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Tuesday 23 June 2015

Behind the Text 2 FIRST THOUGHTS

How did I get here?

Hi,

Firstly, please don't take what follows as a guide on HOW to write thrillers. In many ways it demonstrates how NOT to do it. I've made mistakes, plenty of them, but I'll try to describe them honestly. I've written to please myself - so the product, at least, has pleased / amused one person - and sometimes brought surprises.

All my books are listed at www.cuthanbooks.co.uk. Wait a minute. Who or What is/are cuthanbooks? Quite simply it’s me. Last time I said I’d obtained ISBNs but for that I needed a unique Publisher Name. As my hero is a tenth century Saxon fugitive I picked on the Old English /Anglo-Saxon word for ‘bring forth’ (which could = ‘publish’) & so I became cuthan books – and that is a UNIQUE name

However, this series of blogs isn’t really about what I've written in print  - but if anybody's got any questions or comments on them, just fire away.

These blogs are about 16 thrillers set in the period 1954-73. Here is one of  the covers I've  used.

As a group they are the ‘Jonas Forbes Saga’ & I'll start  by answering a few basic questions such as WHAT, WHO, WHY & HOW.

WHAT : The series is about an ‘Enquiry Agent’ usually hired by the UK government to sort out problems which require ‘no comebacks’. They're set all over the world & employ extensive historical research to TRY and get the facts right. The opposition may be foreign governments, spies or just plain 'nasties'. They’re written light-heartedly, almost as a spoof perhaps, although they do contain adult material.

WHO: The hero is JONAS FORBES – really a combination of ‘The Saint’ and James Bond and definitely NOT myself, unless my alter-ego is having fun jerking my chain. Sometimes real historical characters appear (& usually the background is a real historical situation). However, the stories are peopled by a whole range of characters – some using traits of real personalities (including myself) but others are just conjured out of......Perhaps a psychiatrist might complete that sentence in some cases.

WHY: After publishing my 4 books in print  I’d certainly been bitten by the writing bug. These thrillers are the result. I set them in that period because the first story was written nearly 40 years ago and set in 1965. When I decided to release it as an e-book it had become HISTORICAL Fiction so I had to do a lot of research even though I'd lived through (& taught the history of) that period. 

They were written chiefly to please myself & often the stories run away into dark corners I hadn’t planned. They’re out there just in case somebody might get a few hours entertainment by reading them. They’ve been released through Amazon Kindle, Google & Smashwords. The price (May 2015) is 0.99$ each.


HOW: Really a big thank you to organisations & people who’ve helped with the e-books. So here are some in the order I encountered them - the last three are where to find my e-books:

http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/  for advice on ISBNs  & much more besides
http://calibre-ebook.com/ for transforming my work into the various formats needed for e-books
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BobHyslop   : for so much advice re’ formatting e-books & publishing my work
https://www.amazon.com/Bob-Hyslop/e/B005ESGSIQ   : for help with publishing

That’s enough for now. I’ll get into the real business next time but if you have any questions  I’ll do my best to answer them.

Bob Hyslop

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