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Here’s to You, Team Blackthorn ❤️

How do you round up six-and-a-half years in a single blog post without turning it into a novel in its own right? My final Blackthorn post was going to be a summary of all the pivotal moments during the Blackthorn journey. You might remember some of them. I certainly won’t forget Hollywood optioning Blood Shadows for film, or being contacted by Tantor Media with a request to make audiobooks of the first three books, or sitting next to Stephen King in the Top 50 on Amazon.com, let alone all of those Gothic and PNR number ones… there were somany exciting moments; surreal but fantastic moments. And they matter. All of them matter. But something else matters too, so I chose to dedicate this post to that instead.

My Dad passed away twelve years ago this month. Even now I remember it as if it were yesterday, wondering how we’d ever get through what lay ahead. Amidst the numbness were the overwhelming feelings of hopelessness, of fear, and of despair. On top of that was the intense sense of injustice that cancer – a rare, incurable, aggressive form of cancer – had indiscriminately stolen a massive part of all our lives. My Dad had fought for seven years, exceeding all expectations after being given merely months to live at the young age of forty-eight. But now the chapter had ended. And there was no happy ending. There was no miracle waiting to happen anymore.

In fact, I stopped believing in miracles for a long time after that. This is from someone who used to trust in them unreservedly; who’d spent her childhood believing she actually would be able to fly one day, and that maybe she’d find Narnia at the back of a wardrobe. I think that inner child will always be a part of me. It’s ultimately why I write fantasy: where anything is possible and you aren’t constrained by the rules of reality. That’s why watching your hero die in front of your eyes is hard. It changes the way you see the world.

Was does all of this have to do with Blackthorn? Well, it has everything to do with Blackthorn.

It was during the aftermath that I pulled Blackthorn out of my bottom drawer from under a pile of other short stories and half-finished novels I’d been working on over the years. After all, it was one of the last things my Dad had said to me: to make the most of life, to do what I love doing, and to not be afraid of what other people think. I spread my unfinished series out over my desk and decided to take a long, hard look at it. More importantly, to stop seeing Blackthorn as a labour of love as I always had but, instead, as a series with the potential for an audience i.e. a series that, one day, might be published.

At the same time I realised that I’d always held a deep-rooted fear about the prospect of finally being published. Being published exposes you to rejection, to criticism, to put-downs, even mockery. When you don’t have much confidence to start with, those things are hard to subject yourself to. Grief can make you even more vulnerable. With that in mind, maybe it wasn’t the right time to finally be facing those fears head-on. But grief can also switch the way you see things. Sometimes it can generate a fearlessness born out of wanting to grab every moment while you can.

If you know anything about my backstory, you’ll know that in 2010 I entered Blood Roses into an online romance writing competition. I’d hesitated until the very last five minutes before the competition closed. This was not a competition where you could discreetly enter and walk away – this involved entries going up live on an online forum to be read and commented upon by a romance audience, more so to be judged and voted for by them AND editors. There was one almighty prize for runners-up though: editorial feedback. I’d never had anyone read Blackthorn, let alone give feedback. And so I took the leap.

Blood Roses made it into the final. While I was waiting for my editorial feedback, I entered the competition again in 2011 – this time with the opening chapters of Blood Shadows. I reached the final again, the only author to have made the final in two consecutive years. I finally allowed myself to hope that maybe my writing had some merit, some potential, and that maybe the publisher responsible would select one of the books and consider it worthy of publication.

It didn’t happen.

I’d resolved that maybe there was only one place for Blackthorn: back in my bottom drawer. Subsequently 2012 nearly marked the end of sixteen years of Blackthorn. But at least, if nothing else, I’d faced my fears and tried. More so, I’d finally pushed myself into having a much-needed presence online. My husband helped me set up a blog – this blog. Chatting to readers and authors became commonplace for the first time. I forged connections, I received encouragement and support for Blackthorn, and I made friends. I had no idea how long it would take to finally see Blackthorn published but now I’d officially started on the journey, I wasn’t ready to quit.

I’d only just started the submissions process when another publisher approached me out of the blue. Bookouture was looking for a launch author. The CEO had read my entries in the competition. Of course he had. In a twist of fate, the competition I’d entered had been his brainchild. Blood Shadows and Blood Roses were requested with the possibility of Bookouture being interested in signing three. Conversations evolved: there might even be the potential for me to write a long-standing series, one possibly with an overarching plot – if I saw potential in that too? They had no idea at the time about the sixteen years I’d spent compiling exactly that. At the end of 2012, the first book in the Blackthorn series was published. Needless to say, the rest is history.

Sometimes positive things do happen – and when you least expect it.

It hasn’t been easy though. I want to say that to reassure all the authors out there going through a tough time. Blackthorn has been anything but smooth sailing. Whilst working on book 3, I was even asked by my publisher if I was sure I wanted to keep going with as many books as we had planned: if I still wanted to write to the end of the series, or stop and turn to something else instead – something with more commercial viability, something that would reflect current trends. Authors need to make a living. To do that, they need readers. Lots of readers. The genre was already being hard hit. Publishers were closing down on submissions of PNR. In some cases they were ending lines altogether. The surge for the genre was over. You know what my answer was though. After all, two months ago today the final book was published.

What can I say? The optimist in me fought through. Sometimes, however hopeless it may seem, if you believe in something you have to hold on. More so, ultimately, it’s Blackthorn’s mantra. It’s why it’s called Blackthorn. On top of that, the characters and their journey were important to me, no doubt partly because I related so strongly to the theme that had become the common thread between the eight main characters: each one of them had suffered life-changing loss and had reached the pit of despair. Each had had to find their own way of managing what they’d been through and find a way to survive. How could I not see those stories through to the end, especially knowing it was their fight for survival, for a better future, that would eventually bring them all together? And that it was that bringing together that would create the change so desperately needed in their world to improve the lives of countless others.

So, at book 3, the series was rebranded and a marketing drive was put into Blackthorn – and it finally flew. Most of you, I know, went on to discover Blackthorn through that. Readers who also became determined to see this story through to the end, just like I had. That’s why this post is dedicated to you.

Fiction is about escapism. Whether you want your books rooted in reality or in fantasy, whether you want escape for fun or maybe for relief from tough times, books are about immersing ourselves somewhere else. If we’re lucky, we’ll find stories, people and places that resonate with us on some level, that offer us something we need at that time, whatever that need might be and for whatever reasons we may have for it. Some stories we’ll forget a week later, some will stay with us for a lifetime. Your love for my Blackthorn characters and their world will stay with me for a lifetime. When I pulled Blackthorn out from my bottom drawer that day so many years ago, I never dreamt of the impact it would go on to have on so many of you.

So this final post is for all the fantastic people I’ve met through Blackthorn – in person and online. Thank you for all the laughter, fun and support over the past few years. I’m in awe of all of the connections and friendships that have developed amongst my readers through this series. And knowing that Blackthorn brought distraction, comfort and escape for so many of you just as it had me means more to me than you’ll ever know. When I tell you I understand, I truly do.

I know a lot of you are going to miss these characters and this place. I know it has felt like home for many of us. Bringing Blackthorn to a conclusion was tough, and letting it go even more so. I know many of you have felt as though you’ve said farewell to friends, family even. I felt exactly the same when I wrote the last line. It’s hard to believe this journey started with nothing but a blank piece of paper and an electric typewriter, where I sat alone in my small flat over twenty years ago with no idea where it would lead. I’ve had my fair share of dreams come true with this series, but having had people fall in love with these books as many of you have has exceeded everything I could have possibly imagined. What more can an author ask for?

That being said, this series was my debut. I’ve barely even started. Hopefully you’ll stay with me to see what I have in store next. If not, thank you so, so much for reading Blackthorn. Thank you for being a part of this journey through the sunshine and the rain, and for sharing your love for these books so openly with me and with other readers too. Reading your comments and final reviews of Blood Broken has ended this series on such a high for me, I can’t thank you enough for that. Team Blackthorn, you’ve been absolutely amazing.

Huge hugs from Caitlin, Kane, Leila, Caleb, Phia, Jask, Jessie and Eden… oh, and me too!

Take care.

Linds xxx

Win An Exclusive Blackthorn Prize Bundle

I am taking a deep breath before I say this…

Here we go, Team Blackthorn… the LAST EVER Blackthorn giveaway!

A week ago yesterday, Blood Broken was published. I can’t thank you enough for your incredible response to it so far. I’ve been deeply moved by your feedback not just to the finale, but the whole series. I know many of you have found it extremely tough saying goodbye – me too! But I’m saving that until my final Blackthorn post. Before then, I promised you a very special giveaway…

THE FINAL GIVEAWAY

I have a one-off prize bundle that will go to ONE lucky winner. Included in this one-off prize is:

  • A SIGNED ‘BLACKTHORN SERIES’ FABRIC BANNER
  • A SIGNED PAPERBACK of BLOOD BROKEN
  • A LIMITED-EDITION VIAL CONTAINING A GENUINE PIECE OF BLACKTHORN from my garden, accompanied by a SIGNED CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENCITY
  • A SIGNED MAGAZINE INTERVIEW FROM MY FIRST-EVER BOOK SIGNING at RARE London last year
  • A BLACKTHORN MUG featuring our four Blackthorn heroes
  • A BLACKTHORN BOOKMARK featuring all eight book covers
  • A SIGNED BLACKTHORN POSTCARD featuring all eight book covers
  • A SIGNED BLOOD BROKEN POSTCARD
  • A SIGNED BLACKTHORN LOGO POSTCARD
  • A BLACKTHORN LOGO STICKER

AND as well as all of these, I’m going to include three treats from my Blackthorn spin-off series as part of the bundle too:

  • A SIGNED PAPERBACK of HAVEN, the first standalone book in my Lowtown series
  • A SIGNED HAVEN POSTCARD
  • A HAVEN BOOKMARK

That makes 14 prizes in one!

There will also be THREE RUNNER-UP PRIZES of signed Blood Broken postcards together with Blackthorn bookmarks.

I hope that’s tempted you enough to play! It’s now or never!

TO ENTER:

All you have to do to enter is answer this question:

WHAT’S YOUR MOST MEMORABLE SCENE FROM THE BLACKTHORN SERIES?

I usually say only one entry per person but, as it’s our last giveaway, I’ll let you enter up to THREE times (each will count as a separate entry). 😃 Hopefully that’ll help if you’re struggling to pick just one – oh, and you can triple your odds of winning! 😉

THE RULES:

> The competition is open NOW and you have until MIDNIGHT (GMT) on SUNDAY 2nd JUNE to enter.

> All entries will be allocated a number and the first prize winner and three runners-up will be selected using an online number generator. The winners will be announced in this post on Monday 3rd June. 

> For your entry/entries to be valid you must either:

THE FINER DETAILS:

> Winners will need to claim their prize within seven days of the announcement, so please check to see if you have won.

> There are no restrictions on where I will post, so everyone can enter.

> As with all giveaways, I won’t respond to any of the entries.

Have fun making your decisions – and best of luck! 🍀

Linds xxx

***

LAST EVER BLACKTHORN GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCEMENT! 

After allocating every valid entry a number and using a random number generator, I am thrilled to announce the winners of my last ever Blackthorn giveaway are:

FIRST PRIZE: Blackthorn Bundle of 14 prizes

CHRISTINE GRIGGS (Facebook entrant)

RUNNER-UP PRIZES: SIGNED BLOOD BROKEN POSTCARD AND BOOKMARK

MONICALEE LEE (Facebook entrant)

AUBREY SARFATI (Facebook entrant)

MARIE SHEEHAN (email entrant)

Huge congratulations!! Please message/email me with your address and I will send your prizes to you asap.

Thank you SO much to everyone who joined in with this final giveaway. Reading your favourite moments has been fantastic. I’ll share a few in my last ever Blackthorn blog post. 😃

And thank you to every single person who has supported my Blackthorn giveaways over the past few years. I’ve only run them because you’re amazingly interactive. Thank you for embracing them all with such a huge sense of fun and enthusiasm. I truly am incredibly lucky to have readers who are so willing to join in, you’ve made each one of them so worthwhile. ❤️

(Psst… and this may have been my last Blackthorn giveaway but there will be more to come with my new books. 😉 #JustSaying)

I also want to say a MASSIVE thank you to each of you who has been in touch to let me know what you thought of Blood Broken. The feedback has been phenomenal – far beyond what I could have hoped for. I cannot even begin to tell you how much it means to me. I haven’t caught up with everyone yet, but I will. And to everyone who has left a review already, I deeply appreciate your time and effort. 🤗

Enjoy the rest of your week, Team Blackthorn – and I’ll be back in due course with that final Blackthorn post!

Linds xxx

8 Things You May Not Know About Blackthorn

A week today, the final Blackthorn book will be yours. Yay! 🎉

As there are eight books in the series, here’s a brief trip down memory lane with 8 things you may not know about Blackthorn:

1. I first came up with the idea for Blackthorn back in 1996 after getting lost one night after moving to a new city 300 miles away from home. This September will mark its twenty-third anniversary.

2. All the Blackthorn couples started out in short stories when I was constructing the overarching plot of the series. They all had to work hard to make their place in the final cut.

3. Originally there were only going to be six Blackthorn books. Jask and Phia were never going to be lead characters, despite being integral to the overarching plot. The editor who worked on the first two books thought Jask deserved a book of his own though, hence Blood Torn being slotted in before Blood Deep. And why was Jask never going to be a leading man? Because I’m terrified of werewolves/lycans and never thought I’d be able to write one convincingly as a romantic hero! Jask has since become one of the favourites of the series. 😍

4. I was discovered by my publisher through a writing competition. Blood Roses made it into the final in 2010 and Blood Shadows in 2011 after being voted for by readers and editors. I was offered a contract for the first three books in 2012.

5. I was approached by Bookouture (Blackthorn’s publisher) on Friday 13th. Spooky…

6. Blackthorn’s covers were changed in 2014 ready for the launch of Blood Torn. They originally had a much more traditionally Gothic feel but Bookouture decided to give them a more contemporary urban edge. The original covers were red, black and white to reflect the design of my website at the time. I chose red, black and white because, in folklore, these are the three colours associated with the Blackthorn plant.

7. Blood Shadows was optioned for a film by Hollywood studios Relativity Media but lost out to a split vote.

8. By the time you finish Blood Broken, if you have read all eight Blackthorn books you would have read almost a MILLION WORDS! I hope it’s flown by for you as much as it has for me. 😁📕📗📘📙📚📖

 

A Week Until I Meet My Readers!

I’m SO excited!! A week today I’ll be at The Olympia in London for my first ever book signing. I can’t wait!

RARE is the UK’s largest romance signing event and afterparty. 1500 tickets were sold in less than 24 hours, with attendees coming from 39 countries to see over 100 of the bestselling authors in the genre. I’m absolutely thrilled to be a part of it.

Attendees are already well underway with their preparations, and it’s flattering to see my books amongst some of the other authors they’re planning to meet on the day. Thank you to everyone who is coming to see me. I can’t wait to meet you! I’m hoping to be well and truly hugged out by the end of it all. Thank you for all your support coming through on Facebook already. I’ll share some pictures when I’m back. 

I’m also over the moon to say Piatkus have informed me HAVEN is already on its second paperback print run. Thank you so much to all of my readers who continue to support me in my new venture. ❤️ 

Flash Giveaway! Win a Blackthorn Paperback!

Whilst working on our Blackthorn finale as well as the first book in my new Lowtown series, I’ve had some wonderfully encouraging and inspiring feedback from my readers recently.

So, to say thank you for your support, I decided to run a flash giveaway to give you the chance to win a signed Blackthorn paperback of your choice.

HOW TO ENTER

You know how I love to keep giveaways as quick and easy as possible so, inspired by some of the comments above, all you have to do to enter is tell me:

What is it about Blackthorn that keeps you coming back for more?

And, for the first time ever, you can submit an entry both here on my blog as well as on my Facebook page to double your chances of winning!

THE PRIZES

There are TWO paperbacks up for grabs – and the two winners can pick which one they want*.

Whether you want to start your Blackthorn paperback collection, fill a gap, or complete your series so far or, if your collection is already complete, win one for a family member, a friend or even as a prize for your own blog or book club, the choice is yours.

*I’m afraid advanced copies of Blood Broken are not included in this giveaway. We’ll be having a special giveaway for that nearer the time.

THE RULES

  • The giveaway is open NOW and will close at midnight GMT on Friday 24th March, so be quick!
  • Only two entries per person please – one here and one on my Facebook page is the max.
  • All entries will be assigned a number and the two winners will be selected using a random number generator.
  • The winners will be announced on this post as well as on the related Facebook post on Saturday 25th March.
  • Winners will need to check if they have won and contact me to claim their prizes by midnight Wednesday 29th March for your books to be ordered. We can sort out the finer details then.

ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • As with all my giveaways, prizes will be posted anywhere.
  • Proof of postage will be retained but prizes lost once out of my hands cannot be replaced.
  • And as with all giveaways, I will refrain from responding to comments. If you have any queries though, feel free to email or message me.

Good luck, everyone! <3

*

GIVEAWAY WINNERS ANNOUNCED

HUGE congratulations to….

Claire Palmer

and

Kimmie Lew

You have both won a signed Blackthorn paperback of your choice! Please either email me or message me via Facebook and we will sort the details.

Thank you, as always, to everyone who joined in. Your comments were incredible. I am so relieved I didn’t have to choose a winner based on those! And, of course, commiserations to anyone disappointed not to win. Rest assured, we’ll have plenty more giveaways to come.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, everyone! xxx

Meet Me in London

I’ve been asked many times, over the last couple of years in particular, when I’m going to participate in a book-signing event. Well, it’s finally going to happen!

To mark the end of BLACKTHORN and the beginning of my brand new LOWTOWN series, I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be attending RARE18 at The Olympia in London on 24th February 2018. This will be my first public appearance and the first opportunity I’ve had to meet some of my readers – and I cannot wait.

If you’ve never heard of RARE (Romance Author & Reader Events), it’s an incredible event reaching increasing popularity since it began in 2014. It’s been hosted in Edinburgh and Montreal, is based in Berlin this year, and will be hosted in London and Rome in 2018. It’s your chance to meet a whole host of amazing romance authors across the full spectrum of the genre from contemporary to fantasy to suspense.

Tickets are going on sale on Saturday 4th March at 3 p.m. UK time. Don’t delay once the tickets become available as there are over 1,000 confirmed attendees already. If you’d like to find out more before then, you can join RARE 18 London‘s Facebook group where they are announcing authors who are attending. For those not on social media, I’ll update the end of this post once I have further news.

So, if you’d like the chance say hello and have your books, audiobooks, notebooks, giveaway prizes you may have won in the past, or anything else signed by me, I’d love to see you there.

My new publisher, Piatkus, is very kindly planning on providing some LOWTOWN stash and hopefully I’ll have one or two BLACKTHORN treats too. 🙂

On top of all of that, I’ve discovered that it won’t just be authors and readers attending. I jokingly put a teaser out on my Facebook page earlier in the week that I was going to be participating in a signing event and that Kane, Caleb, Jask and Eden would be joining me – but in 2D only. Now I’ve heard that some cover models really are going to attend! So, who knows, maybe* one of our Blackthorn boys will appear after all.

Form an orderly queue…

xxx

*Don’t hold me to it being one of our boys. I genuinely have no idea which models are coming!

*UPDATE AS OF 4th MARCH*

This event is now sold out.

Blackthorn Anniversary Bundle Giveaway

Today is the day! Four years ago today, Blackthorn was first launched. Thank you to everyone who read and supported my anniversary post here yesterday as well as all of your wonderful comments on social media. I’m so glad you enjoyed it! If you missed it, you can find it here.

Blood Shadows NEW Createspace.indd

I would also like to say a massive thank you to Tracey Rogers, Wopsywoobookblog and Passionate About Books who have all celebrated with their own special anniversary posts on their blogs today, including recalling how they discovered Blackthorn. Thank you to HelCeesBanginBooks for giving my series such a big shout out on her FB page too. I really appreciate it, ladies. <3

Thank you as well too to everyone who supported my interview with My Bookworm Blogger yesterday. If you’d like to be in with a chance of winning a signed paperback of Blood Bound together with a signed postcard, you still have time. Just click on this link.

And talking of giveaways…

IT’S GIVEAWAY TIME!

Last week I had three 24-four flash giveaways on Facebook to win stickers and limited edition postcards. Today, I’m giving ONE entrant the chance to WIN THE ENTIRE BUNDLE of prizes.

giveaway-27-11

The bundle includes:

  • One signed limited edition ‘4-year Anniversary’ large postcard
  • One signed limited edition ‘Readers’ Quotes’ large postcard
  • One signed ‘Blackthorn Heroes’ large postcard
  • One set of ‘Blackthorn Heroes’ stickers, including 1 Kane sticker, 1 #TeamKane sticker, 1 Caleb Sticker, 1 #TeamCaleb sticker, 1 Jask sticker, 1 #TeamJask sticker, 1 Eden sticker and 1 #TeamEden sticker. That’s 8 stickers in total.
  • One Blackthorn Logo sticker

But exclusive to this website giveaway, I’m including a SIGNED A3 POSTER of the Blackthorn book cover of YOUR CHOICE in the prize bundle!

poster

HOW TO ENTER

As today marks the release of Blood Shadows, all you have to do to enter is:

SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE KANE OR CAITLIN QUOTE OR MOMENT FROM THE SERIES SO FAR

 (*BE WARNED THERE COULD BE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS GIVEAWAY*)

THE RULES

For your entry to be valid you must

  • leave your answer in the comment thread below, OR
  • email me

The giveaway is OPEN NOW and will close at Midnight (GMT) on Wednesday 30th November.

The winner will be drawn using a random number generator and will announced on Thursday 1st December.

Additional info:

  • The winner will need to claim their prize within 14 days of their name being announced.
  • The prize can be posted anywhere.
  • Proof of postage will be retained but prizes lost in transit cannot be replaced.
  • As with all giveaways, I will avoid responding to entries.

Good luck – and have a brilliant week! <3

anniversary-3

**My sincerest apologies to any of my blog followers who are still not currently getting email notifications for my blog updates. The issue will hopefully be resolved soon. 

It’s Blackthorn’s Fourth Anniversary!

Tomorrow marks four years since Blackthorn was launched. Blood Shadows was officially released on 27th November 2012. Since then Blackthorn has sold in six figures, reached readers in several countries and obtained numerous number ones in both the Gothic and the PNR charts on Amazon as well as having reached the Top 50 on Amazon.com’s main kindle charts too. Blood Shadows was even optioned by Hollywood movie giants Relativity Media! It’s been quite the four years. And next year it’ll all be coming to an end with the series finale.

7-books

To mark the occasion, and to keep to the theme of 8 Blackthorn books, I thought I’d share… 8 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT MY CREATION OF BLACKTHORN. Oh, and look out for details of a giveaway at the end!

1) BLACKTHORN IS TWENTY YEARS OLD THIS YEAR!

Although tomorrow marks four years since Blackthorn was first published, it’s actually twenty years old this year!

2) IT STARTED ONE DARK AND STORMY NIGHT…

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly stormy but it did all begin one night. I’d moved to a city over 300 miles away from home to begin my first teaching job. After an evening out with my new colleagues, I managed to get lost on my way home. With no one at home to expect me and with 1996 hardly being the era of mobile phones, I had no option but to try and navigate my way alone through the empty city streets. It wasn’t long before I became increasingly lost as well as deeper into unfamiliar territory. So, during that time, I did what every self-respecting scared-out-of-their-wits author does and made up stories to keep calm and distract myself – and Blackthorn was born.

city-inspiration

3) BLACKTHORN BEGAN AS A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES

From then on Blackthorn became a labour of love. I never intended it to be published, instead it was one of many simultaneous projects I had underway. Some went by the wayside but Blackthorn was one idea I simply couldn’t walk away from.

Once I had the concept behind Blackthorn, I wrote short stories to get to know the world. The stories were set in various districts across the locale, from Blackthorn to Summerton. Once the idea behind the overarching plot – the downfall of this oppressive society – took hold, the key contenders were already clear. Kane and Caitlin, Caleb and Leila, and Jessie and Eden all evolved from those short stories into what Blackthorn is today. The only exceptions were Jask and Phia.

map

4) THE UNDEAD DON’T EXIST IN BLACKTHORN

I’ve caused much confusion amongst some readers and reviewers by bending the mythological rules. For one thing, only lycans have fangs whereas vampires have an extra set of feeding incisors instead. None of my “third species” as I call them are immortal, nor are they cursed or contaminated, and they most certainly aren’t the undead! Why? Because apart from rare occasions when these “creatures” were constituted as deities, they have almost always been associated with evil origins. This was further enforced by the introduction of Christian ideologies, with vampires in particular not only deemed as a risk to our physical self but our spiritual self too. Then there’s the influences of literature and films in the mix. I wanted to come from the angle that just because we don’t understand something doesn’t automatically make it evil – one of the fundamental themes behind Blackthorn.

After all, one of the greatest freedoms of being a writer of fantasy is the ability to be selective about which aspects of mythology to apply. The creation of my third species is as much about characterisation and plot as fitting in logically into the Blackthorn world I’ve created.

5) I ONCE DESTROYED BLACKTHORN BEFORE REBUILDING IT

After I’d finished putting Blackthorn together, I stuck my head above the parapet to try and work out its potential for publication. But what had begun during a time when PNR was rarely found on the shelves was then faced with a market overwhelmed with vampiric heroes and fantastical urban underworlds, let alone well-established names globally dominating the genre.

Despite the knock of confidence, I started to look for publishing opportunities – only to find that, for those who accepted unagented submissions, Blackthorn didn’t meet their guidelines. Not only were my books too long, the preference seemed to be for standalones (especially from debut novelists unable to prove they could sustain a complex series). Most of all, my heroes didn’t conform to readers’ expectations. All in all, Blackthorn looked like it would be too high a risk to pursue.

kane-caleb

So without even attempting to submit anywhere, I tucked Blackthorn away in my bottom drawer as I focused on a different genre.

It was only when my dad passed away in 2007 that I returned to Blackthorn, determined to pursue my dream of getting it published one day. To try and up my chances, I pulled out all of the overarching plot threads to the series and started turning Blackthorn into stand-alones.

The biggest clincher for signing with my current publisher was when they read Blood Shadows and Blood Roses and suggested that maybe Blackthorn could extend beyond three books. More than that, they asked if maybe I saw potential for an overarching plot to tie all the books together. I couldn’t pull all of my original notebooks out of my bottom draw quick enough!

6) BLACKTHORN USED TO LOOK VERY DIFFERENT

Those who supported Blackthorn from the beginning will know that the covers of Blood Shadows and Blood Roses once looked very different. They were designed by Henry Steadman and had a much more traditional Gothic feel. They also incorporated red, white and black. According to folklore, these are the three colours associated with the Blackthorn plant. (If you’d like to know why I called the series ‘Blackthorn’, you can read about it here.)

bloodshadows-roses-original

Before Blood Torn’s release in February 2014, Bookouture decided to give the series a brand new look with a contemporary urban edge.

series-revamp

7) JASK AND HIS PACK WEREN’T GOING TO HAVE A STARRING ROLE

Up until the point I was offered a publishing contract, there were only six books in the series (seven if I split the finale into two). I’d initially been signed for three. When it came to discussions for the third book, I was ready to move on to Jessie and Eden’s story. However, my editor at the time as well as author Michele Hauf (who was my mentor during the writing competition through which I was discovered) both felt Jask Tao deserved a story of his own.

I already knew the role Jask and Phia played in the overarching Blackthorn story (no spoilers for anyone who hasn’t got that far!), but I never intended a romance between them, nor to explore the lycans’ plight in Blackthorn in any great detail. Instead I’d planned to keep the focus on the vampires in the story. In addition to that I have a deep-rooted fear of lycanthropy so didn’t think I’d be able to write Jask as an appealing enough hero!

Since then, Jask has gone on to become one of Blackthorn’s most popular heroes – and it’s all thanks to my wonderful first editor and the fantastic Michele Hauf.

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8) I WAS STILL TEACHING WHEN I WROTE THE FIRST FOUR BOOKS

Like the vast majority of published authors, writing wasn’t my only job when Blackthorn was launched. It’s a myth that once you get a publishing deal, you give up the day job and spend all of your days writing books. In fact, for the first four Blackthorn books I was still holding down a teaching job. I’d be teaching lessons to teenagers one day and then immersed in Blackthorn the next, swapping lesson planning and reports with book edits and fan mail. It wasn’t until January 2015 that I started writing full time. By that time, I’d waited almost 30 years to get to that point. If you love something enough, I guess you hold on for as long as it takes.

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So that’s it – 8 facts you may or may not have known. And as you can see, Blackthorn had been on quite the journey even before it reached your shelf/device!

I’ll be back tomorrow to mark the official day with a GIVEAWAY BUNDLE for one lucky winner.

Until then, I’m thrilled to say I was invited to a special anniversary interview with ‘My Bookworm Blogger’.

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I was asked some of the most insightful Blackthorn-related questions I’ve ever had, so please do head over and take a look. Stephanie’s also giving away a SIGNED PAPERBACK of my latest release BLOOD BOUND as well as an exclusive SIGNED Blackthorn POSTCARD!

Have a wonderful evening and ‘see’ you tomorrow! <3

Four Years of Blackthorn

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Blackthorn was launched four years ago this month. I can barely believe it. If you were supporting me this time last year, you might remember we had a big anniversary giveaway to mark the occasion. I’m not sure where those twelve months have gone.

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Since then two more Blackthorn books have been released, and now there’s only one more to go.

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The reality is really starting to sink in – and not only for me by the sounds of it! I know some of you have been supporting my series from the outset. Some joined Blackthorn as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Either way, I know the prospect of the end being in sight is creating mixed feelings. But, for now, let’s refuse to linger in the word ‘final’. We still have one more big adventure to come and what I hope will be a fun year ahead once the countdown officially begins. 😀

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*This is not the actual cover. It’s just a teaser.*

I can’t give you any indication as yet as to when Blood Broken will be out (and bribery will make no difference 😉 ). But please rest assured I’m already underway with the first draft and I won’t keep you waiting a moment longer than I have to.

And even though I’m not doing a big giveaway this time around (because I’m saving that for the finale), I’m still marking the occasion across Twitter and Facebook over the next month, reminiscing with some quotes and Bites from the last four years. If you don’t follow me on either of those, you can peruse some of them here.

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This was just a quick post for now. I’m going to be back here on the weekend of the 26th and 27th of this month (the official four-year anniversary of Blood Shadows) with my proper anniversary posts. I’ll hopefully ‘see’ you then!

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support. <3

Blood Bound Paperback Winners Announced

On Friday I opened a Halloween giveaway for two readers to be in with a chance of winning a signed paperback of Blood Bound.

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Entries came in via email, here and my Facebook page. All entries were allocated a number that was entered into a random number generator.

Last time all the winners came from Facebook but, this time, we have a Facebook AND a website winner! Huge congrats to:

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Tracy and Malorie, I’ll need you to email or message me with your address and I’ll get your signed book out to you asap!

Huge thanks to everyone who joined in. I have to say, when you unleash your dark side, you really unleash. 😉 I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween! <3