CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

Here are the covers of the books I read this month. Did I mention that I was currently reading Dick Francis and that he had published over 30 titles? Well, they're taking a bit to read, and I'm enjoying every minute of it: UPDATE (30/06/2013): And here is the final Dick Francis novel read for June 2013: Whip Hand .

Here are the covers I created or tweaked this month. Not all of them are for my books - but that's half the fun :-) UPDATE (30/06/2013): Completed this cover last night:  UPDATE 2 (30/06/2013): And this one this afternoon:

DSDU = Dark Side Down Under : A group of Australian writers of romance and other paranormal genres has kindly hosted me today on their regular Magic Thursday blog spot. Today I thought I’d share a little about the importance of world-building in general, and creating the magic of Tzamesch in particular. Feel free to come over and join me.

Forced to flee with her village, priestly apprentice, Althessa, discovers that danger comes in many guises and salvation is often unexpected. When their undead pursuers are slain by an unknown force, Althessa assists her mistress in consecrating their remains to ensure they cannot return from the dead, yet again. But magick calls from a nearby forest, and another life is in danger. One of those responsible for bringing down their pursuers is balanced on the edge of death. With the priests too busy to assist, and only her wizardly brother to help her, can Althessa perform the healing required, or will the attempt bring death to all who dare it? Magick on the Forest’s Edge is a fantasy short story, where two children investigate a magical alarm, and face the consequences of trying to do the right thing against great odds. Magick on the Forest’s Edge can now be found at Smashwords, Kindle, Kobo, Nook and iTunes. First Pages: Magick on the Forest's Edge

More birds, just a short walk from home. I'm in the middle of trying to find out what this one's called. I think it's some kind of grebe or native waterhen, but I'm not sure. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. UPDATE: These are Eurasian Coots or Fulica antra . They don't mind swimming in polluted water, have red eyes and a distinctive white marking in the middle of their foreheads. See? Red eyes!  They eat some kind of green stuff from under the water - probably plant-life... But they have to dive for it. I caught *this* shot as the coot launched itself into the water it had been sitting on. But this is all I usually managed to get when I tried to catch them diving. I guess there's always next weekend :-)

Not a lot of writing achieved this week (if you don’t count blog entries). I focused a bit more on my photography, and did a bit of needed sewing, as well as catch-up on what I didn’t get done when the internet slowed down. Overall, it was a productive week. Overview New words produced: 4,272 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 (1-2 variations) Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms) Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Publishing Tasks I spent the week catching up on things that I’ve been putting off or neglecting, and in trying to get ahead on the blog entries . They were as follows: Created 12 blog entries for this blog; Updated the Tales of Tzamesch , Madeleine Torr, Carlie Simonsen and Simpson Anthologies pages on this blog; Created 6 blog entries for C.M. Simpson Publishing blog; Updated the Our Authors , Anthologies , Fantasy Fiction , Paranormal Romance , Contemporary and Romantic Suspense