February 2026

Can it get any hotter? I doubt it! Oh, wait, yes it can.

Have you ever felt like you’re melting? I sure do! But that’s Western Australia for you – mostly hot. I will say there is the usual fire up in Brigadoon, so I hope everyone got away from Bells Rapids.

I don’t have a lot to report apart from it being really hot which always amazes me that other parts of the world are currently freezing. Amazing. We live on such an incredible planet. Absolutely astounding with all its differences.

Anyway, onto updates.

Updates

I do have a new update completely unrelated to any of the works I currently have going. I will be entering a short story competition – and I’ve actually paid money to do so. Update on that – I have sent the story in, so let’s see what happens. Fingers crossed!

Clans in Conflict

For those who don’t know much about it, this is a series about a clan that is lost travelling through dimensions due to a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong and about the city-state Part 2 concludes in.

Dark Dimensions Part 1 and 2 is recounting that journey to Torkandisch. Dark Reign is the next book in the series and covers the next 12 months in the city-state.

The Dark Road is back with the beta readers. This story takes place about 16 years later. Lots in Torkandish has changed and there is lots of intrigue and heartache throughout this book. Some funny instances, too.

But Dark Beginnings will take us back to where it all started in Tordun, covering Vlad’s rise to power and, perhaps, that fateful experiment, along with the first 15 years of dimension-hopping. Dark Beginnings is still on the backburner. I have started this and I will return to it.

So, that’s what’s in store for anyone who wishes to immerse themselves in this world.

There are also going to be other stories, along with a special edition of Dark Dimensions where the two parts are combined. That will be in the future.

Speaking of other stories, Deadly Convergence is centred on Torkandisch 5 years before the Clan lands in the city-state and follows a crime that twists into something else. This is available only on Kindle and on Kindle Unlimited.

I have an update on the Ryan Locke story. It is currently with the editor after having had the Emotion Thesaurus applied to it. I have yet to brainstorm about a name, yet, but once I have that title, it’ll go for cover art and publishing. I actually did learn quite a bit from the read aloud function, but some of the ordinary words like tear as in cry was pronounced like tear as in rip, which had me laughing! I may still send it to beta readers as well.

I am still considering the following idea, but I have been too busy to do more than consider it. I haven’t done a lot with Alex Travis and his mother Katarina. I feel that their history should be told, but I think that’s going to be in a book between Dark Reign and The Dark Road. So, stay tuned for that.

Consequences

This series follows the rise of Marek from a mastermind thief to the saviour of a nation.

Heart of Deception is now available through Amazon and Draft2Digital. And an update on that is that the 10 copies ordered came through early, so there will be a copy donated to Midland Library, as well.

Legacy of Risks will follow in the next few months, once cover art is finalised for it. The reason why it will take a few months is because I’m applying The Emotion Thesaurus options to it.

Dangerous Heart will then go to beta readers.

Watch this space.

There will be some short stories come out and, possibly, a fourth book that covers events much later after Dangerous Heart. Definitely a “watch this space” moment.

Other Universes

Strefinobhan

With Heart of Deception released and my work on the Otherworldly Emergence series coming to a conclusion, I should be able to get back into editing the first book of this series and sending it to beta readers. I am still unable to say when this will happen, but hopefully sooner rather than later.

Paranormal

Again, this will have to wait until work on the Otherworldly Emergence series is completed. One of my paranormal pieces, however, is in the Emergence series, so stay tuned for updates there.

Speaking of which, you can find the Otherworldly Emergence information at the website below.

Bushland Castle Productions

I have finished editing one novella, Not your Normal Heroes. I am still editing the other and will have that editing finished by the end of the week.

I have received the feedback for both of my stories and I may finally have a name for the second story. At the moment I’m calling it either daemon hunter or ghost hunter, but that’s not the actual title. Still working on the title itself.

Pitches for this novella series has now closed and we are working hard on our manuscripts to bring them to you in a timely manner.

All of the information regarding the novella series is at the website:

https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/emergence

BCP is planning its next series, which will build on the Otherworldly Emergence but this time will be Otherworldly Origins. Stay tuned for further information regarding that (along with a link).

While you’re on the website, is information about their nonfiction series Australia: Living in the 70s. If you have a life story about living in the 70s in Australia, check the website for more details on that series. I know if I were to submit, it would all be about CountDown, Sandman vans and learning about Unionism through school (and other things, of course).

Also check out their podcast – Finding Elara. Learn about Mindfulness from other creatives – not just writers, but other creative persons, as well as worldbuilding and other information. BCP are about to start on their 3rd season of the podcast, so stay tuned for updates on that.

At the end of each segment, there’s a prize drawn. Go in to win books and other goodies!

Not only that, but Finding Elara has just made it onto YouTube. There is a Halloween special up that features one of my short ghost stories being read out live. So, just search for Finding Elara and have a listen. I’m the one in the blue hat.

The upshot of being involved in the Otherworldly Emergence is that it has opened up a whole new universe for me which has been expanding exponentially. The possibilities in that world are almost limitless and I have to admit to being distracted by writing in that universe.

Having admitted that, I will say that I have completed a story that links both my stories in the Emergence series and starts a whole new series in itself. It’s very, very exciting and a lot of questions raised by the second story are being answered in follow up novels.

Grow Write

Once every fortnight, Grow Write meets at the Midland Library in Midland, Perth, Western Australia. We are very excited to announce that our very first anthology is being printed and we hope to have it in our hands very soon. Watch this space!

It has arrived!

We are all excited to share this anthology with everyone. It is available on Amazon currently.

Research

Who likes researching?

Who falls down the rabbit hole of researching?

(I put my hand up) Yeah, I think we’ve all done it!

I sometimes leave research until the story is complete. Especially in something like Dark Dimensions. I only looked for things that would represent the Stronghold and Torkandisch after I’d finished the manuscript.

I did a lot of mapping when it came to Torkandisch – I will admit, that city is all mine.

In Heart of Deception, I gave Marek 6 days for his journey before I did any research on it and found he would only need 3. The extra days were handy.

While doing the Otherworldly Emergence stories, and one of the follow on novels, I researched the areas – especially as one of the characters grew up just outside Albany, Western Australia.

With the metahuman side, I have been exploring what the powers could be, how they could be named and exactly what the metahumans could do with their powers.

For my paranormal stories, YouTube is a great resource. I mean, I don’t necessarily believe everything I see on it, but it is a valuable source of ideas and seeing what could work and what might not.

In the Strefinobhan universe, I roughly mapped out a world map for that, as well.

The vampires in Clans in Conflict have completely different fangs to those of the current legends and lore. After I had finished the raw writing, I sat down and thought about the mechanics of what a vampires was and how it would work. (I blame my father – he drilled the laws of physics into me.) Thus, they are completely different to the accepted vampire. Hopefully, it makes them more interesting.

Going through researching on these things is important. I have even researched the effects of scopolamine, crystal methylamphetamine and a heap of other poisons and substances.

In one of Marek’s stories I placed him into what I thought was just plain shock. I later researched and found that I had given him all 15 symptoms of emotional shock. (That story is yet to be published.)

Research is a fundamental part of writing a novel, novella, short story or whatever you choose to write. Without performing research, our writing may fall short of where we want to take our readers.