It has been almost two months since my last confession. I’ve been pretty busy with a number of things, including some writing, so I thought I would take a moment to give you a quick update.
I’m currently about halfway through writing the first draft of the sequel to Troubleshot, which I want to call Stop Being A Bad Person, Start Saving the World, but as that’s too long, so I’m just calling it Troubleshot International for now. It follows Trent Argent, five years after the first book. He’s taken a long, spiraling road to rock bottom, and has moved to Geneva in an attempt to redeem himself by using his skills to help others.
Before anyone says it, Trent Argent is not based on me.
Troubleshot International follows an episodic structure similar to the first novel. It’s full of ridiculous situations that are not on account inspired by anything I’ve experienced. I’ve gone for a more character-based plot than the first book, and there are quite a few new faces, plus some cameos from some familiar ones.
I’ve taken time out over Easter to work on Beach of Spies, my cross between James Bond and Groundhog Day. It’s a bit of a silly affair to begin with, but it gets more serious as a standoff between agents from different countries lasts into the months and they being to question what they are doing there – and, more generally, what they are doing with their lives. So far, our hero has fended off a couple of assassins while delivering a first aid course to a bunch of teenagers (it makes more sense in the book, honest!), and I’m getting the obligatory ‘he gets captured and tortured’ scene out of the way early, ahead of a fight scene in a spa (you won’t look at a jacuzzi the same way again).
Apologies if this all sounds like something you’d like to read, because you’re going to have to wait: I haven’t finished writing it yet. And, in the best tradition of first drafts, these ones are – what’s the term? – really quite awful. Rest assured they will go through extensive revision before I let anyone cast an eye on them.
In other news:
Yesterday’s Shadow Kindle edition discount
From today (8th April) to 15th April, my most recently published novel, Yesterday’s Shadow, will be on sale on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com for 99p / $0.99. If you’re interested in checking it out, now’s a good time. Also, please, please, please leave a rating or, even better, a review if you like it. It’s looking a bit sparse on those fronts, and it really makes a difference to other readers browsing for something new.
Here’s the link:
To whet your appetite, here are a couple of excepts from some nice editorial reviews I’ve received:
“Yesterday’s Shadow works wonderfully well on several levels. It offers a warm, satisfying nostalgia for a simpler time when we were younger and the world seemed to be just there for us waiting to explore and make it our own… This is a well-written, gentle, sweet, story that I enjoyed and can highly recommend.”
Grant Leishman for Readers’ Favorite
“Yesterday’s Shadow is thought-provoking and well-written. Anyone who has been sixteen and struggled with the big questions—Why am I here? What is true? What is real?—will sympathize with, and possibly identify with, Nick’s journey.”
Wally Wood for Reedsy Discovery
I have a couple of writing courses scheduled in the next few months, so I suspect my next post will be about them. Until then, byyyyeeee!
P.J. Murphy's Writer Site 
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