Saturday 18 July 2015

Douglas McPherson PLC

Douglas McPherson PLC






My thanks to Tracy Baines for the following letter in this month's Writers' Forum:

"Is Douglas McPherson one man? Does he have ten brothers named Douglas? Or is it the name of a warehouse somewhere containing a team of people tapping away on laptops - Douglas McPherson PLC?

"What an output. Do you think it would be possible to isolate a sample of his DNA and identify his discipline and work ethic? We could market it as the McPherson Productivity Pill."

Also in this month's Writers' Forum is my interview with Daily Mail film critic Christopher Tookey; my interview with My Weekly Pocket Novels editor Maggie Swinburne; my piece on how to begin writing your memoirs; and my behind-the-scenes account of penning the My Weekly story Teddy Girls, which I wrote under the pen name Julia Douglas.

So, yes, pretty productive I guess!

Monday 8 June 2015

Jerry Lee Lewis farewell tour

Jerry Lee as he was in the 50s

Goodness gracious! Jerry Lee Lewis has announced a farewell tour of the UK this autumn. Click here for dates and details.

And still rockin' at the New Orleans
Jazz Festival last month!

Monday 20 April 2015

Try a romantic read by Julia Douglas



Try a fun romantic read by Julia Douglas: Nashville Cinderella (about life in Music City); The Showman's Girl (about a girl who runs away with the circus in the 1930s); Closer! (an office romance); or Polka Dot Dreams (a rockin' romance in the world of vintage clothes and rock'n'roll). Borrow them from your local library (in the UK) or download to your e-reader. 

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Love in the Lion's Den








What happens when an animal rights activist goes undercover at the circus? Find out in The Lion's Den, one of three romantic adventures in The Fairground Girl and Other Attractions by Julia Douglas - a perfect read to download to your e-reader.

Here's an exclusive extract...

It was love at first sight - for Charlotte, anyway. What the lion was thinking, she had no idea.

A printed sign tied to the wire mesh identified him as Sphinx, and he sat as proud, still and beautiful as the ancient Egyptian monument after which he was named - head up, forepaws gracefully crossed in front of him, in the exact centre of the cage.

It was a chilly evening. Charlotte was glad of her cable-knit tights and the sheepskin coat that had been a real find in the charity shop. But Sphinx, so far from his African home, seemed oblivious to the damp English wind that stirred ocean-like waves in his luxuriant mane. He appeared oblivious, too, of his harem of four lionesses, lounging and washing themselves in the shadowy far corners of the enclosure.

Charlotte wondered if he was aware of her, or the other circus goers - mums and kids who had paid an extra 50p to gawp at the show’s ‘performers’ in a shanty town of pens and tents behind the big top.
If Sphinx was aware, he feigned regal indifference.

Charlotte moved closer, her tied-back copper hair a righteous blaze in the sunset, and dared to touch the cold mesh. She imagined the lion dreaming of the open veldt, its horizons shimmering in the heat haze, with no cruel humans in sight.

That’s where you should be, Charlotte thought, angrily. Not caged among these throbbing generators, caravans and lorries. Not forced to earn your dinner by jumping through hoops.

It was the 1980s, for heavens sake, not the 1890s when people knew no better.

Her pulse quickening, Charlotte glanced around for a door to the enclosure. She’d set him free this minute if she could.

Not that she would dare, with all the families around. She didn’t want anyone hurt, no matter how misguided they were in paying to see an ‘entertainment’ that made slaves of creatures as noble as Sphinx.

She forced herself to be calm. There was a longer game to play.

“Beautiful, isn’t he?”

Charlotte jumped at the sound of a man’s voice, close behind her. She spun around and found herself staring at the broad chest of Guy Starr, the circus owner.


Want to read more? Click here to buy The Fairground Girl and Other Attractions - three stories of women in unique worlds on the fringes of entertainment.

In The Fairground Girl, Beatrice falls pregnant by fairground worker Eddie and runs away to join his world in the rock'n'roll years of the 1950s.

In The Lion's Den, animal rights activist Charlotte goes undercover to expose cruelty at the circus and finds herself torn between two men and two ideologies.

In Blue Eyes and Heels, Angel fights for equality in the world of professional wrestling.

Read all three adventures in The Fairground Girl and Other Attractions.




Tuesday 24 February 2015

Popolinos Clowns


Are these Britain's best-dressed clowns? Meet Mr Popol (standing) and Kakehole, stars of Circus Wonderland
If you like the circus, read The Showman's Girl by Julia Douglas, and may all your days be circus days!

Thursday 15 January 2015

Looking forward to Valentine's Day?



Try a romantic read by Julia Douglas!

The Showman's Girl

Nashville Cinderella

Polka Dot Dreams

Closer

All are available to download from Amazon (just click on the links in the margins of this blog) or check out from your local library.