Spider Shepherd Short Stories

The four Spider Shepherd short stories that I published on Amazon and Smashwords are doing amazingly well - all four are in the Top 10 of the War category in the Kindle store in the UK.

If you want too read them, it's probably best to start with Natural Selection which explains how Shepherd got his nickname during the jungle phase of SAS selection.


You can buy it in the US Kindle store BY CLICKING HERE

And in the UK Kindle store BY CLICKING HERE

At present I'm working on the brand new full-length Spider Shepherd novel, the 11th, which will probably be called White Knight. Hopefully it'll be on the shelves in the summer of next year!

Rough Diamonds - the new Spider Shepherd SAS short story

I have just put a new Spider Shepherd SAS short story on the Kindle and Smashwords. The story is Rough Diamonds, an action-packed tale drawn from Spider's SAS days in war-torn Sierra Leone.

I had great fun writing it - the SAS stories give me a chance to show where Spider came from and what made him the man he is. It also gives me a chance to introduce other characters who will reappear in later books.  There is a terrific MI6 operative - Jonathan Parker - in Rough Diamonds and he will be in the next Spider novel.

You can buy Rough Diamonds in the UK - HERE

And in the US - HERE

I'm going to take a short break from writing Spider Shepherd short stories as I have to start work on the new Spider Shepherd full length novel.  Though I am working on a Jack Nightingale short story as we speak!

Lastnight is done and dusted!

Lastnight - the fifth Jack Nightingale novel - is done and dusted. I signed off on the line edit yesterday which means it's now off to the printers! There was surprisingly little to do edit-wise, a few hours work at most. I'm always surprised at professional writers who have to spend weeks rewriting. I figure it's much better to get it right the first time and so I am constantly self-editing in my head as I write. I quite often delete a paragraph I've just written if I feel it wasn't right. I've never seen the point of saying that a book is finished but that it's a first draft. "And now the real work starts" is a common refrain from writers after the first draft is done, but me, I'd rather get it right the first time!


The story was fun to write - even though it has a pretty gory plot line with lots of Goths being murdered in London. And it was great to research, I spent quite a lot of time in Goth hangouts in London and have become a serious fan of a bar called Garlic and Shots in Soho. You can visit their website HERE


The cover was designed several months ago, and I like it a lot.

Lastnight is the first of my books to be edited by Oliver Johnson, who also edits John Grisham in the UK. He lives south of the river which is helpful and he spotted several errors I'd made in describing Clapham! Who knew that the windmill had gone from the Common? Well, Oliver did!  

Publication is set for January 16. I'm about to write a Jack Nightingale short story which I hope will be fun. Then I'm getting started on the new Spider Shepherd book. Busy, busy, busy!

Lastnight is already available on pre-order on Amazon - YOU CAN PRE-ORDER HERE

Lastnight is done - well the first draft, anyway!

I have just this minute written the final words of Lastnight, the fifth Jack Nightingale novel.

I'm exhausted but very happy because I think it's very, very good!

It came in at a whisker under 95,000 words, which is pretty much as I anticipated. I always knew the ending would work because I wrote that first, more than two months ago!

Like all books it's not completely done as it still has to be edited, but the plot is so tight I can't see there's much scope for changing things around. And yes, there's blood. A lot of blood....

Anyway, I'm off to celebrate with a few drinks. Then I have a Spider Shepherd book to write.

Three FREE Spider Shepherd SAS Short Stories

I'm offering the boxed set of three Spider Shepherd SAS short stories for free over the next three days.

The three short stories are Friendly Fire (where Shepherd is sent on a dangerous mission to a Taliban stronghold on the trail of the most wanted man in the world), Dead Drop (where Shepherd puts his life on the line to help a 12-year-old Afghan boy) and Kill Zone (where Shepherd pursues a murderous Taliban assassin).

I have another three Spider short stories ready to go - one set while he was on SAS selection and two set in Sierra Leone.  I'll publish those as soon as I've finished writing the fifth Jack Nightingale book - Lastnight.

You can get the boxed set in the UK by clicking HERE

And for the Kindle in the US by clicking HERE

Price cuts for Midnight and Nightmare - now just £2.99

After a great deal of prodding, my publisher has agreed to drop the price of Midnight and Nightmare - books two and three in the Jack Nightingale series - to just £2.99.

I think that's a fair price to pay for an eBook that has been professionally published. I hear readers complain all the time that it isn't fair that eBooks are more expensive than paperbacks.  It has to be said that part of the reason for the price disparity is that the Government charges VAT on eBooks but not on paperbacks, which has always seemed crazy to me.  But I think it is unreasonable to expect readers to pay more than £5 for an eBook, especially one that has been in print for a few years.

Anyway, Midnight and Nightmare are now just £2.99 in the UK.  If sales pick up I hope to persuade Hodder and Stoughton to reduce the price of more of my backlist.

YOU CAN BUY MIDNIGHT FOR £2.99 BY CLICKING HERE

And if you haven't read the Jack Nightingale series, now is a great time to start because the first book in the series - Nightfall - is just 99p!

YOU CAN BUY NIGHTFALL FOR JUST 99p BY CLICKING HERE

True Colours is a bestseller - it's official.

True Colours entered the Sunday Times bestseller list last week - debuting at Number 8!

I was so pleased to see True Colours doing so well - I think it's one of my best books.  I'm looking forward to starting the 11th Spider Shepherd novel.