One Minute Writing Workshop - Speech-to-text

 Hello and welcome to this little one-minute writing workshop.

This month, I want to have a little chat about something that I use A LOT! Speech-to-text software. 

For me, this has to be one of the most useful gadgets on my phone. I don’t know about you, but I seem to get most of my ideas when I’m out and about, normally walking. As a result, it can be extremely fiddly to fish out my phone and start tapping away, especially if it’s somewhat nippy and I’m wearing gloves.

Speech-to-text makes this process of note-taking so much easier. I just tap the mike button and gabble away for the next few minutes.

Obviously, there can be drawbacks, the main one being its mis-spelling of proper nouns, but this encourages me to go through my notes at a later date, refresh my memory over what I jotted down and tweak my ideas.

If you haven't used this function on your phone, I suggest you give it a go.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advanced screenings of my videos and free books.

Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.

Short Story: First Hunt - Now

 Hello and welcome to this month’s short story video.

This time around, it is the turn of First Hunt: Now, one of two short vampire stories from 2015’s anthology All Things Dark and Dangerous (links for which you can find at www.aschambers.co.uk).

As I said last month, I’ve always been a fan of vampires; more so than werewolves. This is why they feature as heroic figures in the Spallucciverse. First Hunt: Now really illustrates how I give them a human spin, so to speak. I find it quite tedious and monotonous when vamps are all ubered-up and practically invincible or all-knowing. This short story shows how they have to learn their skils, just as they would have learnt things when they were human.

Also, it ties in nicely with a novella that I’m working on and will be published in late 2023, Child of Light. The location is the same as in the novella and the battle with constructs that is referred to here at the start of the story is in fact the climax of that tale.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advanced screenings of my videos and free books.

Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.

Spalluccipedia: Justice

 Greetings and welcome to this monthly dive into characters, places and themes in the ever-expanding world of my paranormal investigator, Sam Spallucci.

This time around, I want to have a little chat about one of my favourite side characters: Justice the Vampire.

Way, way back in the dim distant past of 2011, when I was working on The Casebook of Sam Spallucci, I sat down and wrote in practically one sitting, the short vampire story High Moon. The premise was that an unnamed vampire wanders into a Wild West town and eliminates the corrupt sheriff who happened to be a construct, one of the big bad golems from my Spallucciverse. The short was heavily influenced by my love of the Dollars trilogy and, if you read the description of the taciturn vampire, you can see that his look is clearly influenced by the late, great Lee Van Cleef. 

Interestingly, I didn’t give the vampire a name at that time. It wasn’t until his second outing in First Hunt: Then that we discovered he was called Justice. In fact, my whole use of vampires was still in its infancy. However, it was his striking appearance in the town of Salem that made me want to do more with him. As a result, he developed into the role of the King of the Children of Cain with a deep and complex back history that would explode into Sam’s fourth outing, Dark Justice.

I hope you enjoy the little video about him. Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advanced screenings of my videos and free books.

Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.

A.S.Chambers - April Roundup

 Good morning one and all! 

Well, didn’t March go quickly? I thought February shot off like a rocket, but March seems to have done likewise. The daffodils are starting to give way to tulips, the forsythia is in bloom and the sparrows are getting randy. Spring is certainly starting to make itself felt here in Lancaster.

So, where am I at as the nights get longer and the warmth creeps in?

Well, currently, I’m in my sick bed! I was rather ill in early March with something that looks like it was Covid and it has absolutely knocked me for six. I dragged myself up to Carlisle Comic Con last weekend by use of paracetamol and sheer bloody-mindedness, but I am certainly feeling the after-effects now. 

However, I refuse to let a small matter of illness halt my creativity. I’ve spent the last week re-reading all the material I’ve written so far for Lux Æterna and I’m really happy with how it’s turning out. There’s about half a case to go and the book is twisting and turning left and right, keeping the reader guessing about the big picture while tying in nicely to all the expanded universe stories that surround it. Health permitting, the first major draft should be finished by the end of April and I’m looking at a Hallowe’en launch date.

In the meantime, Out Of The Depths is due for publication later this month. I just need to finish the final bits of formatting (when I’m not running a sky-high temperature…) popping in the dedication for all my lovely Patrons and Kickstarter backers who chose that reward. Keep your eyes peeled for updates. Don’t forget that all Seraph Tier Book Club members will receive a free signed copy as part of their membership.

Also, watch out for updates on a double release this summer! That’s right, not one, but two books will be heading your way, probably in August. The fourth outing for Bobby Normal, Bobby Normal and the Fallen will be team tagging with Sam Spallucci: The Case of the Pillaging Pirates.  BNTF will be the penultimate solo (hmmmm… I wonder why I stressed that???) outing for Bobby with Bobby Normal and the Black Dragon following next year. PP is a quick little short set just a week or so before the events of Casebook. 

What else is coming this month?

Well, two conventions, that’s what! On Easter Monday (10th April), I’ll be at Morecambe Comic Con and on the 30th of the month, I’ll be at Hull Comic Con. Links for both can be found on my website: www.aschambers.co.uk.

And finally… So, the sharp-eyed of you might notice some new bits of material here in the Book Club. There are now new daily pieces for those of you who subscribe to the £1 Poltergeist Tier and above: the sixty seconds roundup, the Tuesday teaser, the Wednesday word, Schroedinger says and the Spalluccipedia Short. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoy making them. If there’s anything else that you’d like to see, please let me know.

Righty-ho! I’m off for a nice warm Lemsip.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advanced screenings of my videos and free books.

Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.