Fresh-Eyed Friday

Print, Process, and the Paranormal: Looking Behind the Stories

King in the Dark: Combined Print Edition

Into Darkness, When Duty Calls, and Swan’s Song

Is live, and it’s been interesting.

The Long Road from Manuscript to Print

I’m really a newb at publishing. Not so much writing, I’ve been typing it seems forever, but there’s the problem.

I feel I spend 99% of my time word-processing, and that’s a skill-set, like typing itself, I have a rhythm and habit, it feels as natural as anything else I do every day.

Months of work, day in day out, come down to hours spent getting ready for print.

The second time I went to publish, it didn’t feel like riding a bike, quite the opposite. It seemed as hard and awkward as the first time out.

I have more books under my belt, yet still a newb, but it is getting a little easier.

Practice, Process, and Fresh Eyes

The most important lesson I’ve taken away from King in the Dark is one of practise and process.

It is really easy, after a book is “done,” to think it’s cooked, but just as a good roast needs to rest, so do the author and the book.

It’s more than taking a breath, because tackling corrections needs another eye. My stalwart beta readers, who know who they are, are precious and essential.

AI is both relentless and, when corralled properly, effective at spotting the mechanical errors that human eyes, even the ear, i.e., reading aloud, can miss.

Next from the Spectral Detective

So what’s next?

• The next book in the Spectral Detective Series.

• A Christmas Spectral Detective Novella.

Whichever comes first.

Next from the Chimera Cycle

• The Chimera Cycle Book 1 is about 30K in.

I am serialising My Boy Jack, the Chimera Cycle Prequel, on Substack; you can find that under my C J Charles Substack site.

Introducing Arthur R. King’s Mysterious World

In other news, I have launched a separate Substack called…

Arthur R. King’s Mysterious World

This is an unapologetic call back to a short-lived show called Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World.

Which spawned a book, which I read more than once…

Like Clarke himself, mysteries, the unexplained, myths, and legends have intrigued and amused me since childhood. I draw on this personal journey, the accounts I have received, and the events I have experienced in my own writing.

Here, I let my fictional creation, The Spectral Detective, author articles — well, two so far, but more to come — which address some of the source material that inspires the fictional phenomena and events my characters encounter or embody.

I really appreciate hearing back from my readers. There’s no substitute for personal reviews and testimonials; they far surpass the impact of any promotional advertising.

If anyone would like to know more about what’s behind the ideas or concepts in any of my stories, let me know.

Or is there a mystery King and Associates could take a look at?

It could just be in the books to come…

Again, thanks for your time, your support, and your feedback.