Latest News
New Novel all but finished
[Posted 26-Jun-2011]Here's what you need to know. It's the first of probably a four book series. It's called 'Silent Sorrow'. The tagline is 'The Lizards Are Coming'. It's what I'd call a renaissance fantasy, set in a world making the transition between religion and science. It's easily the best thing I've written. I'm very proud of it!
What can I say, I'm slack
[Posted 26-Jun-2011]OK, so it's been a year since i promised to update this website more regularly. A year in which I have written a non-fiction book (Walks to Waterfalls, available in New Zealand from October 2011) and I'm only 4000 words short of finishing the first draft of my latest novel. More about that in a moment...
New Website planned
[Posted 26-Jun-2011]This website has seen better days. It's time I replaced it. I want to launch a new site to match the novel I've just about finished. So hopefully I will get some time to think about that soon!
It Wasn't Me
[Posted 18-Jul-2010]A dreadful sexual assault in Canada was recently perpetrated by some fellow with the same name as me. (http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/07/15/reports-arrest-in-cemetery-sex-assault/) It was brought to my attention by someone who googled the man's name and came across this website. Creepy to see my name associated with this terrible behaviour.
There are many Russell Kirkpatricks in the USA and Canada. Not sure why! I have Irish ancestry - from Ballymoney, a town in Northern Ireland north of Belfast - but know little about it as my paternal grandfather was a secretive man who died before I was born, and my father kept his own counsel. I intend to find out, though.
A Year of Highs and Lows
[Posted 24-Mar-2010]It's nearly a year since I last added any news to this site. I must apologise to you all: that's no way to run a website! All I can say is that I've had a difficult year, with some very good and some very bad things having happened.
However, I'm still writing! I'm halfway through the first in a four-novel series. I am pouring everything into this series: the character development I have learned and my love of landscape evidenced so clearly in my first series. I hope to talk about it more soon. In the meantime I will update you more regularly, I promise!