Category Archives: Writing

Alyth: Author on Fire

Posted on June 13, 2017 by Frank

I started this blog on WordPress.com in November 2012, moving over from Goodreads, and decided to experiment with blog-based fiction. In a series of posts, I wrote about my friend Alyth, a beautiful and passionate girl who believes herself to … Continue reading →

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The Sexbot as Protagonist: rules, and an excerpt

Posted on April 19, 2017 by Frank

I have in the past written rules for writing vampire characters and rules for writing succubus characters, and inevitably I turn now to the rules for writing sexbot characters. I remember reading somewhere – and I wish I could find … Continue reading →

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Love Spells and Immunity

Posted on February 20, 2017 by Frank

My last post was prompted by a new novelette by Madeline Kelly, Olympic Hearts: a tale of two goddesses, which is a romance between Aphrodite and Artemis. (I have only read the beginning and this is not a review.) I … Continue reading →

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Ah, Ms Bond! We meet at last…

Posted on November 22, 2016 by Frank

“Give Bond breasts and we lose the magic behind the character,” writes Tim Stanley in the The Telegraph. “Bond is cast in primeval stone, unchanged by the centuries. He’s an alpha male who kills bad guys with foreign accents and … Continue reading →

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Swords, Slayers and other Wanderers

Posted on October 10, 2016 by Frank

I have just finished Freya Pickard’s Dragonscale Leggings, an entertaining tale of a woman from our world waking up one day in an alternative reality as a dragon slayer with amnesia. Written as a journal, there is humour and imagination, … Continue reading →

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Whence illyrium? – and other historical matters

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Frank

When writing historical fiction, it is important to write for the modern reader and yet equally important to remember that language, environment and culture were very different in the past. Anachronisms both deliberate and accidental are likely to distract the … Continue reading →

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Every wheel, spring, and lever

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Frank

I’m learning about Victorian London, having in mind to write a steampunk novel. How perfect is this: The human body, materially considered, is a beautiful piece of mechanism, consisting of many parts, each one being the centre of a system, … Continue reading →

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Writing Reality

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Frank

When writing a novel, especially one set in – or nearly in – the real world, there is a point when Just Writing is no longer possible. All those little details you can skirt around in a short story suddenly … Continue reading →

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A brief history of me, or: Watch out for them lesbian vampires!

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Frank

It has been an interesting few years for me. In 2011, I dusted off my epic fantasy Kings of Infinite Space, which had sat on my shelf neglected for eleven years, and self-published it through KDP. (My 2013 novella, Hrana, … Continue reading →

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Sacred Tea

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Frank

It’s nearly three years now since Suzie returned Cleo to her mother… * At half past eleven we arrive at Sacred. We’ve had fun shopping, and we’re wearing the same Illamasqua make-up – Drench pink berry red lipstick and Entangle … Continue reading →

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