The Neal James Website

Another year, and more changes at the end of the month.

A Happy New Year to all site members and guests, and a special 'Thank You' to Seb Alexandre for the December entry to the Guest Author section.

For January 2010, the site welcomes Dominic Macciaroli and 'Missing Al'. Dom hails from Phoenix, Arizona, and his particular brand of humour strikes a clear chord.

The 'Monthly Memior' moves into the realms of science fiction, with "The Rings of Darelius", and plans are already afoot to extend this particular piece into a full-length novel.

Not being one to pass up any opportunity (I am an accountant after all), the presence of a professional photographer, over for the weekend, provided the perfect chance to lay down the first images of the jacket cover for "Threads of Deceit".

What you see on the appropriate tab now represents a close approximation to the final product, and replaces the original which was merely drawn from a number of generic images of Lancashire cotton mills.

The atmospheric darkness and ambient lighting of the street is just what I had in mind when writing the story. All characters in final the shot remain ficticious - with one exception.

It just goes to show what can be achieved if only you have the brass nerve to ask.

Three weeks ago, I strolled into Waterstones in Derby to collect some replacement books for the ones I sold in Newcastle, and the manager happened to be at the sales counter.

We had a chat, I showed him where my books were listed on the Waterstones website, and asked if he would be interested in supporting a local author. He smiled and said of course he would. They'd be happy to 'get some copies in'.

I waited the two weeks that I knew it would take for an order to materialise and BINGO! there it was - stocks of Short Stories Volume One.

That now has me with books in two local stores. As I said, it just goes to show.

So, it's time to sat 'farewell' and thanks to John Cesarone of Chicago for his story 'Dead Men Don't Eat Cheese', which was last month's featured story. I'm certain that more of his work will appear on here in the not too distant future.

December is the month to welcome Sebastien Alexandre to the 'Guest Author' slot. Seb hails from close to the French coastal town of Boulogne, and I know him personally as a really good guy, and author of some talent.

"Two Little Dicky Birds" got the green light from Pneuma Springs this week, and once Onxydragon complete their work on the jacket cover we'll be all set.

This is my third published work, and is currently going through some heavy editing before it goes to my resident proof reader.

More details to follow in due course.

Ok, well it's that time of the month again, and we have a fresh guest author.

Thanks go to Nathan Weaver for his stint at the helm, and the hand over goes to John Cesarone (aka Chicago Jake), who hails from, not suprisingly, Chicago Illinois.

Don' be fooled by the smooth, suave exterior of the photo - this man is a real goofball, just like me.

Also new in this instant, is a fresh monthly story from my own archive. "Grapes and Wrath" is a tale of frustrated revenge which come unstuck in quite a sticky fashion. I leave the rest to you.

Further developments on yesterday's item now include a link to all the newspapers which I mentioned. The URL's available are as follows:

www.ripleyandheanornews.co.uk

www.ilkestonadvertiser.co.uk

www.eastwoodadvertiser.co.uk

www.belpernews.co.uk

www.matlockmercury.co.uk

www.bakewelltoday.co.uk

On each page, simply click on 'Your Say', then click on the 'Blogs' button. Then it's just a case of picking me out.

I'll try to keep the blog updated daily to avoid it slipping of the grid, but new stories will be added depending upon the klevel of Comments received.

In any case, it is an exciting new development.

I now have exposure on half a dozen Derbyshire newspaper websites.

If you follow the link below, you can read and leave comments on some of the work that I've been writing a putting on here over the past six months or so.

http://www.blogstoday.co.uk/bloghome.aspx?username=Philneale1952

If there's enough interest, I'll keep in rolling in tandem with this site.

The visit up to Tyneside on October 29th will now include a podcast which I will try to include on the site in November.

I'm more than a little interested in the first quarter sales reports for the Short Stories, and that should be out in the next week or so.

So, it's October 1st, and time for a few changes.

The new monthly story is "Coles to Newcastle", which is quite apt when you consider that I'll be up there at the end of this month for a reading group meeting.

It's a story of lost love and pride, and the ending will have you reaching for the Kleenex.

The guest author for the month is Nathan Weaver, another American friend from the Storiesvills days - I leave you to make up your own mind about his sanity.....