Ghost Dog Hardcovers

As the above picture shows, the hardcover copies of Ghost Dog have arrived. I've done the Library of Congress registration and sent copies out to them, and my Beta readers.

As the Star Trek song says, "It's been a long road getting from there to here."

And this being real life and all, there have been some obstacles along the way that I couldn't foresee. But, while the learning curve has seemed steep, I've come a long way in understanding and being able to do the things necessary to bring a book out.

And I've had a lot of fun whilst doing so.

OK, not all of it has been fun, but seeing my books in print and the reviews of the first have all substantiated my belief that I can achieve my goal.

Ghost Dog Print Pre-Order

Print editions available next week.

Amazon US isn't showing the ebook link, I don't know why, but I've queried them so hopefully this should be fixed soon. If US readers go to my author page the ebook link does appear there when you click on Ghost Dog.

Ghost Dog – Now Available

Story Summary

Newly promoted, Captain Tachikoma nows lead her team to another world. Now they must through a portal that only opens once every six months.

Her mission. Retrieve unimaginably advanced alien technology that could change the world. Keep her team alive with only one chance to return.

Nothing could prepare her for what waits on an alien planet.

This gripping addition to the Gate Walker series, humanity expands its exploration of the galaxy to reveal more secrets, in "Ghost Dog" Tachikoma needs all of her combat armor skills to get home.

“This story is great, with a very firm grasp of the Marine Corps lifestyle.”


– Sgt D. Barrow, USMC

"High concept, high calibre character-driven Mil-SF. Compulsively readable."

– Alex Stewart aka Sandy Mitchell author of the Ciaphas Cain series

More About The Author

Buy This Book

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon DE
Amazon FR
Amazon AU

Ghost Dog Cover Reveal

At last I'm getting to the point where the end is in sight. I've been doing the final copy edits on Ghost Dog and here's the cover sans typography. As you can see it's another great piece of artwork from Elartwyne Estole.

Meanwhile, I've been watching USMC shooting videos on YouTube. One of my Beta readers pointed out some procedural mistakes in how my main character was teaching another character to shoot. Since there's the right way, the wrong way, and the Marine Corps way, I'm revising the scene.

Hopefully, the electronic version of Ghost Dog will be up on Amazon by end of next week. 

Ghost Dog Cover Teaser Two

It has been a tough week for me, and the technical edits are still a work in progress on Ghost Dog, so here's another teaser for the cover.

This last week I've spent time working through The Bureau, which is weird. I'm re-reading my unfinished first novel with the intention of finishing what I started. Heinlein's rules of writing; finish what you start. Having written three other novels in the meantime, I can truly say it’s like reading another authors work.

I'm also evaluating a writing technique that was brought to my attention on this blog, called deep third POV. I'm still mulling it over. It could be the best thing since sliced bread, or just another tool to be used as and when.

Serendipitously, I began reading Dare to be a Great Writer by Leonard Bishop. And guess what, I found him discussing the pros and cons of using deep third POV, except he addresses under the title: the false limitations on first person narrators.

So, I learnt something new.

At the weekend I met up with some friends. The son of one of them was a song writer, and we had an interesting discussion on writing, comparing song writing process to novel writing. One thing that came out of it was that it made me think about grammar.

Grammar is the glue, not the work. The work is made of words that convey meaning, and grammar is just the glue that holds the story telling together. That may not be the worlds best metaphor, and probably only means something if you're at the stage where your ready for it.

And another observation from talking about how to write a novel.

The advice a beginner needs to hear is not the same as someone who has written a few novels, and is again not the same as a professional author who makes a living at writing.

My insight in all this comes from is the fact that as a former cognitive behavioural therapist my job was rooted in learning theory. Therapy is how do you get people to change habits that aren't working for them.

But like a lot of things in life, knowing something has to change is not the same as knowing what or how to change.

Ghost Dog Cover Teaser

And here's a sketch to tease while you all wait for Ghost Dog to arrive. Copy edits are done, and I'm just waiting back on my Beta reader's technical edits (so far one omission found, a couple of technical edits, and no doubt more to come).

This week has been another one occupied by copy editing. This time on Mission Two, and it's taking me longer to do as I'm thinking about how I want to market the series, and how many episodes I want to write.

But the good news is that after some hard reflection on my failings, I'm still managing to produce new words in what some people might describe as difficult circumstances. I shall take that as a win.

However, half of my day today was taken with a hospital visit, which left me exhausted. I also have a series of blood tests to go to over the next three and a bit months too. So, onwards because words don't write themselves.

Ghost Dog Teaser

This is a picture I took after seeing the sketch for the cover of Ghost Dog. It features Captain Tachikoma's CASE-2XC-Mod 2 Dog standing back-to-back with Master Sergeant Ferretti's Air Force security Buster CAS-C4P.

Just a tease.

I've just received back the copy edit of Ghost Dog and my plan for the week is to go through and review all the edits. Once done, I'll send it off to my specialist Beta reader, because no matter how good my research is, a real US Marine knows the gribbly details far better than me.

Health wise, things are improving, slowly.

Realistically, I'm faced with taking medication for more than a year. Therefore, I'm pretty sure that before the treatment ends, there will be days when it will feel like two-steps-forward and one-step-back. Other than that, things are good.