Writing and reviews with an environmental, science fiction, and fantasy touch
Crow Country was the first Mark Cocker book I came across, and realised it was a Norfolk book. Years ago I ran a ‘Local Hero’ reading challenge, where participants could add books about their own local patch – the size
The Stone Circle came out in February in the UK, and for once I hadn’t pre-ordered it. So when I was on NetGalley’s original site by accident and saw it on offer for readers, I jumped at the chance. This
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
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
Nightjar was on my list for #30DaysWild, but I realised time was running out. It was 9pm on Saturday evening, and I thought, well, I’ve just got time to find one. Nightjar on Buxton Heath I was introduced to Norfolk
The Barn Owl ghosts across the fields, ever alert for field mice or shrews. It pounces, has a short struggle, then lifts off, something dangling from its feet, and heads off to feed the hungry brood. Yes, it’s June, it’s
Elly Griffiths published her tenth Ruth Galloway book in February. Despite having pre-ordered the paperback version from Amazon (due out in July), I got an ARC from NetGalley, and then wondered whether I was doing the right thing, since I
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
Norfolk is the focus for my writing inspirations today. You may think that I did Norfolk for H when I talked about Hickling, Horsey, and the Broads. People say Norfolk is flat. The Broads are flat. How Hill is about
Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere combine to make an area in Norfolk that inspires my ‘marsh’ for my Princelings of the East series of books. And since my A to Z Challenge theme is ‘my writing inspiration’, I thought I’d
Arthur Ransome’s anniversary falls next Saturday. It’ll be fifty years since the death of this prolific writer, who created a series of children’s books that has stood the test of time. The Swallows and Amazons stories are still as popular
Dying Fall is number 5 in Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway series, and it’s a cracking read. I discovered books 6 and 7 waiting on my shelf, purchased at Noirwich (when I met the author). It’s fair to say I’m a big
Picking up The Janus Stone was such a relief – I was reading natural English with a sense of place that made me feel fully at home again. It was after the Victorian style of The Princess and Curdie and
Yes, you read that right. Chuck’s flash fiction challenge was a car chase. I can’t think of anything more boring to write about, although I can think of a couple of car chases in movies I enjoyed – Bullitt, The
Raised beaches. These are yet another geological feature I love. Once upon a time there was a beach. It was a nice beach, washed by the waves, getting built up and eroded like all beaches do. Then there was a
This is an odd book for me, in the nicest possible way. It’s not an author I’ve read before, and it might fit into the Oddity Odyssey definition of odd author for that reason. I wanted to read it because,
The challenge from Chuck Wendig this week is to use one of the middle lines we gave him last week to produce a 1000 word story. I’ve chosen Jason Heitkamper’s: The rats have really taken over and, while the house
Last year I did a Classic Children’s Book Challenge, and this would have been ideal for it. However it does sit in my personal Norfolk Books Challenge, and very good it is too. Arthur Ransome definitely spent a long time
This lovely book is a must read for anyone living in, or visiting, Norfolk, England. The tales have been lovingly garnered by Hugh Lupton, “a central figure in the British story-telling revival.” They range from the fanciful ‘once upon a
Norfolk is not flat. Not as flat as Cambridgeshire. It has Broads, not Fens!
This is NORFOLK WEEK on my blog. Maybe I’ll make it an annual event! I’m challenging myself to read SIX books this year set in Norfolk, UK. This is where I live. You could challenge yourself to read books set
I think I found her (@PatriciaParis1) … or she found me by twittering via someone else. I went to her blog and found loads of witty, interesting blog stories. Some read more like a short story, others sounded like the
In a world not very far in the future, Zoe has been stranded on the island of Norwich. She and her parents were in two boats transferring them to the last ship to enable them to escape, but hers failed