D.K. Henderson
  • Home
  • The Skull Chronicles
    • Lost Legacy
    • The Red Skull of Aldebaran
    • Daughter of the Gods
    • Khalia's Tomb
    • Heart of Regulus
  • Other fiction
  • Non-fiction
    • Forgotten Wings
    • Starspeak
    • Starspeak 2
  • My blog
  • Contact

News, reviews and interviews
(and any other ramblings I feel like posting)
Otherwise know as...
My Blog

Fun facts about Blue Obsidian

2/11/2020

0 Comments

 
If you have read The Skull Chronicles, you'll know that the Skulls of Light come in a variety of mineral types. I thought it would be fun to run a short series of occasional posts highlighting those that have featured to date.

We kick off with Blue Obsidian, and Gal-Athiel, Voice of the Mother, from Book I, Lost Legacy.

You'll find Blue Obsidian in most crystal shops. Most is man-made, although this type is either coloured glass or created from slag, a by-product of the smelting process. Not that this should put you off as it still has powerful healing and metaphysical properties.

Natural Blue Obsidian, however, is a rare treasure. Like all Obsidians, it is a silica rich volcanic rock that gets its unusual soft aqua colour from either beryllium and/or aluminium sulphate.

Obsidian is an amorphous rock formed when molten material from beneath the Earth's surface (in other words, lava) cools so quickly that its atoms don't have time to rearrange themselves into a crystalline structure. It is classified as 'mineraloid' - not quite a true mineral.

How can you tell the natural from the man-made? As with most things, nature is not flawless and the natural kind is unlikely to be perfect. It may have variations on the depth of colour, inclusions or other marks.
Picture
0 Comments

Author HQ - Heart of Regulus update

11/5/2020

0 Comments

 
Oh boy, it's been a busy week and I'm taking a bit of a breather today, though not for too long. So, what's new?

I received the initial cover draft for Heart of Regulus a couple of weeks ago and it's been back and forward to the designer a couple of times already for tweaking. On Friday he sent me the latest version. It's close, just not quite there yet, so it's gone back to him today for what I hope will be the final time.

Now... drum roll and trumpet fanfare please, and break out the bubbly. I have at last finished the final edit. It's taken a LOT longer than I expected - those pesky perfectionist tendencies - but I've got there. Proof editing is in hand this week.

My other book-related jobs for the week? Finalising the back matter (you know, those bits after the story that say 'Other books by', short bio and so on)..

This time, I'm also adding in an appendix, for want of a better word, summarising what happened with Gemma at the end of Khalia's Tomb. Because, let's face it, it's been a while! I forgot a lot of it and had to re-read so unless you've been burying your nose in it recently, I'm sure you'll have forgotten a lot of it too. There will also be memory joggers on the skulls and the permanent characters.
​
New to the series? I'll be flagging up the sections containing 'spoilers' to the previous books so you can skip them if you want.
​
XXX
0 Comments

6 wonderful reads for your Time-Out time

12/3/2020

0 Comments

 
 Well, it appears that we are all going to have a bit more time on our hands for the next few weeks, if not months. This virus is unlikely to disappear any time soon.  So, while it is going to challenge all of us to move into a very different way of living, why not make the most of the slower pace of life it will demand of us all, and embrace the gifts it brings?

If staying in is the new going out, what a great opportunity to catch up on our reading.  In this blog, I've recommended 6 books that I've read (or re-read) recently and have loved. The descriptions have come from the books' Amazon pages and I've given you the Amazon links.
Picture

Circe: Madeline  Miller

Circe, reimagined as a strong, powerful woman who takes no s*** from any man. What's not to love?

Woman. Witch. Myth. Mortal. Outcast. Lover. Destroyer. Survivor.
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child – not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. 

Read more on Amazon UK
Read more on Amazon.com
Picture

Twelve Kings: Bradley Beaulieu

A feisty young female heroine, swords and sorcery in a fast-paced tale full of twists and turns. 

In the cramped west end of Sharakhai, the Amber Jewel of the Desert, Çeda fights in the pits to scrape a living. She, like so many in the city, pray for the downfall of the cruel, immortal Kings of Sharakhai, but she's never been able to do anything about it. This all changes when she goes out on the night of Beht Zha'ir, the holy night when all are forbidden from walking the streets. It's the night that the asirim, the powerful yet wretched creatures that protect the Kings from all who would stand against them, wander the city and take tribute.

Read more on Amazon UK
Read more on Amazon.com
Picture

Sepulchre: Kate Mosse

Past and present skilfully interwoven in a fast-paced supernatural tale

1891. Seventeen-year-old Léonie Vernier and her brother abandon Paris for the sanctuary of their aunt's isolated country house near Carcassonne, the Domaine de la Cade. But Léonie stumbles across a ruined sepulchre - and a timeless mystery whose traces are written in blood.

2007. Meredith Martin arrives at the Domaine de la Cade to research a biography. But Meredith is also seeking the key to her own complex legacy and becomes immersed in the story of a tragic love, a missing girl, a unique deck of tarot cards and the strange events of one cataclysmic night a century ago...

​Read more on Amazon UK
​Read more on Amazon.com
Picture

The Alchemist: Paul Coelho

A delightful, inspiring spiritual adventure about the importance of following our hearts and our intuition.

Santiago, a young shepherd living in the hills of Andalucia, feels that there is more to life than his humble home and his flock. One day he finds the courage to follow his dreams into distant lands, each step galvanised by the knowledge that he is following the right path: his own. The people he meets along the way, the things he sees and the wisdom he learns are life-changing.

Read more on Amazon UK
Read more on Amazon.com
Picture

Good Omens: Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett

Dark, quirky, original and extremely funny. Exactly what you'd expect from these writers.

What if, for once, the predictions are right, and the Apocalypse really is due to arrive next Saturday, just after tea?
It's a predicament that Aziraphale, a somewhat fussy angel, and Crowley, a fast-living demon, now find themselves in. They've been living amongst Earth's mortals since The Beginning and, truth be told, have grown rather fond of the lifestyle and, in all honesty, are not actually looking forward to the coming Apocalypse.

​Read more on Amazon UK
Read more on Amazon.com
Picture

The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Chris Morton & Ceri Louise Thomas

I read this after writing the first three books in The Skull Chronicles series. If you are a crystal skull lover, it's a fascinating story. 

The crystal skulls are a mystery as profound as the Pyramids of Egypt, the Nazca Lines of Peru, or Stonehenge.
​
Many indigenous people speak of their remarkable magical and healing properties, but nobody really knows where they came from or what they were used for. Were they left behind after the destruction of a previous world, such as Atlantis? Are they simply ingenious modern fakes or can they really enable us to see deeply into the past and predict the future? Searching for the answers takes the authors on a fantastic odyssey through both the physical and the spiritual world.

​Read more on Amazon UK
Read more on Amazon.com
0 Comments

And another one: The Outer Limits Radio Show

3/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Last week I was invited onto The Outer Limits Radio Show on Swindon 105.5 to chat about crystal skulls and The Skull Chronicles with hosts Peggy-Sue and Chloe Dee Ford.

I had a fabulous time chatting all things skullie and writing related and answering a stream of listeners' questions. 

Listen in here:  The Outer Limits Show
Picture
0 Comments

You, Me and a podcast

13/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Recently, I met up with the fabulous Naz Goldbourne, guesting on her Inspired Writer podcast. It was a lot of fun. Lots of laughter (especially when her gorgeous little black and white cat decided to introduce a live mouse into the proceedings) and plenty of chat about The Skull Chronicles, my writing inspiration and so much more...
Listen in here

​
(I've currently got my shoulder to the wheel, working hard to finish Book V of The Skull Chronicles. When time permits, I'll post the transcript of the interview here for those of you who, like me, prefer to read than listen.)
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Sign up to my mailing list

    In signing up, you agree to be added to my mailing list to receive my newsletters and other information. 
    ​You may unsubscribe easily at any time.
    Your email details will be kept securely and I will never sell or share them with anyone.

    Archives

    November 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • The Skull Chronicles
    • Lost Legacy
    • The Red Skull of Aldebaran
    • Daughter of the Gods
    • Khalia's Tomb
    • Heart of Regulus
  • Other fiction
  • Non-fiction
    • Forgotten Wings
    • Starspeak
    • Starspeak 2
  • My blog
  • Contact