The Fiction Factory

2025

I can’t believe it’s February already and I haven’t written my review of last year. So here it is. It was a good year. I had writing plans and didn’t manage to stick with them, though I did manage to produce some work. It happens. I suspect it’s the same every year. I blogged and read more than I ever have in a year, and I view these activities as part of my writing process. It’s not all about putting words down on the page. The sequel to The Kill Chain, called The Kill Ward has been finished. I’ve been through the edits, there was a bit of rewriting and tweaking, but it’s now complete. Turned out the plot wasn’t entirely how I envisaged it, and it required going back through it and working it up until it was fixed. It’s not my favourite part of writing, as I did think I was finished with the book, and I find it takes real effort to sit back down and tackle it again. However, it was worth it. I’ve also completed a short non-fiction book called The Kill Files, which will be a free download to subscribers to coincide with The Kill Ward being published. The next draft of book three in the series The Kill Trick is underway. It’s been drafted, I’m now trying to make it read properly, and ensure that the plot hangs together.  I’ve also gone back through my dystopian novel, Deflection Point (though this title may still change) and it’s ready to go. I made some minor changes to the back story, so it fits better with the sequel which has also been drafted. So, looking back I have been busy, but in my mind not as busy as I would have hoped. However, I have a plan, which I’ve been sticking to in recent weeks, and I’m confident of a couple of novels being made available by the summer. The sticking point right now is producing new book covers, which is always challenging.

I travelled to five countries during the year, lost count of the number of castles and other associated places of historical sites visited, along with taking in another five UNESCO World Heritage sites. Did a Gin tour, a Whisky tour, and attended two further whisky tasting evenings. Saw the Australian Pink Floyd in concert. Read across genres as usual. Authors included W. Somerset Maugham, Patricia Highsmith, Joan Didion, Isaac Asimov, Henry Miller, Hubert Selby Jr, Arthur C. Clarke, Irvine Welsh, James Paterson, Ian Rankin, T.L. Dyer, Bret Easton Ellis, Arnaldur Indridason, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Susan Sontag, Christopher Isherwood, Satoshi Yagisawa, Margaret Atwood, Lynda La Plante, Jacqueline New, John Marrs. Note this is not the complete list. I also read a couple of books on The Beatles (I’ve read dozens, but these new ones were still informative), a couple on Formula 1 racing and scanned through various texts on Pink Floyd as the band is one of my favourites.

In music, I’ve continued to practice classical piano and I’m happy with progress. I even played in public at Waverley train station which still gives me a shiver when I think I had the nerve to do it. I’m still doing Spanish lessons most days. I’ve added to my music collection as it’s been a good year for releases from classic bands such as The Beatles and Pink Floyd along with a new recording by David Gilmour. I enjoy collecting physical media, rather than stream. I managed to fill in some gaps with bands such as Garbage, Jean Michele Jarre,

Original artwork I saw included pieces by some of my favourites, including Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso and Andy Warhol. I have detailed these in earlier blogs.

I presented forty-nine, one-hour talks on various aspects of cyber security as part of my work. I am thinking about continuing with these but making them available to anyone who wishes to sign up. More on this later, hopefully.

Looking back, it’s been a busy year. This year I plan to complete the unfinished work I have and make it available. After that, I may look towards querying new ideas that are competing for my attention. The new ideas always appear to be more exciting than what is underway, so maintaining focus on what needs to be completed first, is going to be key to a successful year.