A FANTASY world of witches, warlocks, dragons and more are brought vividly to life in the latest novel from the pen of prolific Redditch writer Mark Pettifer.
Netty’s Tale is the follow up to The Travellers Rest, a fantasy tale loosely based on the times and characters Mark came across during his time working at the town’s Golden Cross pub on Unicorn Hill.
In a page turning adventure story the reader enters an imaginary world as they follow Netty’s efforts as she learns the arts and crafts of witchcraft and more.
And if all this sounds more Hogwarts than Headless Cross, think again as Mark came up with The Travellers Rest theme long before JK Rowling dreamt of one H Potter.
“I write about the things that interest me,” said Mark, “I suppose it comes from having a bit of a warped mind, but that’s just the ideas come out.”
However the 52 year-old does cite JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings and Douglas Adams of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame as major influences and inspired by Adams penned a tale which found its way onto the bookshelves of WH Smith.
Since then he’s found it hard to get published, and like JK Rowling has had his fair share of rejections.
“I have sent manuscripts to publishers left, right and centre, and even took some to New York when I visited America,” said Mark.
“It’s hard to know what they are looking for, but rather than trying to second guess the publishers I just write what appeals to me.”
Nevertheless he has found other avenues into print: One ‘book’ he did – ‘Me, My Selfie and I’ full of self-penned sketches took just a weekend to do and was published straight away.
“I found that rather disconcerting; you spend months, years, on a book and get nowhere and a weekend’s work, almost an after-thought, is a success,” said the Headless Cross resident.
His books are also available via print on demand website createspace.com as well as being available on Amazon kindle along with the recently completed Pipe Fairies Revolution and Pipe Fairies Secrets II are all available on Amazon kindle at http://amzn.to/1P8w5LG .
In the meantime he’s working on an illustrated history of Redditch and has supplied sketches for prolific local ghost writer Anne Bradford’s books, and will continue to write the books that appeal to him.
