Complete Revision of Special Treatment

New Edition – The Benefits Of e-book Publishing

I published Special Treatment & Other Stories – my first book of short stories – two years ago and was pleased with the result. Since then I have published The Truth In The Lie – a further book of short stories – and I know my writing has improved. When I read back over the earlier stories I could see plenty of faults there. Not mistakes exactly, just that I knew then the stories could have been told better. I related this sentiment to my eldest daughter who had just done an excellent job of editing The Truth In The Lie. "I wish I could change those stories now," I said.
"Why can't you?" she asked, "if the book has only been published as an e-book, how hard is it to publish a second edition?"
The next question from me was obvious – would she edit it for me?
"I'd love to," she said.
Fortunately Alex had a few weeks before returning to work at the top of a mountain in the Pyrenees. Once she was there, cut off from what we misguidedly call civilisation, there would be no chance of her doing it. "Start today," I said.

Two or three weeks after that I received her edits. There was a surprising amount of red to deal with in track changes. "Was it that bad?" I sighed.
"Not really," she replied, "just that you could do a lot better."

All through her edited document the phrase "you can do better," appeared in comment boxes. I squirmed with discomfort for the first few days. Later, however, I came to gain pleasure from it. I had responded to this challenge she repetitively laid down for me numerous times by now and each time I could see just how much better I could do. Why on Earth had I been so stupid as not to have asked for her help when I had the first draft complete, I asked myself? Because she had been up her mountain then, that's why. I won't make the mistake again though. She's a hard taskmaster but the benefits are very clear to me now.

In some of the stories only a few details have been changed. In many though, the entire plot has been adjusted. Often the outcome of a story had been revealed too early. In others, while the outcome had been perfectly clear to me, it had not been to others it would seem. Phrases that I felt were entirely of my own invention were singled out as being cliches. None of us knows where our ideas come from. We may think we do but often we are wrong. This is the reason people are sometimes accused of plagiarism. They have read, seen or heard something and filed it away in their subconscious then retrieved it at some later stage believing it to be our own original thought. Agonising when it's pointed out to you of course. This is why we need good editors. Proofreading for typos and errors is not enough. The best of independent authors still need a fresh set of critical eyes over their work before hitting the publish button.  I know that now.

Where my editor runs away to when I get too much for her

I am assuming that by simply replacing my old document with the new one on Amazon KDP and on Smashwords, that anyone having bought and downloaded the original version of Special Treatment & Other Stories will be able to download the new version for free. I'm sure I read that somewhere. So please do me a favour. If you read on-line that I am about to launch a new book, please ask me, "has Alex edited it yet?"

Download: Special Treatment & Other Stories - 2nd Edition
On Amazon.com
On Amazon.co.uk
On Smashwords

The Truth In The Lie

Further Excursions Into The Lives Of Others

The Truth In The Lie finally launched in the last week of March. After such a long time in the editing stage, it seems a long time ago now. I am still so pleased with the cover but even more pleased with readers' responses to the stories. I have promised that I will tell the story behind the cover photo at some point. It is in Hokkaido up in the north of Japan and my friend Fumiko Jin, the photographer, has promised to reveal it to me in full at some point. Instinct tells me I should know better than to apply too much pressure so I am holding off for a while, which makes it all the more intriguing.

The book has been out a month and I have received some very flattering feedback. As always with my fiction, people seem rather preoccupied with what lies behind the stories and how much of what I have written is based upon truth. This at least tells me I chose the right title!

"Come on Mark, is that guy in Red Card based on the footballer you used to know in Ireland?"
"Be honest, the woman named Dottie in Dottie's Diary – she's based on my friend Jo, isn't it?"
"I hope the cafe in All In Good Time is not my cafe, Mark. I could lose a lot of customers!"
"Mark, I read your book. Tell me, The story Traffic... how the hell did you know that about me?"

and most worrying of the comments so far:

"How the hell did Lorna let you get away with publishing In The Line Of Fire?

A further source of concern to me is that it has also been pointed out that there seem to be several characters distinctly similar to myself, who are preoccupied with their own mortality. My response to all such comments is to remind them that the book is filed under fiction.

Story Outlines

My Only Friend – An elderly widow in Lisbon is estranged from her son who prefers to live in squalor and idleness since the death of the father he idolised.

A Minor Distraction – A rich American man on a train in Africa tries to tempt a poor young girl into his carriage while stopped at a wilderness station. The tragedy that ensues hardly seems to touch him.

Greta – A pair of travellers arrive in a rural Hungarian hotel where all is not what it should be. They are shown to their room by a young woman who seems something of an automaton. 

All In Good Time – A woman who runs a cafe is told she is being watched by the security forces. It seems unlikely until one of her staff disappears under strange circumstances.

Masaji – A father and son attempt to escape from China on foot after their visa runs out. 

In The Line Of Fire – A man in a war zone is attacked and hounded by those he once regarded as friends. They seem unwilling to allow him to leave the area, however.

The Crossing – Exhausted after several days at work, a man begins to experience strange occurrences while driving home through a long road tunnel.

Traffic – An art dealer makes his first trip to Africa and almost immediately becomes the victim of not one but two carefully engineered scams – or so it seems. 

River Witch – A young man camps by a river and is shocked to see a naked young woman float past as he lies in bed enjoying the early morning sun. How could he not go after her?

Red Card – Once a promising professional footballer, Pat Carmichael becomes an alcoholic loser after he suffers a crippling injury. Finally after two years of depression he picks himself up.

The Commuter – Travelling home on his daily commuter train, David is drawn to something strange he sees in the dark while the train is stopped. What he sees transfixes him.

Dottie’s Diary – Two women hill-climbing in Wales take shelter in a stone barn. Soon they are joined by a wealthy local woman who invites them home where they meet her husband. He is familiar to one of them. 

Burned On Him – A rather reserved family meet for a weekend at the parents' house where a revelation by one sister causes an argument and unexpected consequences.

The ‘F’ Word – A conversation overheard on a train with three children, their mother and her friend. 

The Bottle Lady of Luang Prabang – Surreal happenings when a group of friends meet at their regular breakfast cafe by a busy main road.

To find the book and to discover the characters for yourself you should click the link to Amazon or Smashwords below or in the right-hand margin of this blog.

Cover photo by Fumiko Jin - Taken in Hokkaido, Northern Japan. 

Story of the photo to follow in a future blog

The Truth In The Lie - Smashwords (all e-book formats)
The Truth In The Lie - Amazon UK (Kindle)
The Truth In The Lie - Amazon.com (Kindle)

PLEASE NOTE, you can read an e-book without a Kindle or e-book reader. You can download the Kindle Reader App from Amazon for free, to your Computer, Laptop, Smartphone, tablet or i-Pad. Just google it.