Exmoor Fact and Fiction

Books and Stories Inspired by Exmoor.

I am fascinated by the history and legends of Exmoor and its people. People like William Burgess who murdered his six-year-old daughter, Anna Maria in 1858. (The Murder of Anna Maria,) And the many Exmoor characters who are commemorated in the stained glass windows of Exmoor churches. (Stained Glass in Exmoor Churches) All have provided material for books.

As well as being a rich source of material for writing about the history and people of Exmoor, the Exmoor countryside, with its rugged coast and wild moors, has influenced my romantic novels and many short stories.

I always wanted to be an author and wrote my first, rather dreadful, novel while still in school. I began writing seriously in my twenties: articles; short stories for magazines; stories for children’s comics, and hundreds of verses for greetings cards.

In 2014, I gained a BA (Hons) degree with Open University, studying creative writing, and I am now a member of the Alliance of Independent Authors.

I lived most of my life in Oxfordshire but enjoyed many wonderful family holidays on Exmoor. One day, I vowed, I will go there to live. And I did – but I had to wait until I retired to realise that dream.

Writing about gardens and plants

Publishing

I publish as Aller Books, named after the River Aller which flows through the village where we were living at the time.

Long gone are the days when publishers took care of publicity and marketing and all the author had to do was produce the next book. Nowadays, authors are expected to do all their own publicity and marketing in return for a small royalty, while the publisher pockets the profits. Which is why, with the advent of the internet, huge numbers of writers now publish independently, and why I, too decided to become an ‘indie’ author.