The Realm of Katherine Vick

In honour of the approaching Christmas season, I thought I'd break out a poem I wrote for a Christmas writing challenge a number of years ago. It was for the prompt "a walk through a house from the perspective of a child" because I wanted to write something with some rhythmic hurly burly to it as that’s the kind of poem I like best – something with a bit of gallop and a cadence – and that seemed to fit the bill, given that in my experience, small children do not so much walk through a house as push it out of their way as they pass. ;p.   A Christmas Tale    The day was barely dawning when I woke on Christmas morning, As excitement filled me up right to my core, I flung aside the blanket as I leapt from bed all frantic, Skipping, tripping, skidding, slipping to the door!   Christmas day was here now! The best day of the year! Wow! What glories waited down beneath that tree? Had Father Christmas called by, left the presents piled up knee-high, I...

 The below was written for a long ago writing challenge somewhere across the internet but in honour of yesterday being Halloween, it seemed appropriate to post today. ;) Toil and Trouble “What do you mean, you forgot the eye of newt?” “I mean it just slipped my mind! It was so busy at the Wicca market, there were so many stalls and the slug juggler was flirting with me…” “Well, you got to admit, dearie, he is a fine figure of a man….” “Shut up Ursula! Just keep stirring that cauldron!” “Fine by me, dearie, fine by me…” “I’m sorry, Medea. Do you want me to go back?” “Well, there isn’t time now, is there? We’ll have to make do. Did you get the fillet of fenny snake?” “Umm… they were out…” “Of for the love of Hecate… All right, the toe of frog?” “They were out of that too. There’s this recipe for wart growth in Circe’s latest compendium that’s proving very popular, you see…” “I don’t care what’s popular! We need those ingredients! Please tell me you at least got the ...

  World Building – The Perils of Exposition I think anyone who has tried to write a fantasy or science fiction story set in its own unique universe will understand me when I say – setting up a world is hard. Creating it isn’t, at least not for me. I love creating new worlds – drawing maps, thinking of cultures and rules and how things work – that’s as much fun as writing itself as far as I am concerned. In fact, in many ways, it’s more fun – it’s use of the imagination without the pressure of having to word it properly. I get to play with my favourite things - history and geography and magic - all at the same time. I love world building. But transmitting that information to poor, innocent readers – aye, there’s the rub. Because once a world is created, it’s important those reading it can get the hang of it for the story set within it to make sense. But exposition is dull. Many a writer has lost their readers with a big, fat factual overload dump early on. So how to introduce ...

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 You know, I never used to pay that much attention to history. It seems odd to say it now sitting in my house crammed with history books and my medieval re-enactment kit piled up in crates just to my left. And the odd thing was – it wasn’t that I wasn’t interested. The problem, much as I hate to say it as an undisputed Hermione Grangeresque swot, was school. I’m not sure exactly how things stand in school these days, but I know that back in ancient times when I was being educated, the problem with history was that no one was interested in teaching you the interesting bits.   We rushed through Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome in primary school, cantered through the Dark Ages to the English Civil War before I even hit my teens and then, just as I was of an age to start appreciating history, what did we stick on? The Industrial Revolution. Oh God. We stayed there. For years, all through high school. We never even made it to the World Wars. And I can say hand on heart that th...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm sure you will be thrilled and gloriously excited to learn that there is now merchandise available for The Disposable ! Fancy a The Disposable t-shirt, mug or coaster? A notebook perhaps, a sticker or a phone case? That and many more things are available now on Redbubble!  https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/84432946?ref=studio-promote      https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/84536999  https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/84537417

  The Name Game – The Sequel In honour of the release of The Merry Band , my sequel to The Disposable , I have been seized by the urge to write a sequel to my previous blog, where I discussed my naming strategies. And my premise is simply this – if you had to name yourself in the manner of my Realm, what name would you give yourself? Because on thinking about it for myself, it’s really not as simple as it sounds. Would you want to chose your own name or have it chosen for you? Would you want a name that genuinely reveals an aspect of your personality or would you prefer to keep your true self and any accompanying expectations privately behind a less accurate or less specific one? And what part of yourself would you chose to advertise if you did choose an accurate name – positive or negative, self-promotion or warning? A Realm name is like a badge. It tells a bit of your story to whoever hears it. But much like The Narrative, it depends on what side of the story you want to te...

Announcing the arrival of the sequel to my debut fantasy satire novel The Disposable – The Merry Band ! The Taskmaster Strikes Back! Fodder successfully rebelled against The Narrative once, but now everything’s going completely and horribly wrong. It soon becomes apparent that his own companions are even more unstable than he realized, between Flirt’s suicidal rashness, Shoulders’ increasing desperation to keep his head attached to his body, Princess Pleasance’s unwillingness to speak, and Prince Dullard’s inability to shut up. Unfortunately, Fodder has bigger problems, because the Taskmaster is finally getting serious. That means it’s not just the Heroes hunting Fodder anymore; there’s an entire pantheon of gods after him. It’s too late to turn back, and Fodder wouldn’t even if he could. He’s determined to unveil the secret of the Quickening, even if it means saving the world while he's at it. UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Merry-Band-Katherine-Vick/dp/1951471083 US:...

 Author Interview - The Merry Band For those who are curious, here is an interview I did with my publishers Thinklings about my upcoming The Disposable sequel. The Merry Band ! I hope you enjoy it. :)

  The Name Game I have a confession. I love names. I’m an avid collector of them. For example, there are some wonderful historical names my mother has uncovered in the course of her family history research – the winners so far being Valentine Pratt, Strange Peacock and brothers Wildsmith and Griffin Badger (the latter two being indeed a part of my genetic make-up!). As a child (sad as this makes me sound), I used to pause the credits of films on video and list any interesting names I found there. I have a number of name books, both conventional and slightly more unusual – my books of Cornish and Celtic names are an especially good source of fantasy names. And any time I come across a good name in normal life, I have a little notebook on hand to write it down. Strange to confess, I don’t do this purely to collect names for my writing. I do it because I like names. But, of course, it does come in handy in that regard. I’ve seen a number of discussions hither and thither on the ...