Furloughed from their day job, Bristol-based mortgage advisers Stacey Campbell and Tracy Firks decided to use their time to create the ultimate ‘side hustle’. A chance comment over the office tea making duties set them on to the journey of becoming published authors. And not just any old published authors; creators of a trilogy of erotic romance novels, the first of which ‘The Director’ is available on pre-order from 14th February with a launch date of 31st March.

The Director is the first book in The Storm Trilogy series and is the story of single mum Chloe Taylor, who undertakes an emotional journey to reconnect herself and find her confidence. Old friends and past loves resurface in Chloe’s life and take her on a journey that leads to some wild nights and exciting adventures.

Stacey was inspired by a recently single friend,

“Having had many conversations with a good friend of mine about her divorce experience and recent return to the dating scene, I was telling Tracy about her comical and hilarious dates in the kitchen one day. Over the coming weeks and months of telling Tracy about each encounter, I made the statement ‘I could write a book about this’, to which Tracy encouraged me. I tried to convince Tracy to join me in writing the book on many occasions until she finally caved in and agreed.

After reading how Tracy wrote the example sex scene, we had much discussion about our writing style. We both write, with Tracy editing my writings into our writing style. We discuss every step of each chapter before it’s written.

When restrictions allow, you will find us spending our afternoons after work sitting in a local tea shop discussing the storyline, sex scenes and browsing sex toy websites as we wait for our cucumber sandwiches and multiple cakes to arrive. Everyone loves a bit of afternoon tiffin… cake.”

Tracy knows the series will be an entertaining read for many,

“If you are a reader of romance, erotic romance, funny filth, and love books and films like Bridget Jones, Sex and the City and Fifty Shades, then this is the book series for you. Follow Chloe on her journey of self-discovery after two men from her past pop back into her life, one of which was her first love. With hilarious steamy encounters of lust, nights in with raucous laughter and home truths with work colleagues and friends, Chloe needs to make a decision – what will she choose? Love or Lust? With steamy, emotional, and funny moments, it’s a trilogy not to be left on the shelf!

A romp, good fun, an antidote to Lockdown. This series must have been fun to write, and is certainly fun to read. Go for it.

The Director is available on Pre-Order: here

Facebook: The Storm Trilogy

Instagram: @the_storm_trilogy

Twitter: @TrilogyStorm

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Oh ho.. Harriet, is it a happy ending, or not? Read it and see.

The Murder List  Roger Silverwood £1.99/$2.99

Women are living in fear that they’re next on the murder list… Bodies of women in their 60s keep turning up. Always the same disturbing pose. Oh crikey… hang onto your hats.

Crime in the College Catherine Maloney £1.99/$2.99

  (Fabulous jacket)  A trip down memory lane takes an unexpected turn as Detective Markham visits his alma mater at the University of Oxford – a builder discovers a body beneath a dilapidated staircase. Worse, it appears the woman is no stranger to Markham. Well paced, evocative and page turning… What more do you want. Ah, to know ‘who done it’… Read on. Enjoy.

And now –  a trip behind the scenes of Joffe to meet LAURA COULMAN – PROJECT EDITOR

WHAT I DO: I am addicted to reading and have always been that person with “her head stuck in a book”. Nowadays, I’m delighted to say it’s an important part of my working day. I love working closely with our authors and editors, and immersing myself in their wonderful manuscripts, helping each one to fulfil its potential before sending it out into the world. Which is always the proudest moment!

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2021: I have so many hopes for this new year. Not least that our creative team will soon be able to regroup in the office (many a doughnut will be eaten). I’m also excited to think of all the talented new voices that we’re hoping to connect with and properly, deservedly spotlight in 2021.

FAVOURITE BOOKS: Oscar Wilde will always hold a special place on my shelf. I’ll never forget the first time I read The Picture of Dorian Gray. Everything about it — Wilde’s stunning language and the twisted fairytale at the heart of it — hooked me helplessly in and I couldn’t put it down. I also love The Great Gatsby, for its poignant emotional punch. I can also wholeheartedly recommend *anything* of Kate Atkinson’s. Not least the Jackson Brodie mysteries. I think she has the most incredible gift for storytelling.

Lots more on offer at Joffe Books.

Natalie Jayne Peeke continues her conversation with best selling author, Lysa Walder – A Paramedic’s Story. A book that moved, informed, and which she found unputdownable.

What was the most difficult story to share, Lysa?

No one story was the most difficult, but in general the situations where I could overlay the image of someone I loved on to the patient I was attending or their relatives (because they were the same age or had similar characteristics) always had the capacity to invoke a visceral response in me. So if the child affected was the same age as one of my own or the older man was the same age as my father I may have had an internal battle with my instinct, as a mother or daughter, to become emotionally involved. Hopefully I always maintained a professional demeanour despite any inner turmoil I may have been experiencing.

What advice would you give to anyone who is training to be a paramedic?

I think people don’t always appreciate the mental and physical toll being a paramedic can take. There is a fair bit of heavy lifting of both patients and equipment which can result in many injuries especially to the back and joints. The around the clock shift pattern can have a detrimental impact on health and family life. I missed out on so much; kid’s birthdays and other milestones in particular. Seeing extremely sad or horrific sights so regularly can contribute to anxiety, depression and PTSD.

On your hardest days, what kept you going ?

Our shifts are nearly always twelve hours long and clock watching is an occupational hazard. Sometimes the only thing that kept me going was thinking about the end of the shift when I would get back home to the family or my next day off. Occasionally we cross paths with our colleagues and have a chance for a laugh or informal debrief. A nice treat such as listening to music in the vehicle or a coffee & slice of cake can be good pick-me-ups to break up the day too.

What books or authors do you enjoy reading?

For a bit of escapism I enjoy reading novels in my free time (when it’s not nice enough weather to be outside) and I particularly enjoy Andrea Camillieri & Donna Leon, who write about their detectives Montalbano in Sicily & Brunetti in Venice respectively. Elena Ferrante’s novels that describe the bonds of female friendship and growing up in the tough streets of Napoli is a powerful read. Bill Bryson is about the only non-fiction writing that I enjoy, he manages to pack so much in and the mix of information and humour is just right for me.

What do you like to do in your spare time ?

I now live in Italy with my husband in an old farmhouse in the mountains north of Lucca with Mr Darcy the dog, Mr Grey and Toulouse the cats, Miss Havisham and Little Cosette the chickens. During free time we are kept occupied with maintaining the many terraces and the woodland around the house which keeps us extremely busy and reasonably fit. The great thing about living here is that so much of our socialising and general life is lived outside. I love nothing more than a nice long therapeutic walk in the surrounding forests and mountains with friends and dogs, it’s a fabulous way to really relax. I’m still learning Italian and writing in my free time to keep my mind active too. The only problem with living in Italy is being so far away from family and dear friends, though it never felt far away when we could still go to the UK and they came to visit us here frequently. Who could have known that the pandemic was looming and the devastating restrictions it would place on our travel.

If you could invite any 3 people, real or fictional , to a dinner party who would you invite and what would you serve ?

If I could invite three people to dinner as well as my friends and family I’d invite Dolly Parton, Michelle Obama and Graham Norton and serve up an enormous lasagna with lashings of wine. After dinner, which we would eat outside on the terrace, we’d have a good old sing a long with those that can, playing guitars. We have no near neighbours so this could be loud and continue well in to the early hours.

Fighting for you Life by Lysa Walder is available here

One of the first books that I read this year was the sensational and bestselling Fighting for your Life by Lysa Walder. I was absolutely blown away at how amazing it was to read but also everything that a paramedic goes through on a regular basis. Upon writing my review I knew I had to contact Lysa to see if she would be interested in doing a interview with little old me and I am not ashamed to say that I genuinely squealed when she agreed.

Lysa kindly took time out of her schedule to answer my questions. If you haven’t done so already then I urge you to pick up a copy of Fighting for your Life

Because we chatted for so long, I am dividing this interview , and part 2 will be published on Wednesday.

What prompted you to write a book ?

I wrote the book in 2008 primarily because I wanted my family and children to understand my work as a paramedic, which has been such an important part of my life for many years. Over the years I usually worked alone and I wanted to be able to ‘bring them along’ with me for the ride and for them to be able to visualise what it felt like to be me in those situations. They already know me as a mother, child, sister and I hoped that they would read my stories and get to know my professional personality as well. My unintended audience however, has been young people and students who are planning to study Paramedic Science at university – in particular young women. I imagine they Google the term ‘Paramedic’ and devour everything they find to satisfy the need to know as much as they possibly can before they commit. I am currently working on another collection of stories and I sincerely hope that this book will also be published.

How long did it take you to complete ?

When I wrote the book I used to get up extra early in the mornings and lay the bones of the story out and then I would usually put in the details during the evenings. I would hazard a guess that it took about 300 hours of typing time.

What do your family and friends think of your book ? Did they realise the extent of what a paramedic endures ?

My close family probably already had a fair idea of what types of calls we go to working in the ambulance service but some people did express surprise that our job entails, for example, witnessing the aftermath of brutal murder, dead or severely ill babies, delivering babies, major incidents and mental health crisis for example. I was very surprised that they were surprised by this as I didn’t think it was a revelation! We are usually called upon when someone is having a pretty awful day and we see the best and very worst of humanity. If you think about most of the nightmare scenarios that can happen in a person’s day it will normally result in contact with the emergency services.

What was the most difficult part of writing your book?

The most difficult part of writing my book was deciding how much of myself to put in there. Writing a biographical account means laying yourself bare and open to criticism and it scared me. For that reason, I held back a fair bit as an act of self protection. The other difficulty was that I found some of the stories were so incredible, so filled with coincidence, twists and turns that I felt people wouldn’t believe them, I had to leave a couple out for fear of undermining the credibility of the book. One other issue is that there’s a fine line when trying to introduce or include humour in to these types stories (not forgetting that humour is a necessary evil that gets us through some of the most dreadful situations) Patients say and do the most hysterical things and take my word for it, that’s a whole bookshelf in itself. However, describing these moments are really tough for me as I realise that they can easily descend in to ridicule or belittling of the patient which I would never intentionally do, so again these are the stories that I often avoided.

We will resume our fascinating chat on Wednesday.

Fighting for your Life by Lysa Walder is available here.

–

First a special offer: FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE  BY PATRICIA MACDONALD: Young mother Claire confessed to the double murder of her husband and newborn son.  Her best friend, Morgan, refuses to believe she could have done such a thing, but Claire’s perfect life is far removed from what it seems.
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A body is discovered in the convent’s schoolhouse. Dressed all in white, a garland of leaves has been delicately placed upon her head. A thin red line the singular disturbance upon the otherwise peaceful looking victim. Sister Joan finds herself torn between her religious duties and discovering the truth

Dying Bad by Maureen Carter £1.99/$2.99. A gripping police procedural by a best selling author.

Detective Inspector Sarah Quinn and her team are having a terrible week. A badly beaten man but no leads. Another victim is left in a coma. Violence is stalking the streets of Birmingham. Has D I Quinn got a grip on it?

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And now more about NINA KICUL   ASSISTANT EDITOR who Frost Magazine has come to know, and like enormously for her professionalism and willingness to respond quickly.

WHAT I DO: I consider myself to be very lucky as I have the pleasure of working across lots of different departments at Joffe Books. This inevitably makes it hard to explain what I actually do, as I wear many hats, but a key part of my role is to ensure everything is running smoothly (no pressure!). This could involve formatting manuscripts ready for the next step, taking in corrections from freelancers, designing book covers, awards management or discussing book launches with authors, there’s never a dull day at Joffe Books!

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2021: Finding and publishing more great books for our readers to devour! We also have an incredibly exciting event in the pipeline for later in the year (virus permitting, more on this soon!) for our authors and loyal readers, which we hope we can go ahead with. I’m also looking forward to seeing my colleagues again and attending industry events and festivals.

FAVOURITE BOOKS: This question shouldn’t be allowed, it’s just too hard! Some of my favourite books are holocaust survivor stories like The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka’s Journey and The Choice. Although they’re harrowing, they also fill me with hope. Even in the darkest times we can still find some light and the strength to face our own demons and struggles – things can and will get better. Quite apt, no?

Find all these highlights, and the multitude of titles here Joffe