1st of July

Life Untenable Ebook Released.

Enigmatic artist Pandora Strafer and her hated brother Tobin share a terrible secret. Pan is desperate to guard the truth which threatens to destroy everything she's worked for. But Tobin suspects she knows something more. The problem is, she isn't talking. Yet. 

Fuelled by desperation and drug-induced paranoia he pulls Pan from her reclusive life of creativity and into his sinister world. Pan hits back with the only weapon she has: her art. She has the time, the talent and the opportunity. All she needs is the killer instinct. Or does she? Life Untenable is a nerve-shattering fight-back psychological thriller with a killer twist that comes from the last place you'd have expected.

Life Untenable is set for release on the 1st of July. It's available for pre-order on Amazon now. I am hoping to have the paperback version around two weeks after.

June was pretty much taken up with finalising the ebook, something I do myself - one advantage of a career in IT. The paperback interior is a different matter. I engaged an experienced typesetter for this and if the proofs are anything to go by, it will have been worth the effort, not to mention the cost. I'm waiting for the actual printed proof to come from Amazon, after which and assuming all is well, all I have to do is hit the publish button.

Ebook out now. Paperback coming soon.

Helix Genesis Cover Makeover

It's the same edge-of-your-seat thriller, just with a new cover. Unlike those clever food marketing people, where you get a new wrapper and a product that is half its original size, there's no short-changing going on here. I've learned a lot from the paperback typesetting process, and I've weaved some of that magic into the ebook version of Helix Genesis. 

The main focus has really been on the cover. You might remember from the book that Helix and Gabrielle end up on some forts left over from World War 2. Located in the Thames estuary, Redsands Forts (aka Maunsell forts, after their designer) are now featured on the front cover. I'm hoping these fascinating structures reel in a few extra readers. Of course, if you're reading this and you haven't yet enjoyed Helix Genesis you can find it on Amazon. The ebook is available now, but I've unpublished the old version of the paperback. The new one will be up just as soon as I've approved the print proofs.

Now what am I going to do?

I'll be spending a little bit of time enjoying our post-lockdown freedom with my new toy. But apart from that, I will be heading back to my keyboard and the next instalment of the Helix series.

I have a draft title: Helix Nexus, a  beginning - I've written the first six chapters - and I know how it ends. It's just all that tricky but fun stuff in the middle that needs doing.  If the first book is anything to go by, the characters will lead me, probably by doing something unexpected. Gabrielle did that a couple of times in Helix Genesis. 

Question Time

Feel free to hit reply and ask me a question.

Here's one for this newsletter.

Q: Wha do you do when you're not writing, Chris? 

A: I read a lot, listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I also enjoy walking and cooking, not normally at the same time. Mrs L and I  are occasional Netflix bingers, most recently Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. I know - how on earth did we miss BB when it originally aired?  Oh yes - Ozark and Altered Carbon. 

That's it. Until next time. Stay safe. All the best.

Chris.

Selection of books read since the last email:

Fiction:

The Widow - Kate Waters

His Wife's Sister - A J Wills (Indie Author and it's a real page-turner.)

Caught  - Harlan Coban

The Hypnotist  - Lars Kepler

Non-Fiction:

The Righteous Mind - Jonathan Haidt

Talking to Strangers - Malcolm Gladwell

The Churchill Factor  - Boris Johnson

Columbine - Dave Cullen