International Women's Day - strong females!

It's International Women's Day today. 

Why they have to have a special day for it is beyond me. 

We should be celebrating women every day.

A number of my published novels feature strong female protagonists; all of which are available on Amazon.

Chill of the Shadow

Tagline: In her search for truth she found love – with a vampire!

Paperback and e-book available here

A modern romantic thriller set in present-day Malta, involving black magic, vampirism, Knights of Malta and, perhaps topically, corrupt Maltese politicians. Malta and Gozo are colourful photogenic islands, steeped in history... 

The Bread of Tears

Tagline: When she was a cop, she made their life hell. Now she’s a nun, God help them!

Paperback and e-book available here

The Tana Standish psychic spy series (Cold War faction)

Before Salt. Before Atomic Blonde. Before Red Sparrow. There was Tana Standish, psychic spy! Although ‘historical’, these adventures will still resonate as the Cold War has definitely returned.

Mission: Prague

Czechoslovakia, 1975.

Tagline: Orphaned in the Warsaw ghetto, she became a spy. And she’s psychic, which gives her an edge!

 Paperback and e-book available here

Mission: Tehran

Iran, 1978.

Tagline: She’s an assassin and has no regrets about killing evil men.

 Paperback and e-book available here

Mission: Khyber

Afghanistan, 1979.

Tagline: Psychic against psychic as the Soviets invade Afghanistan!

  Paperback and e-book available here

The Avenging Cat crime series

Tagline: Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan. Chemist. Model. Avenging Cat.

Catalyst – set in England and Spain

Paperback and e-book available here

Catacomb – set in France and Morocco

Paperback and e-book available here

 

Cataclysm – set in Tenerife and China 

Paperback and e-book available here

Mule women die in stampede

The border between the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco [in North Africa] is daily crossed by female porters who carry large loads, some often heavier than their own weight, strapped to their backs. They are called ‘mule women’ or ‘hamalat’.  

Last week, two such women in their forties – Ilham and Souad – were crushed in a stampede of fellow porters.

While it’s difficult to corroborate figures, it is estimated that between 4,000 and 15,000 female porters use the route each day. These human mules are impoverished and carry the loads to earn a pittance.

More details can be found in my book Catacomb (pp36-37); these ‘mule ladies’ also work between the Spanish enclave of Melilla and Morocco:

“Before the 1990s there was no serious border between Morocco and Melilla. Then, membership of the EU meant that Spain was expected to strengthen its border controls. So now a few hundred million euros’ worth of goods arrive in Melilla’s port each year,” Abdel explained. “And the women are used to avoid import taxes because any package that is hand-carried in to Morocco is considered as luggage and therefore duty-free.” (p36)

Catacomb (published by Crooked Cat Books, 2015). Paperback and e-book available here

Summer e-book sale!

The Crooked Cat's summer e-book sale is still on, available on all Amazon platforms. 

 

 

If you haven't already downloaded the following, now is your chance at a good price:

 

SPANISH EYE

 

SUDDEN VENGEANCE

 

CATALYST

 

CATACOMB

 

CATACLYSM

 

 

160 books on sale for 3 days!

What have you nabbed in this year's world-famous Great Big Crooked Cat Not Christmas Sale?

All 160 of my publisher's Kindle Books are 99p/99¢ across the Amazon network, for three days only (beginning 28 December).

Start your journey with Crooked Cat and support indie publishing, here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=crooked+cat+publishing

Among these bargains are my books:

SPANISH EYE
BLOOD OF THE DRAGON TREES

CATALYST
CATACOMB
CATACLYSM

THE PRAGUE PAPERS
THE TEHRAN TEXT

SUDDEN VENGEANCE

Writing - Book titles

We know that a book title can't be copyright. So it can be used often. Naturally, it's advisable not to use it if a book has recently been published with that title.

Like many an author, I've come a cropper with book titles. When I sent my manuscript off for Blind Justice it was pointed out to me that this was quite a commonplace title. So I changed it to Blind Justice at Wedlock, which seemed to have a certain ring to it.

My vigilante book Sudden Vengeance first started out as A Sudden Vengeance Waits, but that latter title had also been published! But even the former title had been used, in 2009. Sometimes, you bite the bullet and let it go, so long as there's no confusion for any potential reader.  As I had planned several books in the 'Avenging Cat' series, it was inevitable that the first book's title, Catalyst, would not be unique. As its successors were Catacomb and Cataclysm, I had to live with that too; the publisher Crooked Cat's excellent themed covers helped identify them as being in a single series.


When Anthony Horowitz wrote the latest James Bond book, Trigger Mortis, I thought the title was both amusing and original. My review of that book is here

But I was wrong. The title was used by Frank Kane in 1958!

So, yes, try to be original when selecting book titles, but don't beat yourself up over it either. 

I discuss book titles and chapter titles in my book Write a Western in 30 Days - with plenty of bullet points! (pp68-71).

'...wry and witty, well observed, and fast paced.'

A big thank you to Rowena Hoseason of murdermayhemandmore.net for her review of Catalyst. It's interesting that both she and Jack Owen (see yesterday's blog) refer in their reviews to Emma Peel from The Avengers TV series. Maybe there was some subconscious tribute working there when I created the character, since I was in my formative years when I watched that highly original ground-breaking series in the 1960s!

Here is the Amazon review; a slightly longer review can be found at Rowena's site (above):

Catherine is a talented woman. Smart enough to be a biochemist. Beautiful enough to be a top-class catwalk model. Physically skilled and strong enough to free-climb a sleek city office block. Determined enough to avenge the financial ruin and deaths of her parents. Yup, she’s a thoroughly modern girl.

But Cat is also a wonderful throwback to Emma Peel of The Avengers TV series. Indeed, the whole atmosphere of Catalyst is resoundingly retro and it shares a lot of style with The Avengers and The Saint, and even the early Bond movies.  

Catalyst is not a pastiche nor a parody but feels instead like a loving tribute to the sensibilities and sly humour of those 1960s spy series. Yet it’s most definitely set in the 21st century and it doesn’t lampoon its influences so much as cherish them.

There’s a coherent plot to push the action along, one which touches on animal rights, science running amok, corporate abuses of the environment and human trafficking alongside good old-fashioned love, jealously, betrayal, intrigue and, of course, murder. The writing is straightforward and easy to follow, although occasionally it gets bogged down a little bit in everyday minutiae.

Author Nik Morton can deliver a gripping action set piece; the opening sequence involving Cat’s incredible climb is outright excellent and skilfully pulls the reader straight into the fray.

I particularly enjoyed: the role reversal which gleefully subverts gender stereotypes and sees the leading man tied helpless to railway track (yes, really), relying on the all-action heroine to come to his aid.

I was also intrigued by the police officers who follow Cat's path as it zigzags across the UK and onwards to Spain. One of them is known as ‘Inspector Mushroom’ because he only comes out after dark – can’t wait for that back-story to be explained in a future episode. In fact, he’s such an interesting character that he probably deserves a spin-off story all of his own.

Catalyst made for an enjoyable afternoon’s light-hearted entertainment. It’s wry and witty, well observed, and fast paced. The violence and intimate action all leans towards the delicate end of the scale so there’s nothing here to shock or horrify. Good, old fashioned fun, in fact. Steed would certainly approve.

Note: I was very pleased that Rowena picked up on the two NCA characters, Pointer and Basset, 'the dogs of law'. Yes, Pointer's strange origin is explained in the prologue of Catacomb!



Catalyst can be obtained from Amazon sites worldwide.

Paperback trilogy - the cat's meow...

• Three exciting paperback action romantic adventures featuring ‘the avenging Cat’! 

•  With superb uniform covers from Crooked Cat Publishing.

Catalyst - £7.99

Kindle also available – (series introductory bargain!) - £0.86

Catacomb - £5.99

Kindle - £2.58

Cataclysm - £6.99

Kindle - £2.58

Other e-book formats are also available.

CATALYST

The Avenging Cat series #1

Catalyst: a person that precipitates events.

That's Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan. Chemist. Model. Avenging Cat. She seeks revenge against Loup Malefice, the man responsible for the takeover of her father's company. An accomplished climber, Cat is not averse to breaking and entering to confound her enemies. Ranging from south of England to the north-east, Wales and Barcelona, Cat's quest for vengeance is implacable. But with the NCA hot on her tail, can she escape the clutches of sinister Zabala and whip-wielding Profesora Quesada?

CATACOMB

The Avenging Cat series #2

Catacomb: a subterranean cemetery: a place where ancient corpses are found – or new ones are dumped.
After their recent success in Barcelona, Cat and Rick continue their vendetta against Loup Malefice and his global company, Cerberus, penetrating the lair of Petra Grimalkin in Nice. But death stalks the pair, as do the dogs of law from the NCA, Basset and Pointer. Cat’s trail of vengeance next leads to the Cerberus health food processing plant in the Maghreb. She puts her skills to good use in Morocco where she again confronts the psychotic killer, Zabala. From the exotic streets of Tangier to the inhospitable High Atlas Mountains, danger lurks and a deadly ambush awaits…

CATACLYSM

The Avenging Cat series #3

Cataclysm:  a political or social upheaval

Some months after their adventure in Morocco, Catherine Vibrissae receives devastating news from Rick – news that will change her life. Still determined to go to Shanghai to face down her arch enemy Malefice and end her vendetta once and for all, she thwarts an ambush by Cerberus’ head of security, Mr Soong. To complicate matters, oligarch and people smuggler Belofsky is in Shanghai with his own agenda. While Cat plays cat-and-mouse with Soong, she uncovers a conspiracy that could lead to war between China and Japan

Cataclysm countdown - 2 days to go!

All three books in the 'Avenging Cat' series are on offer as e-books at present - even Cataclysm which is published on Tuesday 15 December.

Cataclysm can be found on your country's Amazon site here wherever in the world you are.

Writing – research – argan oil

When I was researching Morocco for my second novel in the ‘Avenging Cat’ series, Catacomb, I came across argan oil. I was aware of this anyway, as it has become a popular ingredient in shampoos, shower gels and skin creams.

The Argan (Argania Espinosa) is a tree native to Morocco and the tree can live up to 200 years. Morocco is the only place where this tree grows.

They call it "the giver of life". The tree is resistant to dry and arid conditions, actually tolerating temperatures ranging from 3-50 ° C.

The Argan grows in the arid and semi-arid South-west of Morocco. Twisted and prickly, it sends its roots deep into the earth in search of water.

The tree’s fruit is green, like a giant olive and tastes sweet but quite unpalatable. But it contains a treasure: a tough nut with small oil-rich seeds. The oil is very nutritous, and - even more important – it’s rich in essential fatty acids and antioxidants.

The walnut shells are burned as fuel. The argan wood - known as "Moroccan ironwood" - is highly valued, and used for marquetry inlaid boxes. Nothing is wasted.

Argan oil production supports about two million people in the main argan oil-producing region, and much of the oil is made by a number of women's co-operatives. ‘Co-sponsored by the Social Development Agency with the support of the European Union, the Union des Cooperatives des Femmes de l’Arganeraie is the largest union of argan oil co-operatives in Morocco. Employment in the co-operatives provides women with an income, which many have used to fund education for themselves or their children. It has also provided them with a degree of autonomy in a traditionally male-dominated society and has helped many become more aware of their rights.’ – Wikipedia.

You may have seen photos of goats up trees, eating the firm argan fruit, which has a thick peel and pulp surrounding an almond-shaped nut. The fruit naturally passes through the goat’s digestive system whole and is eventually excreted. Traditionally, members of the indigenous Berber population gathered the nuts from the goat droppings, cracked them open with stones, then roasted and ground the seeds inside. The argan oil extracted from this process is high in essential fatty acids and vitamin E, and has long been used locally as a skin treatment and cooking ingredient, and for dips for bread and salad dressing. Now, the modern world has adopted the oil in diet and cosmetics.

Alas, the storyline in Catacomb never allowed me to introduce this fascinating subject, so this was one piece of research that got away.  The moral of this is – don’t use research information just because it’s interesting; only use it if you can make it relevant.