Tag Archives: ebook

Good Gracious it HAS Been a While!

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Jack Reusen and the Chilren of Fate sneak peek cover 2I have been away from here for far too long. The perfect proof of this occurred to me a few weeks ago when someone who had attended one of my first-ever school talks (as a pupil) drove past me in Crieff High Street in a learner car.

Not only does that make me feel ridiculously old but it also highlights just how long I’ve been working on getting book three of the Jack Reusen series done. So I thought it was time for a very frank and honest update.

As of this afternoon, I am editing p167 of 202 of the final (post-editor, so it better be final) draft of Jack Reusen and the Children of Fate.

Karen, the illustrator has created a stunning cover for the book as well, and I’ve been in communication with the printers regarding pricing and print times for the first run (the first run of prints unfortunately always costs more and takes longer).

(Spoilers for book 2 ahead…)

This new addition to the Jack Reusen world follows Jack after he, his family, and his uncle’s cottage and garden landed in the heart of an ancient magical woodland within the world of Fey.

You’ll get to spend longer in Fey than you have in any previous Jack Reusen book. You’ll meet a strange new character who seems to be following Jack from inside his own mind. What’s more, you’ll get to learn more about Fey and how it’s connected to the Matter World. It’s a big story without being too big a read and I hope you enjoy it.

(…Book 2 Spoilers END)

There are twenty-one chapters in this new book (if you include the epilogue) and I’m currently editing chapter sixteen. I’m getting through about a chapter per day and I have some time off work so I may even get through more than that.

So, with only five chapters to go, I think it’s safe to say that I should be finished editing by the end of this week.

After literally years of plodding through drafts, I can’t believe I can say that the book will be ready in a week!

Jack Reusen and the Chilren of Fate sneak peek coverPrint turnaround can be as much as a month. However, as soon as I can get it uploaded, the book will be available digitally to read via Amazon Kindle (you can either read this on a Kindle reader or you could download the app and read it on any Android or Apple device).

I’ll obviously be back on here at each step of the process to keep people updated (especially once there are print copies available too). However, I promised myself that today’s post would be brief and to the point so that I could get back to work on the editing.

Wait What’s Happening?!

In brief:

The final draft of Jack Reusen and the Children of Fate will be done by the end of this week.

The digital edition should be available sometime next week.

And finally, at long last, the paperback edition should be available to buy in late April.

More to come…

fey-flameExtra Note: I also have plans to get an audiobook version of the first book out. This would take the form of either a podcast or an Audible audiobook, to be released sometime in the next few months. This is dependent on getting my office/ recording space in proper order so expect updates on that too.

For now, thank you so much for stopping by and please accept my apologies for the long (long long long…) wait for this next book in the series.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. It’s been a labour of love. The first version was very long. The delay has mainly come from trimming it into the reader-accessible version we now have.

I always want to create books that are as accessible to as many sorts of readers as possible, and I am really happy with the story we have now.

Thanks for stopping by, below you’ll find the mandatory self-promotional book plugs but you can skip these if you’ve already read the stories so far.

Thanks for stopping by and I’ll be much quicker to get back on here again next time,

All the best, John

***

Read my books digitally for FREE

reading reader kindle female

Photo by freestocks.org on Pexels.com

If you’d like to catch up on the first two books in the series you’ll find details on where to get these digitally (and potentially read them for free) below.

As always, you can get hold of print versions of the first two books from Fun Junction Toy stores, as well as by buying directly on this site (I’ll even sign a copy for you before it’s posted out). To buy from this site using PayPal, follow this link and click on the buttons for the books you’d like to buy.

Kindle Unlimited

All of my books are free to read for those with an Amazon Kindle Unlimited membership.

Kindle Unlimited currently offers a free trial for two months so you can see if you like their service.

After that, your membership would cost just £7.99 per month and you can cancel any time you like (including before the end of your two-month trial membership.

You said I could read your books for free?

Both of my main children’s fantasy books (The ‘Jack Reusen’ books, for 6 and up) are available on Kindle Unlimited. Here are the links for Amazon UK for ‘…Fey Flame‘ and for ‘…Spark of Dreams‘. On top of this, you can also find a short Christmas story I wrote a few years back, as well as my dark fantasy book (10-12+) ‘Marcus‘ (set in and around the old abandoned Victorian school in my home town of Crieff).

These are all available to read for free (even as part of your free trial) with Kindle Unlimited. What’s more, it’s always good to know that people are reading (and hopefully enjoying) my books.

If you’re in the USA, Kindle Unlimited has a similar free trial and you can find all of my books on my Amazon Author page.

A little more about my own books:

Once you’ve signed up to Kindle Unlimited, you’ll see that both of the Jack Reusen books come up as ‘free’, so you can read the whole adventure so far, for nothing.

‘Jack Reusen and The Fey Flame‘ introduces you to the land of Fey, as creatures (and other things) make their way through to the ‘matter-world’ (basically our world). Jack and his family have to discover a way of closing a collection of ‘breaches’ between the two worlds to make their world safe again.

*

cover with blurb and barcode 2 trimmed‘Jack Reusen and the Spark of Dreams‘ is a slightly different kind of adventure. People are losing their ability to dream. Every night more and more people lose the certain something that makes human beings so good at solving problems and creating things; the spark of dreams. Jack discovers that he could be the key to understanding what’s causing this change, and he may even be the only person who can solve it and bring back the dreams and imaginations of hundreds of people.

I hope that both of the Jack Reusen books give you and/or your kids something to enjoy as you read them. Let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for stopping by my site, and I can’t wait to share even more details of my newest book,

All the best, John

Using screens to reduce screen use? (Can we fight fire with fire whilst helping our local libraries?)

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Hi, how are you coping? Are you self-isolating? Sorry for referencing the current crisis again but the thing I’m talking about today is pretty close to my heart.

I’ve always had a soft spot for my local library, it’s where my love of reading was fed with endless piles of books from the age of nine/ten onwards. This post is about screen use but it’s also about libraries.

Losing access to a vital source of entertainment

Sadly, as has been the case for many such institutions, Culture Perth and Kinross (the organisation behind museums and libraries where I live) has temporarily closed all the libraries (even the mobile one) in our area. Given the number of vulnerable individuals who must use these facilities each day this isn’t a surprise. I get it, but it doesn’t make it easier.

You’re probably now looking at the title and wondering what this has to do with screen use. Bear with me, I do have a point.

All bored with nowhere to go?

Let’s now combine the loss of libraries with the fact that a lot of us are now spending a lot more time indoors than usual. We could (and probably will) spend a lot of that time on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, or just watching the old trusty TV.

However, I’m starting to get a bit fed up of TV already (and I’m speaking as someone who has a solid thirty-odd year addiction to telly) and I imagine a few other folk are too. The big issue for me is the fact that I can’t really go above ‘PG’ in my viewing habits until the kids are in bed and by then (currently at least) I just want to go to bed too.

On top of this our kids are now there. All the time. If your kids are home from school like mine are, then you’re under surveillance all day. They see everything! We parents are under more scrutiny now than we ever were, and could easily be caught out in the hypocrisy of ‘no screens’ as fast as a kid can burst in on you sneaking a watch of a ‘This Morning’ clip or a quick catch up of ‘The Witcher’ while you’re ‘sweeping the stairs’.

So, is there a way to encourage your kids away from YouTube and Netflix and onto something more ‘educational’ without sounding like a hypocrite?

(Though I should plug my own Youtube videos here just to confuse things further).

Can you get access to some sort of non-hypocritical grown-up entertainment that might stop you climbing the walls to escape yet another episode of Scooby-Doo, Gumball, or whatever else Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, or Disney has to offer?

Is that even a thing?

Can you be entertained like a grown-up during the day without emotionally scarring your kids?

The answer is ‘YES!’ and it’s by accessing a technology that pre-dates TV and even radio by decades (though admittedly with a modern spin). Better still it’s FREE! Simply put, you can get a book (or audiobook) from the library!

But wait, didn’t I just say the library is closed?

Yep!

So how am I supposed to get a book out?

I’ll tell you!

(Sorry for the format here, the shops had run out of decaff and the caffeinated alternatives are proving a surprise. Feeling a bit ‘high energy’ at the moment 😉 Anyway, back to the post…)

Our library (and your library too, I expect) offer a digital catalogue of ebooks and audiobooks which will work on almost any device (Android, Apple, though NOT Kindle). You maybe knew this already, maybe you even use it. If this is true you’re probably already tuning out from this post.

(If this is you then thanks for reading this far and if you’re interested in some new ebook titles to read then check out my last post for a selection of books by nice people who also happen to be great writers, and me. Just scroll to the bottom of that post for the list. Here’s the link.)

If you haven’t used this facility before, I’ll talk you through the process to set it up on your device.

Free entertainment!? Educational? Stuff for grown-ups? Stuff for kids? How do I get it?

The following information assumes that, like me, you live in the Perth and Kinross area but it should apply for your own library service too (though the links won’t be relevant in your case (you’ll have to rely on Google):

1) First off, make sure that you are a member of your local library. If you’re not currently a member of your library, then you’ll need to follow this link to join as a library member of the CPK library service. (Please do this if you aren’t a member. It can’t hurt our now closed libraries to have a growing list of members during this time. It’s always good to support your local library and adding to their member numbers is an easy way to do this)

2) Next, you’ll need to join the RB Digital service using your library member information (you’ll need a library card number for this bit so make sure you have it on hand). Follow this link to join RB Digital.

3) Then, download the RB Digital app on the device you want to use (you can put this on more than one device and let your kids read ebooks and audiobooks too).

4) Sign in to the RB digital app using your new RB Digital account. You can select up to eight titles to have loaded on your phone/other devices at once.

5) That’s you, select titles and read/listen to the books of your choice. Enjoy your free (and low bandwidth) entertainment and feel good about the fact that using library services shows how much you value them.

Show Digital support for a cultural institution

We can’t support our libraries with footfall while they’re closed but by using services like this we can show that we still see them as vital resources for the community. (Hopefully, this will help the ‘powers that be’ to see how important our libraries are too)

Do yourself (and your library) a favour. Join online and access a few digital titles today. You’ll always have a book to enjoy just tucked up in your pocket and it gives you a grown-up break from youtube videos, cartoons, and your own back catalogue of Disney DVDs.

All that and you can also get your kids doing something educational while fiddling on their phones. Total win-win.

Let us know your favourite books to pass the time during house arrest (…I mean self-isolation)

Please feel free to share your secret escape titles in the comments below (you know, those books that help you tune out for a few minutes and disappear into another world).

I’m currently reading ‘Ways of the Doomed’ by Moira McPartlin (mine is an old-fashioned paperback though). It’s a gritty, dystopian sci-fi, set in the near future in Scotland (and a far cry from an animation by Disney 😉 ). What are you reading/ will you be reading?

As always thanks for reading (and hope you’re doing OK),

All the best, John