Category: Novels

  • A Review of Tamao

    Today, by chance, I came across another review of Tamao, written towards the end of last year. I totally agree with the writer about the pacing problem; making it fit the serial format led to some bits being too drawn out, and I misjudged some other bits. I’d like to revise it, I think, but…

  • Tamao Post Mortem

    As I mentioned on the Tamao page, the story has now finished, and I’m not currently planning to write a sequel. This is because I have lost money on the project; I have spent more on advertising it than I have received from readers, even leaving aside the fact that I would like to be…

  • Review Me!

    I’ve just registered Tamao on Web Fiction Guide, so if you like the story you can now go and review it over there. Remember, what every author really wants is several thousand words of closely-reasoned adulation. (Not me, but Google has two different attributions on the first page, so I don’t know who.)

  • Google Being Strange

    I’m using Google AdWords as one of the ways to advertise Tamao, and Google AdSense as one of the ways to make money off it. The ads displayed on AdSense sites are the ones paid for by AdWords customers. They are targeted by Google’s clever metrics to appear on sites where the readers might be…

  • Part Four Completed

    I’ve just finished part four, which takes us more than half way through the plotted-out story. Since the first four parts come to just under 125,000 words, I suspect that, when it comes time to produce a printed version, I’ll split the work somewhere around here, either at the end of part four or at…

  • Another Method

    So, people reading this on my main blog are likely to be confused, but I’m checking to see whether I can put comments onto Tamao without interrupting the story over there. This is another possible method. If you haven’t checked out Tamao yet, please do. If you’re reading this on Tamao, er, thanks…

  • Halfway

    I’ve just finished writing the central episode of Tamao. It won’t go online until late June, because I have a substantial buffer, but it’s good to have written this much. I’m now about halfway through the plotted arc, and the draft is almost 110,000 words. If you’ve been wondering why I haven’t updated this blog…

  • Too Busy

    As people have noticed, it’s a very long time since I wrote anything here. I’ve been too busy; as well as teaching and editing, I’ve been keeping Tamao going and writing a Japanese blog entry every day. So this has got squeezed out, sorry. We’re all fine. Mayuki is still happy and lively, and her…

  • Tamao

    Today I am starting online publication of another fantasy novel, Tamao. I am doing this a bit differently from Ice Yearning. Tamao is free to read, and updated in daily installments, with a new piece going online every day at midnight Japan time. Most days, the new material comes to between five and six hundred…

  • Ice Yearning Chapter Two Up

    The second chapter of Ice Yearning is now online. Yes, that means that the first chapter has been paid for. So far, the money has mainly come from people who know me already, but that’s not really too unexpected at the beginning of a new venture. I do need to broaden the range of people…