My Crazy Corner

Greetings and felicitations, I'm Natasha Duncan-Drake (Tasha to my friends); I'm a full time author and publisher and help run a small UK indie press publishing eBooks, Wittegen Press. Please feel free visit our site at http://www.wittegenpress.com to see all of our titles.

Firstly I would like to say thank you very much to April for having me on her wonderful blog.

My latest title Cat's Creation came out last week and is book 2 of The Chronicles of Charlie Waterman. It is the sequel to the five star rated Cat's Call and follows the trials and tribulations of Charlie, a somewhat hapless British teenager.

Charlie is an ordinary 18 year old whose whole life is turned upside down when he is attacked by a two inch cat figurine. Magic was not in his plans, but he soon learns reality is not quite as straightforward as he thought.

Charlie discovers that in his new reality, there are seven great spirits: Cat, Dragon, Horse, Dolphin, Wolf, Hawk and Spider and these spirits seek to maintain the Balance of Existence. As their agents travelling to multiple worlds they call on seven young people to be their Questors. These Questors are granted the Spirits' powers and use them to prevent the forces of Chaos from destroying life.

Link to Wittegen for the Chronicles of Charlie Waterman.

Link to G+ for the series.

Link to Facebook for the series.

In Cat's Call we first meet Charlie as he visits an old shop where he almost worked a summer job. Here he encounters a cat statuette that sends his whole life onto a new path which, he soon finds out, he should have been on two years previously. He's not overly happy about any of this, but when he manages to grow a tail in his sleep he has no choice but to accept it. Thus follows his discovery of magic, his introduction to a magical realm called Between, trying to make friends with six other young people who actually seem to be prepared for the whole situation and the first task for the Questors in the service of their Spirits.

Link to Wittegen page for the Cat's Call.

The book is full of action and adventure with a side of humour at some of the situations Charlie manages to get himself into. I do like to tease my characters and poor Charlie takes the brunt of it in this series, which results in some amusing situations. This was my first novel when it was published last year and it's full-on contemporary fantasy, because that is my all time favourite genre (thank you J.K.Rowling). It will appeal to the YA reader range and upwards into an adult readership. There are also bonus short stories available with the title for those willing to tweet about and review the book. Please see Cat's Call's Wittegen Press page for details.

Five star review from Amazon.co.uk by Matisse: "A fantastic read which I couldn't put down. A fast moving plot and believable characters - even when one grows a tail. When I finished reading it, I wanted the next one in the series! I thoroughly recommend this book."

Cat's Creation continues Charlie's adventures, following him as he struggles to deal with the aftermath of the events of Cat's Call and solve a new task for the great Spirits. Their team is struggling thanks to the consequences of the trials that could have destroyed everything they had created. As one of the leaders of the group, Charlie feels it's his duty to bring them back together. The only problem is he doesn't know how. On top of that they are sent to a world run by mafia-style families where sorcerers and vampires are commonplace. Forced to play a role that could cost him his life and plagued by a vision of death, Charlie must struggle to overcome his own insecurities and, with his friends, figure out why they have been sent to such a dangerous world.

Link to Wittegen page for the Cat's Creation.

Cat's Creation is just as packed with tension, action and magic as the first book in the series. I also had a wonderful time thinking up even more embarrassing situations in which to land Charlie so that my readers could have a giggle every now and then. This book advances the inter-team relationships and deals with the mental scars created by the difficult events of the first novel, as well as having an exciting new task. Mafia types with swords and knives instead of guns and vampires with some very odd ideas about humans are just a couple of the things Charlie and his friends face.

The third book in the series is currently in the planning stages.

Other books of mine suitable for an older YA audience and adult readers are Sacrifice of an Angel (contemporary fantasy/crime. i.e. Harry Potter/Midsommer Muders/CSI) and Advent (paranormal fantasy/vampires). Most of my short story/novella titles are only suitable for a mature audience and may be found on the Wittegen Press site.

So, a little bit about me then. I started writing when I was a pre-teen and I have never stopped. Most of my writing was just for fun in the online fanfiction arena for many years and I am an avid supporter of fanfiction. I think it is a fantastic medium for people to practice some of their writing skills and you'll never find a better critic than some of the fanfic readers out there: brutal, but fair in my experience and great for learning.

My original career after I finished my PhD was as a techie; I was a software and database designer. In 2010 I was made redundant thanks to my team being shut down, but having 10 years with the company I had a very nice settlement and decided to branch out and go for my dream rather than more practical things. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful husband with a fantastic job who can support me through the lean times as I do the 'struggling author' thing.

I love writing with a passion and I am determined to make it my life's work. There is nothing more magical than sharing the creations of my heart and having readers enjoy them.

If you would like to find out more about me, I chatter about all sorts of things on my Livejournal (beren_writes) and my Dreamwidth (beren_writes) accounts. That's also where to find my fanfic, as well as on my AO3 account (Beren). In case you were wondering, Beren is my pseudonym for fanfic, because once upon a time, way back when, I couldn't get my real name on a Harry Potter archive. All book-related chatter and reviews of books and movies and music can also be found on my blog: Tasha's Thinkings.

I'm active on twitter at @beren_writes and welcome all new friends. My company twitter is @wittegenpress and we're running a competwition at the moment to win Cat's Call and Cat's Creation: Link to competwition.

If you prefer interacting through Goodreads, this is my Goodreads author page.

We have a company mailing list if you would like updates about our publications and competitions: Wittegen Press Announcement Mailing List.

My twin sister, Sophie Duncan, is also an author and the other half of Wittegen Press. She co-wrote Sacrifice of an Angel and is just about to come out with another YA title in the paranormal fantasy genre, so check out Wittegen Press for details.