Houses and haikus

Life News:

A lovely weekend with our wonderful Egypt Group friends in Buxton. Had a fabulous get-together and catch-up and also managed to spend the day in Chatsworth on Saturday which was grand. Honestly, the weather couldn't have been better.

On the way up, we also spent some time in Calke Abbey, which is interesting as the National Trust are conserving it rather than restoring it - so you get rooms which are in decay and it has the aura of a dying house caught in time. Fascinating stuff.

This afternoon, K and I have sorted the garden out after having been away. Lovely to see the purple (actually lilac now the flowers are out) rhododendron, and also how large the sunflower shoots are getting. The excitement mounts, eh! And we've had a very nice cup of tea and cake in the summer house whilst listening to the fountain. Country living has much to recommend it indeed ...

Book News:

A lovely review for Where You Hurt The Most at Goodreads - many thanks, Val, who says (amongst other comments):

I am always glad to snap up the latest fiction from Anne Brooke because the writing is flawless - clean, crisp, minimalist, and elegant - and her insight into the reactions between people is profound. This story flows like a cool drink of water. Recommended!

Gosh, many thanks indeed.

The Sunday haiku is:

This blue waterfall
of wisteria magics
dreams from silver air.


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

Houses and Harrogate

A bullet-point blog today as we're just back from a wonderful weekend away with the totally lovely and utterly glamorous Egypt Group (hello, all!).

Life News:

1. It's been great to catch up with Mike & Miriam (who have a matching pair of very wonderful dogs, btw!), and Mike & Chris. I think we have now, between us, terrified Harrogate into submission. We stayed at the extremely good and very charming Ascot House Hotel. I think we can all recommend it wholeheartedly.

2. Skipton Castle makes for a very good day out.

3. Betty's Tea Rooms, Harrogate are excellent and everyone should go there too, mmmm ....

4. We completed on our flat at 9.10am on Friday, so that burden is gone, hurrah! On the other side of the equation, over the weekend, we lost out on the Woking house, which went to the higher bidder, but the Elstead house is still in play and we should hear something next week.


Book News:


1. The first part of my interview with Reasons To Be Beautiful Magazine is now online here (many thanks, Stephanie & Madel) so I hope you enjoy browsing through that.

2. There's 30% off all my Untreed Reads books until tomorrow (4 July), so do feel free to pick yourself up a bargain.

3. Writing Magazine have asked for a copy of my article so I have sent that off to them.

4. The more helpful UK lawyer has suggested she link me up with their US counterparts next week so I've said yes to that - though I'm not convinced anything entirely helpful will come out of it, it will be good to get the US legal view.

5. The next lines of the prologue of The Gifting are:

Beside him, his sister is dressed only in black. Her fair hair catches the light from the two torches mounted on the wall.

6. And, finally, the Sunday haiku is:

After two hundred
miles, the only reviver:
a Yorkshire cream tea.

Anne Brooke

Surviving murder and a little writing success

Must say the murder mystery weekend was certainly an experience. I'm not sure that the hotel, the actors or the other guests were quite ready for the combined and barely contained lunacy of the Egypt Group (as that set of friends has been named), but we all muddled through relatively unscathed. I suspect it's one of the those things you just have to do once. If you know what I mean! However, honour was satisfied, as Chris from the EG (well done, Chris!) cracked the case and won the bottle of champagne by a stroke of pure genius. Whereas the booby price (a lemon for me, hurrah!) went to Yours Truly for an off-the-wall and I think brilliantly inspired solution to the murders, in which the true culprits were the camel and Mustafa in a tale of ambition, lust, revenge, despair, loss, grief, love and ultimately redemption. Just sounds like the usual weekend then, really ... Anyway, it was great to catch up with the Egypt Group, as ever, plus we managed to create a group salute (no, I really can't describe it) which we then taught to the acting troupe. Never say I'm not meant to be in the world for a purpose. Not only that, but Lord H and I spotted sky-larks, a red kite and swifts, so I think that at least two of those are new birds for this year.

Oh and we all had a trip out on Saturday afternoon (free non-murder time!) and had a great time at the Yellow Hat Tribe Gallery which is a truly wonderful place with a lovely artist who was very happy to chat with us and who is a genuinely nice woman. I bought teatowels, cards and a marvellous canvas bag. The yellow hat motif and what Irene Tyack makes of it can't help but make you smile.

Back home, I discover that I have a rejection from some people with apparently very poor taste for a selection of poetry (what can they be thinking??!), but also that two of my stories have been published over the weekend, so that's perked me up for sure:

The first is a romantic comedy - The Driving Force about a kind-hearted taxi driver and a rather confused couple.

The second is a somewhat darker piece of flash fiction about the end of a relationship - The End of Winter.

I suspect that you'll either love one and hate the other, or hold to the other and despise the one. As they say.

And let's not forget this week's haiku:

Directing traffic:
red kite over the M4
with triangle tail.

Today's nice things:

1. Murder Mystery weekends
2. The Egypt Group, and all who sail in her (as it were!)
3. The Yellow Hat Tribe Gallery
4. Story publications.

Anne Brooke
Race for Life - helping Cancer Research