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

CURSED - out now!

 I'm delighted to tell you that Cursed is now available to buy. You can find it on Amazon or contact me to request a signed copy. 

The Owners Series

If you're a fan of my sci-fi series The Owners, you'll be glad to hear that I'm currently working on the ninth volume in the series. 

It's been strange to come back to the characters after such a long break, and having left them where they were at in Volume I: Alone. But the character of Sophia drew me right back in, not to mention San and Loni, who I had been eager to write about again. 

I'm currently a third of the way through Volume 9 so I won't spoil how the plot is evolving - suffice it to say that you're going to have quite a few surprises in store...

And I'm still working on my many film and TV series too. Again, my lips are sealed right now but there will be some news coming up soon. 

Until then, if you haven't yet tried one of my books, take a look at my REVIEWS page to the right of this post. 

Happy reading!

Now in between all this frantic running around [see previous post below] I am actually trying to get some writing done.

Here is a snippet I literally just committed to the white screen. It is taken from my chick-lit book which will be finished mid November. I know, I know! I told you that it would be finished by the end of October but in my defence I have been rather busy!

I hope you like it :-

“Is there a problem here?” Clipped tones preceded a woman of indeterminate age down a sweeping staircase to arrive in front of their little triangle. “Who are…” the woman began and then stopped abruptly, eyes widening slightly in surprise. The skin around her eyelids seemed unable to fully support the manoeuvre she was trying to make, Botox or perhaps surgery holding it as taut and unlined as a teenager’s. Instead her neck displayed a sudden rigidity, chords and sinews sticking up through the skin as if skewered there.

“You!” Julia expelled on a breath as if Indie had arisen from the dead.

“That should have been my line!” Indie said rancorously. “Seems to me like you stole it. Just like you stole my mother’s place in my father’s bed!”

 

Happy reading! x

Prisons and libraries.

Prisons and libraries - you may wonder what these two have in common, other than that you could say that one incarcerates people in cells and the other confines books to shelves. Well there is that - but there are other links too, such as the ban on books within prisons.


The reason I am blogging about this is two-fold:- firstly I am an author and therefore it is relevant to my trade and secondly, I have recently been asked to contribute to the people who seek to override this ruling.


If you have been reading this blog for some time you will be aware that I don't often sit on the fence. So here are my thoughts on the subject.


I believe that prison should be a deterrent against crime, that fear of going to prison should be so ingrained in society that most people will think twice before perpetrating a crime. However recently we have all come to view prisons as at times providing a better standard of living than the sometimes hard-up working people can do for themselves. Who hasn't heard of the recreation rooms and gyms and so forth that some prisons have within their walls? Is this fair or right? I think not!


Not that I am advocating a return to dark and dingy cells with slop on a plate but there does have to be some sense of punishment. Because when the idea of prison as a deterrent fails [as it always will with some individuals] then the reality of the prison environment has to deliver on its promise. A life sentence should mean exactly that and in my opinion all paedophiles, rapists and the like should automatically receive this.  


But even the 'lesser' criminals should get it a little tougher inside. It's all very well to say that a burglar hasn't killed anyone but the devastation they leave in their wake can often shatter lives and especially in the case of vulnerable victims, destroy their confidence for the rest of their lives.


So no there should not be luxuries on hand for these men and women...what there should be is proper facilities to allow them to rehabilitate. And by that I mean WORK. Teach them a trade, a skill which they can start a new life with when they come out. Something like gardening or bricklaying that is practical.


But banning books? Well that's a tricky one. The best books can be illuminating, they can set the imagination on fire and they can bring their characters to life. They can engender in their readers feelings of empathy and a deeper understanding of their own and others' humanity. Good books can make you question things, make you strive to understand something and even stir a desire to be a better person...


But not all books are like that. Some are salacious, sleezy and/or show women and children to be merely objects of desire that are both disposable and worthless. These books degrade us both as a society and individually.


Other books whilst not quite so bad are filled with gratuitous violence, sex or bad language. These whilst perfectly fine [if you REALLY have to] for the general public are not suitable for those in prison.


Believe me I am not a modern-day Mary Whitehouse but please lets have a bit of common sense here! Give the prisoners the uplifting, moral and thought-provoking books by all means. They can do no harm and may even do some good. But keep the other books away.


So now you are wondering what I am going to do about my own books and the request for them aren't you? Hmmm that's a good question. Why don't you read my books and get back to me with your opinion? :)


Happy Reading,


Carmen.

I hope you like the new look to my blog...I have spent ages creating several different pages and loading things onto them. Please take a moment to check them out!


What I haven't yet done is create an EVENTS page to list where you will see me popping up for author talks and book signings, so I guess my work is not yet done!


In the meantime I will tell you this - I have lots of events planned over the next six months but still have room for a couple more, so if you are a book club organiser, school teacher or librarian, feel free to message me on Carmen.capuano@ymail.com for further details.


Until my next post...


Happy Reading!