Blogs, Bones and boils

Book News:

Much to my astonishment, comic sf short story, Creative Accountancy for Beginners, has sold a copy in Slovakia, well gosh. Many thanks, kind Slovakian reader - I hope there are more of you out there! I'm also pleased to say I've sent back the galley proofs for gay short story, Dating the Delaneys, which is published on Sunday 6 November, and you can now read an erotic extract on the Amber Allure site. Enjoy ...

At the same time, Riptide Publishing have asked for two more blog posts ready for the upcoming blog tour - one about favourite Christmases and one about the story behind writing gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence. So I'm getting my brain in gear (don't wait up ...) for those projects.

And I'm very happy with the Quarter 3 royalties made by gay thriller The Bones of Summer. I'm surprised it's still selling, but hey I'm not complaining. Never think that.

At Vulpes Libris meanwhile I've discovered my best book of the year (hurrah!) and can only encourage you all to rush out and read Evelio Rosero's Good Offices. A marvellous little novella.

This week's meditation poem is:




Meditation 583
Solomon builds
his temple
with a glorious excess
of gold:

a reminder
when starting your project
you should always attempt
to be bold.


Life News:

Hmm, what can I say? The title of this post has probably given you the clue so all I can say is if you're squeamish, best to skip to the very end, ho hum ... As you may remember, the pesky little cyst (AKA Carlos) on my collarbone has been giving me hell all week and has shot up from a brief and fairly idyllic childhood to be three times its original size in its difficult teenage years, all in the space of seven rather unholy days. My, what fun. It's had its rather painful moments too, and getting into bed without gritting my teeth and wincing (let alone attempting to sleep) has been tricky.

Well, my op was scheduled for 6.30pm this evening and I was starting to get rather angsty as the last time I had an infected cyst removed (from my back) twenty odd years ago, on the NHS, there were several rather unfortunate events which may be best simply listed: a trainee doctor out of his depth (bless him), a call for an emergency surgeon on the hospital tannoy system, being left in a room on my own bleeding onto my t-shirt while everyone rushed around trying to find said surgeon, being told that they couldn't give me any more drugs as I was over the limit now so the rest of the op would be painful (it was ...), no aftercare, wandering round the hospital in my blooded shirt (heck, no wonder people were staring!), and eventually getting home without any clear idea of how I managed it. My lodger at the time (a nurse) took one look at what they'd done and shrieked: Lord, they've butchered you ... Which did at least have the effect of making me laugh while I drank my gin. I bear the scars with something like a survivor's pride really ...

So, today I was a little nervous. However, in the event there hasn't been time to think. I went in to the clinic at 11.30am for a pre-op consultation, the very lovely surgeon took one look at it, said he'd need to do it there and then as it was infected and by the way please could he take a few photos as he'd never seen a furuncle cyst (aka boil, for the uninitiated in these things) so badly advanced before (naturally I let him - I do so love the camera under any circumstances ...). He had to bring the beast down in size before he could use the drugs (no, please, don't ask ...) and he then whipped up a few nurses and an ops trolley and did the dirty deed. After the drugs kicked in, it wasn't as bad as expected, hurrah.

I now therefore have the largest neck dressing I've ever seen - which did rather startle the good people of Tesco as I popped into the pharmacy on the way home - and enough antibiotics to kill a giraffe. The surgeon has also booked me in for a follow-up appointment next week - let's hope he doesn't discover anything else he wants to whip out, eh - and has commanded me in any case to ring the clinic immediately if I think the wretched beast might be on its way back again before then.

However, in the midst of all this, I am strangely heartened to think that the op scars on my back will now at last have a matching set on my front. How I do love to be symmetrical. But, then again how will I know which way I'm facing?...

Stay healthy, folks!

Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner

Holidays and books

Have had a fabulous holiday in gloriously sunny Wales - it was total bliss to get away, and ye gods and little fishes but I think the St John's Wort happy pills might be working, hurrah! This is the most normal I've felt in two months, maybe more. Anyway, Wales is wonderful. My favourite day was the one we spent at Hilton Court Gardens taking tea and just sitting in their incredibly beautiful gardens at ridiculously cheap prices. If you're anywhere near it, you absolutely must go. It's just soooo relaxing. After that, we paddled on the amazingly beautiful and all but deserted beach in Newgale, nearby, and that was wonderful too. Honestly, that night, I was the most relaxed and happy I've been in years. I wish I could go to Hilton Court and Newgale every day or, at the very least, have them delivered. Bliss.

Book News:

My gay fantasy short story, Martin and The Wolf, is now published at Amber Allure and you can also view a book trailer.

At the same time, my gay comic fantasy, Angels and Airheads, is published at Torquere Press, which is my first publication with them. I hope it won't be the last!

In terms of upcoming book news, I now have a webpage for straight romance, The Boilerman and The Bride, and that's due out from Amber Heat Press on 4 July 2010. And I totally love that cover - so many thanks to Trace at Amber who created it! It's astonishing what men can do with their spanners indeed - as it were ...

I also have a new page for upcoming comic SF story, Creative Accountancy for Beginners, and this will be part of the new Orbis line from Untreed Reads Press. It will probably be published late this month and will be their first Orbis offering, so I'm especially thrilled to be part of that - thanks to Jay once more! Talking of which, the cover for it is wonderful too - as you can see!







Finally, in the specific book news section, I'm very happy that Bluewood Publishing now have an author's page for me that also has the cover art for The Gifting on it, so that's getting exciting too.

Reviews & ratings:

The Delaneys and Me has had two reviews this week, one at Three Dollar Bill Reviews and one at Amazon US - very many thanks to both reviewers for their comments. It's also been interesting to note that The Delaneys and Me was briefly at Number 45 in the Amazon Kindle Gay Fiction charts, whilst The Bones of Summer managed Number 68 in the Amazon Kindle Gay Romance chart and (pause for BIG drumroll!) The Secret Thoughts of Leaves was actually Number 17 in the Amazon Kindle Surrealism charts for a while. Heck, I didn't even know Amazon possessed a surrealism chart, but my goodness it's nice to be in it. Whatever next, eh?


Interviews:

There are two interviews with me on the web this week, one at Sizzling Releases that focuses mainly on The Secret Thoughts of Leaves. And the other is about my fiction more generally and can be found at Two Ends of the Pen journal. I hope you enjoy both.

Poetry:

Meditation 370
Sunlight on ripening barley
and the soft pull
of the wind

whilst at the skyline
seven men are hanged
all the way

to death: in the midst
of beauty
we are in ugliness.

Last Sunday's haiku:

Decide for silence,
unknit yourself from the earth.
Finally alone.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal