I thought you’d like an excerpt from The Princelings of the North this week, since I used the first sentence of the 21st page in my Challenge example on Monday. I was hoping to work on an idea for Chuck
#FridayFlash excerpt | Kevin escapes
#Fi50 | Oops! A Fiction in fifty words story
Oops! is a little early for the Fiction in Fifty Words #Fi50 meme this month, but I wanted to have it ready to link to Rebecca Douglass’s new page for the Challenge. Rebecca has relieved the inventor, Bruce Gargoyle, of
#TackleTBR | 21st page Challenge #giveaway
My 21st page Challenge is for everyone who visits my blog during the Tackle Your TBR Readathon, not just participants. But if we pique your interest, you have until tomorrow (Wednesday 20th) to sign up to the Readathon and join
Book Review | Equus – anthology edited by Rhonda Parrish
Equus was a book I received from LibraryThing, as part of their first reads initiative. It is nothing to do with Equus the play. But it is Latin for ‘horse’. Equus Ed. by Rhonda Parrish There’s always something magical about
#FridayFlash Fiction | The Battle of Good versus Evil
Good versus Evil. That’s what Chuck wants today, and that’s what he gets. I stopped at 800 words; it was what I wanted to do, and I don’t think it needed more. Any genre, he said. I have no idea what
#IWSG Anthology Contest 2017 – deadline November 1st
It’s Anthology Contest time! I may be in the middle of #TackleTBR, but other things go on apace. Checking round the IWSG posts last week, I realised that it was time for the Annual Anthology contest. It’s the fourth one,
#TackleTBR starts today | reading goals
TackleTBR 2017 is off and running. If you missed my advance warning in August you can read all about this Readathon there. In May I did the Clean Sweep ARC to get some of those new releases off my shelf.
Book Review | The Ship Who Sang
The Ship Who Sang, by Anne McCaffrey, was picked as the book of the month for August by the Goodreads Space Opera Group. Despite all the others on my plate, I jumped at the chance to reread something I remembered
#FridayFlash Fiction | We Never Heard Them Coming
We Never Heard Them Coming is a type of Random Title or Must Include flash fiction offering. Chuck Wendig has been collecting titles, first sentences and last sentences from his readers, ten of each. Now’s the time to select from
#IWSG Wednesday – Surprise, surprise
Surprise! It’s the first Wednesday of the month and time for the Insecure Writers’ Support Group. I’d already started thinking about the suggested question for the month when I got a horrible surprise. I’m going to try to work out
Down the TBR Hole | reducing the list – part 2
Time to go down the TBR Hole again. It’s only a couple of weeks ago that I did the first sweep at reducing my TBR using the strategy devised by Lia at Lost in a Story. Since then, I’ve read
Book Review | Perilous Question: Reform or Revolution?
Perilous Question: The Drama of the Great Reform Bill 1832 has quotes on the paperback to promote it: “lively, witty, and above all, a cracking good read. I found it impossible to put down.” The Spectator “A political thriller –
FridayFlash Excerpt | Willoughby’s first Narrathon
Willoughby is the hero of book 7 in the Princelings series. He is stranded in the Realms, and has to work out how to make a living. After meeting up with some like-minded young people over the summer, he and
There’s a party going on at Smorgasbord
There’s a party going on over at Smorgasbord’s Variety is the Spice of Life. Sally Cronin is celebrating four years of blogging and new things for September with a three day bash featuring games, people, music, laughter, food, and stories.
MG Book Review Roundup – or what I read on the beach
This book review roundup grabs all the books I read in July and August – many for the GMGR Book of the Month – while I’ve been posting reviews from earlier (mainly for the Clean Sweep ARC). I didn’t do
#FlashbackFriday | Daniel’s Starfish
Daniel’s Starfish is my choice for Flashback Friday this month. I wanted something summery, and that to me is beach related. This 500 word story was originally written to a title picked from two lists from Chuck Wendig, in December
#Fi50 | Blessing in Disguise – 50 word short story
Blessing in Disguise is the prompt for #Fi50, Fiction in fifty words, this month. Once I got the idea of a missed bus, the rest of it wrote itself. I’m back to doing my story the week before Bruce sends
Down the TBR Hole: reducing my reading list – part 1
Down the TBR Hole is something that started last November, when Lia at Lost in a Story started filtering her TBR list. I keep seeing other bloggers joining in – the latest one to spur me into it was J
Book Review | Did You See Melody? by Sophie Hannah
Did You See Melody? launches in the UK August 24th, and I received an ARC via Net-Galley some months ago. I like Sophie Hannah, although wasn’t quite so keen on her Poirot adventures. I thought this would be truer to
FridayFlash Fiction | Ghosts of the Sea Queen
Ghosts of the Sea Queen: With no particular prompt this week I went back to the list of titles Chuck Wendig gave us a few weeks back, and picked out this one, with various Marie Celeste images floating through my
Tackle your TBR pile in September – Sign up now!
Sign up now to reduce the length/size of your reading pile. September 11th to 24th sees the fifth TackleTBR Readathon, thanks to Tressa at Wishful Endings. The goal you set is entirely up to you – maybe you don’t even
Book Review | The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
The Roanoke Girls came from the publisher via Net-Galley. Thank you very much. I’d heard some whispers about this one, so either the marketing worked, or the word-of-mouth. After I read it, I wish I’d listened closer. I thought it
#FridayFlash Fiction | Sir Woebegone and the Unicorn
A unicorn from the future appears at the marriage of a Scottish queen. It says: “I am here to talk to you.” This quote is from the Magic Realism Bot – something someone found and sent to Chuck Wendig, and
Way Back When – old review posts | Book Blogger Hop
Way back when this blog was new, it was a different beast. I occasionally look back at the beginnings when we come up with an anniversary of some sort. That’s if WordPress reminds me in time. Today’s Book Blogger Hop
Book Review | Blood Moon (Redstone 2) by Rebecca Weinstein
Blood Moon is the second in the series about the wolf Nashoga and his pack. I thought I had this book, hunted everywhere for it, then realised that in spite of putting it on my TBR in 2013, I hadn’t