depicts the goblinsearch .com logo  with characters from the childrens book Alexander Woyte and the Goblins - the goblin king at right end and the barn owl which helped to track the goblins on the left

when an author says they've got a news page - and you ask yourself - how long does it take an author to write a book? Yeah - why is that even a thing? ...enter cat, stage right

news re books and writing by Zsolt Kerekes

recently published and forthcoming titles

the Remote
the Goblins are Coming!
Jamie and the Tree Troll
My Pact with the Goblin Queen
Alexander Woyte and the Goblins
Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins)
Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors
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ai ai - a nod to Pirate Books
pirate book newsauthor - January 15, 2025 - Having written a pirate book myself - I thought I'd ask Perplexity AI for a list of Pirate books.

It replied with age sorted lists which it had extracted from 5 web sources. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. All of which are worthy lists but none of which include my book.

Perplexity's list of pirate books from search results, categorized by age group:
Undaunted by my own pirate book's undiscoverability in this first search, I then asked Perplexity AI as a follow up to list books with pirates and goblins in the title.

Perplexity's suggestions - some books featuring pirates and goblins:

Fiction Books
  • Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) by Zsolt Kerekes - A comedy saga involving a Portsmouth pirate ship melted from an arctic iceberg and goblins 1
  • Pirates, Goblins, & Peg-Leg Bill by Curtis Cornell - An adventure across Serenium following Peg-Leg Bill 8 (temporarily out of print)
  • The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison - A fantasy novel with hints of pirates and featuring goblins 4
Pirate Books with Potential Goblin Elements
  • The Rover by Mel Odom - A fantasy novel involving pirates, goblins, and a librarian protagonist 2
Recommended Pirate Books by Zsolt Kerekes

Kerekes suggests some classic pirate literature that influenced his work:
  • Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
  • Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester
That list of suggestions by the AI was more pleasing to me (as you might guess) and suggests there may be a gap in the market for more.

goblinsearch editor's notes:- unfortunately AI data is prone to errors like everything else and when I checked the links cited by Perplexity to the 2nd query (above) I found that some of them were wrong, being out of date, duplicates or otherwise incorrect. So I've deleted the duplicates and replaced others with the best current urls I could find at this time.

Link rot in AIs can occur typically due to the time interval which has elapsed since the whole web sample was done, and in some cases related to this pirates book query because the AI can't judge the difference in reliability between offering a transient link such as in a news page and a permalink such as in a dedicated blog.
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January 14, 2025

I've just noticed that we're exactly a month away from Valentine's Day - which means for me a reset of writing plans. Because having duly met my self imposed deadline of Christmas Day (that recent one in 2024 if you're wondering) to assemble a civilian readable 300 page version of my 80% complete version of my work in progress for my valued beta reader - I had with that seeming stretchy appearance which time has - boldly predicted that by February 14th (which was the next easy to remember date which sprang into my mind) - I'd surely be ready with the next iteration which would be 90% done.

the Goblins are Coming! - book coverUnlike deadlines for software projects - where you can argue that - hardly anyone ever presses that button - so we can put that feature in the next release - putting out another book iteration which has about the same number of missing chapters as the earlier edition would not redeemable by an explanation that despite the unplugged gaps in the story the writer has nevertheless increased the book's total length. So that portends to be a deadline I may miss. Unless I speed up.

The speed bumps in this road have come from working my way through a list of hundreds of line edits which I made for myself while reading the beta version of the book myself over the Christmas holiday period. Not so much the notes to myself which are along the lines of - change these words to those - but the gear changing note at the start of chapter 3 which said - rewrite this to make it compatible with the timeline.

Now this is a part of the story in which the quality of the writing is not the issue. It flowed well enough. These pages were among the earliest passages I drafted in 2001 when I began the story, and they survived with the lightest of edits into the 2005 version which was a short story. But having taken heed of what my beta readers at that time told me (all 6 of them) and my resuming the rewriting the story and the world building as a novel 19 years later in 2024 left a little gap between 2 new parts which I temporarily filled with the glue logic from the much smaller story.

So this morning I'm seeing a bunch of nicely written pages which tell a part of the story but which will feel incomplete when viewed from the perspective of what follows.

How to fix that problem?

Inspiration came to me from real life. At essence in the book is a family story which an uncle tells his nephew from the earliest age that the boy wants to hear it. As the years go by and the boy asks more that story - which was true at heart would be retold in multiple layers depending on how the teller percieves the listener can benefit from knowing more details without wishing to lie but not wanting to cause harm.

In real families at times like Christmas we may refer to a formative incident in real life (which everyone at the table knows already) in a single line. And when new people come into those family get togethers then it can be time to repeat the story in a different way.

Each telling of such a story - for those who hear it - can exist as a memory in its own right. Leading to many versions of a story - sometimes different because of when it was told - or who told it - and each instance having its own different internalized meaning at different times.

That's what I'm doing now. Or trying to do in a way that is interesting and curiosity arousing for my readers and holds true to the pacing of the book and yet doesn't give away any revelation which is still needed to be arrived at by the main characters for themselves later.

As with a lot of writing... once I've decided a pattern or shape or rules to it - it makes the writing much easier. And when will you be able to order the complete book and judge for yourself? Still in this half of 2025 I hope. Come back here for another update on February 14th. Bring a candle and a bottle of fizz.

So long for now. Thanks for coming here.

Zsolt Kerekes, East Chiltington
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What am I writing now?

author - January 9, 2025 - During this first week in January 2025 I've been working through line edits and continuity edits (if that's a thing) for my novel - the Goblins are Coming! having released an ebook version of this book as it was on Christmas Day to beta readers. Big picture view of this project? - is that a couple more months work are needed to complete it.

Today I've been rewriting one of the earliest scenes which I drafted in 2001 (yes really 24 years ago!) Stories and books play an important part in this novel. This scene was a reference to story telling machines and speculation as to what they may have looked like.

Yesterday I took part in the UK Government's consultation on AI and copyright. I will share some of my inputs to that survey on social media later today. If you're an author who wants to take part in it yourself the window for responding remains open till February 24, 2025.

Also in recent days I have been struggling to do micro edits to the book blurb on Amazon UK for my story Jamie and the Tree Troll. I feel it has the potential to reach a much bigger audience but the book platform denies my attempts to list a kids book of folklore as a folklore book for adults too. If all else fails I may choose to flick the metadata switch and turn kids book off. But I'm reluctant to do so because that's why I wrote the book in the first place. In the meantime I content myself with rewriting a few words here and there in the blurb to see if they make any difference to sales

That's enough from me for now. Thanks for coming here.

Zsolt Kerekes, East Chiltington
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Happy New Year

author - January 1, 2025 - My New Year message (unsuccessfully) began with a pitch to promote some past books. I'm keeping its cringe-worthy entirety here as a reminder to myself - don't do it again next year! (Unless? Maybe? No! - just don't.) Lesson learned. Maybe.

What can I offer that you might want to read today? For kids of various ages - I can offer 4 books. Jamie and the Tree Troll - children's novelThe last of those kids books also seems to have a special appeal for adults with an interest in Sussex folklore - or so I've learned recently. Take a look at Jamie and the Tree Troll a new legend of the South Downs in Sussex.

And what am I writing now?

At Christmas (just 5 days ago) I emailed advance beta reader copies of a new 300 page novel I've been writing for the past 13 months called - the Goblins are Coming! I'm reading the story too for the first time myself in book form, and have amassed a list of minor line edits and notes to myself to fix continuity errors I found in some sections. An optimistic guess as to when it will be ready for general publication is April 2025.

I also met one of my readers over the holiday period which was as much a surprise to me as it was to her. I've learned now that word of mouth book recommendations are describing my book in a different way to to that I had been doing online. So I've updated the categories under which it's listed on Amazon this morning to reflect that reality.

Happy new year.

Zsolt Kerekes, East Chiltington
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re book reviews and Paulene Turner's 6 volume series The Time Travel Chronicles

November 26, 2024 - from time to time I write short reviews of the new books I've read from living authors - especially those I've encountered on X.

I had a vain hope which I expressed in a tweet earlier this year - that acquiring the habit of saying something about books which other authors have written might help me shape a style for that crucial period when I would have to write a blurb for my next new book. I can't say I'm confident this scheme will work. Writers are generally the worst at explaining their own work. What's certain is I need more practise.

Point of Origin - book cover - click for more info Anyway today I wrote a (longer than a tweet) review of Paulene Turner's new book - Point of Origin - which is volume 6 in The Time Travel Chronicles

This is a series which I started reading in 2023 when - having rewritten and published my kids novel - Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) - and being surprised by how much I enjoyed reading it - having forgotten in the 20+ years since writing it what was in it - I was looking for something light and amusing in a similar vein to read as a counterweight to serious non fiction.

Luckily for me that coincided with the publication of Paulene Turner's Secrets of the Nile which I reviewed on Amazon (December 8,2023) like so...
intrigued by the cover, captivated by the sample, loved the book

I'm so glad I took the risk of trying this story. No one in the room sees the cover when you're reading an ebook! I'm not in the ideal reader demographic (nearer 66 than 16) and a bloke - but after a difficult year and reading way too many way serious books I thought I'd dip into something which might just be fun. Paulene Turner never ran out of something funny or fascinating to place on each next page. I won't put in any plot spoilers but I'll always remember - how much was paid for the treasure map. No doubt you'll have your own favorite scenes too. And next? It seems to Camelot. If I'm not mistaken or erased before I get there.
Thereafter, having loved book 1, I waited eagerly for each successive new volume in Paulene Turner's series to become available.

They were great fun to read.

Paulene had seen some of my earlier short reviews and tweets and then seeing this review of volume 6 - asked me - which books and characters did I like best? You can see that conversation too in a footer below my review. ...read the review

PS - there's still time for you before Christmas to order the whole series in print as a gift for someone. Or just keep it for yourself.
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news - October 8, 2024

The paperback edition of my book Jamie and the Tree Troll was the best selling of my books in September 2024, and (13 months after publishing it) has now attracted its first review which tells me that its original listing as a "kids book" may be too narrow.

Jamie and the Tree Troll - info about the bookAs I wrote in a recent tweet - Amazon UK lists this in a category called light novels for children which author Paulene Turner (whose Secrets of the Nile I commented on here) helpfully told me might well be a ghost category. Nevertheless I think lightweight kidlit is a playful description which I'm content to own and I may use it proactively.

I'm still writing The Goblins are Coming! I wrote another 1,000 new words today (net after edits) and the new text went straight into the Reedsy book editor. Final publication date has slipped by 2-3 months from what I had in mind when I began converting the original short story into a novel 10 months ago. The cover may change too from the current placeholder.

In reply to a playful tweet by author Dani Finn who prompted - "Authors: Explain your book to me like I'm 5."

I replied (meaning with reference to The Goblins are Coming!) - "People believe what they read in books is true. So if you want to change the past and the future you only have to write the right book. (And hide all the others.)"

I saved that above tweet here so I can find it again easily when I finish the novel and start scrabbling around for a short way to describe it in a blurb.

Back to what I've been writing today. I've been circling the pivotal library scenes in The Goblins are Coming! with many tweets. I've already written the chapters which come immediately before and after it.. And I've been entangled in the novel's library in my writing today. As to authenticity? the chapter itself has been written during many hours I've spent hours sitting in real libraries and in other writing locations in Dorset, East Sussex and Kent.

If you're a librarian please consider adding my books to your library. The libby links are here. Authors in today's market face a stark choice:- do I put my books in Amazon kindle unlimited? or free public libraries? KU's restrictive terms and conditions prevent authors doing both.
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pirate book newsPirate Books as in - books about pirates

news:- May 14, 2024 - I've created a new resource page about pirate books. Among other things it includes the stories which influenced me in writing Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) and it also lists new books with strong pirate related themes appearing in 2024 which are written by indie authors who are connected to me on twitter/X. It's a work in progress. ...read the article
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book cover - Alexander Woyte and the Piratesnew audiobook - Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins)

news: April 28, 2024 - Google Play Books today published an audiobook version of the novel for kids Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) written by Zsolt Kerekes who has published 4 books for children. Running time is 4 hr 5 min approx.

Click here to listen to the first 10% of the book free

You've only got to look at the cover to see why it's so hard to summarize this book. In a recent tweet the author @goblinsearch said "My children's novel Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) is an education in matters of global warming, pirates, sharks, submarines and lawyers."
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audiobook cover - Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors - by Zsolt Kerekesnew audiobook - Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors

news: April 25, 2024 - Google Play Books today published an audiobook version of the novel for kids Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors written by Zsolt Kerekes who has published 4 books for children. Running time is 1 hr 20 min approx.

Click here to hear the first 8 minutes free

"Audio was the first version in which I shared this story when I wrote it for my sister Anna and her daughter Laura in 2002," said the author Zsolt Kerekes. "when I read it out aloud from my handwritten draft. It was always in my mind to produce an audiobook version at sometime, and without this great AI narration done by Google my readers would've had to wait another year for an adiobook edition - because of my other writing commitments. The ebook and paperback editions of the Princess Laura book were published in 2023. I hope the audio version will introduce the story to a new generation of families in an easy to digest way."
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Jamie and the Tree Troll - audiobook now available

book cover - Jamie and the Tree Troll: a new legend of the South Downs in Sussex - by Zsolt Kerekes - depicts a blurry tree in the woods - photto taken in the woods in Clayton which is the actual location of the storynews: April 7, 2024 - It was many months ago that I initiated the process of asking Apple Books to create an audiobook of one of my kids stories.

Would they? Wouldn't they? The offer to authors on their website said they would do audio narration free for authors for selected books in popular genres. That indicated to me: romance, history, literature. Would they do a kids book? (Kids book as in the Hobbit and Harry Potter are just for kids too.) I thought it was worth a try.

Nothing happened for months and I forgot all about it. Then a few days ago I felt like I'd won a prize when I saw a link to my book appear.

Apple Books has produced an audiobook version of my book Jamie and the Tree Troll.

Click here to hear to hear the introduction and first chapter free

click here to see all my ebooks on the Apple Books store

PS - alert! The lovely voice of the American narrator does pronounce the placename "Ditchling" wrong. Which jarred for me at first as a local resident. But that didn't detract from my enjoyment of listening to the story. Listen to the sample and decide for yourself.
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author news - January 17, 2024

The story I'm working on now is - the Goblins are Coming! - which will emerge in October 2024 either as a long novella or (more likely) a novel.
the Goblins are Coming! - book cover
Although the setting isn't explicitly stated the location and approximate date are inferred by the reader from the context of the story to be North America in the mid 2100s "after The Fall" although there are also elements of the story which take place geological eons before and many human lifetimes later.

Despite first impressions suggesting a dystopian fantasy genre I prefer to think of it as literary fiction. The core themes of the story are the trials, successes and failures of deep family relationships in times of adversities which first encroach into their lives as anonymous and symbolic in form but which on closer contact manifest with back stories of their own.

I privately shared an early implementation of the Goblins are Coming concept as a short story with beta readers in 2005. They all said similar things. Make it longer. We want to know what happened before and after.

I set it aside as a project for after I had met my other writing obligations. A story to satisfy me as a lifelong reader of fantasy and science fiction. It's getting there and it's exciting to see it growing week by week. When it's published the ebook and print editions will also contain the original pilot as an appendix - so you will be able to see how much it changed in style and depth.

And then what? Back to my big project - The Remote - a genre busting book which will tell its own story within the story.

Now back to writing.
Zsolt Kerekes

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book review - Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express

this is the design of the cover which attracted me to the book January 3, 2024 - like a lot of other writers I've forgotten what I was supposed to be writing during the recent holiday period and instead indulged myself reading other people's books.

In the best traditions of writers avoiding writing what they had planned to do I decided this morning instead to begin by writing a review of a book I enjoyed recently - Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express by Steve Downes. I rarely write reviews and when I have done - did them anonymously. But what the heck? It was easier than reconnecting to my work in progress. here's a link to my review

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news November 6, 2023

Fear is the new quantum entanglement!

My Pact with the Goblin Queen, a horror story based in Brighton, England, is the warning tale of a failed English Literature undergraduate who became a best selling author.

available now from all major ebook platforms

My Pact with the Goblin Queen - book cover

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news -September 20, 2023

My Pact with the Goblin Queen - book coverI've temporarily disconnected myself from social media for a couple of weeks so I can get on with less distractions and meet my next couple of book writing deadlines.

The next book you'll see published by me - is a horror story - My Pact with the Goblin Queen - which was inspired by memories of spooky walks as a teenager 50 years ago in Brighton - on my way across Preston Park, over the London Road, and up the misty hill of Withdean.

"Was it really that scary?" - I asked a friend of mine (30 years later in 2004 - when I wrote the first draft of this story). He used to do the same walk with me from time to time. "Oh yes- he said. I remember it well."

I'm hoping to get this one out in time for Halloween. Definitely as an ebook - and maybe as a thin paperback too.

You can get a foretaste of it here. An unfortunate choice of words - "foretaste" as you will learn later.

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The Remote - the novel - by Zsolt Kerekes

The Remote

a novel - by Zsolt Kerekes

advance fragments

news - August 14, 2023 - If you've bought any of the 4 little books for children that I've published this year and looked at the very last page - other books by the author - Zsolt Kerekes - you'll see a list of all the stories I plan to publish in the next 18 months.

And right at the very end of that list - and is an entirely new novel for adults - The Remote - a blend of hard science fiction and contemporary urban fantasy - which which will be published in the 2nd half of 2025.

What's it about?

From time to time between now and publication - you'll see snippets - which I've called advance fragments of it on The Remote home page itself - theremote.uk- and also small hints of progress on my new Xauthor / twitter page @goblinsearch

The first of these - is called - advance fragment:- DeTALES 9.01 - which curiously - is about the book itself being banned by literary censors before it ever even got published. ...click to read more details
The Remote - the novel - by Zsolt Kerekes

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@goblinsearch tweeted

Jamie and the Tree Troll - now on kindle

August 1, 2023 - published today on Amazon kindle and unlimited - Jamie and the Tree Troll - a magical children's story of Clayton, near Ditchling, in the South Downs - by Zsolt Kerekes - writer at goblinsearch.com who now lives in the nearby unspoiled parish of East Chiltington.
temporary book cover image Jamie and the Tree Troll

There aren't no such things as tree trolls! - said Jamie (aged 7) when his uncle suggested it was tree trolls who had been stealing crisps and sandwiches out from their backpacks when they went for walks and picnics in the ancient woods surrounding their once grand old house in Clayton, near Ditchling in Sussex in the South Downs.

Names of places, if true, tell stories. Which legends, themselves, have names renowned too. We always look forward to one we've not heard. And now we edge close to where it begins. Jamie and the Tree Troll. A story of living memory, with truth in its pages, and legend, and magic.

First published as a novella in parts on the author's website goblinsearch.com long ago it was published for the first time in August 2023 as a proper book. Please read the sample and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story too. ...read it on Amazon

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read it on Hoopla - Alexander Woyte and the Goblins
news:- July 11, 2023 - my children's bedtime story book Alexander Woyte and the Goblins (set in modern day Jane Austen country in Hampshire) is now available on Hoopla - which - if you don't know it - is a digital library content infrastructure services company. ...click here to see my book on Hoopla

Re libraries

Like many kids of my generation (starting school in the 1960s) I was a frequent visitor to my local library - which was located in Hangleton, Hove, Sussex, England. I tweeted about that experience recently to say thanks.

When I began earning enough money to buy my own books and was moving around every couple of years to progress my career I dropped the library habit. Another reason being that often I was paying fines for late return of physical books which were about the same as the cost of buying the books themselves.

In the nascent ebook era - kindle became my primary bookstore for about 10 years and kindle unlimited (KU) sufficed as a kind of surrogate library.

I grew weary of KU after a number of years however. Because whatever search criteria I used Amazon seemed fixated on offering me books I wasn't interested in.

In practise this meant I often had to scroll through 200 to 300 titles to narrow down a couple of samples that l felt tempted to follow up. A bit like Netflix - more time searching for content than actually enjoying it.

What I didn't realise then - was that the fault lay in KU's algorithms and not in the rich treasure trove of self published books. But I lost faith in what KU had to offer.

During the first Covid lockdowns I learned that my tax funded local library services supported an ebook app called Libby. And that - for me - replaced KU. Although I still do buy ebooks on kindle and (rarely) buy print books from secondhand book stores.

As to Libby - 3 of my books are available here on Libby - but whether you can borrow them depends on choices made by your own local library and its budget priorities.

This long preamble explains why I'm delighted now to offer my books to another (new to me) library service. And whether you want to read my books or not - if you're an avid reader - then please take a look at what they have to offer.

See also:- Hoopla's blog page

about Hoopla (in their own words)

"Hoopla digital is a category-creating service that partners with Public Libraries across North America, Australia, and New Zealand to provide online and mobile access to thousands of movies, TV shows, music albums, eBooks, audiobooks, and comics. With hoopla digital, patrons can borrow, instantly stream, and download dynamic content with a valid Library card. All content is accessible via hoopla digital's mobile app and online at hoopladigital.com"

PS - my ebooks are also available in other digital libraries too.

Another recent example being:- in Palace Marketplace - which describes itself - in its about page like this...

"Palace Marketplace, founded by Digital Public Library of America, a strategic partner of The Palace Project, is a non-profit ebook and audiobook marketplace developed in consultation with libraries, for libraries." ...read more about it

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July 6, 2023

Jamie and the Tree Troll

I'm currently working on the rewrite and conversion to ebook format of my children's story Jamie and the Tree Troll - which is set in the South Downs near Ditchling in the county of Sussex - in a hamlet called Clayton.
temporary book cover image Jamie and the Tree Troll
I'm using 4 different writing tools to produce and combine the various textual fragments of my books. The final stage (for me) being working online in the Reedsy Book Editor.

For ease of navigation I thought it would help me to mock up a temporary placeholder cover - which you can see here.

Its main purpose is to make it easier for me to open the correct files and remind myself what I'm working on as I'm doing active edits on 5 books at the moment.

I remembered that 6 months before I started writing the first chapter of the Jamie Tree Troll story (in the summer of 2005) my wife Janet had shot a short documentary video on her phone of some of the real-life characters in the story setting out into the woods around their house on an expedition to see if they could rediscover the hole in the ground which we thought might be the entrance to the Tree Troll's lair.

Jamie (then age 5) carried a small dead tree which was almost twice as tall as he was - with the intention of using it to measure how deep the hole was if he did manage to find it. As it happens - it wasn't the right place.

In those days the resolution of camera images was only 340 pixels wide so the video quality didn't look great when I looked this morning. And for privacy reasons I chose a small part of the frame grab which excluded the people in the scene. But the fuzzy image is an authentic capture of the feel of the setting where the story is based.

It's likely that the real book cover will be entirely different to the placeholder image you see here. Jamie's sister Laura - who was also on that February 2005 expedition to find the Tree Troll's lair - and who recently (in 2023) created the cover images for Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors - will design a cover which suits the story. As soon as I've finished editing and rewriting it. The expected publication date is August 2023.

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dinosaur soup

Never go in the woods without a can!

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news - June 26, 2023

new look for PrincessLauraBook.com

I hope you like the new look of the landing page for my book Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors.

new look for Princess Laura Book landing pageAs I said in a recent tweet I'm experimenting with different landing page styles for all my books.

If you look at the landing pages for my other books on goblinsearch.com - which haven't been updated to the newest style yet - you'll see why I decided I had to experiment with a new look or two. (Unlike Princess Laura I can't design a scrambled looking web page and expect it to become the latest fashion.)

I used to do thousands of experiments with my computer market guides. Corporate readers sometimes said - Zsolt can you undo that it's messing with our filters.

What am I working on now?

I'm rewriting and converting (from html) to ebook/paperback the 4th in my children's books backlist - Jamie and the Tree Troll.

I've been using the free Reedsy Book editor to do the final stages of edits and writing too. I wrote a blog about using it (in Feb 2023) - what's the most surprising thing I learned converting my first book to kindle?

After the Tree Troll book I will move my efforts on to books for grown ups. This will be done in parallel with producing audiobook versions of all the children's stories. Starting with the Princess Laura audiobook - which I hope to have ready for Christmas.

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my paperbacks? - available at Amazon
my ebooks? - available everywhere below
Amazon B&N Libby Smashwords
Apple Kobo Scribd Vivlio

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@goblinsearch ebooks will be in  Smashwords Summer SaleJune 17, 2023 - throughout July - all my ebooks will be on offer at discounted prices (50% or better) in the Smashwords bookstore in their Annual Summer/Winter Sale

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June 13, 2023 - The paperback edition of my children's book Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors was published today on Amazon

US store / UK store / I tweeted this

Princess Laura paperback image

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is goblinsearch an author site?

clues needed

writer:- June 1, 2023 - I redid my so called author website goblinsearch.com this morning so now there are clues it might have something to do with books.

I rarely looked at it since 2001. It was a story storage bin. 90% of the content is invisible with works in progress only I can see. 27 years writing in html will do that to you.

You're seeing it today (whenever today might be). It might have changed again a lot or a little since then.

Want to compare?

this was my original tweet
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Princess Laura and the Dragon Suitors - about the book

Every family's got its own Princess or 2 right?

Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon SuitorsThe Princesses in Your life will thank you for reading them my little book Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors in which they will meet our hero - Laura - who's not scared of anything.

Exploring the wild woods? Her shoes bear the scars. Meeting dogs so tall she has to look up to see their glistening bitey teeth? Nice doggie. And as the cover reveals she's not even scared of dragons. But don't mention spiders. Oh - she's gone.

Every Princess has their maid, and you'll laugh at the antics of Laura's maid - the "brains department" in the Princess business - with her wealth of worldly advice - who struggles to turn out the Princess in her charge with an appearance that looks royally presentable.

You'll also meet the various (unsuitable) Princely suitors from the surrounding kingdoms, although it may be that with different names you might've met some people like them already in real life.

20 years after writing this story for my sister and her daughter I still love the characters and I hope that with this retelling as a proper book you will grow to love them too.

drumroll... and now for the official book cover blurb

When the young Princess Laura secretly rescues a baby dragon from her father's hunt the dragon predicts that - one day in the future she will be the cause of his death. When Laura reaches marriageable age her father presents her with a choice of suitors - one from each of the surrounding kingdoms. Laura's chosen suitor must kill a dragon to prove his worthiness to the King.

What can she do to make sure that doesn't happen?

I tweeted this
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Laura's Worm Custard
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newly published - Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors
writer:- May 23, 2023 - After a few weeks delay due to ill health I'm delighted to announce that my novella - Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors was published this week on Amazon kindle.

If you saw the web version of this story which was published here on goblinsearch.com 19 years ago - it's the same story but has been rewritten and improved with some light tweaks to make it even more enjoyable.

I'm delighted to say that the free sample preview gives you a goodly amount to judge for yourself if it'sa story for you or not. If you do buy it - please submit a review from your kindle app at the end. Thanks.

When the young Princess Laura secretly rescues a baby dragon from her father's hunt the dragon predicts that - one day in the future she will be the cause of his death. ...read a free sample

PS - a paperback version is expected to be available in mid June.

See also:- my Amazon author bio
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request my books from your Libby reader
writer:- May 17, 2023 - Although the pricing level of my ebooks is set experimentally low - I understand that many of you - particularly if (like me) you are a voracious reader (always going onto the next book) also do a lot of your reading via libraries. (There just isn't enough money to buy all those books.) So I thought I'd mention that I have made a special effort to make my books available in the library collection of Overdrive - the creators of the Libby reading app.

Here's the link - https://www.overdrive.com/creators/3076086/zsolt-kerekes

Zsolt Kerekes books in LibbyThe way it works is this...

if you search for my name or my books from within Libby then - depending how your local library has set things up with deep search - it will show you books which are in the worldwide Libby system even if they aren't in your own library yet. If you select them and tag them - this sends an informal request to your library that you have an interest. And if enough readers do the same then the librarians use these requests as a factor to help them decide which books they should buy.

I've done this myself for other authors' books which I wanted to read - and then been pleasantly surprised a few months later when I got a notification saying that it's available to read.

On the other hand - if you don't want to wait - then just go to your favorite ebook store and you'll probably find it there.

Talking about delays (above) I apologize for the delay in getting my 3rd book published. I got zapped by an unexpected health problem which hit me a few weeks ago when I was 90% of the way through proof reading and rewriting it. I'm emerging from that now but I didn't want to risk publishing a book which might be affected by my lack of concentration due to recovery etc. Safer to risk a few typos in this little note here.
Zsolt Kerekes books in Libby
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global warming?
when icebergs melt
it's not just wet inside

300 years ago Captain Feary's pirate ship sailed into an ice storm. As the crew defrosts into the modern world they discover what's changed and what's not. Read a sample of my book
Captain Feary and the icicles
book cover - Alexander Woyte and the PiratesCaptain Feary couldn't remember how long he had been standing here watching the icicles melting. The last thing he remembered was being chased by those navy ships which had spotted them in the Irish Sea, and hung on their coat tails all the way up into the ice pack. The navy boats gave up there. It was one thing to stake your chances on the outcome of a cannonade with a pirate ship. That was glorious fun. But only a foolish navy captain would risk his ship and reputation on being needlessly mashed into ice cream.
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news - Princess Laura story in kindle soon
writer:- April 18, 2023 - 20 years ago I published Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors here on goblinsearch.com as a very long web page. This is my favorite story of the (4) children's stories that I've written so far.

In the intervening span of time since then much has changed in how we read stories. Screen sizes were 20 inches in those days and ebook standards like Amazon's Kindle, Overdrive's Libby, and Apple Books hadn't been invented. It's been clear to me for a while that the old web page format no longer suits a modern online audience. And its inaccessibility has been a barrier to new readers enjoying it.
Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors
Later this year, in time for Christmas, I'll be publishing an audiobook version of Princess Laura and the Unsuitable Dragon Suitors. And a friend of mine - an actress with a lovely voice who has voiced many ebooks for others in the past - has kindly agreed to do it. But first I need a cover artwork! It never had one. And a fixed and updated version of the text. The simplest way to start is with a proper book.

So right now in April 2023 I'm rewriting and editing the Laura story which will be released as an ebook and in print June 2023.

In the meantime you can read a sample of that story and see progress on its publication here.
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paperback Pirates book - on sale this week
writer:- April 17, 2023 - The new paperback edition of Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) - is now available in the Amazon store. It comes in the popular 5" by 8" size, has a glossy cover, and 192 pages. Price in the UK is £12.34.
Alexander Woyte and the Pirates - paperback new
Another month. Another book. 7 books in 7 months? What's next?

next new bookBook #3 will be published in mid May.

I've got a brand new cover artwork - never seen before by anyone except me and the new artist. And unlike the first 2 books converted from my backlist and works in progress - I've already written the blurb and front matter pages of the next book - instead of writing it all last. It's a different series.

Watch out for updates here and on my new (useless) twitter account @goblinsearch You can let me know what you think there or on linkedin. Or better still - just read some samples and let the book sales do the talking. Should I trademark that? The weird ideas that come into writer's heads. Sometimes it's best if they stay in.
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phew! - just in time for Easter
writer:- April 6, 2023 - The 2nd book in my goblinsearch series - Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) - was published today in Amazon's kindle store. ...click here to see it

book cover - Alexander Woyte and the PiratesAnno Domini 2001… It's modern times (as modern as they ever get) in the pointy churched sleepy village of Privett in Hampshire, ye Olde England.Until a year ago no one believed in goblins.

But now they do. Three goblins live in Privett. Protecting Alexander (who is nearly 6).

The story of how he was kidnapped according to goblin tradition, rescued by the hunt, won back in a duel and contracted to be a protected friend of the King of the Old Wessex Division of Goblins is related in the first book in this series - Alexander Woyte and the Goblins. You don't have to read that to enjoy this story. You can always read it later.

Did anyone mention Pirates? In this rambling, swash buckling, comedy saga it's not just Alexander who disappears. His minders and his bunkbed have vanished too.

In the goblinsearch for him we meet some 18th century pirates melted out of an iceberg, two nuclear subs (one Russian, one British), the many uses of deadly fire and forget torpedoes, the correct tripadvisor rating for a Royal Navy destroyer, some anti-nuclear activists from Greenpeace, a documentary film producer who is not as he claims a genuine vegetarian, a software wizard who needs help with his business plans, some billionaires in a round the world balloon race, the features and fittings in a modern magic carpet, some software writing hedgehogs and a giant man eating shark.

Scene-wise we loiter for a dip in the arctic seas in which sank the Titanic, learn about a different type of cloud message and land back safely in the touristic dockyards of Portsmouth, pausing only for a reality check in the cellars of an old archive in Southsea.

First published as an 8 part series on goblinsearch in 2001 to 2003, the story has been rewritten and is now available for the first time as a proper book.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed rereading it (while rewriting it) 20 years later.
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Alexander and Pirates ebook - coming soon...
placeholder for Pirates coverwriter:- March 20, 2023 - I'm making fair progress in rewriting and converting the 2nd book in the Alexander + Goblin series.

The NEW kindle edition of Alexander Woyte and the Pirates (and Goblins) will be available for the Easter holidays.

It's a much longer story than the first book. A novel (39,000 words) rather than a bedtime story. And with less pictures.

The action takes place a year after the first story. The picture shown here on the right is just a temporary placeholder for the cover design which might be completely different when it hits the bookstores.

If you don't like sharks, pirates, goblins, nuclear submarines or surprised penguins - it might not be for you.

The original story was complete and read aloud March 13, 2001and appeared on goblinsearch.com in April 2001. The new ebook version fixes many errors, supplies more background information and is much easier to read on a phone.
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new cover design? - bedtime story
new cover designwriter:- March 15, 2023 - Hi, I'm experimenting with a new cover design for some ebook versions of Alexander Woyte and the Goblins. The new design - based on the bedroom scene where the goblins capture Alexander (shown on the right) - signals more clearly that this is a bedtime story - intended to be read aloud. There are no changes to the text in the story itself.

Which version you see when you buy it will depend on which online shop you buy it from and when.

I will use this testing to tell me which cover readers like best - based on the number of copies sold of each edition. Then in a month or so - if there's a clear preference I'll change them everywhere.
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Alexander Woyte and the Goblins - Paperback
Writer:- March 6, 2023 - Hi, a paperback edition of Alexander Woyte and the Goblins is now available in the Amazon store. It wasn't my original intention to do print but I was told by a reader that (unlike me) people do still read paperbacks. It's an expensive process though - even for the ultra efficient print on demand geniuses who make it happen. So it costs you - the reader - a lot more.

the contractOn the other hand - as one of the characters in the story told me a long time ago (he's the one who loaned the king his goose feather pen) - a print book can still be read by someone 100 years later - whereas who knows how long your ebook format will still be accessible?

BTW - No harm was done to the goose (called Lucky) in the ethical sourcing of that pre-duel contract signing pen. It was just a feather which he dropped when he got hot. Lucky lived for 12 years and would've lived longer but sadly he was killed by a fox. You can read more about Lucky Goose and (his mother) Attila the Hen in a blog I wrote in October 2007.

The digital edition of Alexander Woyte and the Goblins is also available now to libraries which use Overdrive / Libby. Librarians have a lot of books to choose from and not enough funds to satisfy them all. You can nudge your library to consider any new book titles you'd like them to add to their collections (not just this one) by searching in the Libby app and tagging titles or authors.

Next on my to-do list is editing, converting and releasing to epub (ebook formats) the novel Alexander White and the Pirates (and Goblins). Should be available before Easter.
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Alexander Woyte and the Goblins

news:- Feb 23, 2023 - Kindle Edition
Anno Domini 2000. It's modern times (as modern as they ever get) in the pointy churched sleepy village of Privett in Hampshire, Olde England. No one believes in goblins any more.

click to see kindle edition blurbThat doesn't stop them causing mischief!

Once every 70 years the goblin king who lives under the Old Bookshop in Petersfield sends out scouts to find a replacement human puppy to kidnap. Ideally a fair haired boy aged 4. Alexander looks like the perfect candidate. His life hasn't been the same since.

Alexander Woyte and the Goblins - first published here on goblinsearch in 2001 is now available as a much more readable kindle ebook. ...click here for details
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goblinsearch.com - this web site - is sponsored by Gunnar's Goblin Hammers - (makers of the finest picnic protection tools since 1862), and Jamie's Soups - (makers of Jamie's Dinosaur Moss Soup), and Laura's Worm Custard.

co-sponsored by Prickly Spine Software - publishers of the finest storage refragmentation software.

press release:- March 28, 2001 - Where do you go to find a missing goblin? - goblinsearch.com

goblinsearch.com, concept, stories, design and text copyright © 1999 to 2023 Zsolt Kerekes

This is a work of fiction. All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual goblins living or dead is purely coincidental or due to ensorclement beyond our control