Jan Edwards's Blog

A Party to Murder : Bunch Courtney Investigation #6 had been a tough write. Bunch readers liked what came out of the struggle but it took me a while to analyse why it had felt like pushing rocks uphill.

Partly it can be traced down to the agonies many writers faced during lockdown where writing anything was next to impossible. I am sure someone will, or perhaps already has worked out exactly why that was, but even after the all clear I had felt a strong yearning for pastures new.

The other reason was  I was all too aware of how there only so many crimes a girl can investigate from a quiet Sussex village without venturing into St Mary Mead territory.  I had only ever intended to write one crime novel so penning a series of six books gone well above and beyond expectations.

I wrote some short stories for anthologies, published re-edited an urban fantasy that I had abandoned in order to embark on the doings of Rose Courtney, put added to the small string of fantasy detective series concerning Georgianna Forsythe and put Of Sands and Tides on the market, but somehow getting my head down and writing something else seemed a million miles away.

Then the DCI Wright short story Going River (hinted at in Deadly Plot : BCI #5 )  demanded publication and I wondered if that was me finishing off the loose ends.

I toyed with research for a novel about Ellen Little, a young woman at a Birmingham arms factory looking into odd goings on at the works. Still WW2 but a very different setting and social order and had a couple of chapters done before wondering how long I could sustain the story – and whether there was more than one story in her. I still have plans for that one but it needs to incubate for a while longer.

Little did I know that Rose Courtney had not finished me just yet and was sabotaging Ellen’s best efforts. Rose had plans!

Last week I wrote an opening chapter for a new series : Rose Courtney PI.  A shift in emphasis from the horse mad country girl  to crime busting woman about town – well almost. We join her as plans for the agency are falling a little short of expectations…

Reading of the first draft of the first chapter to the writing group seemed to be well received  and so it appeared that Rose was back in control.

Full steam ahead on what is either Bunch Courtney Book 7  or given that is is a reboot Rose Courtney Book 1.

Today I opened the file labelled Rose PI synopsis that I had sketched out a month ago… and found the outline for a completely different case.

Rose seems to have jump started not one but two new cases.

I really hope that readers of the Bunch Courtney series will be as excited by the new direction the series is taking as I am.

There is a moment (for me at least), a momentary hiatus, where I have just completed several large projects as well as various smaller items and everything seems to halt. It could be seen as taking a deep breath before plunging into the next. Occasionally it develops into indecision: so many choices – so little time.

Especially when there are so many possibilities – choosing just one is overwhelming.

Yes, I have several things out with editors – either as anthology subs or longer pieces awaiting the dreaded red pen treatment. Those need to be if not exactly ignored then certainly set aside as being beyond my current control.

Yes, there are several projects in hand with my own anthologist’s hat on but again I am awaiting deadlines before any real work can be done.

So this week I have turned to the back files for a new project and taken the opportunity to tidy up my files in the process – deleting duplicates and perhaps more importantly updating ancient files that reach back quite literally to the last century and which, from my current Word edition’s reaction, may as well have been written in runes.

The oldest files I have unearthed are dated 1995. Some I know for a fact originated anything up to ten years prior to that and would already have been translated from Amstrad’s Locoscript into the now equally obsolete WPS (Microsoft Works) format. All of these now require urgent re-translation before they are lost forever. Most I have turned into RTFs on the grounds that the format may stick around for a while.

These ancients were banged out on my trusty WPS Amstrad 6128 and later PC Amstrad 8512 (more translations undertaken on their long journey). Reading snippets as I sling them from one system to another I am forced to admit that some are pretty bad! The ideas that can be worked on but with original execution that is pretty dire. These are my apprentice pieces that everyone needs to produce but which should never see the light of day.

There are more positively antediluvian items lurking in the attic – possibly dating back to the great flood. Either handwritten or else hammered out on what I am certain was a hefty pre-war Remmington typewriter: one that my father had rescued for me from the skip when he worked at Heinemann’s Press, Kingswood. Of those earliest efforts I shall draw a discreet veil. Twisted into spills they would doubtless make excellent firelighters…

It has taken me a few days to complete this all but its been an interesting process. I have numerous ideas for short pieces and over 50 abandoned novels – some of which are little more than an outline and half of a tentative first chapter while others are full MSs in dire need of overhaul before I showed them to anyone. A precious few might almost be considered close to finished.

Have I decided what to do next? Ummmmmm… not yet….

I have been a little tardy – a few days in Hay on Wye rather put it out of my head – but I am back at the desk once more with news!

The paper edition has been out for a while but I am pleased to say that Fables & Fabrications is now also available in Kindle format once again. There were a few glitches involving docs during the transfer from Penkhull to The Alchemy Press – now all fixed!

“From the arctic wastes of Norway to a fun-laden evening at the fair, Jan Edwards leads us through a world where nothing is as it seems. Shape changers and ancient spirits roam, and cats play their inscrutable parts in stories that unsettle and disturb the reader’s perceptions. Fourteen tales of mystery, mirth and the macabre. Chosen from her back catalogue of horror and dark fantasy these stories, leavened with a sprinkle of verse, have been collected for the first time in this volume.”

Contents:

Drawing Down The Moon
Grey Magic for Cat Lovers
Mayday Comes Askew
Midnight Twilight
Gallery Green
Thirteenth Day
Green Tea
The Abused and Him
Damnation Seize My Soul
Princess Born
Wind Blows the Oaks
Pet Therapy
Winter Eve
Jack Jumps Out of the Box
A Taste of Culture

There is also a small scattering of poetry that I shan’t list by title.

Links to buy below

Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com

As promised an update of my sourdough endeavours.

There have been any number of attempts that I have not embarrassed myself with recording – remember the opening of the film About A Boy?
Exactly…

No ducks were dispatched but I put it out on the bird table and even the greedy and ever ravenous local pigeons steered clear! It sat there for several days untouched before I took pity and broke it in pieces and threw it in the food-recycling caddy.

The bread is not wheat free (I draw a veil over my attempts at GF sourdough) but made with organic spelt flour, which, like many wheat sensitives, I can tolerate – especially in a fermented bread.

This was before the heatwave and having a cool kitchen had invested in a proofing box, which made some improofment(see what I did there…) And came close to success with one loaf – as the dough was very ‘sticky’ I put it in a loaf tin and baked in hope. Dense did not begin to describe. Edible but heavy in every way.

That was when I abandoned my ‘homemade’ starter and bought one on t’internet. A 50 year old starter according to the package. The first loaf using it was another heavyweight frisbee and I wondered if I had wasted money on the starter (and all of the other sourdough kit I have acquired).

Another try – reactivating my started from the fridge and was pleasantly surprised to see that it bubbled up quickly like something between The Blob and the Quatermass Experiment. Things were looking hopeful!

I used less water than before – as the troubleshooting section of my new book advised – and the kneading process produced a dough that, though slacker than a normal bread dough, seemed to have the right consistency. Then came the proofing stage – putting the bowl in the conservatory covered with a damp tea towel had the dough almost reaching the rim of the proofing basket. The heatwave excelled in one thing at least!

Time for the final phase!

I looked at a bread making book I had acquired last week in Hay on Wye which spoke of a dutch oven to enclose the loaf for the first half of the bake…

Ah… I don’t have a dutch oven as such but do have a cast iron casserole dish. Rather deeper than was really required but (to paraphrase) improvisation is the mother of success and that casserole dish doesn’t get nearly enough use. It seemed to do the trick! (Other than a burn on my wrist getting the loaf out of such a deep vessel) and voila!

Sourdough as most would recognise it! Tastes pretty good too. Still a little denser than I’d like but hey… its a start!

When I saw that these were being sold to me as high quality GF sausages my immediate thought was HOORAH.

Having cooked and eaten (half) of one my reaction has to be BLERGH.

One of the worst sausages I have ever tried. They might be gluten free but must that also mean flavour free?

GF INGREDIENTS: Pork (85%), Water, Gluten Free Oat Flakes, Sea Salt, Pork Stock [Yeast Extract, Rapeseed Oil, Pork Extract, Salt, Dextrose, Flavouring], Yeast Extract, Black Pepper, Onion Powder, Sage, Citrus Extract, Coriander, Preservative (Sodium Metabisulphite), Mace, Nutmeg, Cayenne Pepper.

This compared with ingredients for the standard Tesco finest sausages – which also has some surprising listings – bamboo?

STD INGREDIENTS: Pork (85%), Water, Wheat Flour [Wheat Flour, Calcium, Folic Acid, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin], Rice Flour, Sea Salt, Onion Powder, Pork Stock Powder [Yeast Extract, Potato Starch, Flavouring, Sugar, Salt, Pork Powder, Extracts of Rosemary, Turmeric, Rapeseed Oil, Ground Clove, Dextrose, Black Pepper, Mace, Nutmeg, Cayenne Pepper, Preservative (Sodium Metabisulphite), Bamboo Fibre, Stabilisers (Disodium Diphosphate, Pentasodium Triphosphate), Sage, Caramelised Sugar Powder, Colour (Paprika Extract)

Both bangers contain 34% fat! – which is sky high by any sausage standards – and boy can you tell.

Easily the worst sausage I have ever tried – and that includes the budget varieties made of bright pink paste that may have been driven past a pig farm at some point.

Both I and my other half (who is never a fussy eater) discarded these as totally inedible!

My personal opinion and advice on this product? TO BE AVOIDED

I shall be giving a short talk on writing historic fiction here on Friday 12th!

I had thought to wait and see how book six of the series went down before embarking on a new volume – but ideas arrive and can’t be gainsayed.

The second thought that occurred was whether this was Bunch Courtney Investigation #7 or something very different?

Rose ‘Bunch’ Courtney has changed a lot since she came galloping into frame in Winter Downs – a book that was only ever meant to be a stand alone. Five books later I am seeing her in a very different light. Less the slightly bonkers, horse-obsessed – posh girl and into an equally bonkers but far darker sort of detective.

In my mind and imagination she has become far more ‘Rose’ than ‘Bunch’.

At the end of ‘A Party to Murder’ she is left at a crossroads in life and how she moves forward will have a huge impact on how people will view her.

Hmm – which way to jump? I would love to hear your views – message me with your answers

Or Love Sourdough in a Cold Climate!
I smile at the writer of the book on baking sourdough at home currently in use.
Having happily stated that my starter should be kept at between 21 and 24c she then goes on to say, so very prettily, ‘Place your starter in a warm place.”

Hahahaha!

Plainly this person is not living in England – or is she is then clearly not north of Watford!

Its 1st of June and the outside temp at 8 am was 12c – indoor temp just topping 16c.

The starter, which yesterday had begun to bubble happily, and risen over half an inch up the side of the container, had slumped back to the start line marked by an elastic band around the jar and the temp on the therm tape shows a paltry 18c – not good.

So what now?

I don’t have an airing cupboard and there is no way the central heating is going on in June at the behest of this monsterous mould!

I do have a primitive heated brewing mat with a variable temp control, but which only gives you the choice between ‘high’ and ‘low’ on a rotating switch. To get a temperature set requires a game of guess-timating where 21c could possibly be on that sliding scale – dependent on everything from ambient temperature to contents viscosity – or whether or not someone has left a door or window open….

Hmmmm.

Well I have always thought that improvisation was the mother of invention – usually out of necessity its true – the spirit of Heath Robinson lives in us all and (for the time being at least) I have come up with a solution for overnight temp drops.

Heat the jar up to 24c on the mat and then shove it inside a thermal picnic bag.

More thought required – and possible purchases in the offing to get around this one.

The quest for a sourdough homebake continues!

I have tried making sourdough several times and never really got past the ‘starter’ stage. I suspect this is because this is not exactly a warm house and getting the poor yeasts propagate is an uphill struggle. That and the tendency of books on the subject to make things appear far more tricky than they really are.

As I seldom say die – and having gained a new sourdough recipe book that seems to be more accessible than others – and the weather temps being allegedly in my favour I am giving it another try!


This is day one of proceedings mixing flour and water and leaving it out to activate the natural yeasts. The instructions state that it should be left open to circulating air but covered against dust at a min temp 21c…
To paraphrase Kirsty McColl “in this kitchen? I don’t think so!”
It may be that I shall need to invest in a sourdough prover – only time will tell.
Starter is mixed and fingers are crossed.
I shall keep you posted on how it does (or doesn’t) go!

Some years ago I bought a couple of Honeyberry plants from Wilco (which gives you an idea of just HOW long ago…)

After a few years of sulking and, after planting them against a sunnier wall, they finally put on some growth. I had hope of seeing at least SOME fruit…

Here they are… the sum total harvesting of honeyberries…

Ho hum… On the plus side the plants have put on a lot of top growth so maybe next year…