Author has written 73 stories for Romance, Mystery, Supernatural, Horror, Thriller, Historical, Essay, Action, Fantasy, Young Adult, Humor, and General. WHO AM I? I am a 29 year old female from Melbourne Australia. Writing and reading has been a passion of mine ever since I can remember; I used to be found with a pen in hand and scrap pieces of paper writing at a pretty early age, although that changed with the rise in home computers and then my own laptop on top of it. I will read pretty much everything-- from sagas, to horrors, to essays, to thrillers and often a bit of romance if I'm in the mood. Whilst recuperating from a hospital stay in 2003 I discovered historical fictions and I was hooked instantly. "THE ENGLISH ROSES" STORIES: "The English Roses: Sins of the mothers." Fomerly called "Nellie's Story" and "A mother's love." NOW AVAILABLE TO BUY ON . FINISHED EARLY 2004. Nellie's life has never been easy but no matter what she clings steadfastly to her dreams-- convinced one day that her knight in shining armour will ride in on his white stallion. Or at the very least that things have to get better. In the slums of Whitechapel where Nellie lives with her materialistic and non-loving mother they are at the very bottom of the ladder-- despised because of Nellie's mother's occupation as a brothel owner. When Nellie's only friend in the street tells her that if she doesn't get out of that place it is going to be a tragedy Nellie realises she is right and begins to furtively plan for her escape. Unfortunately her plans are thwarted by her mother and Nellie is summoned to her mother's work where she finds that an agreement has been made between her mother and one of her richest clients, Adam Hamilton. Nellie is to go to the Hamiltons, outwardly as a maid, but secretly as Adam's 'whore.' Life as a maid is a little better than life in Berry Street as Nellie begins to fit in and make friends. Then all of a sudden the mistress finds that Nellie is expecting Adam's child and life changes yet again. The other servants turn on both Nellie and her newborn child and if it weren't for the solid friendships of her childhood crush Angus and the parlourmaid Brenda Nellie wouldn't have been able to cope. The next few years prove a hard existence until one day Nellie hears children mocking her beloved daughter on the street and she makes a decision which will change the lives of virtually everyone in the Hamilton household...But will it be for better or for worse? "The English Roses: A New World." FINISHED EARLY 2005. Jenny's young life was filled with pain and heartache but her conviction that there is light at the end of the tunnel keeps her going. Surely this isn't as good as it gets? After a daring escape from the workhouse Jenny is faced with the prospect of a safe life with a man she could never love-- and who expects a sexual favor for helping her escape. It isn'ta hard decision for her to decide to try and make it on her own instead but she quickly learns that survival is a fight of the fittest and soon sucumbs to the world of Eileen, a brothel owner. But even in those hard times she is able to remind herself that her life is worth more and her perseverance pays off when she is taken to the Hamilton's as a maid. At first, whilst annoyed at the lack of interest the young master of the house pays her and the amount of interest he pays a fellow servant, Jenny is content in the privalidged world of society-- albeit at the bottom of the heap as a scullery maid. However she soon realises that the worlds of the rich and the worlds of the poor are not miles apart as her heart is broken by an eligable, rich young man. Resolving herself to the life of a maid and nothing more Jenny gives up on her dreams and the next few years pass in a blur. When the Hamilton household gains a new mistress Jenny decides her only change is to make the break necessary for the life she dreams of. An inicident with a dress gives her an unexpected, but lucky break, and soon she is sailing for Australia with enough money to make herself a new life...But will things go as planned? "The English Roses: A Field of Green." (Working title-- could change.) EXPECTED FINISHING DATE NOW LATE 2009-EARLY 2010. Brenda has always believed that love is the most important thing in the world, and with it, she can do anything. Brenda's childhood in the countryside of Devon, close to the bustling marine town of Plymouth, with her elderly Aunt is carefree and happy-- with the exception of school lessons in the big house, which give her a little grief. The sudden death of her Aunt throws her world into turmoil and it is only with the help of the mistress of the big house that Brenda is thrown a lifeline and sent to London. With the influence of the mistress Brenda is taken in by nuns who run a small orphanage. It is here she has her first real taste of other girls her age and where she quickly learns that a true friend is a rare thing indeed! Going in to service in the Hamilton's household Brenda quickly rises up to a housemaid's position through sheer hard work and the fact that she keeps to herself, chosing not to involve herself in the affairs of any of the other servants. Her trust is tested with the sudden reappearance of her Father and the relationship she shares with a young doctor and she finds herself hurt deeply. Brenda resolves then and there not to let anything get in the way of what she wants-- a housekeeping position in the country like the one her Aunt had held for many years. A new job brings with it a whole host of new opportunities and new challenges and with them a new chance...But will Brenda's past pain stop her from letting happiness find her in the future? "The English Roses: An Indecent Proposal." EXPECTED FINISHING DATE NOW LATE 201O- MID 2011. More detailed summary coming in the future. A simple, kindhearted country girl in the farming community of Yorkshire Sally is taken advantage of at a young age by a local man from the wealthiest family in the area, at the home where she works as a maid. Distraught her mother helps her out of the situation and then sends her away from the shame heaped upon her by the unforgiving local folk. Homesick, terrified and cowed by the events of her past, Sally becomes a servant in the country house of a London society couple. It is here that she learns to toughen up and strive for what you really want, which, for her, is to move to the big city. When she's given the chance to move to the Hamilton's London home she jumps at it. Determined to prove the people who shunned her wrong Sally sets out to become more important than anyone she knows. But will life get her down and stop her from achieving her wishes? "The English Roses: An Emrald Isle." More detailed summary in the future. As the oldest child of seven Sarah often feels as though she's an adult before her time. Her harassed and busy mother has little time to display her the affection she craves and her father, a miner in Derbyshire, works long and hard hours. So when Jeffery, the son of a wealthy mine owner, shows her the emotion she's longed for she falls head over heels. But when her Father is killed in a mine accident her mother has little choice but to send some of her children away, and Sarah is sent to London to begin a life of servitude as a maid in London. A sudden change of events sends her to Ireland to take up a position as a governess for a wealthy English Lord and MP who keeps his family on his Irish estate for most of the year.Nonetheless she longs for Jeffery, determined that they were in love and belong together. But is that love lost to Sarah forever? "The English Roses: A Stage of Life." More detailed summary in the future. A child of poverty and a heartless and cruel father Annie has no complaints when her mother, at the end of her rope, pushed her into service. She misses the singing sessions she and her mother shared on a regular basis though, and is determined that she will fulfill the promise she made her mother. She will be famous and renowned for her voice. Unfortunately life isn't always fair and there are hurdles in the road. Rapidly running out of money and patience Annie is starting to think she's never going to be able to get on stage when she meets Samuel Barker, a well-known and respected stage actor who is captivated by Annie. She joins the troupe and at first travels the country entertaining before they end up returning to London where a wealthy-- and incredibly mysterious-- benefactor bankrolls them. As Annie and Samuel enter a relationship together they become darlings of the stage, both in musicals and plays, and Annie's future is looking up. But then something happens to turn things completely around. Can Annie jump the hurdles and get the ultimate revenge on her father-- adoration from Londoners for her singing? "The English Roses: Kathy's Story." More detailed summary coming in the future. Having lost her mother as a baby it has always been just Kathy and her father. Together they travelled the country living in various cities and towns wherever her father found work. Kathy was perfectly happy with their itinerant lifestyle but when they reach York her father meets and falls in love with a woman there and decides it is probably time for them to settle down and for his daughter to have some continuity in her life. However not long after the marriage Kathy's stepmother tells them she doesn't want Kathy living there anymore Kathy is forced to move on- without her beloved father. She finds work in service where everything works out well until an unfortunate incident sends Kathy fleeing to London. Alone and betrayed can she find her place in the world? But could that place be _ kilometres away, in a whole new world called America? "The English Roses: Love of Gold." More detailed summary coming in the future. Mary has been alone for as long as she can remember. Her mother died in childbirth, her father- a heavy drinker after the early death of his beloved wife-- during a drunken fight in Edinbourough. When she is old enough she is shuttled out onto the streets of her Scottish home-town with no clues about what she wants to do with her life. After six months working the hard life of a scullery maid Mary decides she needs a change of scene and, armed with a character and little else of value, she moves to London. A job in the Hamilton home as a kitchen maid is a dream come true. Until the son of the house forces himself on her and she finds herself expecting a job. The furious mistress dissmises her with no reference. Having trouble finding a job with a baby and no refernces she eventually finds a kind-hearted man and his wife who gives her a job in their florist and treats her like the child they never had. While working in the shop she meets Eric, a romantic dreamer who tires of his "safe, boring" job and would rather spend his time immersed in the arts than immersed in the law office where he works as a clerk. Mary quickly falls in love with him, and he with her. The tragic death of the shopowner, followed very closely by his wife, sees Mary given a chance for a whole new life when she is informed the shop has been left to her. It is about then Eric announces his plans to sail to Australia in the hope of making his fortune on the Victorian goldfields. Mary, along with her daughter, decides to go with him. They marry and set sail. Life on the Goldfields is hard and Sally struggles to house, feed and cloth her growing family while Eric is convinced that the one big score that will make them rich is "just around the corner." Can their love survive the despairing conditions or will Mary find that love with someone else? "The English Roses: The Hamilton's Saga." Summary coming in the future. Note: The title will change as it will probably be about Hope only, rather than the Hamiltons and Headdingly's. "THE JAKE RYAN" NOVELS: "JAKE ONE: Who is Jane Doe?" Jake Ryan is relatively new to the homicide squad and Brian Hemming is a jaded police officer who was looking forward to his iminent retirement, whiling away his days in a quiet suburban station. Unfortunately for Brian the first dead girl in his jurisdiction makes an appearance and the commissioner of police enlists his help, wanting him to work with Jake on the case, despite him having not worked in homicide for going on ten years. New cop and old cop don't get along but can they manage to solve the case of the Jane Doe without killing one another? "JAKE TWO: Mind games." Jake Ryan and his partner Keith are called to what looks like a routine homicide to find it is anything but. Not only did the dead girl seem a virtual saint but her cousin was killed in exatly the same way six months before. With the cousins having been close but socialising in completely different circles there seems nothing to connect the two. But Jake doesn't believe in coincidences. The question is can he and Keith work out what the connection was before someone else gets hurt or even killed? JAKE THREE: People of the Night." Jake Ryan is skeptical when he is given a new partner while Keith is on sick leave because his new partner happens to be a female, and Lisa Walton is an attractive female at that. When a prostitute from Kings Cross is found dead across the harbour in Lane Cove Jake is convinced that it isn't just one of the many prostitute killings, rather that there is more than meets the eye. His belief is re-inforced when, not much later, the dead woman's pimp turns up dead in Manly. Can Jake and Lisa solve the case and work out what is happening in an expensive northern shore hotel without stepping on anyone's toes? And can Jake and Lisa work together as a team? ROMANCE/CHICK LIT STORIES (SERIES AS YET UNTITLED.): "Courting Sara." Summary coming in the future. "Accidental Proposal." Summary coming in the future. "Undercover Romance." Summary coming in the future. "Mistaken Identity." Summary coming in the future. "Famously Yours." Summary coming in the future. "The Man Experiment." Summary coming in the future. UPDATES IN MY LIFE AND IN MY WRITING. July, 2005. At the exclusion of almost everything else I have been working on a series of historical fictions named "The English Roses." They are not a series per se-- you don't have to have read one to read another or read them in a particular order. I am tossing up between there being four or six books in the series. I am also trying to get the time-- and the motivation-- to work on stories I have basically ignored over the last year and a half. Aug 27th, 2005. I have started working, full time, so I might be updating a little less frequently now. This does not mean I have lost interest in my writing, far from it, it just means my spare time is a little less...well...spare. I am going to try, after writing Jack thirteen, to make sure I update "Brenda" at least once a fortnight, or more if possible! Dec 2, 2006. I'm coming to the end of my work contract now and therefore I'll no longer be working and searching for something new. One thing I might have more of is time which might in turn equal more updates...hopefully. I was also in hospital for a total of seven weeks which inspired, in my better and less painful moments, some major writing which should get put up here soon. Whilst I am still working on Brenda I have also completely re-wrote "Jake One" and about two thirds of "Jake two" (which was never put up on here due to being lost in the land of old floppy discs...) and intend to do the same for all the other "Jake" stories, except, perhaps the last few which only need tweaking and the future ones, two of which are already in the works. As the stories were first wrote while I was attending High School they were only, on average, about 12,000 words each and they will now be more around 80,000. I should get around to updating the first "Jake" on here soon. Feb 4, 2007. I have uploaded the first chapter of "Sarah's Story" (a future "The English Roses" story) since the idea just came to me and I typed it all up at once. However I've also had the first chapter of "Annie's Story" come to me too and I am going to now type that up and then maybe post it on here. March 18, 2007. I haven't posted any new chapters on here in any of my stories for a long time as I have been working on finishing "Jake Two" which I am not sure whether I am going to post on here or not. It is a lot longer and better than the original version so if you want to read it simply send me a message and I can email you a copy of it. Because I have been slack in updating "Brenda" I'm making a concerted effort to make sure I fulfill my promise and do update it at least once a fortnight. June, 2007. As I am still not working due to health reasons I should have more time to write but I have been spending my time doing other things. However I just began writing a new story which is a romance/chick lit that I think could be quite good. I also have plans for two other stories to follow this. September, 2007. I've neglected "The English Roses" a bit in favor of working on the "Jake" stories. Currently I'm about halfway through re-writinng "Jake Three." I have also begun a chick lit/romance called "Courting Sara" that I'm quite proud of. I have the ideas for a further 3 stories of that ilk. October 13, 2007. I have changed the names of "The English Roses" books from "_'s story" to various other titles as I felt that different names might be more marketable and not put people off reading the story because they might feel they need to read the previous two. January 2008: I'm still not working due to serious health problems and I've been working on "Courting Sara" as well as editing-- for the second time-- Jake One. I probably will not be putting the updated Jake One on here because I am thinking of having it published on . If you haven't checked out Lulu I highly recomend it as it's a self-publishing site where you don't have to have a certain number of your books printed like you might through other companies if a major book label does not publish the book. March 13, 2008: I know I've been neglecting "The English Roses" a little bit lately but I've found myself suddenly really wanting to work on "A Field of Green" (formerly "Brenda's Story") so I am hoping to write a couple of chapters of that in the next few weeks. To those who are still reading it thanks for your patience. June 2008: I have been in hospital-- again-- so some of my stories on here have been neglected. Because there are so many I've started and then not finished, or have started and are still in the process of finishing llike "The English Roses: A Field of Green." Ideally I intend to post at least a chapter a month of whichever "The English Roses" story I am working on at the time, as well as at least a chapter of the couple of romance stories I've begun to write. I've never really wrote romance/chick lit but I am enjoying writing those kinds of things now. I've also finished the first edit and about three quarters or more of the second edit of "Jake One: Tears of Blood", the first edit of "Jake Two: Mind Games" and am almost finished re-writing "Jake Three: People of the Night" which takes up some of my time. Because the changes are so large, and the stories are now somewhere around 300 pages each I have chosen, for the moment at least, not to put them up on here. However I intend to publish both "Jake One" and "The English Roses: A Mother's Love" (formerly "The English Roses: Nellie's Story") soon on cough, cough for the blatant promotion of own stories so that means that the changes I am making to Nellie's story-- nothing major, mostly just interactions between Nellie and Adam, Nellie and Robert and, to a lesser degree, Nellie and the servants and, possibly, Nellie and Angus. Further another title has been added to "The English Roses" series (no full title yet) which will center on Hope Headdingly (who was introduced in book three of "TER: AML", Adam's spoilt, vivacious, incredibly stubborn, romantic, interesting cousin. July 2008: For the record the time frames mentioned above on the small synopsises from "The English Roses: A Field of Green" have, clearly, definately changed. October 2008: The next "English Roses" story will probably be Sarah, but possibly Annie. Any suggestions? November 2008: I am currently focusing on editing the first Jake Ryan novel which is a rather long process as I am doing it the hard way whereby I am going through the story which has been printed out and editing it that way before making the changes onto the word document. I find that doing it this way makes my editing process better. Perhaps because reading through your story on the computer screen can lead to you missing important issues or mistakes. March 2009: I have finished the edit of Jake 1 (a lot of it while in hospital- hospital has to be useful for something right?!) and now have to get started on the time consuming job of typing up the changes. June 2009: I am almost ready to put up "The English Roses: A Mother's Love" on . How exciting!! October 2009: I have just published the first "English Roses" series on . The story of Nellie has been retitled "The English Roses: Sins of the Mother." I'd love it if anyone who enjoyed the story were to support me and buy it, or failing that I'd love, love some feedback on the site towards the story and/or ratings to help the book get a better profile and hopefully convince more people to buy and read it. Also the first Jake Ryan novel is currently going through a final edit and should be on lulu to buy by the end of the year. None of this could have been possible without my good friend Grant who spent tireless hours working on the front and back covers for the two books and his professional job is something I am really, really happy with. October 28, 2009: My book has arrived!! Seeing your book in print is amazing. Looking at the cover you chose, seeing your title and name on the front page, the blurb on the back cover, your name on the spine, and your words in a printed book is just great!! Now to hope someone actually buys it...other than my family and friends, though. ;) November 20, 2009: I'm editing the book again in print as you notice mistakes there better than you do on the computer screen and after that it will be available to everyone. I have wrote a fair bit on Brenda lately and I expect to finish it early next year and will then go on to the next book in the series, probably Sally or Sarah, or currently leaning towards Mary's "A love of gold." |
Friend of the ABC (10) fyremoon (5) | HyacinthMacaw (1) Nemesis3 (0) | outruntheavalanche (158) VanillaSky (0) |