Just 6000 words, two chapters into book 4.

This one is going to be a sequel to Shadowland which is selling really well and now has 132 reviews on Amazon US with an average 4.3 stars.... so I just had to write a sequel, didn't I?

Anyhow, its great to be back with Uther, he's a bit older and at an interesting time in his life. The smell of horse droppings and blood just oozes from every page at the moment ;)

People really stank back then and even kings had fleas... tough life eh!

Waiting for the final edits for Chaos Storm to come in and getting ready to format for Amazon and Lulu. It's exciting to be publishing my third book and I can't wait to see it up and available!

While I'm waiting, I have now started the next book, a sequel to Shadowland. I'm reading all I can on the dark ages again, soaking up images of how people lived, what they ate and what clothes they wore, it's all interesting stuff and is slowly finding its way into words; two chapters completed so far and I love being back with Uther!

Making a book cover from a couple of sketches....

The amazing graphic artist/designer Adriana Haganu recently completed the cover for my latest book 'Chaos Storm' which should be available by the end of September. She then agreed to update the cover for the first book, The Flight of the Griffin. Have a look at what she made out of a couple of quick sketches....

She took these three drawings...

Chaos update!

The manuscript for Chaos Storm is now with my editor, the wonderful Caro and we hope to have it finished and all the rogue commas and semicolons chased out by mid to late September.

Adriana has been working incredibly hard with the book cover and banners, for which I'm immensely grateful. She has even agreed to update the original Flight of the Griffin cover next so it doesn't look too awful next to Chaos Storm!

My next project is already into its second chapter and I'm already really excited about it!

Cover Reveal - Chaos Storm

 

Available September 2013

Chaos Storm is coming soon!

I've been so busy writing over the last few months that I've neglected my poor blog so here is a quick update.

Firstly the sequel to The Flight of the Griffin, Chaos Storm is just one chapter away from finishing. Just a wrap up of the loose ends and then it goes for editing. I'm hoping that it will be on Amazon by early July. One thing I promise is that if you enjoyed The Flight of the Griffin you are going to love Chaos Storm!

The Times/Chicken House longlist - The Flight of the Griffin by C.M Gray

I am so excited today for The Flight of the Griffin to be included as one of the 21 'longlisted' books in The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition. It is a great honour and I'm just buzzing!

Congratulations to my 20 companions on the 'Longlist' 2013!

The Dark ages festival of Samhain

- The summers end and coming of darkness -

Tonight we’re celebrating Halloween in our own very modern way with pumpkins, parties and trick or treats galore. But to find the origins of Halloween we have to firstly go back to the early Christian festival of 'All Hallow’s Eve,' celebrated as the night before ‘Hallowmas’ which later became known as All Saints Day. However, did you know that back in the dark ages, before Christianity came to Britain and the period where my story Shadowland takes place, there was also a festival celebrated at this time, and it was known as Samhain, which translates as summer’s end.

Latest interviews!

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From the Bootheel Cotton  and  Curse of Ancient  Shadows

Analysis of two days FREE on Amazon...

Shadowland was a FREE download on Amazon for two days....

...So how did it go?

I've participated in FREE days on Amazon before and, to be honest, I didn't promote those days very well. I certainly got less than a thousand downloads for my troubles. It did lead to an upturn in sales for a week or so after and I got a bunch of nice reviews, 25 so far with a 4.3 average which I'm delighted with.

However, for this return to offering my treasured book for FREE... the book I sweated over for more than a year before letting it lose into the world, I decided that if I was going to do it, then I would go for as many downloads as I could.

I Got 8,403 downloads in two days!

Well that made me happy! Most, 7,269, were in the US with a further 1,066 being in my native UK. I'm now watching to see how and if this translates into paid sales and more reviews... I shall keep you informed.