Amsterdam, 1942 In Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, survival means three choices:Adapt. Frank keeps his head down. Silence keeps him safe, until silence turns into complicity.Resist. Elise prints posters…
Drafting ideas:
Physical!
There’s something special about holding a book in your hands. The texture of the cover. The quiet crackle of paper. Even the faint smell of ink and glue. It’s physical, tangible. Something you can touch, lend, shelve, and return to years later. Or give to others, share. A book on a shelf. Not on a […]
The House of the Living – a short story
Dear Mr and Mrs Havel, It is with regret that I write this letter. Summer, with all its daylight and sunshine, is always difficult for us, and you seem to show little consideration for your fellow residents. In the deep dark of winter, we kept reasonably low profile as not to bother you too much. […]
Celestina – from Anarchy to the Skies
Back in 2014, I started drafting my second novel. There were three rules to set this novel apart from my first.Nothing supernatural.It would be shorter than my debut.The story would be linear. The protagonist would be an Icelandic wannabe journalist. A man with ambitions larger than his worldview. The Spanish Civil War was a period […]
It Never Stops – The Soundtrack of a Trilogy
If the Frank & Celestina trilogy had a theme song, it would be Sketches of Spain by Nits. Not the Miles Davis piece, but the haunting Dutch song from 1983. It is quiet, elegiac, and full of echoes. It begins with the line:“The streets of Barcelona are filled with blood and rain.” That lyric became the seed for the first […]
A Trilogy – Completed
Origins: Blood and RainIn 2013, as I was finishing Under the Black Sand – my debut novel – I started thinking about what to do next. I had proven I could write and complete a novel, it felt like quite the achievement and I wanted to try it again! Apply everything I had learned, avoid […]