Read the free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here.

Pre-order your copy of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts now!

© 2012 Gary William Murning

It would seem my contact list has been stolen and a number of my contacts are receiving spam e-mails. I’m afraid there is absolutely nothing I can do about this, now. It will run its course but in the meantime please be aware that none of this is coming from any of my accounts. So, when receiving e-mail from someone claiming to be me, do not open any links included in the body of the message unless it is obviously from me. All of my e-mails from this computer include the recognisable signature most of you will be well familiar with. If it hasn’t got that or my usual mobile signature, it isn’t from me.

One thing all of these messages seem to have in common is the subject line. They usually start with “hey” or “hi there” followed by your name. If you see something from me with that subject heading, it definitely isn’t from me.

Again, sorry for any inconvenience! If it’s any consolation, I am also getting spam e-mails from me!

So what’s the deal? Well, quite simply, I’m offering three SIGNED glossy A4 copies of the artwork for my forthcoming third novel The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts (below) to three lucky people who pre-order my novel before the publication date of March 31.

In order to be eligible, here’s what you have to do:

1. Pre-order The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts through Amazon immediately (if not sooner). Don’t worry, you won’t be charged anything until the novel is dispatched at the end of March – and Amazon’s price guarantee means that if the price drops before publication, which it probably will, you will get the lowest price.
2. Send me a copy of the pre-order notification you receive from Amazon to this e-mail address. This will be put into the hat (not a real hat, I’m afraid, but a rather snazzy virtual one, nonetheless) with all of the others and drawn out, if you’re one of the Lucky Chosen Few, on publication day.
3. Winners will be notified shortly thereafter and will be asked to forward me the dispatch notice when Amazon send it as final proof of purchase (just in case some crafty individual pre-orders and then cancels – not that my fine, upstanding readers would do such a thing, of course).

So, there you go. How can you really resist?

(Please note: any e-mail addresses, postal addresses etc provided during this competition process will not be stored on my mailing lists or any others unless specifically requested. Also, this offer IS open to people who have ALREADY pre-ordered.)

Read the free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here.

Pre-order your copy of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts now!

© 2012 Gary William Murning

Like any year worth a damn, it’s been a busy and, blessedly, healthy twelve months that saw me finish the manuscript for The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost, set up my own micropublishing company (GWM Publications), prepare The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts for publication, start outlining what looks like being my next project, Recalling Calloway Vaughan – oh, and I also managed to sell a few books (as we speak, the Kindle edition of If I Never is breaking all of its previous records). This in itself is an achievement, I suppose, but more than that I managed to enjoy every part of the process. Yes, there were difficulties along the way, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s been a good year.

Work highlights included:

1. The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost. Every part of this project was a joy. Its characters led me to a world that entertained in the writing and, yes, probably taught me a thing or two along the way. Looking forward to sharing that with you around March 2013 – all being well.
2. Setting up GWM Publications in preparation for publishing The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. I’d expected this process, quite different to the method I used when publishing Children of the Resolution, to be problematic. Yes, it demanded a little knowledge of the industry, but, with a little help from my Client Services Representative at Lightning Source, it was all plain sailing. I now have my initial batch of review copies and, I have to say, the final product looks pretty bloody stunning.
3. Working with the very talented Gudrun Jobst on the cover design for The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts. Gudrun designed the cover for my first Legend Press novel, If I Never, and I was very excited at the prospect of working directly with her on this particular project. Her initial designs based on my rather extensive brief were all incredible – the final cover, however, exceeded all my expectations.

So what does 2012 hold in store? Well, apart from the end of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar and the ensuing end of the world (!), the forthcoming year will see the publication on March 31 of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts (available for pre-order now, with free samples available here). In many regards, this particular novel is a return to the stylistic approach I used with If I Never (it was, in fact, written before If I Never) – using genre motifs (this time supernatural thriller/horror) to explore in a hopefully gripping and entertaining way themes we all grapple with almost every day.

I will also, no doubt, be spending much of the time working on Recalling Calloway Vaughan and preparing The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost for publication (I’m almost certain at this point that I will also be bringing out this particular novel through GWM Publications; whilst I could probably place it with a traditional publisher, the megalomaniac in me wants complete control over this one!)

Well, the mist has lifted and the day is brightening. And so it only remains for me to thank you for all the varying forms of support over the past year and to wish you a safe and happy holiday period and fantastic New Year!

© 2011 Gary William Murning

Image via Wikipedia

Today we woke to the news that British-born author, literary critic, “public intellectual”, journalist, atheist and “contrarian” Christopher Hitchens had died at the age of 62.

I was never fortunate enough to meet or even correspond with Christopher. Nonetheless, in recent years his work has had a huge impact on the way I look at my own work and my place in the world. Christopher at no point really changed my way of thinking. My views on subjects like religion were already well formed when I “discovered” him and his work. What Christopher did succeed in doing, however, was help instil in me the kind of self-belief that comes from intellectual rigour; if I haven’t thought and read about the subject thoroughly, I generally try not to comment until I have.

Like Richard Dawkins, he also helped me understand more completely that my atheism was not something that I should be afraid of speaking out about, with all the force required. Again, Christopher did not convert me. I had been an atheist for decades before encountering his work, and I was never shy about discussing it publicly. What Christopher amongst others taught me, however, was that atheism in the world we currently inhabit is about more than just personally choosing to not believe, it is in many regards a position that requires a protection of an individual’s right not to have the very things he does not believe in foisted upon him – and that holding one’s tongue was not an option.

Christopher said a number of times in recent interviews that “All Life Is a Wager”. Some would say he has now lost that wager. Those who unkindly (what am I saying? The evil sons of bitches who vilely) prayed that he might die and get what he “deserved” in Hell, will no doubt be claiming a considerable victory in this department. Those far kinder Christians, Jews and Muslims, however, who prayed for his recovery rather than condemning him or praying for his soul might also see this as a wager lost (though I suspect many won’t). But I don’t. As I look at my Twitter stream as I write this, every other tweet seems to contain the word “Hitch”. Even those (myself included) who did not always agree with Christopher admired him – or at least many did.

It seems trite to talk of legacies. But, in the end, all we have is what we leave behind. We take the hand dealt and make the best of it we can. It strikes me that this is what Christopher did, to the very end. And, yes, the legacy is a considerable one. A legacy that confirms beyond doubt that the wager was won.

My thoughts are with Carol Blue, Christopher’s wife, his children, his brother, Peter, his family and numerous friends.

What’s being said about The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts:

“A book that refuses to be comfortably straight-jacketed into one genre, The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts takes the reader into a complex supernatural thriller that, at its heart, reveals a satisfying, thoughtful literary novel. Murning is a storyteller from the old school, where language and character are paramount, and the cast of characters take us from past to present, through love, suspicion and finally to resolution. Lyrical and thought-provoking, this is a novel to be savoured.”
Ruth Dugdall – author of The Woman Before Me and The Sacrificial Man.

© 2011 Gary William Murning

One of the first things anyone working in any creative field discovers is just how diverse opinion is (and, following on quickly from this, just how willing the majority of people are—whether qualified or not—to share that opinion). Generally, this is a positive. Ideas, opinions, suggestions, these are the things that can, with the right attitude, spark creativity. They can also, however, utterly and completely stifle it.

Read more…

Read your free sample of Children of the Resolution, please click here.

To buy from the UK, click here – and American customers can buy here. (Also available on Kindle. UK. US.)

Here’s a snippet:

I had many reasons for wanting to write ‘Children of the Resolution’. It was not intended to be a cathartic affair. The few daemons that had haunted me from that period had by this point been well and truly exorcised. Nevertheless, there were certain points I wanted to make – largely concerning the universal nature of “childhood”, how we all as children undergo very similar experiences, whether disabled or able-bodied, whatever the particular environment in which we find ourselves. My hope – or one of them, at least – was that it might adequately convey the joys and tribulations of the very specific childhood world I’d inhabited in such a way that those who had not been there would see how close these experiences were to their own. I didn’t want to tub thump, to vehemently proclaim ‘We are just like you!’ – I wanted to give readers the space to discover this for themselves – to grow indignant at the quite casual injustices, but also understand that, had circumstances been only slightly different, these experiences could have been their own.

Read more.

Read your free sample of Children of the Resolution, please click here.

To buy from the UK, click here – and American customers can buy here. (Also available on Kindle. UK. US.)

© 2011 Gary William Murning

Now, yes, I know that Christmas seems to come a little earlier every year. And every man and his sister seems to be trying to sell you something (no, I can’t claim to be an exception, alas) – but as The Angel of the Lord once said (allegedly), I bring you glad tidings of great joy. No. Really. Cross my heart and… well, cross my heart.

For all of you who have bought or been bought bright, new, shiny (well, matte plasticy) Kindles over the past few months, the Kindle versions of my first two novels – If I Never and Children of the Resolution – together with my exclusive Kindle short story, Broken Angel, are now heavily discounted. (Other formats are available… getting good at this, aren’t I? Next week I’m doing the new Cillit Bang advert.)

To take advantage of these UTTERLY FANTASTIC DEALS, please click here. (And if you’re thinking, Well, no, I still probably won’t be able to afford it, it might be worth bearing in mind that you can buy ALL THREE for UNDER £3! Need I say more?)

Now, I hear some of you muttering to yourselves, BUT I HAVEN’T GOT A KINDLE! Well, fear not! FREE apps are available here for all types of computer and phone. (If you’re using Windows Phone 7, you can find it in your Marketplace.)

So let me just sum that up for you: two novels, one exclusive Kindle short story and a free Kindle application, should you need it, all for under £3. And, of course, without wishing to blow my own trumpet (though why break the habit of a lifetime), it’s bloody good fiction, too! Trust me, I’m an author.

If you know of anyone who might also be interested in these UTTERLY FANTASTIC and LIMITED TIME OFFERS, please feel free to forward this on to them. PLEASE. Pretty please. Pretty please with…

Joking aside, thanks again and I sincerely hope these offers are of interest – if not to you, then to someone you may know.

© 2011 Gary William Murning

Designed by the very talented Gudrun Jobst, who also designed the cover for my first Legend Press novel, If I Never, I think you will agree that the end result is pretty striking.

Front cover (click on image to enlarge):

Full cover (click on image to enlarge):

© 2011 Gary William Murning