Look...

Coming to all good Kindles this Christmas. Hopefully not just mine...

A Boy Named Hogg - Cover, Synopsis and Release Date revealed

After teasing and occasionally dropping it into many conversations over the past six months, I'm finally at the closing stages of readying the release of my second book titled A Boy Named Hogg. A story that started with nothing but one single name and spun off into something completely removed from what I originally envisaged, but as a result became something far more personal than I had ever imagined also.

Huge thanks to Anna and Caoimhe for their help in making this stage of my writing adventure a reality with the beautiful cover art and proof reading/editing duties this time round. Forever grateful for their help.

So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, whimsical dreamers and ever so keen readers, for better or worse, I present to you all you need to know about A Boy Named Hogg...

Cover art by Anna Henderson

“Come one and all and hear the tale of a little boy named Hogg...”

On the dullest day since records began, there was a birth. The birth of a boy named Sebastian Hogg. An unfortunate child born into a home deprived of hope and full of bitterness.

All this changes when he meets a mysterious stranger who takes him on a road trip full of wonder and excitement. From folky musicians to vaudeville tricksters, Sebastian is opened up to a rich and vibrant world he had never thought possible with a real sense of danger lurking around every corner, and where the consequences of actions could impact on the very fibre of existence.

At its core this picturesque fable tells of the power of an unbreakable friendship between two innocent beings and its impact on their lives and those around them.

Moving, uplifting, at times dark and macabre, a tale where magic and science collide in the most marvellous way. Come with me and hear the tale of A Boy Named Hogg.

Sincerely, A.G.R. Moore.

Release date: Friday December 7th, 2012

Formats: Kindle (and Kindle app) & Paperback

Price: TBA

Opening chapter can be read from an earlier blog post right...HERE.

My first reading event!

Yes, through some act of insanity and the lovely persuasive words of the people at Ryan's Bar I'm giving my first ever public reading in Belfast next Saturday, October 6th. On the day I'll be reading three or four chapters from The Unseen Chronicles of Amelia Black, as well as judging a short story competition and colouring in on a few of the illustrations. I'll be giving away copies of the book in paperback and other bits and pieces as prizes.

Huge thank you to Gerrie from Ryan's Bar for asking me to do it. Should be a great day! Come one and all, if not for hearing me ramble then for the lovely food!

More details found here... http://www.gotobelfast.com/whats-on/event/book-reading-with-agr-moore-

Hopefully see you all there on the day.

One year on...

And what a year it's been. 

On this day one year ago I self-published The Unseen Chronicles of Amelia Black, on the internet for the first time. What originally started as an experiment, an ambitious project, eventually, by the time of its completion became an obsession, a passion, something I've started to revolve my life around. When jobs are few and far between and personal tragedies engulf the world around me, this kind, curious, wonderful soul kept me going, gave me hope. Been the cause of many a sleepless night and many times screaming in frustration at the computer, but what you going to do...

Though my journey with Amelia Black is far from over - the sequel is currently in the works - I just wanted to take the time to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to anyone who has supported me. It's been an bizarre and overwhelming experience. If you've bought the book, enjoyed the book, tried the Kindle sample, wrote reviews, interviewed me, had me on the radio, stocked the paperback, marvelled at Gillian's incredible illustrations. Thank you. 

And so the journey continues. 

I've mentioned this a few times over the past few months but I have been preparing my second book, A Boy Named Hogg for publication. Eventually. Possibly late September. Possibly earlier. Possibly slightly later. Either way it's finished and is definitely coming. Like Amelia Black before it I've decided, for at least one more time, to self-publish the book.

Providing where you go on the internet, the concept of e-publishing is understandably a very prickly subject. If you use it as a get rich quick scheme then you probably deserve to fall flat on your face. I originally did it because it felt like the best option available to me at the time, yes I probably jumped on a bandwagon, my sales are humble at best.  I don't like to get involved in the politics. I just love to write, how it gets out into the world is the last thing on my mind. 

It's a hard slog, sometimes insanely frustrating but so far it's been incredibly rewarding also. I wouldn't have traded the experiences I've had, the people I've met, the bizarre opportunities that's been presented to me for anything. From here on it's up to me how I take them and move forward. I'm not going to gush and say dreams come true or stay positive and it'll all turn out for the best. I'm just saying, by my own admission, it's a slow process but I'm in it for the long haul because somewhere along the way I've had a lot of people put their faith in me and one day I hope I can repay that. 

And to you readers, both old and new, I finally present the first chapter of my upcoming fantastical folk tale, A Boy Named Hogg. I hope you welcome these characters and their stories into your hearts the same way you did with the ones which populate the world of Amelia Black. 

Thank you,

A.G.R. Moore.

***

ONE

A BEGINNING

Was it love?

“Nothing more than empty lovers through a window,” she replied.

Some people may tell the tale differently but rarely with the level of truth as it was through my own eyes. Who am I you ask? My role in this story is not important. Think of me as a curious observer, nothing more.

            In the beginning, William Arthur Hogg was a shipbuilder’s son. And like his father before him he too became a shipbuilder, living modestly in a small house in a rough part of an old town on an old street called Willow Lane.

He married at the age of twenty four to a young woman by the name of Rosamund Duffy, or simply Rosie for short. How they met doesn’t matter, nor whether it was really true love. Regrettably their honeymoon period lasted approximately two days, sixteen hours, twenty five minutes and forty three seconds. This was the moment William found out the famous shipyard was closing, and he was now without a job.

William tried and tried, and with all the good intentions in the world he could not find another job. Nobody wanted to employ a young man of limited schooling for anything of real substance and a decent wage. Those good intentions and positive feelings became increasingly bitter and increasingly darker as the months went by.

This feeling of misery was compounded by the news his fearful, beautiful wife departed upon him one dreary and dejected afternoon. A piece of news normally received with gleeful joy and unrivalled happiness. Yet for William, this news was met with dread, resentment and an unsurpassable amount of anxiety.

He was soon to be a father.  

It was the morning of April 11^th. It’s often remembered as a date which echoed through history as the most unremarkable day, since records began. The records were wrong.

The hospital was St. Raphael’s. The midwife’s name was Mildred Warbler.  The timeless smell of disinfectant still echoes through time as potent as it was the day the baby was born.

“Steady now deary,” said the midwife, calmly. “You’re now mother to a healthy baby boy.” Rosie cried with joy upon seeing the baby’s face. “Isn’t he a cute one,” said the Midwife, earnestly. “Now don’t think I say that about all the newborns, ‘cause I don’t. He looks like a special ‘un. I’ll go get the father. I’m sure he’ll be utterly thrilled!’”

“No, don’t...” said Rosie.

“Oh...?”

“He’s not here,” she explained, steadily. “He’s...working.”

“Well he’s got to pay the bills I suppose, after all there’s an extra mouth to feed now isn’t there?” said the midwife, with a hearty chuckle.

Rosie said nothing to correct her.

Instead she gazed upon the baby once more, which gazed straight back at her, barely able to open his eyes. She smiled profusely, yet sadness prevailed at the sobering realisation William was not present to share the momentous occasion. The woman knew well the child was conceived on a night, shrouded in desperation. He was just born into a mess.  The child’s name was Sebastian Hogg. Being just a tiny newborn, right now, he doesn’t quite know this but this is his story.

This is the story about how he saved the world. 

***

Kreativ Blogger Award

Damn that charming little scoundrel Matt Sloan. I try to avoid these things and he goes ahead and throws my name into the mix for a Kreativ Blogger award - what that is. No, no, that's rude. I love him really I do. In the words of dear ol Mary Poppins, "If I must, I must..."

The Rules:
1. Thank & link back to the person who nominated you.
2. Answer the ten questions.
3. Share ten random facts/thoughts about yourself.
4. Nominate seven worthy blogs for the Kreative Blogger Award.

The Questions:
1. What's your favorite song?
Cool answer: Dig for Fire by The Pixies. Real answer: ... probably I Just Can't Wait To Be King from The Lion King. 

2. What's your favorite dessert?
Jelly and ice cream. 

3. What ticks you off?
Working in retail for this long I'm going to have to say general ignorance. And bad time keeping. 

4. What do you do when you're upset?
Not as much as I probably should actually. There's a nature trail behind my house I go for a walk down listening to John Williams soundtracks. That usually chills me out or inspires me to do good. 

5. Which is your favorite pet?My cat Albert. 

6. Which do you prefer: black or white?
Black. Amelia or the shade, it all works. 

7. What is your biggest fear?
That would be telling. I wish it was clowns because that would probably be more manageable. 

8. What is your attitude mostly?
Try to be a polite, nice bloke.

9. What is perfection?
To be financially secure and loved. Oh sure, loads of material items and a huge house would be awesome too. 

10. What is your guilty pleasure?
I've got a lot of pleasures, but none I overly feel guilty about. Least none I can think of at this moment in time. 

The Random Facts:

1. At several points in my life I genuinely believed - in all seriousness - I would become Batman. 

2. Goalkeeper for a 6-a-side football team called The Tony Danza Football Extravaganza.  

3. Have a degree in Archaeology. I did consider it a possible career route for about five minutes, but was disappointed to discover it wasn't all shooting Nazis and finding lost treasure in the middle of the Amazon. 

4. When I was 14, my mates and I had a backyard wrestling federation. My persona was The Giant. I was also a mean...sometimes articulately awkward commentator.  There's video footage out there I pray will never see the light of day. 

5.  I was the singer of two bands. One was a nu-metal act called Asylum. We use to enter the stage wearing white make-up and fake blood. Then we recruited two new members, changed our sound to 'experimental noisecore' and called ourselves The Nexus - look the myspace page still exists! Some of the best days of my life were with the wonderful people in that band. 

6. Think I tried to write about three or four books before I embarked on writing The Unseen Chronicles of Amelia Black. Amelia Black was actually suppose to be a simple picture book about a girl and a monster in a far away land, then I thought about it too much and what you see today was the result. 

7. I'm into all the animated works of Walt Disney way more than any grown man should ever admit. 

8. Grew up on a street Van Morrison wrote a song about... 

9. Infrequently partake in a film podcast called Panic Shots, talking nonsense next to two much more educated and interesting souls, Laura Shearer and Ross Thompson. It's on iTunes and everything. 

10. There are only nine interesting facts about me. 

The Nominations:
I've no idea...I'm linking it back to Sloan! 

The Storyteller // Flash-fiction // Unexpected Fairy tales

I've most likely totally missed the point of this competition, but thought I would give it a try. If nothing else I've got a head start on where my next book, after Amelia Black 2, might go. Or might not. That's a weird and wild thought which is currently too far in the future right now... 


So yes, Anna Meade (@ruanna3 through Twitter, seemingly lovely lass I started following recently), has laid down the challenge of an unexpected fairytale. It should contain 350 words max. With the deadline only hours away as of publishing this blog post I thought I would contribute something I've been pondering for a long time now. So my wonderful readers, a tale simply called The Storyteller...

Claudius sat down in the bus shelter. It was a bright day. It was a new day. Much like it was the day it happened to him. His eyes had seen many things; the world had changed so much. He rarely would look in a mirror, but only needed to see the countless wrinkles in his hands to know.

Now was the time to pass it on.

            “Mommy, mommy, when’s the bus arriving?” He looked up to see a woman and a little girl, no older than seven, sit down beside him. He politely smiled at them both.

            “It’ll be here soon, dear, now sit down,” said the mother.

            “Oh, okay.” The little girl swayed her head, then looked towards Claudius and boldly said, “Hello!”

            “Hello there,” said Claudius.

            “That’s a big beard!” said the girl.

Claudius could do nothing but laugh, “Yes, it is.”

            “Penny! That’s very rude. I’m so sorry, sir.”

            “It’s no trouble at all, honestly,” he said. Little Penny edged closer towards Claudius, becoming curiouser and curiouser. Claudius held tightly to the ivory head of his walking stick.

            “What do you do?”

            “Me? It’s a secret,” he replied, giving a knowing wink.

            “Secrets? I like secrets, I’ll keep it, I promise!” she jumped up and down and gave a charming smile.

            “You have to promise.”

            “I promise! I promise.”

            “Okay,” he whispered. “I’m a storyteller.” The little girl and the mother looked baffled, never hearing such a wild title before.

            “What’s a storyteller?” asked Penny.

            “A father, a brother, a wizard, a hero, a villain, an adventurer and above all a dreamer. Someone who can see hundreds of lives yet live just one. Someone who can spark a revolution. All with a little imagination.”

            “Wow!” said Penny.

Claudius brought out his golden pocket watch. The time was 1.05pm. “I don’t have much time but if your mother allows it I’ll tell you a story. I warn you though, once told it can never be untold. Once I’m done you must tell it to others.”

“Yes, yes!”

“Are you paying attention? Good. Now, once upon a time...” 

Amelia Black in The Looking Glass & The Lucky Seven Game

I mentioned in one of my last blog posts that a chapter extract of The Unseen Chronicles of Amelia Black would be featured in the first issue of Dublin based children's literature magazine, The Looking Glass. Well after days of waiting eagerly by the door, the jolly postman finally delivered me a copy - as displayed in the photo above of course.

It's a great read and seeing all the other talented writers featured does make one feel ever so slightly intimidated.  Huge thanks to Elena and Joanne for featuring the work of Gill and I in it. If you want to support the publication definitely pay their Facebook page a visit over here :: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Looking-Glass-Magazine/120504311392360

The Lucky Seven Game

Now, if you follow other writer blogs about you'll have noticed this doing the rounds. My next book is only a few months away - potential illustrations and couple more edits pending - and thought it would be fun to give the first extract from A Boy Named Hogg. So here it is...seven lines, from the seventh line, from page seven of the new book.

“Hello, I’d like to be your friend.”

“Hehe! Awk, you are just too sweet,” said the stranger, softly. Sebastian suddenly felt at ease, giggling more happily and more innocently than he ever had done before in his all too brief lifespan.

A thunderous crash came suddenly from the other room, and William and Rosie were shouting once again. Sebastian wasn’t fazed, in the slightest. His attention was still fixated on this mysterious stranger in his living room. 

As you can see that reveals pretty much nothing, but as the months go on I'll filter bits and pieces of the plot and some sort of launch plan. I'm starting to become really excited by it, and I hope when it's published you will too.

More to come.

A.G.R.