The Time Bubble

And so it was, that on Saturday evening, the lesser spotted beast of Bicester came to be observed partying like it was 1999 on the dance floor of the White Hart. Once a familiar sight around the pubs and nightspots not only of Bicester, but of Oxford too, sightings of this once prolific creature have become increasingly rare in recent years. In fact, prior to Saturday night, some had feared it may have even become extinct. Thankfully  I am alive and well (apart from a bout of man flu) and safely ensconsed here at the HQ of Chapel Street Press, from where I am currently dreaming up my latest time travel masterpiece. In theory, I am currently "between jobs" as actors say, which has freed up some time for a little socialising, both of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic nature Today I shall be focusing on the alcoholic side of things. It's a sad fact of life that drinking as a career is much like a career in professional sport. Just as you don't see any 45 year olds pl...

I love Top 10's, don't you? They often have them in the paper - Top 10 this, Top 10 that. So I thought perhaps it was time my blog had a new feature where I share with you some of my favourite moments from my glittering career in...well, whatever it is I do (even I'm not sure). First off today, a look at some gluttonous highlights from years gone by. These aren't really in any sort of order, or even probably the actual Top 10 as I've probably forgotten loads. These are just ten moments in my life of gorging that made me happy. 1) The day I had a Chunky Kit Kat that was solid chocolate - no wafer at all. 2) A similar experience with a packet of Wotsits - where every Wotsit was made of solid flavouring. 3) The time I discovered ants in my Diet Coke I ordered along with my Olympic Breakfast at a Little Chef on the way back from a meeting at Hall & Woodhouse brewery in Dorset. When the restaurant apologised profusely and gave me the meal on the house, ...

Hi all, The release of my new novel, "My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday", is imminent, so whilst it is with the proofreader I thought this might be a good opportunity to do a little Q&A session on what the book is all about. Q: So, this sounds like another time travel book? Have I got that right? A: You certainly have. And like my earlier Time Bubble book, I think I've managed to come up with a pretty unique concept for a story. It is about a man who lives his life backwards. Q: Sounds good, but hasn't that been done already? I take it you have seen "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?" A: Ha, you're not the first person to say that. This is a completely different concept, though. Although Benjamin Button had a strange medical condition that meant he was born old and grew younger, he still lived normally through time, from his birth in 1918 to his death in 2003. Q: So how is your story different? A: My character, Thomas, wakes up at the ...

A number of my writer friends have expressed an interest in Amazon's new pay-per-click promotional tool so I thought I would summarise my experiences here. Many are put off by the potential cost. Amazon require that you set a minimum budget of $100 per promotion, a figure most indie authors would baulk at. In fact, the reality is, you only need to spend a fraction of that budget, and if you feel at all uncomfortable with the amounts, you can terminate the promotion at any time. Compared to fixed rate ads, where you pay your $x or £x upfront, with no clue as to whether it has been effective or not, it's an option that I feel a lot more comfortable with. My current promotion has cost me barely anything so far - in fact less than a dollar. Although you have to set a budget minimum of $100, you don't pay any money up front at all and nothing for the ads unless people actually click on them, which the vast majority don't. That's not a reflection on our work, after al...

Come back, all is forgiven. Hello! I'm back! Did you miss me? What's that? You didn't even notice I'd gone? Charming... Actually I haven't been gone that long. Just over two months in fact, which is not a lot in the grand scheme of things. I went four years without a blog post at one point. So where have I been? Well, just here actually, working intensively on my latest novel, to the exclusion of all else, hence no blog posts. However, it is now finished and with the proof readers which means normal service can be resumed here. I did leave our old friend Gerald Mincen in charge of the blog whilst I was busy, with instructions to write a post every week. However, he seems to have only written one and then not bothered. I haven't actually seen him for a few weeks, as he mysteriously disappeared after going on a tour of a crisp factory in Leicester. It seems he signed in but never signed out. He was last seen leaning over a vat of hot oil, ready to fry...

Good evening! Gerald Mincen here. You may have heard of guest posts on blogs, well I'm delighted to be able to join you this evening. Unfortunately Jason is currently indisposed after a stressful few days. Having departed Facebook after finally admitting defeat in the thankless task that was attempting to administer the Bicester Town Centre Chat page, he was last seen seeking solace in the Wimpy nursing a mixed grill. I understand that an incident involving a pantomime dame that left him covered in lipstick didn't help either. In the meantime, it's up to me to fill in the gap. Those of you with long memories will remember me from the halcyon days of the "Campaign To Bring Back Old Flavours Of Crisps". I too disappeared from the social scene for a while in the noughties due to a nervous breakdown brought on by Walkers decision to discontinue Beef & Onion flavour, (not to mention an amorous misadventure in Steeple Claydon) but that's all in the past now....

I can't believe it's barely 18 months since I published my first book on Amazon. I also can't believe how naive I was back then. In fact I almost cringe at the mistakes I made at rushing out that initial draft. I thought at the time that it was OK to paste together a set of blog entries and various other bits and pieces of writing I had knocking about, shove any old cover on it, don't bother proof-reading it and call it a book. Then try and market and sell it to family and friends without even thinking about the bigger picture. That the book sold at all was a minor miracle, but in fact it was relatively successful. However, the book's shortcomings were soon picked up on. I went back, cleaned it up, put a new cover on it, edited it into some sort of sensible format and put it back out there. That first book, Fortysomething Father has attracted more reviews than any other (well it has been out the longest), and is also the only one that has 1* and 2* reviews. ...