Writing and reviews with an environmental, science fiction, and fantasy touch
Alexandria (#19) and Nemesis (#20) wrap up the fabulous crime series set in Rome (and other Roman territories) starring Marcus Didius Falco. Falco is an agreeable cove, with a murky past and one of the best female protagonists around as
Privacy is an issue we all need to take heed of online. All those scammers waiting, lurking, to steal our identities and act fraudulently, incurring the wrath of who knows whom on us. As you know, I tend to take
Fluency has been in my Kindle for at least two years. It’s one of those I got on a freebie, and kept meaning to read and review. Well, it’s finally off my TBR (and ticked off my reading challenge list).
Older indie authors – who are they? I’m not necessarily thinking of ‘over 60s’, although some of them very well may be, but self-published authors who have been around for eight or more years. That includes me, of course. And
Ivon releases this week, and I would like to thank the RedDoor Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. The blurb intrigued me! Ivon by Michael Aylwin The year is 2144, and the world is powered by sport – politically and practically.
Aphasia is a condition a friend of mine, Julie, suffered after she suffered a brain haemorrhage or stroke ten years ago. Her experience of relearning to speak led me to include aphasia as a condition that affected Princeling George after
Trick-Or-Treat Blog hop is back again, thanks to Patricia Lynne. It’s Halloween – and it’s time for you to take a trip round those people who are giving you treats this month: FREE BOOKS! Dylan and Dougall’s Adventures I’m giving
The Stranger Diaries is not a Ruth Galloway novel. It’s not even a Stephens & Mephisto novel. It’s a new stand alone from Elly Griffiths, out on 1st November, and I’m very grateful to Net-galley and Quercus books for the
Tricks and treats for Flashback Friday! When Rebecca Douglass reminded me, with her excellent flashback today, I realised that I have been rather irregular over the past few months. As usual, for Halloween I wanted to post what I call
Horror, not surprisingly, is the prompt for this month’s Fiction in Fifty words. Fi50 was invented by Bruce Gargoyle, but is now administered by Rebecca Douglass at the Ninja Librarian. Just click over there to sign up for the meme
I’m sharing Sally Cronin’s guide to getting yourself as tidy as can be while Google+ gets rid of itself. You’ll remember that Google+ had a security breach leading to thousands of accounts being compromised. Apparently many bloggers have seen a
Castle Hangnail is the GMGR Book of the Month selection for October, Halloween month. I’m very grateful to the Amazon resellers for getting a copy to me in time. It arrived around 12, I started it at 3.30, and finished
Deja Vu or Voodoo? is the prompt for this month’s WEP/IWSG flash fiction competition. It does seem to be a competition, not just an exercise in sharing our writing. Well, WEP does stand for Write…Edit…Publish, so I suppose it makes
Witch Week caught my eye as I was browsing the mobile library shelves. The GMGR and other book of the month choices eluded me, so I hunted for something else that fell into the categories MG and suitable for Halloween
The Body is the 500 word flash fiction I submitted for the Noirwich writing competition. As mentioned previously, it made it to the last ten… but not into the top three. The only requirement for the story apart from wordcount
It’s my reading challenge update for the third quarter – end of September. Three-quarters of the way through the year already. Oh heck. I begin to wonder why I do reading challenges. I know it helps me prioritise what I
Bloody Brilliant Women was released on Thursday. I received a pre-release copy from the publishers 4th Estate and William Collins, via NetGalley. The full title is Bloody Brilliant Women: The Pioneers, Revolutionaries and Geniuses Your History Teacher Forgot to Mention. This does
Although time for editing isn’t the question of the month for the Insecure Writers Support Group this month, I thought you’d be happy to know I’ve finally got my editing hat back on. September was incredibly busy, and October looks
Norfolk Saffron held an Open Day on 8th September. That’s a bit random, you might say. What has it to do with my blog? You may remember I reviewed The Saffron Trail in June for #30DaysWild after my bookclub read
Forged in Blood is the finale of the Emperor’s Edge series featuring Amaranthe and her gang of outlaws who are fighting to free the Emperor from the people who would overthrow him. The assassin Sicarius is one of the gang,
It’s a zombie technothriller Flashback Friday this month, since I couldn’t find anything more savoury involving night-time. Flashback Friday gives a second outing to posts you liked, but maybe didn’t get the attention they deserved when they first came out.
Empty Nest is the prompt for this month’s Fiction in 50 words #Fi50 flash fiction. This monthly challenge was the brainchild of Bruce Gargoyle, but is now continued by the Ninja Librarian herself, Rebecca Douglass. You can get all the
Jane Friedman used to write a great blog about her progress on her MFA. Now she writes a fantastic blog on writing, and other aspects of being a professional author. Here’s a great interview with Russell Rowland, who’s published five
After Zero was published on 1st September. I got a pre-release copy from the publishers via Net-galley on August 31st. Had I not have been in the middle of something else, I might have got this review out by the
The 27th Letter is the ampersand. That’s according to a very interesting e-newsletter from Blurb, my paperback print/distributor. I was so taken with it, I’m recreating it here, using their graphics and words. The 27th Letter Ever wonder why we