NIK MORTON

While serving in the RN I edited a variety of ship's magazines, only one of which used an imaginative title! These are:-

WARRIOR MAGAZINE - HMS ZULU - seagoing (1966-1969)

CENTURION MAGAZINE - HMS CENTURION - Gosport, Hants (1970-1974)

MERMAID MAGAZINE - HMS MERMAID - seagoing (1976-1977)

NEPTUNE MAGAZINE - HMS NEPTUNE - Faslane, Helensburgh (1977-1979)

CENTURION MAGAZINE - HMS CENTURION - Gosport, Hants (1979-1984)

DIOMEDE MAGAZINE - HMS DIOMEDE - seagoing (1984-1986)

CENTURION MAGAZINE - HMS CENTURION - Gosport, Hants (1986-1989)

Starting in 1982, I edited and published a small press magazine, Auguries. This featured science fiction, fantasy and horror short stories and poems. Issues were intermittent due to a variety of reasons, not least the funds to pay for the printing and very modest payments to the contributors. A separate page will be dedicated to Auguries, its many contributors and artists. By the time I had reached #18, it was in a perfect bound format, with a glossy colour cover. Sadly, that was the last issue, published in 1994. A separate section will be devoted to Auguries.

In 1995 I entered the World One Day Novel Writing competition which took place at the Groucho Club, London. I was placed joint-fourth with an 18,000-word novella, Silenced in Darkness, about a nun detective in Charleston, USA. Determined to see the story in print, I set up an imprint, MANATEE BOOKS for Morton Publishing. I edited and self-published the novella together with another nun detective novella, A Sign of Grace. If nothing else I established the character who used to be a cop in New York before taking her vows. Over time and many rewrites, the character evolved until she’s now British and can be encountered in Pain Wears No Mask, published by Libros International 2007.

1999-2003 I edited and advised Dorothy Kelly with her novel Need a Body Cry? This was one of a number of books I wanted to agent for; unfortunately, time and lack of funds precluded pursuing this Literary Agency business full-time. Dorothy wrote under the family name of Cavayé and the book was a fictional account of her ancestors’ lives ranging over Scotland, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica on the cusp of the eighteenth century. Finally, Dorothy’s book was published by Librario and is still available.

Among other books I wanted to promote were Death in the Valley by Clive Horbacki, which was an excellent sequel to Shane and A Faint Call of Bugles by John V Breen; this latter work concerns the Indian Wars, which Robert Hale doesn’t touch; its main characters were a black ex cavalry man and an Apache. John is an excellent writer of westerns and I have helped edit several short stories of his, some of which have gone on to be published or won awards.

In 2002 I edited and published All on a Summer's Day by Mark Carter. A Manatee Books novella. It tells what happened to an ordinary infantry battalion during the lead up and actual events of the first day in the Battle of the Somme. Mark served in the Second World War in the North African and Italian campaigns.

In 2003 I edited and published Brimstone and Treason by Caroline Dunford. A Manatee Books novella. Its about Anja, an apprentice mage, who encounters deceitful wizards and dragons and finds herself on a cut-price quest – fourteen days to succeed or her soul gets eaten.

In June 2003 I became a sub-editor on the full colour monthly magazine, Portsmouth Post. I continued in this capacity even when I moved to Spain, travelling back to UK for one week per month, the rest being done via internet. Eventually, by 2006 another sub-editor had been found and my involvement simply entailed contributing several articles and a comic strip every month.

From late 2006 I have been editing books accepted by new publisher Libros International. So far, I have edited Poisoned Petals by Andy Crabb, a marvellous collection of 44 short stories set in Spain, past and present; Stage Struck by Suzanne Stokes, which is about an amateur dramatic society and the dramas the characters undergo off-stage; The Wannabes by Richard James, a tale about murder and horror and bad dreams that come alive; Hurricane Halsey by Andrew Halsey and Joy Lennick, a non-fiction account of epileptic Andrew's two attempts to row single-handedly across the Atlantic and the Pacific.

In 2007 I joined up with several writers in a yahoo group to help produce a western anthology. Co-edited Where Legends Ride with Matthew P Mayo, a collection of 14 new tales of the Old West, the majority of contributors having been published by Robert Hale. The collection also includes my short story 'Bubbles'.

Currently editing a second western anthology, A Fistful of Legends. I've selected 21 tales. Co-editor is Texan Charlie Whipple, who lives in Japan. The collection should be available at the end of 2009/early 2010.