Indie Christmas Time!

Now I'm a bit of a bah-humbug-scrooge at this time of year.  I'm the type of person that plugs my ears up whenever those same old songs come on while you're shopping; shutting my eyes to block the constant toy adverts that feel five hours long; an eye-roll reaction every time people panic that over work rotas and how they're going to cope (come on, it's a couple of days people, even shorter than the Easter weekend!).  In fact, a couple of years ago when I was living in London, I basically stock-piled so I didn't have to leave home for the week leading up to the big day (have you seen how violent people are with metal shopping trolleys in the final countdown?).

The day I look forward to, is actually Boxing Day.  Our tradition is to go on a pub-crawl on horseback, and dress up like this:
(Don't we look lovely and scruffy!)
(And yes, that is my posh dressage horse wearing antlers!)

Yes, this is a thing.  It's not a Hunt, it's just a gentle hack around the Yorkshire countryside with about 40 riders singing and drinking.  I've been doing it every year since I was 14 years old.  No matter where I was living (London, Bristol, Wales, Ireland...) I always make sure I get back for it.

Luckily, I have found a group of people that will help me be more positively festive between now and Boxing Day.
I have been a lucky participant in the #IndieBooksBeSeen movement since it's conception earlier this year.  Mark Shaw, the creator, is a lovely chap that is brimming with ideas.  You might have seen the day we took over Twitter with a deluge of Indie writers and their book covers on July 1st.  Or heard about the booktuber incentive to read and review Indie books.
#IndieBooksBeSeen is not about pushing sales of one author or another (although let's face it, that is a bonus), it is about spreading awareness to readers around the world that there are hundreds, even thousands, of fantastic books, that you might otherwise discard because they didn't come through traditional publishing.
Sure, there are a few crap ones out there - anyone who has read my blog can attest to my opinion on that!  But only as many crap traditionally published books anyway.  I've often said that the reason I started writing, and thought I had a chance as a writer, was because I was bored with all the tosh on the bookshelves.

Ok, I'm getting distracted.  Back on topic.
As those of you who have been stalking my blog will have noticed, there is a big Christmassy-looking box wrenched in at the top right corner --->
a) I haven't worked out how to make it look cleaner fiddling with the dimensions yet, so let's just pretend it looks perfect.
b) If you haven't been stalking yet - why not?

So basically, D.B. Nielsen, writer of the Keeper of Genesis series (review coming in the next couple of months), and a firm supporter of #IndieBooksBeSeen, has set up a competition for all you lovely people to enter.
It is a raffle where you have the chance to win one of over 70 paperback or ebook copies.
These include fantastic books like The Summer Solstice; Deceived (which I am reading and loving at this very moment); along with many others you can see in full at the #IndieBooksBeSeen website.

So get to it, you have until the 15th December to enter!

The Winners list has now been emailed out to all who have won - go check your email inbox and junk tray!!!

Congratulations to Michelle Buxton for winning a paperback copy of The Shadow Rises!


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