I self published my first written piece, a novella called Shadow Valley, on the 12th of June 2018 through Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). The following is my marketing blurb about the story:
"Mary lays broken, incarcerated in the kingdom’s dungeon, with only her pet cat to confide in. She doesn’t remember why she’s there. She has no idea of the horrible plans that the evil princess has instore for her. As an amulet mysteriously ‘awakens’ in a blue aura so too begins an unstoppable chain of events that will change Mary’s life forever. It’s a race against time for Kingsgate’s master wizard and his apprentice as they rush to save the kingdom from imminent danger. Along the way they discover evil forces and dark secrets hidden deep in Shadow Valley. Will they make it in time to bring unity to the kingdom or will the fate of evil take its stranglehold and finally crush the broken royal family who have struggled to keep up their happy masquerade? Can Mary escape her physical and psychological prison? Unbeknown to Mary freedom is a timid secret lurking in the dark within Shadow Valley."
I had started writing this piece about five years ago. The first paragraph seemed to stream out of my head and at the time I had no idea how I was going to continue the novella let alone what the genre would be. I could have taken the story in any direction from the start and so I chose to write about Mary as a prisoner in medieval times. How she got there and her family history was the fun part of writing this for me.
"Mary lays broken, incarcerated in the kingdom’s dungeon, with only her pet cat to confide in. She doesn’t remember why she’s there. She has no idea of the horrible plans that the evil princess has instore for her. As an amulet mysteriously ‘awakens’ in a blue aura so too begins an unstoppable chain of events that will change Mary’s life forever. It’s a race against time for Kingsgate’s master wizard and his apprentice as they rush to save the kingdom from imminent danger. Along the way they discover evil forces and dark secrets hidden deep in Shadow Valley. Will they make it in time to bring unity to the kingdom or will the fate of evil take its stranglehold and finally crush the broken royal family who have struggled to keep up their happy masquerade? Can Mary escape her physical and psychological prison? Unbeknown to Mary freedom is a timid secret lurking in the dark within Shadow Valley."
I had started writing this piece about five years ago. The first paragraph seemed to stream out of my head and at the time I had no idea how I was going to continue the novella let alone what the genre would be. I could have taken the story in any direction from the start and so I chose to write about Mary as a prisoner in medieval times. How she got there and her family history was the fun part of writing this for me.
It was quite a task to complete Shadow Valley, juggling day to day life with a family and a full time job. Having started writing this some time ago I had to set myself a goal to finish the work before my 42nd birthday. I knocked out the draft, consisting of 26 000 words, by focusing on completing a chapter at a time. I was quite happy to finish the novella before my birthday which left me the next month to proofread the work and have others proofread it for me.
Although Shadow Valley is a short novel, I hope you can find the time to read it and please let me know if you enjoy the read. It's available from Amazon, either printed or as an ebook via clicking the book cover or link below:

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