I recently wrote a blog about why writers should help their fellow writers and this got me thinking about all the wonderful writers I have met by joining local writers' groups.

Before joining the Birmingham Writers' Group in September 2011, my writing had completely stalled. I had not written for a period of ten years, having last written creatively when I was just a teenager. The camaraderie of a writers' group helped me develop my confidence and my skill-set. Now, two and a half years later, I am about to publish The Sheriff.

I therefore firmly believe that all writers should belong to a writers' group. Here are five reasons why...

1. Develop Your Technique - many writers' groups will run workshops on specific areas (editing, conflict, plot, dialogue) which will help you improve these areas of your writing.

2. Invite Criticism - writers' groups provide you with an opportunity to test your work, whether short stories, novel extracts or full novels. Writers are much better test readers than none-writers because they understand the craft and will make good suggestions on how to improve your work. Read my blog about how to utilise your test readers most effectively.

3. Receive Support - only writers will truly understand the crazy, lonely, torturous, delirious, delightful, soul-crushing and life-affirming addiction of writing creative fiction. Surround yourself with writers by joining a group. They will be with you through the good and the bad.

4. Networking - in this age of self-publishing, writers are no longer just writers. They are also marketers. It is a mantle that must be embraced, not shunned, and there is no better way to market than face-to-face. This requires networking. You need to meet as many writers as possible so start by joining a writers' group. Every member of the group is likely to have other friends who are writers and readers. Over time you will meet these friends. Over more time you will meet the friends of the friends. And then the friends of the friends of the friends. Eventually, you will know every writer in a fifty-mile radius.

5. Fun! - joining a writers' group is a filthy amount of fun. Writers are generally quite unhinged from reality so putting a whole bunch of us in a confined space always makes for an entertaining evening. Embrace the madness and enjoy.

Clovenhoof is a darkly comic novel based around a simple premise: Satan is fired from Hell and must spend his forced retirement in Birmingham suburbia. What follows are the tales of Satan's efforts to assimilate with 21st century suburban living. He has to make friends, find a job, get a girlfriend and host a dinner-party, all under the watchful eye of his probation officer, Archangel Michael.

The writing is superbly funny and would appeal to those with a Terry Pratchett-esque sense of humour. Its characters are sharply-observed and recognisable, whilst society itself is given a good-natured teasing through the satirical looking glass.

Clovenhoof himself is a triumph: cynical, devilish but completely bewildered by his new domestic situation. Equally, the supporting ensemble are just as memorable and you will warm to the central trio after the first opening chapters.

The characters of Heaven and Hell are well-researched and brilliantly portrayed, displaying both knowledge and comical inversion of their historical counterpoints. Joan of Arc is particularly well-written and will hopefully reoccur in the hoped-for sequels.

The novel is perfect for a commute. The story arcs are gradual and therefore the novel can be just as rewarding if read as a collection of short stories. Each chapter is a standalone adventure and this episodic structure makes for very digestible, light reading.

Clovenhoof is a devilishly good read (pun intended) and a superb debut novel by its two writers. It is the perfect example of what can be achieved through successful collaborative writing and I hope to read more of Clovenhoof's adventures soon.

Clovenhoof is available for Kindle for just £2.99.

Competitive collaboration is a great phrase to describe writers in the self-publishing era. Yes, writers battle it out in the Amazon charts but writers are also the best people to help you rise in those charts.

After all, your fellow writers will have similar aims to you and sympathise with your plight. Therefore, why not do them a favour and have a favour done in return?

So, here are five ways in which you can help a fellow writer.

1. Test their books - writers are always looking for test readers to look at the first draft of their manuscript. Give them pointers, spot their spelling mistakes and give them encouragement to carry on.

2. Buy their books - sales will help a book rise in the Amazon charts. Also, writers deserve some financial pay-off!

3. Review their books - reviews also help a book rise in the Amazon charts, although only four and five star reviews will make any impact on the Amazon algorithms. Aside from that, there is a whole e-book culture who put enormous faith into the Amazon reviews so spend some time on writing a quality statement about the book. A professional, well-written review takes time and effort to write, thereby showing the reader of the review how strongly you feel about the book. And once you have written the review on Amazon.co.uk, make sure you copy it to Amazon.com and Good Reads.

4. Promote their books - the review is only the first step. Use social media to spread your review further: post it, tweet it, share it, tag it. Tell your friends and family about the book. Connect with the writer too. Visit their website, sign-up for their newsletter, re-tweet their tweets. I spent a long time promoting my friends' books and my friends are now returning the favour now that The Sheriff is finished.

5. Share their pain - finally, just be a shoulder to cry on when your fellow writers are having a bad day at the laptop. Send them a message via Twitter. Share a funny quote by a famous author. Offer some writing tips. Buy them a pint.

All for one and one for all.

Tom Aston's The Machine has all the potential of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole detective series. The pace is swift, the characters intriguing and the suspense is sustained throughout.

The Machine's protagonist, Ethan Stone, is a refreshing take on the usual loner detective archetype. Stone is a cross between Indiana Jones and Julian Assange: blogger, ex-soldier and lecturer in Peace Studies.

The Chinese setting is vividly described and Aston impresses with his intimate knowledge of both Chinese culture and history, all of which is filtered gently into the story so it never feels like a Michael Palin memoir.

Ultimately, The Machine is a strong debut novel and serves as a solid introduction to Stone and the world he inhabits. I look forward to future jet-setting Stone thrillers and can highly-recommend this book to readers who enjoy Jo Nesbo, Lee Child, Tom Clancy and Thomas Harris.

The Machine is available for Kindle for just £1.97 and the sequel, The Noble Lie, is just £2.56 for Kindle.

The Angels of the Abyss is a first-class steampunk adventure.

For the uninitiated, steampunk is a niche genre with a massive following. The genre tells stories set in an alternative 19th century where modern or futuristic technology exists, often powered by steam. If you have not read much steampunk then this first installment in the Sedgewick Papers, a series of chapbooks heading to Amazon over the next year, is the perfect introduction.

The Angels of the Abyss is about two Victorian gentlemen, Professor Sedgewick and his loyal friend Cadwallander, who venture into space and discover an abandoned ship overrun by parasitic angelic aliens. The plot is kept simple (this is a chapbook after all) but the joy here is to be found in Iain Grant's superb grasp of the steampunk tone.

There are plenty of fantastic lines which capture both the thorough Britishness of a Victorian gentleman serving Queen Victoria's Empire and also the otherworldliness of a supernatural, science-fiction adventure. Better yet, the two are often combined for comedic effect. For instance:

'"She's French!" exclaimed Lieutenant Moore, paradoxically appalled to find that this alien being also had the impudence to be a foreigner.'

And also: 'I attacked the angel much as a drunken lumberjack might attack a tree.'

The chapbook's second great strength is in the Sherlock-Watson relationship between Sedgewick and Cadwallander, a Englishman and a Welshman. The latter narrates the story, full of love and admiration for the ingenious Sedgewick, although happily Cadwallander gets a few heroic moments of his own. The relationship is also reminiscent of the Doctor and his many companions, an apt comparison considering the duo battle angels in space.

It is a shame that the adventure is over so quickly but thankfully the second chapbook, The Pearl of Tharsis, is out in April 2014. I am certainly keen to read more of Sedgewick and Cadwallander's adventures.


The Angels of the Abyss is available for just 77p for Kindle.

Million Dollar Dress is chick lit packed with quick wit by local author Heide Goody.

It tells the story of Justine, who obtains a high-tech dress which can change the body shape of the wearer. Once Justine masters the technology, she can alter her slightly plump body image to match that of a Hollywood supermodel. Meanwhile, a host of interest parties are looking to take the dress for themselves.

The synopsis may suggest this is targeted at a female audience and it would certainly please this market. However, Million Dollar Dress offers a rich plateau for readers of any demographic and genre: the plot moves with the pace of a thriller, the dress itself is pure science-fiction and its comedy is universal.

It is this comedy element that propels Million Dollar Dress above the rest of its canon. Heide Goody has a particular knack for delivering an ensemble of sharply-observed characters and executing comedy set pieces with the chaos and energy of a Carry On film. Anagram fans will note that Million Dollar Dress contains two LOLs and you will certainly be laughing out loud as the story escalates.

The titular dress is a clever concept. As with all best science-fiction, it introduces a futuristic notion that addresses everyday concerns, specifically those relating to the body image culture which keeps certain magazines and reality shows in business.

The dress also acts as the MacGuffin and provides the perfect excuse to bring together an unlikely ensemble, ranging from fashion designers to military operatives. Particularly memorable characters include Blake Charwood (Sutton Coldfield’s answer to Justin Beiber) and Justine’s interfering mother figures, Pat and Irma. Their recreation of a scene from Alien to scare off an interested party is hilarious.

And best of all, the novel is set in Birmingham so there are plenty of regional references (the Bullring, the Jewelry Quarter) which act as an extra reward for local readers.

You can download Goody’s novel for Kindle for a reasonable £2.05. And Million Dollar Dress is worth every penny.

Twitter is a great way to meet fellow writers and readers and tell them about your book.

However, it is important to build the fundamentals of your author platform before spending huge amounts of your time in the Twitterverse. After all, the goal for writers on Twitter is to drive people to your website and therefore your books.

So put Twitter on hold until you have done these five essential things.

1. Create a website - writers need their own personal website. Never build your platform solely on a social media site because you will never have total control over the design and social media trends change with the times. Imagine if you had built your platform on MySpace! Use a site like Weebly to design your website and buy a domain name. Weebly is simple to use and perfect for a technophobe.

2. Start a mailing list – writers should be building their mailing list over time so newsletters can be pinged over to your fans as soon as you have something important to tell them, such as the launch of your next book. You can begin forming a mailing list using Mail Chimp, also perfect for a technophobe, and this can easily be embedded into your website. You can sign up to my newsletter here.

3. Get blogging – make sure your website has a blog, like the one you are reading now. This enables you to do content marketing i.e. producing valuable content which others will find of interest. Content marketing is essential in driving people to your website because they will not be interested in your website unless you make their trip worthwhile. As such, I blog book reviews and writing advice because these will be of interest to fellow readers and writers.

4. Pick a photo – writers are a brand and people must like your brand. It is easier to build online relationships with people if they can relate to your brand so show them your face, your interests, your favourite jumper and so on. Pick a high quality photo that captures your personality. For me it was a cheesy grin next to the Privet Drive sign at Harry Potter Studios! Use the same image to represent you on all your online platforms so you can build some recognition between sites.

5. Pick a name – like the photo, you need to pick one name and stick with it. Give it due consideration (will you use initials? Will you disguise your gender? Will you completely change your surname?) and then use this across all social media platforms. This name, along with your photo, will become your brand. Use this name as your Twitter profile, Facebook page, Amazon page and the rest, as opposed to using the name of your book. After all, surely you plan to write more than one book. Don’t pick a name that will become outdated. Your writer brand is forever.

Tourmaline is the second novel by author James Brogden.

Brogden faces quite a challenge due to the success of his debut novel, The Narrows. He set the bar so high with his first publication and must now follow his own critically-acclaimed, accomplished piece of writing. As with any second novel, fans want to see everything they loved about The Narrows but they also demand something new and improved. As such, Tourmaline was set to be Brogden's difficult second album.

Suffice it to say, Brogden has made this second album look easy. Tourmaline is every bit as masterful as The Narrows. It is grounded, gripping fantasy, with strong elements of horror, plenty of dark humour and a cast of beautifully-realised characters.

If The Narrows was Brogden's Reservoir Dogs, then Tourmaline is his Pulp Fiction. Or, to use a literary reference, if The Narrows was Carrie, then Tourmaline is Salem's Lot: bigger, bolder and more ambitious.

The Stephen King reference is apt because Brogden shares the prolific storyteller's talent for inserting humour into the darkest of moments. There are many laughs to be had from the hradix, for example, which is essentially a reptilian monster stuck in the body of a child, who the heroes adopt as a pet halfway through the novel. Brogden also has King's flair for depicting scenes of utter horror. A scene where a swarm of floating bones and tendons attacks the heroes like ravenous wasps instantly springs to mind. And the monstrous araka is a fearsome creation, perfectly introduced in the opening prologue.

However, King-sceptics needs not fear. Brogden bypasses King's penchant for over-writing and Tourmaline is therefore a lean, mean, fast-paced and well-edited read. Equally, those not keen on fantasy should not be put off. Tourmaline is not high fantasy. There are no dragons and wizards. The story is grounded in reality, with recognisable characters, much like George R R Martin's work.

Indeed, half of the action is set in our everyday world. Brodgen takes the ingenious decision to adopt a dual narrative structure in the early chapters to ease newcomers into the idea of another world. We glimpse this new world a piece at a time: at first, it contains only one man lost at sea. Then, gradually, other characters are introduced in the form of a small crew on a scrap-ship. This softly-softly approach makes the reader comfortable in another universe so they won't even blink when Part Two arrives, set almost entirely in the other world.

Ironically, it is the action in the real world which is one of Tourmaline's greatest USPs and an author trademark that Brogden established in The Narrows. Specifically, the story takes place in Birmingham (UK), second largest city in England, jewel of the Midlands, home of the balti curry and a place with more canals than Venice and more parks than Paris. It is the perfect place to set a fantasy novel: large, diverse, cultural, modern but traditional and rough around the edges.

Locals to Birmingham can enjoy references to the Sea Life Centre, Hagley Road and the infamous Spaghetti Junction. Meanwhile, University of Birmingham students and alumni will be excited by the opening which is set in the campus-based Barber Institute of Fine Art. Even better, a University of Birmingham security guard saves the world. Now that's something to put in the 2015 prospectus.

The vast ensemble is brilliantly put together. Brogden skilfully captures the voices and personalities of dozens of characters, making us feel sympathetic to all of them, hero or villain. It is testament to the characterisation that the inhabitants in the fantasy world are just as relatable and recognisable as those in the real world. Brogden switches between their perspectives with admirable dexterity.

Brogden's talent for language is worth a special mention. With so much story, action and snappy dialogue, a lesser writer may have skimped on the poetry but this is not a luxury that fantasy writers can afford. After all, they have to build a new world in our mind's eye. Brogden accepts this mantle with relish. A ship encounters "a maze of beautiful but navigationally perilous coral reefs which rose into thousands of shimmering pillars, as if the microscopic creatures which built the coral had one day decided to build up towards heaven." The Birmingham locations get their own share of Brogden's poetic pen. Describing the Sea-Life Centre as echoing with the "shrieking of children, tinny ocean-themed muzak and the pervasive thunder of water" is one of many observations that will have local readers nodding.

Tourmaline is one of the finest books published last year: addictive, thrilling, fantastic, saturated with imagination and brimming with story. It deserves a long print-run, critical acknowledgement and commercial success, as does the talented James Brogden.

Tourmaline is available to order in paperback here.

I had a fun evening with my test readers on Wednesday at the Railway pub in Birmingham. I felt truly privileged that seven members of my writers’ group would take the time to read my novel, The Sheriff, and offer an evening of their time to provide feedback.

It is a wonderful experience to hear people debate for two hours about characters and scenes that came from your imagination. The story became a living, breathing creation!

The feedback was invaluable and proved that test readers are worth their weight in gold. Here are my Top Five Tips for making the most of your test readers.

1. Pick Wisely – all writers should join a writing group and there is no better group of people to use as test readers. Writers understand stories and the processes behind creating them. They are always happy to help because they may expect you to return the favour one day.

2. Save the Date – do not rush your test readers. Allow them a month to read your manuscript but be clear about the deadline. Set the time, date and venue of your feedback session in advance. A quiet pub or coffee shop would be ideal. Naturally, you will be buying the drinks!

3. Be Courteous – make sure your manuscript is finished and edited before giving it to your test readers. It is extremely discourteous to waste their time with a story full of spelling mistakes, under-developed characters or pages which say ‘going to write this scene later’.

4. Provide Direction – present a series of questions at the end of the manuscript for the group to consider after reading. This allows the group to gather their thoughts before the feedback session. Make sure these are specific questions which address real concerns that you have about your story.

5. Paper Copies – this is my top tip. Provide five of your test readers with a paper copy of your manuscript and ask them to scribble their thoughts all over it. Suggest that they cross out the boring bits, tick the good bits and underline any grammatical errors. This close analysis is by far the most valuable feedback that you can receive and will ensure every clunky sentence is ironed out.

Park Life is the charming debut novel by Katharine D'Souza about two neighbours living in Birmingham.

The first is Craig, a young man in his twenties who discovers that he has a two year-old son and also has to contend with his romantic feelings towards his new boss Amisha. The second lead character is Susan, a married woman who has walked out on her overbearing husband and spoilt child to begin a liberating new life on her own in Birmingham.

The novel is divided up into two first-person narratives, alternating between Craig and Susan which keeps the drama character-driven and ensures the reader gets to know the characters inside-out. Both leads are beautifully drawn and complement each other perfectly: Craig is brash whilst Susan is timid, Craig is comfortable with city life whilst Susan is intimidated, Craig is becoming a father whilst Susan withdrawing as a mother. It provides a rich dual narrative and their unlikely friendship is a joy to read about.

D'Souza's other great strength is her affinity with Birmingham (UK) where the novel is set. She joins a host of great Birmingham writers including Iain Grant, Heide Goody and James Brogden who similarly set their novels in England's second city.

In particular, D'Souza focuses on Birmingham's rich park culture, hence the title of the novel. You may have heard that Birmingham has more canals than Venice but it also has more parks than Paris. As such, several prominent scenes take place in well-known Birmingham parks, such as Cannon Hill, Highbury and Moseley Park. As a long-term Birmingham resident, I was fascinated to learn about some of these parks and I will certainly be visiting some soon!

Park Life is a well-crafted, enjoyable read about real people with real problems. I highly recommend it to men or women, particularly those who live in Birmingham.

I would also suggest you visit D'Souza's website which cleverly contains bonus features that do not feature in the novel, namely Susan's first impressions of Birmingham and Craig's fitness regime. Both are worth a read.

In summary, Park Life deserves to be in your life. Available on Kindle, Kobo and other devices.