January 1939. When the British Foreign Minister receives a phone call from Berlin, Amsterdam must be warned. Forces within the Dutch government are working on staging a terrorist attack on their own…
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A New Novel – coming soon
Today is my birthday and I feel like giving you things. My books. All of them. And a quick update on what’s coming.
Free. Worthless or priceless?
It is the end of winter, summer is coming. The weather today is nice, I drove home from work with the top open. One of the simple pleasures in my life. Driving with the warm wind in my hair. Summer is when people read books. They lie on sunbeds on beaches, besides swimming pools in […]
Translations? How? Why?
I’m sure you are all aware that I’m not a traditionally published author with million sales to my name. I write when I can and when I feel like it, I sell a handful of books a year, probably not enough to go grocery shopping… once. But you write because you want to. Because you […]
Paperback Writer – how to get them?
Late in 2022, I “remastered” my two existing novels, Under the Black Sand, and Blood and Rain. I made slight changes to the contents and redesigned the books. The cover of Black Sand is now completely different. Blood and Rain is now available in a hardcover for the first time. Both paperbacks are now larger, […]
Happy New 2023!
Dear reader,2022 is gone and 2023 is here. A year is different for us all. Some may experience it as the best year of their lives, while others are forced to stare into the void. 2022 was another strange year. Covid is still here. I lost a friend to the pandemic. My last grandparent left […]
Memory Lane
The Rush to Publish
Last night, someone sent me a message saying Under the Black Sand was being discussed in a reader’s group on Facebook. That is pretty cool, so I took a look. She was happy with it and the novel kept her interested and I was thrilled to read that. However… She mentioned having to ignore typos. […]
Queen of Hearts – a short story
The executioner raised his axe, and the queen walked away from her window. She could not be seen to be weaker than a king would. She turned to look into the large mirror on the wall. The dark hair flowing from under her crown, almost merging with her black velvet dress. Black, the colour of mourning.
Research and Writing
This last week, received the hardcover copy of my “remastered” debut novel, Under the Black Sand. Flicked through it. Read chapter one and the beginning of the second chapter. Thought I’d share this with you. Two paragraphs, but the first one sets the location. One paragraph that explains what kind of a neighbourhood it is. […]
Is it possible?
The decision to dedicate 2021 to short fiction wasn’t taken a long time ago. It was two days before Christmas and I was aimlessly browsing the web. Came across a list of 52 short story concepts on Tumblr and it made me think. What if…? I have written 2-3 shorts in my entire life. 4-5 […]
Blood and Rain is (almost) here
It’s taken a while. It always takes a while. Writing a novel is an exercise in carefully selecting the right words. 50-100.000 of them. I could probably do it faster if I didn’t have a family and a job, but no matter. This is a milestone. It is a huge deal to write a novel. […]
Taking a story from Fragmented to Solid
Under the Black Sand started as a short film in 2006. It evolved into a screenplay in 2007 and was heavily rewritten and transformed by 2009. In 2012, a novel was completed, based on the whole thing. Although the few people that go to read it were enthusiastic, it wasn’t ready for publishing. There were […]
Keep Writing
I have no time to write. I have just finished a nine-day working week and I’m tired. The attic needs attention before the workers come in next week. The kid needed to go to school. Maybe I should give up this novel-writing nonsense. Who am I anyway? Who am I kidding? Kiddo was out the […]
