Skip to content

Category: Uncategorized

Witch’s Box IV release

“Half an Empire” the fourth book in the “Witch’s Box” series, was released on 9 Nov 2023 and is now available for purchase.

Maihara has now achieved her ambition of becoming Empress, but her reign is beset with problems. The Imperial Treasure is missing, and her efforts to fix the Empire’s finances alienate the nobility. Threatening letters arrive. Her most trusted adviser suddenly becomes unavailable, and her new lover becomes embroiled in a diplomatic scandal. Can anything else go wrong? Yes, it can. Contains references to transgender issues.

Low promotional price for ebook: £0.80 or $0.99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0CLGP7XGF

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CLGP7XGF

And if you are interested, you can sign up for an email newsletter:

https://www.subscribepage.com/kjc-signup

This Slavery -EC Holdsworth

 This Slavery by Ethel Carnie Holdsworth (Trent Editions).
First published in 1925, this is a radical polemical novel and a key intervention in the history of British working-class writing. Carnie Holdsworth, originally a mill worker, became a full-time writer in the 1920’s.
The action follows two sisters, Hester and Rachel Martin, whose lives are thrown into turmoil when a fire at the mill leaves them unemployed. As the material poverty of their home-life deepens and the young women are forced to confront the difficulties of their economic circumstances, Hester and Rachel make romantic and political choices that will place them on opposite sides of the great class divide.
Initially slow-moving, the novel clearly demonstrates the oppression and unfairness of the workers’ situation, with grinding poverty, and the police and authorities on the side of the mill owners. The story gathers pace in the second part, with the workers demanding a raise while the owners are desperate to complete large orders.
Well worth reading if you are interested in working-class history.

Travel blog

For many years I have kept a travel blog recording places I have visited in the UK, and also some foreign holidays. Most of the posts are accompanied by photographs. I have now decided to link it here for your interest and edification. Days Out Blog

“Short Story” Magazine

“Short Story” (https://shortstory.substack.com/) is a fiction magazine that aims to ‘change the world, one story at a time’.
They publish one short story a month, and pay well. It is available by subscription.

The Plain Girl’s Earrings update

Cover image
Original Cover

I am looking at updating the cover designs for “The Plain Girl’s Earrings” to make it resemble more the branding of the Witch’s Box series. At present there is a Smashwords edition with a different title (Deadly Relics) and a different cover.