Where do I start?!?...

Honestly, you wouldn't believe how busy I've been since Sunday. It's as if someone has lit a firework under my bottom (sorry, nasty image, I know, but what can you do?...) and stepped back to watch the display. It's been a rollercoaster ride, my dears, but an exciting one - and my brain is a total whirl. Hmm, as ever then.

So, let me try and be logical (as if). First off, GLBT erotic short story, A Stranger's Touch, has had its publication date brought forward by a week so will now be available on 17 January and not the 24th. Gosh! That's this coming Sunday! Double gosh. As a result, you can now see the book trailer on YouTube, and I am preparing myself for the off, hurrah.

Speaking of book trailer videos, I've been having a deal of fun with them over the last couple of days. I've created a trailer for GLBT light-bondage romance, Give and Take, and for GLBT romantic comedy, The Hit List. Both of these will be uploaded in due course, depending on publication dates. I've also created a trailer for ongoing blogged novel, The Prayer Seeker, which I will upload over the next couple of days.

With that in mind, the latest chapter (or partial chapter - as it's quite long) of The Prayer Seeker's Blog is now viewable, and I hope you enjoy the read.

Keeping to book matters, I'm pleased to say that my literary short story, How to Eat Fruit will be published by Untreed Reads Press on 1 February, and you can now read an extract on my site, plus admire a particularly superb photograph that I intend to use in the book trailer. Which astonishingly I haven't yet made. Hmm, must be slacking then ...

I'm also happy to say that The Bones of Summer received a five star rating on Goodreads, and also Two Christmases received a four star review on the same site. Thank you, George and Clare, respectively - it's really appreciated.

But don't panic! I have done some writing too, and am now at the 14,000 word marker for The Executioner's Cane. Ah, it's all looking dodgy for poor Simon. And where the heck is Ralph when he's needed? The plot thickens. So much so that I have no idea really what will happen, but no doubt something will turn up. One hopes.

Turning to more erudite matters, my review of James McBride's Song Yet Sung is now up at Vulpes Libris. It's a book that certainly made me think, not least about my own potential for literary racism. Possibly. Have a read and let me know what you think ...

Finally, Lord H and I spent an inglorious three hours in the car attempting to get to work across an ice-bound Guildford yesterday. Believe me, it was NOT pleasant. In the end we gave up and went home. At this point, I'd like to thank the very lovely JCB driver who gave us some helpful advice as to how to get up the A3 sliproad incline - where many cars were already stranded and waiting for his kind ministrations. Thank you, Mr JCB - it worked. And yes that was me waving and shouting my thanks out of the window. We will be forever grateful. Sadly, it was not enough to get us entirely home, so in the end we abandoned the car and walked the 25 minute journey back to the flat. Hanging on to each other on the Godalming ice rink for dear life. Luckily, yesterday evening, there'd been enough of a thaw for Lord H to tramp back to the car and retrieve it, unscathed. But I tell you this - no more heroics. Ever!

And here's a poem about fish, which is my first offering on my new online poetry course:

Fish


A fish is full of lies
and darkness.
It swims through blue,
smug and sleek
in its own small world.

I have seen a fish leap
under a willow tree
but could not catch it;
fish are ghosts,
a dark blue memory

of how things are:
a tail to steer the darkness
and fins for deceit.
They are slippery, like thieves.

Never touch them.


Anne's website - the filmmaker of the Surrey hills
The Prayer Seeker's Blog