A new short story

Love Me Maybe is the last contemporary short story I’ll be writing for a while since I’ve started on a science fiction novel.

I’ll also continue to work on The Butcher of Duke Street, the next murder mystery in the Detective Harper series (which reminds me, I must add that it’s part of a series in the bookstore listings).

Here’s the synopsis for Love Me Maybe (a contemporary romance):

Archie has the voice, the moves, and the look of a young Elvis, but offstage, his life is beginning to fall out of tune.

His girlfriend and manager, Tina, wants security and a future they can count on. Archie wants excitement and novelty, and increasingly feels he’s missing out. When a Brighton gig ends with Tina believing he’s betrayed her, their relationship begins to unravel.

Caught between love, suspicion, and the things they can’t quite say, Archie and Tina must face the question neither of them wants to ask: are they still making music together, or have they already missed the beat?

Currently working on…

It’s been 10 years since I published a futuristic novel called 2078: Shadow of a Doubt, under the author name Florence Watson. I was very pleased with the story at the time and it was largely well received. I wrote the follow up: 2079: Beyond the Blue but never completed the trilogy. I started writing book 3 but following the global pandemic, the story no longer works and I’m not sure how to fix it. Also, I’ve learned a lot since I wrote the first book and I believe it needs editing (some issues with the structure at the start of the book and a couple of ridiculously long chapters). I’ll let you know if I return to it.

Publishing has changed a lot in 10 years. This year, more books than ever before have been released onto the market, which includes Indie (independently) published ones like mine. This is in part due to AI books, as well as increasingly specialist tools and platforms that have made publishing easier than than ever before. Without going into detail on my views about the former (please read my short story In The Very Near Future if you want to know how I feel about AI in novels) the market is saturated, so more competitive, meaning it’s not as easy as it once was to get noticed. Additionally, traditional publishing (book deals) are harder than ever to land for a host complex reasons. Nonetheless, I have and always will write stories because I can’t help myself.

So from my ideas book, I’ve decided to write the one about a man who walks into a portal to a parallel universe. This starts him on adventures across different versions of reality until he finds one he likes better than his own world. The only problem is that he can’t work out how to stay.

I’ll keep you posted.

Here’s a photo I took of a perfect rose in one of my local parks, just because.

Currently reading…

Exodus The Archimedes Engine by Peter F Hamilton. Set many thousands of years from now, most humans have left earth, terraformed new planets in far away galaxies and some have evolved to become the rulers, first class citizens of the civilised universe. I am loving this book so far, full review when I’ve finished it.

Recently read…

Station 11 by Emily St John Mandel. I read this in August after seeing an advert for the series which reminded me that someone had recommended it to me many months ago. The story follows a band of traveling performers in a post apocalyptic world. The Georgia flu wiped out most of the population and the world is now mostly uninhabited and lawless. I love the way this book is written, the language, the interlinked individuals’ stories, and how they unfold. This is why I kept reading, even though the world made little to no sense. Having lived through a pandemic, we now all know that even a highly infectious virus (in this case that killed one in 20 people) would not result in the end of society as we know it, and that the most important people (politicians and billionaires) would absolutely survive. Reference to ‘the old world’ I found irritating, since it was only 20 years ago and there was evidence what life was like ‘back then’ everywhere. The fact that there was no electricity, for example, was not believable. I wonder if the series is anything like the book - I would be interested to find out if our recent experience of a pandemic has reshaped this world for the TV series.

The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. This is a non-fiction recommended and gifted to me last Christmas. It’s about the Mental Health epidemic in young people due to way technology and social media has rewired their minds and changed childhood forever. Since published in 2024, there has been a lot of focus on the impact of social media on young minds and this book provides examples, sadly, of the worst case scenario when children are left to explore the dangerous online world, as well as the developmental and social implications. There are a lot of statistics and graphs for illustrative purposes of course, but also it does help to break up what is essentially an academic study of this modern childhood phenomenon. Highly recommended, especially for parents of young children and teachers.

Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein. I found this battered copy in a charity shop. I couldn’t remember seeing it on our shelf alongside by husband’s collection of Heinlein novels and I was correct; he had a copy years ago but no longer. I read the first 60 pages then listened to the rest on audio. I’m afraid the book hasn’t aged well; I found much of it cringy to listen to (perhaps worse because it was being read it me rather than if I’d been reading it). Written in the 60’s, it’s far from politically correct and I didn’t enjoy the story either I’m afraid. However, I love Heinlein’s writing style and his analogies a genius. If you’re used to old sci-fi, I recommend it. Otherwise, you might struggle as I did, to get past some of the language and phrases that don’t sit comfortably.

Dating After The End Of The World by Jeneva Rose. This is a fun, easy read Zombie apocalypse romance. I wasn’t sure how to describe it so read some of the reviews. Someone wrote ‘Mills & Boon with zombies’ which I think sums it up. I read the spice as quickly as I could as I was more interested in the zombies. Some of the writing was a bit clunky but it didn’t get in the way of a really good story. Available on Amazon, I got it on offer.

  • I’m late to the party with this one, but bought the books (this is the first in the trilogy) after watching the TV series Silo because I wanted to know what happens next, and couldn’t wait for the next season. Unfortunately (or perhaps predictably) the TV series doesn’t follow the book. I was thrown out by the differing timelines and one character who is male in the novel but female in the show. I still really enjoyed it; it’s a clever story, well paced and very well written. But it’s definitely one of those books that should be read before the film / series comes out. It took me ages to finish it because I don’t have a lot of time to read. I’m taking a break before reading book 2: Shift. If you missed it when it was popular, if you love science fiction and haven’t seen any of Silo, you’ll probably enjoy Wool.

  • I listened to the audio book which was a new experience for me. This was a very hyped book and I love sliding doors stories so I was excited to listen to it. A mother goes to register her son’s birth and his life splits into three timelines (alternate realities) according to each name she chooses. It was beautifully written and refreshingly unique but I didn’t enjoy the story. It’s about the devastating impact of domestic violence - throughout - which I wasn’t expecting but would have known if I’d read the blurb or reviews (my bad). I’m sorry to say I found it long and draining, and the ending unsatisfactory. The novel has been highly praised for it’s prose and it’s uniqueness, so if you enjoy unabated, unflinching realism, you’ll like this book.

  • DeThis short story (novella) is about a man who dies and goes to hell which is a library of everything that’s ever been written or could be. The only way out is to find the story of his life. The gentle lead in gives a false sense of security. As the story develops, you realise that this afterlife is truly the stuff of nightmares. I was awestruck by the writers ability to create horror with depth in just 104 pages. Highly recommended.