Frost is thrilled that James Swallow has found time to write about his writing day for us – enjoy. And read his novel NOMAD, a belter of a book.

‘Bedtime? Forget it. This is one you won’t put down until it’s finished. We need a new strong character in this genre, and fresh for the New Year, Marc Dane is one.’ Frost Magazine

‘Unputdownable…a must read’ Wilbur Smith

‘nail-biting debut thriller for the post wikileaks world’ Mail on Sunday

‘a globe-trotting espionage thriller…very enjoyable.’ Guardian

James Swallow is a veteran author and scriptwriter with over 15 years of experience in fiction, television, radio, journalism, new media and videogames. He is the three-time New York Times bestselling author. He was nominated by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for his writing on the critically acclaimed DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, 2013’s blockbuster videogame with over 2.18 million copies sold.

Frost is thrilled that James Swallow has found time to write about his writing day for us – enjoy.

The alarm wakes me around 8:00am, and if I haven’t been working ridiculous hours the night before it will have the desired effect and rouse me. Strong coffee and a breakfast snack come next, so the caffeine hits my system around the time I’m at my computer and logging on to the rest of the world. By far the best part of my working day is the commute; I have to travel a lengthy 12 or so metres to my home office, and as someone who used to have a long and dull journey into work back when I had a day job, it’s not something I miss!

At my desk, I skim the internet for the day’s news, check social media and sift through my emails, but my hope is to be into the work for the day by around 10:00am. I start by reviewing the previous day’s writing, whatever it may be – part of a book’s chapter, a piece of short fiction, or script pages – and I edit as I go, fixing things and tightening the writing. By the time I’m done with that, it’s like my writing engine is firing on all cylinders and I’m ready for the main event. I review my plan for the day – how many pages of script I need to write or what my word-count target is – and then settle in to start ‘cutting metal’. At other times, my day might be all about editing if I’m reviewing a finished draft; or it might be a pure study day spent building up a Google search history that which thanks to being a writer of modern espionage thrillers would raise eyebrows at GCHQ and MI5! Other times, I’m off-site working with videogames studios or on location for research.

I’m typically at my desk six days out of every seven, although being your own boss does allow you the luxury of voting yourself a free day whenever you feel you need one! The trade-offs are good and bad – the writer’s lot can be a lonely and isolating one if you allow it to be, so it’s good to break up the schedule with the occasional walkabout or lunch at a local café. It’s also important to keep up a regular connection with your fellow authors in person, or online, if only to share the high and lows of the writer life, brainstorm ideas or just act as a sounding board.

Just a bit of James’ research.

Lunch break comes sometime after 1:00pm, but occasionally it will slip to later if I’m not watching the clock – especially if I am working on something that really captures my attention! I eat at my desk more often than I should, but sometimes I’ll take my lunch on the sofa or out in the garden during the summer months. Then it’s back to the task at hand and I do my best to be done by the time my wife returns from work in the early evening. If I get finished early, I’ll reward myself by unwinding with music, a movie or a game.

But no matter where I am or what time of day it is, I will always have a notepad and a pen within arm’s reach just in case an idea occurs to me outside of “office hours”! As most writers will attest, we are all of us always writing, but we’re not always writing it down…

Published by Zaffre, paperback, £7.99

http://jamesswallow.blogspot.co.uk/               #Nomad

It’s time to celebrate the remembered joys of the festive season so how about a Twelfth Night supper?

Perhaps a lightly spiced Asian meal (why not a takeaway after the feverish home cooking) followed by dessert, and perhaps a light blue cheese. What to drink though? Nothing better for Frost Magazine is the 56 Hundred 2017 Chenin Blanc which can keep you company from starter to the cheese.

Crisp, cool, with a scent of pineapple and peach – a hint of the summer to come. Excellent honest wine.

The Nederburg is an interesting South African winery which has created an initiative in partnership with the Qhubeka charity to raise money to build bikes to transform lives in South Africa.

#DoYourPart is encouraging people to  ride your bike and raise money to get communities across Africa mobilised by making bikes to get them moving – whether it be to work, school or simply just to make it possible to get around.

Sign up or donate at www.nederburgbelieves.co.uk and you can start logging miles for bike parts or a whole bike. Fundraising cycle packs are sent out to inspire one and all to get on their bikes and raise money to build bikes on the Nederburg vineyard in South Africa at a special assembly facility which has been built to support this life changing initiative. The facility, which assembles a minimum of 5,000 purpose-built bicycles a year, will not only offer employment to the community, but also provide all employees with their own personal bicycle, enabling them to improve their lives as well.

If you’d like to know more about Nederburg’s partnership with Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka to mobilise communities across Africa, visit http://www.nederburgbelieves.co.uk/or search #DoYourPart on social media.

So let’s step back into the sitting room, and bask in the glow of the fire, and let the talk drift to Christmas, the relatives, and how long the pine needles will lurk hidden in the carpet, and while doing that, why not sip a whiskey?

We suggest the twelve year old Johnnie Walker Black Label which brings together the flavours from the four corners of Scotland, to create a rather special flavour.

I wonder what John Walker would feel about the amazing empire he built up. He was a farm lad when his father died in 1819 but somehow he wasn’t cast down, but  instead he  powered onwards.

The farm was sold, and the money used to set John up in a grocer’s shop in Kilmarnock, which was far more John’s cup of tea, or should I say, shot of whiskey. Because it was in whiskey distilling where his real genius lay. He began to blend whiskey’s together to get some sort of reliability of taste.

In the 1850s John popped his clogs, and Alexander, his son, took over the business. It was the time of improved transportation: trains and ships and in 1867 Alexander launched Johnnie Walker’s first commercial blend and called it Old Highland Whisky. Before long, this unique blend was available around the globe.

What I didn’t realise was that it was then that the famous square bottle was introduced to reduce breakages, and the label, slanted at precisely 24 degrees. John’s son knew a thing or two about branding. The rest is history.

So here we are, sitting in front of the fire, drinking Johnnie Walker Black Label with its rich, complex and incredibly well balanced in flavour. Full of dark fruits, sweet vanilla and a signature smooth finish which is layered with rich smoke, pea and malt, it creates an impressive whisky to share on any occasion.

Of course, you can enjoy Johnnie Walker Black Label in any way you like – on its own, with a dash of water or alongside your favourite mixer.

But maybe for Twelfth Night you’d like to try a Johnnie Ginger – a spicy mix of Johnnie Walker Black Label and ginger ale, served over ice and garnished with a slice of orange or lime.

Either way, just lift your glass to 2018, and thank John Walker for his distilling skills.

Available from The Whiskey Exchange: https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/550/johnnie-walker-black-label-12-year-old

Milly Adams is the author of several bestselling novels. The latest of which is The Waterway Girls. pub Arrow. £5.99

The rellies have gone home, the house no longer rings with laughter or arguments, the decorations are about to come down, the pine needles will be lurking for months, the walls will look bare, Oh no, do they need decorating?  Arghhh yes, perhaps they do. The children are back at school, we’re back at work, the days are still short, the resolutions have been made and probably breached…

Sounds to me like it’s time to toast farewell to Christmastide, or so it was termed by the Brits, when the Council of Tours – long long ago – decided that Christ’s birthday should be celebrated from Christmas to Epiphany, the last day of which is the twelfth night.

How better to toast this warm hearted Christmastide with wine, and support a charitable initiative at the same time: the Nederburg/Qhubeka partnership.

First a couple of the initiative wines:

56 Hundred Pino Grigio: I love a Pino Grigio. At my favourite hostelry  in London, The Wellington on the Strand I don’t have to order whilst waiting for my meal, it just comes. Is this Nederburg Pino Grigio good? The name is intriguing, honouring the vision of Philippus Wolvaart who paid 5600 guilders for the land that became Nederburg, and the wine is fresh, with a touch of fruit, a touch of sweetness. It has a good heart and great with Italian or Asian dishes, though with pretty much anything actually, or alone. Just the ticket.

56 Hundred 2016 Pinot Noir: Another good hearted wine, red, smooth but vibrant and happy to be glugged with seafoods, poultry, pizza and pasta. Loved it.

Now the initiative: The South African award-winning premium winery, Nederburg, is working with the charity Qhubeka, to raise money to build bikes to transform lives in rural South Africa.

In Africa, the majority of the rural population suffer from limited forms of transport. By providing bicycles to these communities, the Nederburg/Qhubeka continued partnership enhances lives by cutting travel time, hence improving quality of life and facilitating employment and activities that have not up to now been possible.

To this end Nederburg will donate five pence from every purchase on selected Nederburg wines, in Tesco stores nationwide. The bottles on the shelf have a bright neck collar to make them stand out. The promotion runs in store until the end of January 2018.The wines are priced at £5.75.

But still on the cycling theme, the partnership has been taken further: Nederburg believes that cycling, like wine, is complex, intense, requires passion, discipline and evokes real emotion. And so, in partnership with Team Dimension Data (professional cycling squad –led by Mark Cavendish – team leader of Tour de France) and Qhubeka, the Do Your Part initiative was born.

Why not lose some of that weight put on over Christmas: sign up or donate at www.nederburgbelieves.co.uk and you can start logging miles for bike parts or a whole bike. Fundraising cycle packs are sent out to inspire cyclists (and the team) to gather funds to help  bikes to be built at a special assembly facility on the Nederburg vineyard in South Africa. The facility, which assembles a minimum of 5,000 purpose-built bicycles a year, will not only offer employment to the community, but also provide all employees with their own personal bicycle, enabling them to improve their lives as well.

If you’d like to know more about Nederburg’s partnership with Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka to mobilise communities across Africa, visit http://www.nederburgbelieves.co.uk/ or search #DoYourPart on social media.

The wine promotion runs in Tesco stores until the end of January 2018.The wines are priced at £5.75.

And a happy, healthy, fit New Year from all at Frost Magazine.

As Tom Waits once sang, “the large print giveth and the small print taketh away”. The devious loopholes and hidden snares obscured by pages upon pages of legalese is a common enough trope in fiction, as well as in real life, where the foolhardy individuals who sign contracts they haven’t read often find themselves coping with more than they bargained for.

Nowadays though, despite all these warnings, many of us are still guilty of clicking “Accept” on lengthy End User License Agreements without ever really trying to work out what they say. However as these examples show, whether you’re dealing with a physical contract or an online agreement, it’s still vital to read the fine print.

Crappy Connectivity

Manchester-based public wifi company Purple sought to demonstrate the dangers inherent in lengthy and opaque user agreements by intentionally inserting an outrageous clause into their terms of service agreement and seeing how many people would fall for it. The company is responsible for hotspots for locations such as Legoland and Pizza Express and, for two weeks, included a clause legally requiring the user to perform 1,000 hours of community service in exchange for internet access. In that time, more than 22,000 people agreed to perform tasks such as picking up dog faeces in parks or cleaning portable toilets at festivals, whereas only one person claimed the cash prize offered for those who spotted the clause and emailed the company about it.

Bonus Betting with Bonus Print

While fine print is a staple of almost all industries, it is perhaps most vital to pay attention to it when there are large amounts of money on the line. Betting bonus offers are one great example, in which gambling companies will compete to offer the most eye-catching promotional deal, only to clarify them at further length in much smaller font. For this reason, it’s important to review all terms and conditions before you sign up to any offers, either on the company’s website or by contacting their support team. For those who like to be extra secure, it’s also wise to double-check the credentials of the casino before taking advantage of their offer. Licensed sites backed by a legitimate organisation are far more likely to have fair terms, which takes away much of the need to worry and pick through the legalese. Alternatively, many timid gamblers like to rely on third-party recommendations of various offers, such as the bonus betting offers suggested for Canadian gamblers by this site, to ensure that they are not going to be duped out of their hard-earned cash.

T&Cs (and M&Ms)

Yet another reason to pore over fine print is that, if you’re the kind of venue manager trying to book musicians like Van Halen, it could cost you your headline act! Van Halen’s contract with venues is well-known for including the hidden condition that the backstage area is supplied with a bowl of M&Ms with all the brown ones taken out. Given that Britney Spears’ rider notoriously requests a framed picture of Princess Diana, you would be forgiven for thinking this is just typical primadonna antics. However, in actual fact, Van Halen included this line to check to check that the venue had read the many other pages of safety requirements carefully, which were necessary given the show’s inclusion of pyrotechnics and flying harnesses. If the brown-less M&M bowl was not included, there was, therefore, grounds to cancel the show in the name of audience (and performer) safety.

“MANDM” (CC BY 2.0) by Dominic Rooney

Weapons of Musical Destruction

While you might expect bizarre fine print from small companies with a point to prove or musicians, you might be surprised to learn that the iTunes EULA also includes one very curious line, albeit for a very legitimate reason. It insists:

“You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.”

This line is included, despite being now obsolete, because iTunes’ use of encryption technology used to mean it classified as a weapon under US law and was therefore subject to the same export and usage restrictions.

“iTunes” (CC BY 2.0) by JeepersMedia

So there you have it! Even if you don’t get out of any scrapes through reading the fine print, you might just learn something interesting in the process.

No, not the ‘snow falling, crunching into balls, and hurling at someone – ho ho ho. Ouch that hurt…’ type, but the smooth-talking, smooth swallowing type? Well, whether you do or not, Warninks Advocaat is back as a retro treat.

Just the thing for 12^th night, when you might be downcast at the sight of no more flashing lights in the towns, and the treeless corner of your sitting room.

Warninks is synonymous with the snowball cocktail, made from Warninks Advocaat, freshly squeezed lime juice, lemonade or soda and topped with a hint of cinnamon.

Shake the Advocaat and lime juice or lime cordial together. Pour into a high ball filled with ice. Top up with lemonade or soda

Drink with snacks, or mince pies, whatever rings your bell as we see out Christmas and welcome 2018. Deja vu for me, but perhaps the first time for you? Enjoy.

Warninks Advocaat Available from all major supermarkets in the UK,         RRP £12, ABV 17.2%, 70cl