Argon: Blog

Dear readers,
my apologies! I uploaded a dated epub file to Bookapy. It has been replaced now, so, if you bought the book, please download to new version.

Ever wondered how Thomas Grey's early years, sailing with his father and studying at the Royal Naval Academy, were? Young Thomas Grey provides all the answers, both here on SOL in serialised form (just submitted) and at Bookapy as the full story with bonus text.
For good measure, The Return of Thomas Grey is also available as epub at Bookapy, with a few adaptions to match the newly written prequel.
Here on SOL, you may expect two chapters of Young Thomas Grey per week, and as always, your feedback is very welcome!
Enjoy!

Chapter 8 is shortish, so I submitted both Chapters 8 & 9 for your weekend enjoyment (those of you who actually follow the revised Ellen Trilby ).
I received quite a lot positive feedback for the revised plot, and I am looking at my other old stories and at ways to make them a better read.
For instance, Jørg Isebrand drinks mostly well water, and I was advised that people who drank well water in the 16th century died young.
Belle the Collier, too, would have likely brewed his own ale in his cabin in the woods. A bit of alcohol in the drink was better than having the trots all the time.
That's in the future, however. Right now, The Young Years of Thomas Greys is shaping up, and I expect to finish it by October.
Have a nice weekend!

Dear readers,
I just posted a new version of Ellen Trilby at Bookapy, one with a new beginning, some new characters, and — as I believe — more credible story line.
When I started writing the story of the orphan girl Ellen Trilby, I had just posted In The Navy here at SOL, my first offering as a writer of fiction. I wanted to continue with the second part of In The Navy, but I had this romantic idea in my head, about a beautiful shepherdess capturing the heart of a young gentleman. As was my practice then, I just started writing without a developed plot, just following where my imagination took me, and posted chapters willy-nilly as soon as I had finished writing them. No editor was ever involved. That showed, but somehow, the readers liked the story anyway. In fact, Ellen, as it was renamed in 2017, continues to be my highest-rated story at SOL.
Why then, you will ask, did I rewrite such a well received story with a vastly changed plot? After all, it had already gone through three revisions over the years, first hunting typos, then correcting syntax, and latest, removing gratuitous sex scenes.
My reason is that I did not like the story anymore. The characters and events were too over-the-top. Moreover, some plot elements were overly taxing the suspension of disbelief.
Example? How could Ellen not know the Carters, Lady Harriet in particular? Harriet had assisted Ellen's uncle and mother and brought about the meeting of Ellen's parents. Of course, Siobhan Trilby must have told her daughter of the high ranking Lady who had been her close friend.
Another point was Richard's dismal behaviour at the start. How could Ellen ever forgive him so quickly? On the other hand, how could Ellen turn into such an airhead after her arrival in London? Moreover, Richard challenged Major Finney and still he chose the weapons, a breach of duelling etiquette.
I was also still quite unhappy with the language of the early chapters, and instead of correcting a word here, a syntax there, like I had done in earlier revisions, I rewrote entire paragraphs.
That, my friends, is the reason for the rewrite. The original full story, Ellen, will remain available untouched here at SOL for as long as Lazeez will keep it. Too many people are attached to it, including myself. The newly written Ellen Trilby is therefore made available only on Bookapy, hopefully for your enjoyment, and it covers the time from the first meeting to the wedding of Richard and Ellen (1825-1830). A thoroughly revised account of the later events in Ellen's life, Lady Lambert's Adventures, will also be published soon.
This is it, in a nutshell.

I just submitted the last chapter of Will Potter's adventures. For me, it has been a great eleven weeks posting the story and getting the positive and helpful feedback from you, the readers. Thank you for sharing the ride! More than 10% of you opted for the Bookapy version of the story with its bonus contents, and of course, instant gratification. To these, I also offer my thanks and appreciation. I am indebted to Old Rotorhead for picking out many errors, typos and other screw-ups during the edit, but also to my readers who offered their feedback and thus helped to clean up the last (I hope) mistakes.
I am currently working on three projects: i) Young Thomas Grey, the prequel; ii) Can't Pick Your Family — Tess, well, it's about Tess, duh!; iii) Commodore Carter — Ashore and Abroad.
Given the erratic attendance of my muse, I cannot predict which of them will be finished first and when. I am greatly motivated though by the wonderful reception Will Potter has enjoyed.