autumn 2026
Rather nice
Earlier in the year I learnt that I had been chosen to speak at The Cheshire Crimewriters weekend in February 2027. I had been there last February at the first one and I'd found my publisher, MX Publishing shortly thereafter. It's going to be fun speaking with fellow writers who, like me, started in the audience and just might be gracing the podium in 2028. In September 2026, I learnt that I'd been accepted into the ranks of that august body, the Crime Writers Association. I'm thrilled skinny!
Summer 2026
Book II of the Sherlock Holmes series
Sherlock Holmes and The Lady in Grey is the follow up to Sherlock Holmes and The Man Who Believed in Fairies. It's scheduled for publication in October and the back cover blub reads like this:
Fully emerged from his temporary retirement, an elderly Sherlock Holmes finds his next case in Madame Tussauds Chamber of Horrors. When a small girl is traumatised by the waxen image of her own father presented as a poisoner who murdered his wife, Holmes investigates and finds he is not convinced of the man’s guilt. He seeks out the opinion of the one person who can assist him; an expert on poisons who has written a short story based on the case. Seeking a distraction from her troubled life, this famous lady novelist joins forces with Holmes and becomes a world-famous fugitive as she assists Sherlock Holmes to deduce who really poisoned the lady from Hay on Wye.
Summer 2026
The Last Changeling
Written years ago, I still love this book and it has many fans. For the first time ever, it came out as a hardcover thanks to MX Publishing. At the same time, they also released it as an audiobook narrated by Michael Langan.
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Summer 2026
The Legendary Faery Festival
Less than two weeks after 'Out of The Blue,' wrapped, I was hosting my annual event in Llangollen, North Wales. Tiring but fun.
Summer 2026
Busy, busy, busy
It's been a crazy Summer looking back. I took my sci-fi/horror play to the Greater Manchester Fringe at the end of July where it got a really good reception.
Based on a piece of art by glass artist, Verity Pulford, I had a couple of table readings with it at Theatr Clywd before taking it to Manchester.
With everything feeling a bit heavy and unpredictable in the world right now, escaping into the theatre is just what we need. That brings us to Out of the Blue at the Greater Manchester Fringe 2026. Set in the near future of 2029, this light sci-fi story explores a scary alien invasion. Strange blue flowers are taking over, and they threaten to destroy the Earth completely. It is a story that feels surprisingly close to home when we think about our own chaotic world today.
This show comes to us from Coed Celyn Productions, a brilliant Welsh production company based in Wrexham. The Empty Space was a great setting for their work. As a larger style theatre, it gave the cast plenty of room to bring this apocalyptic story to life. You could feel a wonderful buzz of local creative energy from the moment you walked through the doors and took your seat.
This was Fiona R Maher’s second time producing and directing. With such a complicated show in a larger venue, she did really well to bring it all together, with wonderfully atmospheric music by Steve Lincoln helping set the mood throughout.
The actors give it their absolute all on stage. Kate Coldron as Sian brings fantastic energy to the role of a student scientist who is quietly dealing with the painful grief of losing her family. Shobi McLean as Maya is brilliant as another student trying her best to hold things together while living with Bipolar disorder. Her storyline hints that her medication might actually be the key to saving humanity. Meanwhile, Guy Hepworth as Gareth plays a tense, suspicious security guard who might secretly be an infected agent working for the alien invaders.
The staging was set up like an improvised chemistry lab, which worked really well for the plot. TV screens showed the invasion unfolding around the world to give everything a truly global feel. The videos used were AI-created, and they did not quite match up with the country names shown on screen, so a bit more realism here would help. In a few quick sections, some of the voice projection was lost, but that is totally normal for an opening night.
There are two more shows on tonight and tomorrow, so make sure to check out the Out of the Blue show page on the Greater Manchester Fringe website today to grab your tickets before they sell out!
Review by James for Canal Street Media