With some friendly nudging from Marcia I’m finally getting round to adding my voice to another great excerpt week. I have three works available – two novels and a poetry collection – and thought I’d share a quick snippet from each.

Let’s start with a poem from Seeking Solace, entitled Goodbye.

Goodbye Mr Tiger,
your eyes they burned so bright.
I’ll think of all their golden charm
when I close my own at night.

Goodbye Mr Elephant,
so mighty, the ground it shook.
I’ll keep alive your memory
when I read my storybook.

Goodbye Mr Leopard,
so stealthy and so shy.
I wish it didn’t end this way,
I wish you did not die.

Goodbye Mother Nature,
so generous, so pure.
I don’t blame you for leaving us,
we’re sick and there’s no cure.

Goodbye fellow human,
I guess I’ll be alone.
When nothing else was left to kill
it seems we killed our own.

—

Next is an excerpt from False Awakening, a suspense story following a girl’s quest to reclaim her memories and solve the mysteries surrounding the night that led to the death of her friend and landed her in hospital.

The park was crawling with children as expected. It was the height of the summer holiday and the sun burned brightly above them. As they clambered up the ropes, thrashed around in the sandpit and raced each other to the swings, parents lined the benches by the edges of the play area. The town would have been consumed by the story of Holly’s death. This was an uneventful place; the kind where days drifted by so monotonously you would be forgiven for failing to notice; each one blurring into the next in one mass of happy, easy existence. Mothers would be watching their offspring like hawks now; fathers setting curfews, and children obliviously carrying on as though nothing had changed at all when in reality, everything had changed.

—

Last but not least, here is an excerpt from my first book, The Vessel, which follows a young woman’s fight to expose the truth in a corrupt and desolate dystopian world.

Light poured in through the open door and burned her retinas to the point of temporary blindness. She stood motionless, like a startled doe, bathed in nothing but glorious warmth. Clarity returned and composure allowed her to pull the heavy, steel door closed behind her and secure the padlock in place. The sound of her pursuers pounding their fists against the barrier that now separated them soon faded away, replaced by delicate birdsong and the sweet smell of trees. She was free.

Exhausted, Eva made her way through the dense woodland surrounding the complex. Crisp autumnal leaves brushed against her skin, while thick moss provided a soft, spongy pathway underfoot. In spite of all she had been through, she could not help but smile. In stark contrast to the dull greys and lifeless blacks that had engulfed her throughout the duration of her captivity, Eva’s eyes were bombarded with luminous oranges, glowing yellows and fresh greens wherever she looked.

—

If you’d like to check out any of my books or get more information, you can find them on Amazon UK, Amazon US and Goodreads.

Happy reading, everyone!