OUT NOW!

I am delighted to say that Volume 4 of the Owners series is out now and available as an ebook and in paperback.

Hear me talk about my books and other projects.

This Sunday at midday you can hear me talk about my most recent books, films and other projects on the Listen with Lee show on Black Country Radio.

http://www.blackcountryradio.co.uk/.../black-country-xtra/

It's also available on demand at https://www.blackcountryradio.co.uk/.../black.../on-demand/

Thanks to Lee Benson for being an amazing interviewer and for inviting me onto his show.

Merry Christmas and may 2025 be as interesting as 2024 but in a nicer way...

 Merry Christmas one and all. 

I'm not going to lie, 2024 has been a challenging year but then, haven't they all? There have been some real highs and some spectacular lows. 

I set up Filmmakers United CIC and Envisage International Film Festival which is already receiving lots of film submissions, and I have realised a tonne of things, both metaphorical and actual. I've watched some amazing films whilst hosting the Stratford on Avon Film Festival and the Birmingham Horror Film Festival and I've been nothing but impressed by the standard of the films and documentaries. 

Now that I'm watching and rating the submissions that are pouring in for Envisage International Film Festival, I'm humbled by the talent I see around me, so much so that recently whilst watching a much acclaimed film on TV by a globally-known director, I ended up comparing the new films to that older one. 

The acting in the old film is still phenomenal but everything else has suffered the curse of the passage of time. The dialogue was dated, the camera skills clunky and it was too heavy in close-up "dramatic shots". But more damning was the attitude and concept of the film which centred around the fact that a man had been imprisoned for rape but - and get this -  it was most likely wrongful imprisonment because the prosecuting lawyer "had buried" the fact that the "girl was promiscuous". Sorry, what? 

I'm not going to delve into societal changes which are now reflected on our screens - that's a whole different conversation. My point is that line would never have been written in a modern film - and the world is a better place for that shift. And yet I am jarred by the realisation that I have found myself emotionally back where I was in my twenties, striving forward, desperate to change the world for the better, but this time filled with less hope and more acknowledgement that I am but a minute speck in the universe. 

Recently having had Covid for the umpteenth time I missed a social event I was due to attend and afterwards I was told I was missed. I think the surprise on my face showed. I can't imagine anyone missed me at all. And yet this year has brought great validation for my work from both my peers and from those much more established and higher up the industry ladder than I. 

My little animation got five film festival nominations, one of which was from the Royal Television Society no less, and I have genuinely lost count of the amount of people who told me they were touched by it. TV commissioners have gone out of their way to tell me how much they love my scripts and people I have worked with have given genuine praise and  congratulations. I've been told over and over that I'm a joy to work with and that my work deserves success and yet I feel like a coiled spring inside. 

All my life I've aimed to make the world a better, kinder place. I've rescued animals, I've volunteered for charities, I've done a tonne of stuff that might have impacted one or two lives for the better, but never really made a huge difference anywhere. My plan remains to use the profits from my various companies to do the job better. But there is still so much cruelty everywhere. I turn on the news and am bombarded with sickening images and stories. Instagram and social media in general is a scroll through cruelty interspersed with vacuous people sharing pointless posts. 

I spent two days this week trying to find the owners of a very ill cat I'd found before it got put to sleep; I rescued lots of pigeons and birds which didn't make it and my soul aches with the seeming futility of it all. And then yesterday I saw the most beautiful, lush fox in my garden, and I was reminded that there is still so much beauty in the world. So much to still keep fighting for. 

Next year I shall be launching several new books and have a lot of exciting news to announce so until then I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year. But if you are like me and not currently filled with the joys of the season, just remember you're not alone in feeling more than a little blue. 

Until 2025... x 

 

Sad but not sad...

        

Just James didn't win an award in its category at The Royal Television Society but I really didn't mind. 

To be nominated alongside three other animations from large, established and very professional teams was enough for me. One day Rodders, one day...

RTS award nomination

I'm absolutely thrilled to announce that Just James has been nominated for an RTS award.  

I created and wrote this story a few years ago but it's always remained in my heart.  

New release. Future Imperfect

SHE’S AN ALPHA. AND SHE’S NOT GOING TO LET ANYTHING STAND IN HER WAY.

When a young Alpha’s fiancé is injured and declassified to a Delta by ELSA, the dome’s Enhanced Living System Autonomy, she has to set out across the ravaged world to bring him safely back. Luckily Fortitude Smith isn’t just any ordinary Alpha. Unfortunately ELSA isn’t what it appears to be either.

From the author of Split Decision and Ascension, comes a brand new sci-fi novel, Future Imperfect, that will captivate and enthral science fiction readers worldwide.

In this dystopian future, people live according to their birth classes. Beta and lower live in the outside world, whilst Alphas are protected in the dome, watched over by ELSA – the dome’s AI. But ELSA has more than one secret.

Part of a new duology, Future Imperfect is an insight not just into the fruitful imagination of its
author, but highlights a very realistic and plausible future world.

“Technology has moved on in leaps and bounds in my lifetime and the development of artificial intelligence has been simply astounding. I actually wrote this book about 10 years ago and back then AI was almost in its infancy compared to where it’s at now. And so my vision as well as other truly visionary authors is on the cusp of being realised.

There is so much tech in the world that sometimes I fear losing our humanity is inevitable. I can only hope that the world envisaged in Future Imperfect and Future Perfect do not come to pass,” Capuano says.

Capuano is no stranger to conflict within her books and indeed the lives of her characters. Known for her perception and sensitivity to her characters and their situations, Future Imperfect promises to be as perceptive and engrossing as her other books.

Future Imperfect is out now and available now in print and ebook versions from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other reputable online book retailers.

If you enjoyed Split Decision or The Owners by Carmen Capuano then you’ll love Future Imperfect.

Who am I?

I'm Carmen Capuano. When I was five years old I saw my father smash my mother’s front teeth right out of her mouth. And the saddest part of that statement, is that I’d already seen it all before.

I’m a survivor.

One of life’s hanger-on’s, a refuser of taking the easy-way out; I’m the one who won’t give up. The one who will keep fighting, even when others would admit defeat. Because if I do, if I actually give up, I’m not sure what will be left for me.

Maybe nothing. So that’s why I write.

I write to prove I’m still alive.

Jigsaw Girl is, I believe, one of the finest and most heart-rending books I have written. Every line of dialogue, every situation she finds herself in, every time she has to fight just for survival, these are the hallmarks of her life. And I understand them so well.

I’m neither black nor Asian, but I was raised in poverty, dragged up in the unforgiving streets of Glasgow, daughter of an Italian, wife-beating, gambling father, and an ineffectual mother. You think misery belongs to the ethnic minorities? I’ll tell you now that it doesn’t.

But I don’t tell you this to garner your pity; I tell you to let you see who I am. These are my qualifications for writing this story, my badges of dishonour.

Look at me, look at my pictures – you will only see what I allow you to. But read my stories and you are let into the depths of my soul. It may not be a nice place to be, but God help me, it’s real. 

To date I have written 27 books, only six of which I have published. They cover most genres because that’s how real life is – hard and gritty but also bizarre and full of unexpected twists and turns.

So why should you chose me, out of all the writers out there? Maybe because I can tell a good story. Maybe because I’m a workaholic. Or just maybe because I’m a tortured soul.

And if there’s one thing human nature loves, it’s vicariously experiencing someone else’s misery - viewed from a safe distance of course.

Roll up, roll up, come see the freak show.

But that’s not all of me. I’m deeper than that, at least.

You will find me charming, honest, hard-working and conscientious. The raw terror at life is hidden, the pain subsumed, condensed, spat out onto the pristine page.

You want to know how real life can get?

The book is open, all you have to do is read…

Welcome to Jigsaw Girl.     

 

The Grand Plan

Today I'm editing yet another book before I publish it. It's called In The Darkness Between Worlds and I'm enjoying reading through it after having written it about two years ago and not touched it since, as I've been too busy. 

Deciding to take my books back from publishers and to republish them myself has been a real roller-coaster. I've learned a lot, mostly how NOT to try to manipulate certain websites and software. But that's a different story. 

You may know that I'm compelled to write by the stories that bubble out of me, and that I write books as well as for film and TV. But what you probably don't know is my Grand Plan. 

And I have capitalised Grand Plan for a very good reason. It is the thing which has driven me since I was a child - a burning desire to help animals in need. I want to use my sales to be able to fund charities and change the world for the better. It's my deepest desire. 

I'm not interested in material possessions. I never have been. And if you've ever seen me driving around in my old battered car, you'll know the truth of that. For me, riches come in the form of a satisfied soul. So I'm using my profits to fund rescues and to alleviate pain and suffering in animals. 

So why am I making a song and dance of this? Not for adulation or any reason other than to point something out. I'm not asking anything of you. I'm not asking you to send money or take action. 

BUT if you are a reader and you were intending to buy a new book, please consider one of  mine. 

You'll get a great book and I'll be another step closer to helping another animal in need. So we'll both benefit. 

Happy reading! x

A little snippet

 

 “We have lived in fear and sorrow for many, many years. And believe me when I say that I do not go lightly into war. But there is no bargain to be struck, no words of wisdom that will make everything okay, no way for reparations to be made. Evil is a mould that grows on the face of the discontented. We must eradicate it before it infects others. For once, and for all.”  

Brave words, but just who is speaking them, and why? 

Get ready because the end is near -  The Owners Volume IX.

An interview with the Script Sirens

As you might be aware, I'm one of the Script Sirens.

Click here to watch an interview with me and the rest of the Sirens. But be warned  - I gurn!

The Owners Volume VIII

I'm very excited to announce that I have today started to write the eighth volume of The Owners series. 

I actually intended to write this a few years ago, but I was so busy with films and TV, that I didn't get a moment to get started on it. But today I woke up and it was on my mind. 

I've always known what this volume would be about - it was merely finding the time to commit it to paper that was the issue. Somehow right now is the perfect time. 

If you've read The Owners books, you'll know that there are many core themes running through them - what it means to be human, how humanity can be so easily lost and what belonging really means, to highlight just a few. 

So because of what's going on around the world right now, it seems the perfect time to write this next volume. 

The Owners is all about misplaced intentions and about how sometimes there is no right answer. Sometimes what is wrong, has been wrong for so long, that even once rectified, hatred, anger and resentment still burn for past misdeeds. 

In this volume there is a return to some of the characters you met in Volume I: Alone, such as Sophia, who will one day be leader of her people. And of the tragic Louisa. 

I'll keep you posted with how the unfolding of the story goes. 

In the meantime, why not check out The Owners series. I'm hoping that Volumes IV - VII will soon be released. 

Happy reading! x

Videos of my books...

The Owners Volume I: Alone

The Owners Volume II: Storm Clouds

The Owners Volume III: Dark Side Of The Sun

Fiction versus reality

What a strange situation we find ourselves in: spring is here, summer well on its way, and we are confined indoors for fear of dying.

Meanwhile the very people we are counting on to save us, are packed like sardines into public transport, expected to do their jobs, exhausted, and without the protective equipment that could ensure their safety - the world really has turned on its head.

There are a lot of phoney soothsayers around, telling all and sundry that they or someone else they know, prophesised this, that it is God's will, that it's all in the great plan. Believe that if helps you - I'd personally rather stick to the science.

But whatever your beliefs, there are some things that are undeniable. One is that all of us are going to suffer some loss - a family member, a friend, a colleague... The other is that our world will be forever changed.

There are some fears that don't just ever go away - the bogeyman under the bed, the mad axeman in the woods... Covid-19 will remain in our collective conscience long after it's claimed its last victim. Like the bogeyman, it will alter our perception of what's safe and what isn't. Probably forever.

When I wrote The Owners series and in particular Storm Clouds and the subsequent volumes, it was this sort of scenario I had in mind.

Set in the almost present, it depicted a world in panic over a series of devastating superstorms and the damage to the whole structure of civilisation which ensued. But more than that, it was a tale of humanity - of the people who were elevated by their situation and of those who used it for their own selfish needs. Isn't that exactly what we're seeing now?

Of course Storm Clouds is an apocalyptic tale and the volumes which follow it therefore, post-apocalyptic, and I hope with all my heart we don't follow that into reality but the motives of the people in my stories and in real life are the same...

Keep safe everyone and please be respectful and considerate. And hopefully we'll come through this together.

Happy reading. xx

The Pros and Cons Of Being A Writer - Part One

The reality of being a writer is usually far from what people expect.

Generally, people assume that it's a glamorous job, that my days are filled with excitement, my evenings star-studded. 

It's seldom like that. For me, anyway.

The path to being published or produced is a hard and rocky one. There is more rejection than acceptance, and there are times when you will want to quit, and times when the idea of quitting seems impossible. The publishing industry is a hard nut to crack and the TV and film industry is a daunting thing to attempt to infiltrate.

And I choose my words carefully. There are helpful people in  these industries but there are also many who will rip you or your idea off, at the slightest opportunity. 

Most days, you will tread the slim line between quitting and persevering at least forty or fifty times... depending on what your latest review has come back saying; whether your agent is free to take your call or not; and generally, whichever way the wind is blowing...

From this, I think you will get my point. In an up and down world, being a writer is one of the most fragile of mindsets you can possible hold and not go totally insane (if you're lucky, and if you have people at your side to hold your feet on the ground).

So let's take each point one at a time. 

DREAM  - well you'll have plenty of those. Both in the sense of actual sleeping dreams and hopes and aspirations. 

Of the actual sleeping dreams, expect these to be peppered with all your fears and anxieties, not only about your own life, but about everything and everyone you encountered that particular day. 

My dreams are so vivid that often I wake up, convinced that the world really has been taken over by aliens; that I can fly; that I did win the lottery; that I've entered another reality… etcetera, etcetera...

These dreams have to be taken with a pinch of salt, and unfortunately, although they might have seemed riveting when your unconscious brain was rolling them out on the widescreen of your sleeping inner mind, they will be so riddled with plot holes and weird inconsistencies, that there's no way they will make interesting books or films. 

So dreams are not the lazy way into writing. 

As for the sorts of dreams that are hopes and aspirations… well these can also be problematic. 

It's possible that you will be  a billionaire upon the launch of your first book. Possible - but highly unlikely. 

What you might be, is a few pounds better or worse off, depending on your publishing situation. 

Readers will not flock to your door, demanding more of the same... indeed your readers many not even leave you a review, even if they loved your book. 

That is of course, assuming that any readers manage to stumble upon your book in the first place. There are now millions of books for sale on Amazon, with the growing popularity of the idea  that everyone has at least one book in them. 

You can call me a pessimist if you like, but I stand by my belief that there are many people who don't even have one book in them, let alone more. 

And why should they? We are all different and  our experiences within life are all different, ergo why should we all  have the same story telling skill?

So when it comes to hopes and aspirations, being grounded is the key. 

If you want to write, you must ask yourself why. And you must be truthful in your answer. 

If it's to get famous, then forget it. If it's to give yourself enjoyment and perhaps spread that enjoyment to others, then maybe test the waters. But don't ask your family's opinion of anything you write. They love you, so can't be objective. 

If, on the other hand, stories and characters burn bright inside your mind, then you really have no choice but to write and let them out. 

So, before you put pen to paper, think hard - it may just save your sanity!

Next time we'll cover Not A Real Job, and Connecting With Others. 

Happy reading! x

Editing today

Today I am editing my latest book. Here's where I am currently at.

“Eat your dinner, Charlie,” Mum says tightly and I look up to find my little brother looking at me strangely.

“You’re different Scarley.” He hasn’t called me that in years. It’s a cast off from his younger days and I wonder if he actually chose to use it now for some reason, or if it came out unbidden.

“No, I’m not,” I say. But he’s right, I am. How can I not be? Aren’t all of us changed in some way by what we’ve been through? And isn’t it just and right that I should be changed the most? After what I did?

“Yes, you are,” he insists.

“Charlie that’s enough,” Mum warns and he goes back to eating his dinner but keeping his eyes on me.

I feel bad that he got told off. “You wanna match on the Playstation later?” I ask.

“We don’t have one anymore…” he says.

“Oh… I forgot.” And I genuinely had for a moment.  “Well we could watch TV together, what do you think?”

“I guess.” He’s unenthusiastic.

 I try to make it up to him, everything that he’s lost. “I’ll let you chose what to watch.”

“Okay.” But his face hasn’t changed. There’s no excitement there. I berate myself for thinking that the situation could be so easily fixed. Just because Charlie’s only nine doesn’t make his pain any less than mine, his grief any less infinite.

Happy holiday reading!

Still happening...

This is a post I wrote some time ago. Unfortunately the situation remains unchanged.

Too much far too soon.

I read something in the Huffington Post the other day which reflected exactly how I felt.

Apparently a father of a young daughter, who just also happened to be a Reverend, wrote an open letter to a well-known underwear brand, asking that they reconsider their plans to produce and sell lacy, slogan emblazoned underwear to young(ish) children.

Now I use the word children here both carefully and well considered.

By the laws of this country and most other progressive ones, minors are considered to be 'children' until at least the age of sixteen if not much older. This means that certain things, acts and products are prohibited to them. And this is done with good reason.

I know we all love our children and want them to be happy, stylish and feel that they fit in with their peers...but let's get real here. Do you really think that emblazoning a pair of lacy, racy thong pants with the slogan "feeling lucky?" is the way to do it? Or allowing our teens to be wearing such things?

No! The sentiments exposed there are both too jocular by nature with a semi-sophisticated self-deprecation and at once too mocking to emulate the true way that teens feel about the very idea of sexual attraction.

Think back to your own early teens if you will. Were you really so sure of your own attractiveness that you could wear these pants with no self-effacement, no modesty? If you are truthful, I think you will agree with me that the answer is no.

These slogans are made up by [and any teens reading this, I want you to take note] fat, balding old men who sit behind desks dreaming lasciviously of young girls. Be in no doubt about that.

Girls, these pants are not grown up, they are not sexy...they were designed by dirty old men who dream of you wearing them. Please, please do not buy them! And mothers and fathers out there - please help your children to see what is happening. We still live in a world where men like Garry Glitter and Jimmy Saville are reviled - do not let that ever change. This type of underwear is designed to pander to that very element of society...to take innocence and corrupt it as early as possible!

For all our sakes, get this mini-porn lingerie back where it belongs, on the cutting room floor.

Future Perfect is coming soon!

I'm so afraid for these characters. Wish I could step into the book and help them.

The following excerpt is taken from Future Perfect [coming soon].

Chapter 14

A laser beam slashes a small aperture in Simone Mewdleys’ abdomen. Layers of skin and fat are cut through to produce an opening which is deeper than its width. Even so, the foetus can be clearly seen nestling within the sack of the womb.

It’s so small. So infinitely vulnerable that I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes. Almost fully grown, it is curled up around itself, which only serves to make it seem both less and more human at the same time. Curled up like a cat, it is hairless and covered in a greasy white slick, little arms curved into its chest, little hands curled into fists.

“Don’t hurt it!” I whisper. Even though I know ELSA can’t hear me, saying it out loud is more than a plea, it’s an invocation, an entreaty to something beyond our world within the Dome. To God, if such a thing exists.

Happy Reading!

Latest paragraph

This current book is coming along at a rate of knots, even though for the last few weeks I have been tied up with other things, and haven't been able to devote much time to writing. I am now roughly quarter of the way through writing the book, and the revelations are coming thick and fast.

Dystopian in nature, the book is very character driven and focuses just as much on their motivations as it does their actions.

Here is the latest paragraph:-

You are eight weeks and one day pregnant, Prudence Smith. Congratulations to you, and to your husband, Mitchell Smith. There’s a sour taste in my mouth as I read ELSA’s words.

“That was the day we got married!” Mitchell whirls me round to face him. “We made a child that night Pru!” His face is rapturously happy and I don’t have it in me to crush him with my fears.

We had been careless that night. Just married and drunk on love and happiness, we had fallen into bed. We had never been intimate before. Never spent the night together, never explored each other’s bodies, each other’s uncovered souls.

That night we did.

It never even entered my head that I could get pregnant. It was one night, after all. Now I see how naïve I have been.

Happy Reading, x.

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!

New life!

Today is the start of my new life. I have bought a new house, got rid of some things, ended some other things and am looking to the future.

I have always had a thing about new starts. Generally speaking they are fresh, clean and bright. Even if you made mistakes in the past, a fresh start allows you to put these to good use, to learn from them and move forward in a different direction.

It's strange how this new start has coincided with me writing an author's note  to be published at the end of Split Decision, and how my thoughts today have mirrored the sentiment in that note. [And no I'm not going to tell you what I wrote, you will just have to read the book :)]

But the weather is not reflecting how I feel. Outside it is cold, wet, grey, and generally uninviting, with the rain thrashing itself off roofs and pavements. Maybe I can start my new life tomorrow instead? What do you think?

Happy Reading!