To begin this month’s update, I’ll point to Substack. I’m serialising the George Hughes trilogy for paying readers, starting with the initial novel, The Martian Inheritance. Chapter one is up today, as a free taster (click here to read it). If you’ve been considering delving into the vast cache of my short stories, novellas, and serialised novels peeking out tantalisingly from behind that particular paywall, you now have an even more compelling reason to do so. For a full rundown of why becoming one of my paid readers on Substack is a rather splendid idea, check out this article.

In case you’re unfamiliar with it, The Martian Inheritance is a science fiction adventure aimed at the young and young at heart (think the Harry Potter/Alex Rider demographic in that they appeal to children and adults alike). Here’s a brief blurb from the back of the novel to whet your appetite:

When George Hughes discovers he has inherited the planet Mars, he goes from poverty to becoming the richest boy on Earth overnight.

Accompanied by his new guardian, a mysterious secret agent, and a crew of astronauts, George makes the voyage to Mars to sell land to celebrities wanting to build interplanetary holiday homes.

But sabotage, assassination attempts, and the possibility of an alien threat plunge him into a deadly adventure.

As promised in last month’s update, here’s a bit more detail about the slightly unusual sideways leap I’ve taken regarding the series of supernatural mystery thriller novels I’m currently writing. I’d previously announced that I’d completed the first draft of book two. However, I’m throwing a curveball into my plans. Book two will become book three, because I’m now writing an entirely new novel, set between the two novels in this series that I’ve written so far.

I’m about 45,000 words into the first draft of this book and it’s moving at lightning speed. Why? Because all I needed to do was meld this new concept with a story outline I already had. I’ve outlined several of the novels in this series (including the last one), so I know where everything is headed. Each book is a standalone mystery, but somewhere around book four or five, a much bigger mystery in the background becomes apparent (it hides in plain sight for at least the first three novels).

Obviously, plot details remain top secret for now. I’ll update you again next month, when I hope I’ll be much further along with the draft. In the meantime, please do check out the other nail-biting novels I currently have available to buy on ebook or in paperback form by clicking here.

(Header image created by author in Canva.)