Cars, Kindles and cash

Book News:

I'm happy to say that all my Kindle books are now available to be signed at Kindlegraph so the virtual world is really upon us indeed. Other good news this week is that I've been very pleased with my quarterly royalties from Amber Allure Press and Dreamspinner Press - so many thanks to the people who've purchased in the last three months. It's very much appreciated.

In terms of reviews this week, there's been a 4-star review of Martin and The Wolf, and another nice review of For One Night Only, both at Goodreads, so thank you, Meggie, for those. And, much to my astonishment, my blog has now received over 50,000 hits since first beginning, so a very big thank you to all visitors. I've hope you've enjoyed at least something of my semi-crazed meanderings ...

Meanwhile, The Gifting had in the end 692 entries in the recent Goodreads free giveaway competition, which was about 682 more than I was expecting. So thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to the 5 winners, who will be receiving their prize in the very near future.

Here's the next few lines from The Gifting:

In the land of Gathandria, they have not been used to war.

Ah, but how all that will change, and rather sooner than they expect too ...

In the wonderful literary world of Vulpes Libris, we're all going on a well-earned 2-week break, but today's post will give you a few hints about what's in store when we're back.

This week's haiku is:

Leaves begin to fall
and a hint of autumn's chill
drifts across the grass.


Life News:

Sadly, my car is sick and when I took it to the garage on Friday, it didn't come back. Apparently, the coolant container has gone rather badly wrong - something to do with the temperature gauge attached to it - and they couldn't put a new one in until Monday, so I have been totally relying on K's car all weekend. Hmm, no change there then ... It's going to cost me about £260, they tell me, which isn't great but, hell, it could be a lot worse. Hey ho.

On Saturday, we spent a lovely day with Peter and Sue (hello!) at Hinton Ampner, which is fascinating and well worth a visit - although they really do need to improve the cafe - surely the bleakest National Trust cafe I've ever been to, sad to say. My advice - go anyway, admire the house and the man who last lived in it, and enjoy the gardens. They're magnificent. But take your own sandwiches ...

Today has been a catalogue of unexpected events. Our washing machine has broken so we've spent an interesting couple of hours hand-washing everything in the kitchen sink and the bath and then attempting to get it dry in the garden. Thank goodness it's been sunny. Ah, it takes me back to my holidays spent in my grandmother's house in Newcastle, you know - where's that mangle of hers when I need it?!?

And this afternoon we've been to tea at the vicar's house. Which was very enjoyable indeed until the lovely US lady with the marvellous voice decided that having a communal sing-song with her guitar for about an hour and a half was a good thing to do. And yes, of course I know it is but I just can't help it - I really do hate that sort of thing which makes me feel nothing less than edgy and totally frazzled. As if people are cutting pieces off my skin and flesh with a spoon, and not replacing them with anything. I was trapped at the far end of the table near the hedge and couldn't get away without it looking obvious so developed a no doubt desperate smile in case anyone looked my way. My dears, I was faintly hysterical by the time we left, but I don't think anyone noticed. Now I feel totally exhausted as if I've been route-marched across the Sahari without a flask of water or a map. Really, I just don't do sociable ... but the tea itself was lovely.

Finally, I must just say - and I'm probably swimming against a vast tide of fandom here - how utterly dreadful the current series of Torchwood is. The plot seems to be the same thing over and over again and we can't even begin to see how they can stretch this dull nonsense over 10 weeks. Lordy, 10 weeks!  I'm told that Episode 5 is the first good one - which begs the question as to why they didn't start there - but in all honesty you can get everything you need to know from the first 30 seconds of it when they recap the last episodes, and the final 30 seconds when they tell you what will happen next week. It's really like a haiku story put into the framework of a saga, and desperately trying to find its way. Soon, I fear, all of us will lose the will to live entirely - which may well solve their problem of finding a solution to eternal life. Yawn. Ah well, another potentially good TV drama bites the dust.

Anne Brooke