Writing and reviews with an environmental, science fiction, and fantasy touch
The customary Reflections on the A to Z challenge I find interesting. Sometimes I get round other people’s, people I had intended to see more of during the month, and then work back through their post. Sometimes their Reflections post
The Yellow Admiral is the eighteenth book of the Aubrey-Maturin series. These are the books on which the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was based. The sequel was never made because, despite worldwide popularity, box-office
Exoplanets are planets outside our solar system. I had already prepared an X for this year’s A to Z. Then I watched this month’s Sky At Night programme on the search for life on Mars. That made me realise that
Venice. It’s inspired many people, in many walks of life and the arts. Vienna, too. Both have a dangerous history behind them, full of intrigue, if not downright cruelty. Many cities can say the same. But since today is letter
People I knew in the Past is a pretty weak subject for P in my A to Z of inspirations, but then, the past does make you who you are, and sometimes the people who are gone and forgotten come
Other writers and bloggers inspire me, so I thought I should give them due deference in my A to Z Challenge this year. Inspiration comes in different ways: sometimes it’s the topic a blogger picks, sometimes (often) it’s the struggles
Kenneth Grahame wrote The Wind in the Willows. Most people know that. If you know me, you also know that I often cite The Wind in the Willows as one of my inspirations for The Princelings of the East. I
Journeys make me think. Or dream. Or in just gazing out of the window at passing scenery, my brain goes into another place to imagine a new story. I know I’m not the only one to whom travel has this
Imperial Airways conjures up pictures of sleek silver-clad aeroplanes with rows of propellers and sometimes lots of wings. Rich people in furs and pearls (well, the women) and cloche hats smiling at the camera as they wait to climb up
Again? I thought I Articulated I wasn’t Addressing the A to Z Challenge Again this year. Well, blogging through the Alphabet each April Appears to be Addictive. It’s April 1st, and so we Advance on our Assault of the Alphabet,
Hello, hello and welcome to the 2018 A to Z Great Theme Reveal post. All over the world bloggers are posting their theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge in April. You don’t have to have a theme,
The A to Z April Blogging Challenge sign up starts today! You’ll remember how much fun we didn’t have last year, when the sign up list was abandoned in favour of daily link-ups. During February the team ran a survey
Reflections… As far as I was concerned, the A to Z Listless Challenge lived up to expectations. That is, after all, what the A to Z Hosts want to hear. The online survey gave options that I answered truthfully. They
Updating my biography was a topic I promised when it came to J for Jemima. But Tuesdays used to be when I did haikus and I promised some during the A to Z Theme Reveal. I like doing haiku, although
To Be Read was not a concept I knew about before I started blogging. Or maybe it was before I started writing seriously – if you can call what I do ‘serious writing’. I bought books, I put them on
See you in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng, is a middle grade listed book that I had from Net-Galley to review prior to its publication in March. So this review has been on Goodreads and on the Amazon site for a few weeks. I
Red Sky at Night was the saying I took for this week’s flash fiction prompt. It needed to begin with R for the A to Z Challenge. I stole the idea for the quest from Ben Zackheim’s The Camelot Kids Book 1,
Persistence. I had to fit letter P for the A to Z Challenge into this month’s Fiction in 50 Words from the Bookshelf Gargoyle. His theme? When One Door Shuts I thought persistence was a pretty good word to go with
A news round-up is a generic term for Monday posts on my blog. This is my spot for discussions, events, things I’ve discovered or done, announcements and sometimes “I don’t know what to say today so I’m making it up
Mercenary Instinct is my M for the A to Z on Saturday, my book review day. I’m away at my niece’s wedding today, so I’d be grateful for any ‘shares’ on social media! I picked Mercenary Instinct for M since
K is for Kevin – and Percy – who I mentioned earlier in the week. If you haven’t met them yet, get over to George’s Guinea Pig World and see what their favourite thing today is. Although, as it starts with K,
#AtoZChallenge: week one is done, so I thought I’d check up on How you’re doing for my post for the letter H today. Do leave a comment below to tell me how it’s going for you. How am I doing…
Gangsta Granny was a book I picked up last year, although I’d been planning to read it for ages. I’d heard good things about it, and really feel I should read more UK authors works, especially for older children. The
Friday is Flash Fiction day on my blog. I usually get prompts from a great guy called Chuck Wendig, who has his own style, with a lot of rude words, but he’s inspirational despite that. For today he offered us
The Book Bloggers’ Hop is run by the Coffee Addicted Writer, with a question for bloggers each week. I thought those Bs would be a good start to the blogging week on the A to Z Challenge, and especially since