Now is the time to reflect on my writing resolutions for 2017, which I set at the start of the year.

These were mostly successful...

1. Read and review one self-published book each month - I didn't quite reach the full 12 reviews but 10 is pretty respectable. I hope my reviews will help fellow independent authors find an audience.

2. Read another novel for pleasure each month - again, I didn't quite reach the full 12 books but I made it to 11. Coupled with the above, that is my best annual reading list for a long time. All good inspiration for my own writing.

3. Finish Nephos 3 - this definitely didn't happen! I barely wrote anything towards my third Nephos novel. I still have 100,000 words filed away. This novel has to be finished in 2018 or I'm going to loathe myself. Game face on.

4. Finish Breadcrumbs 2 - well, this almost happened. It is very nearly ready, with just a little editing left on my part, and some artwork tweaks on my illustrator's part. I'm aiming for a January 2018 release date. Most excitingly, I wrote so many short stories and novellas in 2017 that I am halfway towards completing Breadcrumbs 3!

5. Enter Room 204 - I entered Writing West Midlands' writer development programme for the second time and I was rejected for the second time. Still, they say third time's the charm, so I will be entering again in February.

Generally, I feel pretty happy with 2017. I went to some great book launches, discovered plenty of new writers, won a writing competition, and wrote a lot of fiction.

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Writing can be a frustrating, lonely, soul-destroying way of life... so it's important to celebrate the good times!

Here are my Top 5 writing-related highlights of 2017 in no particular order.

1. The Godblind Launch - Attending the launch of Anna Stephen's grimdark debut novel was a fantastic evening. It began with an inspiring Q&A at Waterstones and descended into wine-fuelled gibberish at All Bar One. I rarely drink with my writers' group (because we usually end up bickering about Doctor Who) but this particular night was packed with feel-good vibes and proof that years of hard work at the laptop can pay off in style.

2. Winning the BWG Winter Competition - The theme was Nuns! Nuns! Nuns! It was a bonkers theme for a short story. I almost didn't enter. But inspiration struck five days before the deadline. I wrote, I submitted and (after a very tense judging process) won by a handful of points. I desperately needed this win after not self-publishing in 2017. Look at my happy face.

3. JuNoWriMo - I completed June Novel Writing Month, which means I wrote 50,000 words in June. This resulted in the creation of a new Nephos novella and three long short stories which have been stuck in my head for years.

4. Submission Possible - I topped the submission chart for my writers' group for the first time ever! Our Vice-Chair designed a lovely graph upon which I can lovingly gaze to remind myself that I haven't been procrastinating this year. I now have enough for almost 1.5 new short story collections.

5. Artwork for Breadcrumbs 2 - I received the first draft of the artwork for Breadcrumbs 2, my new short story collection. I didn't manage to click Publish before the end of 2017, but there is no greater feeling than seeing the front cover for the first time. It gives a face to the bundle of Word documents tucked away on my Dropbox. Look out for the collection in late January!

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Time for the obligatory end of year list of favourite books!

Here are my five favourite books which have been published in 2017, in alphabetical order.

Blackwing by Ed McDonald - This debut fantasy was an incredible read, set in a world where evil wizards and "good" wizards live on either side of a warped no-man's land called the Misery. The main character is a captain in the Blackwing mercenary group, who patrols the misery and roots out traitors seduced by evil. The captain reminded me of Vimes in the Discworld novels, only a more messed-up Vimes who never settled down and kept drinking. 

Godblind by Anna Stephens - A grimdark fantasy set for world domination with a vast array of viewpoints, stacks of violences, and one particularly haunting torture scene. It is no understatement to say this has Game of Thrones potential. Read my full review.

Hekla's Children by James Brogden - An expertly-crafted horror fantasy set in my home city of Birmingham, with genuinely big surprises along the way, and a fiendish monster in the afaugh. I still can't get over the twist. Read my full review.

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames - A fantasy epic where mercenaries are revered like rock stars. One ageing warrior tries to put the band back together for a perilous journey to save his daughter from a horde of monsters. It is an action-packed adventure packed with heart and humour, plus lots of excellent swearing.

La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman - Pullman returned with this first instalment of The Book of Dust, the follow-up trilogy to His Dark Materials. This was a prequel to His Dark Materials with Lyra appearing as a baby. Overall, this was an excellent read and well worth the wait. Pullman's anti-religion stance is strong as ever and he remains the master of delivering adult content for young readers. The sinister villain Bonneville is particularly memorable.

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Happily, I finished the year on a high by winning the BWG Winter Competition for my story Nuns! Nuns! Nuns!

I pocketed the £30 prize money and, best of all, I will now judge the 2018 Summer Competition. I haven't published anything this year, so I was very grateful for this win at the eleventh hour.

I also discovered that I have submitted more stories to my writers' group in 2017 than any other member, as illustrated by this lovely graph drawn by our Vice-Chair Martin. This is the first time I have topped the chart!

This graph is my new best friend. It serves as a reminder that I have written lots of fiction this year, despite none of it reaching the Amazon bookshelves.

On the reading front, I read and reviewed Melokai by self-published debut author Rosalyn Kelly. It is an ambitious, generous grimdark fantasy, with a vast range of characters and kingdoms. It is a masterclass in world-building, so I read it very carefully with my own world in mind. I look forward to the next two instalment's in Kelly's trilogy.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas and look forward to 2018!

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Melokai is the first book in a new fantasy trilogy titled 'In the Heart of the Mountains' (ITHOTM), which looks set to be a huge success based on the quality of this opening instalment.

Author Rosalyn Kelly tells the story of Ramya, the successful but arrogant ruler of Peqkya, a mountain-dwelling nation of warrior women, where men are kept as servants and pleasure-givers. Ramya's alliances and feuds between neighbouring civilisations fluctuate throughout the novel, and she develops a controversial romance with a cave creature... 

The front cover gave me the impression that Melokai was young adult fantasy, but this is actually grimdark fantasy on a par with Game of Thrones and Godblind. There is violence, rape, torture, and an infant's head gets crushed underfoot, all peppered with superb moments of dark humour. This is perfect for readers with a bloodthirty appetite.

Melokai is deliriously entertaining and wholly immersive. Kelly has an impressive flair for world-building and crafts multiple kingdoms in great detail, each with its own culture and quirks. Her author biography shows that Kelly has travelled the world, which is apparent in the vivid description and variety of the places described. These include the aforementioned, Peqkya; the desert kingdom of Drome; pompous medieval country Fertilian; the rainforest world of Jute, populated by pygmies; and the Zwullfr mountains where the wolves live.

The scale of Kelly's world is supremely vast, with an enormous cast of characters populating each region. A lesser author might have saved something for a later book, or a separate franchise, but Kelly has generously given us a smorgasbord of fantastic cultures to devour all in one novel. The justified glossary of people and places at the back of the book is testament to the size of the ITHOTM  universe.

The characters are a hateful bunch, in a good way, with no obvious categories of good guys and bad guys, although the spoilt Prince of Drome, Ammad, has a nasty case of the Joffreys. You will be dying for someone to give him a slap. Meanwhile, Violya is one of the more likeable heroes - a warrior woman with magical abilities - who happily looks set to have a bigger part in the sequel out next year, which is titled V.

I eagerly await Part Two and discovering more of the ITHOTM world, much of which is teased in this series opener, including the rebellious Thorne Twins, the cave nation of Troglr, and the literal rise of the wolves.

AFAIC, the ITHOTM franchise could be, IMHO, the next GoT. IKR?

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