The Grimsdale Claimant

I’m not going to lie, I’ve found writing difficult in the last couple of years. Mostly this is the obvious – I write mostly light, comical fiction and it hasn’t been a light, comical time.

It’s also a new job of mine that moves very quickly between being exhausting for long periods, randomly alternating with long periods of nothing happening at all. I think I could adjust to either mode, but the wild swings between them makes it hard.

But in spite of that, I have been (however slowly) moving ahead with my sequel to Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys. Tentatively titled The Grimsdale Claimant it picks up where Charlie and Gladys left off. It’s inspired by the real-world case of the Tichbourne Claimant, a genuine (albeit bizarre) Victorian legal case, it veers through other matters such as

• Tom Baxter’s attempt to sign Gladys to a phonograph contract.
• Steam-powered mecha at the Crystal Palace.
• A patient in a Bedlam who claims to be a time traveler.
• The ghosts of ancient Egypt, now working as freelancers.
• Pneumatic railways and calculating engines.
• Spiritualists and their surprise interest in a matter before Chancery.
• Gladys being clever.
• Charlie doing his best.
• Admiral Decharles shouting at people.

I’d stalled on the MS a little, until the penny dropped how the calculating engines connected with Egyptian ghosts. Now I’m hoping to have a draft on paper by midyear. I’m really excited about this one, so I’ll try to keep updating