Hear that rain fallin’ down…
The Big Dry has kind of bust.
Kind of…
GIVEAWAY!
First time ever!!!
Why?
To celebrate the paperback releases of THE GISBORNE TRILOGY and TOBIAS!
I met Guillaume d’Anjou two years ago, when he arrived in Venice after searching for his half-brother, Guy of Gisborne. He was a quiet man, obviously worn down physically and mentally by the Third Crusade. But within the Gisborne house, he was nurtured by the family and presently became someone of great import in their daily existence.
Lately he has been sent to Lyon on behalf of Gisborne, to take up a position as the head of the merchant business of de Clochard, after the sad demise of its founder, Jehan de Clochard. Despite his retiring and dour manner, he appears to have courted trouble in his life and appears now to be courting it in Lyon.
He interests me and I asked him if he would allow me to interview him. He was surprised but decided it would be good for de Clochard’s friends, and their enemies to understand what he is like. He tells me that de Clochard was almost consumed by a not-so-accidental fire recently…
PB: Guillaume de Guisborne, we know you are from Anjou but you are something of an enigma. Perhaps you can divulge a little more for us. What kind of childhood did you have?
(Guillaume’s toe begins to tap the floor at this first question and he looks into the middle distance. I wait…)
One of the things I was most afraid of losing from my life after the vestibular ‘event’ that I suffered four months ago and for which I am still having treatment, was my time away in our boat.
As I move through the treatment, one of the maxims they expound is to ‘test your balance and your brain plasticity by doing all that you did before’…
Prior to new Year’s Eve, Joe Konrath said: This year, I’m boiling my resolutions down to the essence:
WRITE!
Elizabeth Hunter wrote: I NEED the writing. It’s still my most-fun-thing. My escape. My happy place.
I love writing and want to write more books, but they can’t happen as fast as I would like and that’s okay. In fact, that’s better than okay. It’s normal and I’m perfectly fine with that.
And then there’s Kristine Kathryn Rusch, a commentator whose words always hold a distinct resonance and clarity for me personally. In her annual ‘Close of Business for the Year’ address she pointed out a couple of salient things…
‘The new world isn’t actively hostile, but it is difficult. And why shouldn’t it be? We’re working on an international level.
But one of the degrees of difficulty we’ve been dealing with since 2009 is that the new system hadn’t stabilized yet. Things changed, sometimes weekly, and those of us who jumped into indie publishing from the beginning were constantly revising expectations as well as ways of doing things.’
I joined the new world of publishing along with some of my closest writing friends, in 2008. We were published POD by an organization in the UK that was government funded with an annual Arts grant. We sold, we did well. But then we stepped out on our own and by 2010, dived into e-books.
Not just diving in I might add, but swimming whole marathons because the industry was mega-populated and the technology seemed to change by the hour…
Today is my husband’s birthday and every year, I try to find a recipe we haven’t had before for his birthday cake/dessert. He is my agent, my financial advisor and the man behind the imprint, Darlington Press, which publishes my books and a couple of other titles.
So he deserves to be spoiled…
When I’m writing a new novel, I usually try not to read any hist.fict because I have a fear of literary osmosis, but it’s so hard as I have such wonderful writers to read. Fortunately none are in my timeframe, so that’s a blessing! But I am still cautious…
This marvellous review of Tobias came my way from the USA this week on Amazon.com.
Tobias, the book and the character are thrilling and a bit mysterious. One word description: magical. My recommendation for reading this big view of a little man as a strong example of loyalty is made with hardy enthusiasm. Here is why…
Street libraries have become the libraries of the day as shortsighted governments close down libraries or shorten the operating hours.
The first one I ever heard of was when writer SJA Turney told me about the red phone box in the village of Kirklington, North Yorks and which was filled with books…
After that I noticed every country seemed to have their version.
And on the radio the other day, I heard about the Liverpool Street Library in Hobart and thought ‘Oh good, Hobart’s catching up!’
Imagine the surprise then, when driving down a coast road, I spotted this! The Retro Library!
Of course it required investigation and I found a great selection of books and magazines.
It has a window with a view over the beach too.
And a seat to sit and read in between gazing at the view.
I suspect the owners of the Retro bus stop sign have built the Retro library and I say more power to their foresight!
May it please many readers through this summer.
