I have published a new segment to the NosillaCast podcast, hosted by Allison Sheridan over at podfeet.com.

In the first part of my editing pipeline, I talked about the quick, objective wins—tidying formatting and nailing spelling—so Jern’s finished draft is clean before we tackle anything more nuanced. This time I move into the trickier territory: grammar and consistency in a fiction voice. Rather than relying on a writing assistant that rewrites things for you, I use LanguageTool as a careful “second pair of eyes”, then tailor it so it behaves like a novel editor: it remembers what we’ve already decided to ignore for this particular book (dialect, character voice, running phrases), and it also learns our house preferences so the style stays consistent from chapter to chapter. The result is a focused report I can work through at my own pace, making every change by hand, and keeping Jern’s storytelling intact while I quietly remove the bumps that might pull a reader out of the story.

Happy reading, —Eddie.

I have published a new segment to the NosillaCast podcast, hosted by Allison Sheridan over at podfeet.com.

When Jern finishes a novel, I switch hats to technical editor. She writes freely in Scrivener with no red squiggles or “helpful” suggestions, and only when the draft is complete do I take over and run a set of checks I built to keep our books clean and consistent—without ever letting a computer change a single word on its own. In this first segment, I explain why I bothered (speed, consistency, and remembering our choices from one pass to the next), then walk through the early, unglamorous stages: breaking the manuscript into chapters, catching any leftover editorial notes, tidying common formatting slips like double spaces and punctuation quirks, and then doing a careful spelling pass that also learns our made-up words, place names, and book-specific terms. The goal isn’t to change Jern’s writing—it’s to protect the story by quietly removing distractions, so readers can stay inside the fiction.

Happy reading, —Eddie.

I have published a new segment to the NosillaCast podcast, hosted by Allison Sheridan over at podfeet.com.

Producing a genuinely professional audiobook is less “hit record” and more a small-scale engineering project: you’re managing hours of narration, a pile of WAVs, and a set of unforgiving standards (I use Amazon’s ACX specs as the baseline because everyone else seems to fit inside them). In this segment I walk through my end-to-end pipeline as narrator, editor, producer and publisher—how I record and archive a pristine original, do a first “cleaning” pass in iZotope RX to tame breaths, fluffs and mouth noise without changing file lengths, then a separate enhancement pass (de-click, de-noise, de-ess, loudness control) before moving into Logic Pro for structural work like trimming silences, chapter handling, and adding consistent room tone so nothing drops to dead silence. I also cover the final polish stage—EQ, loudness mastering, and the slightly tedious export/bounce routine—plus the last, non-negotiable step: listening to the whole finished book again before uploading, because a single missed line or skipped scene can undo weeks of work.

Happy reading,

—Eddie.

An amazing year draws to a close with the impending release of a new trilogy, one that has taken time to come to fruition. The Memento Mori trilogy is an intense read, one that rewards and inspires. In this issue Jern talks about her inspiration, I talk about my podcast segments and we look over the recent and upcoming books. Memento Mori is coming soon. ARC copies available on BookSprout and BookSirens, just search for Jern Tonkoi.

Jern’s update

I spent much of November and December immersed in the editing of one of my more recent novels, Memento Mori. It’s a three-book series, and the editing process is long, winding, and generously fuelled by caffeine in its many devoted forms. Tedious at times, oddly comforting at others—but very much necessary.

Memento Mori began its life in 2023, during a stay in Ireland. I had planned to drive the Ring of Kerry, but plans, as it turns out, can be remarkably fragile things. When I reached Cork, I sat down on a picnic bench at UCC and wrote the first paragraph. Then another. Before I quite realised what was happening, the story had taken hold.

The Ring of Kerry quietly slipped off the itinerary, and I spent the rest of that summer in Cork instead, writing and wandering, in a country steeped in memory, mystery, and a particular kind of gentle magic.

I owe it to myself to return to Ireland one day and finish that journey. With luck, that time will come soon. I look forward to discovering what other quiet secrets the land is keeping.

— Jern

Eddie’s update

Updates to the website have been long overdue, but it is now more detailed and thorough than ever. Expect to see information on Memento Mori added in the next few days.

I have also been working to complete the audiobook for Murder in Treggan Bay. I have all the audio recorded now and I am just going through the production and final editing. If you want to know more about how I do this, you can read or listen to my segments on the process over at podfeet.com.

• Recording an Audio Book — by Eddie Tonkoi - Podfeet Podcasts
• Producing an Audiobook — by Eddie Tonkoi - Podfeet Podcasts

Lastly from me, I have been so delighted to have seen some amazing, beautiful, thoughtful reviews come in for Jern’s books. And, of course, the smile it gives Jern delights me also. If you do enjoy any of our books, an honest review on any site goes a surprisingly long way for an indie author.

— Eddie

Latest releases

With Jern completing older trilogies and writing new stories, it has been a productive year.

1. The Gravedigger’s Handbook – After a burial in the forgotten cemetery of St Aubin’s Rest, Lucien Morel begins encountering a young artist whose secrets stir both memory and mercy. As their bond deepens, the boundary between solace and haunting grows thin, asking Lucien what must be released—and what might be saved.
2. The Curse of Time (Tobias & Stuart 3)
3. The Watchman’s Secret
4. Murder in Treggan Bay

Upcoming

The Memento Mori trilogy is close to being finished, with Book 1 with reviewers and Book 2 with Eddie. Jern is still editing Book 3, but that won’t take too long unless she get’s distracted by a new story over Christmas…

Memento Mori (The Mason Trilogy)

1. The Boy with the Crow
2. Judas and the Ghost
3. The Boy the Wolves Took

In closing

During this holiday period we will find time to settle ourselves, to relax, but we also appreciate the time we have to continue with our passion project. We hope you do too.

Thanks, Jern and Eddie Tonkoi

I have published a new segment to the NosillaCast podcast, hosted by Allison Sheridan over at podfeet.com.

In this segment, I explain why I’ve chosen to narrate my wife Jern Tonkoi’s novels myself—and what that decision really costs in time, craft, and gear. Using my first audiobook (Lanta) as a starting point, I break down the hidden workload (recording, editing, proof-listening), the performance skills you have to develop (breath control, posture, fatigue, vocal presence), and a “start small” approach that lets you improve fast without redoing an entire book. I also share the practical recording fundamentals that made the biggest difference for me—room and reflection control, choosing a forgiving mic (I use a Shure MV7+), avoiding clipping, using a pop filter, and even a surprise productivity win from switching to a teleprompter app.

Happy reading,

—Eddie.

I published a new segment to the NosillaCast podcast, hosted by Allison Sheridan over at podfeet.com.

In this segment I walk through a five-day detour that became a core part of our indie publishing setup: migrating our author site away from Kit and onto a static Hugo build hosted on Cloudflare Pages and deployed via GitHub. I explain what a static site generator actually gives you in practice—reusable templates and partials, Markdown-driven content, and a simple directory structure where a single index.md plus a couple of images becomes a full book page—along with why I cared about “answer engine” visibility (AEO/SEO) as much as aesthetics. I also cover the nuts-and-bolts of my workflow on a Mac (including the one-command build/push deploy loop), the surprisingly fiddly fight with structured metadata for search engines, and the main win: a fast, fully-owned site with room to grow, even if the punchline is that ChatGPT still can’t directly “search the web” the way I first assumed.

Happy reading,

—Eddie.

Jern’s story about love, friendship, and the delightful absurdity of being human is completed with the release of The Curse of TIme, and Eddie starts a series on indie book production.

Jern’s update

Over the years, I’ve had more story ideas than I can count—some passing through quickly, others lingering for tea. A few even came with dramatic entrances and impossible demands. But none of them ever made it onto paper. Not even a line. Not even a note on the back of a napkin.

Until Tobias & Stuart.

I’ve always been drawn to MM romance and speculative fantasy, and since this was my first novel, I thought I’d start with something I knew well—academic life. It’s a world full of eccentric characters, strange rituals, and an endless supply of questions without clear answers. In its own way, academia already feels a bit fantastical. My challenge was to combine all three into one story.

Tobias & Stuart became the kind of book I wanted to read myself: an MM romance that doesn’t just flutter hearts but nudges the mind awake. At its centre is Tobias, an academic who’s built a perfectly sensible life for himself… until he hasn’t. His journey is one of confronting emptiness, finding courage in vulnerability, and slowly becoming the truest version of himself—all while the world threatens to unravel around him.

It’s a story about love, friendship, and the delightful absurdity of being human. Those small, stubborn things that—when you really think about it—might just be what saves the world.

I hope you’ll come along for the journey with Tobias and Stuart, and of course with Music, Death, and Time, who have a way of turning everything upside down just when you think you’ve figured it out.

Jern Tonkoi

Eddie’s update

I’ve reached a point where I can support Jern well with the tools I have developed for editing and publishing, so I feel I can spread my wings a little and explore my version of creativity.

I am enjoying creating articles for the NosillaCast about my craft, channeling my love of teaching to create a series that I hope will be of benefit to anyone who is also embarking on a self-publishing adventure.

All this stemmed from a joyful return to creating audiobooks. Having narrated, produced, and published Lanta a while back, I now have my sights on the Treggan Bay Mysteries series and others. I have a setup, I have some time put aside, and I am really enjoying the processing of bringing Jern’s stories to life in audiobook format. Plus, it’s such a delight to play them back to Jern and hear her laugh, see her smile, and let her enjoy her writing all over again.

Eddie Tonkoi

Latest releases

We continue our busy period, with books Jern is re-editing and books she has written fresh. We’re also exploring new avenues.

1. The Curse of Time (Tobias & Stuart 3)
2. Mord in Treggan Bay: translation available in Kindle Unlimited in German
3. Murder in Treggan Bay
4. The Watchman’s Secret

Eddie has also started contributing to the NosillaCast at podfeet.com. It’s a technology podcast so may or may not be of interest to you, but I will post links briefly in the newsletter.

1. Shure MV7+ microphone review. Bought for recording audiobooks, and I’m about 10 chapters into Murder in Treggan Bay as I write.
2. Hugo website framework. About how and why I created the new website design at jerntonkoi.com. This one is on the sister-podcast, Programming by Stealth and is even more technical. A lighter version coming around Novemeber 18 on the NosillaCast.

Upcoming

Jern has just completed writing a new novel, her shortest so far at just over 50,000 words. I have done my initial edits and Jern is going to have a final look soon. We hope to get it out mid-December.

Jern is also working on final edits to a beautiful trilogy she a while back. I’m really excited to announce that one, but we’re not quite ready to tease it fully (especially with all the other work coming out right now).

In closing

Our publishing project is powering on with an incredible output still as Jern polishes off works she has been holding on to whilst weaving in new books to allow herself that creative release that pulls her towards writing. Expect a lot more over the coming months.

Thanks, Jern and Eddie Tonkoi

I have started contributing to the NosillaCast podcast, hosted by Allison Sheridan over at podfeet.com. It’s a technology podcast, so doesn’t directly link to Jern’s fiction, but the articles are all going to be about the things I do (which is everything that does not involve writing the stories).

The first one was released last week, and is a review of the Shure MV7+ microphone, which I bought as I embark on recording audiobook editions of Jern’s books. I’m 6 chapters into Murder in Treggan Bay, by the way.

I’ll post brief notes here as episodes come out, so pop back to see what’s new. I also provide a summary of what has come out in our monthly newsletter, so please sign up for that.

Happy reading,

—Eddie.

This month we have been busy finishing off projects long-since started. I have also been busy getting a new website ready. As part of this. I will send out a newsletter, just one per month, summarising key information including book launches. More on that later.

We start, though, with Jern’s reflections on the books of the moment, the Treggan Bay Mysteries.

Jern’s update

Each summer, I find myself wandering the coast paths of Devon—those ribbon-thin trails that flirt with the edge of the sea—wondering what secrets might be tucked beneath the rocks and gorse. The air smells of salt and wild thyme; the cottages huddle together against the wind, their stone walls crusted with sea spray, their roofs furred with lichen in the afternoon sun. Tiny gardens bloom between them—lavender, mint, and mischief. It’s the sort of place where stories don’t need to be written; they simply rise from the soil like mist after rain.

And it was there, between the leaning chimney stacks and gossiping gulls, that I stumbled upon Noah Yalland—London journalist, resourceful enough to untangle Parliament but somehow incapable of boiling an egg without supervision. He arrived in Treggan Bay like an uninvited guest at a wake and, naturally, tripped over a murder before he had his first cup of coffee.

Among the so-called ‘charming’ residents, Noah found himself reluctantly untangling one mystery after another—if only to make it back in time for supper with Leo, who has the patience of a saint and the griddle of a tyrant.

Jern Tonkoi

Eddie’s update

It’s been a super-busy few weeks, with the launch of Jern’s summer writing, along with final editing of her Tobias & Stuart series.

What really got me working and focused, however, was building the new website. I have moved away from other services and decided to create it myself using a fascinating little ststem called Hugo. Let me know if you want to know more, but what’s most important is it should now be easier to keep up to date, keep pretty, and keep active.

Latest releases

It has been a period of releases for us, as Treggan Bay Mysteries got underway with a buzz.

1. Murder in Treggan Bay
2. The Watchman’s Secret

Upcoming

Jern’s original books from last year have also been completing final editing and I’ve been getting these ready. The last in the trilogy, The Curse of Time, is slated for mid-November.

1. The Curse of Time (Tobias & Stuart 3): November 2025

In closing

It has been an epic couple of months and we are now in a place of relative clam and rest. Jern is plotting her next novel, I’m setting up a regular newsletter, and we’re both loving our project together. We hope you are too.

Thanks, Jern and Eddie Tonkoi