Thursday, May 14, 2009

A nearly Foxy Lady and an interview request

Another fairly brief blog, I suspect - should I start cornering the market in the potential new fashion of Haiku Blogs, I wonder? - as I must admit I've taken rather a turn for the worse today. So I haven't gone up to London to see Jane W and the Baroque art exhibition at the V&A, as planned. Bummer, eh. Instead I've lolled around, attempted to cure my galloping head cold and my apparently unstoppable cough in the usual ways and have also done a hell of a lot of sleeping. Still, it's not so far as bad as my horrifying two-week bout of illness in April, so I'm hoping it stays that way. There's always a silver lining, eh.

Anyway, to the nice news: first off, the lovely Rosy Barnes, author of Sadomasochism for Accountants (a book with far more than just bite ...!), has kindly asked me to join the regular team of foxy book reviewers on the Vulpes Libris review site, so I'm thrilled to be asked and more than thrilled to accept. Thanks, Rosy! I hope I can live up to your top-class foxy act indeed.

The other nice news is that Writers' News Magazine will be writing a piece about me and Painting from Life for one of their forthcoming editions - so thanks, Emma, for the interview and I shall look forward to seeing that for sure.

Sticking to matters literary, I've been sort of middlingly-whelmed by the Peter Robinson omnibus of short stories (entitled Not Safe After Dark as a collection) and its accompanying one Inspector Banks novel (A Necessary End). There are about 800 pages in total - and I was deeply confused about the chapter numbering system in the novel I must say as it seemed to follow a scheme entirely of its own - and all of them were ... um ... okay. Ish. There's nothing hugely bad about it (though the updated follow-on short story of Measure for Measure was simply gross and totally unnecessary), and there's nothing hugely good either. It's um ... fine. It passes the time if you don't want anything challenging, gripping or moving to read. Good then if you have an apparently high illness factor, like me! But it does beg the question as to why this sort of white-noise literature can be published when so many really good, kick-ass writers can't find a publisher for love nor the proverbial. It's a mystery. One I suspect the (not terribly pleasant) Inspector Banks really couldn't solve. Sigh.

Today's nice things:

1. The chance to be a foxy lady - at last!
2. The Writers' News interview
3. Sleep.

Anne Brooke - a throat like barbed wire but she means well
Cancer Research Race for Life - donating where it matters

10 comments:

Jilly said...

Great news about the interview, Anne and I shall watch out for that. I shall also make a point of reading Vulpes Libris a bit more often than I do now! I hope you feel better soon. Hugsxx

Anne Brooke said...

Thanks, Jilly - hugs to you!

Axxx

Vicki said...

More fantastic news! Not the part about your galloping head cold, though.

Is the interview going to feature in Writing Magazine or Writers' News? I used to get both but stopped subscribing to the news part when they stopped including Australian markets. Outer space, didn't you know? :-)

Look after yourself and get well soon.

Vicki
xx

Anne Brooke said...

Thanks, Vicki! I believe the piece will be in the members' section of Writers' News - I'm not important enough to get into the magazine proper!!

:))

Axxx

Vicki said...

Didn't you feature in a past issue of the magazine?

Vicki
xx

Anne Brooke said...

I thought I'd always been put into the news section?? Unless my brain is misremembering!!

:))

Axxx

Vicki said...

LOL It's more likely my brain! I used to get both the mag and the news.

Vicki
xx

Anne Brooke said...

If only they'd combine it into one mag, all would be well!!!

:))

Axxx

Lisa said...

We're delighted that you've agreed to join Vulpes Libris, Anne!! Can't wait for you to come on board.

:-)

Anne Brooke said...

Ooh thanks, Lisa! I'm hugely looking forward to it too!

:))

Axxx