Hello there. It's been a while since I checked in here with anything new, that's mainly because what's been going on in my life - while fascinating to me - would be of little interest to anyone other than me. Probably. I mean, you never know, do you? But then that's what my blog site is for. The minutiae of my life, away from fangs and blood and all the rest of it, belongs on my Blogger page. This - U&F.com - is for all things U&F. And as I say, there hasn't been a whole lot of U&F going on in my life lately. Or so I thought. In fact, U&F is always going on at some level in my life; it's like a quiet engine that thrums away constantly in the background, always doing something, creating itself either with or without my direct involvement. And so, I realised today that things have happened in the U-andF-niverse, and I'd like to share them with you.

Firstly, the manuscript of U&F the novel is now out of the audio-matching / editing stage, and is being proof-read for errors by my wife. As you know, the book is in two parts, and she's done part one and is now well into part two. She tells me work still needs to be done on it, but on the whole, it's looking good. This bodes very well for a Spring release for the ebooks. Yes, books - plural - I've decided that the ebook release will be in two parts. Part One, which corresponds to Episodes 1-21, is called Resurrection, and Part Two, which corresponds to episodes 22-45, is called Bonded in Blood. The reason for separating the book into two distinct parts is really due to the way the ebook marketplace seems (to me, anyway) to work. Readers love series. Readers also love low prices. So by splitting the book into two distinct parts, I create two low price books. The two "volumes" will be combined into a single edition for the paperback and hardback editions. So what you currently think of as Underwood and Flinch, will ultimately become Underwood and Flinch, Books One and Two. And that means that the book I'm currently writing, will become Underwood and Flinch, Book Three: Blood and Smoke.

Busman's holiday. Writing U&F Blood and Smoke in the Canary Islands

Yes, that's another piece of news for you. I'm writing again. I had started on the next U&F adventure quite a while ago. The plot is all mapped-out in my mind, and although it's daunting (and how!), I've been chipping away at it, on and off, for several months. But a few weeks ago, I went on holiday to Fuerteventura with my wife, and at the last minute, I decided to take a laptop with me so I could work on the story should the mood take me. Well, the mood did take me. I wrote over 10,000 words, averaging at about 1,400 a day. It was a great place to work because all the usual distractions just weren't there: there was nothing to do but lie around in the sun, read, or write. I managed to get some sun, and to read too, but most importantly, I got to write, and I got my book rolling again. Yay! I only wish I could afford to do it more often!!

Since coming home, I've tried to keep up the writing habit, but back with the distractions of day-to-day living, my output has fallen. Though sayng that, I'm still chipping away at it as and when I can. The story currently stands at about 20,000 words. I'm not saying that's done and dusted, ready-to-go, word content. But it's a start.

So what's it about? Well, it is, as I say, called Blood and Smoke, and it continues Underwood's origin adventure in the Caribbean. I can't say more than that at the moment, but I will say that it's going well and I'm happy with it. I plan to continue writing it as regularly as my schedule allows, and with a bit of luck, it'll be finished by the end of the year. My plan is to release it as an ebook and an audio book simultaneously. Hard copy paper books may happen; it depends on how well the paper copies of the first novel go. But I'm sure what's really tickling your curiosity is whether or not it will be released as a podcast, no? Well, I'm happy to say that it will ... But, it won't come out all at once. No, it'll be a monthly podcast like U&F was - an episode a month for a year (or however long it takes to podcast it). However, unlike U&F, next time, you'll be able to end the torment of waiting at any moment by just buying the whole thing outright. Huzzah!

And finally, one last nugget of news, Night Crossing, the U&F prequel short story, is once again free for all e-reader formats from Smashwords.com. So if you haven't got a copy for your device, grab one now by clicking the image below.

I'll check back in with any U&F news as soon as I have some. But in the meantime, should you wish to keep up with the minutae of my life (I've got flu, read all about it), then do please follow my Blogger page. It's not exactly exciting, but at least you'll know that I've not completely fallen off the face of the Earth

Happy new year to you! Welcome to 2013 - the year of Underwood and Flinch the book. I'm almost done on the first audio-text matching edit of the manuscript (for more details, see this blog post). After that we have to go through it again for errors and typos, and after that, we'll go to print.

At the moment, the ebook is looking very much like it'll be released over two volumes, Parts One and Two, just like the podcast (but unlike the podcast, both volumes will be released simultaneously). MJ Hahn is currently working on the new artwork and the covers are looking great. The paperback / hardback versions will still almost certainly be released in one big fat volume. So watch this space for updates.

In the meantime, should you have an appetite for more of my stories, my other novel, One Among the Sleepless is now available as an ebook for just $2.99 U.S. / £1.92 U.K.

This is the only medium you can enjoy the story in at the moment because the podcast version is no longer available.

Buy now from these ebook outlets (Smashwords for non-Kindle customers) ...

You can also get my short story collection, Hall of Mirrors Volume One, as a free audio podcast from Podiobooks.com. The rest of the stories (another seven tales of horror and the grotesque) are only available as ebooks. So if you got a Kindle or another ereader device for Christmas, hopefully my ebooks will soon be gracing your digital pages!

To grab any of my ebooks, just navigate to the e-bookstore links above and click on my name to get the whole menu!

Happy new year!!

I've decided to add Underwood and Flinch to YouTube. It's an experiment, so whether I upload the entire 45 episodes depends on how well it goes. It's basically for all those people who see subscribing to podcasts as hassle, so if you know a podcast-phobic vampire fan, please pass on this link to the U&F YouTube Playlist and plug them into it.

Don't expect all the episodes to arrive immediately, doing this is going to be a lot of work. But the bonus for me (and you, I hope) is that I'm cutting off the music and intros / outros, which will result in a product that's more audiobook than episodic podcast novel. Awesome? I should co-co

Look what arrived in the post this morning! Time to shove all the human skulls and dessicated hands from my mantelpiece and put something really cool up there! It's lovely, isn't it? I'm happily surprised at how large and weighty it is (actress - bishop).

Many thanks to Susie and the team at the Parsec Awards for sending it to me, and for doing such a smashing job this year, and every year

Fabulous news from the Parsec Awards! Underwood and Flinch has been awarded the Parsec for Best Small Cast Speculative Fiction Story (Long Form). I'm absolutely thrilled with the result, and I know many of you will be too! An official announcement appeared today in the online newspaper of the Dragon Con convention in Atlanta, "The Daily Dragon Online" I've added a screenshot from the page, below (the big red hand is my addition, I added it so you could spot U&F more easily).

My thanks to everyone who nominated U&F for the Parsec this year. We made runner up status in 2010, failed to get submitted last year (a mix up with emails - long story) but this year, finally, his lordship gets to raise a glass of claret in celebration.

As you can see from the pic, the other finalists represent a great array of podcast audio fiction and drama, and I hope that as a podcast listener, you'll check them out (if you haven't already done so).Here are live links to save you the trouble of searching them out ...

• All Roads Lead to Blue Lake: Teacher of the Year by Marc Vale
• Eternity by Casey S. Townsend
• The Last Sorcerer by J. A. Areces
• Secret World Chronicles, Season 5: Waiting On by Mercedes Lackey, Larry Dixon, Dennis Lee, Cody Martin, and Veronica Giguere

I'll update you with a picture of the gong when it arrives

The U&F Fundraiser is now closed, and the final figure is:

$11,322

almost three times the original target!

Massive thanks to everyone who helped out! Now I have to get to work on organizing the perks. I hope to get everything fulfilled - including the book of U&F, by the end of December. I'll use the Indiegogo "Update" email to send you details of what, when and how. But for now, all I can say is thank you!! For verily, you rock!!!!