Blog hops and bestsellers

Book News:

Just a quick reminder that I am taking part in the Scorching Blog Hop until 6 April, and there are loads of giveaways, as well as a grand prize. Leave a comment at my below blog and you'll be in with a chance to win a FREE ebook of gay romance Who Moved My Holepunch? Don't forget to visit all the other participants too. Good luck!

Indeed, already Who Moved My Holepunch? has received a lovely review from On Top Down Under Reviews, which included the following:

"I find Anne Brooke writes a mean short story … If you are looking for a witty, sexy, M/M office romp, then I highly recommend Who Moved My Holepunch? It is a great title and the content matches the cover, sexy and interesting." 

Thank you, Karen! Another review, this time a 4-star one, can also be found at MM Good Book Reviews, and this includes:

"It was a fascinating read. I laughed. I gasped. And I felt the exquisite chemistry this author achieved between her characters. The world they were put into was not something I anticipated, but even college administrative jobs can be fascinating with a creative mind. A lovely novella not to be missed."

Other reviews can be found at Goodreads, including a 4 star one and a 4.5 star one. Many thanks to all readers there for your comments. You can also now find this book at All Romance Ebooks, if that's your preferred shopping venue.

In addition, another prize giveaway that's running at the moment is for fantasy novel, Hallsfoot's Battle, the second in my critically acclaimed Gathandrian series.

At Goodreads, you have the chance to win one FREE paperback of this novel if you add your name to the list by 23 April. Whilst at LibraryThing, there are two FREE ebooks up for grabs (scroll down to view) if you request it by 7 April. Good luck to all!

I'm also happy to note that I was the No 5 bestselling author at Untreed Reads for 2012, well gosh. A BIG thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of my books there and put me in those charts.

Finally in this section, I'm thrilled to be included in an interview about gay romance and religion over at the Lambda Literary magazine. It's a pleasure to be there.


Life News:

Last week, I spent three fascinating days in snowy Edinburgh at a work conference, and got a heck of a lot out of it, I must say. Some very thought-provoking seminars indeed. The only down side was the pesky weather, but Edinburgh is of course still a beautiful city.

K and I also spent a day with Mother on Good Friday, accompanying her to the Hour of Remembrance as usual. And the Easter Service was of course packed and very enjoyable. I particularly appreciated the champagne and chocolate eggs after the service, but fear we're possibly not getting those every week, alas.

Over the last couple of days, K and I have visited Clandon Park, along with their lovely garden centre, where I succumbed to two gorgeous Senetti plants. And today we've visited Hatchlands, and come away with two very reasonably priced lupins. Sadly, though, both K and I are battling with a cold/flu-type thing, so haven't done as much gardening as we'd have liked. That said, I took out most of the wretched ground elder yesterday - a weed which I'm sure will survive a nuclear winter, should it ever come upon us. Hey ho.

Hope you're all having a glorious Easter week!

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Biblical Fiction UK
Lori Olding Children's Author

Post Easter Extravaganza

Book News:

Congratulations to Rain who has won a copy of gay romance Angels and Airheads in the weekend Easter Blog Hop. I was amazed at how popular it was - my stats have never been so good - and will definitely be taking part in the next one in July. I can't wait!

Other exciting news this weekend is that literary gay short story Where You Hurt The Most (I do so love that cover!) is now available for pre-order at Riptide Publishing - and if you do pre-order, then you're in with a chance of winning a year's supply of free books, so don't miss out! Not only that but later in the year, the story will be appearing in the Rentboy Anthology due out in paperback in August, so a double whammy of delights indeed. Happy reading!



Also over the weekend, I had several very nice reviews of a variety of books:

Gay thriller A Dangerous Man gained a 4-star review at Goodreads, and a 5-star review at Amazon. At the same time, gay erotic short story The Delaneys and Me gained a 5-star review also at Amazon, gay romance Angels and Airheads received a 4-star review at Goodreads, and gay erotic short story For One Night Only gained a 5-star review at Amazon. So joy in abundance indeed - many thanks to all who've read and commented so kindly.

Meanwhile don't forget that there's still 25% off biblical short story Dancing with Lions until 15 April, and the free giveaway competition of fantasy novel The Gifting continues to run at LibraryThing with, so far, 36 people requesting the 5 ebook copies available. Good luck to all!





The Easter Sunday haiku was:

Single red tulip:
the beginning of Easter
brightly acknowledged.


Life News:

I hope everyone has had a very happy Easter and the chocolate hasn't yet run out on you. I have to admit mine's been a bit up and down as I was ill on Thursday night and the whole of Friday with some quite nasty stuff, so that was a bit of a pain. I had to reschedule Mother for Easter Saturday instead of Good Friday, but at least I do feel more normal now, hurrah. And I did manage to make banana bread which K loves - though I'm not so keen, I must admit - not sure whether that's the fallout of being ill or whether I'm just not in the mood for it, but there you go. All the more for K!

Church was okay - my voice gave out during the first hymn so that was probably better for everyone else really, but I did enjoy the mini eggs and champagne afterwards. Ah, they do things differently here in Elstead, you know.

Yesterday, we spent a lot of time slumped on the sofa enjoying the Masters Golf tournament - loads of thrills and spills along the way and some hugely gripping sport. Fantastic to watch the South African guy getting an albatross - i.e. scoring 2 shots on a par 5 hole for those of you not into golf-speak. I was cheering like a banshee.

Today, we've spent a very rainy Monday at Hinton Ampner, and then shopped for Britain at Rake Garden Centre - we've bought loads of bedding plants and seeds, so will be busy in the garden for the next month at this rate. K is going for soothing elegant white and I am the ditzy colour queen. Ah, 'twas ever thus.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandria Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Angels, Lions and Death

Book News

There's a definite religious theme in the latest book news, which is surely very appropriate for the season, hurrah. First off, biblical short story, Dancing with Lions, is being offered at a 25% discount directly from Untreed Reads until April 15th, so don't miss out on that one.

Plus four copies (four, gosh!) of my other biblical story, A Little Death, have just been purchased by Northern Ireland Libraries, so that's definitely put a smile on my face. Not to be outdone, gay romantic comedy Angels and Airheads is now a bestseller at All Romance Ebooks, and has just received a 4-star review at The Novel Approach (so many thanks for that).

And as a very special Easter treat for you, I'm giving away FIVE ecopies of my fantasy novel The Gifting until 29th April at LibraryThing. So pop across there now and add your name to the list and you'll be in with a chance of winning - good luck!

Meanwhile, I'm continuing to work on a set of interviews and articles for a variety of bloggers and review sites, so many thanks for those requests. Further details to follow ...



Life News:

I've spent the last three days at the AUA universities conference in Manchester. I enjoyed it as usual and it was really lovely to be up there with my wonderful colleague Carol C, but I'm not sure it was as good as previous conferences. I think that was probably due to a number of factors, including me still getting over being ill last week, the hugely long drive up in the rain there and back (groan ...), and possibly also the fact that we were in hotels rather than student accommodation, so it didn't have quite so much of the fun/community factor, to my mind. That said, I'm sure that once I get to grips with my notes, I'll find a thousand and one useful ideas to take away - it's just that I can't quite get my head round them at the moment.

Back home, K has planted a bed of pansies next to the sweet peas at the front, and our back garden tulips are going to be red (hurrah!) though they're not out yet. Plus we have one bluebell just out in the back, so I'm hoping there'll be more soon. We do so love bluebells.

Happy Easter, everyone!

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian fantasy trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Gardens and sunshine

Book News:

I've now corrected and returned the galley proofs for The Art of The Delaneys to Amber Allure Press, so am looking forward to publication date on 15 May. I'm currently writing another short story for them, For One Night Only, but intend to get started on the last two of the Delaneys series after that.

Meanwhile, The Gifting is getting ever closer to publication readiness at Bluewood Publishing and I'm just ironing out a few cover issues with my cover artist, Penelope Cline. So it's definitely getting exciting. And I'm pleased to say that my literary short story, A Woman like The Sea, gained a lovely 5-star review at Dark Divas Reviews - many thanks for the comments, Athena.

The Easter Sunday haiku (a day late but, hey, who's counting ...) is:

Lone boy skateboarding
on a blue bridge pulls along
the comforting sun.


Life News:

I hope everyone's having a great Easter holiday weekend - hasn't the weather been glorious. A very rare event indeed here in the UK ... K and I spent a rather pleasant day with Mother on Good Friday, and managed to get to the hour's meditation service at her local church too, so felt pleasingly holy. Ruddy uncomfortable pews though - if I'm sitting still for an hour, I hope, perhaps foolishly, to be able to get up afterwards, but I think we were all struggling. Note to self: next time, remember a cushion.

Back home in Surrey, K and I have enjoyed the Easter Sunday service and have had an equally good time visiting a couple of gardens over the weekend, including Walbury in Lower Froyle - which was small but charming - and Chestnut Lodge in Cobham - which has a collection of glorious tropical birds to die for and doesn't allow children under 15. Double bliss indeed. We loved it. Today, we've also had lunch and a wander round at Wisley, which was very relaxing. The orchid displays are a little past their best now, but still worth a view for the last few days of the exhibition. It was also surprising how empty it seemed in spite of the number of cars in the car park, but that, somehow, is always the nature of Wisley. You can feel on your own whilst ambling around as it's large enough to take it.

In terms of house-buying, there's good news and bad. The bad news is that we didn't really like the house we viewed in Knaphill, though at least we were both agreed on its unsuitability. So we're left with the Woking one plodding its slow, slow way through the purchasing maze. Still, we're keeping our options open until someone deigns to suggest an exchange date (let's not hold our breath, eh ...), so will continue to look. No harm there.

The potentially good news is that the rental property we viewed today in a very nice part of Woking (this afternoon rather than this morning due to timings mix-ups) is quite frankly lovely and we'd move in tomorrow if we could. I hope we get it. Not least because it means we won't be homeless in three weeks' time. Hey ho. Watch this space ...

And we loved Lewis last night on TV - how I wish this wasn't the last of the series and I hope it's back on our screens very soon. I'm getting withdrawal symptoms from the excellent pairing of Lewis and Hathaway already. Honestly, it's the best crime drama around at the moment by far.

Happy Easter week!

Anne Brooke

Happy Easter!

Had a great time at the work conference in Nottingham Monday to Wednesday with David & Carol from the office - it's certainly much better going with people you know, though it was also nice to catch up with those I've met before from other universities. It was even nice travelling up the M1 on Monday morning as when I joined it at Junction 6 it was gloriously empty, what with it being shut from Junctions 1 to 4. I've never seen such a clear road ...

So, the weather was marvellous and the seminars and live debate sessions almost equally so. Heck, I even said something in all my seminars (brave me!) though I'd never dare to in any of the plenary sessions. Mind you, for some reason, I had a room on Nottingham campus the size of a button - and had to move the bin and the fridge (a fridge, in a room - heck, the students don't know they've been born!) in order to sit on the chair, ah well. I also woke up in the middle of the night on the first night wondering why my stomach was so terribly gurgly even though I felt fine, and then realised it was the fridge, not me. Phew ...

Meanwhile, while I've been away, our house situation has moved on rapidly in one area at least - our buyer would like to move into our flat in mid-May so it's now all systems go to try to find somewhere in the area to rent on a short-term basis (two or three months, I would guess) some time over the next two weeks - which is basically all the time we have, as we're on holiday the week commencing 7 May and then back at the beginning of potential completion week. Heck, if it wasn't Lent I might be panicking, but I am trying to remain calm & logical, hey ho ...

Today, I've also viewed, as a buying option, a house in Bisley, and tomorrow K and I will view another in Knaphill. We're still keeping the Woking house option open as that slowly trundles through, but really we can't be bothered to chase any more. It's too exhausting. If something else comes up that we prefer, so be it, but if we do manage to get somewhere to rent, at least that gives us a breathing space. Come what may, it will be fantastic to be out of the flat ...

Whilst waiting for the estate agent to turn up at Bisley, I also heard my first cuckoo of spring, which was great. Everything's just so early this year, it seems. I hope summer doesn't end up being over by June! And I've had my last haircut with Lynda, who's cut my hair for 18 years but who doesn't travel as far north as Woking to do business. So I do indeed look lovely (trust me on that one) but will have to look for another hairdresser at some point - though of course it's not top of my To Do List right now.

Oh, and I thought last night's episode of Midsomer Murders was something of an improvement, at least in the realms of the relationships between characters - though the bitchy Barnaby definitely needs to treat poor Sergeant Jones a damn sight better before I'm any way near convinced ...

Finally I'm pleased to say that A Woman like the Sea gained a 5-star review at Goodreads - thanks, Jesse.

Happy Easter - hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Anne Brooke

Chocolate, wolves and bones

Happy Easter weekend! I hope you all have a glorious time and manage to avoid the worst of the rather bizarre weather we're having at the moment. Did summer already happen and I missed it??

Writing News:

I'm really thrilled with the cover art for my upcoming GLBT short story, Martin and The Wolf, which will be published by Amber Allure Press on 13 June 2010. You can also read an extract from the beginning here.

What with having to update my website with the new information, I've also improved my Short Stories page at the same time so it's now divided into 4 categories:



GLBT stories
Literary stories
Biblical stories
Comic stories

Of course, some of these fall into more than one category but I've taken that into account and put the various stories wherever I think they fit. I hope you enjoy the new look.

Meanwhile, Give and Take gained a 4-star rating at Goodreads, and The Bones of Summer was for a while at Number 93 in the Amazon UK gay romance charts, hurrah!

Finally, I'm pleased to say that All Romance Ebooks now stocks Dancing with Lions, How to Eat Fruit and The Girl in the Painting. All of which is very good news indeed.

Ooh, and I've just heard that Maloney's Law is in Elisa Rolle's Top 10 GLBT Referrals List for March, so that's lovely to hear - thanks, Elisa!

Other news:

I rather enjoyed the University Administrators' conference, which I returned home from yesterday. Though I must say my skills in the Learn To Juggle seminar were sadly lacking. The poor tutor had to put me back down to two balls when he saw the chaos I was creating with three. And, what with all that jumping about and picking up my lost balls for an hour and a half, I have to say my legs are aching in places I never even knew I had. I must be so unfit! It was so bad that yesterday when I popped into Tesco on the way home and accidentally dropped something out of my trolley, I could barely hunker down to pick it up. And there was a hell of a lot of groaning ... Really, you don't even want to know how long it took me to get myself out of bed this morning, and how Lord H laughed at the sight.

Other exciting conference news is that my room actually had a bath. A bath!! What luxury. All the other times I've been, I've had a seriously frightening shower that's so powerful that it's all but blasted me to the other side of the room and I've been unable to breathe, such has been the force of the water. So a bath was bliss indeed. Must be a sign of my age, I fear.

Tonight, Lord H and I are off to see The Graduate at the Guildford Theatre, so are preparing ourselves for "an evening of impure theatrical delight", as the Evening Standard puts it. All that and nudity too, hurrah!

Happy Easter!

Anne Brooke - impure but utterly delightful, naturally
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - the essential Easter read

Hunks and fruit

There's a title to conjure with indeed. And so very un-Easterlike too. Lord H & I had quite a jolly day yesterday - the Easter service at St Mary's was fine, and I fell in love with the perfume of the woman behind me and quizzed her about it during the Peace. As you do. Apparently it's called "Angel", appropriately enough. Church - such a useful place to stare at (and sniff at) other women and see if they have anything that might suit you. I was also rather taken with the mauve jumper of one of the women taking communion, but appreciated that leaping up and yelling excuse me, where did you get that? whilst she was communing with the Lord probably wasn't the best etiquette. Shame I missed her afterwards though ...

Due to the inclemency of Sunday's weather (good God, snow - whatever next?!?), we opted for staying in. A wise move. I made the most of the opportunity by watching my video of "Fifth Element". Glorious ham really, but it grew on me and had some very funny lines. Plus Bruce Willis showing his torso - what could be nicer? There's something incredibly sexy about La Willis, even though I don't usually go for that type of man. Too many muscles, my dear Mozart. I prefer 'em willowy and lean.

I also had a marvellous time lapping up the last of "Lark Rise to Candleford". Utterly wonderful and I swear Julia Sawalha has never been better. And such huge emotional turning points and moments of high drama were happening (I have absolutely no idea why everyone says nothing happens in LR to C - my dears, everything happens!!! It just doesn't come with noise, car chases or dead bodies - well, not many anyway - which may be why people are being fooled? Anyway, it's crammed with incident, so sod the critics). Please, please, please give us a second series. Soon.

We also meandered our way through "The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". Ah, poor Minghella - what a waste. Anyway it was perfectly charming, and I seriously loved the secretary (there's a woman who can kick ass) - but it was really a tad too long. You could have done it all in an hour. I hope they bear that in mind when the series hits our screens next year. Though I suspect I may not watch more than one or two - I only read two of the books, and by then I'd got the hang of it and wasn't really interested in reading another. Hush my mouth, eh.

Which brings me to today. Lord H and I have wandered around the River Wey in various parts and sneaked up on some birds in the rain - including dunnocks, tufted ducks, woodpeckers of both ilks, a plethora of tits and a warbler-sized bird with a black head and a white collar that we couldn't identify at all. Dammit. If anyone has any ideas, please don't be shy!

Back home, I've been working away on my short story, "How to eat fruit", and it's now finished, hurrah. Or at least draft one is anyway. It seems more literary than my usual fare, so I'll let it fester for a while before I look at it again. I do feel pleased I've actually written a short story though - it's been a while. Still, best get back to seeing what the hell is going on with The Bones of Summer before Craig - and I - lose the will to live entirely.

Tonight, I'm planning on watching "The Fixer" - the guy who plays the main role is so wonderfully dour. Great stuff.

Today's (well, and yesterday's) nice things:

1. Bruce Willis
2. Birds
3. Writing
4. TV.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers

Home Horror Brought to Book!

Was greatly pleased today when Lord H came back from the shops with the Surrey Advertiser (Godalming edition) to find that I and Thorn in the Flesh were in it. Hurrah! Naturally the sudden rush of local fame and fortune appeals to my essentially shallow and worthless nature ... Actually, it's a very good article by Luke Jacobs (thank you, Luke!) - who somehow made sense of my crazed meanderings - and a photo which even makes me look human. I was also amused by the article headline, which appeared just under my photo - "Home Horror Brought to Book" - which makes me sound wonderfully like an evil arch-criminal who has just been arrested by the police. Which I suppose isn't too far from the truth. From now on, I shall always sign myself as the Home Horror. You know it makes sense.

Lord H and I have also just completed our final (sob!) "Torchwood" online mission. Which was great - I had to save Ianto from certain death by using the signal jamming mechanism in time. Fab stuff! I succeeded - in case you're wondering, so he will be in the next episode, phew. In fact Ianto was so pleased with us both that there may well be a Torchwood job offer in the pipeline for us, apparently. Mind you, that might be withdrawn once he sees the local paper headlines ... In the meantime, Lord H and I have set up the Torchwood satellite mission in Godalming - single- or rather double-handedly, we have pledged to save Godalming from alien invasion (oh no, it's too late, I fear) and are even hoping to set up one of those nice pavement lifts outside the Pepperpot (old town hall). It'll be so handy for the shops. And actually if it had been in place while my Kate was having her Pepperpot traumas in Thorn in the Flesh, then she may not have needed to worry quite so much after all. Lordy, what is my brain like?? I think I may be making too many wild mental connections here, even for me.

Anyway, today we have visited The Vyne in Basingstoke and wandered round the house, gardens and bird viewing areas. Bloody freezing, Carruthers, but we managed to miss most of the rain - and snow. It helped that I was layered up like a Michelin Man. And is it something about my jolly and approachable (ho ho) face? - because every single ruddy National Trust guide in every single ruddy room engaged me in long conversations about pannelling, tapestries crockery, pictures, history and anything else that took their fancy whilst Lord H strolled round the room in blissful quiet. Goddammit, people, I just want to be left alone to admire stuff and think! I ended up dodging round tables and pretending to be engrossed in the views from the windows in a vain attempt to avoid the information-conveying hordes. Sigh, I suppose it is early in the NT season, so they're all geared up to expound their newly-gathered knowledge, but I have been there before. Several times. Anyway, Lord H promises me that the next time we go, he will carry a big stick and beat them with it if they try to talk to me. I shall also try to remember to put on my new Home Horror face and hope that will discourage them.

Tonight, I might try to do a bit more to The Bones of Summer and see if I can dredge anything sensible up from my rapidly depleting literary pool. Don't wait up then. I don't hold out much hope. And there's something about Richard the Lionheart on TV later, so I might watch that. It's eddi-cational, you know.

Have just finished Edward Storey's New & Selected Poems. Some of them I really loved and gave me that punched-in-the-gut feeling (always welcome when reading poems), such as the very Keatsian "In the Museum" or the reflective "Look at Yourself" which contains the ace end line: "Cold eyes will be where stars were, and the mirror bare." Fabulous. However, many of the rest of them were rather clunky and prosaic and there was way too much homage to John Clare (not my favourite poet, West Wind or no West Wind). I think it would have been overall better quality if some of the pieces in the collection had been cut, but for the ten to fifteen poems which for me really sang, it was bloody worth the purchase.

This week's haiku (early, I know, but hell tomorrow is Easter after all):

Good Friday visit
home: the unbearable weight
of expectation.


Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Easter day, and I'll be back on Monday.

Today's nice things:

1. The Surrey Advertiser article
2. The Vyne
3. Poetry.

Anne Brooke
Anne's website
Goldenford Publishers

Saved by the National Trust

Ye gods, but going to church on Easter Sunday was a bloody mistake. I knew the moment I walked in to be faced by countless hordes of people that I really should have stayed at home and - if my mood felt good and the wind was in the right direction - had a few private moments with God. Instead, I had to run the gauntlet of the service whilst wishing I was as many miles away as possible. God only knows why I felt like that - and please don't ask me to explain it as I don't think I can - but I do.

Maybe the basic fact is I'm not sure I really like - or can trust - any of the people there right now (apart from Lord H of course), and if I can't relate to the church people around me, then it's a zillion times harder under those circumstances to relate to God. Add to that the fact that the service was taken by our old vicar - a fly-by-night non-people person if ever I saw one - and you can imagine the scenario. I think that if the new vicar - Paul - had taken the service then I might even have made it to communion. As it was, I stayed put in the pew as if glued to the ruddy seat - and Lord H stayed with me, which he didn't have to do as I would have been fine if he'd gone up to communion and I hadn't, but his notions of marital loyalty were running high. Which in a way was nice, so far be it from me to complain - except that now I'm convinced that the church believes I'm leading my husband down the primrose path to paganism and sin. (Lord H's response to this: oh goody, when does that start?).

Also, I'm not sure, but does not taking communion at Easter mean I am flung from the church without hope of reprieve? No idea really - and I can't say that right now I'm bothered either way. However, I suspect that I won't be darkening the doors of St Peter's for quite a while now. Make of that what you will. Meanwhile, the call of the Quakers becomes ever more enticing ...

After making good our escape from the arms of the Lord (complete with 2 chocolate eggs for Lord H and me - hell, we bloody well deserve it! - and I ate four more mini ones while I was there), we nipped home for a quick turn-round before heading off to visit the newly-opened National Trust property of Hinton Ampner - in Hampshire.

It was bliss. Bloody hell, but walking round that house, gardens and shop was the most peaceful I've felt for a long time. The weather was perfect, and there weren't many people around. Also the stewards didn't leap up and confront us (National Trust stewards are, unfortunately, rather prone to that kind of behaviour), so we could wander round, stare at stuff and just take the whole thing in. Only the ground floor is open, but it's a marvellously soothing mix of beauty and lived-inness (is that even a word? Hell, you know what I mean). And the gardens were lovely - beautiful views over Hampshire, and the occasional waft of scent. Plus a rather fetching yellow butterfly that followed us around, and a small bird that looked like a linnet, but probably wasn't. And I bought two chocolate mice in the shop (the reliable provision of chocolate mice is one of the NT's many strengths indeed), and a new fluffy pen to add to my work collection. Though, to be honest, it was more curly than fluffy. And vibrantly orange too. Hurrah!

Then home for a late lunch, and an evening watching DVDs, I hope - as there's nothing on TV really, though we might watch some of the golf. And we've also managed to get the cleaning done, and check the car tyres, water etc, as well as make a shopping list, so I am brimming with domestic nobility.

This week, I've done two haikus, as they were both nagging at me, so here they are:

The first for Simon and my attempts to finish The Gifting:

The end of the novel:
Last two scenes to go:
my pen drags over the page,
trailing blood and hope.

And, in response to the very hairy emu at Birdworld yesterday ...

The emu stalks me,
splayed claws poised for the attack:
a thatched roof on legs.

Today's nice things:

1. Hinton Ampner
2. Chocolate mice
3. Lord H.

Happy Easter to all.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk

The squeezed-out conference attender

Well, I'm back from the AUA (http://www.aua.ac.uk) conference up in Nottingham and feel like a squeezed-out sponge. It was well worth going, but these things are always very intensive and it's great to be back.

This isn't going to be a huge blog, I'm afraid (thank God, you all cry!), as I can barely keep my eyes open, and I still have to (a) wash up Lord H's sausage & chips supper (yummy) and (b) unpack. Not to mention the mountain of post to deal with - oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Highlights of the conference: getting an Easter egg as a goodie bag in the second seminar; actually bringing it home unwrapped for Lord H to share with me; having chocolate cheesecake for dinner on the first evening; seeing lambs in the fields next to the M1. Lambs with black legs and white bodies, no less. Ye gods, it must be Easter.

Oh, and a couple of times during the conference I think I almost sounded like a professional. But not for long, I fear.

And I've come back to a lovely review of "A Stranger's Table" (http://www.poetrymonthly.com) by Anna Avebury of the Ver Poets Society, as below:

“In this collection, the poet reveals a striking awareness of the power of poetry to enact a ‘strange sea-change’ on the ‘heated substance’ of the reader. The majority of poems are celebrations of the life of the imagination and the senses, skilfully crafted, timely reminders of an aspect of life all too often neglected. A veritable “Ice Dancer” herself, Anne Brooke communicates ‘the danger, the explosion/of words/into ice’. She explores the inner world of personal relationships with an acute awareness of its complexity and is able to share these insights in poems, which are richly sensuous. Nor does she neglect the mundane: “Calling” describes a fridge door crammed with telephone numbers and messages; although she finds the ‘net of community’ ‘unforgiving’ and ‘beyond our calling.’ “Things I fold away” lists not only the obvious ‘briefs, bras, (into nests) … socks, jumpers …’ but also ‘my history, silences … your disapproval … resentment, irritations …’ And ultimately, ‘life’. The last poem in the collection, “The cat’s response to yellow”, captures the elusive nature of inspiration and its transformation into art, leaving the reader pondering the experience of ‘the echo of yellow air.’”

That's kept the smile well and truly on my face.

Oh, and before I left, I finished the poem on Marat:

The Death of Marat: The Studio of Jacques-Louis David

One pale arm hangs down,
gripping a quill
with which he might have written mercy,
while the other holds the letter
that condemned him,
making the unseen woman
a murderess
and him a martyr.

High upon his body,
almost at the collarbone,
a thin trail of blood
trickles down over white skin
to the bath he ran to soothe it.

His head, wrapped in cream cloth,
rests on the nearest shoulder,
eyes closed in peace,
lips half-smiling
as if only asleep
or dreaming.

In line with the tilt of his face,
the woman’s knife lies
abandoned,
his life’s blood still staining
its ivory handle.

And, above,
only the vast, uncharted dark
hangs waiting.


Today's nice things:

1. Coming home
2. The review
3. Lambs.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk