Book Signing

A lovely afternoon yesterday, sitting in Waterstones Blackpool, chatting to people and signing copies of my book, Blackpool Then and Now.

Sincere thanks to all those who came to see me and buy the book. Some were friends already and some were names I've seen on various forums and Facebook pages. They all seemed like friends anyway!

It would be wrong to say that copies simply flew out of the door, but it was nice to think that in that one shop, for three hours or so, the book went to the top of the bestsellers list!

The Waterstones staff were wonderful and supporting and a special thanks to Laura, who looked after me.

King And King To Be Locations and News

The Facebook page for my book, King And King To Be now has several photos of different locations to be found in the book.

I've found it amazing how much it shoots up the bestsellers lists when a sale is made and how quickly it drops when no sales are being made - a bit like a yo-yo!

Today I have uploaded a photo of the location for one of the final scenes - the slope from the Roman fort Camboglanna ("Camlann" in the book and possibly the best candidate in real life) down to the River Irthing at Birdoswald on Hadrian's Wall.

Facebook users can "like" the page and I'll be very grateful if they do!

The URL address for the page is https://www.facebook.com/#!/KingAndKingToBe

The book received a 5-star rating recently from Mr W J Peacock who wrote: "As an avid reader of any books about the dark ages and the Arthurian legends in particular. I was interested when I heard of a new author entering this popular arena where the competition is so tough. As soon as I stared to read this well written and engaging book I was hooked. An enticing mix of fact, fable, legend and fantasy with a clever twist. I would certainly recommend this book and am looking forward to this author's next book, albeit sequel or prequel."

Well I can reveal that I've started writing a prequel which will concentrate on the story of Myrddin and Nimue/Vivien. Don't hold your breath... I remember how long the last one took...!

King And King To Be Facebook Page

I've created a Facebook page for the book. Today it had climbed from a position in excess of 110,000 to 20,381 in Amazon's bestsellers (paid category) as another couple of copies were sold. A grateful thank you to the two buyers!

The page will feature discussion between readers (though give them a bit of a chance - at time of writing it has only been available for a week!)

Also I hope to put a few extracts on every now and then to give a flavour of the book and also I'll add a few insights as to how the book came to be written and how the plot developed.

Facebook users can "like" the page to feature it on their own timeline. And I'll be very grateful if they do!

The URL address for the page is https://www.facebook.com/#!/KingAndKingToBe

King And King To Be

Introducing my new baby - my first novel, a fantasy: King And King To Be. It has published today on Amazon for the Kindle and other eReaders.

I wrote this mainly during the 1980s and then it got put aside when I got immersed in computers and learned a new career which has taken me to where I am now.

The book took on the role of "retirement project" but with the advent of ebooks and the ease of self-publishing now I've taken it up again over the past few months and edited and proofed and edited again several times until I'm struggling to find the mistakes that are probably still in there!

The product description reads:

Britain in the Dark Ages. But a Britain that has been forgotten by history. A Britain where elves, fairies and goblins still reside, feared and mistrusted by Men.

As a dark force threatens to conquer the kingdoms of Men they turn to the elves and a wizard for help. Together they seek for the one person who could save the Britain of the sixth century. A man called Arthur. A man who was born and lives in the twentieth century...

A startling first novel by J D Burke combines fantasy with half-familiar legend and a hero who struggles to accept the fate that he once thought was either a story or that belonged to someone else.

A huge thank you goes to my cousin, graphic artist, Catherine Metcalfe, for the fabulous cover. The brief I gave her was "Stonehenge, a sword and some idea of magic"... I cannot fault her interpretation.

To all those who read it years ago and gave me encouragement, a thousand thanks.

To anyone who goes out and buys it (including those who rushed out today on the first day) a thousand more thanks.

Large version of the cover: at Amazon of course! Oh and Flickr also!

Links to buy the book at: amazon.co.uk or amazon.com