about me

I've been told people would like to know more about me as an author. My reply to that would be, who are these people, and where are they? But, for the sake of argument... I like Iron Fist and Hell Bunny shoes/clothing; Chinese food; Depeche Mode, including covers & remixes; Barbie (not so much in her puppy parlour phase); action films in other languages; graphic novels; ice cream soda; Prince Harry; ginger nut biscuits. All at once or one at a time, in no particular order or combination - I'm not fussy ;)

For more in-depth in the insight department, you can see Hannah Warren's interview of me here: http://www.hannahwarrenauthor.com/?page_id=4075

NEPTUNE'S ISLAND is now here on authonomy - a chick-lit, holiday-read romance. Hope you enjoy the first chapters!

HELLBAIT is also now on Authonomy. Having a conundrum with this one. I wanted to write it as Young Adult/Paranormal. But I can't stop the cat swearing in it. Feedback welcome!

DEATH & THE CITY: BOOK ONE and BOOK TWO are now fully edited, available on Kindle and in paperback. 2-in-1 hardcover edition available, exclusive to Lulu.com... http://bit.ly/mSbaAY (UPDATE: And a 2-in-1 paperback, also now on Lulu - http://bit.ly/sN2ldR - if you fancy more of a bargain!)

There's also a combined 2-in-1 Death & The City eBook which includes bonus material as well - the original feature screenplay, 'Heavy Duty' that formed the basis of the lead character's history. Look out for DEATH & THE CITY: HEAVY DUTY EDITION on Kindle, BN.com, Kobo and Smashwords (if you think your memory card can handle it!)

And now for something completely different:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_iwWn7Z4OQ

For anyone not interested in my attempts at literary humour below, you might enjoy my mash-up cyber-graffiti instead:

"The Terrible Zombie Of Oz" is out now in paperback on Amazon worldwide (from the US right across to Japan), Barnes&Noble, and the Book Depository (free worldwide shipping on all my books from the Book Depository, as well).

Also available as an eBook in the Amazon Kindle store, and Lulu for the Nook/Apple.

"LIVING HELL" is out now in Kindle, Smashwords, paperback and hardcover. Don't buy it for your kids... unless they're aiming for an ASBO... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlyryCWZADs

More published books to follow.

...A book I recommend to everyone writing fiction: "How Not To Write A Novel" by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman. All your mistakes will be in there, should you have any. And it explains why agents/publishers reject manuscripts with those mistakes in. And it is very funny. Oh yes :)

I've been writing for the majority of my life and reading for the rest of it :) Have a number of works completed now and the forum for conversing with other authors on here is a good opportunity for networking, continuous creative learning, and keeping up-to-date with new publishing innovations. Hope you enjoy my work :)

I'm mostly preoccupied with paid freelance editing and formatting, and with my own writing these days - so my shelf here isn't likely to change much. (Sorry!)

Vampire/werewolf books are currently in vogue. Some great ones on here. Try to avoid the implications of imitating Buffy/Twilight/True Blood - particularly the human-undead romance angle. To quote one agent's website: 'Not looking for any more stories of kick-ass schoolgirl heroines with vampire boyfriends, please!'

If you are an author for children's books, I'm not an expert in that area - my advice so far has been based on keeping too much adult POV out of the story. Children already have parents and carers trying to get their points of view across to them on an hourly basis, so I feel that children's stories need to focus more on empowering children and their choices, their own discovery of responsibility, and escapism - rather than using the adult voice to direct the protagonist's journey. Also, there are many 'pet creature feature' children's and YA books being written - if yours is one of these, it has to be outstanding to beat the competition (and to avoid the over-used murky euphemisms of strange beings, hairy or otherwise, appearing or hiding out in youngsters' bedrooms). Other than that, good efforts from you all - as a parent it's hard enough keeping a child entertained in person without writing for them as well!

What I like about Authonomy is that it takes my mind off the centrifugal force of writing my own stuff by acknowledging the efforts of others - knowing I'm not the only one with a writing passion out there practising it and making it their ambition.

Here's my haiku pitch I thought up for the haiku forum thread:

Death And The City
Hit-Men Get Their Comeuppance
But Not For Money

Enjoy :)

N.B: If you are looking for email submission outlets for your completed MS, try agents Jenny Brown Associates; agency RWLA.com; agent Caroline Sheldon; agent Eve White for women's/YA/childrens or general fiction; agency MBA; agency AP Watt; agents Gregory & Company; United Agents; the Susijn Agency; agents SYLA; the Blake Friedmann agency; agent John Jarrold for sci-fi/fantasy/horror ONLY; publisher Woodfield Publishing for military memoir and related fiction; publishers Beautiful Books (paper and eBooks) - NO childrens, sci-fi, fantasy, poetry or short stories, submission guidelines at the bottom of their homepage; publisher Snowbooks; or MacMillan New Writers (MNW) for currently unpublished authors (full MS up to 130k words). All can be found via Google search. Check their websites for submission guidelines and suitability of your work for their listings in the first instance. Others can be found in the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook.

For self-publishing, a variety of packages (starting with Free up to £/$++++), free templates and comprehensive tutorials for formatting and designing your book can be found on www.lulu.com. These templates (and free PDF-creator programs such as OpenOffice) are also compatible with Createspace. For eBook self-publishing, try both kdp.amazon.com and Smashwords. Lulu now also converts eBooks into PDF and ePub for the iBookstore and Nook.

How you promote is down to you as the individual, though :)

Best of luck, LS

On Twitter: @aka_VoodooSpice

http://death-and-the-city.blogspot.com

favourite books

The Stainless Steel Rat - Harry Harrison
Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold - Terry Brooks
Blott On The Landscape - Tom Sharpe
The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Bible According To - Spike Milligan
Pride And Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Naughty Girl's Guide To Life - Tara Palmer-Tomkinson/Sharon Marshall
The Tale Of Murasaki - Liza Dalby
Wild Swans - Jung Chang

Favourite authors:

Terry Pratchett
Natsuo Kirino
Tracy Quan
Scarlett Thomas
Steig Larsson
Iain (M) Banks
Robert Rankin

my websites

http://lisascullard.wordpress.com     http://voodoo-spice.blogspot.com