From the Archive: The Rock Bled Black

This post originally appeared on my Wordpress site on 5th August 2024:

Available now to pre-order as an ebook from Amazon for only £1.99 is my latest book, a historical novella set in Wales in 1910 at the time of the Tonypandy Riots. Paperback and Hardback also available!

Release date: 12th August 2024

In November 1910, a disgraced Seth Bethel returns home to his mining family in South Wales just as The Cambrian Combine Strike is about to begin.

Seth is drawn into the miners' strike by the charismatic figures of Will John and John Hopla, who lead the picketing of the collieries. Picketing leads to violent protests and rioting. Police and the military are brought in from across the country to defend the collieries. Hopla's aim: to disable the Glamorgan Colliery by destroying its Powerhouse.

This is the story of Seth's redemption through family. His story is that of many young men on the brink of the battle for workers' rights, fighting for community and the beginning of class war. Against this backdrop is the story of a family, set over two days, where Seth and his young nephew Albert are inexorably drawn in to events that they cannot control. It is also the story of Wales and its deep heritage that can be felt when the mountains sing with dark tradition.

So why have I chosen to independently publish again? Well, the endless churn of submitting to agents and getting nothing back, and searching for indie publishers who would welcome a submission, and then waiting six months on the off chance that they might reply... At this moment in time, I didn't;t really want to do that.

'The Rock Bled Black' was always going to be a more focused story than 'A Hundred Years to Arras', but I found it finally coming together over the last few weeks. It told me it was going to be a novella, set over just a few days against a backdrop of a major historical event for Wales and for workers' rights. I wanted to give a glimpse of life for a family caught up in those few days in November. Sometimes a story tells you what it should be: 'Calendar of Ghosts', for example, was always going to be a collection of short stories. 

Talking of which, my next project is 'The Calendar House', the sequel, in which Kathryn Dark is drawn to a mysterious building and discovers a little more about why mysterious events seem to centre around her. Taking the month-by-month structure again, it kicks off with a couple of short stories that I've already completed, so it may even be ready before the end of the year. We'll see.

That will see me clearing the decks a bit for my next attempt at seeking a bigger publisher. I have some ideas...