Summer 2019 update, and another cool synchronicity!

Hi all, I hope you are enjoying the summer so far. Here’s some news from me…

First off, Audible are just finishing recording Lucia and I can’t wait to share the narrator and also the release date with you, so keep an eye out for that – soon hopefully. I think this could turn out to be my best book yet, it’s really different! 

Secondly, Song of the Centurion, sequel to last year’s The Druid is almost complete. I am just tidying it up and my editor will look over it in the middle of August. That suggests it will be available some time in September but I can’t promise anything just yet as the final release date will depend on various things. I have come up with some ideas for the cover and sent them over to my designers at More Visual, and that leads me to my synchronicity story…

I was at work, sitting in my car thinking about what to put on the cover and, since there actually IS a song in the book, I thought it might be good to have some kind of ancient musical instrument. I Googled Roman flutes and this is the kind of thing that came up:

Strange looking thing isn’t it? Apparently the Greeks and Romans played these. It’s a woodwind instrument with two reeds, known as an aulos or tibia. As someone who owns a modern flute, and loves Jethro Tull, I can honestly say I have never seen one of these before (that I can remember anyway). It’s hardly an everyday object.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting, but I had work to do (reading electric meters) so I headed for the next block of high flats on my list and started knocking on doors. Imagine my complete shock when, at the very first house I visited, an old man on the ninth floor opened his door and the painting on his wall showed someone playing one of these twin-piped instruments! It really made the hairs on my arms stand up, it was very strange indeed. When I got back to my car I phoned my wife to tell her what had happened and she told me not to blog about it as it sounded too fantastic and people would think I made it all up, but I love stories like this. I really believe when a synchronicity happens it’s the universe telling us we’re on the right track. Remember I found the LUCIA charm a while ago? And the house called Sherwood that put the idea of writing a book about Robin Hood into my head?

Ultimately, I decided the double-flute instrument wouldn’t make a very good cover image so I found other things to use instead. The aulos did make its way into the secret project I’ve been working on this year though, as I kinda felt obliged to use it in some way, or risk angering the gods!

Stay tuned for the Song of the Centurion cover reveal within the next few weeks. I have a feeling it’ll be just as stunning as the one that graced The Druid.

One final piece of news, only really of interest to German readers – Wolf’s Head has been translated by Susanne Doring and will be available to buy (or free on Kindle Unlimited) hopefully in August. The German version of Knight of the Cross has done remarkably well for a novella so I have high hopes for Wolfskopf.

Plans for the future? Well, once all this is out of the way it will be right onto book 3 of the Warrior Druid of Britain Chronicles. But that’s a tale for another day…

Enjoy the rest of summer everyone!