Fiction

Update: Tuesday, April 14th 2020
You’ve probably landed here because you have just finished book one of the Brightwater series, Major Ryan Returns. I have started work on book two, and it should be available around this time next year. To keep you going in the meantime, click the link below to read the short story Last Cigarette and let me know in the comments if you think it would make a great sitcom. Don’t panic if your comment isn’t immediately visible: I have to moderate comments to avoid the whole page filling up with people trying to advertise viagra.
Last Cigarette

If you HAVEN’T read book one, get it here.

In the UK:

In the US and Canada:

In Australia and NZ:

Thursday, 4th October 2018
Brightwater: Major Ryan Returns tells the story of Grace, a civil servant called back from retirement in 2025 to deal with a global pandemic, and of Tom, a NASA astronaut who returns to Earth in 2098, after 80 years in cold-sleep, to find the world much changed.

Traumatised by watching the rest of the world die, the inhabitants of Britain have built a new, more tolerant, more equal, more compassionate society. Under the inspirational leadership of the King and the mysterious Council of Grandmothers, they have navigated the years of hunger and begun to heal and re-settle the planet. Genetic changes have eliminated many diseases, rape is impossible, and reincarnation is accepted as simple fact. The survivors and their descendants live long lives of peace and abundance, and some have mastered the art of remaining youthful into their second century, but not everyone is happy about the changes. Major Ryan Returns is the first in a series of six Brightwater books.

14 thoughts on “Fiction

    1. Hey Jessamine,
      Congratulations!! Version one got me hook line and sinker. Totally engrossed and pretty pissed off when I ran out of chapters. How much will it cost me to get the rest??

      Version two, not so much. It didn’t catch me at all. In trying to analyse why… I think possibly version one has a rich visual landscape and scenes happening that are much more appealing and intriguing. Not sure. I also wonder what it would have been like if I read it first, before getting hooked on the other one. Maybe reading them back to back was never gonna be fair for the second one?
      Cheers, Lynn

      1. Hi Lynn,
        Thanks for the feedback, that’s so useful. I’m still hoping to go down a traditional publishing route, but if that hasn’t happened in the next six months I’ll investigate self-publishing.

        So, for the moment, the only way to get chapter five is to find me a publisher!

        Cheers,

        Jessamine.

  1. I don’t know that I can choose. I got involved in both versions and want to continue reading both. A great tease Jessamine. Awaiting the rest.

  2. Hey Jessamine, well done you. At this stage Im reading version one twice, very descriptive in my mind of the events unfolding, I like the subtle tension. For me the energy of the story is strong until I read “little boat” on page 6, I really felt a dip of energy and connection when I read that, does this make sense, then further down you call it a dingy which had a stronger visual impact for me. I dont mean to me picky. This was the only place my energy, connection dipped in the story. Its really good.

    Off to read Version two.

  3. Fantastic Jessamine
    Congrats!
    The first version really hooked me from the start and left me wanting to know what happens next.

    The second also hooked me but later at chapter 3. I enjoyed the parts integration and the mental imagery.

    I think you’ve created two very different atmospheres the first one faster paced the second draws you in slowly.
    I want to finish them both!

  4. I like the first version better than the second – there is mystery and urgency right from the start. The second version achieves this too, but at a much slower pace. It also feels like you’re coming into the middle of the story – that’s not a good or bad thing, just an observation, so would need to be handled differently to reconcile this later on.

  5. I am also going for the first version, to me they are 2 completely different books, and with the prologue description the fit for me is No.1. I felt that the chapters being short, could be 1 complete, longer chapter, setting the scene for what…..I want to know! The second version, for me, was too hyper emotional/exciting (gratuitous) and as such I didn’t want to know more.

    1. Thanks Barbara, I am going to go with version one, and publish as a Kindle book in the next couple of months (as soon as I have sorted out a sixth form college for Dash). I hope you are having a nice spring over there. We did – briefly, then it was back to grey and drizzly. Still, this time last year it was snowing.

  6. Hi! Finally sitting down at the computer to read you! Well for me version 1 for sure, I couldn’t bring myself to finish version 2, too violent and also I don’t go into the world of chi, spiral etc (too scifi for me) but mainly it is the violence and anxiety that were too much. Also I think I expected to meet the same characters as version 1 only wearing different clothes! But version 1 – I was sad I had to stop, totally bought into the story, liked the characters… that’s the one for me. Looking forward to reading the rest!

    1. Thanks Estelle. That’s useful feedback. The consensus seems to marginally favour version one, with a bit of a gender split!

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