Carmen Capuano

20/4/23

Hi again. If you've been following me either here on on other social media, then you'll know that I've published two books already this year. And now I've set myself the challenge of publishing one book a month for the rest of the year. Will I do it? Who knows but it will be fun trying!

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Today I'm editing yet another book before I publish it. It's called In The Darkness Between Worlds and I'm enjoying reading through it after having written it about two years ago and not touched it since, as I've been too busy.

Deciding to take my books back from publishers and to republish them myself has been a real roller-coaster. I've learned a lot, mostly how NOT to try to manipulate certain websites and software. But that's a different story.

You may know that I'm compelled to write by the stories that bubble out of me, and that I write books as well as for film and TV. But what you probably don't know is my Grand Plan.

And I have capitalised Grand Plan for a very good reason. It is the thing which has driven me since I was a child - a burning desire to help animals in need. I want to use my sales to be able to fund charities and change the world for the better. It's my deepest desire.

I'm not interested in material possessions. I never have been. And if you've ever seen me driving around in my old battered car, you'll know the truth of that. For me, riches come in the form of a satisfied soul. So I'm using my profits to fund rescues and to alleviate pain and suffering in animals.

So why am I making a song and dance of this? Not for adulation or any reason other than to point something out. I'm not asking anything of you. I'm not asking you to send money or take action.

BUT if you are a reader and you were intending to buy a new book, please consider one of mine.

You'll get a great book and I'll be another step closer to helping another animal in need. So we'll both benefit.

Happy reading! x

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Goodness me, it's March 2014 and I am only now updating on here! Where does the time go?

Actually I know where it goes...I spend all my time writing! Check out my new book and my blog for more info. http://carmencapuano.blogspot.co.uk/

Carmen.

**January 2013 I have been told that many readers have been unable to post reviews on Amazon as they bought a signed copy directly from me and not through Amazon.

If this is the case, I would ask those readers to hold on to the review and to post them on my new website whick will have a review page and which I hope to have live within the next couple of weeks. Please bear with me!!!**

The following is a professional review carried out in Dec. 2012 The Owners

Volumes 1&2 by Carmen Capuano

THE Owners is the debut series by Bromsgrove author Carmen Capuano the first two volumes of which are Alone and Storm Clouds (Fast Print Publishing - Paperback £10.99 and £8.99)

Aimed at teenagers and young adults, as well as a mature audience, this science fiction fantasy imagines that humans are kept as pets, originally unknown to them, and then flickers of consciousness about their situation emerge . . .

Borrowing elements from Andrew Nichol's The Truman Show and Thomas More's Utopia, Capuano develops a good idea well with scope for several more instalments. The time, location, and place are uncertain, but the thematic ambition is bold, an exploration of what humanity is, and as the plot unfolds, what it is not, in a 21st century morality tale.

Pet humans are kept by the Eyons, in a playful twist on the late 20th century Tamagotchi toy craze in which young children rushed to buy the Japanese hand held computer virtual pet, and nurture it.

The second volume, Storm Clouds is self-contained and opens with cataclysmic storms threatening to engulf the West Coast of America, leaving twelve year old Dan Ryan no choice but to be evacuated to New York and into the care of his Uncle Jack.

Both volumes are pacy, easy reads, with a fast developing plot that addresses moral questions without being overtly moralising. Storm Clouds has the more conventional narrative, Alone is the more thought provoking with an alien language which borrows from Orwell's 1984.

The familiar terrestrial setting of America is a more secure setting for the author although having Jack Ryan as a significant protagonist, a name popularised by Tom Clancy in his spy series,+ may be a little distracting Stateside.

As a writing debut it is a strong start, and volume three should be following soon. Capuano feels that there is the potential to add several more to the series , and I think she is right. Young readers will be attracted to the page turning storytelling, whilst older readers will enjoy the time honoured philosophical and moral dimension which the author revels in tackling.

The Owners series is available from Amazon, published by Fast print Publishing, signed copies are available direct from the author at: carmen.capuano@ymail.com

BIOGRAPHY

Carmen Capuano was born in 1966, in Govan, Glasgow and came to England at the age of eighteen. A full and varied working life saw her move from London to Birmingham and finally to the small Worcestershire town of Bromsgrove.

Interested in writing from an early age, it was only when she had her own children that she found her enthusiasm for story telling had not waned in any way and was still as alive and enticing as ever.

"The Owners was a tale which demanded to be written down. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it."

UPDATE : September 2012. The Owners Volume II: Storm Clouds is now available as an ebook and both Alone and Storm Clouds will soon be available in paperback. Watch this space for more info and updates.

Volume II is set in America, however I made the decision to neither exclusively write in British English or in American English. We live in such a cross-cultural society today, that we constantly import 'Americanisms' into our language here in Britain and I have been informed that a similar situation is occuring over in America.

I chose to take the view therefore, that as we watch American tv over here and British tv over there, it was silly to chose one variant of a word over another. Instead I used the word which best matched the feel of the page and chapter.

I hope you enjoy reading my story.

Carmen Capuano.

Please Note: The Owners, Volume I:Alone has a large volume of dialogue which is written phonetically. This is done for the purpose of highlighting the difference between human and non-human speech. This novel is not intended as an educational tome but rather as entertaining escapism.

DEC 2012

Volume III: Dark Side of The Sun will be out by the end of January and I have just begun work on Volume IV.