My revenue per purchase is £ 1.23, and that will go 100% to the animal shelter which I’ve supported for quite a while. At the moment, the cat house is in dire need of renovation, and I hope I can drum up some funds with this “Hallowe’en Special” so the kitties will get a new home before Christmas.

HMS Dover prepares for her last journey, and so does Captain Ashley. After more than forty years at sea, all he longs for is a hopefully long retirement in the country, surrounded by his family and dogs. Unfortunately, there are rumours of a haunting aboard, and Captain Ashley knows only too well how the reputed presence of a ghost could influence the morale of his superstitious tars.

Of course there are no such things as ghosts, only creaking floorboards, the rustling of rats helping themselves to the provisions and the wind blowing eerily in the rigging…

Click here to buy:

THE LAST JOURNEY OF HMS DOVER

Written by Emma Collingwood
Illustrations by Amandine de Villeneuve
Edited by Timothy T. Tarbottom, Esq.

Just like the book, this story comes with a book curse. ;-)

Please spread the word; thanks in advance for buying the story and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The contest is open worldwide; deadline is 21 August (7pm EST) and all you have to do is leaving a comment and crossing your fingers.

Good luck!

After months of looking for a suitable office where I could write in peace and without being interrupted every five minutes, I was finally successful, and from September, I’ll have my own hide-out. It’s located in the same house where I live, so I can shuffle upstairs with a mug of tea, wearing a pink morning gown, rollers and fluffy bunny slippers if I should feel like it. And if I owned a pink morning gown and fluffy bunny slippers in the first place. Or rollers. In short: I’m counting the days.

I feel guilty whenever I receive one of those “now, when can we expect that other book of yours” emails. Of course it’s great to know people enjoy my writing and want to read more, but it’s always a reminder how slow and unreliable a writer I am. However, with my new writing hide-out, I think I can promise to do better in future. And it’s about time - I have two books on my desk which are almost finished, a draft for a play, a book for children is in the first planning stages, and yet my bibliography reads like a list of improvements achieved by the current government - it’s very, very short.

So, onwards and upwards - I’ll leave you with one of Amandine de Villeneuve’s drawbles, and by the Gods, that book will be out that year, and if it’s the last thing I do!