The Fragments Universe is an ever-evolving, ever expanding universe. It is the stable, the home of so many characters and has led to a few spin-offs.
Gorbind Phalla and Koby Anand both started off in this book, and have gone on to have their own illustrious careers. Gorbind and his family have three books to their name. Kangana is the story of how Gorbind and Padmi meet, with their family then taking centre stage in the Beyond Kangana Series.
Koby has two books to his name. One with a romance tilt and the second is the upcoming Behind the Scenes novel.
Fragments was an interesting book to write. A difficult one, as it deals with the concerns about loss and bereavement. It was written as I experienced loss and bereavement, and was also in training to become a counsellor. Little did I know at the time as to how much that training would then impact upon my career now.
Whilst it’s a heavy book, there are moments of light as this book concludes. The characters have gone onto develop and find their own readership.
As 2024 draws to a close, the book odyssey for this year also concludes. There has been travels and also book releases.
There were three books released this year. In a second, I might pick up a pen to start a project that is bustling to get done.
I have been to quite a few book signings this year, and each one has come with lessons learned and experiences gained. As an Indie, self-published author these are really instrumental and invaluable for a whole host of reasons. There is networking, finding new readers, gaining insight and of course, having an adventure of a sorts. Ultimately, I go to these events to reach new readers and share my work.
As a British Author of South Asian origin, going to these events has a broader purpose too. To share stories that otherwise might not be told. This helps improves representation of different communities and identities to form a richer tapestry of literature that readers can find. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of going to events that really take this seriously.
Tales on Trent, Leek Book Fest, Dudly Book Con and Big Sky in Montana are probably, in my humble opinion, events that have been inclusive, diverse and organised for accessibility, for the love of books and helped build community.
There are still events that I miss out on, don’t qualify for and events that are so big, you have to be very well established to even get on the waiting list. I live in hope of having a readership and a fan club, where I do get a look in with these events. It may well be that as 2025 strikes ten years of being an Indie Author, I shall review the process of going to book signings. I still plan to write, don’t worry.
So far this year, I have been to the following events. I’ve learned loads, met lovely people and the experiences have been a really good adventure. Where I can, and where she is available, I try to bring Mama F along. She’s read the books, so that does help!
Dudley Book Con at the heritage archives was fabulous in meeting lots of horror authors. I know, how does a contemporary romance, mixed bag author like me, fit? Well, I did. Crystal organised a cracking good event and I was made to feel very welcome, very much part of the event and made loads of connections. This was such a lovely, successful experience that I’ve been invited back for next year. I was even inspired to write a horror. I have a plan, a cover that could possibly work. I am also standing by my atmospheric zombies in The Battle of Gravelly Hill Interchange.
Leek Book Festival was a first time event, carried out by Sam et al who are form an epic book club. There was a whole week of literary, art events and Mama F and I were invited along. A well organised event, that reached out to the community and had a diversity of authors. This was a cracking good event, and the book canon did well. I’m back next year, and I really hope this grows and grows. I may also get to meet the Mayor again. He came to my table and we had a lovely chat.
Liverpool saw a trip to rebels and outlaws, having been a late addition to proceedings. Not sure which character qualified me for that, but this was an another adventure for Mama F and I. Travelling was fun; possibly the longest distance yet in the United Kingdom for books.
Belfast is probably going to beat that to be honest, and Scotland features as well. I’ve yet to go to Cardiff for a book adventure. Can you imagine? I can then safely say, that I’ve tried to spread my work across the United Kingdom.
Montana saw a return visit to Billings for the Big Sky Book Event. Whilst this has fewer authors, this is by far my most successful book event by several country miles. My link to Montana is of course through the Peace series. Big Sky book event is very close to my heart. A well planned event, with diverse authors and great links to the community. I’m not returning to Montana for some time, but a fictional piece of me lives there. The Two Chandni’s had their international release there.
I endeavour to return at some point. Montana remains my portal to the US, and perhaps I need to consider how to capitalise on that better.
In the matter of the last week or so, I attended Authors behind bars Shrewsbury. A novel event, I had my own cell!
So what happens next. Well.
Next years events-at the moment! These could change depending on availability, and whether I end up waiting lists. Still a cracking good, rather extensive list and who knows what could happen in the next 12 months.
Book Bonanza Leeds 2nd February 2025
Book lovers Birmingham 26th April 2025
Leek Book Festival 7th June 2025
Belfast Books and ballgowns 28th June 2025
Wonderland in Nottingham 26th July 2025
-August watch this space, Scotland is on the list-
Whilst Tolkien was inspired by Sarehole Mill, I’m at a loss to identify other pieces of fantasy, apocalypse or such drama to be set in the West Midlands.
I mean, why do aliens, zombies and creatures otherwise unspecified go to other geographic locations?
Why shouldn’t Birmingham not be a backdrop?
Please don’t get me wrong. I love Birmingham; Brummie Born and Bred. I am not tempting fate, being disparaging. Not in the least.
Working with Author city for the book event anthology, I picked the theme of a city of a thousand trades.
And chose to marry that with Dragons.
Here we have ten short stories that see Birmingham become home to some rather interesting creatures.
Restless and unrestrained, The Muse, is ready to go; he takes me by the hand. Softly, he whispers into my ear. His words make my heart race and my mind whir.
“Are you brave?” He asks, wearing the Devil’s smile. “Or just plain reckless?”
“Courageous,” I reply. “Now bring me my pens. We have work to do.”
(Gonna need a new calendar)
Yesterday, in a fit of pique I gathered up my notebooks. I re-arranged my desk to group the works in progress to see all of what was in the pipeline. What has been in the pipeline for years. There are seven different notebooks, each with a different story. All of which I plan to write, get through at some point. I don’t ever, throw anything away. I even found a plan for another Devan Coultrie book. That, however, doesn’t feel very immediate. It’s not calling to me as much as the stack of notebooks are.
The plan today, was start on on writing project, that needs to be done by next summer. A contribution for an anthology, that can be up to ten thousand words. I have a plan, a process that I fancy testing out. Only for The Muse to sulk today, having grinned at me yesterday, like a crazy thing. I may give it a bash today. Though the The Muse does feel as though it is hungover. Understandable, as it’s been a busy year for writing.
I had planned to sit at my desk all today. To close the door, have my head phones and write as much as I could. Then I woke up, tired and bleary eyed. I have some recharging to do, I think. I probably shouldn’t push myself to create when The Muse isn’t feeling the best. I know that there are things to write, to conjure and create. But the conditions and contributing variables don’t feel write today. One of the many reasons I choose not to do Nanowrimo, is that it doesn’t feel right to work so intensely in a short period of time. As disciplined as I can be, about writing, I don’t think I’d cope with such a gruelling regime. I like having relatively unfettered, mostly organic process of writing. That’s why there are so many different notebooks; why there are often post-it’s stuck into them as I think of something to add or construct.
What I’m inclined to do, is sit here at my desk. Leaf longingly through the leaves of the notebooks, to try and enter the zone. To see what stirs The Muse. To pick up my pens, if moved to do so. I don’t really like deadlines, even when I have self-imposed ones. However, I do like to be disciplined when it comes to writing. I get really very frustrated when not able to conjure up figments of my imagination. I might have a bullet point, in a plan, to meet, and then have nothing floating across my mind.
To think, I missed a blog post yesterday, and want to make up for it today!
It’s a month til Diwali. A whole month, ti Behind the Scenes goes live on Kindles.
It does feel as though this piece of work has been simmering away for a long time. It has certainly been my focus during the pandemic. As such, I do feel as though it has been forged and developed through an altogether rather unsettling time.
Behind The Scenes is an eclectic piece of work. There are distinct universes that exist within this book. We have the fragments universe, which has so far yielded Fragments and Kangana. Then there is the convergence with the Peace Novella Series Universe.
Characters from these two different worlds come together in a way that we’ve not experienced before. There is also the apocalyptic Battle of Gravelly Hill Interchange. This is important. This is a book set in the city of Birmingham. England’s second city. As such, there is reference within the pages to local cultural and social places. All of which contribute to Birmingham’s Iconic Identity as the city of a thousand trades.
We also, allegedly, have more canals than Venice.
You can pre-order your kindle copy, by using the links below.
In the first half, what happens to the characters from the author’s novels when you aren’t reading them; what is the rest of their story? See what happens with Gorbind Phalla after the romance of Kangana. Devan Coultrie from Peace Novella Series has a life beyond making Montana Moonshine.
There are even a couple of new characters. Who is the mysterious Pencil-Sketch, and The Lady Aurelia is just dying to meet you.
In the second, meet the many different people who live in the City of Birmingham. A street preacher who yells his message, but one day disappears. Two strangers share a romantic encounter at The Kerryman Public house. What if there were spies in Birmingham, and what happens with the exhibits of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery when the visitors aren’t there? There is even some romance in Medieval Birmingham with the Lady of the Manor.
These all culminate in the apocalyptic Battle of Gravelly Hill Interchange.
Five years, ago, about tea-time, I pressed publish. My book was out there. The first book, that I would write. I didn’t know what was about to happen.
No, it wasn’t perfect. No, I didn’t know, at that point, what I should have done, or how.
But man, was I about to learn.
I have continued to do so, too. Over the course of five years, I’ve learned a great deal, and will hopefully continue to learn. Learning, is never over; as teacher, as counsellor, I know that is true. The journey has been pretty interesting so far.
This blog, was the basis for the first book. Without this blog, without the support of the gardening world, both here in Britain and beyond, the book, probably would still be a pipe dream, Worse still, it would probably be a page of inky jottings that were going nowhere fast.
This book, has moved. It has flown to the US. As a paperback, it was stocked in an Indie bookstore; it was on a bookstand! In fact, a few of the books were. At least 3, of what is growing-oh, there’s an unintended pun-catalogue.
A few of the books. The yellow book, paved the way for the rest. There was green book, what with the chutney making. A blue book-not the content, but the cover-that was based upon a grief model. I made a foray into writing contemporary romance.
All because of this blog, because I carried out an experiment with chilli plants.
Today, I am proud. I am happy, to acknowledge that the yellow book, paved a way. Oh, there’s another reference. I get butterflies-not intentional-when the book is downloaded; when someone orders a paperback copy. When someone, decides to take risk, and engage with something that I have written. It’s magic, but altogether nerve wracking
That yellow book is special, it placed me on an interesting, ever developing journey. It is also a little bit of my soul.
It is the last two days of the various books being free on kindle.
In keeping indoors, we are going to need something to read, to keep us occupied and perhaps even talk about to others.
It’s been really heartening actually, to see the downloads. Especially seeing nearly 130 downloads of the yellow gardening book, and in the United States of America!
Don’t forget that most of the fiction books are also available during this brief window.
Fragments comes before the romance novel that is Kagana. That’s where you can initially find Gorbind. In Kangana, you get to read the start of his story.
We can’t forget the Peace Novella Series, and my contributions which contain Devan Coultrie. The Devan Story starts with Retreating to Peace and continues with Postcards from Peace.
You can find the links on the side bar or head to the links page.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself reflecting upon my journey as an author. A journey that has had many twists, turns and been a really valuable process of development; it still is. I don’t think, for one moment, that this process will ever stop in terms of development.
There are, of course, the gardening books. I’ve diversified into fiction, and experimented with both fiction and non-fiction. A lot has happened over the course of six, soon to be seven books.
There has been a big career change that has straddled across those texts, across the last five years. I’ve been a teacher for ten years, and throughout that journey, I undertook another in parallel. I trained to become a person-centred counsellor. A process, that isn’t for the faint-hearted. I can safely say, that I am not the same person who started out on a level two listening skills course all those years ago. I think it was 2012, my memory escapes me!
In 2017, in I published the book that you see above. I spent 2015-2016 writing it whilst studying and teaching. I’ve written before, as to my reasons why. I experienced two significant bereavements through the course of writing that book; these impacted upon so many different aspects of my life and being. To write about a book about that process was somewhat interesting, and I guess-in hindsight-an aspect of grieving. I know that after the second bereavement, I found it physically impossible to pick up a pen to write. I had to give myself permission to finish what I had started, to complete a cycle, move on and through what I had experienced.
Fragments is a work of fiction, yes. It does however, have some basis in theory. Mourning and bereavement, to be more specific. To this day, I remember learning about Worden and his four tasks of mourning, to be acutely aware of how Fragments was written with those four ideas in mind. I kept them in mind, as things that ebb and flow. I don’t, for one moment, profess to be an expert. There are some, that say all counselling is about loss. This is certainly something that has echoed and permeated through my practice, and I can see how that would be the case.
The principles:
To accept the reality off loss
To work through, process the pain of grief
To adjust to the world without the deceased
To emotionally relocate the deceased whilst embarking on a new life.
Each of these four things is a part of the fabric of Fragments. Each of the six stories touches on these four principles. Each of the stories is also linked by Marcy the counsellor. A character, who herself, has a story about grief. There had to be a counsellor, I was training to be one, I saw one too. I tried to distill into the pages, what I was learning, experiencing and feeling.
The characters are deliberately diverse, they reflect real life. There is Nandini, an elderly woman of Indian-ascent. A character who has a very private grief, a process that she struggle with on many levels. She is someone who might not, in real life, go to counselling. It pains me, makes me angry too, that there are communities out there, for whom counselling is unavailable, or not part of their frame of reference; it’s not the done thing. Nandini echoes to me. She is the type of client that I would want to support in my private practice-another story, another day-to help improve access to talking therapies and also the stigma around mental health.
I deliberately wrote about Chris, who loses his dog, Adelphi. Man’s best friend, a relationship just as important as all others; this had to be written too. There are children; teenagers, actually who feel pain and need someone to talk to.
That’s the key here. To talk.
People tend to pull faces at me, when I say that I’ve written about grief. My response is always the same. We don’t talk about grief, we hide it; so why not read about it? I could, very easily, attach a health warning. I choose not to. I see value in what I’ve written. I see, know, that it’s not an easy book; it’s long too. I also think that talking, about grief, is important. It is part of those four stages, least of all part of my practice as a counsellor. It’s not a textbook, not by any length of chalk. I’ve never intended it to be one either, but it does have a purpose. It certainly had one for me.
I hope that by reading it, someone else will find that too.
Punam Farmah Author and Filmmaker 