LATEST RELEASE by Fantasy & Sci-fi Author Raymond Walker

 

Today we are virtually traveling to Scotland to visit my guest author Raymond Walker.  Raymond has published several novels “The Miscast Fate” his latest.  He is working on his next release “Written In The Star”, which you can read about here. Coming Soon From Raymond Walker

the miscast fate cover

TO PURCHASE The Miscast Fate CLICK HERE

 BOOK BLUB:

It was always Todd’s fate to be ridiculed after all he had never amounted to much, a failed scientist who was thought to be a flake by his peers. All because he had some strange ideas and was not afraid to share them. An astrophysicist that was interested in astronomy was one thing but one interested in astrology was something very different indeed. Todd has fallen desperately in love with the equally smart and rather exotic Jasmine who lives a world away and would do anything to be with her even if it means changing the nature of science. This romantic drama from the pen of Raymond Walker, the acclaimed author of “The Secret Inside” and “Twisted Sisters” brings together a beautiful and fascinating love story intertwined With a fast moving science drama. Todd races to save the love of his life from her fate and he will see it done even if he has to change the universe to achieve it. After all how can you change what is written in the stars?

 

 

 

NOW FROM RAYMOND WALKER

“The Miscast Fate” was released on the first of October 2014 rather quietly and with little fanfare or buzz attached to it. It wandered aimlessly onto book pages, the author’s website and into bookshops whispering quietly rather than shouting its arrival.  I Asked Raymond why this should be? Your last novel “The Secret Inside” was trumpeted loudly on its release accompanied with a book tour and signing dates yet no one even knew that this one was being released, why the different approach?

For me this novel was something completely new and I was not sure how well it would be received and so it was purposefully a low key send off as I suspected that it may bomb. Luckily the reviews have been great, better than I expected though to be honest I expected the worst.

Did you think it was not that good?

Oh no, not at all I thought that it was great and was very pleased with the novel but I was really jumping genres with this one and in the process combining two that are rarely joined. Essentially it is a romance and that was never going to be a problem for me. I have after all written a couple of romance novels before and they have been amongst my most successful novels.

The real problem was the initial idea for the story and that was: what if science proved that astrology was a science and not the mumbo jumbo that most people think it is. Science fiction readers tend to be rather smart and rather discerning in their knowledge of the subject and never should astronomy, a real science and astrology, mystical claptrap, meet. Yet I intended to use both in a Romance novel.  I had to get the science right or the science fiction fans would hate it. At the same time I had to make astrology believable which is a mammoth task for anyone. As well as that I had to make sure that science and mysticism did not overwhelm the central romantic tale.  To be perfectly honest with you I really was not sure. I thought I had got it just right but I may have missed the mark completely. I finally heaved a sigh of relief when the first few reviews came through as up till that point I was well aware that it might get slated. That was why there was no fanfare, bell ringing or shouting it out. It could have as easily failed as succeeded but luckily things went the right way.

This is not the first time that you have jumped genres?

Certainly not, I am rather well known for it, a little notorious for it I like to think. I read a lot and read in many different genres so to me a good novel is a good novel wither it is science fiction, horror or romance and so I write in whatever genre I wish to at the time much to the chagrin of some of my Well imagine if you had picked up one of my novels from a bookshelf and it had been, a fantasy, you loved reading it and so rushed out to buy another of my books and picked up “The Miscast Fate” for example, A science based romantic drama. Worse still if you had then picked up “The Secret Inside” which is out and out gothic horror…. How much would you have liked that?

Many years ago now I released one of my first novels “Twisted sisters” which was a contemporary romance with a twist set in Glasgow. To my surprise, as I was pretty much unknown at the time, it sold rather well, strangely not in my native Scotland where it is set, but mainly in the U.S. and Canada.  That aside, I picked up a bit of a reader base. My publisher at that time who had taken a bit of a chance with me was over the moon and thought they were onto a good thing until I presented them with a Horror novel. They dropped me like a hot stone, as did most of my readers at the time.

You are best known for the Kilmartin Novels, can I ask you about them before it is time to finish?

It really is difficult for me to tell you more about them than I have said elsewhere. I find Kilmartin Glen one of the most fascinating places on the planet so how could I write a novel and not have set it there. Travelling out from Lochgilphead towards Oban you reach the coastal plain just after Kilmichael Glassery and you see the first of the monuments on your left. Just by the side of the road is a monolith raised about four thousand years ago, walk a little farther into the Forrest and there are many others and that is just the very beginning. When you reach the lady Glassery woods, filled with stunted grotesque hawthorns interspersed with arrow straight silver birch, the first stone circle lies before you. This one is only three and a half thousand years old and in this place there is so much that is ancient that Three and a half thousand years ago seems like yesterday. As you travel farther into the glen there are more and more ancient monuments, circles, cysts, crypts and monoliths to amaze you, many more than eight As luck would have it, whilst there and at the age of forty, I fell in love for the first time in my life. How could I not write about that? That gave rise to the first of the Kilmartin Tales “A Shiver” which in its own broken way was all about true love and the nature of time.  And if no one has it figured out yet all of the Rob’s were me.

 

 

 

raymond- perhaps book picAuthor bio;

Raymond Walker is the author of Nine novels, two compendiums of short stories and two books of poetry (though they intersect somewhat).  He was born in 1962 and raised in Argyll, Scotland, before moving to Edinburgh to attend university.  His love of the countryside, forests, mountains and the relics of his native Scotland are reflected deeply in his writing. His tales echo the dark past and history, the unknown places and wonders of Scotland at the point where reality dips into fantasy until nothing is quite as it seems.  He currently resides in Ayr, Scotland with his beautiful new wife June. Not one to be pigeonholed his books range from Romances and Ghost stories to historical fiction, Horror and fantasy. He is the winner of several writing competitions and his books have received critical acclaim worldwide. He is working on two new novels; “The Sea Shall give up it’s Dead” which is a thriller but with a horror edge (a chiller) and “Sommerled”, a fantasy based on the life of “Sommerled MacSorley” “The Lord of The Isles” the first of which will be available June next year . Additionally he is soon to publish a second volume of the critically acclaimed “A River of Tears”. This will be called “Moon child” and hopefully the second volume will enchant people as much as the first.

Raywalker’s UK  Website

 the miscast fate cover
TO PURCHASE & SEE RAYMOND’S OTHER BOOKS CLICK HERE

What Reviewer had to say about Raymond Walker newest book:

Many here will know of Raymond Walker, not only has he been a contributor to this magazine but also you voted his novel “A Shiver” into the One Hundred Greatest Novels of all time. He is soon to release his new novel; “The Miscast Fate” upon an unsuspecting public. I say unsuspecting for a reason; This novel is different; very different, to “A Shiver” or his last outing “The Secret Inside” This novel is missing the history, the poetry and the real, unreality of his other novels.  It is a full throttle driving force of dialogue, there are no tricks up his sleeve, other than a very unusual romance and a great deal of dialogue about astronomy. The story is told by the two lovers and their, perhaps, friends in long bursts of first person narrative and dialogue. I did not expect such a novel from a poet, spiritualist and fantasist yet it exceeded all my expectations as the dialogue carried me on into the depths of a story that I could not wait to complete.  This was, not at all, what I expected, but I had to read on, I had to turn the page even as my eyes were closing. I made myself a cup of coffee at three in the morning so I could complete it and never made work on time the next day. Not what you will be expecting but read it, you will love it.

the miscast fate cover

TO PURCHASE The Miscast Fate CLICK HERE

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