Depending where you start in this story, Tom/Tammy Smart is a complex character trying to establish themselves.
In the Tammy Beginnings Prelude/Prequel trilogy Tom starts out as a confused sixteen year old boy who doesn’t know where he fits into society. A revelation makes him discover that he may be transgendered. The prequels take Tom, and his Tammy alter-ego through to his eighteenth birthday. All this time Tom is a schoolboy at an exclusive private boys school in the Highlands of Scotland, but he now has a Saturday job in a women’s clothes store as the girl Tammy. If the school discovered his alter-ego then he would almost certainly lose his place at the school.
In the final part of the Prequel trilogy Tom discovers he has an aunt but it is Tammy who builds that relationship. They turn eighteen near the end of this story and start back at St Andrews in the Upper Sixth Form. The story continues as Tamara’s Debut
Tom’s Fireworks (now the opening chapter of Tamara’s Debut) picks up the story and is effectively the first story that establishes Tom & Tammy, although it was written over a decade before the prequels! In this tale Tom is upset to find that the school’s annual fireworks display has been cancelled, but Tammy sets out to fix this. This short story was meant to be a standalone.
However, requests and (gentle) threats meant that a new serial was started. That became Tamara’s Debut, a tale built around Westside Story and a coming of age/coming out story. That story was over 100,000 words in length at completion and is most definitely a novel!
Tamara’s Début became Tammy’s Tales book 1, however these stories are now known as the Tammyverse series. Back in August 2020, between Lockdown #1 and Lockdown #2, I finally found the time to finish an edit of Tom’s Fireworks and Tamara’s Debut that had been started two years earlier. That hit Kindle on 1st Sept 2020 as Tamara’s Debut
For a full listing of the stories, check out the Timeline. A Character Index is also available
Book 2, Tamara’s First Christmas, was published on Kindle on 30th September 2020. It picks up the story the day after Tammy’s big début and was meant to tidy up the many loose ends from Tamara’s Début. Instead it set the scene for the continuing story!
The next Kindle release was Tamara’s Trials, although this is over 600 pages so was split into two books. The first part was out at the beginning of November 2020 and part 2 arrived on 21st December 2020, in time for Christmas! There’s a crossover with Unaccounted Gains Book 3:Diminishing Returns
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The first Kindle release of 2021 was Testing Times, this was the fourth major Tammy story and is the fifth in the Tammyverse Kindle releases. It was published in March 2021.
It rolls in at just under 500 pages. What makes this release different is that it includes a brand new opening story that has not been published elsewhere (apart from a teaser on my Facebook page!). This story, a full short story, originates from the very short first person diary ‘Tammy’s Easter Diary’. There’s a crossover with Unaccounted Gains Book 3:Diminishing Returns
The summer 2021 release was Tammy’s Summer Fling, published at the end of June 2021. This 395 page, 64,000 word novel started life as “Tammy’s Summer Diary” and covered the time when Tammy spends a summer in Cornwall learning about forensic accountancy and herself. Over 90% of the novel is new material but it follows the same storyline as the diary, albeit with brand new and much expanded scenes.
The late summer 2021 release in the Tammyverse series was Anchored. Tammy’s back from Cornwall, about to turn 19, and is getting ready for university. She’s ready to settle down for a few years but not everyone likes that plan. This is a major re-edit of the original serial by the same name. 500 pages, just under 100k words.
The late Summer Kindle release of 2021 is a compendium of two stories: It’s Complicated & Go West Young Woman. The whole book will be called Unsocial Media and has been completely revised with new content. The combined book is around 75,000 words and a little under 400 pages! Alecia Snowfall joins me on this project as editor.
Deathtrap was the final Tammyverse release of 2021 and once again this is a compendium of two stories: ‘Aftermath’ & ‘Deathtrap’ with new content and a fully revised text, running to 370 pages. Alecia Snowfall is editor.
Preludes
At this point in the history of the Tammy books, there’s a diversion. I decided that Tammy’s backstory needed to be written and was prompted by a Christmas Story competition to write Tom’s Christmas, set a year before Tamara’s Debut & Tammy’s First Christmas. I had some ten thousand words of Tom’s Christmas written when I felt he need to go back a little further into Tom’s personal history so I then wrote an opening short story called Tom’s Revelation.
Now available on Kindle as Tammy Beginnings. Part 1 is out, Part 2 will follow.
The first release of 2022 was Spycraft, an intensive reworking of the original ‘Moving On’ story. Tammy is fed up with the Security Service and wants to get on with her life. Suzie’s working for her but that’s not always a comfortable arrangement. What Tammy doesn’t need, right now, is hassle, but not everyone gets the note. Finally, Tammy is offered training via a different route. It runs to 610 pages and Alecia Snowfall is again the editor.
June 2023 sees the release of Tom’s Aunt, the third and final Prequel story – as well as a compendium of the whole trilogy.
Tom Smart is now seventeen and in the Sixth Form at St Andrews School, Thurso, in the Highlands of Scotland. During the Easter break he discovers he has an aunt who had been hidden from him, but it is Tammy who establishes the relationship,. Meanwhile Tom spends much of the Easter Break, and the subsequent summer holidays as Tammy. This story completes the prequel trilogy and leads straight into Tamara’s Début.
