fiction | Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing

Posts Tagged ‘fiction’

January update 2026

Posted in A writer's life, tagged book signings, books, fiction, life, Politics, reading, Writing on January 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The new year is done. The many January birthdays are celebrated. The cake is eaten.

I’ve been doing grandma stuff with my youngest granddaughter. She went back to her mum yesterday. As a result of all this activity and due to spending time in Sydney with granddaughter, not much writing got done. Yeah.

My wall planner fell off the wall. This may be ominous. I have not sat at my desk until now to spy on my desk planner either. However, it is a long weekend in Canberra this weekend and I have good intentions!

World politics tend to distract me. I listened to Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum. I passed the link onto my partner and friend. I tried talking about it to Matthew (partner) but burst into tears. Basically, Carney summed up what has been brewing in my gut for a while. The rules-based international system is broken. It’s not coming back. We need to do something different. I listened to Macron and to Von Der Leyen’s speech and Trump’s. I’m going back to listen to a few more. It helps me to know that other world leaders are planning and taking action.

But you couldn’t write this stuff. This is worse than a bad dystopian SF novel. But I have hope, even though uncertainty is really gut wrenching.

Appearances

Meanwhile, I am looking at events…

Some of my books are for sale at Cancon this weekend at Epic at the CSFG table. I’ll be doing a shift at 12 noon on Monday so I’ll be there.

I’ll be at the Romantic Rendezvous in Sydney on March 22nd. Link to info and tickets Here.

I’ll be at Books and Beyond on April 12 in Ourimbah, on the central coast.

I’m hoping to get a table at the Geek Expo in Canbera during July but I’m currently hunting up expression of interest forms.

September I will possibly be at Books and Beyond again.

And for some reason I have three events 10 October, Once Upon a Fairy Tale indie book event in Campbelltown.

Hopefully I’ll have a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk Victorian Faire on the 17th. Noting certain as of yet, but I’ll be there in any case.

Books in Sight, Canberra Rex, on 23rd October

I shall post again if anything else comes up. I’ve put in for things.

Travel

In between everything else, I am travelling a bit. NZ in Feb, then in March doing a tour with a visitor from the UK, I’d like to fit in a trip to Singapore for at least a month and possibly to Adelaide in April. I was hoping to go to Canada with my sister in October but I have a lot going on then.

Writing

Matthew has three big projects this year so that will limit travel somewhat. But it also means I will be encouraged to write also.

Meanwhile Gentleman Magician is at just over 12000 words.

Reading

I’m going to keep a spreadsheet of my reading this year. I don’t read enough these days. I listen to audio books more.

PS I got my hair done today. Totally pink. It looks floofy in this photo.

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Interview with Jemima Hardcastle Huntington

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged book-reviews, books, fiction, reading, Writing on January 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today I am interviewing Jemima Hardcastle Huntington to gather her views on the revelations contained in The Prudential Light- A memoir of a lady–Mrs Prudence Wainwright.

Me: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mrs Huntington.

Jemima: And Monster Slayer. You must not forgot that but do call me Jemima otherwise we will be here all day. I have things of a personal nature to attend to.

Me: And Monster Slayer. (Me dying to ask what monsters she has slain recently). Jemima what was your first reaction to reading The Prudential Light?

Jemima: (waves a hand). I had many reactions. I snuck a few reads of the draft while the memoir was in progress you know. My first reaction was, Aunt Prudence is not as old as I thought. My second was she has been through a lot and I realised that my life was not as nearly difficult as hers had been. I was only an orphan and sent to school aged fourteen. No hardship in that in hindsight.

Me: And other reactions? You being blood related?

Jemima: That was a surprise but I liked it better that way. I have grown fond of Aunt Prudence and she is nowhere as annoying as she used to be. She helped me during my confinement you know. Totally surprising at the time but when you read the memoir you understand better. Now that I have a child, I do not think I could have been as strong as she was when she faced such a traumatic separation.

Me: You have returned now to Willow Park. Do you think that you will spend time such a long time with Mr and Mrs Fulton again in future?

Jemima: I adore Fulton and Milly and we get along so well. I wish that we could all live together all the time. I imagine we will stay together either here or at Hatfield when the rebuilding is complete. As it is I write to Milly most days.

Me: I’ve been dying to ask about the Hardcastle talent that appears to run in your family. Was it a surprise that Aunt Prudence has this so called Prudential Light?

Jemima: I knew there was something about Aunt Prudence that needed explaining, which is why we all urged her to write her memoirs. What was contained therein was certainly astonishing. I am glad that she has the Prudential Light and that she was able to use it in defense of me. As for it running in the family, that is a surprise. I thought my power came from the Emerald Fire and also from the magic leaking into me from my Ruby Heart. It appears I always had some of my own. Edward’s magic is like a life force and as he made my ruby heart and he powered it with magic that has slowly come to me. Fulton has the same thing, except for him, the magic Edward placed into his arm and leg keep him alive and also make him strong.

Me: Now that you know Milly is blood related too, do you suspect her of having the Hardcastle traits?

Jemima: Oh you mean like magic? Milly is a wonderful person and she does not need magical talents. She has Fulton for monster slaying but I dare say Milly will surprise us all with some magical talent all her own. Only the other day I had a letter from her that has me quite puzzled. I believe she encountered a fae in the Hatfield estate forest.

Me: That does sound intriguing indeed. We must finish up our interview now. If you had something to say about The Prudential Light what would that be?

Jemima: Are you asking me to sum up the memoir in one word? How odious? Do you want me to say it is scandalous? Well it is indeed. I am glad for the present that is only circulated within the family. There would be an uproar and sell like hotcakes if it was for public release. It discusses all kinds of private things…come to think of it. How do you know about it? You are not family?

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Happy New Year!

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Australian author, Trying to focus, tagged blog, books, fiction, hashimotos, health, life, New year, planning, Writing, writing life on January 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I’m up reasonably early on the 1st of January. I managed to sleep later than normal. Yay!

Happy New Year! May 2026 fulfill your hopes and dreams.

I hope for peace and good sense to prevail the world over. I want to be optimistic for the future of the world. Being a science fiction (and fantasy) aficcionado and Star Trek fan, I have had faith in Humankind and that we will move beyond wars and famine and that we will survive into the future. However, I admit that that faith has been shaken of late.

I hope for me that I can find that optimism again. That my faith in us will be restored.

Now for more mundane things.

I have to admit I piked on staying up until 12 and left the party around 10pm. We had a family get together.

Now I just don’t want to eat more food! Everything was delicious but now I have to think about the waistline. I wish it was called the wasteline and I could watch myself waistline waste away but alas…

This morning, I took my blood pressure reading before the meds kicked in and well that’s not good is it? I thought cutting back salt was going to help there but health wise I’ve been a bit over the place. Next in the queue is a blood test scheduled for next week. I’ve been having sleep disturbances between 1-3 am most nights lately, which is very annoying. Nothing too serious except I feel like my head is in a paper bag most of the day. Aching and tingling in the fingers and toes, so much so that I have to get up and take painkillers at night, tired, fatigued, etc. I have sub-clinical Hashimotos and I have these flare ups where I gain weight, go through the fatigue, sluggishness etc and then when I’m tested they say my thyroid is reading normal. This has been going on for 10 years, since I was first diagnosed (confirmed through blood test and identification of antibodies). The other not so interesting thing is the inflammation where my partial knee replacements are. At first I thought they were loosening and the specialist thought not. However, he is monitoring six monthly, unless I have extreme pain. Each day I’m noticing it is harder to move around and my knees are stiff and sore. So after this post is done I’m going for a walk. Best thing to get the joints warm.

The new spectacles after surgery were a bit hard to deal with at first. Multifocals and two very divergent eyes now. Left eye is still seeing blurry but better than when I first developed a full thickness macular hole in August. I can report that my eyes and brain are getting used to the new glasses but when I take them off my eyes/brain go what the hell!

I have received print versions of The Prudential Light. My daughter-in-law picked up an issue with one of the Chinese characters in the book. Two missing strokes that were wiped when I did ‘remove background’. I have replaced that image with a new one and uploaded new versions everywhere. I had to redo the hardback versions because I had matt finish on the cover instead of gloss and I had gloss finish on the other hardback versions. Paperback is matt finish. That was completed this morning.

There are four different sets of Chinese characters in the book, drawn by a friend, who is a scholar of Chinese art. Modern Chinese characters have been simplified and the ones in The Prudential Light are meant to be traditional and hopefully ones in use in 1840s. As for the pinyin version, I cannot tell you if I have stuck to the Cantonese pinyin or strayed to the Mandarin. Brain is not functional. Pinyin is the romanised version of the word to help with pronunciation. Cantonese and Mandarin are two different languages but use the same characters.

Yesterday I posted my writing to do list. I also reorganised my working space. (I’m laughing because I’m on my couch with the lap top on my lap). I bought and assembled a hutch. I wish I’d taken before and aftershots. I’m camped out in my bedroom for another nine months I guess while my grandkids are living here. While I had a desk, I had a great big mess there. Along with my day job work space and my imac working space, there was just a junk yard of crap, scribbled on manuscript pages, pens (which I could never find, other desk junk. With a hutch I can lift things up, put them where I can find them. I’m so pleased with it now. I have so many pens and I threw away the ones that don’t work. So diligent of me.

I’ve also put up my planner on the wall. Time to commit to writing on the planner and getting some work done on the books I want to write. While I have a kind of full and hectic schedule for writing new books, I have some that are already written and I have to find time to tweak/revise them and send them out for submission. If I have no luck getting an agent, I guess they will be self published too by the end of the year. I was also wishing I could fit a nice epic fantasy series in my schedule too. I also mulled the idea of retiring Dani Kristoff–where I write paranormal romance with sorcerer’s and werewolves and witches under that name. It might be my lack of promotion but they are not as popular as the Dragon Wine series and Cry Havoc. Another novel I want to write is a sci fi romance that has been in my brain since the early days. So that might fill the Dani Kristoff slot in my schedule.

Who knows…the future is yet to be written.

Best wishes to all.

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The Prudential Light-launches tomorrow

Posted in A writer's life, blurb, new release, Steampunk, strong female lead, tagged book review, book-reviews, books, Calcutta, cosy fantasy, early colonial Singapore, fantasy, fiction, gaslight, historical fantasy, magic fantasy, Paranormal romance, Singapore, Steampunk, Writing on December 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The ebook is loaded on all the platforms.

I’ve started the process for print production. Just in time because Frauke, the cover designer is taking off on holidays! There will be a paper back version, a hardback version and a large print accessible version (mostly for libraries).

We have updated the blurb. I saw ‘we’ because Matthew Farrer did the hard yards. I send him my thoughts and he turns them into blurbs.

New and updated blurb

A book of manners, magic and mayhem

Aunt Prudence Wainwright, famously daunting dragon lady of the Hardcastle family, has set herself to writing her memoirs. But which Prudence will have her story come out?

Will it be the maiden aunt who lived quietly in a small village, bringing up her niece Milly and sewing and embroidering to her heart’s content? Maybe it will be the outrageously-dressed, old busybody whose battle of wills with her niece, Jemima, unfolded in Ruby Heart? Better yet, the doughty old warrior hidden under the lace and brocade, who fought off villains with her hatpins and umbrella in Emerald Fire? Perhaps it will be the family matriarch featured in Amber Rose, prim, dependable, astute at procuring baked goods and deft at baby wrangling, who is at times a tad flirtatious with the older gentry? Or will these memoirs reveal yet another side of Prudence that the rest of the Hardcastles have yet to see?

With the family’s magical gifts running through her veins, there will be plenty to astonish her relations: adventures, abandonment, heartbreak, secret loves, and dangers. But with new babies on the scene, marriage proposals, battles with rogue magicians, and the very past she is recalling bursting back into her life in startling ways, how will she ever find the time to finish writing!

I’m very excited to see it out there in the world. I can’t wait for feedback, truly. It might be a bit different from the other books in the series.

I’ve started work on The Gentleman Magician but I’m getting lots of ideas for Book 5 so much so that I found it hard to sleep last night. I’m going to be playing around with tropes and cliches. I’m currently contemplating a title too.

Some pre order links but it is also listed on Google Play Books, Barnes and Noble.

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Launch day approaching-The Prudential Light

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged bookcovers, books, creative writing, fantasy, fiction, gaslight, historical fantasy, panster, paranormal fantasy, publishing, steampunk fantasy, storyideas, Writing on December 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The book is edited.

The proofing changes are taken up.

Just waiting on a few little bits to complete the package.

Launch date is December 16, 2025.

My second novel of the year. A good year for the Cry Havoc Series indeed.

I have been looking at the blurb and I think I need to expand on it. However, I just need some brain space. But first I have to find my brain.

Blurb

Aunt Prudence Wainwright, famously daunting dragon lady of the Hardcastle family, has set herself to writing her memoirs. There will be plenty in these pages to astonish her relations: adventures, abandonment, heartbreak, secret loves and dangers and the family’s magical gifts running through her veins. But with new children, marriage proposals, battles with rogue magicians, and the very past she is recalling bursting back into her life in startling ways, how will she ever find the time to finish them!

Here is the series link.

A few words on writing the book now that it’s packed up, nearly ready to launch.

If you read the book you will see in the author notes that I found this book challenging. You might think this is funny given I have written over 20 books now of various lengths and have been writing since 2000. But every book/story has its own challenges–it’s own problems to solve. If you are panster you do that issue wrangling on the run. If you’re a plotter/planner you do it at the planning stage.

I’m definitely in the panster category and until I’ve written the first draft I don’t know if the story is going to work. A short recap on my story writing for this book. I went off to Singapore to stay for 4-5 weeks with a side trip to China. I walked in the pool everyday, went back upstairs to write. I thought The Prudential Light was going to be a novella of say 30,000 words and 30,000 words was my goal for the month. I drafted over 50,000 words while in Singapore. You see, while in the pool, Aunt Prudence, Mr Chen and even Jemima came to have a word in my ear and the story grew from there. However, there were problems.

The structure of the novel became a bit complex. 1864ish timeline and a 1836-1841 timeline, with some other little bits between, usually Prudence mulling stuff over and some bits of research to add validity. (Note The Prudential Light can also be called historical fantasy).

Meanwhile, I developed a hole in my macular, had to have eye surgery and recover from that. Thanks to excellent beta readers and the amazing editor, Brianne Collins, the story got ironed out from the chaos that was.

During the process though I seriously doubted my ability to write; I felt cognitively challenged and thought my writing career was over.

A bit overwrought wouldn’t you say?

Matthew (partner) thought it was due to me writing a more complicated story, rather than me sinking into my dotage!

The good news is I feel fine now. I have started a new project, The Gentleman Magician and the head wheels and turning nicely. The Gentleman Magician is meant to be a novella but I won’t know that until I’ve done the draft. While I am nearly 10,000 words in, I know I have to give it a punch in the jaw to get the story going. Luckily I have some ideas in mind. I’ll also be covering some of the magic system that Edward Huntington uses: his strengths and weaknesses, methods etc. I may have a bit of thinking to do over the Christmas break.

As for other stories in the Cry Havoc series. I have The Lady and the Magician in my back brain. That’s the story of Wilbur Hardcastle and Elinor, Jemima’s parents and will be a novella (I promise!) And after some prodding from my sister-in-law a Cyr Havoc Book Five featuring Milly and Jemima, not title yet. I have to do a bit of research into English faerie first.

Given tight timeframes, the ebook will be up on the 16th but the print version may be a bit after that. I have to get the cover flats done, upload and so on.

Cheers

Donna

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New book project

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged author, books, fiction, reading, Writing on November 26, 2025| 1 Comment »

I’m currently in Perth, visiting a writer buddy (Hi Cat). We have been talking all day, mostly about writing, our process, indie publishing, traditional publishing, ideas, editing, book production. All the things.

We have also been writing.

I’m currently working on Gentleman Magician, which I started in the Hunter Valley. I had a lovely writerly time there hanging with Keri Arthur and Jenny Kew after attending the Next New Book Boyfriend event at the Mecure Hunter Valley.

I’m now just over 4000 words in.

Firstly I had a plot glitch. A character I was going to include could not feature in this story so I had to rethink that and did manage to sort it.

I’m not rushing this project, but aiming for 1000 words a day and I’m getting a feel for the narrative. As this story will be in Edward’s point of view I’m going to have to once again get used to not writing in Jemima’s. She will return to the pages in Cry Havoc book five though so don’t worry. I love Jemima and have so much fun writing her.

The challenge with Gentleman Magician is to work out Edward’s journey in becoming a magician. He has inherent talent but it must be developed and his meeting with Fulton, healing him etc, which are two interesting plots entwined.

As I’m a pantser I have no idea how long this book will be. I have no idea if other plot bits will show up. It’s early days in the words on a page.

However, it is good to be writing, good to be enjoying it and I’m waiting eagerly for The Prudential Light proofreading changes to come back so I can upload the book to retailers.

Like my sewing and craft projects, I have way to many book ideas and projects on the boil that I don’t know whether I will get them all done. However, Cry Havoc is likely to be my focus for at least the first six months of 2026. Then I’ll need to work on a Dani Kristoff novel. Who knows priorities shift.

Meanwhile I’m enjoying being in Perth for nine days and seeing friends.

Work in progress

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In editing hell

Posted in A writer's life, author appearances, Creative passion, Editing, fantasy, Fashion, tagged books, booksigning, editing, events, fashion, fiction, publishing, Steampunk, Writing on November 16, 2025| 1 Comment »

I’m back and well life has been busy, with travel, with writing, day job and just stuff.

My eye continues to improve from surgery and next month I’ll see about a new set of spectacles to see if that helps. I’m over the horror of it and the doom saying about what happens if they other eye goes. Not point in fretting.

The Prudential Light is back from the editor. She’s a damn fine editor that I had at Pan Macmillan and she freelances and has worked on the dragon wine series with me. For me, The Prudential Light was a bit ambitious, two different historical timelines, a lot of birthdates, event dates to keep straight. However, I’m nearly there and the ed has taken a feather duster to my prose and worked on the plot tension. There are unfortunately (or fortunately) less baked goods in this story.

I expect The Prudential Light to be out early December, maybe earlier but next stop in the proofreader and you can’t rush the proofreader.

I’m behind on other things. Newsletters, BAS statements, blogging and social media. As much as I hate to admit it, I only have so much energy.

Appearance wise, I was at Books and Beyond in Ourimbah in September. It was such a fab event. So many keen readers and it looked so pretty, even though from the outside it looked like the car park of a Mitre 10. I’ve put in an expression of interest for next year, so fingers crossed they let me come back. I also had a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk and Victoriana Fair and that was a fab event. We are taking the whole family next year, or as many as we can muster. I made two bustle dresses for this event. One took me a very long time. Did I not say I’ve been sewing lately? Sometimes, I. have to write before I allow myself into the craft room.

A very difficult fabric to work with. All that pattern matching.

Me with pink hair. I’ll be sporting that colour next week in Pokolbin.

This dress was an adaption of the plaid dress patter. I had less fabric to work with so bought the Apricot satin for contrast and bustle. It is a lighter dress for the heat and the bustle is not as overly engineered.

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

First up, next week, I’m at the Meet Your Next Book Boyfriend at the Mecure Valley, in Pokolbin.

Tickets are available here. $50 for full day $22.50 for half day. Apparently, the gardens next door have an amazing Christmas display so come along and check it out. Link to Tickeboo here.

Next March, I will be in Sydney for the Australian Romance Readers Romantic Rendevous, March 22, 2026. at the Rydges, in Surry Hill. Tickets are now on sale. There will be panels, an author lunch and the signing in the afternoon. I’m only doing Sydney this year, but the event is happening in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. Check out this Trybooking link.

The good news about this event is that I’ll have The Prudential Light with me. I’ll be putting up a preorder too on Benenti.

I have other appearances coming in in Canberra and elsewhere. I’ll update you all. Now to head over and do my newsletter, which is also long overdue.

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The Prudential Light Cover Reveal

Posted in A writer's life, cover reveal, Creative passion, Steampunk, tagged appearances, book review, books, coverreveal, fiction, freebooks, jemimahardcastle, new cover, reading, Steampunk, Writing on August 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Frauke, the fantastic designer from Crocobooks, has outdone herself with this wonderful cover for The Prudential Light, Cry Havoc Book Four.

I love this so much. Originally I wanted a silhouette of an older woman but once I saw this one, I realised that was how Prudence sees herself and how she would want to be remembered. The skinny, pretty young thing. You might notice so Chinese influences in the cover and that’s part of the story as is the magnolia.

Originally this was going to be a novella, but as you know from previous posts, lots of story came out while I was in Singapore and in the pool and there was also a front story of what was happening with Jemima and crew and then the memoir component. Now it’s going to be a novel, if a bit shorter than the earlier ones.

Now I might have mentioned I was also going to do a story about Edward, Fulton and Dr Heaton. It is sort of a prequel, but isn’t. This story is about how they met, how they fixed Fulton etc. Well guess what kiddos!!! Another cover reveal.

I have not started this one yet. But look! I love it. I realise it says novel right now. However, I do think it is a novella or shorter novel. However, when the time comes I’ll adjust the cover if necessary. Fingers crossed I get this written by the end of the year. Next blog post will reveal some health issues that might impact my writing for a bit.

Originally the title was going to be Edward Huntington Esquire: Gentleman Magician but that was way too many words if I was to stick to the style of the other books. So I trimmed it to Gentleman Magician. I also went for a younger model. The first iteration had a bowler and didn’t look right. The joys of self publishing.

Remember if you like any of my books, please leave a review or rating as it really helps.

Also if you haven’t read any Cry Havoc books, Ruby Heart, book one is currently free until August 15.

Apple

And on my bookstore.

Appearances

My partner Matthew Farrer (Black Library) and I will be guesting at Ozcomicon in Canberra this weekend. Fingers crossed.

I’ll be at Gamacon on 6 September in Canberra. That sounded so far away before but is coming in hot.

I’m also scheduled for Books and Beyond in Newcastle on 27 September.

I’ll have a table at Conflux in Canberra on 4-5 October.

On 18 October I will have a table at the Steampunk Faire in Goulburn. Hopefully I would have sewn my bustle gown by then.

And Newcastle Book Boyfriend on 22 November.

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Just a quick note from Guangzhou

Posted in A writer's life, China, Creative passion, Free book, revision, Steampunk, Travel, tagged book review, books, China, family, fiction, freebook, promotion, revision, Singapore, Steampunk, trains, travel, Writing on July 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Hi there

We arrived last night via train from Xi’an. We went Business Class, which was a godsend because we could lay the seat flat and we had space with just five chair and food. Great food. It was expensive and took 9 hours but an enjoyable ride.

(This post never got posted so it’s not last night!) So I’ll cut straight to photos.

On the platform

Below are the business class seats.

The gang!

Writing on the train

A shot of the view

Another bullet train

Railway food!

The hotel lobby

The view from the hotel room

Urgent yum cha!

These prawn dumplings are coloured and different flavours

This is my son’s favourite type of yumcha. They were so good, crunchy!

I’ve been back in Australia for a few days now. I’m still in Sydney and there are perks. I get to spend time with my daughter and it’s warmer than Canberra. However, my partner misses me. I really miss my Singapore life and the China trip was awesome. However, it’s back to real life.

On the writing side, I have a draft of The Prudential Light and now have to edit/revise and restructure it as well as find an editor. Today I have written to the cover designer for a cover. I’m very excited about this book. There was so much more to Aunt Prudence than I first thought.

Don’t forget

Ruby Heart is currently free and it’s been getting a good lot of downloads. It is soon to be promoted on Apple Books. The link to my store is here. So if you don’t have your copy get it now.

Or check out My books with buy links here.

I’m so excited about The Prudential Light, which I am going to call Book 4 because I have two layers of story, one is Aunt Prudence’s memoir and the other is what is going on in Aunt Prudence’s now with Jemima, Milly, Fulton and Edward.

There will be another book, Edward Huntington Esquire: Gentleman Magician, covering Edward’s story between sending Jemima to school and meeting her again at Primrose Manor. Basically, the story of Heaton and Edward meeting and then healing Fulton. No romance I think in this one. This may just been a series novel rather than a numbered book in the series. It’s a not quite sequel.

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Saying goodbye to Singapore and hello China

Posted in A writer's life, China, Creative passion, Cry Havoc series, research, Singapore, Steampunk, The Prudential Light, Travel, tagged book review, books, booksale, China, Cry Havoc series, fiction, Jemima Hardcastle, memoir, research, Ruby Heart, Singapore, steampunk. victorian paranormal, The Prudential Light, Writing on June 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We leave for China today. First stop Beijing. I think I can allow myself to get excited. I know the cats certainly are because they are bouncing around the place.

I have really enjoyed my time here. It has been a positive experience sharing space with my son, his wife Ferdi and their robobvac which is even now harassing my feet. I’ve made it to the pool every morning, with additional visits with the family on hot nights now and then when time permitted.

I’ve eaten way too much food and I was hoping the heat would lower my appetite but air con baby, that keeps me going. We had dinner at The Coconut Hut last night in Beach Road. It is high end Malaysian cuisine. The lamb was amazing and the beef cheek rendang rich. However, we did not linger and we were home fairly early. There was packing to do and so on.

I have been debating whether I should take my laptop to China. I think we will be so tired after sightseeing that I won’t have energy to write etc but I will on the flight there and back.

On the writing front, The Prudential Light draft is now at 50,000 words and I estimate it will be between 60,000 and 70,000 words. I am debating whether to call it book 4 in the cry havoc series because there is some now action that moves things along as well as the memoir/Aunt Prudence’s story. I have also been playing around with taglines.

Do tell me what you think…

The Prudential Light: A Gentlewoman’s Memoir

Manners, Magic, a little spot of mayhem and not enough scones.

However, some people have commented that I should leave ‘a little spot of” out.

Compared to Amber Rose baked goods do not feature as much as they ought to. However, I am revising and I might get hungry. I have managed to fit in some pork pie.

This morning as I was waking up I thought it could be something like…

The Prudential Light: A Gentlewoman’s Imperfect Memoir… as you might have guessed Jemima does scribble in Prudence’s notes on occasion and event critiques her work.

You might be able to tell that I had fun with this story. Aunt Prudence proved much more interesting than I expected. People have skeletons in the closet and she has her fair share.

Singapore has been a perfect inspiration for this story. From the hot, humid weather, to the time in the pool letting my mind wander and characters telling me what’s next and the two museums that helped me with setting and so on. Being out of my normal environment, I had time to focus on writing as well as do some outings.

I’ll always treasure this time. I will be back but just for a day before I head home. The good news is I have an invite back just need to figure out when that might be. I will have to make sure Matthew comes too then.

Oh by way, Ruby Heart is now free. If Amazon want to charge you ask for a price match. I’ve submitted links so I’m hoping they will come to the party.

Check out Ruby Heart and meet Jemima Hardcastle, brave, intrepid and game for anything.