About Rosethorn Press
I decided to self-publish my paranormal novel The Memory of Snow in 2012. Although the book had received excellent feedback from agents and publishers, had been short listed and long-listed in various competitions and was Commended in the Northern Writers Awards 2011, there just didn't seem to be a niche in the mainstream market for it. I talked to family, friends and some lovely people in the business, and decided this was the way forward for it. Much better that it was 'out there' for the people who did want to read it, than lingering on my hard drive for evermore!
As for me, I am from the North East of England and won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and the Wyvern Publications Flash Fiction Competitions in 2010 and 2011. Skellig author David Almond gave me some excellent feedback when he judged the Belsay competition, and, since then, I have been lucky enough to attend a Crossover Fiction workshop with David, which was facilitated by the Royal Society of Literature and hosted at our wonderful Lit and Phil library in Newcastle upon Tyne . I also participated in a Dickens 2012 Celebration at Newcastle Central Library, where I spoke to an audience during an evening of Victorian Ghost Stories and was invited to chat about my research and the haunted north east at Gateshead Library in May 2014, as part of local history month. I adapted part of that talk for Newbrough Youth club as part of a 2016 project they did with Groundwork North East and Cumbria about Meggie the Witch - a real 'witch' I fictionalised in Memory of Snow, and have also been involved in the Crossing the Tees Festival at Stockton Library, along with events at the Word in South Shield and Rowlands Gill Library, and I took part in the Books on Tyne Festival at Newcastle City Library in November 2019.
I've also had articles and short stories published in The Journal, It's Fate, Peoples Friend, Your Cat, Ghost Voices, The Weekly News, and in several short story collections.
2013 saw me release my second paranormal fiction novel, Refuge, a vampire novel, set on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off our stunning Northumbrian coast and a short story collection, entitled Turn on a Sixpence. There are ten stories in the collection, including the winner of the Belsay competition, Enchantment. Since then, I've also published my little non-fiction book, History and Mystery: Northern Hauntings Explored, and a 'Gothic Thing' (as I affectionately call it) under the pen name of Cathryn Ramsay - Upon the Solstice. (More about that below.)
Eventually, I hit lucky with traditional publishing, and my debut novel with Choc Lit Publishers , Some Veil Did Fall, set in Whitby, North Yorkshire, was published in 2014, followed by The Girl in the Painting, The Girl in the Photograph and A Little Bit of Christmas Magic which together make up the Rossetti Series. There are now also a few other series to explore with Choc Lit: the Hartsford Mysteries series, the Tempest Sisters series, the Schubert the Cat series, the Cornish Secrets series and the Padcock series. Information on the books can be found throughout this website.
In spring 2023 Choc Lit was bought by Joffe Books, IPG Trade Publisher of the Year 2023, and I'm proud to say I now write for one of the biggest publishers in the UK.
As an author, I have realised I do not have absolute autonomy with my characters - so we will have to see where the next books lead me! I might eventually write another Roman book, based at the beautiful site of Vindolanda. I completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Northumbria University in 2016, but the Gothic Thing I was working on for that dissertation was abandoned in favour of something else. For the Masters, I wrote, amongst other things, creative pieces based on Emily Bronte and Lizzie Siddal; they are sitting there begging me to expand on them. The Gothic Thing turned into Upon the Solstice - which was released through my own little Rosethorn Press in November 2016. I am renowned for not planning my stories, so I don't know what will happen next, but there is definitely more of "something" to come. I'm currently working on a new series based in Yorkshire, so let's see where that one goes
Many of my stories seem to have a hint of the dark or the paranormal in them, so I decided to use Rosethorn Press as an overall name for my website: because even roses can have their dark side. And who knows what the future holds for this little venture - perhaps Rosethorn Press will grow into something beautiful. It's all very exciting!
Kirsty
p.s. there's more about my work in my interviews with Suite 101
An Interview with Self-Published Author Kirsty Ferry
Branding, Books and Book Covers
As for me, I am from the North East of England and won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and the Wyvern Publications Flash Fiction Competitions in 2010 and 2011. Skellig author David Almond gave me some excellent feedback when he judged the Belsay competition, and, since then, I have been lucky enough to attend a Crossover Fiction workshop with David, which was facilitated by the Royal Society of Literature and hosted at our wonderful Lit and Phil library in Newcastle upon Tyne . I also participated in a Dickens 2012 Celebration at Newcastle Central Library, where I spoke to an audience during an evening of Victorian Ghost Stories and was invited to chat about my research and the haunted north east at Gateshead Library in May 2014, as part of local history month. I adapted part of that talk for Newbrough Youth club as part of a 2016 project they did with Groundwork North East and Cumbria about Meggie the Witch - a real 'witch' I fictionalised in Memory of Snow, and have also been involved in the Crossing the Tees Festival at Stockton Library, along with events at the Word in South Shield and Rowlands Gill Library, and I took part in the Books on Tyne Festival at Newcastle City Library in November 2019.
I've also had articles and short stories published in The Journal, It's Fate, Peoples Friend, Your Cat, Ghost Voices, The Weekly News, and in several short story collections.
2013 saw me release my second paranormal fiction novel, Refuge, a vampire novel, set on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, off our stunning Northumbrian coast and a short story collection, entitled Turn on a Sixpence. There are ten stories in the collection, including the winner of the Belsay competition, Enchantment. Since then, I've also published my little non-fiction book, History and Mystery: Northern Hauntings Explored, and a 'Gothic Thing' (as I affectionately call it) under the pen name of Cathryn Ramsay - Upon the Solstice. (More about that below.)
Eventually, I hit lucky with traditional publishing, and my debut novel with Choc Lit Publishers , Some Veil Did Fall, set in Whitby, North Yorkshire, was published in 2014, followed by The Girl in the Painting, The Girl in the Photograph and A Little Bit of Christmas Magic which together make up the Rossetti Series. There are now also a few other series to explore with Choc Lit: the Hartsford Mysteries series, the Tempest Sisters series, the Schubert the Cat series, the Cornish Secrets series and the Padcock series. Information on the books can be found throughout this website.
In spring 2023 Choc Lit was bought by Joffe Books, IPG Trade Publisher of the Year 2023, and I'm proud to say I now write for one of the biggest publishers in the UK.
As an author, I have realised I do not have absolute autonomy with my characters - so we will have to see where the next books lead me! I might eventually write another Roman book, based at the beautiful site of Vindolanda. I completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Northumbria University in 2016, but the Gothic Thing I was working on for that dissertation was abandoned in favour of something else. For the Masters, I wrote, amongst other things, creative pieces based on Emily Bronte and Lizzie Siddal; they are sitting there begging me to expand on them. The Gothic Thing turned into Upon the Solstice - which was released through my own little Rosethorn Press in November 2016. I am renowned for not planning my stories, so I don't know what will happen next, but there is definitely more of "something" to come. I'm currently working on a new series based in Yorkshire, so let's see where that one goes
Many of my stories seem to have a hint of the dark or the paranormal in them, so I decided to use Rosethorn Press as an overall name for my website: because even roses can have their dark side. And who knows what the future holds for this little venture - perhaps Rosethorn Press will grow into something beautiful. It's all very exciting!
Kirsty
p.s. there's more about my work in my interviews with Suite 101
An Interview with Self-Published Author Kirsty Ferry
Branding, Books and Book Covers
