Tag Archives: @TerryTyler4

Places in our Memories with Terry Tyler #Mondayblogs #Memories

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There are places that remain in our memories, the details may become slightly blurred, nostalgia may colour our thoughts, but they don’t fade. And how those places made us feel at the time is the one thing that remains.

Today I’m welcoming Terry Tyler, a friend I’ve known online for many years, and had the great pleasure in meeting and getting to know her in real life at Barb Taub’s writing retreat on Arran, a few weeks ago…

First, thank you to Judith for inviting me to this nostalgia-fest on her blog!

When told about the feature, I immediately wanted to write about the place we used to go on holiday when I was a child.  It was a holiday rental bungalow called Barn Piece in Eccles-on-Sea, Norfolk, complete with a genuine gypsy caravan in the garden, which we loved.  We went there from about 1966 to 1976.

Behind us are you can see the dunes, leading to the beach.

The ancient village of Eccles-juxta-Mare, as it was once called, vanished into the sea over a hundred years ago, and by the time we started going on holiday there, in the late 1960s, the only indication of its existence on the map was the location of Eccles beach.  In the 1960s it consisted of a few private houses down overgrown lanes; they fascinated me, and I loved to peer through the untended foliage and wonder who lived in them.  The Pyghtle and Smee Cottage; they were the two I remember. 

Then there was a sandy track past shabby chalets to a grocery shop where Julia, Eddie and I would go to buy sweets, buckets and spades, postcards and other stuff that children used to spend their holiday money on in those days; I always spent all mine within a couple of days, whereas Julia made hers last. 

The bungalow had such a ‘we’re on holiday’ feeling about it, a home from home as we went there for many years.  By the beginning of the second week, I always felt as though my real life was there, not back at home.  Barn Piece was large and light and shabby and a bit musty-smelling, and we loved it.  This photo was taken by Dad back then; the gypsy caravan was just to the right of the washing line

Our dog was called Susie; she was with us for ten years and remembered the place whenever we arrived there, too.  She would hurtle up the sandy slope to the beach without being told where to go. 

Eddie said to me the other day that he can still remember how the gypsy caravan smelled—I can, as well. 

Here’s a picture of Julia and me cleaning it out!  Why we chose to do this on such a brilliant, sunny afternoon, I have no idea!

The last time I went there on holiday was in 1976, when I was nearly seventeen, and my best friend Ruth was invited to come with us so that I didn’t kick up about going on holiday with my parents and twelve-year-old brother!   The one of me (right) is two photos exposed together, but I’ve always liked its ghostly feel …

… which brings me to the eerie bells of the lost church, a victim of the coastal erosion so prevalent in that area.  I’ve found a couple of articles about it, which give more information than I can put here, or this post would be far too long!

Weird Norfolk: The lost village of Eccles which sometimes appears after storms and the graveyard where the dead cannot rest

The ‘lonely sentinel’ of Eccles-juxta-Mare is finally lost to the sea

Now and again we’ve gone back there to take a look—my parents went there in the winter of 1990, when the ruins of the church had become visible once more.

This photo on the dunes (that’s Mum in the grass! – Barn Piece down to the left), taken the same day, shows how wild the place feels—and you can see Happisburgh (pronounced Hays-borough) lighthouse in the distance. Happisburgh is fast becoming a lost village, too.  In 2005 I spent a weekend at a beer festival there—just a few years later, the field in which we camped had crumbled into the sea.

From 2000-2009 I lived in Cromer, further up the coast; around 2001, when my parents visited, we made the pilgrimage to Barn Piece.

I went back in 2007, too, but it had changed so much.  Smart holiday cottages and chalets were everywhere, and the new sea defences meant that I didn’t recognise the beach.  The sandy slope up the dunes that we used to run up as children, excited about our first glimpse of the sea, has gone; the dunes themselves had flattened into little more than a small hump.  Barn Piece, though, was still there.  Fifteen years on, I don’t know whether it is or not; I’ve googled it, but have come up with no results.  I’ve googled Eccles-on-Sea, too, and all those empty fields appear to have been built on.

Happy days.  Mostly, I’m so glad that my mother was like me, forever taking photographs—thank you, Mum, for all these memories!

The Author:

Terry Tyler writes post-apocalyptic, dystopian and dark psychological fiction, available on Amazon.  She loves quiet, wild places, and still gets as excited about going to the seaside as she did when she was a child.  Aside from writing, she enjoys reading, telly binges, long walks, and wasting time on Twitter.  She lives with her husband in North East England.

My Review of The Visitor: A Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery by Terry Tyler #FridayReads #GreatReads

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The Visitor: A Post-Apocalyptic Murder Mystery by [Terry Tyler]

Book Description:

n 2024, a mystery virus ravages the entire world. ‘Bat Fever’ is highly contagious and one hundred per cent lethal.

A cottage tucked away in an isolated Norfolk village seems like the ideal place to sit out a catastrophic pandemic, but some residents of Hincham resent the arrival of Jack, Sarah and their friends, while others want to know too much about them.

What the villagers don’t know is that beneath Sarah’s cottage is a fully-stocked, luxury survival bunker. A post-apocalyptic ‘des res’.

Hincham isolates itself from the rest of the country, but the deaths continue―and not from the virus. There’s a killer on the loose, but is it a member of the much-depleted community, or somebody from outside? Paranoia is rife, as friend suspects friend, and everybody suspects the newcomers.

Most terrifying of all is that nobody knows who’s next on the list...

The Visitor is Terry Tyler’s twenty-second Amazon publication, and is set in the same world as her Project Renova series, while being a completely separate, stand-alone novel.

My Review:

A post-apocalyptic murder mystery describes this cross genre book perfectly, with greater emphasis on the murder mystery. Yet, without the background on the post-apocalyptic world, this story would not be as strong as it is. The isolation of the village and its people, the lack of any outside authoritative representation, the fear of the murders vying with the deadly virus, are all layered through every setting of this novel.

In every review I have written of Terry Tyler’s work I have admired her ability to create strong characters. I love character-driven plots. The Visitor is no exception. The chapters are written from various points of view. And in each the character becomes more multi-layered, more rounded, more complex.

Which, undoubtedly, the author intends, because this is indeed, a murder mystery, There are a lot of subtle and not so subtle red herrings. And I’m afraid I fell for every one; all the way through I was convinced the murderer was this character or another – or another.

I was particular struck by the sections written from the protagonist’s, Jack, point of view.The internal dialogue is excellent, showing an insight both of his character and that of the other characters. Whilst I was reading, I was trying to think what it was that I liked so much, and I came to the conclusion that it was as though I was actually listening to him, evaluating his impressions of his friends and fellow villages. So that by reading the chapters from their viewpoints – and then his – the story becomes more complex, much as it does when trying to work out a situation in ‘real’ life.

And a word for the sections written from the Visitor’s point of view ( I almost said written by the visitor!) Quite sinister. And not giving anything away!

All in all another brilliant book from this author: the plot runs seamlessly and at an even pace, the story held my interest throughout, the settings and background of a world struggling to survive after a virus attack are there, and necessary, but are not the main theme (I say this to any reader who may be hesitant to try The Visitor because it is post-apocalyptic), and the writing style of Terry Tyler is, as always, admirable.

I have no problem in recommending The Visitor to any reader who enjoys a good murder mystery.

The Author:

Terry Tyler

Terry Tyler is the author of twenty-two books available from Amazon, the latest being ‘The Visitor’, a post-apocalyptic murder mystery set in the same world as her popular Project Renova series. She is currently at work on ‘Megacity’, the third and final book in her dystopian Operation Galton series, after which she may decide to write something a bit more cheerful. Proud to be independently published, Terry is an avid reader and book reviewer, and a member of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team.

Links:

https://linktr.ee/TerryTyler

http://terrytyler59.blogspot.com/

At Last…I’m Going to Fettle my Posts in 2017 #blogging. January Result!

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For the last year my blogs have had a ‘scatter-gun’ approach; erratic, inconsistent and varied; without a theme, sometimes with neither rhyme nor reason … except for the sharing of reviews, interviews and other authors’ good news. Mostly, I think I’ve been lazy, relying on other bloggers and authors to do the work.

 This year will be different! This is not a New Year Resolution; this is me taking me in hand.

 So I said at the beginning of January. Did I succeed? Well… on the whole. I still get carried away when I see a post I like and reblog.

 But I’m well on my way with the editing of the prequel. Cover reveal coming soon!!

The Memory is almost ready to go to my Beta Reader

I’ve posted another Holiday Lets tale: http://bit.ly/2klXhmR

Posting and sharing reviews of other authors’ books on my blog on Sundays as #SundayBlogShare has been a bit erratic as we’ve been away most Sundays.

 I have two reviews to post in the next week and am halfway though a third.

But… I have interviewed Seven#familysaga authors and will be posting those over the next three months. These are fascinating writers with brilliant books so I’m looking forward to spreading the word about them.

So… all in all, not a bad start, I think.

 

sevencandles

 Seeing a little light

Now for February!

 So… what started all this?

It was Tina Frisco’s question, “Tell us what you envision for your blog in 2017, ” that made me stop and think. This is what I wrote in answer to http://bit.ly/2iJWGdz

 Tina’s question made me remember Hugh W. Robert’s post in 2015:  http://bit.ly/2jcwdSA. I’m embarrassed to show my reply but here’s an edited version:

‘ Each day I come here to write my WIP … but I keep popping back to emails to see what I’ve missed of  my favourite and most friendly bloggers.And then I’ve shared randomly. It’s been a problem, But today, your post has made me think…’

Hmm…

But, in May 2016 I was still doing the same things even after I read Rosie Amber’s Wednesday Wing – #TwitterTip Part 3 Retweeting and Post Sharing #wwwblogs @TerryTyler4  POSTED ON MAY 4, 2016 BY     http://bit.ly/2iReO5t,   

 Here’s a section of what Terry and Rosie said:

“A few tips on post sharing:

  • Don’t automatically share every single post that comes into your email inbox. Check them out first to make sure it’s something you actively want to share.

  • Overkill: if virtually all your tweets are shares of others’ posts, be aware that these will get re-tweeted rather than tweets about your own posts/books, most of the time. If you’re happy with that, that’s okay!”

How some people manage to write Daily Posts yet still write books is beyond me. I am a slow writer/ thinker/ reviewer.

 SO,THIS IS IT! I HAVE A PLAN:

Notebook, Plan, Dates, Coffee Cup, Break

Yes, it has taken coffee and chocolate and messy doodling in my diary to decide.

Here goes:

 I need to say first and foremost that  I will editing the prequel to my trilogy during these next months. The working title is Foreshadowing but this will probably change. Anyway it’s due to be published in August by http://www.honno.co.uk/, the publishers of my other books

Pattern of Shadows by [Barrow, Judith]

                                                                 http://amzn.to/1onvi4R ,

Changing Patterns by [Barrow, Judith]

http://amzn.to/1JPSOuX ,

Living in the Shadows by [Barrow, Judith]

                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                   http://amzn.to/2fFqUfE

 

I’m also tidying up the last book I have written, called The Memory, which is due to be looked at by a couple of author friends of mine before I send that off to the publishers. Oh, and I have another half-finished saga which has been on the back burner for two years.

RIGHT… NOW FOR THE BLOGGING:

In 2017  I will be  getting up to date with reviews of books I have read. I will also read and write reviews for Rosie Amber’s Team (http://bit.ly/2hYNbYG ) #RBRT. I love being part of this group and have read some wonderful books (both Indie and traditionally published) over the past two/three years. 

I will be posting more blogs about our Holiday Lets (here’s one post on that: http://bit.ly/2hYOHdc ). I’d like to get these into a short anthology sometime. But, for the time being they’ll stay as posts.

In February and March, I’m looking forward to interviewing other authors who write in the same genre as me: family sagas. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.

 Around July, I’ll be starting my usual interviews with the authors who will be attending the annual book fair that I organise alongside my friend and fellow author, Thorne Moore   (http://www.thornemoore.co.uk/).  Alex Martin ( http://amzn.to/2hZCgt2)  was with us in the past but has been taken over by’real life’, unfortunately.  It’s a lot of work but great fun and will take place on the 23rd September. This year we’ve changed to a bigger venue so will be hosting around forty authors at the Narberth Book Fair. There will be talks, free workshops and readings. And the whole event will be filmed by http://showboat.tv/

I tutor creative writing three days a week, and every now and then, I post something one of my students has written. 

I will post and share reviews of other authors’ books on my blog on Sundays as #SundayBlogShare.

 Reading back on this, it does all seem slightly ambitious. But, as I said to Tina, as long as I can manage on four hours sleep each night, who knows; I might succeed in doing it all.

 What I do know is that I will be more organised. The housework can wait!!