DECEPTION Preview!

I completed a first edit of my brand new thriller novel, DECEPTION, and I’m really enjoying the potential of this story. Now that me and my editor are both working on it, it’s great to see the book adapting and becoming an even better read for you all.
Read the DECEPTION preview now!

Sorry it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, I’ve had a mental few weeks. I got a new job – which didn’t turn out to be what I expected it to be (at all!) – I was without a job for a couple of weeks, and now I’m back at my previous employer; happy once again. Oh how we all love a happy ending.

Back to the point of this post now – I completed a first edit of my brand new thriller novel, DECEPTION, and I’m really enjoying the potential of this story. Now that me and my editor are both working on it, it’s great to see the book adapting and becoming an even better read for you all.

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Although this is only a preview, it’s hopefully still enough for you to get your teeth into.

I present to you a very small slither of my next novel, DECEPTION.

DECEPTION by T. J. Blake (Preview)

‘Through the stark and leafless trees I see her; she’s walking her Springer, ‘Bussy’. She has a slight bounce to her stride as she lets Bussy gallop around the lower woodlands.
She has that horse rider look; tight fitted riding trousers and boots, a black woollen jumper and a white shirt.
Her brown hair is woven into a plait and dangles over her right shoulder.

I see her most mornings. I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes; they remind me of a blue sky right before the sun descends. From different angles I catch the glint from her eyes, similar to the sparkle of a star in the night. Her skin is pale but in this cold she has rosy red cheeks that match her deep red lipstick.
Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.’

Copyright © 2016 T. J. Blake
All rights reserved. 

Coming in the summer of 2016!

Are you looking for an unpredictable dystopian book series?

If you’re a reader who enjoys an unpredictable, fast-paced, blood curdling and gory novel, then you’ll love getting yourself into my twisted apocalyptic dystopian book series, The Endurance Series.

So far in my book series, there have been two short novels; Endurance and Endurance: Apocalypse. Both books are short and fast, but most especially are capable of drawing you in and propelling you into the London chaos.

What is The Endurance Series about? 

Endurance (2013)

‘London is silent. Severed bodies lie amongst the rubble. What once was a lively city is a now a murderous grave, enclosed in smoke and ash. The cause of the destruction is unknown. Left haunted and terrified, survivor Tom Williams confronts the brutal, mutilated streets as he fights to uncover the truth. Could he be the last hope to restore normality?’

getBook.at/B00E8Q9QCU

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Endurance: Apocalypse (2014) – SYNOPSIS BELOW COULD CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS

London is intolerable; the infected dominate the ravaged streets. Miller has gained full control and takes advantage of his authority, experimenting with the virus in an attempt to form a new superhuman army.

“Danni entered the station, the breeze was the only sound, eerily howling through the underground; the station was deserted. She ran up the escalators and stood at the top of Waterloo station. Staring along the station she saw corpses scattered across the ground. Splattered and smudged blood decorated Waterloo.”

getBook.at/B00Q57MIOI

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This book series is a three part book series, the last book Endurance: Recovery is due for release in 2017.

Catching up with T. J. Blake – latest articles and creative pieces

Sorry that I’ve been a neglectful blogger recently, but I’ve had a busy few weeks. After bagging myself a new job (which I start on Monday – woop!), I’ve been finishing up with my then current (now former) employer, editing my next thriller DECEPTION, and of course, been preparing for Monday.

Anyway, to the point of this speedy post, I thought I would just give you the titles and links to my latest articles and creative pieces; which I’ve added to my blog T. J. Blake #Author the past few months.

So, below are my latest blog posts, articles and general writing material.

About me

Why did I choose to self-publish?

Articles

How has technology affected the relation between speech and writing?

Overuse of the exclamation mark: You’re having a laugh!!!! A little strict?!!

Creative Writing

Flash Fiction

Poem Attempts

Short Story Nightmare

Illusory Waters

 

Please have a read of my latest material. Feel free to comment with your opinion, and please do share 🙂

‘DECEPTION – a love of lies’ synopsis

DECEPTION synopsis revealed – Please take a moment to read the DECEPTION synopsis, and feel free to let T. J. Blake know what you think by continuing to his blog ‘T. J. Blake # Author’.

Happy Easter weekend everyone!

I had some aims for this Bank Holiday weekend, and it’s fair to say I have most definitely achieved a lot of them (thankfully!). Below is my ever so strict check-list.

Easter Bank Holiday weekend check-list

  • Complete first draft of DECEPTION – CHECK
  • Complete synopsis of DECEPTION – CHECK
  • Complete first edit of DECEPTION – I’m working on it!

As I said on my Twitter and Facebook pages earlier today, I will be revealing the synopsis for my next novel DECEPTION – a love of lies in a moment… actually, now!

DECEPTION has been in the works for well over a year now, and I’m very happy to allow you all the opportunity to read the official synopsis for my new thriller novel. Please take a moment to read the DECEPTION synopsis, and feel free to let me know what you think. I hope you like it!

DECEPTION – a love of lies (synopsis)

“Through the stark and leafless trees, I see her.

I remember the first day I saw her; an instant attraction. I think she’s beautiful. She has such pensive blue eyes that remind me of a blue sky, right before the sun descends. Every time I see her I want to talk to her, I want to get to know her, and I want to be her friend.
She usually completes the lower woodland walk in six minutes and forty-two seconds; she misses the deeper woodlands and goes home, I believe.

I walk down the road at the same speed as her. She reaches the crossroads at the bottom of the road, looks both ways, and then jogs across into the garden of a house. I stop walking and concentrate on which house is hers.

I can’t stare too long but I am intrigued already, I will come back.”

DECEPTION, coming in the summer of 2016!

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Six hours of writing this Sunday! 

Since 2pm this afternoon, I have been writing my new novel DECEPTION. I was writing for 6/7 hours!

In this time, I was able to finish Chapter 28 and get started on Ch. 29.

Ch. 28 was an exhausting chapter to write – filled with twists, dark revelations and most of all, deep and emotional conversations for the two main characters involved.


Now, after today’s progress, I’m so close to completing the first draft of DECEPTION; I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m extremely excited to get this book finished and published for you all to finally read. It’s been well over a year now, since I started working on DECEPTION (formerly The Dog Walk) for my Creative Writing dissertation. I’m extremely hopeful about my fourth book, and I’m really looking forward to everyone experiencing this thrilling, creepy and dark journey.

Keep an eye out over the coming months for updates on DECEPTION – I’m aiming for it to be released in the Summer of 2016. A good read for your holidays!

Why did I choose to self-publish?

It’s been three years (on the 28th of March) since I self-published my first novel Endurance.  I remember working on it whilst at university, and I most of all remember having doubts about self-publishing Endurance – mostly because there was a niggling fear of what people would say or think about me for doing it.

I personally love the freedom of self-publishing, even though it does require some more work – who am I kidding, some? A LOT more work.

I believe new writers should try their luck with self-publishing; mainly to engage with readers, create a following and allow people to review your work and help adapt you as a writer. From my experience, encouraging people to read your stories is the key part to self-publishing; even if you give them the book for free

Covering: What are the benefits of self-publishing? & Self-Publishing on Createspace

Source: Why did I choose to self-publish?

How time flies – why did I choose to self-publish?

How time flies – why did I choose to self-publish?
Time. It’s a funny thing. We have so much of it, but we still don’t always take advantage of it.
This blog post is just a quick post about why I chose to self-publish and how it’s changed me.

It’s been three years (on the 28th of March) since I self-published my first novel Endurance

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I remember working on it whilst at university, and I most of all remember having doubts about self-publishing Endurance – mostly because there was a niggling fear of what people would say or think about me for doing it. Once I adapted a hardness and carelessness for what people would say about me, my decision was made. The decision though even after that wasn’t simple, because then I needed to consider whether to self-publish Endurance after an edit, or to finish Endurance and then just see if I could get the story published.

However, when I thought about it, I knew that would be a challenge for anyone, let alone a nineteen year old university student. In the end, I thought ‘you know what? fuck it, I’m going to give it a go’ and decided to start my self-publishing career as T. J. Blake.
‘Why?’ I here you ask; because firstly, I could, but secondly, I wanted to see what people thought of my writing. I had a slight idea of what people thought of my work, because of my Creative Writing and English Language studies, but I wanted to know what more people thought; more than my family or my peers. This is exactly what self-publishing has done for me, it’s given me a great amount of experience, a huge boost in confidence and now I’m ready to self-publish more.

So here I am, nearly three years later with three books self-published, and a fourth & fifth in the works, I’m very happy with my writing progress.

Having self-published two out of three books from The Endurance Series (Endurance Endurance: Apocalypse) and standalone novel The Author, I can proudly say that I am looking forward to self-publishing my fourth novel DECEPTION, the finale of The Endurance Series (Endurance 3) and the many more books and book series to follow.

If you want to find out more about my books, then feel free to continue to ‘Books by T. J. Blake‘ or continue to my Amazon author page or even my Goodreads author page.

Endurance: Apocalypse - Out Now!                                          the-author-front-cover2

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Overuse of the exclamation mark: You’re having a laugh!!!! A little strict?!!

I’m sure you’ve heard today in the news – about the implemented changes to the use of the exclamation mark for primary school children. The newly introduced educational exclamation law means that for pupils across England, only phrases starting with “what” or “how” merit an exclamation mark.

I think that it’s always good to educate children on punctuation – it moulds our language and creates meaning. Without punctuation, people write extremely comical yet disturbing sentences.

“Let’s eat Mum!” & “Let’s eat, Mum!”

“I live for cooking my family and my dog” & “I live for cooking, my family, and my dog”

Unless you want to sound like a disturbing family orientated carnivore, knowing how to use punctuation is key!!! (Sorry!)

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I support punctuation education, but I don’t quite understand the specific focus on the exclamation mark. Of course, there needs to be limited use of exclamation marks and even question marks when it matters most – two examples being in education or professional  writing, such as copywriting. People alter their writing and even their speech in certain situations, and I believe that for children it is the same; they will accommodate their writing when at school compared to when writing on say, social media, text or messenger. But even if they don’t, then it is up to the teacher to educate them.

Anyway, I thought this was interesting and definitely has much more needed to be said on the matter.

My latest article ‘How has technology affected the relation between speech and writing?‘ I believe has a great cohesion with this subject, so have a read of that too!

Also, this news is all over the Internet, have a read about the new exclamation mark rules on the BBC and The Guardian.

BBC – http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03lrtwd

The Guardian – http://www.theguardian.com/education/shortcuts/2016/mar/07/new-exclamation-mark-rules-proof-the-government-wants-to-penalise-enthusiasm

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/children-use-exclamation-marks-department-education

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment and share this post!

Creative Writing: Illusory Waters

Afternoon everyone.

I thought I would let you all know that I have now added another Creative Writing piece to my sparkly new Creative Writing page. This new entry is a short story of mine, which was previously called The Metaphorical Truth, now called Illusory Waters.
I changed the name simply because Illusory Waters is much more appropriate, and I think it sounds much better!

If you have a spare five minutes, then please, have a read of my new short story Illusory Waters.

Latest article: ‘How has technology affected the relation between speech and writing?’

In my latest articleHow has technology affected the relation between speech and writing?‘ I cover a number of topics; technology, smartphones, social media, instant messaging, speech and writing. The article primarily focuses on technology’s impact on our written and spoken communication; therefore looking at how the internet, various technological devices, texting and instant messaging has impacted our communicative approach.

Prescriptivist John Humphreys is renowned for his views on language. Over the years, he has spoken about language to the Daily Mail – in his discussion on the topic of texting, he argued, “They are destroying it: pillaging our punctuation; savaging our sentences; raping our vocabulary. And they must be stopped.”  (Humphrey, 2007).

Do you agree with Mr Humphreys? Continue to my article, see my opinion and feel free to express your own.