I'm Terry Morgan and TJM Books is my self-publishing platform.
I started writing stories and poetry while traveling with my own exporting business.
Having visited well over seventy countries - some so many times I lost count - I now try, whenever possible, to give hotels and airports a miss and live with my Thai wife, Yung, in the quietness of rural Petchabun, Thailand.
We still return home to Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds valleys in the UK occasionally, but all that lonely business travel - to Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, across Europe and America - did give me something quite special. Many of my memories and personal experiences find themselves - together with a lot of imagination - in what I now write about. So, it's mostly international and covers business, politics, terrorism, crime and espionage plus a bit of science thrown in because I'm still a biologist in my heart. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes satirical and I especially try to write enjoyable reading for that largely under-catered for part of the population - mature men.
And you'll get your money's worth because most of my books are well above average in length and the e-versions are free. Why free? For an explanation, read an abstract from my Smashwords interview below.
Completed books are shown on a separate page.
Current projects are shown below:
I started writing stories and poetry while traveling with my own exporting business.
Having visited well over seventy countries - some so many times I lost count - I now try, whenever possible, to give hotels and airports a miss and live with my Thai wife, Yung, in the quietness of rural Petchabun, Thailand.
We still return home to Gloucestershire and the Cotswolds valleys in the UK occasionally, but all that lonely business travel - to Africa, the Middle East, the Far East, across Europe and America - did give me something quite special. Many of my memories and personal experiences find themselves - together with a lot of imagination - in what I now write about. So, it's mostly international and covers business, politics, terrorism, crime and espionage plus a bit of science thrown in because I'm still a biologist in my heart. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes satirical and I especially try to write enjoyable reading for that largely under-catered for part of the population - mature men.
And you'll get your money's worth because most of my books are well above average in length and the e-versions are free. Why free? For an explanation, read an abstract from my Smashwords interview below.
Completed books are shown on a separate page.
Current projects are shown below:
I've always run two, three or even four writing projects together - putting aside one to focus on another for a while, then reverting. Here are some of my current ones.
"Mosquito"
An ex United Nations Biological Weapons Inspector comes out of forced retirement to pursue a suspicion of a secret project that would enable genetically modified flies to carry deadly viruses. But can he prove his suspicions before becoming a target for state or private security forces? And is there more to it than flying insects?
It's all technically feasible and politicians and government-led security forces are not unknown to have dealt with UN weapons inspectors if they step out of line against their wishes!
UPDATE: August 2019. The feasibility is not at stake but I'm watching technology in this area. It's moving rapidly in the direction of where this story was heading. Fact might replace fiction!
An ex United Nations Biological Weapons Inspector comes out of forced retirement to pursue a suspicion of a secret project that would enable genetically modified flies to carry deadly viruses. But can he prove his suspicions before becoming a target for state or private security forces? And is there more to it than flying insects?
It's all technically feasible and politicians and government-led security forces are not unknown to have dealt with UN weapons inspectors if they step out of line against their wishes!
UPDATE: August 2019. The feasibility is not at stake but I'm watching technology in this area. It's moving rapidly in the direction of where this story was heading. Fact might replace fiction!
I'm still feeling my way with this one as I'm finding it quite a sensitive and emotional subject.
It mixes both religion and ethnicity with social issues, crime and terrorism.
I initially called it 'Bad Boys' - a story about two young men from a poor, run-down, multicultural, inner-city area. Both boys are fatherless, one with Pakistani parents, the other mixed race Pakistani-English and it moves from the UK to Turkey, to northern Syria during the ISIL fighting and then to Malaysia and Thailand. But things change as I write and it's now three boys, so the title might need to change to fit the circumstances.
I'm showing here a new, draft cover but unless I set myself a deadline to finish this it'll drag on!
So: New deadline - December 2019
Below is the old draft cover:
It mixes both religion and ethnicity with social issues, crime and terrorism.
I initially called it 'Bad Boys' - a story about two young men from a poor, run-down, multicultural, inner-city area. Both boys are fatherless, one with Pakistani parents, the other mixed race Pakistani-English and it moves from the UK to Turkey, to northern Syria during the ISIL fighting and then to Malaysia and Thailand. But things change as I write and it's now three boys, so the title might need to change to fit the circumstances.
I'm showing here a new, draft cover but unless I set myself a deadline to finish this it'll drag on!
So: New deadline - December 2019
Below is the old draft cover:
It's not all serious! Politician Quentin Kelp and Doctor A. Sinnick have lived in my imagination for quite a while. Quentin had his own book that I archived a while back as the politics was looking dated and a collection of Sinnick's 'poetry' has sat on my computer for years. I'd always said I'd get a full length story out of them sometime and, between other things, I'm slowly getting there.
Joining forces with Quentin and Sinnnick are two other middle-aged characters, aspiring Hell's Angel Charlie McTavish (with his Honda moped) and Paddy O'Brian (a fan of Irish literature, poetry and mythology). 'Four Men' is satirical commentary on modern society seen through the eyes of four white, late middle-aged men (divorced or nearly divorced) struggling in a world increasingly dominated by women, equality legislation and stifling political correctness. Where does the wheelchair fit in and will it be their saviour? If I publish it at all, it might need to be released in a plain white cover!
Why my days are often interrupted:
Joining forces with Quentin and Sinnnick are two other middle-aged characters, aspiring Hell's Angel Charlie McTavish (with his Honda moped) and Paddy O'Brian (a fan of Irish literature, poetry and mythology). 'Four Men' is satirical commentary on modern society seen through the eyes of four white, late middle-aged men (divorced or nearly divorced) struggling in a world increasingly dominated by women, equality legislation and stifling political correctness. Where does the wheelchair fit in and will it be their saviour? If I publish it at all, it might need to be released in a plain white cover!
Why my days are often interrupted:
And why my books are currently free:
Because:
Writing was always a hobby. Years of scribbling when I was travelling and when I was quiet, alone and able to escape into my own thoughts for just a few hours. I could make myself laugh or cry or put into words serious thoughts that I knew would never get spoken aloud - deep thoughts, controversial, political, sensitive, very private ones. My first full length novel took me ten years to get it to a state where I was sufficiently confident to self publish.
Now: If I had charged my time at even a minimum wage for ten years at only one hour a day I reckon a return of 40,000 dollars might just be enough to break even. The arithmetic is open to challenge but it's either a bit less than 40,000 dollars or, more likely, ten times more - it depends how you value your time. My subsequent novels have vastly increased the time I've spent writing and what I'd expect as a return if I was doing it for a living. But I expected nothing and got nothing because it was just a hobby.
There's an awful lot of published trash out there - a lot of it 'written' by established names, celebrities, politicians and sportsmen who actually get others to write for them. If you want to read it, feel free - buy it.
Likewise, if anyone likes my stuff enough to invest their time and money then good, go ahead, offer me a deal. That's when I'll start to negotiate a price that might offset some of my expense. On the other hand if mine is also trash then tell me. I still won't mind because I've enjoyed the writing.
The modern writing/publishing business is increasingly complicated, made more so because literary agents have failed to move with the times. They have missed, and are still missing, so much good literature written by total unknowns.
The other reason is that books, like so many other commodities, are grossly undervalued because of the economics and the need for mass appeal. In UK I can buy a paperback in a Tesco supermarket at a price that barely covers printing costs. What is the point of writing good stuff if, just at the end point where you might expect to earn a reasonable return for years of time and effort, you are treated like the bags of Tesco's mixed vegetables on the next shelf?
I, for one, do not want to be treated like that. But feel free to argue with me!
Because:
Writing was always a hobby. Years of scribbling when I was travelling and when I was quiet, alone and able to escape into my own thoughts for just a few hours. I could make myself laugh or cry or put into words serious thoughts that I knew would never get spoken aloud - deep thoughts, controversial, political, sensitive, very private ones. My first full length novel took me ten years to get it to a state where I was sufficiently confident to self publish.
Now: If I had charged my time at even a minimum wage for ten years at only one hour a day I reckon a return of 40,000 dollars might just be enough to break even. The arithmetic is open to challenge but it's either a bit less than 40,000 dollars or, more likely, ten times more - it depends how you value your time. My subsequent novels have vastly increased the time I've spent writing and what I'd expect as a return if I was doing it for a living. But I expected nothing and got nothing because it was just a hobby.
There's an awful lot of published trash out there - a lot of it 'written' by established names, celebrities, politicians and sportsmen who actually get others to write for them. If you want to read it, feel free - buy it.
Likewise, if anyone likes my stuff enough to invest their time and money then good, go ahead, offer me a deal. That's when I'll start to negotiate a price that might offset some of my expense. On the other hand if mine is also trash then tell me. I still won't mind because I've enjoyed the writing.
The modern writing/publishing business is increasingly complicated, made more so because literary agents have failed to move with the times. They have missed, and are still missing, so much good literature written by total unknowns.
The other reason is that books, like so many other commodities, are grossly undervalued because of the economics and the need for mass appeal. In UK I can buy a paperback in a Tesco supermarket at a price that barely covers printing costs. What is the point of writing good stuff if, just at the end point where you might expect to earn a reasonable return for years of time and effort, you are treated like the bags of Tesco's mixed vegetables on the next shelf?
I, for one, do not want to be treated like that. But feel free to argue with me!