The World of Joshua Raven

1. What's 5fingers about?

2012-03-01T07:00:00.017Z

[20 Frequently Asked Questions from Readers]

5fingers is a series of fast-paced supernatural thriller-adventure novels – five in total. In the first book, the main character, 16 year old Rachel Race, is hurled into a world of darkness and intrigue and forced to carry out a series of assignments against her will. Rachel faces a number of challenges from an enemy with many faces, leading to an incident that I can't tell you about because I would love you to read the book for yourself!

5fingers: vortex continues the story, picking up a year on from the dramatic events of 5fingers: initiation. Rachel's friends, Lake and Iona, and the adventurer Caleb, are in danger, and her enemies are thirsty for revenge. Rachel comes face-to-face with her adversary, and meanwhile, there is a ‘mysterious arrival’ in Griffton.

In many ways, 5fingers is about slavery and freedom, and the moral choices we make. It's about a much bigger world than the one that we can see, taste and smell. But it's also a rip-roaring adventure story that takes place in the seaside city of Griffton, as well as having scenes that take place in Bali, Nepal, Slovakia, Bolivia, Tanzania… Basically, I love travel and different cultures!

The five stories follow on consecutively from each other and chart the rise of Samyaza, one of the Grigori, or Watchers, as he executes his terrible plan to unleash an ancient evil on the earth. I hope the books are about so much more than that, but you can decide for yourself!

Countdown to 5fingers: vortex (Out April 10th, 2012)

40 days

Click on image to buy 5fingers: initiation and preorder 5fingers: vortex

New Blog Posts from March 1st 2012

2012-01-10T12:22:00.008Z

Hello and welcome to my blog. It will be updated regularly from March 1^st 2012, so please visit often.

I will talk about the whys and hows of novel writing, and answer the questions my readers most frequently ask. I will share some of my short stories and poems, and give you snippets of my favourite pieces of writing. I will also keep you posted on how 5fingers is going, so please come back on March 1st, and bookmark this blog! JR

Thoughts on completing 5fingers: vortex

2011-09-09T11:29:00.013+01:00

Well, I have finally finished the final draft of the sequel to 5 fingers: initiation, four years after I completed the first one.

So many thoughts go through your head, and a range of emotions. I have looked so closely at this manuscript, making alterations here, deleting sections, rewriting, restyling, and tightening up the language all the way through. It has been read by five editors, and will soon be read by the sub editors...

Vortex marks my eighth story: 1. Dreamscape, 1987 (novella); 2. The Seashore, 1988 (novella); 3. The Shore, 1989 (novella); 4. Submission, 1994; 5. Sleeping Dogs, 1995, 6. The Wings of an Angel, 2002, 7. 5fingers: initiation, 2007; and 8. 5fingers: vortex, 2011.

My thoughts are already running ahead to 5fingers three, which will in some ways cement my progress in the five-book series, and convince me more strongly that I will actually complete the set! My hopes are that it won't take as long to write the third book as it has taken me to write the second! I hope you enjoy 5fingers: vortex.

vortex completed!

2011-06-07T11:18:00.003+01:00

‎5fingers: vortex is now completed. The book is being read separately by five editors. Feedback is good so far, but I will be happy to make any improvements that I need to! I hope you buy and enjoy it when it comes out. JR

Taking 5fingers back to St Malo, Brittany!

2011-05-16T11:23:00.004+01:00

So looking forward to going to St Malo again - this afternoon and meeting around 240 students (maybe more!) who have read 5fingers - thank you so much you guys. I really enjoyed coming over two years back. If you just signed up to this blog - I am really looking forward to talking about fiction and writing with you and answering your questions. ; )

architects and e-tailing

2009-12-08T10:56:00.002Z

well, once again, writing fiction has gone on the back burner as I earn money for the family, but that's life!

So, with my journalist's hat on again, I've been writing about The Baltics, Architects, E-tailing, Resource Mobilisation, and southwestern Universities...

Ho hum, Lake and Rachel will just have to wait while I bring home the bacon.

Reading for six-year-olds

2009-11-21T08:00:00.000Z

I am amazed at my six-year-old daughter's level of reading, which I am proud to say is above her age. In one school reading book she recently brought home, she came across the following words:

1. Disappeared
2. Swallowed
3. Familiar
4. Suspiciously
5. Dangerously
6. Surprisingly
7. Plaintive
8. Curiously
9. Opinion
10. Considered
11. Tremendous
12. Ordinary

Next stop, the Wall Street Journal...

Warden Park School, Cuckfield

2009-10-20T14:00:00.001+01:00

I had the absolute pleasure of working with two classes at Warden Park School, a large comprehensive in Cuckfield, Hayward's Heath.

150 of the pupils were studying the first chapter, and I got to give 70 of them a copy of the book, and talk to them about their own creative writing.

Once again I was so awestruck by the creative power and potential of individual students, like Catherine Hodgson. Many of them wrote poetry and stories, or had blogs.

So many of them were highly articulate with deep insights into my writing and the issues that 5fingers grapples with: alienation, loss, mystery, faith, a supernatural world beyond this one.

Many of them had written book reviews of 5fingers initiation, and one girl in particular, Anya, encapsulated the mood and focus of the book in her review. Thanks so much Warden Park - you are awesome!

The Beauty of Words

2009-09-09T09:00:00.001+01:00

1. Patina
2. Cogent
3. Denude
4. Obviate
5. Polity
6. Denizens
7. Multifarious
8. Pseudepigrapha
9. Arcologies
10. Cornucopia

School Holidays

2009-09-07T12:04:00.002+01:00

This is why I love being a dad who works from home:

Child 1: "Can I have an ice cream?"
Child 2: "Can I have an ice cream?"
Child 3: "You said we could have ice creams."
Child 2: "Can I have an ice cream?"
Me: "Yes, you can."

Child 3: "Can I get them?"
Child 2: "Can I?"
Me: "Here you are."

Child 3: "Dad, look at mine."
Child 3: "Can you read my joke?"
Child 3: "Can you open the door?"
Child 3: "Can you put my shoes on?"
Child 1: "Can I have another ice cream?"
Child 3: "Dad, can you get my shoes?"
Me: "Okay, I'll get your shoes."

Child 1: "Can we all watch a film?"
Child 1: "Can I put the film on?"
Child 1: "Dad, can you get the controls? I can't reach them."
Child 3: "Now can you read my joke?"

From 5fingers: vortex chapter 13

2009-08-18T17:08:00.003+01:00

Griffton was tired and aching after a long day of frolicking by the sea. The air was thick with the stench of salty swell and traffic fumes. Tireless seagulls squawked and soared, attempting long sorties deep inland from their safe haven out at sea. All the while, underpinning the city’s activities from the cliff to the beach, was the relentless roar of the ocean.

Weary from a day of making merry mayhem, the Zodiac Kids reclined on the sand. Well, not all of them. Stevie Teeth was wrestling The Pig, proving his worth as top dog. The Pig had irritated him that day, and this was his way of publicly disciplining him. The rules were no knives, and no ear biting. Apart from that, anything goes.

(unedited - from chapter 13 of 5fingers: vortex)

Still not getting to write 5fingers: vortex

2009-07-22T13:38:00.005+01:00

This is going to sound so boring, but I still haven't had any opportunity to write vortex.

What I have done is:

- drink lots of coffee
- write and file some business/IT features
- play with the kids
- watch a lot of CBeebies
- cook a chicken jalfrezi
- visit my daughter's sports day (she did ball (egg) and spoon, skipping and relay)
- successfully avoid doing the dad's race
- pack up some boxes of stuff for camping this weekend
- attend a nursery leaving do for my middle child
- help my wife through some emotional traumas
- pester the Blue Fish Publishing staff
- drink some Belgian beers and eat some horrible Chinese food from Sainsbury.

So now you know what the life of a writer is really like.

Monday morning - wishing, just wishing

2009-07-20T12:20:00.003+01:00

Monday morning - wishing, just wishing I could be writing Vortex. This is perhaps one of the hardest things about being a novelist - everything conspires to prevent you from writing the fiction that's burning in your heart.

To think, I've left Daniel in a tricky situation with his wife Arabella Samantha; Jose and his brothers are stuck in their house in Bolivia with some unexpected guests; and Rachel is in hospital again.

But, back in the other real world, my kids are breaking up from school and there's sports day, a nursery party with songs (wind the bobbin up, busy busy bees...), and we are packing for a camping holiday next weekend. Plus, I have a dozen features articles to weave together by the end of the week.

Aaargh - I just want to write Vortex! If only I didn't need sleep, I could write through the night. Vampire dad, they'd call me as I emerge in the morning, dishevelled and wild eyed...

Final Assembly - end of a gruelling but enjoyable week

2009-07-17T13:34:00.004+01:00

It is the end of a gruelling but enjoyable week. Gruelling partly because I have been feeling unwell and achey -no it's not swine flu - at the tail end of the NINE school sessions I've done. Enjoyable because I have met a lot of young people, and hopefully inspired them to be the best that they can be.

This morning I was speaking at an 8.30 assembly (that's early!) for 13-year-olds at St Paul's College. I read a bit of the book, and told them some of my adventures as a news reporter, on a pirate ship on the Cote d'Azure and at a hotel in Palm Springs. I left them with a challenge to think about what adventures their life had in store for them, and what was 'written on their life' to do.

Back in the office, I kept it together enough to write a freelance article, and am now back doing school runs for my three, four and six-year-olds. I am a father, husband, journalist, novelist, teacher, chauffeur, and ultimately very, very tired person at the end of the day.

Back to my old school after gulp 20 years

2009-07-16T18:00:00.001+01:00

This afternoon I went back to my old school - after 20 years! Hazlewick School has changed so much since I was there. The place is amazing now, and far bigger. Whereas before it was all open plan, with a a dozen portacabin classrooms, it now has huge electronic gates and fences lining the grassy areas. New buildings, big open spaces, hi-tech everywhere.

The sixth formers have two common rooms to hang out, and there are several hundred six formers, where as before we were numbered about 100 or so. The school itself has over 2000 pupils, and looks more like a university campus.

It was such a pleasure to meet my favourite teacher, Mr. Hopkins, who really hasn't changed in 20 years, apart from the grey hair! I led two creative writing and literature seminars with back-to-back sixth form classes in the library, accompanied by Jenny Burdett from Blue Fish Publishing. It was great fun. We studied dialogue, and I had them turn it into a diary entry or news story. One thing I really enjoy is seeing other people be creative.

Back to School at St Paul's Burgess Hill

2009-07-15T10:25:00.004+01:00

I spent a great morning taking an assembly at St Paul's School in Burgess Hill, and talking to sixth form then year seven classes about creative writing and journalism, and reading from 5fingers: initiation.

It was the second day in a row for this, as I took an assembly yesterday for year 9 and 10s. I'm in again on Friday to talk to another year group assembly - it's great fun and they ask really good questions. One even asked how much money I earned! Many of the youngsters are already into creative writing which is great.

This is a busy week for school work. I'm going into my old school tomorrow, Hazelwick School, to do a couple of creative writing workshops - and am looking forward to that immensely.

I do enjoy the school work, and love talking in assemblies and to clases. However, it is so draining - physically and emotionally. Yesterday, when the adrenalin had drained away, I just wanted to curl up and die, though I had to write a feature and look after the two boys, then go out in the evening to a BBQ. Teachers, I take my hat off to you.

St Malo, Dinard and St Briac

2009-05-13T11:14:00.001+01:00

I was hosted in St Malo by two lovely families, Isabelle and Fred in Dinan, and Eric and Nicole in St Lunaire – thank you so much folks. I visited Dinard, the beautiful St Briac, and saw a church that dates back to 1000 AD. I also wandered up a coastal cliff, and felt the place was reminiscent of Griffton. A fluorescent yellow butterfly led the way, and a solitary seagull returned to shore over a breathtaking coastal line, with St Malo and Dinard in the distance. Thick bushes of yellow flowers. The quiet hiss of the sea below, clean air, distant birdsong.

Taking 5fingers to St Malo, Brittany

2009-05-11T11:13:00.002+01:00

St Malo – I am spending four wonderful days in St Malo, in Brittany, Northern France. I spoke to 150 pupils at a school, who are studying 5fingers as part of their English course. It was so wonderful to be grilled by them and to answer a couple of hundred questions in the flesh! I also loved to hear them read their favourite sections of the book, and to read them mine. What an honour.

Over 30 books sold at Waterstones!

2009-04-11T11:12:00.000+01:00

The Waterstones[www.waterstones.com] book signing went very well – on a drizzly Saturday in Sussex, I had fifty or sixty conversations with people and signed over 30 books. The staff at Waterstones Haywards Heath were great hosts, so thank you! I also got to eat an excellent paella from a street vendor in the Orchards – all in all, a great day.

vortex: Griffton, Scotland and Bolivia

2009-03-19T11:11:00.003Z

I am cracking on with 5fingers: vortex, the second book in the series, and have so far covered Griffton, Scotland and Bolivia in the story. The book will be out in due course, and will be well worth the wait – I just wish I had more time to write! Next week looks like a clear run though, so hoping to pen four or five chapters! Will keep you posted. I am managing to stay sane by taking plenty of walks in the countryside near where I live, and sometimes take my four year old son (the middle child) with me, for relaxing conversation.

Waterstones book signing

2009-03-16T11:10:00.001Z

My publisher has arranged a book signing at Waterstones in Haywards Heath – from 10am to 4pm – on Saturday 11th April – if you’re around, please do come and encourage me! I love book signings because I get to chat to all sorts of people, and tell them all about 5fingers. We are also arranging a signing at Waterstones Horsham, so I’ll keep you posted.

Clouds and blackberries

2009-03-06T15:26:00.000Z

This week, I find myself freelance writing on: the persecution of Christians in Bangladesh, Cloud Computing, bank trading systems, BlackBerry smart phones and counselling South Asian migrants.

Aquariums and skyscrapers

2009-03-01T15:25:00.000Z

We have just finished spending two hot weeks in Dubai, visiting family and friends, and researching 5fingers book three. Dubai is a fascinating place, with the tallest building in the world - 1/2 a mile high, beautiful beaches and malls with aquariums in them!

At a literary festival in Dubai

2009-02-24T15:23:00.001Z

Today I was a VIP guest at Dubai’s first literary festival, which had 65 authors including Peter James, Anthony Horowitz, Kate Mosse and fellow journalist Kate Adie. The 4-day event was spectacular, and took place at the luscious Intercontinental Festival City with views of the city skyline.

In New York

2009-02-11T15:23:00.002Z

I am in New York for two days, covering a BlackBerry press event with just 20 other international journalists. The Marriott Marquis hotel where I am staying is like an airport - super massive and 50 floors high. The lights of Times Square illuminated my room all night. I also ate some incredible burritos at Chipotle – I thoroughly recommend it. I am also loving the massive plasma screen in the room, and the buzz from the city below.

Creative writing

2008-10-10T12:58:00.004+01:00

I spoke to the group of 30 students at Oakmeeds in Burgess Hill this morning. I read from the book and talked about creative writing and my career and experience as a journalist. They were a fantastic group of people, very attentive and with excellent questions. A number of them were looking at careers in journalism, and I think they got great adventures ahead. Thank you for having me in, guys.

National children's book week

2008-10-06T15:06:00.001+01:00

This morning, I read parts of the book and gave a talk to pupils at Dorothy Stringer School, as part of National children's book week. The event took place in Borders’ Brighton store, and they were a very receptive audience. I chatted to Neil, the manager of Borders Brighton, for almost an hour afterwards. He's very well read and travelled guy, and I really appreciated him hosting me.

5fingers: vortex reaches chapter six

2008-09-19T15:07:00.002+01:00

I have been trying to focus on writing 5fingers: vortex, and managed to get as far as chapter six. It's very fast moving, but I do find that my news and feature writing day job does interrupt the flow. Saying that, vortex is maturing well in my mind, and it should be a thrilling read. There is a plot twist between Lake and Rachel, and Iona’s is in it again, and I am enjoying researching about Volkswagen Beetles and Bolivian culture.

Summer events and interviews

2008-08-28T15:08:00.003+01:00

This month, the book was on sale at several summer events and conferences, New Wine, Soul Survivor and Greenbelt. It's got a good response. Thank you if you bought the book at any of those, and thank you Collette, for interviewing me on New Wine radio about 5fingers. It was great fun.

Book signing at Borders, Brighton

2008-07-17T11:25:00.001+01:00

Today we confirmed a book signing at Brighton's Borders on Saturday 30th August (12-3pm). The manager thinks I could sell around 30 copies which is great news! Do come and support me if you fancy it - we'll grab a drink afterwards to celebrate!

Horseplay, Brighton book reading

2008-07-02T11:26:00.003+01:00

The book reading at Horseplay - the poetry and performance night in Kemp Town, Brighton went really well, and I even sold some books! It was great fun and I read in between the other acts - a great band (Dirty Scavenger), Ashley French, a great slam poet and a human beatbox/reggae singer. I'm looking forward to the next Horseplay!