About

Hi there, I’m Keith and this is the story of Piccadilly Rose.

This is a story I have been working on for a long time. It was born from my time playing tabletop role playing games with friends in my twenties. At that time, I discovered a real joy in spoken-word story- telling. And, I think I was quite good at it; at least those that heard my stories always said that they had really enjoyed being spoken-word story-told.

(The above is an attempt at humour and a good example of how my ability to communicate with spoken English does not translate particularly well into written English. It was not an example of my horrible grasp of prose. For that, please take a look at Chapter One.)

The story I created during my time playing role playing games stayed with me and has percolated in my head over the proceeding years.

I am a lover of anime and manga, and envisioned the story as a manga in the first instance. The story is influenced by manga such as One Piece, Attack on Titan, Hunter x Hunter, Naruto and many more.

I’m a passable artist and I love drawing. So, I initially tried to set this story down as a manga, or a graphic novel. Passable artist didn’t cut it though and I quickly became frustrated with how my artwork paled in comparison to the vivid characters and scenes in my head.

So, I started converting the story into a novel format. But, I don’t really enjoy writing. In fact, I hate it it. Also, it’s really difficult. I head-hop, slip tense and fall into all the traps of an amateur writer. I want to tell the story more than I want to become a competent writer. I’m not a writer. I’m a storyteller.

So, it’s not a novel either then.

So. what is it?

It’s….a story. A story crippled by its storyteller’s inability to tell it.

Truthfully, I don’t know what it is yet, other than it’s a story that exists in my head as an unholy mix of anime/ novel/ HBO series.

I’m going to tell the story on this website in chapters, released sequentially (like a weekly manga, but not a manga and definitely not weekly). The chapters will be a mix of prose, artwork and any other media that will help me tell this tale.

If you are interested in competent prose or stimulating artwork, you will probably leave disappointed. An engaging and intriguing story? That I hope I can deliver.

The story is still a work-in-progress, and I am an amateur. I am learning (or maybe not) as I go. I will probably put my foot in my mouth and need to go back and retcon some things. I will try to keep this to a minimum and I might find a way of signposting the process if something significant changes.

When I think of the story as a novel; it would, in fact, be three novels that together tell the ‘Picadilly Rose’ story. The first of these novels is called Let Her Burn.

When I choose a book to read, particularly if it’s a big one, I’ll often read the first few pages and then flick to the last page to see if I think it will be worth my time (judge all you want, but I know I’m not alone!).

If you’re like me, and would like to flick to the last page of Let Her Burn, you can do that here.

I am pleased to say I also have the last page of the last ‘book’ drafted as well, ie the last scene of the whole story. And, I am pleased with it. I’m not going to share that one though.

I am looking forward to telling this story.

I wonder if it will ever have an audience bigger than just me. I hope so.

Thanks for reading this far, it means a lot.

K