Where Have I Been?

My apologies for being away from this blog for so long. A lot’s been happening – both in the world of Prism and also in the world of K.E. Stapylton.

The first half of this year saw me throw myself into the second book in the Prism series – The Deeper Darkness. Set largely underwater, I’ve rapidly discovered that this is a very difficult venue in which to set a novel! The difficulties center predominantly around movement; nobody just walks underwater – they have to manage a combination of swimming, gliding and floating. If somebody is cross, there’s no chance of flouncing out of a room - the most one can ever hope for is a jerky kind of swimming motion. The big difficulty, of course, is if the story contains (as mine does) a character who is unable to swim. Throughout the novel, one of my characters changes location either by a very slow sort of walking along the bottom of the ocean, or by being tied to another character and towed. This becomes extremely difficult in scenes of danger where one would normally ‘turn tail and run’. Time, instead, has to be written into the story for the character in question (no hints!) to be attached to another character who can swim, or an alternate route of escape needs to be devised. And most curious of all was overcoming the difficulty of sleeping! Do characters simply float out of the bed when they sleep? And what do they use for bedding? Is one aware of sleeping under wet blankets? And, if so, isn’t that generally disgusting?

A concept which seemed like a great idea at the time rapidly became a logistical nightmare. However, being stubborn as I am, and being unfailingly entranced with the idea of an action novel set underwater, I was loath to give up the idea, so persevered. Consequently, however, the progress of the book has been slow and difficult, and my ingenuity has been tested! Hopefully the release of Book 2 will prove that my perseverance and original concept were worthwhile.

August saw me take a trip home to Australia to visit family and friends, and while there I did a radio interview with Ariane Minc on 2SER FM for Final Draft, one of Australia’s oldest radio book shows. The 10 minute interview airs at 7pm (Australian Eastern time) on Monday, September 14th on 107.3FM (for those in Australia), or can be streamed from their website on www.2SER.com

August – a busy month! – also saw the launch of the new Prism website, with all new graphics and artwork, provided by the lovely Laura Diehl. (www.ldiehl.com) Do drop in to www.TheTerrorofPrismFading.com and take a look at all we’ve been doing there! Feel free to leave comments either on this web site or to drop me a line via PrismBooks@gmail.com to let me know your thoughts. Feedback is always appreciated.

That’s everything for now and it’s good to be in touch with you again,

Yours with my nose finally above water,

K.E. Stapylton