Canes, carpets and sweet-smelling deer

Book News:

I'm continuing with the edits for fantasy novel The Executioner's Cane and am now on Page 213 of 293, so not bad going really. Meanwhile there've been a couple of nice reviews for The Heart's Greater Silence, including a 4-star one at Goodreads, and a 5-star one at Amazon US. Many thanks to both those readers for their comments.

You can also find an interview with me at Joo's Book Reviews, in which I reveal the one (of many) things that make me feel really stupid ... And many of my stories at Untreed Reads have a 30% discount for MARCH only, so buy early buy often. In addition, if you buy a story at Untreed Reads this month, then you get another one at half-price, so what could be nicer? Enjoy.

At Vulpes Libris today, you can find my review of Katy Gardner's magnificent psychological thriller, Hidden. Definitely one to get, in my opinion. I've thoroughly enjoyed all the novels of hers I've read.

Finally in this section, you can read all about my views on the pleasure of picnics over at the Cupoporn website today. Mmm, bring on those strawberries and cream ...

Recent meditation poems are:


Meditation 631
It’s not the arrival
that teaches wisdom
but the slow slog
of getting there

just as it’s not the answer
that’s important
but the simple trust
of saying the prayer.




Meditation 632
Asking for help
is to be vulnerable,
to cast our solid assurance
of self away

and admit to the vast
eternal sky
that we alone
are not enough today.


Life News:

Much to our joy, the scaffolders have taken the scaffolding away, so we at last have our house and our TV back, hurrah! It'll be great not to have to carry the computer up and down stairs in order to watch television in a civilised way. To my complete surprise, the lovely roofers then came back and did a thorough sweep and tidy around the whole house so it now looks better than even before we moved in, well gosh. Plus they say they're going to pop back to clean the windows as well - so I'd best get some more cake in indeed. Perhaps it's the cake they miss, eh ...

Yesterday was lovely as I took a half-day off and, because the weather was so magnificent, sat in the garden for most of the afternoon just enjoying the sunshine and the flowers. Bliss.

Not only that but the Lent course I've been dreading all week (due to the horrors of the last one) was actually extremely good indeed. Obviously Dr Borg is far better when he's not trying to explain his dodgy theology (yikes!), and just sticking to subjects about which he seems really rather inspirational - in this case, prayer and Christian practice. It was a very rich and intensely interesting evening and we all had a great time. Plus the vicar will be putting on a day's Introduction to Contemplative Prayer in April, which I am desperate to go to, as I really love silence. And, beyond that, there's a six week series on contemplative prayer and meditation planned in the church, so I'm scheduling that in too, hurrah. Blessings do indeed abound, as they say.

Today, the carpet has been refitted and thoroughly cleaned, and I'm impressed with the results. Heck, you can't even see the earlier port wine stain, so in a way the flood did us a favour. Sort of - I definitely don't want another one, please!... And I have spent a happy five minutes or so spraying Brut deodorant all along the garden fence as our garden expert says it will keep the deer out. I do hope the neighbours weren't watching though, as it surely must have looked entirely odd. Even for us. So the garden now has a distinctly 70s tang, and it will either do the trick or we'll have the best-smelling deer in the neighbourhood. Time alone will tell ...

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