My Guest Blog on Suzan Collins’ Website.
Read the free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here.
Buy your copy of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts now!
Books
When is a good review not a good review? When it’s a utterly brilliant review.
I’ve been extremely fortunate in the reviews I have received for my second novel, Children of the Resolution—on Amazon in particular. Yes, I do sometimes worry that cynical prospective buyers might think that twenty-one five-star reviews (a hundred percent record) must invariably mean that they are plants, but they aren’t. They are genuine reviews by genuine readers who, on the whole, have given this novel in particular careful consideration.
And so, today, I would like to thank those reviews and share in its entirety the latest, which I think gives a very solid impression of the novel.
Children of the Resolution follows the schooldays of Carl Grantham. Carl is disabled and is a pupil at the experimental Resolution school which attempts to integrate disabled children into mainstream education. From the start this novel had me captivated. The description of Carl’s first day at school triggered emotions I’d long since forgotten. Those feelings of cruel abandonment as you’re left to fend for yourself in the big bad world for the first time.
As Carl moves through school he makes a friend and ally in Johnny Jameson. If truth be told he stole the show for me. Some of his wit and plain speaking had me laughing out loud. And his inescapable plight moved me deeply. I found Carl and Johnny’s relationship emotionally engaging. They were a perfect foil for each other.
As the story unfolded it took me through a whole gamut of emotions from optimism to despair. I could hear that unmistakeable hum of school life and I relived that juvenile sense of trying to negotiate your way across new and uncertain terrain. There were times when Carl and Johnny didn’t see eye to eye especially when a love interest came between them. But the glue of real friendship kept them bound together. It took me through all the knocks and scrapes that adolescent life throws at you.
Gary Murning’s wonderfully observed narrative evoked so many of the happy and often painful memories of school. It brought home how sticking dogmatically to a blueprint for revolutionary change can ultimately lead to failure, especially if those charged with bringing in that revolution are ill equipped. He highlights how insightful and receptive some teachers can be and how others can be so self-absorbed and woefully inadequate. And despite such polarities children are supposed to thrive and forge bright and meaningful futures for themselves.
Once I’d started it I found it hard to put it down. Children of the Resolution is a first class book and I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a realistic, gritty and down to earth read.
Buy Children of the Resolution here.
© 2012 Gary William Murning
Well, that time of year is fast approaching and I’m battling with that whole “but you’re an atheist, you don’t do Christmas” part of me again …
… okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration—for, in truth, I do indeed do Christmas (in my own ungodly way) and love, among other things, the opportunity it provides to shamelessly flog a few more books.
And, so, this post is by way of a quick introduction to my work, for those of you who haven’t yet had chance to check it out, in the hope that you might see something you like and take pity on a poor, starving wordsmith (that’s me, just in case there’s any doubt).
All products available in paperback and for Kindle. Click through to Amazon to check out the samples. And thanks in advance for your generosity. If you like what you see, please tell all your friends.
For Sonny Moore, writer and family man, chance discovery and the force of untethered past are about to impact on his life in ways both unimaginable and profound. Faced with events he cannot explain, and those he does not even wish to contemplate, his world and the worlds of those closest to him spiral down into a realm of need and hurt, where ghosts walk – and occasionally resemble those closest to him.
Buy or read samples on Amazon.
It was a time of change and new ideologies, a vision of a more inclusive, fairer future… a time that was destined to shape the lives of many, and fail more than a mere handful.
Viewed retrospectively through the eyes of the now adult Carl Grantham, Children of the Resolution
is a story of a child poised between two worlds. Thrown into the revolutionary world of integrated education in 1970s England, the physically disabled Carl finds himself torn between what he expects of himself and what his changing environment will allow.
At heart, a coming-of-age story — Children of the Resolution explores the intricacies of friendship and loss, the subtle fears of childhood and the far less subtle fears of adulthoods possibly never realised.
Buy or read samples on Amazon.
If I Never centres on the growing love between two “social misfits”. Clearly “meant for each other” in a most unusual way, the world and those around them threaten to pull them apart… the two drawn into the complicated lives of friends, consumed by unfolding mysteries and dangers.
Buy or read samples on Amazon;
© 2012 Gary William Murning
I was asked recently how I approach the outlining of a novel. It’s a question that comes up time and time again—and over the years I have answered it in many different ways. The main reason for this, of course, is that as I have grown as a writer, my approach has evolved. In the early days, I really couldn’t envisage writing a novel I’d planned beforehand. For me, this defeated the point of writing. In many regards, I then viewed my projects as a more involved, interactive form of reading. I wanted that seat of the pants spontaneity, that sense of never quite knowing where I was going to end up. It was fun. It inspired me. It kept me interested in writing when I otherwise might have drifted.
But that kind of approach, I soon found, was difficult to sustain. I quickly discovered that for every project that reached a conclusion, I was abandoning two or three others. This wasn’t exactly a bad thing. It served a purpose and allowed me to weed out the stuff that simply didn’t deserve to be written. But it was time-consuming. Sometimes I would find myself writing seventy thousand words before realising that it wasn’t quite going the way I would have ideally have liked. On average, that would mean three or four months down the drain. When you’re an aspiring novelist, that isn’t such a big deal—but when you are already published and looking to bring something new out every twelve to eighteen months … well, not exactly ideal.
Also, over recent years I’ve found that my novels have increased in complexity. I enjoy narratives that work on a number of levels—plotting, character and theme—and keeping track of this whilst trying to focus on the ways the novel “sounded” was becoming increasingly difficult. I like my work to have a certain lyricism, and there are only so many balls that even the most talented among us can juggle at any one time. (And I certainly don’t claim to be that!)
And so, I—with Children of the Resolution (my second published novel)—decided to try a different approach. A different approach for me. This has now become my tried and tested way of working:
- Initial one-page outline. This is in effect a three act representation of the novel as I see it. A simple beginning, middle and end. I don’t like to even think about moving beyond this until I have all three acts at least vaguely outlined.
- Single sentence chapter outline. This develops the three act outline into simple chapter summations, focusing on the central points. At this stage I avoid too much detail.
- From the above I develop a more detailed chapter outline—building a more solid awareness of character and plot development. This is, in many regards, my first draft. I expect a total of 20,000 words at outline to equate with a novel of around 140,000 words. I use this stage to nail down structure in particular.
While I initially had reservations about this approach, I’ve found that it suits me down to the ground. That said, writing is very much about finding your own way. All the how-to books in the world cannot substitute for experience and trial and error. Give this approach a go, but if it doesn’t work for you, don’t worry; there are no hard and fast rules to any aspect of writing—whatever some might claim.
Read the free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here.
Buy your copy of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts now!
© 2012 Gary William Murning
Two days on the trot. See? I’m starting as I mean to go on—loins girded and more resolute than I’ve been since … well, the last time I was resolute.
I thought today I might gently ease myself back into this whole blogging malarkey with, as the title suggests, a bit of a roundup. I’m going to try my best to keep it brief and to the point, but I ain’t promising.
Most of this year has been taken up with my new work in progress, Juniper Faraday. I started the actual writing about five months or so ago after initially outlining a completely different novel (Recalling Calloway Vaughan). As with The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost, Juniper Faraday came to me pretty much fully formed. It excited me immediately and within a month or two the outline was in place and I was working on the first draft. The working draft now stands at 110,000 words and I expect to finish it either just before Christmas or just after. A pretty tense “social drama”, I think it’s my most understated and thoughtful piece so far—exploring questions of trust in a literary form that will be primarily entertaining and highly readable. Again, it’s quite different stylistically to my other work (especially Lorna Lovelost) but I believe it’s a very solidly recognisable Gary William Murning novel.
Apart from this, I’ve also been exploring publishing possibilities with The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost. Believing it a good fit with my Legend Press novel, If I Never, I offered it to Legend. In all honesty, my hopes were not that high—as Legend did not feel my earlier novel, Children of the Resolution, to be a suitable follow-up, either (Children is now my only novel to still have 100% five-star reviews on Amazon). And sure enough, Lorna was ultimately deemed too “philosophical” for their list. Which, of course, is perfectly acceptable; it’s pretty clear we have very different readers in mind. (It isn’t actually all that philosophical. No more so than my other writing.) And so I’ve made the decision to once again publish through my own imprint GWM Publications. I did think of approaching other publishers but, as this is a novel that is especially close to my heart, I decided that retaining complete control was something I welcomed. The Legacy of Lorna Lovelost, therefore, will now be published in paperback and for Kindle sometime in October next year.
As well as this, I have over the past few weeks started making tentative notes on my next project. A large canvas novel intended to explore “disability identity” from both a historic and contemporary perspective, it stands to be by far my most challenging (to write) work so far. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to it. (No, really.)
And that’s pretty much it. Over coming weeks, I hope to fill you in on more of the details regarding all these projects—with prepublication samples of Lorna probably coming early next year. I want to get back in the habit of occasionally providing a little insight into how I work and what’s important to me in my fiction.
Hopefully it will be of interest.
Read the free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here.
Buy your copy of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts now!
© 2012 Gary William Murning
So today sees me frantically preparing for the official online launch party of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts tomorrow (when not chatting about the despicable George Galloway one Twitter), rallying people just to make sure I’m not left sitting there staring at the cake all by myself and generally making sure everything is in place.
Naturally, you are ALL invited. The “party” will be running on and off all through the day on Twitter (hash tag #hungryghostslaunch ) and Facebook. You can also participate by commenting below.
For more information on The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts, please visit the official publisher’s website. Also, all those of you with Kindles and Kindle apps, the Kindle edition is specially discounted for strictly limited period.
Thank you and hope to see you “there”!
Read the free sample of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts here.
Buy your copy of The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts now!
© 2012 Gary William Murning
Yesterday I was featured in the Middlesbrough Evening Gazette.
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
Today it is my pleasure to announce a brand-new, probably quite fantastic (I like to think) and utterly unmissable competition. The title of this post has probably given the game away, somewhat, but, hey, you’ve got to admit, it’s an attention-grabber, right? Right?
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
A dark, somewhat spooky Christmas Eve Eve morning in my little corner of the world – grey mist rolling in across the hills like a sfumato smudge – and I’m doing that Christmassy looking back and looking forward thing again again, listening to Brahms’ Ballades and wondering just where the hell the year has gone.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Free samples of my next novel, The Realm of the Hungry Ghosts, are now available by clicking here. Hungry Ghosts is also now available for pre-order at your preferred online or high street retailer—though I would recommend Amazon, who are currently offering it at a 25% reduction (you pay nothing now and will be guaranteed the lowest price, should you choose to pre-order now).
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
