With Christmas heading toward us at warp speed (really? Just five weeks away? How’d that happen!?), if you’re anything like me you may struggle a little when deciding what presents you wish to buy friends and loved-ones.

Books and stories really are one of the greatest gifts you can give another. It’s magic you’re handing over, the promise of escape to different worlds, of meeting new people who inhabit those lands and travelling with them through their story. Books ignite imagination, they transport you to universes vastly different from ours yet so real they must exist. They engage the mind, tug at the heart, and make you believe there’s more to this microcosm we call life. You might think that’s a big call, but I’ve read stories that have done just that.

So, in the spirit of giving, over the next five weeks I’ll be promoting books – novels, collections, anthologies, comics – covering a range of genres and classifications that would make great gifts for the festive season. Or any season really. Books are wonderful gifts any time… all the time.

Yes, I’ll be promoting my own work (why wouldn’t I?), but I’ll also be promoting other authors’ work – those I’ve worked with and those I’ve read over this past year that really need to make it into either yours or a friends or loved-ones hands. There’s nothing sadder than spaces on a bookshelf.

The books I’ve read will have a little more detail than those on my ‘to read’ list (obviously), and as much as I’d like to take suggestions, that’s too big a project to take on at this stage, especially under tight time-constraints.

And for those of you who’ve read a book, collection, anthology et al that you’ve loved, leave a review for the author – that’s one of the best gifts you can give them.

Stay tuned…