Ann Marie Thomas

Writing poetry and making up stories since I was a child, I only started to write seriously when my children were grown. My main ambition is to write science fiction, but along the way I got fascinated by local history and distracted by a major stroke. I wrote poetry about my stroke and spent my recovery writing a local history book. Taking early retirement gave me the chance to concentrate on my writing.

I had already written up my research into the de Breos/de Braose family before my stroke, but the long hours in hospital gave me time to think about it in detail. Once I came home, rather than sitting doing nothing, I rewrote the book, and taught myself to format and publish in both ebook and print. My husband contacted the art department of the local university, who helped me find a wonderful artist to illustrate my books.

Alina, The White Lady of Oystermouth came out as an ebook and in print for the locals and the tourist market at Easter 2012 and it's success gave me the impetus to write another, Broken Reed: The Lords of Gower and King John, which came out in September 2013.

The 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015 led me to adapt and enlarge my Broken Reed book and produce The Magna Carta Story: The Layman's Guide to the Great Charter. This came out in May 2015.

During my research I found other fascinating stories which are not long enough for a book, so I collected them together into Medieval Gower Stories, published in October 2017.

When I was in hospital I wrote a flood of poetry, about my stroke, my therapy, my faith, and random things like the rain outside my window. I have now published them as an ebook, My Stroke of Inspiration. 22 poems in all: verse, doggerel, and blank verse. The poems talk about suffering and patience, therapy and faith, and are surprisingly cheerful. If you are a stroke survivor or know someone who is, or just enjoy poetry, these poems will comfort, encourage and inspire you.

I continue to work on my recovery from the stroke, and although I am disabled I lead a very busy life. I am involved in my church and active on social media, including two blogs. I am still writing science fiction, a series called Flight of the Kestrel, about the adventures of the crew of the Fast-Response spaceship the Kestrel. The first book in the series - Intruders - was published in April 2016, and the second - Alien Secrets - was published in October 2017. There are more novels in the planning stages, watch out for Crisis of Conscience and Planetfall.