Sunday, October 27, 2013

Storms and ghosts

Book News:

Much to my delight, gay thriller A Dangerous Man is no 9 in the Amber Allure bestseller chart for September - which is welcome news indeed after its Goodreads thrashing, hurrah. Perhaps - perish the thought - it's not actually as bad as its new readers think? You never know, tee hee ...

Meanwhile, gay-based fantasy The Gifting (Gathandria *1) found itself at No 91 in the Amazon UK gay fiction charts, whilst The Executioner's Cane (Gathandria *3) was at No 87 in the Amazon US gay fiction charts. The faint glimmer of glory was brief, alas, but welcome.

As a reminder, over at Untreed Reads, all my short stories can be purchased at the bargain price of 50c or 20p, so do feel free to browse. A story a day keeps boredom away, so they say.

One poem this week - the goldfinches are back! -

Goldfinch

A late goldfinch
flutters at the bird feeder:

a splash of gold
on a cloudy day.

And I think next year
a brighter summer

might even now
pass our way.


And here's my mini review of Kate Mosse's Winter Ghosts:

I'd expected more from this, given Mosse's reputation - I've not read any of her work before so this was my introduction. It's a very well written ghost story, but the plot is the same as many other ghost stories, so I kept thinking I'd read it before somewhere. No surprises at all really. However, the times and settings are very good indeed, but it still feels like a slight novel to me.


Life News:

This week we've been putting the garden to bed for the winter, so I've pulled up the dead plants or those which won't come back next year, and given stuff (there's a technical gardening phrase for you) a light winter prune where needed. I've not planted the tulips yet, but I'll do those in November. I also refreshed the hanging baskets with winter greenery - though I've brought them all inside today, along with other vulnerable pots, because of the storm heading our way.

Other plants brought inside include my two surviving cannas - one of which bloomed for the first time today. So our Durban canna has one gorgeous orange flower on it, with more to come, and is spending its first day of existence in our dining room with its canna friend.

On Thursday, K and I saw the world premiere (go, us!) of political comedy The Duck House, starring Ben Miller, in Guildford. My verdict is:

OK, but far more farcical and therefore not as satirical or witty as we'd hoped. The second half is much better (and ruder!) than the first half, but they really need to dampen down the level of hysteria in the first half in order to build up the tension more effectively. Still, it's good to see that decent farce is at least still being written for the stage.

And Saturday's cake was a St Clement's (orange and lemon) sponge. Very tasty it is too, and so easy to make, hurrah.

Have a great Sunday, and if you're in the UK, I hope the coming storm isn't as bad as the 1987 one, hey ho.

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Free Fiction UK
Biblical Fiction UK

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