Announcement - New Blog At Wordpress.

This is just a short one to let you know that for the past couple of months, I have been blogging more regularly at a new WordPress site that I've set up. 

The reasons for this come down to visibility. While I have enjoyed a reasonable level of exposure over the past ten years here - using the blogging and site tools provided by Google - I haven't enjoyed the level of engagement with visitors as I'd hoped. 

Having dipped my toe in the water with WordPress, I'm finding a much greater level of engagement with visitors both reading, liking and commenting on my content with a great degree of frequency than I have enjoyed here. 

This does not mean that Dean from Australia is going away. I will continue to maintain this site as the primary home for my career as an author. For news, updates and reflections on what I am doing as a writer however, I would invite you to visit my portal at Dean Mayes Author. You can sign up for updates (and, to be clear, I'm no spammer!) and you can receive exclusive news on my forthcoming projects before anyone else. 

For those of you who have interacted with me by way of this website over the past ten years, I'd like to sincerely thank you for doing so.

DFA.

For The Love of Writing. Obsession, Balance, and Time - A Conversation With Gabriel Blake.

This guest post has been a long time coming so, at the outset, I have to begin by apologizing to the author Gabriel Blake for my tardiness. 

Now that's been said, I am really pleased to introduce you to an outstanding British writer and genuine human being. I met Gabriel recently and was introduced to his gripping psychological thriller "The Mother Of All Things", which has quickly gone to the top of my best reads so far this year. 

Author Gabriel Blake (image credit Gabriel Blake).

Gabriel has been wonderfully supportive, both of me and a community of independent authors all around the web, sharing advice, hints and tips and generally helping others out with the minutiae of author marketing. He's actually one of the key reasons that social media remains something worth engaging with.

Before we get to the man himself, let me give you a quick look at the book that sprang forth from this brilliant mind.

(image credit: Gabriel Blake).

It was supposed to be a new beginning for Elaine Davis. Returning to her childhood home in North Yorkshire, she hopes to move on from a devastating past and rebuild her life with the help of her mother and children. Sometimes though, new beginnings in familiar surroundings can come with the stirrings of memories long forgotten. As Elaine’s mind begins to unravel, discoveries of deceit and betrayal reveal themselves and circumstances spiral beyond her control. Elaine must fight to hold on to her sanity; unless of course, she has already lost it?

When I reviewed "The Mother Of All Things" back in July this year, I praised it as an absorbing, disturbing and kinetic thriller that balances a tight rope between a conventional whodunnit and a Gothic horror. Blake commands this tome with a skillful hand wherein you're never quite sure what state of existence the real world lies. 

Elaine Bennett, Blake's tortured protagonist, is a fascinating character as the events in the story unfold and the deepening psychological disturbances she endures hint at a whole other subplot keep the reader engaged. Blake executes his mystery competently, and there's a satisfying interactivity to it that had me going back to check and double check a couple of plot points to see if I was putting things together. That, to me, was fun and it kept me invested. The action is taut, confronting to be sure but it kept me on the edge of my seat and had me looking over my shoulder once or twice in the darkness of my own living room. 

The Mother Of All Things is a worthy thriller off which Gabriel Blake should be justly proud.

So let me now hand you over to Gabriel as he explores the things that are common to us writers. 



First of all, I’d like to thank Dean Mayes for being so kind as to invite me to write a guest post on his website. I’d also like to wish him every success with his new novel The Artisan Heart, which I am looking forward to reading.

Obsession, Balance, and Time play a huge part in our lives. It has had a detrimental effect on my life. I didn't realise this until fairly recently when it was rightly brought to my attention. 
Looking back through my life, I have had this terrible habit of being all or nothing with no in-between. It’s not an easy habit to break and it can also become unhealthy. In the latter years of my job in property maintenance, I would leave the house before 5am and sometimes not return home until 10pm or later. All because I wanted to get an empty flat repaired, cleaned, and redecorated in one day. I’d go the entire day without a break and food was out of the question. Eating would take up too much precious time, time when more work could be done. Time was my enemy!

(image credit: Gabriel Blake).

I don’t know why I forced and pushed myself to do this. It would later be pointed out to me that this was a form of self-harm. I was punishing myself and they were right. It is something I have always done.

We don’t know the exact moment when our lives develop particular behavioural patterns. Unwanted traits that sneak up on us and become part of who we are. Among many imperfections is obsession, which can co-exist with addiction. Mingled together, the pair can be challenging to rectify. Obsessions can be either productive, unproductive, or destructive.

Unproductive obsessions stem from our anxieties, putting a block on the productive side of our lives. We let our worries, fears and doubts hold us back from the obsessions we would prefer to have. Wouldn't it be better to have obsessions about our interests and passions, those that fuel our creative side? 

(image credit: Ian Emes.)

I finally found the time in my life to write my first novel and do something that had always interested me. In writing, I found passion, fire, and a helping hand to fight off depression and anxiety. I’d like nothing more than to write all day and night if it helps me escape what I like to call the quiet noise inside my head.

This is where balance comes into play. We can’t simply switch off every other aspect of life. We may have a family, partners to consider, or household matters that have to be dealt with. As much as we wish they could, everyday issues, problems, interruptions can’t be ignored. Finding the balance and control of your productive obsession is the only way to prevent it from becoming a destructive obsession, which in turn will take you back down the unproductive road to where you began.

Time! I have always had a problem with time in general. How long something will take and setting myself unrealistic targets. Then my anxiety kicks in and I become a complete mess. I’m sure I’m not the only one who obsesses over time; at least I hope I’m not. This is one of my obsessive compulsions I’m trying hard to control. While writing my debut novel, I put myself under so much pressure, and for what! I had no agent or publisher to keep happy. 

There was no deadline. I lost count of how many release dates I announced. This is something I’m aiming not to repeat. 

My message here is simple:

For the love of writing or whatever your creative interest may be, never underestimate the power of obsession, balance, and time.

Purchase "The Mother Of All Things" here.

Visit Gabriel Blake here.

Tweet with Gabriel Blake here.

DFA.

Reviews & The Hating Of Goodreads.

You know...as a writer, I understand the importance of reviews. I need them, not only as a marketing tool, but as a tool for growth as a writer. Constructive criticism has been invaluable in helping me improve my craft.

But here's the thing.

It seems to me that book reviewing has become a bloodsport, where the objective is not to review a book in good faith. Rather, it has become an exercise in grandstanding - of unloading with the snarkiest take downs, of maligning the writer with the slickest burns possible. It's been apparent on #Goodreads for a while - (Like, what the fuck is it with these *reviewers* and gifs??) It's also an emerging trend on Netgalley - (minus the gifs).

I generally turn around a title in 18 months to 2 years. I pour countless hours into it - honing character, setting, story into a cohesive whole. I work with an editor, a publisher, a marketer to refine the project & polish it into the best product it can be. I sweat over it. Experience sleepless nights. I run the gamut of all the highs and lows that a creative endeavor offers.

Then I, along with my publisher put it out there to garner advance appraisal, months before release. We hope for reviews because, as I said, they are important. They help to build an awareness for the product and, hopefully a positive buzz that will translate into readers.

Generally, I take a lot of notice of 3* reviews (even more than 5* or 4*) because these offer the most in terms of constructive criticism. I have yet to encounter a 1* or 2* review that offer anything of value.

Often, these reviews hide an underlying agenda and I've come to view them as the reviewer trying to build a brand of their own, which has very little to with the noble art of reviewing a book. 

Appraising an entire project, simply because a character "pissed you off" is not worth the keyboard strokes. Seriously! It just makes you look like an arsehole. Did you consider maybe that was the intention? And a 1* review that damns a project, simply because it's "Slow"?

Not every reading experience has to move like a freight train! Tell me why you thought it was slow. What was it about the structural elements of the story that failed to gel with you? Tell me why the character pissed you off.  Don't just drop these in my lap & walk away without fleshing out your reasoning. It does nothing!

There should be a commitment to learning the art of a review - & there is an art. If you're going to invest the time in crafting a review, at least work on making that review one that can help an author, rather than discourage them. If you can find nothing of value in a work, don't write a review at all. Keep your slick burns and your smart arsed gifs to yourself.

I am a writer. I believe I'm good at it - but I also believe I have more to learn.

Teach me.

DFA.

Dangerous Ideas - The Responsibility of Creation. A Conversation With Ashleigh Oldfield.

Continuing my series of guest posts around "Dangerous Ideas", this week I'd like to turn the blog over to my friend, Melbourne author Ashleigh Oldfield. Fresh off the back of her brand new release "The Lost City", I asked Ashleigh if she would like to explore a particular idea she had been wrestling with recently. Ash came through with the goods - so without further ado, welcome Ashleigh to the stage...

When Dean asked me if I had any thoughts on ’Dangerous Ideas’, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about because there has been a troublesome idea floating around in my head for some time.

Once I have finished writing my young adult dragon novels, The Rachaya Series, I really want to sink my teeth into something completely different. I snuck into a university library and hunted down books on topics that I thought might interest me. I came across a section on Mythology from across the continent of Asia, and what I read absolutely fascinated me. I spent hours in the library, reading feverishly. I began to loosely plot a story around the mythos and history of a couple of the places I was reading about.

Cue the ‘Dangerous Idea’ – the world I was researching was brutal. I don’t write about brutal things. I write about magic and wonder and dragons, but this story would not let me go. 
There are so many themes in my research that I never thought I would tackle in a story – poisons, suicide, torture, dirty tactics in war. It’s not that I want to shy away from such topics – this is straight out of history and is therefore a part of humanity. But am I good enough at my craft to handle these themes? Have my skills as a writer matured to a level where I can write something that resonates with my readers without glorifying or romanticizing atrocities? To leave these events out would be dishonest. And yet there’s definitely a temptation to put this story off, to push it back until I feel my writing skills are an even match for the task. 

Ashleigh Oldfield, author.

There’s also the sense of responsibility with my writing about how stronger themes will affect my younger audience. I am a teacher in my other life, and adults have bought my books for their kids several times over simply because they trust me and my professionalism as a teacher. In fact, I was at the opening of a bookstore last night and an elderly lady bought Fyrebyrne Island for her granddaughter for that very reason.  

If I publish a book with sex and violence, it may well end up in the hands of those I feel a moral obligation to protect – my students and others of their age bracket. I don’t think I could live with myself because I have had a duty of care towards children for a decade and it’s a difficult habit to shake. 

I also worry that a more adult novel from me would not be very well received. I think of J.K. Rowling, whose follow up to her Harry Potter series, A Casual Vacancy, was largely disliked because it was more adult. People expected something different from her; they expected a certain level of safety from her. With the fiction that I currently write, and the profession that I have, I would be in a similar position, so I guess in a way I also have that fear of failure, that no one will like something I have worked so hard to get right, simply because they expect another Rachaya Series out of me. 

The fear of failure is, I think, something all creatives have in one form or another and is just something I will have to learn to live with. Having a story embed itself in my brain has made me even more determined to be the best writer that I can be so that when the time comes, I can do this story justice. I still have research to conduct and other books to finish writing first, but I am working harder than ever before so I can craft this story into a work of art.

Ashleigh Oldfield is a fantasy fiction and children’s writer from Melbourne, Australia. Always having a love for the written word, Ash wrote her first stories by moonlight at the tender age of five, long after her parents thought she had gone to bed. To this very day Ash still prefers to write by the light of the moon long after any sensible person has succumbed to sleep.

When she is not working on her latest piece of fiction, Ash enjoys drinking good coffee, taking her dog for walks on the beach and hanging out with her two cats. This year, Ashleigh kicked off a weekly podcast with her husband Steve De Niese. Called "The Book Stash", the podcast is a great little show about reading and writing in which Ashleigh and Steve talk about the craft and what inspires them in the journey. For new writers with an eye to improving their own method, The Book Stash is a must listen.


Visit Ashleigh Oldfield here.

Connect with Ashleigh Oldfield here. 

Tweet with Ashleigh here. 

Tweet with The Book Stash here.

The Book Stash is on iTunes here.

DFA.

Anxiety At The Edge.

I'm back here. 

Again. 

Again???

There has been a disturbing turn in a direction with my health - one that seems inconceivable to me after the past two years of multiple surgeries on my throat. 

I was in a place towards the end of last year, where it seemed as though we had found a solution to the choking problems I was experiencing. I had begun receiving a series of injections of botulinum toxin - (yeah that botulinum toxin) - in an effort to paralyze a dysfunctional region of my throat that was randomly going into spasm during the act of speech and swallowing.  

After what was a hopeful response, I've had a major setback. My dysfunctional throat, which seems determined to kill me, is not responding to the treatment. To be specific, the injections were designed to paralyze a ring of muscle at the top of my throat - just under the vocal cords - called the cricopharyngeal ring.

In its normal state, that ring of muscle is supposed to relax and contract rhythmically with the act of swallowing, allowing food to pass safely into the oesophagus. During speech, it is supposed to contract and stay contracted in order to facilitate airflow over the vocal cords. 

In me, the cricopharyngeal ring spasms uncontrollably during swallowing and speaking, leaving me at risk of food and liquid regurgitating into my airway and lungs. Food and fluid on the lungs is not a good thing.

Basically - you can drown. And I have come close a few times. 

This all relates back to the dysfunctional nerve supply in my neck that precipitated the surgery I had on my vocal cords in 2016 and 2017. Initially, we believed that only my vocal cords were affected. It turns out the pharynx is involved as well. 

So where to? 

I can't believe I'm saying this - much less typing it - but I'm going back into hospital for more surgery. 

The only credible path for me to take now is to undergo a procedure in which the cricopharyngeal ring, along with part of the pharynx, will be cut in order to neutralize the muscle completely and permanently. By severing the muscle it will be rendered useless and will prevent the pharynx from going into spasm during the act of swallowing and speech. It will also widen the pharynx at the top of my oesophagus, technically making the passage of food easier once the tongue propels food and fluid into it. On paper, it appears straight forward. 

Right? 

The following diagram sets out the procedure in a fairly sterile manner. It was provided to me by my surgeon yesterday.  

Cricopharyngeal Myotomy (image credit OSEO.org)

To access the structures of the neck, they'll create an incision down the left side of my neck, then retract the muscles, veins, arteries and nerves around my pharynx in order to reveal the cricopharyngeal muscle. During the procedure, they'll need to sacrifice an artery and vein that supply my thyroid gland, but these are considered redundant vessels as the thyroid gland is generously supplied by multiple vessels and is quite a vascular gland. The sacrificed vein and artery will be clipped with special titanium clips (so that'll be fancy). Once the cricopharyngeal ring and pharynx are identified, the surgeon will divide (or cut) the ring down to the pharyngeal wall and extend that incision down the pharynx about 5cm. The pharynx itself will then herniate through the incision (see Diagram C) which is the objective - to create a widening of pharynx that will allow food and fluid to pass freely into the oesophagus without the risk of the muscle going into spasm. The surgeon will close up and I'll have a stay in hospital to recover. Aside from a few technical additions to the procedure, that's basically it. 

So, how am I feeling about this?

To be honest, I'm too numb to be frightened at the moment. After multiple procedures and attempts at solving this problem, it's like Groundhog Day to be back here again. I'm exhausted. I have been living day to day (and night) in a state of silent, anticipatory terror. Every time I sit down to a meal, I wonder whether this will be the meal that will cause my throat to seize completely and choke me to death. Every time I hold what little conversation I can hold, I wonder whether the mere act of speech will cause my throat to go into spasm and choke me to death. I said earlier I have come close a number of times. The most frightening occasions have occurred when I have been asleep.

I am frightened at the prospect of this surgery and I know that fear will become more acute as I approach the day - May 4th by the way. There's an old maxim among Nurses that goes "A little bit of knowledge is dangerous." Having entered my 23rd year as a Nurse, the irony of that maxim is not lost on me. I know what's involved. I know the risks. This surgery is delicate. It's a blessing and curse.

I also know under the care of a brilliant surgeon and his team are among the best I have encountered - both as a Nurse and as a patient. I'll be in a facility of which I am familiar. There won't be a lot of strangers there. I trust them implicitly. So, there's a flip side that gives me a little to feel good about.

After two years, I feel like I'm in a no-win situation. I really need to have a win. 

DFA.

Dangerous Ideas - A Conversation between Dean Mayes & Alice Fraser

I had the opportunity to catch up with one of my favorite people recently. Alice Fraser is a comedian, writer, podcaster and fascinating interlocutor. Alice is performing her new comedy show "Ethos" across Australia and during her run in Adelaide, we sat down in a little teahouse in the back streets of Adelaide's CBD and recorded an hour of really valuable conversation for her podcast "Tea With Alice".

 

We wrestled with some dangerous ideas that were a little hard to coax from me initially but eventually we got into a flow where I was able to articulate some thoughts I had about the #MeToo movement - my perceived exclusivity of the movement and how, as a male who has experienced sexual violence from a female perpetrator, the movement seems unable to handle the lived experience of those who don't fit an accepted narrative.

From there, we ventured into more philosophical territory, exploring how the modern discourse can be overwhelming to someone who is trying to understand and extend their understanding of the world beyond their simple origins. think I made the point at one stage that, as I get older, the less I feel I understand of the world and how to navigate my way through it.

We also talked about my adventures with botox and how it is keeping my throat from killing me. Oh - and my adventures in writing romance...as a man. 

 

Alice Fraser is a rare individual with a lightning intellect, a worldly outlook and a huge heart and I always treasure our catch ups. As I said, she is touring her show throughout 2018 here in Australia and the UK so if you're a fan of thought provoking comedy, I highly recommend you catch her show. 

Download & Listen to our conversation here. 

Visit Alice Fraser here. 

Tweet with Alice here. 

DFA.

Trailer Park.

One thing I've done in support of marketing my books is to put together a book trailer. It's not a new concept and plenty of authors are doing it. With a little bit of imagination, and some patience, book trailers can come out looking pretty good.

Of course, You Tube is the best avenue for uploading and promoting your book trailers, but Facebook, Amazon and Goodreads all offer a similar facility for uploading video trailers.

Here are three trailers I've put together for my three books so far.

One of the best pieces of advice I've received in creating book trailers is that no trailer should be more than roughly a minute long. Attention spans for an unknown or obscure quantity are only good for about a minute, after which, you can be guaranteed they'll switch off. 

I think I've broken that minute rule with every one of these trailers. Did you last? Let me know in the comments. 

DFA.

2016 International Teaser Trailer for "The Recipient" by Dean Mayes.

2012 International Teaser trailer for "Gifts of The Peramangk" by Dean Mayes.

2010 International Teaser Trailer for "The Hambledown Dream" by Dean Mayes.

My Strange Addiction - Bad Reviews & Where To Find Them.

Bad reviews.

They're nothing new. They are part and parcel of being a published author and, if there is one thing I've learned after seven years of writing and being published, you are bound to get one - or two.

You know something?

They still hurt.

Even with all of the advice I've received about bad reviews and the knowledge that you can't please everyone all of the time, there are occasions when the bad review cuts - and cuts deep.

(image credit: Goodreads.)

Of course, one nexus where authors can almost be guaranteed of seeing bad reviews of their work is Goodreads. The Amazon owned, global hub of just about any book that has ever been published is either a blessing or a curse for the working author.

I still haven't decided which.

Sure, it's a platform that gives exposure to an author's work, allows discussion and interaction about that work and literature more broadly. 

In the past couple of weeks, some reviews have appeared on the Goodreads entry for The Recipient that are less than kind. In a word  - they suck. I won't relay the details of them for you here. You can visit the entry for yourself and check them out. Suffice to say, there are no positive take aways in them. There is nothing in them that I could use to apply to better myself as a writer. Over the course of several hundred words, their basic take-home is, 'This is shit. Move on.'

You maybe asking, why would you do this to yourself Dean? Why would you visit a site like Goodreads, if you know that the reviews may not all be good?

Well - because reviews matter. Reviews are still the pre-dominant indicator of an individuals decision to purchase or not to purchase. If the reviews are bad, and they come from a reviewer of influence, that is quite a powerful position to be in.

I've had plenty of advice, saying to avoid reviews - good and bad - and I know, intellectually, that is the right thing to do. 

But sometimes, I have moments of weakness. I've had a few moments of weakness recently.

I'm close to a stage of burn out. I've recently had two patients at my work pass who I were really close to and I think they affected me more than I am willing to admit. There has a constant pressure associated with the daily grind. Work, the school run, the weekend sports, juggling the house hold budget, my health. Not to mention the challenges of trying to remain creative and finish a story that I've committed quite a lot to emotionally over the past year.

I missed a pressure release valve somewhere along the way.

In those moments, I find myself indulging in a crazy little game of self flagellation. There is something about bad reviews that is strangely attractive. It's almost like, seeing a bad review acts as a sort of leveler. That, even after multiple titles, you're not actually top stuff at all. You're not even decent. You're a fraud.

(image credit: REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail.)

The best place, it seems, to do that is by visiting Goodreads and checking up on your reviews. Ignore the good reviews and go straight for bad ones and bask in them like some strung out drug addict. 

Feels good, don't it. 

I've endeavored to adhere to the idea that all reviews are valuable. All reviews offer something that an author can use to better themselves. Truth is, not all reviews are helpful. In fact, there are actually bad, bad reviews. 

And it still hurts.

DFA. 

Upcoming Event - Dean Mayes Author to Visit Adelaide Library.

Talking The Recipient On ABC Radio.

Today, I sat down with ABC Adelaide's Sonia Feldhoff on her 'Afternoons' program to discuss my dual career as a writer and Intensive Care Nurse. We explored how I juggle those two careers and we touched on the inspirations behind my forthcoming novel "The Recipient". 

I have recorded the audio and am pleased to present the interview here as a downloadable mp3. The interview runs a just shy of 8 minutes and it was a lot of fun to do.

Click on the image below (featuring me and Sonia) and enjoy. 

(Click the above image to download the mp3 from Dropbox - No account required).

DFA.

Have We, As Authors, Reached Peak Twitter?

Have we, as authors, reached the point of Peak Twitter?

Last week, I had something akin to an epiphany with respect to Twitter as a marketing or promotional tool.

In a blisteringly honest blog post entitled "Please Shut Up - Why self promotion as an author doesn't work.", author Delilah S. Dawson surgically dissected and examined everything that is currently wrong about author self promotion and why, basically, it is a futile endeavour.

image credit: Delilah S. Dawson.

To be clear, Dawson didn't actually conclude that self promotion in its entirety doesn't work. But she did illuminate a lot of the things that authors do that simply aren't effective as a selling tool. From Twitter to Facebook to Instagram and others in between, Dawson examined each of these platforms and explained why each of them, as a means to promote, market and sell, are an abject failure. 

Twitter is essentially an echo chamber in which the millions of shouts of "BUY MY BOOK" of are bouncing of the walls and hitting nothing. With Facebook, it is the gross manipulation of that platform by Zuckerberg's minions that compromises its worth. it basically forces you to hand over cash in the hope that, by boosting or promoting your "BUY MY BOOK" shouts, you *might* reach a larger audience...of bots. With Instagram - nobody is on Instagram because they want to "BUY YOUR BOOK". 

The post got a lot of attention - viral attention - and it was an equal spread of loving and loathing. Dawson's conclusion was that there are no sure fire answers to selling books in this over saturated market place. But, her take away message was - for me - a positive one. 

An author can self promote, but the goal of any promotion should not be to push themselves onto a prospective audience. Any promotional effort must be one that pulls an audience towards them. 

Dawson then discussed the ways in which an author can do that effectively but, with caveat that any promotional effort takes commitment and hard work and a whole lot of luck.

"Literature is not a #teamfollowback sport."  

This was the best line of the article. 

It got me thinking about my own approach to self promotion as an author and how I have conducted myself over the years. 

I freely admit that of all the mistakes that can possibly be made with respect to social media promotion, I have made them. I've done whole #teamfollowback thing, participated in hash-tag parties, exchanged likes for likes and up-clicked reviews on Amazon for authors who've asked me to do so. 

It doesn't work. None of it works. 

I've had a Twitter account in a couple of incarnations since 2010. In that time I have done things that I thought one should to foster visibility. Follow as many authors as possible, re-tweet the shit out of them, do the hash-tag thing, promote, promote, promote, BUY MY BOOK. 

Conversely, what I was seeing from my efforts on Twitter, was a whole bunch of follows from other authors, a ridiculous amount of automated messages and/or @ replies pointing me towards Facebook pages and Amazon author pages and BUY MY BOOK requests. At first, I stupidly saw it as kind of exhilarating - to be seemingly receiving so much attention from so many people.  I didn't get the concept of "automated" tweets. 

And then I got it...And I didn't like it. It doesn't work. None of it works. And it didn't make me happy. In fact, it just made me depressed.

Recently, I read an article about the concept of Dunbar's Number. Proposed by British anthropologist Robin Dunbar in the 1990's, Dunbar's Number is a suggested cognitive limit to the number of people with whom one can maintain stable social relationships. These are relationships in which an individual knows who each person is and how each person relates to every other person. That limit or suggested number is 150. 

At the end of last week the number of people I was following on Twitter was up around the 800 mark.  

So I began to look a little deeper into the kinds of people I was following on Twitter, particularly my home feed. I didn't like what I saw. An endless stream of BUY MY BOOK or BUY HIS/HER BOOK. I'll admit, I stopped going to my home feed a long time ago because of this very trend but focusing solely on this feed for the purposes of observation was kind of a shock. And then I clicked into a few of the profiles.  

How can anyone reasonably expect to have any kind of positive or influential interaction with these kinds of metrics? 

You can't. There is absolutely no possibly of cutting through with the sheer enormity of these numbers. Though I suspect, that is not the aim of the game for these particular people. They've bought into the #teamfollowback mantra as enthusiastically as worshippers at a Benny Hinn sermon.  

Well, they can have it. But they won't have me.  

With Dunbar's Number in mind (though not necessarily the end game), I've mercilessly culled the number of people I'm following on Twitter. As a platform, I've decided that it is no longer about promoting or marketing or indeed hard selling. 

It just doesn't work. 

I am after something more meaningful, more organic - real interaction. At a time when many are questioning the value of Facebook as an effective means of communication for communication's sake, I wanted to test the question of whether Twitter can be anything more than an echo chamber of snot. 

The results, so far, have been encouraging. I actually scroll through my home feed now. I see content that is much more engaging and entertaining and thought provoking - such as the Delilah S. Dawson article. I have interacted with people purely for the pleasure of conversing without any agenda or motivation. And it is a place that I want to be - infinitely more-so than before. My actions are in no way an indication of my reluctance to follow new people in future. It just means that I want more out of this social networking tool than I did before. I will be more discerning. 

For promotion, marketing or selling ourselves as authors, we have indeed reached Peak Twitter. 

It is not the answer.

DFA.

Hit - the electrifying new novel from Delilah S. Dawson - Out Now.

Dean Is Featured In An Exciting, New On-line Magazine.

As I continue work on my new novel, The Recipient, I had the opportunity to sit down with journalist Libby Parker, the brains behind an exciting, new on-line magazine called The Upside News. Featuring stories that focus on unique Adelaide people, The Upside News offers readers an insight into these people and the many and varied things they are doing in their lives. 

(logo credit: The Upside News)

Journalist, Libby Parker.

Libby and I discussed my dual careers as a writer, published author and Intensive Care Nurse and we explored how both these roles contribute to the other. I also offered a sneak peek of my new novel, the inspiration behind it and how my background in medicine and nursing is contributing to the creation of what I hope is a tense and pulse pounding thriller. 

You can click through to the feature here.

DFA.

The Dead Man Will Rise - A Look At Dead Man Rising by Jack Hayes.

I grew up on a steady diet of genre thriller novels from the likes of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum and John le Carré. I revelled their portrayal of conflicted operatives as they negotiated their way through international intrigue, political machinations and balls out action. It's a genre I, myself have attempted to write in but haven't quite pulled off. 

In the post 9/11 world, I gravitated towards the explosion of non fiction titles examining the real world war on terror. For me, the truth was just as entertaining as the fiction I'd read growing up. That's not to say that I hadn't lost my appetite for the genre at all but, I'll admit, my attention had been diverted for many years. 

Recently, I re-discovered my love for the genre with a smart and sophisticated entry from U.K. based Jack Hayes whose Dead Man Rising sucked me in, held onto me and didn't let go until the end. 

The guff on the book is thus;

Meet Rook.

A former spy turned reporter, his life is planned like a game of chess. Every move has an objective - and is played strategically, and with total focus. 

But in the tranquil paradise of Hawaii, amid the palm trees and sunshine, he is about to play out the greatest game of his life. And the deadliest. A fellow journalist - running the paper's Hawaii bureau - has disappeared. No one knows why, or where? Rook is determined to find out.

He was on the trail of one of the greatest scoops of all time - a story that brings together all the powers competing for control of the Pacific. As he starts to dig, Rook soon finds he is on the run - from intelligence agencies, governments, police forces and from his own past. 

He will need all his survival skills to outwit them. Because a dead man can rise once. But not twice.

I came to Jack Hayes' Dead Man Rising at a fortuitous time when my consciousness has been attuned to names like Edward Snowden, Julian Assange and Michael Hastings and their endeavours to shine a light into the darkest corners of the US Government's surveillance apparatus. So, I was ripe for a journey through a kind of paranoid fantasy like Dead Man Rising. 

And in the tradition of those classic political thrillers I mentioned earlier, author Jack Hayes brings his own signature to the genre with Dead Man Rising. It is a delicious thriller that crackles with intensity from the opening pages, juxtaposing action, conspiracy and paranoia in a perfect balancing act that keeps you invested.

The first person perspective employed by Hayes in his portrayal of his protagonist, the Rook, brings a tactile edge to the narrative. We are drawn into the Rooks experience seeing and feeling what he feels and reacting accordingly. It is visceral and by extension highly enjoyable.

At times, Hayes' story telling reads almost like a how to guide for aspiring spies. Clearly, he has invested considerable effort in researching procedure and methods employed in the spy game. As is essential for a genre thriller like this, it never labours or bogs the story down. Rather; Hayes packages it neatly into the narrative and it serves the action narrative well.

Dead Man Rising is a visual and tense thrill ride - worthy of cinematic adaptation - but, more importantly, worthy of recognition alongside the likes of the Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan series. This is how sharp, intelligent action packed thrillers should be written.

For Jack Hayes, Dead Man Rising is a significant achievement.

Jack Hayes is a journalist for one of the world's largest news companies. Having reported widely from Ethiopia, Mozambique, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and many others, he has the pedigree and a unique perspective that gives him the edge when it comes to crafting intelligently plotted thrillers.

When he's not reporting or writing novels, he enjoys music, reading, Italian cuisine and spending time with his wife.

Purchase Dead Man Rising here.

Purchase Blood Red Sea here. 

Connect with Jack Hayes here.

Tweet with Jack Hayes here.

DFA.

Randomize ME Poses 5 Questions to Author Dean Mayes

As part of their 5 Question series, I was invited by the team at Randomize ME to be featured and interviewed this past week. 

The interview has just gone live here.

Hope you can stop by and take a look and post a comment at the site. 

DFA.