#GuestPost #Guestpostseries by Alan Camrose, author of Lost In Plain Sight (Part III) @AlanCamrose / Books Teacup and Reviews

Hello readers! Today I’m pleased to share Part III of guest post series by Alan Camrose, author of Lost In Plain Sight this month. If in case you missed first and second part of this series here is the link – Part I | Part II.

Over to author…

Firstly, thanks to Yesha for agreeing to me guest-posting on the site. Much appreciated, and I hope that you all enjoy my Blog posts which are a sideways look at my writing and my book.

The Gallery on my website (www.alancamrose.com), and my Blog generally, is intended to be a place that shows a bit about me as well as stuff about my work.

I have just published my first novel, “Lost In Plain Sight”, a fantasy-thriller set in Brighton, full of action, magic, humour, where Sam, Pagoda and Meyra are on the case to track a demonic killer and find more than they bargained for. (Since Pagoda is a cat, she’d like to be in the case.) They encounter among other things a goblin fatale, a werewolf with exquisite dentistry and a sat-nav with personality issues. I’d love you to join me by the seaside for some ice cream and mayhem…

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Part 3 of 5

Jezebel, the magic campervan

I wanted to select a vehicle for Sam Franklin to drive. He’s one of the main protagonists in my new book, Lost In Plain Sight, available through Amazon in Kindle format and paperback – search under Alan Camrose.

A campervan came to mind – iconic, different from Inspector Morse’s Jaguar or the Batmobile. A touch of Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo without the floral decorations…

Why did it come to mind?

As a family, we toyed for a while with the idea of owning a campervan, one of the originals, A while ago it was something to get out of our system, try it out, see how it fitted. We rented the beautiful van below from Pembrokeshire Classic Campers – https://coolcamping.com/campervans/uk/wales/714-pembrokeshire-classic-campers/units/9165-lily – very helpful and accommodating when we dealt with them. Her name’s Lily (not Jezebel) and we all have a soft spot for her in our hearts – not just the damp camping ground on a sloping Pembrokeshire hill-top.

I was designated driver and we wanted to explore Pembrokeshire. The huge steering wheel was a challenge, like trying to steer a fork lift truck, and after the first long bend it was a lot less alarming! As long as the drum brakes – the old school type rather than new-fangled disc brakes – were employed with plenty of time to spare, the journey was a serene way to float through the Welsh countryside in smatterings of sunshine.

We stopped at a campsute for the night and deployed the ‘driveaway awning with the inner bedroom’ which clipped onto the side of the van as an extra bedroom. Cameron (my son) and I were turfed out onto the, er, turf under the awning, while Nicola (my wife) and Rose(my daughter) bagged the beds in the van. Happy memories of sleeping under the stars – until 6:30 am when a corner of the awning detached from its peg and started rhythmically slapping me in the face with rain-soaked enthusiasm.

And it’s still a magic memory – as a whole – even now…The freedom, the freshness and the howling wind on that hill-top. Nature’s magic, in fact.

As writers, we are advised to write what we know, which is tricky when your novel relates to a magical cat, but it is a helpful starting point to let your Muse off its leash. I am grateful to Jezebel for her inspiration…

I’ll look at other images in later posts and see how they came to influence my writing or just me…

Cheers,

Alan

Alan Camrose

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About Book:

This novel is a contemporary fantasy-thriller set in the UK around Brighton. There’s action, suspense and humour. And useful insights on cats. And magic. And magical cats.
Sam Franklin is a wizard from the real Magic Circle. Pagoda – is his cat familiar (or is it the other way round?). Meyra is a stroppy elf with teenage angst issues even after forty years in her teens. They are drawn into tracking a demonic killer on England’s south coast. The demon is not just at the seaside for the greasy doughnuts: its masters prey on the poor and vulnerable in society with the terrifying prospect of ancient dark magic (or rather Ma gic, the dangerous word with six letters, one invisible and silent) running wild once more.
Sam and Pagoda find themselves dragged into the plight of the local homeless community, Meyra into the vast dangers of drug-fuelled excess, all reach the same place with the clock ticking and cultists chanting, waiting for a terrible conspiracy to come of age.
But all this pales into insignificance before such questions as: can the three oddballs work together to save the day and get home in time for a good grooming? And why does Sam keep having a worrying urge to shred sofas, chase rodents and cough up hairballs? Why is Meyra worried about whether her Moncler Calypsos look good on her during a spot of burglary. And last but absolutely not least, why does Pagoda fret about the handball rule while she curls up in tiny places and tries to get some hard-earned (by cat standards) sleep?