Anastasia Parkes - Editor
Anastasia Parkes is an author with multiple creative personae. As Anastasia she has published a short story collection (Stabbing the Rain, 2013), and writes ‘human interest’ articles for The Times, The Daily Mail, The Lady, and The Tablet. These articles tackle, with humour and honesty, intensely personal topics such as single motherhood, older parenthood, living with multiple sclerosis, and life as a young English teacher in 1980s Cairo.
She has written two novels under the pseudonym Maria Lucas: Daddy’s Girl (2016), and Loved Ones (2017).
As Primula Bond she is the successful author of the classy and explosive erotic romance Unbreakable trilogy The Silver Chain (2013), The Golden Locket (2013) and The Diamond Ring (2014), published by HarperCollins. Primula has delivered workshops at the York Festival of Writing and Eroticon in Bristol on how to write sex scenes and Anastasia has taught general short story techniques.
Anastasia has an MA in English Literature. She has worked as a Jericho Editor for over 10 years, covering a range of fiction and non-fiction genres.
Find Anastasia on Twitter/X here: @AnastasiaParkes
Find Primula on Twitter/X here: @PrimulaBond
Testimonials
- Jane S.
- Pippa B.
- C. M.
- Kate W.
- Natalie C.
- Alice C.
- Liz F.
- Lisa. W
- Shannon Franklin
- Jill
- Liz F.
- Kit Roberts Johnson, author of Frozen Voices: A Speech Therapist's Alaskan Memoir
WHY WE LOVE ANASTASIA
Anastasia has been with us for over a decade and we’d be lost without her. She’s a thorough editor who writes detailed, bespoke reports for every single writer she works with. Her reports will give you the boost you needed regarding what’s working, and will give you the tools you need to iron out the rough patches. You can read our interview with Anastasia here.
WHAT ANASTASIA SAYS ABOUT EDITING
I have worked for Jericho Writers for a number of years now, firstly as their erotica expert but since moving away from writing erotic romance myself I now enjoy assessing wide-ranging literary styles. Not only does reading and critiquing the work of aspiring writers keep me learning the craft, it has honed my report writing skills and opened a fascinating door into the real and imaginary worlds of other writers who write for the love of it as well as with the ambition to be published.
My aim is to be constructive and encouraging, but also to be pretty tough because there are no half-measures or short cuts in an incredibly overcrowded and competitive market. The majority of aspiring writers write consciously or unconsciously from their own experience but (unless they are selling their work as a memoir) I want to help broaden their horizons and to teach the deceptively complex techniques which will turn the kernel of an idea into something polished and professional – and marketable. After all, we all want to share our vision but we also want to sell!
Underpinning this is my unapologetic insistence on accurate language and grammar which is why I go into great deal to pinpoint and correct errors or omissions.
What Anastasia works on
Manuscript Assessment
Agent Submission Pack assessment
Post-editorial guidance
Copy-editing
Short Stories
Opening Section Review
Genres Anastasia specialises in
Anastasia's published books
The Diamond Ring
Passion. Love. Betrayal. And a very dramatic climax… The Unbreakable Trilogy reaches its unforgettable conclusion. A must-read for fans of erotic romance.
From Primula Bond, author of Sunday Times bestselling The Silver Chain and The Golden Locket.
“You don’t know how beautiful you are, Serena. That’s the danger.”
Engaged to be married, life should be blissful for Gustav and Serena. It should be a time of happiness; a time to plan their wedding and their future together…
The Golden Locket
Temptation would test them…
The second novel in the Unbreakable Trilogy, The Golden Locket follows Gustav and Serena to New York.
Ensconced in their Manhattan penthouse, all seems blissfully happy for Gustav and Serena. Still in the first flush of love, they have every satisfaction they could need.
But as they enjoy their New York pleasure ground, ghosts start to emerge from Gustav’s past, and when his damaged younger brother, Pierre, comes back into his life, he brings with him a dangerous threat…
The Silver Chain
Bound by passion, she was powerless to resist.
The Silver Chain is the first in the sexy, passionate and addictive Unbreakable Trilogy by Primula Bond.
One dark evening in London, photographer Serena Folkes is indulging her impulsive side with a night-time shoot. But someone is watching her – mysterious entrepreneur Gustav Levi. Serena doesn’t know it yet, but this handsome stranger will change her life forever…
The Stabbing Rain
The women in this short story collection are all approaching forty and they’re all on the edge, captured with black humour as they try to make sense of what is happening or about to happen at a pivotal moment in their lives.
As they contemplate their connection with each other through a shared Catholic convent education they can’t shake off, they each have a myriad of life-changing issues to overcome.
Maggie has just had a baby, but also a diagnosis for MS. Jennifer has had an abortion, and is riven with regret. Delilah’s married lover leaves her on a dirty weekend in Venice when his wife tells him she’s pregnant. Ria broods over an abusive marriage, Flora’s family don’t recognise her after drastic plastic surgery, and a new bride falls in love with her stepson. Polly fights being a malade in Lourdes and Jasmine wakes up in a taxi with amnesia.
They are all, like the businessman in casual clothes, ‘displaced, but politely so, like a princess on a chat show.’
