K.I.S.'s Blog

Today is significant for two reasons; the first being that it’s Friday (yay!) and the second because it’s the day that ‘The Assays of Ata’ officially receives a new cover. The very talented Lizbe Coetzee did the design and layout, and her final version went above and beyond my expectations:

A few months ago, I stumbled across an IG accoun...

I am very pleased to announce the release of my second book, “The Separation of Briin”, a prequel novella to The Chronicles of Áitarbith.

It is currently available in ebook and paperback format on Amazon (links below), and I shall endeavour to make it available on other platforms asap.

I intended to title this post ‘Great Expectations’, but wanted to add a caveat of ‘Great(–adjacent)’, because my imposter syndrome would not allow me to make that claim. “What if it’s not so great?” is what my self–doubt whispers… So, ‘Exciting News’ it is! The fact that the manuscript of my novella, “The Separation of Briin”, is going through i...

Ah! Who doesn’t appreciate a good dose of self-chastisement in relation to procrastination of work that should have been handled and the resulting looming deadlines that, inevitably, will not be met? Well – this post is my confession to just that, as well as the knock-on effect that it will have to other writing projects… But I am getting ahe...

(Image source: thebigkerbang.com on Pinterest)

I’ve been thinking a lot about characterisation (particularly from an author’s perspective) over the past two week – the reason being that I had a dream where the basic premise of a time-travel story played out like an immersive film, and when I woke up, I became obsessed with plotting the book that I will write based on this very vivid dream.

Now, this isn’t the entire reason for my obsession with characterisation (as you may notice, my r...

Write what you know, they say… Which is perhaps why I haven’t written that much over the past few weeks. Another well-loved adage is that old chestnut: “The more you learn, the more you realise how little you know”. Now, perhaps some context is necessary here; I am currently trying to educate myself (aided and abetted occasionally) on the multiheaded Hydra that is the publishing world – more specifically, the indie publishing world. And thus far it has been both a positively edifying experie...

I am convinced some wise man (or woman) somewhere has probably already written a very profound phrase regarding the inconsistency of the passage of time. Sometimes it rushes like river rapids, smashing you about and battering you with all the needs and requirements of your life. Similarly, it can proceed at a leisurely pace, the equivalent of cruising down a sluggish serpentine stream with no cares impeding your sunny tour. Also, it is famously bandied about that a person can be in the difficult...

And the cold I’m currently doing battle with even more so. You know when you’ve been promised something (or an event has been placed before you as a highly probable outcome) and then it is unceremoniously retracted? Yanked from the realms of even vague possibility? Well, Germany (and I would go so far as to say Europe in general), has done just that with the advent of spring and its promise of warm, wonderful weather.

As a recent inhabitant of Germany, I feel quite hard done by, honestly, tho...

Life is like a rollercoaster… a box of chocolates… a leaky kitchen sink… So many adages, so little time; and so much truth encompassed by them all. Suffice to say: life can be brilliant, and it can be quite crappy (I used the nicer word there, I’ll have you know). The last time I posted on my website, I was riding a high – the rollercoaster analogy seems apropos here – the highest high in the sky: publishing my first ever novel. Not only that, but it had been lauded as being a stellar fantasy by...

Life is like a rollercoaster… a box of chocolates… a leaky kitchen sink… So many adages, so little time; and so much truth encompassed by them all. Suffice to say: life can be brilliant, and it can be quite crappy (I used the nicer word there, I’ll have you know). The last time I posted on my website, I was riding a high – the rollercoaster analogy seems apropos here – the highest high in the sky: publishing my first ever novel. Not only that, but it had been lauded as being a stellar fantasy by...