J A Bowler
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jabowler.bsky.social
J A Bowler
@jabowler.bsky.social
780 followers 620 following 120 posts
UK based writer of children's and YA fiction and educational content. #Writing #WritingCommunity #amwriting #YA #IceCooperAndTheDeptonShadelings #TheImprobableAdventuresOfDexterDuckworth #Fiction #CliFi #ChildrensBooks

www.jabowler.co.uk
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Reposted by J A Bowler
valeriavescina.bsky.social
The fourth #AuthorInterview in our @womenwritersnet.bsky.social series takes place on Thur 23 Oct. Can’t wait to interview @brethertonwords.bsky.social about her new novel, The Fire In Their Eyes! Come and join us - you are welcome to ask the author your questions! @breakthroughbook.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
bookshopghost.bsky.social
We don't have a mask rule because we're "afraid".

You can't imagine the courage it takes to protect ourselves--when MSM and public dialogue don't just disdain but actively vilify us for protecting ourselves in! public! Ugh!
October 15, 2025 at 4:49 AM
Reposted by J A Bowler
adamcsharp.bsky.social
My top suggestions of books to read this World Bread Day...

- The Focaccia in the Rye
- Yeast of Eden
- Flours for Algernon
- The Lion, the Witch and the Warburtons
- Pannetonement
- The Naan in the High Castle
- Leaven Las Vegas
- Pitta Rabbit
October 16, 2025 at 4:29 PM
jabowler.bsky.social
I sold some copies of these at the Southam Book Fair, one of them to a primary teacher, and I'm so pleased that Dexter will get some more readers! I worry about the part where the goblins stick prisoners on the walls of their tunnel, but I wrote it for my Y5 and 6! #UKKidLit #SpookyBooks #Halloween
The front cover of The improbable adventures of dexter duckworth, part 1: goblin earth by J A Bowler. It is a green background with silhoutte gnarly trees on both sides. In the forground is a cheeky mallard followed by a boy with a head torch emerging from a tunnel. Behind the tunnel is a smiling goblin girl with long red hair, an earring and a sharp stick.
October 16, 2025 at 4:10 PM
jabowler.bsky.social
A recent flash fiction competition shortlist of 10 had only one written in the past tense. I know it's a very subjective opinion, but I can't not hear something both pretentious and childish when I read the present tense in fiction.
October 15, 2025 at 12:51 PM
jabowler.bsky.social
Well I did it. It's a great little book fair, though this year i wasn't shortlisted for their flash fiction. The venue would be excellent if not for the utter lack of #ventilation! Kept my #ffp3 on all day. Still managed to chat to authors and visitors! #authorsinmasks
A co2 monitor showing 2301 parts per million at 14:21 today.
October 12, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
jabowler.bsky.social
I'll be at Southam Book Fest, Sun 12/10 and yes I'll be #masked again! I don't want to. I'm not anxious. I have to remember the science to maintain my resolve. It doesn't help sales; people don't understand I'm the person definitely not infecting anyone. #Covid levels high; local hospital is full.
A woman is standing looking to camera behind a table on which there are books. Other tables with books in the room books indicate that it is a book fair. She has a poster board showing a book series entitled 'Ice Cooper'. The woman is wearing a black T-shirt over a red top. She is also wearing a black FFP3 face mask
October 8, 2025 at 4:46 PM
jabowler.bsky.social
Name a book that doesn't fit neatly into any one #genre
October 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
danifinnwrites.bsky.social
Self-publishing transparency post:

I make the most on an Amazon paperback.

I make the 2nd-most on an ebook from itch.

I make the 3rd-most on an ebook from anywhere else.

I make the least when you order a paperback through a bookstore.

tbc there’s no judgment on readers here; just facts ✌️
October 7, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
philipkallan.bsky.social
HMS King George V on arctic duty in WW2. Churchill called the convoy route to Murmansk in the Soviet arctic the “worst journey on earth,” with good reason. U-boats, air attack, surface raiders and of course the cold.

My novel 'The Wolves in Winter' is set here.

#Arctic #WW2 #RoyalNavy
October 8, 2025 at 8:13 AM
jabowler.bsky.social
I'll be at Southam Book Fest, Sun 12/10 and yes I'll be #masked again! I don't want to. I'm not anxious. I have to remember the science to maintain my resolve. It doesn't help sales; people don't understand I'm the person definitely not infecting anyone. #Covid levels high; local hospital is full.
A woman is standing looking to camera behind a table on which there are books. Other tables with books in the room books indicate that it is a book fair. She has a poster board showing a book series entitled 'Ice Cooper'. The woman is wearing a black T-shirt over a red top. She is also wearing a black FFP3 face mask
October 8, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
sunkissedpeaks.bsky.social
Please don’t unfollow me
September 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by J A Bowler
annabookwriter.bsky.social
I would like everyone involved with books—reviewers, librarians, booksellers, readers—to read this article and understand that what you’re being served is incredibly skewed by capitalism.

There’s a pernicious idea that publishing is a meritocracy. It hasn’t been in a long time, if ever.
tajjaisen.bsky.social Tajja Isen @tajjaisen.bsky.social · Sep 26
I spent the summer reporting this essay on why it seems harder than ever to sell a book right now—especially if it isn't a debut and comes with the dreaded "sales track." I'm grateful to the writers, agents, editors, publishers & experts who spoke to me for this piece: thewalrus.ca/the-publishi...
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem | The Walrus
Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it
thewalrus.ca
September 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Reposted by J A Bowler
danifinnwrites.bsky.social
Reading is great and wonderful.

Watching video content is also great and wonderful!

For some people, like my intellectually disabled kids, it’s a lot more accessible and it’s amazing what they learn from what they watch.

Vocabulary, science, human relationships, you name it.
September 20, 2025 at 12:34 PM
jabowler.bsky.social
At the #southwarwickshireliteraryfestival. @southwarkslitfest.bsky.social everything going smoothly. #mask worn for insurance, though IAQ not actually bad. It hasn't gone above 600ppm.
A woman with long hair, partly green, wearing a black ffp3 mask, is in a selfie next to a stand of her books and a poaster. These are the Ice Cooper series, The Improbable Adventures of Dexter Duckworth, and the Handy Booklet for Writing.
September 20, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
thecrumpet.bsky.social
August 30 #WIPsnips – “nose”

In this snip from my #WIP “Surface Tension,” a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art is on the agenda. Gregory’s taken with El Greco’s “Vision of St John” while Jenny ponders whether Christ exited this earthly realm in a more undignified manner than she'd thought.
Despite an ever-flowing stream of people reminding her of Grand Central Terminal at midday, there was no urgency here. No one on the staircase had to rush before an artwork departed from Track Nineteen, headed for New Haven, making all local stops after Stamford. Everyone here was in the right place, whichever part of the museum that might be, because all here was wonder, all here was delight. In the European galleries, the ceilings were lower than in the Great Hall, the sound duller, softened by fabric walls and polished wood floors. Jenny and Gregory drifted past serious Italian Madonnas dandling fat baby Jesuses on their laps, and floppy-nosed Florentine merchants in even floppier velvet hats. Gregory took his time explaining something about El Greco’s “violent modernity,” but Jenny found herself distracted by a depiction of the Ascension which showcased Jesus’s feet at the top of the canvas, as if God were nearly done yanking him out of the frame by his armpits.
August 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
lauraruthless.bsky.social
“Where’s the rest of the crew?”

The four of them looked at one another, counting noses and/or noseless faces, then looked back at me.

I pictured the crew that served with my parents in the military. “Navigator? Engineer? Medical officer? Cook and bottle washer?”

-The Cosmic Turkey
#WIPSnips
August 30, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
curioussnowflake.bsky.social
#WIPSnips for 8/30: Nose

This issue isn’t what Tim’s mom is hiding from him, it’s what’s being hidden from her….and that’s all I’m telling you. 😝

#WriteSky #YAFantasy #QueerWriters
Tim sat in the chair facing the desk. Instead of parking his bulk behind it, Dan wheeled his chair around the desk and set it next to Tim. Then with another sigh he sat, leaned forward, and rested his elbows on his knees, staring at the wall. “I’m going to be as straightforward as I can with you, Tim. I usually am, as a rule. Teenagers may not know half as much about the world as they think they do, but they do have exquisite noses for bullshit, pardon the profanity. So I avoid the masculine bovine excrement as much as I can, and with you I shall do so even more than usual. Mostly because I get the sense you’ve gotten more than your fair share of it over your lifetime." He turned to look at Tim, eyebrows raised, waiting for confirmation. Almost involuntarily, Tim nodded. Hadn’t he always felt his mom hid things, brushed things aside, avoided things? “Now, I’m not trying to turn you against your mom, far from it. The fact that she got in touch with me first shows she’s actually pretty far ahead of the curve. I’m sure that’s why you have a nice anger/guilt war going on inside over this whole situation, am I right?” After a moment, Tim nodded. “Yeah.”
August 30, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
tigerears.bsky.social
She stood like that, quite still, hood draped just below her nose, for a comedic beat, then craned her neck back to peek at Ludo through what little gap she could find with a silly, self-amused grin.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity
August 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
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wipsnips.bsky.social
Repping #WIPSnips at #DragonCon today!
A picture of Rose in a purple WIPSnips shirt
August 30, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
booksbydlwhite.com
#WipSnips #BlackSky #bookSky

Yvette sat cross-legged at her desk, her boots kicked off, reading glasses perched on her #nose. This was my favorite version of her—guard down, comfortable in her own space.

open.substack.com/pub/authordl...
#WipSnips Aug 30: nose
#WIPSnips is a daily writing share tag est. Sept ‘23. Share a snippet from your work using the word, a synonym, a variation or ✨vibes✨
open.substack.com
August 30, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
racthoh.bsky.social
#WIPSnips Nose. Our hero assesses the injuries on a fallen lad, but notices something abnormal about his breathing...

Text in the alt. TW/CW
I couldn’t assess the severity of his condition, be he merely resting or breathing his last. He simply laid there with his chest struggling to pull in the air to breathe. The longer I watched, however, the more I noticed. Consistent were his breaths, to the smallest measurement of time. If no one had intervened then surely there would be the occasional struggle within this beaten body. I placed my hand over his nose and mouth. The breathing continued, no struggles for air, but I couldn’t feel anything being expelled from him. “No, I refuse to believe Tyrinal has reached this far. Not to this land.” I withdrew a blade, and with my other hand, I began to choke the lifeless body. In and out the breathing continued like the freshly wound clock. Harder my grip began until I began to feel the bone crumble underneath. Nothing would stop the breathing. “Foul tricks yet… is it him? Is it Tyrinal?”
August 30, 2025 at 4:23 PM
jabowler.bsky.social
"Ice took a reluctant step forward, stopping six feet away and wrinkling her nose as the acrid odour intensified." #WIPSnips I'm suprised by the number of occurrences of #nose in my WIP!
August 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
libraryplayer.bsky.social
Written (or writing) a book, and wondering where to publish?

My new guide to self publishing platforms is for you!

Made this available on Monday.

Compares the different options, and the advantages/disadvantages of each. Plus hints and tips.

Only £7 - get your copy at: ko-fi.com/s/0227bef820
August 30, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by J A Bowler
southwarkslitfest.bsky.social
Hello! With so much to choose from the #westmidlands is a hive of activity! From @writingwestmids.bsky.social to @jerichowriters.bsky.social & u can't go wrong with #writing mentor extraordinare #author @shelleywilson.bsky.social Plus #leamingtonspa 's best and only lit fest is getting closer! 😻
April 23, 2025 at 9:01 AM