Chrysalis – finding your inner butterfly

Goodness me what a ride this has been. I wrote the first draft of this story back in 2011, it was intended to be the 6th in the Hengist series, called Aurora. But it quickly became clear this was not the same “sweet, clean” adventure stories of the sixteen year-old heroic boys living in a world filled with medieval values (and lack of technology).
Poor Rory suffers every bit as much at the hands of nasty bullies as Archer and his friends, but when girls do it, it’s much less physical, more psychological. And the best kind of grounding for when she meets a real-live psychopath – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Nature’s Tribe series set the groundwork with a series of medieval romances. This one features probably the longest-running will they/won’t they love story since Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd spent four years and 67 episodes finding reasons not to be together in Moonlighting. Or for those way too young to remember late eighties rom-com detective shows, think Harvey Spector and Donna Paulson in Suits (2011-19). I’ve just gone through all eight series for the third time since I first heard about it after watching Meghan marry Harry.
Mmm – there’s a whole other blog post on its own!


Anyway – Chrysalis is available on Amazon at a tempting $1.75/£1.42 for a little while longer Click on the piccie to go straight to your store and snap it up before it goes full price.
Here’s the blurb – with a huge thank you to Julie at Hidden Gems for helping to polish it.

An unrequited teenage crush. A suppressed super-power. 
A world under threat from evil incarnate. 
When Archer rescued Rory from bullies many years ago, she was smitten, but he was lukewarm. She doesn't realise what she'd do to grab his attention until her supposed BFF decides he'd look good on her arm. When Rory's gift, delayed from puberty, has her blacking out in the lighting box for a high school show, only he can help. What was that about being careful what you wish for?

The revelation that her mum and Archer come from a quasi-medieval alternate-world should have knocked Rory for six, but strange dreams clue her that she might have something in common with her idol, Buffy. As if! Archer's attempts to help control her powers bring a bittersweet torture, but with college looming, she must persevere

Archer's mission to scope out the threat from the technology-obsessed world breaching into his own includes protecting Rory. But his orders are clear - inter-world relationships are verboten. It hurt to spurn her pre-teen crush, but grown-up Rory proves irresistible. As her gifts develop, her connection to the monster threatening his world makes her dangerous to be around, and he has to choose between his heart and duty.

The chemistry between them unleashes a devastating energy as the monster escalates his evil plan. They must dig deep to endure unbearable torment, and defy fate to stop him from destroying everything they hold dear.

A blend of magical realism and humour, this medieval-meets-modern romance will delight fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Masquerade series.

Warning: Although mild in terms of sex, profanity and violence, some readers may be upset by the torment in a couple of scenes. Nothing fans of Hunger Games or Divergent can't handle.

This story runs in parallel with the Hengist series, but it is not necessary to read them before enjoying this series, as the stories in Context give a good summary of key events.

Colour of Light series:
#1 Context: Seven short stories of rebellion and redemption - Available May 2020
#2 Chrysalis: Medieval magic meets modern-day mystery - Available June 2020
#3 Captive: Modern-day mystery meets medieval magic - Available August 2020
#4 Catalyst: Modern military thriller meets medieval magic - Available October 2020

Do you dream of flying?

I always understood that dreaming about flying was indicative of a spiritual connection, related to astral projection. According to Nerys Dee in her comprehensive Understanding Dreams, experiencing weightlessness and rising above the ground is thought to indicate the spirit leaving the body. She suggests people who can do this can usually rise above their problems when awake and rarely remain depressed for long.

Sounds good, huh? I can still remember the feeling vividly from my infant school, but that was a long time ago. It would be so good to do that now.

In researching it, I came across several other interpretations. Dreams about flying can mean:

• freedom from troubles (being free to fly as a bird)
• expansion or elevation of your spiritual life
• the release of sexual tension (according to Freud)
• a new perspective – the ability to look down and get a wider perspective of things
• a symbol of your own personal sense of power (if you can control your flight)
• freedom, success, independence and happiness (particularly if floating out of control)
• calmness and the peace in your waking life (again more floating than controlled flying)

So your flying dream may be telling you to let go of things, rise above petty problems or look at the broader picture.

The original beginning of Chrysalis had the following scene featuring Rory aged seven, but I cut it when I restructured the book to start from her as a teenager. I’d love to hear your flying dreams.

Rory had the distinct feeling she didn’t belong. Not merely to the class, but to the school, the town or even the world she lived in. She didn’t fit. Ever. Like the time some girls in her class were talking about their dreams.

“I had a pony with a long tail and ribbons in his mane.”

“I was a princess in a golden castle.”

“I had a genie who granted all my wishes.” Julie, as befits the playground bully, topped them all, and then fixed her stink eye on Rory. “Your turn.” The unspoken, “freak,” resounded. “What did you dream about?”

“I flew across the playground.”

“Oh, yeah. I had that dream, but it was ages ago.” Julie flicked her blonde pigtails and smirked at the others.

Rory tried to explain. “Except it wasn’t a dream. I really flew.”

“Of course it was a dream. Don’t be so stupid.”

Rory fell silent in the face of such blatant scorn, watching as they walked away with varying degrees of pity on their smug faces. It wasn’t a dream. At least, it didn’t feel like one. But it had happened pretty much every night for as long as she could remember. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel the sensation exactly. She would lift off the ground, a few feet at the start, rising above the hopscotch grid. Soon, she flew above the climbing ladder, then higher and higher, looking down on everything in the playground as it got smaller and smaller.

One or two of the girls whispered and pointed at her when she walked by, but she took no notice, uncaring about not fitting in with kids of her own age. She didn’t have much in common with them, and her sunny nature was quite content with the amount of loving support she got from the grown-ups. Until the fateful Wednesday it all went horribly wrong.

The day began differently when she woke up feeling sick and shivery with a bit of a snuffle: a completely new experience. Her mother’s ever-present broth normally kept all manner of coughs, colds and other nasty bugs at bay.

A temperature of two degrees above normal had warranted a huge spoonful of cod liver oil, but then she went straight to school. The teacher wouldn’t listen when Rory said she wasn’t feeling well; there were no excuses dreadful enough to get out of times table practice. By break time, Rory was burning up and freezing cold all at once, so she went to First Aid. The secretary told her to come back at lunchtime as the school nurse came in late that day.

It seemed important for Miss Dale to impress the stern man visiting the history lesson. She asked the whole class to put their hands up if they knew two things about the royal family and got very cross when Rory couldn’t raise her hand.

“This is not acceptable, Rory. You need to pay more attention. Perhaps you should sit on the front table so you can listen properly.”

Rory tried to get up, but her legs wouldn’t support her, and she collapsed back into the chair.

“Aurora Ballantyne, you naughty little girl. Come out here, immediately.” Miss Dale had her unhappy face on, but when Rory tried to tell her about the wobbly legs, no words came out of her mouth.

The next thing Rory remembered was being in bed with her mother holding her hand and crying softly. “Please wake up, sweetheart. I’ll never leave you again, I promise. Just please come back to me.”

“It’s all right, mummy. I’m here now and I won’t be going away for a long time. Malduc said I’ve got a lot of growing up to do first.”

Her mother looked worried, but the strange name wasn’t mentioned again for a long time.

If you enjoyed this and want to read more of Rory's story, Chrysalis is available on Amazon, and you can read it for free with Kindle Unlimited.

How are you with patterns?

For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by all manner of codes and patterns. When I sent some out at the end of a recent newsletter, I was thrilled by the number of people who engaged with the puzzles and doubly impressed by how many people got them right.
If you want to have a go, add your answers in a comment below.

Give me the next 2 in each of these sequences:

a)  2, 5, 8, 11, __ , __

b)  2, 5, 10, 17, __ , __

c)  j, f, m, a, _ , _

Good luck. I will be giving the answers some time in the next week.
The third one is a little tricksy - if you want a clue, scroll down.































Part c) is do do with time, it's not (exactly) a numerical sequence.

Bad Boys and Good Girls

Some of my detractors criticize the way even my villains turn out to have hearts of gold. I hold my hands up - I believe every person has at least one redeeming feature. Even when I spent a decade and a half trying to teach kids who'd rather be anywhere but in a maths class, I found enough goodness to keep me turning up to school every day. And more than enough material to fill a dozen books.

So this "fun bridge between the Hengist and Colour of Light series" gives a brief glimpse into some of the unsung characters - not necessarily heroes except in their own minds. Although they never made it to the mic, they all have a part to play in the bigger picture of the Hengist people’s adventures when two worlds collide.
Please indulge me with the fairytale blurbs, they kinda fit. The stories are way darker than the Hengist YA series with no guarantees of HEA endings, but the satisfaction that justice was done. Mostly.

Context is available for 99c/99p. Here's the blurb:

Seven unlikely protagonists. Seven taxing situations. 
Seven opportunities for rebellion and/or redemption.

Maura's Magical Saviour
A poor-little-rich-girl follows the hippie trail to become a poor-little-poor-girl. All essential preparations for meeting a time-travelling Viking prince.

Lynette's Stonehenge Rite
A spunky misfit meets a rugged soldier at the Dark Side of the Moon in this psychedelic, Alice-in-Wonderland adventure.

Edlyn's Evil Scheme
A villainous bully with no redeeming features plots a violent revenge against a virtuous hero. Bonus - you get to hear Archer's side of the story too.

Jack Jumps Hoops
A cowardly anti-hero learns valuable lessons from a tyrant-with-a-twist. Watch out for the Punkarella ending.

Kia's Hot-dish Revenge
A rebellious Cinderella's accidental revenge on her lazy mother backfires big time.

How Tamas Got his Scar
A happy prince falls under the spell of the most craven of bullies after a life-changing accident.

A Lie, a Witch and a Wardrobe
What is a drama brat to do when her lie results in incarceration and certain death? Why, rant, wail and wring hands, of course. Luckily, Claire's geeky friend is trapped with her, so she can engage science brain and figure out their survival.

And finally, although not exactly vintage, these stories are mostly set in the 80s and 90s, when your average teen didn't own a mobile phone and messaging/streaming/Netflix were mere twinkles in someone's eye.

Colour of Light series:
#1 Context: Seven short stories of rebellion and redemption - Available May 2020
#2 Chrysalis: Medieval magic meets modern-day mystery - Available June 2020
#3 Captive: Modern-day mystery meets medieval magic - Available August 2020
#4 Catalyst: Modern military thriller meets medieval magic - Available October 2020

Hengist Boxsets

The Hengest books are now available in 3 boxsets, each only 99c/99p for a limited time.
Archer's Quest has the two books featuring Archer - a 16-yr-old hottie who sets female hearts a-flutter in 2 worlds.
#1 - Archer, the Warrior, follows his adventures in his own world, where he must fight - against his enemies, his friends and even the girl he loves - in order to prevail.
#2 - Rory, sees Archer travelling to a foreign world filled with marvels such as chocolate, cars and computers, none of which exist in his own, quasi-medieval homeworld. The challenges are very similar as he meets a raft of lads - and even a girl - who want nothing more than to take him down.
Extra - Bad Lads, sees three of the thugs Archer encountered along the way grabbing the mic and telling their own tales.
Uniting the Tribes is available to read for FREE in Kindle Unlimited, and features 3 more heroes: a math geek, a time-travelling techie and a rebel gypsy.
#3 - Reagan, the Magi, has to solve a DaVinci-style mystery to determine the correct position for the next White Horse.
#4 - Slater, the Outil, travels back in time to when Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles were being built, but only he can spot the flaw in the design.
#5 - Geraint, the Renegate, has a huge task. His relationship with the Townie girl, Siany, is essential in defeating the rogue Renegates who would take over the Hengest world.
Extra - Good Guys, gives a few more supporting players a crack at the mic.

These medieval, romantic adventures form the prequel series to the Hengest adventures, and will appeal to fans of Call the Midwife, Poldark and The Good Witch who enjoy elements of magical realism, mystery and humour. Also FREE on KU.
The Nature's Tribe stories are set in 14th Century England, when plagues and witch-hunts meant it was not a great time to be a midwife. Especially one using the magic of herbs and earth energy in her healing. But Gaia has a plan for Senna and her family when the Black Death ravages the country.
#1 - 3 Handfastings and a Burial. Exactly whose handfasting is this? Senna feels like nothing but an inconvenience at her own wedding.
#2 - 12 Days of Yule. A ruthless magister or a reckless mercenary? Not much of a choice as Senna's mourning year ends.
#3 - 8 Sabbats of the Sun. Why does everyone (including Gaia) keep Cal and Lyrelie apart? Even themselves.
#4 - 13 Esbats of the Moon. Does a fallen woman deserve to find love? Eanje has no time for regrets when she falls pregnant and the father could be any of three men.

A series of Boxsets, anyone?

Nature's Tribe Books 1-4 is the first in the Hengist Boxset collection which tells the epic saga of Archer's Medieval-alternate-world.

Each series has a different feel - the first one is sweet, clean, romance with a cozy-mystery feel, perfect for fans of Call the MidWife, Poldark and The Good Witch.

For a short while, you can read nearly 1000 pages for a mere 99c/99p, and the whole bumper bundle (plus a couple of bonus short stories) is FREE on Kindle Unlimited.





The stories are set in 14th Century England, when plagues and witch-hunts meant it was not a great time to be a midwife. Especially one using the magic of herbs and earth energy in her healing. But Gaia has a plan for Senna and her family when the Black Death ravages the country.

#1 – Three Handfastings and a Burial
Exactly whose handfasting is this? Senna feels like nothing but an inconvenience at her own wedding.

#2 - Twelve Days of Yule
A self-important official or an unreliable mercenary? No real choice as Senna’s mourning year ends.

#3 – Eight Sabbats of the Sun
Why does everyone (including Gaia) strive to keep Cal and Lyrelie apart? Even themselves.

#4 – Thirteen Esbats of the Moon
Does a fallen woman deserve to find love? Eanje has no time for regrets when she falls pregnant.

Hibernating, me?

I might as well have been. Just so much other stuff going on in my life, the writing had to take a back seat. On the upside, the kitchen got a complete makeover, as did the bathroom and downstairs cloakroom.

I'd love to say I've come back raring to go, but all the enthusiasm from mid January is already starting to wear thin as the crazy effort spent promoting my books seems to have plateaued out.
Watch this space for some cool updates on a brand new, 4-book series coming later this year.