Books HG Wells didn’t write

Mount Tryfan – My first encounter with the mountain where the Martian cylinder crashed in ‘The Day Of The Martians.’ A research trip to Snowdonia, North Wales, on December 27th 2015.

Glancing out of the window, I noticed a black sky with scorched stripes of amber light. Marbled clouds proceeded to march across the sky.  My computer screen went black. A single radio wave appeared on my screen, and the distant sound of a radio tuning into a station transformed into enigmatic music.  A silhouette appeared on the screen of my laptop. H.E Wilburson had arrived in cyberspace to tell me more about The Martian Diaries Trilogy.   

Jessie:  Hello H.E.  I’m glad you’ve arrived safely.  I hope the Martians are behaving.  This is all very mysterious.  Tell me more about The Martian Diaries.

H.E Wilburson: The Martian Diaries Trilogy is a continuation of H.G.Wells’ The War Of The Worlds, and hopefully an engaging sequel to the iconic scifi classic. Book 1, The Day Of The Martians, features the original characters battling a new Martian invasion in 1913 in a 2 hour audiobook with specially composed music.

Martian Diaries audiobook

Jessie: This is a clever concept for a book.  I now understand why you’ve decided to meet me in cyberspace.  What do others think about your audio book?  Have any Martians made contact?

A radio crackled then I heard paper being shuffled. 

H.E Wilburson: You’ll have to listen to my book to find out if the Martians have made contact.  I’ve had some great reviews from people who have dared to enter my world.

Readers Favorite 5 star – Justine Reyes I implore fans of H.G. Wells and fans of the science fiction genre to listen and savour the adventure which H.E.Wilburson has given us. This was more than an audio book. This was, in many ways, a wonderfully executed tribute to H.G. Wells.

Rony Campbell Breakaway Reviewers – If you are, like me, a fan of ‘The War of the Worlds’ then download this audiobook. Discovering it has left me with the feeling that sometimes in life, amongst all the boring stuff, something comes along to shake up your life and make you grateful for other people’s creations.

Gabriel Blake Goodreads – To follow up something as legendary as ‘War of the Worlds’ is not an easy accomplishment and H.E.Wilburson should be very proud. Very proud indeed. I highly recommend giving this a listen, it will surprise you. It follows on from the original albeit a few years later, with the same cast of characters. It is tense, dramatic, and powerful. The narration and music: superb. I cannot praise ‘The Day of the Martians’ enough.

Jessie: Can you give us an extract from your novel that will tempt a reader.

H.E Wilburson: “The terror of the coming of the Martians was all but a distant memory, a bad dream that had faded with time. Unfolding the Daily Chronicle, I read and realised to my horror the discovery of a Martian cylinder…”

The Martian cylinder was moved out of London to its new position close to Reculver, near Herne Bay, on the north Kent coast.

Jessie:  This Martian Cylinder intrigues me.  Can you tell us more? I can hear a transmission coming through my earphones.  The Martians have sent two audio chapters of my book.

Find it in cyberspace at:
https://youtu.be/iL7hxm5fJ7c

Jessie: How did you feel when you had finished writing your book, and did you miss any of the characters?

H.E Wilburson:  The Day Of The Martians was completed as an audiobook with my own musical compositions and sound effects. However, my sense of achievement was overshadowed by the daunting task of writing the second book in The Martian Diaries series. Lake On The Moon is more than twice the length of the first book, and is a much darker tale, containing my answers to questions that H.G.Wells left unanswered in the original plot of The War Of The Worlds. Once the trilogy is finished, I’m sure I will miss the primary characters that have shaped the trilogy, such as Ogilvy the astronomer, the Artillery Man and of course the writer/narrator, who I named George after Mr Wells. The Martian Diaries series is very much a work in progress until book 3, Gateway To Mars is actually completed – hopefully before the end of 2019.

My favourite place to write

Jessie: Who would you like to read your book and why?  This could be another author, someone famous, a friend or a member of your family. 

H.E Wilburson:  I would have liked H.G.Wells to have read my book and to hear that he enjoyed it.

Jessie: Why should I keep your book in my handbag?

H.E Wilburson:  Because it is the continuation of an iconic book to be listened to more than once. Most of us can identify with wanting a sequel to a story that we have enjoyed. Hopefully my book has been done well.

Jessie:  What is the last sentence written in your writer’s notebook?

H.E Wilburson:  When I have finished the third book in The Martian Diaries trilogy my final sentence will probably be… “I have my life back!”

Jessie: What is the biggest challenge for an author? 

H.E Wilburson:  For me, the biggest challenge is making the reader care about the characters.

Jessie: What is the best advice that you have received as a writer?

H.E Wilburson:  Keep going

H.E. Wilburson not singing in the rain

About H.E:

The author prefers to be known as H.E, has been composing music all his life but only within recent years has felt the urge to actually use his storytelling and music.

H.E would rather be composing music than writing. Has a particular affinity to Wales, having been born there, and has a compulsion to visit any time he is within 50 miles. H.E. is driven to create something special and as long as he has done his best, nothing else matters.  He loves grey days, the great outdoors, and especially being by the sea.

Cosy nights in with a good film are particularly appealing, especially if it can prevent him from falling asleep.

 

Please see all my author interviews at My Guests and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

A book from another world in my handbag

It is great to challenge ourselves with new genres, and ‘We Other’ is a dark fairy thriller. According to reviewers, ‘We Other’ is a magical novel to inspire the imagination. ‘In the book you will meet faeries you would never want to meet on a dark night,’ explained, the author, Sue Bentley. Intrigued, I asked Sue to address her readers, and tell us more about her novel.

 

 

Dear Readers – I am delighted to present We Other.

In this extract we meet Jess Morgan, a loner who doesn’t fit in and has few friends. Her life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined.

I chose this extract to introduce Jess, whose story this is. She’s feisty, difficult and street-wise – with good reason – but she’s vulnerable too, with a good heart.

The reader should be tempted to place my book in their handbag because it’s a complex and rewarding read, with many twists and turns which will keep them guessing.  I’m rooting for Jess and I hope you will too, once you get to know her.

Best wishes and I hope you enjoy the extract. Happy reading!

Sue Bentley

 

Words from the book…

And then looking through the opening into the final gallery, Jess caught sight of a large painting hanging by itself. Her breath quickening with excitement, she walked rapidly towards it.

There was a small crowd of people in front of the painting. She could only glimpse details through the shifting bodies, but she knew it was the one. She hung back, wanting to prolong the moment when she stood face to face with that figure wrought from shadows. Leave me alone with it, she thought. Go away. All of you.

Oblivious to the air around her tingling and shimmering, in a way that was beginning to feel familiar, she stared at the painting. As she moved forward, time seemed to shift into slow motion. A slew of sound echoed hollow and discordant in her ears as every person standing in front of the painting turned in a single movement. They looked at Jess with glazed eyes, before drifting sideways in a single body, moving as if in the steps of some tightly choreographed dance, and melting from the gallery.

Everyone else had somehow left too, she realised. She could see people strolling around the other galleries through the archways. But here, she was alone. In the sudden stillness Jess caught her breath. The painting was revealed to her in its entirety. Or as she thought oddly, it revealed itself to her.

She was not disappointed by what she saw.

More about the book…

Jess Morgan’s life has always been chaotic. When a startling new reality cannot be denied, it’s clear that everything she believed about herself is a lie. She is linked to a world where humans – ‘hot-bloods’ – are disposable entertainment. Life on a run-down estate – her single mum’s alcoholism and violent boyfriend – become the least of her worries. Drawn into a new world of rich darkness, she finds herself torn between love, family and a growing sense of a new, powerful identity.

Strapline for the book – Fairies you never want to meet on a dark night.

What the reviewers say…

‘Darkly delicious. Lights the blue touch paper and runs away.’ Peter J Goodchild

‘Absolutely magical. Compelling story and gorgeous writing.’  Freda Warrington – award winning author of 21 fantasy novels

‘Give yourself time. You won’t want to put this down.’ Ruth Webster

More about Sue…

Sue Bentley is fascinated by English Folklore, the extraordinary in the everyday and the darkness that hovers at the edges of the light.

Sue says…

Louis Armstrong says it best – ‘the bright blessed day and the dark sacred night’ You can’t have one without the other.

I always enjoyed ‘real’ fairy tales – not the sanitised Disney versions. For example, in some versions of Cinderella – the ugly sisters snip off their toes to be able to cram their feet into the glass slipper.

I was that kid in a class of pink tutus who was dressed as a vampire bat. I never wanted high-heeled dancing shoes, I wanted sturdy boots to go tramping around forests looking for the shapes of goblins in the trees.

As for characters – Goody, Goody is all very well, but it can get boring. We all love the ‘bad’ characters who do doubtful things – they’re much more fun to write about.

I am intrigued by Sue’s exploration of the ‘darkness that hovers on the edge of light’ and wonder what she presents to the reader in ‘We Other’.  The extract evoked my imagination, and I wanted to know why Jess ‘wasn’t disappointed’.  This novel sounds as if it will challenge the boundaries of the imagination, as it has done for the reviewers.