floor. Embarrassed, I tried to pick them up and dispose of them – no mean feat when the seating space seems to have been modelled on the dimensions of mankind from the 1950s, when men were trim and women had waists, but I got most of them up.

It was only when I uncontorted myself that I discovered the people across the aisle were watching me in fascination. It seemed they thought I was so panicked about the turbulence that I had adopted the safety ‘brace’ position.

Safely ensconced in my seat once more, I hoped that I had finished providing them with free entertainment. But I’m afraid the show was not yet over. It was only when I stood up to go to the toilet that I realised not all of the chocolate treats had fallen to the floor. Some had slipped onto my seat, becoming effectively squashed and melted under me.

Do you have any idea what a few squashed chocolate buttons and raisins look like when congealed to the seat of your jeans? Mortified, I blazed a trail to the toilets, cheeks crimson and with the sound of my children’s guffaws still ringing in my ears. I may never live that memory down.

I had booked a hotel in Benidorm because of the dates we needed to have and the price I was happy to pay, added to the fact that I wanted a hotel which was close to the beach and which offered nightly entertainment. Now at this point are you all shaking your heads? I thought so.

And to be honest Benidorm was everything people say it is. But it is also beautiful, with long sandy beaches where the sea is both warm and crystal clear and fish swim unafraid around your toes.

Cloistered within the walls of our hotel by night, there was none of the anti-social behaviour that might have been acted out on the streets and many clubs and bars of the town, but there was still that flavoursome sense of excitement, that in the warm air, scented with exotic flowers and coconut suntan lotion, anything might happen…

I even managed to convince myself that I could look as enticing as Halle Berry famously coming out of the sea in one of the James Bond movies, so I tried it. Hair slicked back by the tide, bikini rucked up to cover my most wobbliest of bits, I emerged, white and short limbed from the foamy waves.

The film score which was playing in my head, stuttered and died as I caught my big toe on a rock concealed under the water. Pain shot up my foot and I stumbled, feet flailing under the water, trying to find purchase and finding only the rock. Again. I went down like a lead balloon, hair straggling over my face and inhaling a great lungful of salt water.

But this holiday also provided a number of firsts for me. I had never taken the children abroad on my own before and it was a bitter-sweet experience. I sat alone watching the nightly entertainment, my teenage son off messaging his friends on Facebook and my daughter playing with new friends, and although the shows were on the whole very good, I felt I cut a rather pathetic figure, there on my own. This was highlighted during one of the acts, when a comedian picked on me as being clearly alone in a swarm of huge family groups and asked what my name was, where I was from and whether I was married or not.

Reluctantly giving the answers, I was dismayed to be asked more; how old was I and did I have children? Giving the answers as I did, starkly and without embellishment, I almost felt like I was on a game show dating site:- ‘And now here’s Carmen, all the way from the Midlands, give her a cheer! Carmen is single, 48 and has three children!’

So when the Adele tribute singer came on, perhaps you will forgive me for shedding a quiet, surreptitious tear at my aloneness.

In general though, the entertainment was really good and my thanks go out to JJ Jones who was the Neil Diamond Tribute and to Andy, the Rod Stewart tribute, who were both photographed with my newest novel, Split Decision. [See earlier posts]

In particular I must mention the fact that JJ Jones donates all proceeds from the sale of his CDs to a charity in remembrance of his daughter.

But my most enduring memories of this holiday? Well apart from the looks of purest joy on the faces of my children, it would have to be sitting on the balcony with the strains of Spanish music played on an acoustic guitar, filtering up from below. The music seemed to play with the noise of the passing traffic like a cat with a mouse, sometimes feigning passivity, at other times being assertive, taking control and bending the other noise to its will.

Spain is the land of my grandfather, the origin of my name and so perhaps it is a part of me in a way that I almost can’t define. Looking at my children, I now think it may well be a part of them too.

 

Book Launch announced!

Coming up...

Look out for my blog about the Neil Diamond Tribute Act, as well as my interview with 'Tina Turner', coming soon.

I will also be posting a blog about my holiday adventures - hold onto your hats!

Not Lost In Space

There is a growing worry in British industry. There is a dire fear that we might not have enough engineers and physicists coming up through the educational system to satisfy the needs and demands of our technologically advancing society.

It is certainly a fear of which Richard Noble, past holder of the land speed record and Director of ThrustSSC, the company behind the vehicle which holds the current speed record, is well aware. That’s why he is working with schools and the education system to encourage interest in his forthcoming land speed record attempt.

But two youngsters from Bromsgrove have proved they are already ahead of the game. Dylan and Oscar Rees, along with some help from their dad, Olly, a teacher, recently launched a teddy bear successfully into space, capturing the whole thing on film. Using items they sourced themselves along with their dad’s help, the boys used a polystyrene box that had been used to deliver fish as insulation, along with heat packs from a local discount store, GPS equipment from a mobile phone, and a weather balloon, to fashion the craft which got as high as 80,000 feet, twice the height the average aeroplane flies at.

The family were granted permission from the Civil Aviation Authority and given several launch dates which were dependant on weather conditions. It was particularly important to the boys that they could retrieve the bear, ‘Uranus’, after his voyage.  

“We knew the risks because it was going 80,000 feet,” said Dylan, 12. “We waited two days to get it back and had a two hour drive.”

And it seems that the successful experiment may have far-reaching consequences. Already it has sparked much media interest, with national newspapers clamouring to get the story and the YouTube video is receiving world-wide interest. The footage has been shown in the boys’ schools and classmates have been enthusiastic about the event.

So could a new generation of physicists and engineers have been sparked by this project? It certainly seems that way. Dylan was already very interested in science and maths, having won the Ogden Trust Award for science in schools when he was 11, but the project has given him further insight into what a career in the sciences or engineering could offer and he hopes to eventually become a physicist or astrophysicist.  He said of the event: “It has given me something that I can say, I have done this.”

Brother Oscar, 9 agrees: “I think it will change my future a little bit. I wouldn’t think we couldn’t do that because we are just ordinary people. We did it. When I am older I will do it again. Maybe even in on a bigger scale.”

Dad Olly was also fired with enthusiasm: “We might try a rocket car next.”

So watch out Richard Noble - there might just be an up-and-coming challenge to your supersonic car and its land speed record attempt!

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

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/

 

 

 

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Stars in my eyes...

I bet you didn't realise that all the biggest stars are now reading my book, did you?

Here are just two of them, Neil Diamond

 

and Rod Stewart.

 

 

 

Don't you think they both look really pleased?

 

;) Happy Reading!

Me and Dean Koontz on the beach.

Would you like to see a picture of me and Dean Koontz on the beach together? You would? Yes, I thought so.

Here it is...

 

 

 

Joking aside, when I am going on holiday, it is always one of his books I choose and since my very first paperback of Split Decision had just arrived, I took that too, so you see Dean and I really were on the beach together ;)

Back home now, I am working on a post to tell you all about my adventures, so keep your eyes peeled.

Happy Reading!

Thanks y'all!

Thanks to my publisher P'kaboo and my agent Paul Thompson; to all my friends and lovely book buyers. Split Decision is now out as an ebook. The paperback is coming soon. I'll keep you posted.


Sorry if I have driven you half mad with my fretting and constant talking about my engrossing characters but now you have the chance to see what all the fuss was about.

I would like to say that the time has come to relax but you know me, there's another book in the offing now, so if I were you, I'd reinsert those earplugs fast!

Happy Reading.

Read all about it!

My newest book, is now out. Follow the link to take a look at it.

 http://www.pkaboo.net/splitdecision.html

Happy Reading!

Coming to a Kindle near you...

Tomorrow is the launch of Split Decision as an ebook [the paperback will follow shortly]. I am so excited!


You will LOVE this book!


Happy Reading!

Help!

Most people have tried to help with this but the site will often not let them, hence the low numbers.

You have to click on the link then press the share on Facebook or Twitter.

Then you can read all about my latest book.

To everyone who has helped, you have my warmest thanks!

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/28256-launch-of-ya-split-decision

Carmen. x

Onwards and upwards...

Now that Split Decision is about to launch, for the next few weeks I will be turning my attention to previous books, bringing them up to standard and ready for publication.

Ascension will be first on my list and I can't wait to discover the feisty Jessica Stone all over again. I wonder what new bits I will add...I'll let you know how it goes.

Happy Reading!

What a week!

Having officially taken over my duties as Copy Editor of GEM magazine on Monday, there followed a whole week of functions and events I was required to take part in.

So I have spent the entire week in the style of a Gadabout, of a Woman Around Town. To be honest it was mostly work, getting to know my fellow workers at GEM magazine, making contacts, meeting the people who are the city's movers and shakers, but that's not to say I didn't have fun too. In fact there was almost a common theme to the events...there was a drawing together of the past and the future in a way that made me really reflect.

The events began with an invitation  to attend  The Walk of Heroes and Walk of Stars hosted by Westside BID [Business Improvement District]. Moving speeches delivered by The Mayor of Birmingham and Professor Carl Chinn, commemorated four soldiers from the Birmingham area who had stepped beyond the bravery shown by every member of our armed forces, to something truly unique, displaying a valour in the midst of battle that went above and beyond the call of duty.

The soldiers had served in wars as varied as the Anglo-Zulu War and World War I and yet there was a commonality to their valour, a desire to help others at the sake of their own lives. I can only imagine the terror of their individual situations and I hope that the world does not keep having to sacrifice such brave and noble individuals to the folly of battle!

But there was a lighter side too, with the presentation by Jasper Carrott of a granite star for actor Ian Lavender,  for his accomplishments on screen during his illustrious career.  I laughed alongside Jasper and Ian as they talked about Mr Lavender's recollections of his childhood in Birmingham. Both men were funny, witty and erudite and displayed manners which have been all but lost in the mists of time. So just in case you missed it before, here is my picture with Jasper [who I have to say, didn't look a day over fifty!].

 





My next function to attend was the Super Sonic car event, hosted by business accountancy firm Moore Stephens. Here I met Richard Noble and learned about the World Land Speed Record, looking at vintage films of previous attempts and successes.

Now I have to admit to being ignorant about all things motorised... but I was fascinated! The idea that a car can go from 0 to 1000 mph in less than a minute - well that takes your breath away, doesn't it?

I was almost thinking that if they could just make one with enough room for me, my kids, dogs and luggage then the annual trip to Glasgow wouldn't be so bad after all... Joking aside, this project may seem impractical when you look at our roads and current driving conditions, but what is going on here is the forerunner of future transport. Richard and his team are not pushing the boundaries of what is possible, they are breaking them into splinters, smashing them to smithereens and rebuilding them in their own image.

The project is not only about revolutionising future transport, it is about revolutionising our economy and our education system and our future workers, for without engineers of the future, no further progress will be made! That's why Richard's team is working closely with schools, to encourage young people into this field.

My next two events were more social. Praza on the Hagley Road is divine, take it from me. I had never been there before, so was a little unprepared for the gorgeous food [I actually had seconds!] and the great atmosphere. As I was driving, I can't attest to the cocktails but the people around me were all 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over them, so I assume they were as exquisite as the food.

And the Burlington - goodness me how I love this building and its staff. I was treated to an indoor barbeque, with little mini burgers and mouth-watering salads and desserts and games on the 'lawn'. This time I took the train and thoroughly enjoyed myself!

But lest you think its all play and no work, I must tell you that I spent the whole of Saturday hacking down the triffids in my new garden. My legs, hands and arms are sliced up like I have been in battle with the alien from Predator and the garden looks worse if that's even possible, with huge piles of cut vegetation that I have no idea how I am going to dispose of!

So for now, folks that's it! Don't forget Split Decision launches on the 4th of July and you can still help Thunderclap it [see previous post]. More to follow on the paperback launch.

N.B. The tickets for my first talk at Lord Morton's Tea Rooms are now sold out, but a further date has been agreed.

Happy Reading!

Carmen.

I hear thunder!

If you would like to support my Thunderclap campaign, then just click on this link and when prompted, share to your Facebook or Twitter. It costs nothing and you can keep the message private.

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/28256-launch-of-ya-split-decision

Many thanks,

Carmen. x

Come and get it...

How would you like to attend the online ebook launch of my latest release, Split Decision? I hope you are leaping up and down in excitement [if you're not, why not?] and drooling at the idea of finally getting your hands on this fast-paced story...


All you have to do is click on the invite on my Facebook page and you will be all set. I look forward to hearing from you.


Happy Reading! x

Faster than the speed of ...

Today I have been cordially invited to view a super sonic car, courtesy of my post as columnist and copy editor at GEM magazine. But I have to wonder exactly what they will think when I drive up in my Postman Pat van?

You see I'm not really one for ostentation, unless it fits the occasion and mostly I am sitting in jeans writing or charging through fields with my dogs and/or kids. Therefore the idea of me and a super sonic car is rather hilarious, due to my own driving abilities and lifestyle.

That said, as a science fiction/fantasy writer, the car appeals in a variety of ways. I mean, what couldn't you do with a super sonic car at your command... goodness me, I feel another book coming on. ;)

Keep your eyes peeled for my post on the lovely Jasper Carrott and Ian Lavender and the connection between the two.

Happy Reading!

Post to follow shortly....

Me with Jasper Carrott today.

Volume VII: Hunter's Moon

This weekend I finished the seventh volume of the Owners series. I am both sad and elated.


For a very long time I have suspected that it was not going to  be a particularly good ending for some of the main characters and I was right. In real life sometimes there are events which change everything or which alter how things are perceived...so it is with my characters and books. Regardless of how badly I wanted them to be ok, writing in an all-encompassing happy ending would have been both unrealistic and tacky. And they deserve better treatment than that.


Like all of my characters I will miss them dearly but they will remain in my heart. However with the finishing of this volume comes a little joy, for Volume VIII will see the story returning to one of the very first characters to show how things became how they were. It will be lovely to deal with already known and loved characters - its rather like meeting up with an old friend in a warm pub on a stormy night - exciting, long-anticpated and more than a little curious. Are you wondering which character? Well I'm afraid I won't be revealing that just yet, so hunker down for the wait.

In the meantime, there are lots of other things happening. I have been working hard on my editing job and am very busy attending functions on the magazine's behalf. I have also been busy organising the launch of Split Decision which will be out next month [date to be announced].

Meanwhile my new house is coming along nicely and I have now chosen a new fire to go where the old one was. It's a super, duper thing! In fact I think the whole house will look quite good when its finished [courtesy of my fab builder - details to follow on how to book him later].

So if you see a smiling but frantic looking woman buzzing around in an old battered light blue Citroen Berlingo,  not knowing where she is going or what she is doing, give her a wave, 'cos it will be me!


Happy Reading!