Shades of Witchlight

Last month saw the launch of my new paranormal novel "Witchlight" in both the US and the UK, which was an exciting enough event in its own right, but there was also an online launch party lasting for six hours. Many photographs were used in the making of the party (though none of them were hurt) and it seems a shame to lose them to the ether. So I have collected the photographs together here, plus a few new ones which also relate to the plot of "Witchlight". Hopefully they will provide a flavour of both the party and the novel.






THE PARTY
As with all good parties, there was food and drink:

And because this was a celebration there was a fine celebratory cake:

The cake was a delicious as it looks and it was made by the super talented Nicole Rincon of Nicole's Celebration Cakes

But there was more than just food - we chatted, there were video recordings, blog posts, live readings via video links and we played games for literary prizes.

We also shared photographs relating to scenes in "Witchlight".

THE BOOK

Many of the photographs featured during the party were of locations from the novel. For example, Holly, the lead character in "Witchlight", lives in the fictitious South Cambridgeshire Village of Basingfield, which might look a little like this:

The fence at the bottom of her garden overlooks a rough field.

Holly has a pet black and white cat called Barny. Barny loves hunting in the fields behind Holly's house, but when Holly discovers at the mature age of 38 that she is a witch, Barny is destined to become her magical familiar.

It turns out that witchcraft is nothing like it is in the books and the movies and Holly finds herself visiting the British Library in London, where Coven records  are kept:

As a result, she spends a good deal of time at St. Pancras station, but not always in the most salubrious areas:

When, towards the end of the novel, Holly desperately needs to stay safe from the Old Magic that is hunting her, she uses the rabbit warren of the London Underground to take shelter.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves, plot wise. First the book takes us to Edinburgh in search of Holly's biological parentage and the source of her Witchlight:

























... then a remote Greek monastery up a high mountain:

... and Kew

... and Waterloo Station in London:

... and Oxfordshire and the old black and white cottage of the Beldam family, which may look something like these:

When you have Witchlight running through your veins, travelling around the country and around the world is not a problem. 

Now, however, we are coming to the end of the launch party photos and the end of this blog. The last two photos are of Dickens, my cat, and the inspiration for Barny. Dickens was very involved in the launch party and even wrote a blog post to help things along. Here's a picture of him preparing to write the post.

You can read the post itself, which is called "The Witch's Cat", at Candy's Raves. Dickens would very much like you to read it because he's keen to promote the novel in which, as he sees it, he stars.

"Witchlight" (ISBN 978-0692406908) is a paranormal novel with a hint of romance by J.S.Watts. It's published by Vagabondage Press in paperback and e-book formats. You can read more about in on my website and on Amazon, both Amazon UK and Amazon US.