A little excerpt
Just a little excerpt from what I’ve been working on, taken from somewhere inside the possible first chapter:
After I finished my breakfast I returned to my bedroom with the envelope in hand. Sitting on my bed, letter opener in one hand I prized open the letter.
The first thing I noticed about the letter was the condition of the paper. It clearly did not match the pristine envelope, as it looked like it had been written on ancient manuscript and had a faint musty smell to it.
I took the folded letter and opened it, I began to read:
Dear Charlie,
I hope you are well…
You are probably wondering why I should have written to you asking that you open this letter in private.
By the time you read this I should have passed over to the other side.
I don’t know quite how to say this, but I have been living a lie for quite some time now. As you know, I have been retired from my career in architecture, but the truth is, I have never been an architect.
You are probably wondering why I should lie to you and Grandma about my working life.
However it is vital that you do not tell anyone about this information, even Grandma.
I have secured more letters written on this “special paper” which will explain everything in time, which will be sent to you in due course.
For now I wish you well.
P.S.
Do not tell anyone, and I mean ANYONE about the contents of this letter.
Thanks.
Your beloved Grandpa.
I sat quite still on my bed with the letter in my hand. It was the strangest letter I have ever read. Not only was it written on some sort of archaic paper but whoever had wrote it had mentioned something to do with his life being a lie. Very odd.
And stranger still was the part about not telling anyone else about it.
As I sat there alone on my bed with the letter in my hand I was quite unprepared for what happened next…
Lots of what I would describe as miniature silver glow worms started to appear in the middle of the musty parchment starting from the centre of the letter and working their way out to the edges. At first they appeared to be quite faint but as they slithered over one another they began to emit a brilliant white light.
I was transfixed.
There were so many dancing worms wriggling and writhing on the page that eventually I had to close my eyes as they were far too bright for me to focus on.
After a time the bright mass of worms faded and when I looked down, I noticed that all I had between my fingers were two burnt corners of the letter, the rest of the letter had completely vanished.
What the hell is this, I thought. Perhaps it was some kind of practical joke.
I was in shock.
Clearly it was not the work of Matthew Smith. Matthew was a year older than me and was renowned at school for picking on kids in the year below his. A right bully at St Stephen’s school and quite adept at playing tricks too, but this was far to cleaver for it to be one of his efforts and besides if Matthew did know where I lived (which I’m positive he did not) and was going to send me something in the post he would probably send something much more nasty, like a packet full of farting sweets, or a parcel containing dogs mess.
I tried to think who could have sent it. If it was something from Grandpa why all the cloak and dagger stuff, I was quite convinced it was a hoax.
It was just then that I was interrupted from my thoughts by the door bell ringing and my Grandma calling from downstairs.
“Can you get that for me Charlie, my hands are all wet”
“Coming”, I shouted down, stuffing the corners of the letter into my waste-paper basket.
Pandamian Beta - The Easiest Way To Publish A Book Online
This looks like a very intriguing project - they haven’t developed the actual Publishing bit yet, but even having a CMS for writing in is kind of interesting
Klip Me - For Kindle
Klip web-pages to read later (on a kindle) - on Firefox, Chrome, Safari
Started work on a new book
I’ve started work on a new book. This W.I.P (work in progress) is a non-fiction entity.
The book is about Inventions…
But, not just any inventions.
Its aimed towards a coffee table type market, a book you might want to read in little sessions, and dip in from time to time.
The majority of these inventions are about everyday things we take for granted.
What interests me is the history behind some of these things, what led to the particular invention, was it an accident, or was it a process of refinement and of course the characters involved.
So far I’ve penned about ten pages after almost two days work. Admittedly it’s not much, but being a non-fiction book it is taking time to research, as well as put the facts down in a cohesive manner.
I want the reader to be intrigued by the history as I am by researching it and writing it. That’s one of the nicest things about researching history, you constantly learning things as you go along.
So far I can’t think of a suitable name for this book…
Here are a few of the top of my head, but I’m not sure which I like?
Inventions of Everyday things
The History of popular inventions
The History of Inventions we take for granted
Wonderful Inventions and their history
Wonderful Inventions, a history
Wonderful Inventions
Great Inventions Curious History
The Curious and Wonderful History of Inventions
And it goes on…
I will have to think of some more titles as I do some more research. I rather like the last one.
I’m currently reading ‘Chocolate Wars’, by Deborah Cadbury.
For those of you who are interested… I’m giving some choice excerpts from my current books that I’m reading bringing some interesting factoids sent from my Kindle to my social-sites.
They also show up from time to time on the sidebar of my Tumblr blog, (under my Twitter stream), this is an example below of what an excerpt link looks like:
Redgoblin: Could this be Nestle I wonder. more to read but I must go to bed now. http://amzn.com/k/15PFTSQLUZHYK #Kindle
My comment appears after my Twitter name… by clicking on the Amazon link it will take you to the short-excerpt itself.
Also if you have a question about the current book I’m reading you can always
‘Ask Me‘
Cheers
James, Redgoblin, Purple Ketchup
