Win a special limited edition novella, The Heist

I'm running a very special competition to win 1 of 10 physical copies of my new release, The Heist. These are a special limited edition as there are no other physical copies available, and they are not for sale (ebook Kindle copies are available to buy from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk). 

Each copy is signed and numbered and I'll be giving 6 copies away. Instructions to win one are below, but it's easy to enter and just requires either signing up to the newsletter, posting on Twitter etc, or a combination of all possible ways. 

Good luck to all those who enter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


After a vicious robbery at a theme park, callous gang leader, Greg Armstrong blows up a rollercoaster to aid their escape, resulting in eighty-seven deaths. Months later, Kurt Vaughn and his family are enjoying a day out geocaching, but Kurt is about to discover that there’s more to the treasure hunt than he realises as the caches supposedly lead to the stolen money, and the crooks are on the trail. Now Kurt and his family find themselves pawns in a far more deadly game. 

Novella approximately 24k words.

(For all budding sleuths or those who like puzzles, there's a puzzle at the end of the story that if you can work it out, gives you details of a webpage where you can play a mini, interactive text adventure. It ideally requires a Java enabled web browser for one part, although it will work without.)

The Heist

After a vicious robbery at a theme park, the callous gang leader, Greg Armstrong blows up a rollercoaster to aid their escape, resulting in eighty-seven deaths. Months later, Kurt Vaughn and his family are enjoying a day out geocaching, but Kurt is about to discover that there’s more to the treasure hunt than he realises as the caches supposedly lead to the stolen money, and the crooks are on the trail. Now Kurt and his family find themselves pawns in a far more deadly game. 

Novella approximately 24k words.

(For budding sleuths and those who like puzzles there's a bonus puzzle at the end of the story that leads to a webpage to play a mini text adventure. It ideally requires a Java enabled web browser for one part, although the game will work without.)

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk


I'd wanted to write a story that involved geocaching, and this is what I came up with. Now as geocaching is basically a form of treasure hunting that involves GPS, I thought it might be cool to try to incorporate a puzzle based treasure hunt. I achieved this by creating a mini text based adventure that can be found by cracking the code at the end of the story, which leads to a webpage where the interactive element begins. I hope people enjoy it!

The Lake District

We arrived home yesterday after a short break in Keswick in the Lake District. No matter how many times I visit the area, it never fails to fill me with awe with its sweeping vistas and majestic mountains.


We’ve camped on the same site a couple of times before, at the edge of Derwentwater (the location of the site means that it can easily flood, but we were lucky enough that it only rained for one day during our stay otherwise the resident ducks would have been swimming around the tent instead of waddling.) We were also field-testing (quite literally) our new tent, an Outwell Colorado 5. I think we now have five tents stashed around the house, but this is by far the best of the bunch. It’s big enough to stand up in, and has a large sitting area.

During our stay, we met up with my brother who is fortunate enough to live just outside Keswick in the village of Borrowdale. He’s lived there for a number of years, and I often wonder if he knows how lucky he is to live in such breathtaking surrounds. Anyway while there we tackled Helvellyn, which is the third highest peak in England at 3118 feet (only 75 feet less than the highest, Scafell Pike).

It took us around 2 hours to climb to the summit, a feat that some people achieve by running, but they are obviously part machine or just plain crazy. The stunning view at the top makes the effort of the climb seem more than worthwhile, but my aching calves and thighs might not agree.


While visiting the Lakes, we also went in search of a couple of Geocaches, which we haven’t done for a while, taking in a route along Walla Crag. This is a short fell walk that gives superb views across Derwentwater. The only problem on the day we went was that the heavens opened and we ended up putting drowned rats to shame. Coupled with a cold wind, it makes you realise how unpredictable and dangerous the weather can be, especially when you’re caught out in the open.

But it’s no wonder the landscape has been the inspiration for countless artists and writers over the years. Majestic, stunning and awe inspiring. That’s the only way to sum it up.