{"id":711,"date":"2025-06-12T14:59:05","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T12:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/?page_id=711"},"modified":"2026-07-05T10:38:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:38:42","slug":"latest-posts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/posts\/latest-posts\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Posts"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts is-layout-flow wp-block-latest-posts-is-layout-flow\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/stories-poems-and-snippets\/life-lines\/\">Life Lines<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I am in my sixties, and I\u2019m allowed to have lines.On my face.On my hands.But you can only see the ones on the outside. Don&#8217;t forget there are lines on my heart too,Marks written across my soul.All life\u2019s traumas and headaches.The work, the long hours of commuting.Stress of mortgages and loans.Worry for loved ones. But&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/stories-poems-and-snippets\/naughty-or-nice\/\">Naughty or nice<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Extract from Halja&#8217;s Gate \u201cAnd I am a real princess now. Like my daddy always said I was?\u201d The queen smiled. \u201cI think you were always a princess, Helen. And with everything that has happened to you, you could be nothing else.\u201d The girl nodded. She gave her new mummies a big smile that looked&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/articles\/experience\/\">Experience<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I was born well before the Internet was invented. There were no modern computers, and telephones still had wires attached! It was a time when steam trains still ran along Britain\u2019s railways. I\u2019m not &#8216;old&#8217; though, just very nicely experienced. You see, younger writers have only experienced being young, but us more mature creatives often&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/information\/my-books-on-amazon-kindle\/\">My Books on Amazon Kindle<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\"><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/articles\/scriptura-magnifica\/\">Scriptura magnifica<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Don&#8217;t let Artificial Intelligencetake away our creativity Undeniably, AI has stirred up the literary world. In general, authors are very much against this intrusion into their livelihood\/hobby, but perhaps the public is not yet so concerned. I say in general, because there are some \u2018authors\u2019 who say that AI allows them to finally get their&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/articles\/written-in-british-english\/\">Written in British English<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">If you are a British author, writing in the English language, life is a constant struggle against those who wish to impose other versions onto you. Even on social media platforms, I can often feel like a cultural minority, marginalised by my happy use of the letter &#8216;u&#8217;, my reversal of other&#8217;s &#8216;er&#8217; into &#8216;re&#8217;,&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/news\/new-book-releases-this-month\/\">New book releases this month<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">An exciting month with the release of two books from the Forgotten Wings universe. Although the stories and tone are quite different, both occur in the same timeframe and so it is logical to release them together. Halja&#8217;s Gate is the more &#8216;adult&#8217; of the two, with scenes I would not recommend to my younger&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/news\/my-characters-brought-to-life-by-michelle-artistry\/\">My characters brought to life by Michelle Artistry<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Here are some of the covers and story cards that Michelle has put her magic into. More to come! Check out her site at Michelle Artistry<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/news\/new-cover-release-of-arrows-at-the-rainbow\/\">New cover release of Arrows at the Rainbow<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Arrows at the Rainbow has been re-released with a spanking new cover featuring the beautiful artwork of Michelle Artistry, giving us a fantastic interpretation of Valentine, the lonely hitman. Ten great stories. Could you fall in love with a stranger seen through the window of a train? Can a writer\u2019s muse be real and utterly&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/articles\/blurb-bait\/\">Blurbs: A Reader-fish sandwich<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Why do authors find it so hard to &#8216;sell&#8217; their book with a simple, short description that lets potential readers know the kind of story it is and provides enough excitement, intrigue, love or sheer brilliance that will entice them to read it? For most of us, distilling 80Ks worth of words (give or take&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/news\/absolution-is-now-published\/\">Absolution is now published<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">The new edition of Absolution is now available on Amazon Kindle Seek no forgiveness! When you are a fallen angel with a duty to keep the world safe, it never simply rains but it pours! Sapphira inadvertently clashes with the Church when she confronts a demon practising the blackest of magic, and quickly finds herself&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/news\/portraits-of-me-by-bbart\/\">Portraits of me by BBArt<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Look, everybody likes to have their picture painted, and I am no exception! These have been done by BBArrt https:\/\/t.co\/NY7PirUSy6 Aren&#8217;t they simply wonderful? Being who I am, I am already working on variants! (I cannot figure-draw, but I am a fair whizz with photoshop!) Bonus: They got rid of the crinkles and bags under&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/articles\/writer-in-the-middle\/\">Writer in the middle<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">For all of my adult life, from my first university right up to the moment that I am typing this up on my keyboard, I have been professionally positioned on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) side of the fence. I even have a PhD which makes me a bit of an expert in&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/articles\/navigating-your-story-in-microsoft-word\/\">Navigating your story in Microsoft Word<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">When you are writing a novel, finding your way around the various chapters can be a pain. I often need to make additions, check consistency and of course the frequent &#8220;how did I spell his name again?&#8221; search. Scrolling around until you find the section you want is a terrible pain. My approach to making&#8230;<\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/news\/i-have-joined-the-human-authored-scheme\/\">I have joined the Human Authored scheme<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I am very against AI generated story content, particularly when it is masquerading as being written my humans. So I have joined the Human Authored scheme operated by the Society of Authors to identify my work as being real-person generated! A big NO to AI generated works.<\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":715,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-711","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":713,"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/711\/revisions\/713"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madden-brooker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}