Andy Searle's painting of Martha

It's nice to know that the Angel Mountain Saga inspires some people to produce works of art -- this is an oil painting done by Andy Searle a few years ago, and kindly presented to me.  Martha at her desk, hard at work on her diary.......

The men in Martha's life....

Here are four of the men in Martha's life.  Can you guess their names?

Martha Morgan Country

I've been trying out the idea of "Martha Morgan Country" on assorted people involved with the tourist trade, and there is a good response.  So I'm working on it, and will soon have more to announce.

In geographical extent, it's more limited than "Bluestone Country", since that area is generally defined as incorporating most of the Mynydd Preseli section of the National Park, and effectively the NE quadrant of Pembrokeshire.  Martha didn't often go as far south as Maenclochog or as far west as Mathry........  so I must give some thought to the precise geographical area to be defined.

Bluestone Country map here:
http://www.bluestonecountry.com/location.html

Weeping angels

When an image similar to these was posted the other day on Facebook, I was struck by the angel's pose -- which is one of despair as much as grief.  All very suitable for one of the angels -- or all of them -- who seek, in the stories, to keep Martha out of trouble. 

Suitable caption:  "Dear Martha, why didn't you listen to me when I tried, over and again, to keep you out of trouble -- and why did you insist, over and again, in trying to save the world and in getting involved in things that were really none of your business....?"

(These are actually three different statues -- a Google search reveals that there are hundreds of "weeping angels" out there.  I wonder if these three were all done by the same sculptor?)

Busy times.....

Rather busy these days...... Cardigan last week, for a "meet the author" session at Bookends Bookshop.  This afternoon, off to St David's to meet a group to discuss the universal themes lurking in the background of my "chiller thriller" called Acts of God.  it has deeper depths than might meet the eye -- appropriate for something set in the East Greenland fjords.....

And then tomorrow off to New Quay to meet the members of a local reading group who want to talk about the Angel Mountain Saga.

And while all this is going on, I'm beavering away on my latest project -- getting the story of Martha Morgan turned into a TV blockbuster series.  Slow progress, since the TV industry is very secretive and difficult to communicate with, but bit by bit I think we are making progress!  Watch this space.....

Freebie promo and sales

The freebie promo which I ran at the end of April for the books of the Angel Mountain saga has clearly had some impact on Kindle sales of the titles.  Now that about six weeks have passed since the promotion was running, I have checked the daily sales figures, and it seems that there has been a virtual doubling of sales.  The number of days with zero sales has dropped sharply, and while sales are by no means spectacular compared with the big best-selling titles, they seem to be ticking over nicely.  Conclusion?  Some people have read the books which were downloaded for free, and have decided to buy subsequent titles.  Alternatively, people have told friends about the books, and they have purchased them from the Kindle Store. 

I'm never going to make a fortune from Kindle sales, but a monthly income twice as high as it was before is always welcome!

Portrait of a servant

This is a pleasant -- indeed rather charming -- image of a Georgian servant working in the laundry of some grand house or other.  I thought it rather appropriate -- maybe one of Martha's servants working in Plas Ingli looked something like this?

The dress looks about right for the era, but maybe your average laundry maid might not have looked quite so tidy...?