It’s with a great degree of pleasure that I can announce that
my novel, Witnesses, is now available
for pre-order from Crowded Quarantine Publications, with a publication date of
31st January next year.
It was accepted after an open submissions period in 2016 and
since the announcement was made I’ve been anticipating the actual release with –
it has to be said – a fair degree of excitement.
Adam Millard has done a great job on the edits, translating my
meandering prose into proper English and has produced an absolutely stunning
cover. He’s taken my suggestion of “err… maybe something with a church on it”
and produced an amazing piece of art. I love the 70s pulp paperback feel of it,
the creases on the cover a lovely, and clever touch. I was blown away when I
saw it for the first time and my love grows for it every time I look at it.
(Which is probably more than would be deemed “normal”).
It’s beautifully produced and rendered but also encapsulates
the themes of the book, with the two figures, the church and yes – the tentacles…
Witnesses takes as
its inspiration the Book of Revelations and the prophesies concerning
Armageddon contained within. Given that this is my debut (published) novel, I thought I’d
make life really hard for myself by setting it in four different time periods
in four different locations around the world: World War One Belgium; Virginia
in the United States in 1946; Malaysia in 1977 and the North East of England in
the present day. (One of these required less extensive research than the
others).
Perhaps it would have been easier to write the four sections
one at a time and then cut and paste but, for my sins, I chose not to do it
this way. The way the narrative jumps back and forth between the different time
periods/locations is exactly as I wrote it – a process which stopped me getting
too bogged down in one particular narrative thread and which hopefully keeps the
momentum of the book going, dropping clues and revelations so that the reader
will slowly work out what’s going on along with the book’s protagonists.
That’s the plan anyway…
I really enjoyed writing Witnesses
and am proud of what I’ve produced – even prouder after having seen the amazing
job Adam has done. It will also be available as an e-book but you can pre-order
the paperback here.
And here's the blurb:
The End Times are upon us…
In the small village of East Lee in north-east England, Dave
Charlton is studying for his PhD, an academic work that will probably be read
by only a handful of people. His research is of limited interest – certainly nothing
that will change the world.
The world is
changing though, and as his perception of reality mysteriously begins to alter -
bringing new abilities to see what others cannot, a stranger arrives with
revelations which will transform the course of his life for ever – and the
lives of everyone else on the planet.
Dave finds himself a key player in a story as old as time
itself, forced into a situation where the decisions he makes really are the
most important in the world. He has become part of the endless cycle of conflict
between the forces of good and evil, the struggle which will culminate in the
final battle: Armageddon.
Moving between the present day, the battlefields of World
War One Belgium, 1940s Virginia and Malaysia in the 1970s, WITNESSES is an epic
tale of destiny and apocalyptic horror.
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