Custom interior artwork from the Midlife Recorder paperbacks

If you’ve read the books on Kindle, you’ve never seen the interior illustrations.
The Kindle version simply says “Part One” with a quote from the ‘book within the book’, but the paperbacks have artwork. And if you’re feeling smug because you’ve read the paperbacks and seen those images, then hang on, because you still haven’t seen them in their original full-colour glory!

Your Winterfair Gift from the TEK, Finn Albidosi

Make like a four-year-old and create a little magic in front of your eyes just as you did with a magic colouring book back in the day.
Finn hopes you all enjoy his gift to you. Simply play with the slider to flip between the colour and black and white versions of the pictures.

Midlife in Gretna Green

There is a little hill at the back of the Old Blacksmiths Shop in Gretna Green. I call it the “I’m the queen of the castle” mountain.
Lucy (my real Bichon Frise and the inspiration for Tilly) will pose on it for hours—the monarch of all she surveys.
I used this photo of her for Midlife in Gretna Green, mostly because my entire I-need-a-hobby-during-my-retirement plan at the time was to publish a single book. (I’ll write about how and why that changed some other day)
At that point, I simply thought it might be nice to see my name on the cover of a book, and if I only ever produced one, it was damn well going to have a photo of my puppy in it! 💚

Painting the Blues in Gretna Green

The Broch next to the river in Aberglas is from Painting the Blues in Gretna Green.
This came about because I often use artwork for inspiration on the magnetic board in my office while I’m writing.
Mousa Broch is a real, well-preserved Iron Age roundhouse on the island of Mousa in the Shetlands. I asked my cover designer if they could put that broch beside a river, next to a town that looked a bit like Aberglas does in my mind. (Aber means “river mouth”.)
This was the result, and I used it all the time I was writing the scenes in Aberglas, so it was a no-brainer to make it the interior artwork when the time came to publish the second book.

Ties that Bond in Gretna Green

Another easy decision. I wanted something ‘pretty and artistic’ that contained Rosemary, Lavender and Thyme to represent the Hob triplets and the Valentine’s Day bondings from Ties that Bond in Gretna Green. I found the perfect stock photo at Depositphotos. They even had an offer on!

Seeing Red in Gretna Green

I wanted clouds of smoke from Rhiannon in her Red Celt dragon form. Because Rhiannon often equals angry.
However, my talented, creative—but always practical—cover designer pointed out that if we did that, no one would be able to read the quotes.
Finding Your Inner Fire: How to Claim Your True Self by Peggy Hwybon was far too funny to bury in dragon smoke.
So we reined Rhiannon in—which wasn’t easy—and now she only blows a little smoke across the pages of Seeing Red in Gretna Green. But in the colour version, the smoke is so much prettier. I wish I could print the artwork in colour, but on Amazon that requires the entire book to be classed as ‘colour’ and doubles the price – so, sadly, it’s not worth it.

Code Yellow in Gretna Green

This internal artwork for Code Yellow has been the hardest to decide on—so far. I wanted a view of Rollo’s rooftop pool terrace, looking out over Edinburgh Castle, to mirror a scene in the book.
But we couldn’t get anything that looked quite right, so we settled for the view from the balcony in his apartment instead. That scene is on page 419 if you want to refresh your memory—I’m not pasting it here to avoid spoilers for any newer readers.
It shows Edinburgh Castle on the left and the Balmoral Hotel clock tower (where the clock is almost always fast) on the right-hand side.
My cover designer’s sanity prevailed, yet again. We took a stock photo, and they adjusted it a little to give me a version that would work better with the quotes from Winning the War Against Yourself: Daily Weapon and Warrior Care by Arinn Tusensköna.
I love where we ended up with the Code Yellow artwork, because Edinburgh and Rollo will be forever linked now, at least for me. His story wouldn’t have been the same if he’d chosen any other skyline. Let’s hear it for Edinburgh University and its knack for keeping its graduates local.

Market Forces in Gretna Green

The Recorders’ Book.
As you’ll know from every book in the series, it changes from its blue-leather family-heirloom persona to its “open for magical business” red version.
This artwork shows the Book in the middle of making that change.
It’s no wonder, is it, that various characters have looked so impressed when they’ve watched it happen? 😂

Sneak Peek!
Spilling the Tea in Gretna Green

The single-cup dragon teapot is real. It was a gift from a much-loved friend about twenty years ago. I’ve always adored dragons, but I don’t think either of us could have predicted it would one day end up on the cover of a book, never mind as a part of a series that’s grown so extensively it now has an accompanying “Collection”. WTF?
Seriously, the phrase “beyond my wildest dreams” has never been truer.
Whether the rainbow-coloured tea is also real, you’ll have to wait until you read the book to find out. But don’t get your hopes too high; the collection focuses more on spilling less magical—but far more gripping—tea.