Category: Novels

Greystone Valley: Meeting Keeley

On By Charlie BrooksIn Greystone Valley, NovelsLeave a comment

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began. His voice came out as a squeak, so he cleared his throat and started over again. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he repeated, louder this time, “I am sorry to say that we have a slight problem with today’s performance. As it happens, Dramadia the dragon has…well, she’s escaped into the mountains.”

An angry murmur ran through the crowd. Sarah’s own face fell in dismay. Dax, however, didn’t look surprised at all. If anything, his nod of understanding meant that things now made a little more sense to him.

“Please, please, please,” said Noron the beast tamer, patting the air in front of him in a desperate attempt to calm everybody down. “We know the show must go on, so we have found a suitable replacement. She isn’t quite the same as the great black-scaled dragon, but she is a dragon nonetheless. And it’s without any further ado that I present to you all, Keeley, the dragon of the Northwood Caves!”

Continue reading “Greystone Valley: Meeting Keeley” →

Reality Check: A Tale from the Night Shift

On By Charlie BrooksIn Novels, Reality CheckLeave a comment

My novel Reality Check has a publication date of 2008, but it began on the back of a receipt tape eight years earlier.

I worked the night shift at a small-town convenience store. That meant I spent about one hour of my eight-hour shift cleaning, two more dealing with the bar crowd, and most of the remaining five alone as the night stretched on. My home life at the time was a nightmare, and I didn’t get a chance to do any writing there. But I did have rolls and rolls of blank receipt tape at work.

Continue reading “Reality Check: A Tale from the Night Shift” →

Shadowslayers, Twenty Years Later

On By Charlie BrooksIn Novels, ShadowslayersLeave a comment

This year marks the 20th anniversary of my first published novel, Shadowslayers. While the tale didn’t become the best-selling modern fantasy classic I hoped, it provided me with some very useful experience about the publishing world and helped shape who I would become as both a writer and a person. Here’s how I became a published novelist and what I learned from the experience.

Continue reading “Shadowslayers, Twenty Years Later” →