The Realm of Katherine Vick

  Unboxing Society Anyone who has read my books (and if not, why not?) may have noticed I’m not a fan of stereotyping. I am in fact strongly in favour people breaking free of the expectations society places on them on the basis of their birth and upbringing and (within reasonable legal bounds obviously!) being exactly who they are. Some people might even describe my characters as “living their best life” or “being their true selves.” However – I wouldn’t . Because, dear reader, I despise those two phrases as they are used in this day and age. To me, they are merely an emphatically stated gateway for stepping straight from one stereotype box and into another. To me they represent not freedom but a whole new set of rules. They represent that society is boxed up. Allow me to explain. Society has always come in boxes. Historically, there was the male box and the female box, the rich box and the poor box, different ethnic boxes and cultural boxes and each one came with its own...

A slightly longer short story for you to celebrate the coming of a certain season, written for a long ago Christmas writing challenge with a large variety of cliches prompts to work in. My take was this - that h appily ever after depends on your point of view…;) Ever After  “You’re sure they don’t know about this?” Lord Arthek stared at the gaunt, anxious face of his old friend and neighbour Baron Tewdar and gave as much of a reassuring smile as he could under the circumstances.   “As sure as you can be with… them ,” he said, his voice betraying the slightest tremor of anxiety as he glanced once more at the vast double doors at the head of his feasting chamber. “I made everyone I invited promise not to mention this at court in case word got back and I only told those that I truly trust that we’re doing this. If we’re lucky…”   He did not finish the sentence. He didn’t have to. The hope hung in the air like waft of sweet perfume.   Baron Tewdar gazed around...

As ever, this was a challenge piece written long ago for the prompt "storm".  It seems to have relevance at the moment, though to be fair these days the fashion is more to brazen it out than take one's medicine... The Eye of the Storm All around his home, the storm was raging. He could feel the windows rattle with the sheer force of its power, the tumultuous thunderous noise without deafening even through the glazing. He felt a man under siege, lost in the vast maelstrom from which he knew there could be no escape, flashes of vicious, vindictive light arching constantly towards him, towards his family and their last refuge. The force of it was shaking their very foundations.   They were trapped.   And only he could save them.   He glanced over his shoulder as he swallowed hard, turning away from the window and moving slowly, relentlessly towards the door with the gait of a man condemned. He saw his wife’s tight lips and sallow face, his son’s cross-armed de...

Something a bit different for you this month - some time ago, I attempted to get the tune of that AFC classic hit, The Maid of Mercy, down by recording myself singing it while holding my phone over a very rough map of The Realm I drew to keep myself orientated. Now it's not exactly a piece of magnificent music - it's fair to say Dullard and the AFCs are way, way better singers than I am - but I thought people might be interested to know the tune I had in my head for what they were singing. :) I apologise profusely for it being my voice...;p  

 I shall precede this blog post with a warning - it contains SPOILERS for certain aspects of the plot of The Taskmaster and therefore if you haven't read it yet (and if not, why not?) and don't want certain elements to be revealed in advance, I wouldn't go any further if I were you: The Art of Knowing Which Ship to Sail I’m not one of life’s great writers of romance. I’m able to admit that. I’m willing to give it a go where plot and character demands, but, aside from a few fanfiction dabblings, I rarely write a story that could be said to based entirely around a romantic relationship. Relationships are a part of my work, but I never considered them to be central, woven in rather than the dominant force. I place them where I feel they are appropriate. Judging where they are appropriate however, can sometimes be an interesting challenge. For example – take my intentions towards the character’s personal relationships in the Plot Bandits books. When I first plotted out this...

 And here we go again, continuing from last month's blog with the second half of my behind the scenes original story plan for a single book called Fodder . Big fat warning here folks - this part of the plan does venture into territory covered by The Taskmaster so if you haven't finished reading it yet, this is an official SPOILER WARNING. It's not exactly as it turned out but it's close enough! This is also the section that reveals just exactly how out of control this story got - in case you think as you are reading through that I've missed a chunk of notes out somewhere, nope - it is indeed the case that the whole second half of The Merry Band , the entirety of The Narrative and a large chunk of The Taskmaster were not part of my original intentions. It's fair to say I may have got carried away. ;p Fodder Basic Story Plan - Continued [Part Five as go into mountains, pre crone and ruined city Official Taskmaster Summary: The Ring of Anthiphion: Part Five   An ...

 In honour of the release of The Taskmaster , the final book of my *ahem* "trilogy" the Plot Bandits, I'm offering up a little behind the scenes treat - my original story plan for a single book (believe it or not) called Fodder which was typed up circa 2007/2008 from even more original notes I'd scribbled in a recently rediscovered notebook. It offers some insight into how this beast started, which ideas were there in some form or another right from the start, which never made the final cut and which ideas, by their absence, can be shown to have invaded my brain and shot me off in a new direction at a later date. It was definitely a case of life imitating art in the writing of this - the characters completely took over in the middle! Because I'm aware people may not have finished reading The Taskmaster yet (honestly, what's wrong with you? ;p) I'm going to release this frankly massive haul of notes in two parts, saving the potentially spoilery final secti...

  Announcing the arrival of the fourth and final book in my poorly named debut fantasy satire “trilogy” The Plot Bandits – The Taskmaster !   UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BZBW5DKF US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZBW5DKF   The Perfect Storybook Ending? Just as Pleasance gets a grip . . . Just as Dullard realises the truth . . . Just as Flirt and Shoulders get ahead . . . Just as Fodder exploits literary convention . . . Just as Ordinary people actually start to listen . . . Just as readers begin to feel tantalised by the blurb . . . Wait. You didn’t think we were about to spoil the ending for you, did you? This is the fourth and final book of the Plot Bandits “trilogy”! We’re saying nothing. https://www.facebook.com/LadyKatherineVick/   And for those of you who’d like to start at the beginning, the first novel, The Disposable can be found here:   UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disposable-1-Plot-Bandits/dp/1951471024 ...

In honour of three weeks to go until the release on Amazon of my final Plot Bandits novel,  The Taskmaster , I thought I would offer up a little glimpse of what is to come by presenting an extract from the book itself! I hope it whets the appetite a bit. :) --------------------------------- Her gaze quickly raked the ranks of the men left behind. Most looked nervous. Some looked angry. Many looked shocked. But none looked particularly inclined to be the first to step up and lead the charge in Sentinel’s place. Flirt fought not to punch the air. It was working! Facing a choice between their orders and the fundamental rules of their life—they were hesitating. They were thinking! And once the thinking had started… “You!” Preen’s harsh exclamation cut into her thoughts—she glanced up to find that he had wheeled dramatically on Midlin, march­ing up to his bland-faced new field captain with fire in his eyes. “You do it then! Get some men and attack them!” But Midlin was staring at him. M...

An attack of metaphysics for you all this month - a stream of consciousness piece of writing created for the Creative Prose module of my Masters in Literary Studies and Creative Writing. However, given it was shortly after writing this that I wrote the story that evolved into my novels, see if you can spot at least one theme from there that was on my mind! The Drawing Pin By Katherine Vick    A glint; light catches. In a seconds pause, my eye is drawn to flash of hurried bronze, a whisper of brightness that touched, just for an instant, on the shining dome of a drawing pin pushed deep into the brown jigsaw of cork that sheathes the nearby wall. My gaze lifts – I stare for a moment at smooth convex surface, mostly dull but for a golden twinkle along one rim, a sunny wink in my direction, reflecting the dim glow of a cloud sheathed sun beyond the windowpane.    It’s misty today, a dull pall that lingers like an off-white shroud over a forest of chimney tops and T...