Midlist Writer: Lanzarote

Showing posts with label Lanzarote. Show all posts

Friday, 7 July 2017

Military History Photo Friday: El Castillo de San José in Lanzarote, Canary Islands

As I mentioned on Monday, I was on vacation in Lanzarote all last week. Even though I wasn't writing, I was keeping my eye out for interesting blog post material. This week on Black Gate I blogged about the island's Piracy Museum, and next week will see another Lanzarote post as well.

And here's something for this blog, a fort called El Castillo de San José, which guarded the approach to the port of Arrecife. It was built between 1776 and 1779. The whole island is dotted with forts to protect the various harbors from pirates and rival powers such as the British.

A combination double-header outhouse and gun turret. The soldiers were apparently not shy, or just lonely.

This particular fort was actually built in a time of relative peace as a make-work project for the islanders, who were going through tough economic times thanks to a drought and a volcanic eruption that ruined the crops. Thus it earned the name Fortaleza del Hambre (Hunger Fortress).

It now houses a contemporary art museum and a cool restaurant/bar that retains its 1970s decor.

The restaurant gives a fine view of the fishing port.

The original Seventies interior is intact.

Even the stairs to the bathroom are groovy!

Monday, 3 July 2017

Back From Vacation and Back To Work

For the last eight days I've been doing something rare for me--nothing! I went on a vacation to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands to see some of my in-laws and the World's Coolest Nephew. This wasn't one of my usual research/writing trips, but an actual vacation where I didn't write for a full eight days, the longest I've gone without writing in I don't know how long. The last time I took an actual vacation was five years ago when I spent a long weekend in Wales.

It was refreshing, and now I'm back in Spain and back to work. Lots more ghostwriting, plus working on the fourth Toxic World post-apocalyptic novel, and another project I'll talk about in a later post. Lanzarote was tons of fun, but it's good to be back!

What have you been up to so far this summer?

Friday, 22 July 2016

Busy Traveling and Writing

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I blogged. I've been really busy this month with a ghostwriting assignment that's got me writing 2,000 words of fiction a day. Add that on top of my regular work and you can see how things are for me at the moment. I've also been traveling. I just spent a wonderful week in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands with my family, meeting two great soon-to-be in-laws. Between swimming and eating, I somehow managed to get my 2,000 words a day in.

And that taught me something. If I can be on vacation and still keep up a decent word count, there's no reason I shouldn't continue that once this assignment is over. Keep an eye out for more productivity from me in the future! I'm almost done with my Apache novel, and after that I'll write book four in the Trench Raiders series, or finish Book Four in my Toxic World series. I'm not sure which order those will come in, but those are the next two in any case.

Tomorrow I'm off to Oxford for my usual summer of researching, writing, and catching up with British friends. I'll try to get back to a more regular blogging schedule in August. What are your summer plans?

This isn't me, this is our waiter who stuffed us silly with seafood.

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The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

The Last Hotel Room

He came to Tangier to die, but life isn’t done with him yet. Tom Miller has lost his job, his wife, and his dreams. Broke and alone, he ends up in a flophouse in Morocco, ready to end it all. But soon he finds himself tangled in a web of danger and duty as he’s pulled into scamming tourists for a crooked cop while trying to help a Syrian refugee boy survive life on the streets. Can a lifelong loser do something good for a change? A portion of my royalties will go to a charity for Syrian refugees.

Warpath into Sonora

Arizona 1846: Nantan, a young Apache warrior, is building a name for himself by leading raids against Mexican ranches to impress his war chief, and the chief’s lovely daughter. But there is one thing he and all other Apaches fear—a ruthless band of Mexican scalp hunters who slaughter entire villages. Nantan and his friends have sworn to fight back, but they are inexperienced, and led by a war chief driven mad with a thirst for revenge. Can they track their tribe’s worst enemy into unknown territory and defeat them?

Radio Hope

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . . A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son. A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command. One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

When you only have one shot, you better aim true. In a ravaged world, civilization’s last outpost is reeling after fighting off the fanatical warriors of the Righteous Horde. Sheriff Annette Cruz becomes New City’s long arm of vengeance as she sets off across the wildlands to take out the cult’s leader. All she has is a sniper’s rifle with one bullet and a former cultist with his own agenda. Meanwhile, one of the cult’s escaped slaves makes a discovery that could tear New City apart. . . Refugees from the Righteous Horde continues the Toxic World series started in Radio Hope, an ongoing narrative of humanity’s struggle to rebuild the world it ruined.

The Scavenger

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times. The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive. Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.

Trench Raiders

September 1914: The British Expeditionary Force has the Germans on the run, or so they think. After a month of bitter fighting, the British are battered, exhausted, and down to half their strength, yet they’ve helped save Paris and are pushing toward Berlin. Then the retreating Germans decide to make a stand. Holding a steep slope beside the River Aisne, the entrenched Germans mow down the advancing British with machine gun fire. Soon the British dig in too, and it looks like the war might grind down into deadly stalemate. Searching through No-Man’s Land in the darkness, Private Timothy Crawford of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry finds a chink in the German armor. But can this lowly private, who spends as much time in the battalion guardhouse as he does on the parade ground, convince his commanding officer to risk everything for a chance to break through?

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