Commitment, competitions and covers

Book News:

Gay thriller, A Dangerous Man, has received a fascinating 4-star review at Goodreads (many thanks, Vio)  and at the same time it's been voted as one of the finalists in the Rainbow Awards covers competition - so many thanks to the judges for picking it. It certainly is a cover I've always really loved.

Keeping on the subject of reviews, gay BDSM short story For One Night Only gained a 4-star review at The Romance Studio - so thank you to Gabrielle for that one.

Over at Vulpes Libris Reviews, you can see my review of Dan Savage's The Commitment - which is a sharp and lyrical memoir about one man's path to gay marriage. Definitely worth a read, whatever point on the sexual preference spectrum you appear on, and highly recommended.

Meanwhile, don't forget that there's still one more day before the giveaway competition included in my recent newsletter ends - so there's time to enter before the winner is chosen! There's a choice between fantasy novel The Gifting or gay short story For One Night Only as the competition prize so enter early enter often!...

This week's meditation poem is:




Meditation 571
The man in charge
of olive oil
glows with hope.

His smooth countenance
eases the ways
and words of men

while the aftertaste
in his speech
brings to their memories

the wind’s mysterious power
and the dapple
of sunshine on skin.


The late Sunday haiku is:

Under roofs of sky
the abbey breathes its secrets
to unheeding air.


Life News:

We had a fabulous time on holiday, and the first five or six days were blazing sunshine, which was great. I spent a lot of time reading on the sun-deck whilst sipping my cocktail du jour. Ah, this is the life, eh. The food was magnificent, although the cabin was rather more bijou than anticipated, hey ho. But no need to spend a lot of time there, what with the sun deck and the programme of excursions. It's such bliss when you don't even have to think and you just go where you're told. I suspect that is a holiday pleasure which comes with age, but my how we're enjoying it. Particular pleasure were Arle, Avignon and the Carmargue. How I loved the horses and the bulls. Wonderful. Hmm, there's a story there somehow but it might be a while in arriving, which may of course be a good thing.

Anyway we're back into normal life now - though the day after our holiday and our first day back at work started rather earlier than anticipated when my alarm clock when off at 5am instead of 6am due to still being on French time. Zut alors indeed. I won't be winning any awards for the Most Popular Wife any time soon, I fear ...

Speaking of work, we've held an open day for prospective students yesterday and are gearing up to the tribulations and joys of Welcome Week next week, so there won't be any time to breathe until at least October. Or not if previous years' experience is anything to go by! Still, as long as the students get settled in relatively painlessly then everyone's smiling.

Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner