The Heaviness of Genie Magee

The Repercussions of Tomas D

Another Place To Die Endtime Chronicles

Marikka

J&K 4Ever lovers on the run

Girl with Cat (Blue)

MAY 2026
The Dreaded Synopsis Dilemma

I recently finished the first draft of my new novel – title still to be resolved, although 'A Sprawling Mess' might work. Six solid months of writing and then finding the end was the hardest part, alongside the middle bit and quite possibly the beginning. Just because you get to the end of a project doesn’t mean your brain switches off, it’s still coming up with embellishments or ideas that could be further developed, some useful, some not, but you have to draw a line and 93,000 words it is already a bit toppy in need of an urgent edit. A sequel would be out of the question and possibly quite bleak. Best left to the readers imagination I suspect. And I already know few people ever buy the sequels.

So, still overwhelmed by the writing process, I needed to write a synopsis. I suspect every writer hates that question ‘what’s it all about then’ or worse, can you sum it up in one line for the pitch. An emphatic NO at the moment. My brain has been trained to go from one event to the next and contemplate the consequences; but encapsulate the whole darn thing in a short paragraph – that’s a real skill and reductive.

My niece recommended Gemini to help write the synopsis. She’d found it helpful for her non-fiction work. I’ve never tried this before and as you can only feed in one chapter at a time it kept trying to provide a synopsis for each chapter. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how it was anticipating and predicting what would happen next and what the story seemed to be all about, but then intrigued when it didn’t go that way as events unfolded.

I found it a fascinating experience. It provides real insights to the storytelling process, but I don’t know if Gemini is designed to give a ‘positive’ reaction to everything, which is no bad thing if you have written a novel and reached the end utterly exhausted and literally choked with doubt about whether it is any good or not. Getting positive feedback can lift the gloom, but it's a machine and a machine would never ever voluntarily choose to read a novel. You need a human reactions to test the water. Meanwhile I am impressed by the analysis that Gemini provided which was quite illuminating. A sample here: Gemini: This chapter shifts the narrative from a survival drama into a high-stakes political thriller. The revelations about Lola’s past and Shannon’s origin add a profound layer of emotional complexity...

It also picked up on what some people would call ‘filler’ moments, but I like to think are character grounding development. I don’t subscribe to the idea that every page must drive the plot forward like a screenplay. Life isn’t like that, sometimes it sits very still to contemplate the next move. The Japanese writer Murakami is the master of those moments, stopping to cook noodles when action is probably called for, but in the cooking, it allows thoughts and doubts to come together. Another surprise was this note: Gemini: This chapter is a masterclass in psychological tension. You’ve created a "Gasper" (a story that makes the reader hold their breath) by layering two conflicting realities. I admit most of the gasping was me trying to figure out where the story goes next!

The one thing that surprised me was how Gemini’s final synopsis emphasized the male character rather than the female characters. (There are three main characters, one of them male). Now I wonder if there is developmental bias by the male programmers who trained Gemini. I wonder how it could not have noticed how important the young women are to the story? Or is it just that I didn’t ask the right prompt?  It would be a good experiment to try a different AI system to see if the same thing happens, or it’s just that I, as a writer, have an unconscious bias too and have given the male character too many male tasks to complete, which diminishes the emotional impact the young women provide.

Another thing that slightly worries me is that now Gemini has ‘read’ my book it is then imported into the bloodstream of AI forever and it’s entirely my fault for perhaps not getting the exact result I wanted because this is my first time, and I haven’t really offered the correct prompts other than ‘Can you write a synopsis for this’. But I asked for help and got it, and it was incredibly helpful and an insight as to how vulnerable editor’s jobs are now. I have never had an editor’s note as interesting as these. Gemini: The story has now presented three distinct "Truths." The "messiness" you felt is actually the point—you are mirroring the confusion of a world where information has been weaponized.

*Two weeks ago my first human reader responded to the manuscript. She is notorious for being the most negative person in the world to give feedback, which is usually along the lines of ‘it’s not as good as X’, which I hesitate to remind her that she also hated with a passion. Anyway, sure enough she hated it, in particular the beginning, middle and definitely the end. Her cryptic caustic notes range from 'Meh' to 'Ugh'.

Now to find the enthusiasm to revise. Of course, you'd prefer feedback that flatters your ego rather than something that makes you want to jump off a bridge, but you have to respect the readers response and find a way to make the darn book work. I'm still wading through that and no doubt making it worse as I go along.

Writing a synopsis is much harder that writing a whole novel sometimes. People are always ask ‘What’s the plot?’ But it is never just about plot, it’s the sum of all its parts. In this case it’s about humans realising that their lives have suddenly changed forever and that they have no control of the events happening all around them. Bit like real life right now I guess.

I read an article in the New York Times 30/4/26 by Jasmine Sun called 'Silicon Valley is Bracing for a Permanent Underclass' - about how AGI is coming for all our white-collar jobs, bankers, lawyers, editors, creatives, artists and if Musk gets his way all blue-collar jobs with his robots, especially jobs such as taxi drivers, truck drivers, plumbers or electricians (he really hates humans). And this is coming down the road so fast without any guardrails, it is impossible to think there won't be a revolution. Robocop and autonamous drones will mow us all down to protect the rich no doubt. But when no one has money to buy anything ...what then rich guys, what then?

Sam Hawksmoor May 2026
My Walking and Writing Month in Miami 2026

*A link to some of my sci-fi stories and shorts here

'Whatever Happened to Genie Magee?' Book 4 in The Repossession of Genie Magee series In a world where rich people want to live forever - a girl who never seems to age would be a tempting target. Her DNA would be very valuable indeed... Genie wakes up with a head injury from serious car wreck. She has no memory of the crash, or who she is. It appears this might have been a kidnap gone wrong. The abrasions on her wrists indicated she was tied up in the back of the burning vehicle. As she begins to recover her identity, she accidentally discovers a graphic novel is serializing her life, in horrific detail.  Her therapist is deeply skeptical this could be true and worries for her sanity. But all she can think of is, why is this happening to her? And how can she stop them? Extract from Chapter One here USA Amazon print link Reviews: a cleverly written follow up on Genie Magee's adventures 'A welcome and ultimately reassuring novel about life, memory, and friendship.' Amazon

Background to Whatever Happened to Genie Magee:

Many years ago I was involved in a really bad car crash. A van jumped the lights and hit my Alfa Romeo sideways on at full tilt. My head shattered the windscreen and I woke up some hours later in hospital with no memory of any accident (I still have no memory of it, only what was told to me). It took a couple of weeks to get my memory back and even then there were gaps for a long time afterwards.

This event naturally informed my approach to Genie Magee waking up to discover that she had been in a car wreck where the driver is dead and she has no memory of who she is or anything that had happened to her prior to that event. It happens to a lot of people apparently and recovering memory is a long process. Your brain is like a bell vibrating long after the incident and takes a while to repair itself. Luckily a head is hard. (I had up to twenty stitches up there from a childhood accident and now a fresh set of stitches just ahead of that collection.)

Genie is lucky, no need for stitches, but nevertheless she has all the confusion of being a survivor and unable to even recall if she likes coffee or tea or where she lives. It is quite an experience to get through.

I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from a reader the moment the book came out that she too had long been thinking about what had happened to Genie. She read the first book when twenty years old and now she’s a mother of two kids and knows only too well all the dangers involved in raising children and being a mother.  She was very fond of Genie Magee and like me, on occasion wondered about the state of her mental health following all the traumatic events she went through  That’s why I wrote the book. To find out and make amends in a way.  Genie and her friends are not forgotten. ** You don't have to have read the first three books. It's a stand alone story.

author of 'We Feel your Pain' & 'The Book of Ashes' and The Repossession of Genie Magee series

About 'The Book of Ashes': ISBN: 979-8-837434-952 ASIN: B0B85HFK86 Hammer & Tong - September 2022 - ebook & Print "Great characters, a gripping mystery and the wonderful return of Rufus the dog."BH 'an immensely satisfying story' - Walli Leff on Goodreads. 'a fun read with unique elements ... exemplary in its voice and style' 'Judge, 10th Annual Writer's Digest E-Book Awards My new mystery novel The Book of Ashes is published.  It’s the second Delaney and Asha investigation following ‘We Feel Your Pain’. Now they have set up on their own – their next client is a young cryptocurrency millionaire who commissioned a biography of his father, now suffering from dementia.  Only the writer disappeared with the $10,000 advance.  It seems like a simple track and trace job, but of course, it turns into a total horror show.

Happy reading. Berg City awaits you. Order now

**About writing 'Mission Longshot' a sc-fi space adventure

Earth 2032 - The climate has changed - food is running short. War is imminent. Whole cities are in danger of going under water fifty years before they said they would. Mankind is in real danger. Naturally you're going to build a spaceship to take the best and brightest to a new world. 3000 kids essentially put into deep freeze for a 70-year journey into space.

Moonbase 2057 - The first light-speed spaceship is about to be tested. (Despite eight billion dollar explosive failures so far). News comes in that the Colony ship has been struck by asteroids on Year 23 of it's journey. There is one survivor, Celeste Kandar. She knows no one can rescue her - she's going to be alone for the rest of her life. If the light-speed ship works they could rescue Celeste - if it works... What could possibly go wrong?

Earth: Millennial's Eve 1999 - Gerry is waiting for aliens to land. If there was ever a time to attack Y2K night is the night.

It's a real voyage of discovery for Celeste exploring a nearby planet that just might be trying to kill her and the kids attempting to rescue her on a flight that might be a one way ticket...

More about Climate fiction

© Sam Hawksmoor  2026 - *The Sam Hawksmoor Books List and other links

The Repossession of Genie Magee returns in a new Kindle & print edition Combining the elements of science fiction, mystery and supernatural, it is definitely one of the best, and most fascinating, debut novels I've ever read. more Read another review here

The Hunting of Genie Magee returns in a new Kindle and print edition Genie and Rian must flee down the river with a $10,000 price on their heads. They must fight for their right to exist. more

'We Feel Your Pain' by Sam Hawksmoor ISBN-13: 979-8699087693 Published by Hammer & Tong Print or Kindle from Amazon Reviews: '...a captivating adventure which could be compared to a Roald Dahl tale filmed by Wes Anderson ...where rythm, wit, humour and punchy dialogue mix with irrepressible, warm sentiment...' 'I really enjoyed living with Delaney, Asha and Maria. And I particularly revelled in that obedient and loving dog, Rufus.  They were lovely characters and it was a good story. The author evokes amazing, vivid pictures'. Delaney and Asha run the Office of Berg City Oversight. Their role is to expose the scams, keep the city safe from unscrupulous people.  When something looks too good to be true – it’s a scam, right?  But what if the scam works?  What kind of scam is that? When Delaney finds himself left for dead at the bottom of a cliff he gets the message - someone doesn't want him near their honeypot.

‘We Feel Your Pain - So you don't have to ’. Read the first book in the series now so you're primed for the next Delaney and Asha investigation.

The Screenplay for Girl with Cat (Blue) made the Quarter Finals for ISA Connect International Adventure Screenplay Competition - you can read the fantasy novel now.
The Sara Troy interview with Sam Hawksmoor 1.12.21 About the Writing of Girl with Cat Blue here

More about Sam Hawksmoor and his writing background here
Hammer &Tong (UK) is a small indie publisher of Sam Hawksmoor's books
Based in Lincolnshire - all messages via Sam Hawksmoor contact page

* Background research on anti-gravity here - **Thinkpiece: What if you read a book you loved and never told anyone, especially the writer? more What did you want to be when you were a child?.... more One question I used to dislike the most when a kid was ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ more Kindle for The Heaviness - Sam in Canada More Background to Genie Magee's world. Search and you'll find some extra stories about the main characters. * If you write me on old fashioned email, I do check and will write back as soon as I can. see Contact 'Terrifying alternative outcome to WW2 - the Blitz brought vividly to life.' THE REPERCUSSIONS of Tomas D Tomas accidentally goes back in time to London in the Blitz. Captured and tortured for what he knows about the war... WW11 abruptly ends in 1941. The day after Tomas disappears, his girlfriend Gabriella wakes up to realise she's the only one who remembers that Germany was supposed to have lost the war... Sample Chapter here THE HEAVINESS of Genie Magee (Book Three) Someone with a grudge wants Genie dead. Rian is kidnapped and forced to do experiments. Genie and Renée have just 36 hours to find Rian or he dies - but the one person who can help is aleady dead. Gravity isn't the only thing that can pull you down... 'The best Genie Magee story left till last. It might just break your heart.'