BOOKWORMS AND VILLAINS

CHRISTMAS AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM Writing update - February 26th 2018 It's very difficult to write when you have flu! And it's frustrating to have to stop when you are on a roll and enjoying working on a novel. Hopefully I can get back to work on my third novel in my bookshop series as I'm feeling better this week. I have almost finished chapter eight which sees my main character, Nora Jolly, tugging on a novelty Christmas hat on Thursday afternoon as she prepares to remain open for some book-selling by candlelight in Castletown. Her colleague Roger is as grumpy as usual and not impressed with Georgina offering him a Christmas turkey hat to wear. The snow is still lingering but Nora and Humphrey's snowman in the yard has almost melted. The Duke of Sussex is due to turn on the Christmas tree lights in the town square and Nora is keen to see him again, keeping her secret meeting with him in the bookshop quiet from the day before when he took advantage of...

SAD LOSS OF A FORMER BOOKSHOP COLLEAGUE I was shocked and saddened to learn that Jason Hill of our hometown Worthing had been killed last week with his brother Stuart and Stuart's girlfriend in a helicopter accident at the Grand Canyon. Jason had dated our employer's daughter at Kim's Bookshop, where I ran the Arundel branch for ten years between 2002-2012, and had been a part of the bookshops for about four or five years back then. He was a major part of my bookshop experience and life for several years and I often thought of him as I wrote notes, planned my books and drew upon book selling memories with various colleagues. At the bookshops, Jason was easy going, hard working and so nice to work with. I always had a laugh with him and enjoyed the days we worked together in Arundel, Worthing or Chichester. Oftentimes, Lin, the owner and mother of his girlfriend Vicki, would commandeer him for 'calls days'. He carried hefty boxes of books easily, was pol...

'Valentine's Day at The Secondhand Bookworm' #sharethelove  While 'The Secondhand Bookworm' series of novels aren't romance stories, there's always room for a little hint of 'love' at the bookshop and what better accompaniment to begin writing and plotting book five in the series than a pack of 'Love Hearts'? I'm keen to get writing 'Valentine's Day at the Secondhand Bookworm' which will cover one week in the bookshop leading up to and including Valentine's Day. So while it's currently 'Valentine's season' I'm soaking up the atmosphere in the bookshops, digging out some memories and pondering the notes I made over Valentine's Days in the bookshops. I'm looking forward to getting writing on book five in my secondhand bookshop series of novels! The Secondhand Bookworm series of novels are available from Amazon on AMAZON KINDLE UNLIMITED and AMAZON KINDLE and PAP...

Z FOR ZACHARIAH CHAPTER 6 - NORA AND THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM Throwback to primary school reading in the 1980's While working on Chapter Six of my novel 'Nora and the Secondhand Bookworm' (book 2) I was reflecting upon a book I had read in school with my class; a book that freaked me out and has stayed with me my whole life. I like to include random things in my books and the event I was writing about in this particular chapter kept reminding me of my memories of 'Z for Zachariah' in a very tiny, random, subtle, tongue-in-cheek sort of way. I thought it would be a great chapter title and so it is. It's funny how certain books make a large impression upon you (Watership Down was another childhood trauma reading experience!). Z for Zachariah is a post-apocalyptic science-fiction novel by Robert C. O'Brien that was published posthumously in 1974. The name Robert C. O'Brien was the pen name used by Robert Leslie Conly. After the author's death...

"I like my dessert first. I had this flown in from San Francisco. It's Italian. Organic ice cream." - Justin Hammer, Iron Man 2 "I like to design my novel covers first. I designed these using Microsoft  Word. Beautiful book covers." - Emily Jane Bevans, author I know exactly how Justin Hammer feels. It could be said that the best part of finishing a novel is having your book cover designed and finished and looking just how you want it to. The finished book cover is like a dessert. And why can't  we have our desserts first? I am too impatient to wait until the end of my writing for the finished book cover, and I actually like the inspiration of the finished cover to keep me racing towards the end. So I plan, plot and design my novels and covers alongside one another. The Secondhand Bookworm series started back in 2007-2008 while I worked at a chain of secondhand and antiquarian bookshops in West Sussex. Originally I planned to write them,...

EXPENSIVE CIGARS, MANSIONS AND MASKED BALLS When I worked for ten years in a secondhand and antiquarian bookshop I would often flick through books about cigars, diamonds, fast cars, perfumes and country estates. Combine that with a love for adventure films and romance novels and a keen imagination, and my series of epic novels was born. Set in England, 'House of Villains' is the first novel in a series of books packed with stunning locations, ruthless villains, murder, mystery, betrayals and bullets, with a sprinkling of romance and humour and plenty of suspense. I also put in a scattering of the mystical as themes of grace, conversion and faith are lightly touched upon too.  There's a masked ball as well, a ruthless murder and a stand off at a city harbour with  the head of the Russian Bratva. Total escapism, a gripping read and the beginning of a series. House of Villains is now available on Kindle Unlimited through AMAZON AMAZON UK LINK HERE

THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM SERIES BOOK COVER DESIGNING I'm really solitary so I like to hide myself away and write and design all my books by myself. I've really enjoyed designing the first six novels in my bookshop series over the past several weeks. I've slipped into solitude to work away and been able to do some writing and book cover designing. I always like to have the cover of a book I am writing finished before (or during) I write as I find it inspiring. The trouble is that, I am keen to get on to later books in the series such as 'Halloween in the Secondhand Bookworm' which is already planned. I have been designing my covers using Microsoft Word since the beginning because I like to keep things as simple and user friendly for myself as possible (I'm not that great at learning new software etc...). I also like to do everything myself where possible, so discovering Kindle and Amazon paperback publishing a few years ago was brilliant. It helps ...

THE HALF-WAY MARK CHRISTMAS AT THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM I have been enjoying writing BOOK THREE of my bookshop series of novels over the past several weeks. I had a break to edit a film but am keen to get back onto it (as I need a different project) and have been reading through (and chuckling to myself) all that I have written so far. I think that 'Christmas at the Secondhand Bookworm' is my favourite one, possibly because, being quite solitary myself, the winter months in the bookshop were the most quiet time of the year and in this novel I have covered several events in the bookshop and town when there was heavy snowfall and on one day I literally had one customer! If that sounds boring, believe me, it wasn't, and for Nora it certainly isn't. I actually managed to take photos of the day I seemed to be the only shop open in town and I decided to let my main character Nora experience that. My view through the bookshop window in 2010 A seriously empty town...

THE SECONDHAND BOOKWORM First Editions and Early Book Cover Designs TEN YEARS LATER I love the idea that I have rare, first edition copies of my first two bookworm novels! When I first began my series of bookshop novels in 2008, I wrote 'The Secondhand Bookworm' and 'Nora and the Secondhand Bookworm' and had them privately printed simply for my work colleagues. I had been working in and helping to run three bookshops since 2003 and the owner had suggested I write about my experiences because we would have a good giggle (or moan) about our observances of the daily adventures in book selling! Since I was only intending to give them to my work colleagues, family and friends, I used clip art from Microsoft Word to design my covers. Here are the early covers of my first two novels: Front cover First Edition - first printing of 'The Secondhand Bookworm' © 2008 Emily Jane Bevans Back cover First edition - first printing of 'The Secondhand Boo...