The Apple Picker's Daughter - 'a perfect tale for anyone who ever felt different'

Novel of childhood The Apple Picker's Daughter has received its first review - a 5-star one at Amazon UK, entitled 'A perfect tale for anyone who ever felt different.' So I'm very thrilled about that!

"Such a beautiful, gentle book, telling the story of Clare's life from birth to adolescence. A delightful and intriguing tale of a child who feels herself 'different', who neither fits in nor understands the people around her ... I loved it and read it in one sitting."

You can read the rest of this review here and find out more about the book here.

And as a reminder for you, here's the blurb:

Born in the 1960s on a UK apple farm, Clare Rivers is a girl out of time, living in a family and a world that makes little sense to her. Determined to carve out her place somehow, and with her deep love of her father to see her through, Clare begins a unique journey to discover the reasons for her own existence. If she can. However, accompanied by the oddities of family, school and the strange lyrical life of the apples, can Clare really find a place within herself to call home? 

This novel will appeal to lovers of rural life, recent history and a child's quirky but clear-sighted view of the adult world.

Happy reading! - and don't forget that everything that happens in this novel is actually true, as it's really the story of my own childhood in a fictionalised form. Now, there's a confession, eh …!

Anne Brooke Books
The Gathandrian Fantasy Trilogy
Gay Reads UK

Freebies galore and garden delights

Book News:

My epic gay-themed fantasy series The Gathandrian Trilogy now has its own Facebook page, and many thanks to those who've already joined up. All visitors more than welcome, and don't forget all the books are FREE.

The first in the series, The Gifting, can be downloaded for free at a wide variety of online book retailers, the newest of which is Obooko Books and Free Ebooks websites. So far in total (as far as I can tell, or am told), about 200 readers have already downloaded it, so I hope at least some of them are enjoying the read.

Meanwhile the second in the series, Hallsfoot's Battle, is due out in July and will also be a free book. As you can see, the cover art is now chosen and I'm very happy indeed with it. This one concentrates more on the story of Annyeke Hallsfoot, the kick-ass redheaded (hmm, wonder where I get that from, eh ...) new Acting Elder of the Gathandrian city, although the ongoing rollercoaster saga of Simon and Ralph is not overlooked at all. Here's the blurb:

Gelahn the Mind Executioner begins his battle campaign. His powers are unmatched - even without the mind-cane in his possession - and next he will break and possess Ralph Tregannon the Lammas Overlord. Recently appointed Acting Elder and left in sole charge of her people, Annyeke Hallsfoot draws on all her mind-skills and courage as the fight for Gathandria rages. The precious ancient legends are her bedrock and she begins teaching their wisdom to the scribe, Simon Hartstongue, who must quickly learn to work with the mind-cane's strange powers.  But Simon is distracted by his own demons and only fears the artefact, so Annyeke must plot a desperate strategy to defeat the enemy. As the Gathandrians rally behind their new leader, Gelahn strikes at the very heart of the city.

Keeping to the subject of free books, my Christian novella The Prayer Seeker is now FREE at Smashwords and Omnilit Books. So far it's been downloaded about 80 times, which is nice. Here's the blurb:

Michael Woodthorpe hasn’t attended church for many years, not since his time as an evangelical in his early twenties. One winter he decides to take early retirement in order to search for the God he used to know.

As he comes to terms with his new existence, he must face opposition from both his ex-girlfriend, and his ex-wife, whom he hasn’t seen for many years. Meanwhile, he begins a series of religious encounters with a spiritual director and slowly discovers the riches of prayer. When his journey brings him face to face with the mistakes in the past which had made him walk away from God, he must find a way to resolve them if he is to fulfil his God-given potential at all. 

In other book news, I am offering three free ebooks of gay thriller Maloney's Law in a BookLikes giveaway competition, so enter now to avoid disappointment! The competition ends on 5 July. Maloney's Law has just gained two new 4-star reviews at Goodreads, one from Lorraine, and one from Tricia who says:

"A thriller, a mystery, a tragedy, and a romance in only a dark sense. Totally worth the read and impossible to put down. New author for me, I will be looking for more titles from Anne Brooke."

In addition, Maloney's Law gained a 4.5 star review at Top2Bottom Reviews which included the following:

"Once you get into this book it's impossible to put it down. Every time you think you have it figured out, it proves you wrong. In other words it's the perfect detective book! The characters were very strong and the backstory couldn't have been better."

Goodness, many thanks indeed to all these readers and reviewers. Not to be outdone, The Bones of Summer (Maloney *2) is now available as a paperback at Amazon US. It has also this week gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (many thanks again, Lorraine).

Turning to short stories now, gay literary erotic story The Beginning of Knowledge gained a 4-star review at Pants Off Reviews, which included the following:

"Once again Anne Brooke has pulled off an emotional winning read in so few pages. Her talent for capturing human emotions, kink, and flawed characters never ceases to amaze me … The ending is bittersweet but it felt right and I am happy with it (satisfied). If this is the kind of read Wilde City Press is pushing out, then I am so on board. The Beginning of Knowledge is another winner by the queen of shorts, Ms Anne Brooke."

Well gosh, thank you. Gay romantic comedy Who Moved My Holepunch? received a 5-star review at Amazon US, and also free gay poetry anthology Falling Awake was given 5 stars at The Novel Approach Reviews, who say:

"Each piece is but a small window through which the reader is able to catch a glimpse of the authors' creative talents, each piece telling a story - a beginning, middle, and end - in all the rich tones of a free-form and lyrical language …Falling Awake, in some ways, reads like flash fiction that has been structured with a cadence and rhythm all its own."

Life News:

I was more than startled when one of our church ladies rang up this week to say how thrilled she was that I've agreed to join the group set up to read Christian stories to the children at the local school. What??!!?? All my most hated activities in one fell swoop, oh what joy. I told her it was the first I'd heard of it, I hated children and avoided them at all costs and it would be like putting Cruella de Vil in charge of the kennels. She sounded a tad put-out at my response, but certainly not as put-out as I was. Mind you, immediately afterwards, K said I'd missed a golden opportunity to introduce the local Young People to the joys of gay erotic fiction, and I should have said I'd go along and then read them some of my own work. After all, as one of my Facebook friends reminded me, my erotic comedy School for Doms is surely an educational story (it's set in a school at least ...) and would be perfect for the occasion. Hey ho. Maybe I should ring her back? Ah, the temptation ...

This week's cake was a disaster, my dears, a disaster. Though thankfully, the lovely K managed to salvage it with the icing I'd left him to cope with when I went off to help out at the University open day. It's supposed to be White Chocolate Coffee Gateau but I have renamed it (thank you, Karen!) to White Chocolate Coffee Terror Gateau. It surely has one of the most complicated recipes known to humankind - some of which involves heating two different sets of substances at the same time whilst whisking one of them with an electric whisk. Arrgghhh!! Who creates such torture?? They should be stopped at once.

Suffice it to say that K appeared in the kitchen at exactly the right time to point out that I was managing to melt the electric lead in the gas flame and some of the bits were dripping into the mixture. Oh hell. It's astonishing we're all still alive and in one piece really. Though I like to think the wiring added extra protein to the cake. I also think I baked it too long (well, I was frightened to bring it out in case it turned against me, my dears) and it has basically turned into biscuit wrapped in custard (ie that icing). But what the hell - we're English and we'll eat the dang thing if it kills us. It's the Empire spirit, don't you know.

Anyway, thank goodness for the garden to make everything calm again and the joys - today - of coffee, juice, croissants and pain au chocolat on the patio for breakfast. True bliss.

So here are sweetpeas fresh from the garden, clematis, lilies, the petunia and pansy bed, the rose garden, the trellis roses and the lychnis.

Happy Sunday!

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Trilogy: free fantasy series
Biblical Fiction UK

Painting, Prayer and Anger

Life News:

Moved to existential rage by all the recent nonsenses perpetrated by the Church of England, I have started a blog called The Angry Anglican, so if you wish to find out my views on women bishops, gay marriage, the church and what's currently happening in it all, please do feel free to visit. You'll be more than welcome, whoever you are.

In the meantime, I have also been utterly horrified by the terrible death of that unfortunate nurse cruelly hoaxed by people who don't seem to have many brain cells between them. Honestly, if I were in charge, all public hoax calls would be illegal and the idiots who perform them would be forced to endure hard labour for some considerable time. I was therefore greatly heartened by Lord Glenarthur's strongly-worded yet polite response. Well said, sir. It does however annoy me that the radio presenters are said to be having counselling for their trauma. Trauma schmauma. I don't believe any of their family members have just died in very sad circumstances. It's not them who should be having the ruddy counselling, but the nurse's family (says she in a very unChristian manner, I know, but at least I'm being honest). I hope they're paying for the sessions but I suspect they don't possess the decency ... RIP Jacintha Saldanha.

Turning to other sad news, I'm sorry to see that Sir Patrick Moore has just died - I really liked him and he was one of a kind. RIP also Sir Patrick then.

It's not been all sad this week though. I've made an Apple and Cinnamon Cake, which turned out well, but doesn't look exciting enough for a photograph. Sorry. Maybe next week! I've also begun to receive the usual drift of Christmas cards from elderly relatives, quite a few of whom ask if "I'm still carrying on with my funny little hobby of writing." Deeeep sigh and bless, eh. As the question evidently portrays an overwhelming lack of interest in what means such a great deal to me, I wonder why they bother asking at all. I'm tempted to send said elderly relatives copies of my latest gay erotic work, but I don't really want to be responsible for a whole stream of RIP reports ...

It's also amused me that our local Citizens' Advice Bureau is apparently now over £40,000 in debt. Snort! Maybe they should make an appointment with themselves to try to sort it out? Hmm. Or maybe not.

Oh, and is it me or is it now compulsory to have a criminal sexual past if you want to be famous? The mind boggles ...

Book News:

Through the whole of this month, there's a 25% discount on all my gay erotic fiction at Amber Allure Press. So do feel free to stock up for Christmas - it'll be too cold to go out.

My new Christian novella The Prayer Seeker is now available very cheaply indeed at Amazon UK and Amazon US. Also ideal for Christmas! It was even briefly at No 58 in the Amazon UK Religious Fiction charts, so that was quite pleasing.

Gay literary short story Painting from Life has now been republished and is available at a far cheaper price than previously from Amazon UK and Amazon US. Interestingly, it has no sex in it, but a lot of hidden passion and paint. Happy reading.

I was also very pleased indeed by a lovely new 5-star review of fantasy novel The Gifting over at Amazon. Many thanks, Lynn - it's much appreciated. Meanwhile, I'm secretly rather thrilled that over at Musa Publishing, they're going to be taking on the work of the bestselling Roger Rabbit author, so I'll be sharing a publisher with someone famous, well gosh! They're lucky to be in the same publishing stable as me, of course ...

Finally, the cover art for the upcoming gay Office Affairs anthology from Amber Allure Press can now be revealed. My offering is comic story Who Moved My Holepunch? and is scheduled to be published in March.







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

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr DeMille - possibly ...

Book News:

Well, the truth is well and truly out. I am indeed, as the Surrey Advertiser has now showcased for all time, a redhead. I sincerely hope that their rather wonderful pic (please note my much-loved collection of fluffy pens, though sadly they couldn't quite get my snow globes in the shot) will finally stop people strangely insisting I'm a blonde or a brunette. Um, no, as is very evident ... Plus a BIG thank you to Jennifer Maxfield at the Surrey Advertiser who somehow managed to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and produce a rather good article about gay sex and faith in The Heart's Greater Silence from my mindless ramblings this week. Thank you, Jennifer.

To add to this excitement, I've had a visit today from the very charming Sam Milletti of Milletti Films, who is keen to pitch a ten-minute film about the psychology of the writing life in general and my writing in particular as part of his degree course film assignment. We've come up with a few angles so I'll see next week if his is the one chosen.

Yesterday was our Elstead Writers group meeting which was as inspirational as usual (many thanks, all). I think I now have renewed enthusiasm for battling on with my gay fantasy novella, The Taming of The Hawk, though I suspect progress will still be slow. In the meantime, I've done the second round of edits on Angels and Airheads for Musa Publishing, and have sent them off, so am awaiting the response.

This week, biblical story Dancing with Lions was my bestselling story at Amazon US, and gay short story For One Night Only gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (many thanks, Lennis).

I've now also signed up for the upcoming UK GLBTQ Writers & Readers Conference which takes place in Brighton in September, so am very much looking forward to that. Am hoping to be involved on one of the panels, and also in the novel beginnings session, so watch this space ...

Nearer at hand in terms of timings, I'm very happy to announce that for the whole of next week I will be the Featured Author at Pants Off Reviews, and this will include reviews of my gay short stories, an interview and a fun giveaway. Do pop in and join in the fun - all are welcome!

Finally, to round off your weekend and put the zing back in your week, why not pick up a copy of warm-hearted romantic comedy Pink Champagne and Apple Juice? A classic cocktail not to be missed indeed - enjoy.

The Sunday haiku is:

A glimpse of sunshine
across the silent grasses:
one lone daffodil.

Life News:

Yesterday I finally felt well enough to crack open the champagne we were supposed to have on Valentines Day but I was too ill. Mmmm, champagne - it was lovely, thanks. I really have never met a bottle I didn't like. Bliss. To maintain the universal culinary balance, however, I must needs confess I managed to burn the muffins, alas. I was attempting to be such a Kitchen Goddess too (hmm, as if ...) but I fear the oven is hotter than the recipe anticipates. So we do still have muffins, but the burnt bits have gone in the bin and the chocolate chips appear to have sunk to the bottom and are huddling together for safety (though not warmth). Ah well. Perhaps next week's cookery attempt will prove more successful.

Speaking of being a Bad Wife (of a sort), I decided to be very noble and tidy up my computer desk which has been in a shocking state for weeks. This resulted in the unexpected discovery of the Very Vital USB cable that I accused K of losing a fortnight ago. Hmm, anyone for Humble Pie? It's definitely on the menu for me ...

Meanwhile, the bird excitement here on the estate (as it were) is mounting. A couple of days ago I saw three goldfinches on our bird feeder, and K has now also put up the two nesting boxes we've very kindly been given. We might not quite stretch to installing a webcam to view them more thoroughly, but I do hope something will turn up and move in.

And today's sermon pointer: God is never as narrow-minded or resentful as we are. Well, thank goodness for that indeed!

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Rewrites and Rev

Book News:

Much to my surprise, another reader asked for for a signed Kindle copy of one of my books this week so I was happy to oblige - many thanks, Kimberly. Literary lesbian short story The Girl in the Painting also made it to No 14 in the Amazon UK GLBT Short Stories chart this week, which was lovely though it's fallen somewhat now.

This week, I've also started back with writing my fantasy novella, The Taming of The Hawk, which was a relief as I've not tackled it for ages, what with other stories taking precedence. I've also been doing rewrites of literary gay short story The Eye of The Beholder for Riptide Publishing, but I'm not sure if it's quite there yet. I'm thinking of changing the title, as the focus is shifting a fair amount, to Where You Hurt Most, but we'll have to see.

And at The Thoughtful Corner, I'm thinking about what TV sitcom Rev. says about faith and life. And, believe me, there's quite a lot there, as it's a programme which just keeps getting better, hurrah. I love it!

Here's a recent meditation:




Meditation 596
Each unfamiliar name
drives me further
from the truth
that lies within:

a barrier to peace
where Bethzur, Mareshah
and Gath
find their faiths begin.


The Sunday haiku:

This winter evening
wraps the house in slow silence,
quieting my heart.


Life News:

Had my six-monthly trip to the dentist on Friday, which went okay, actually - though I did have to have one small filling though thankfully without the drill, double hurrah. We had a nice chat afterwards about the old days when there were no computers and we all shared happy nostalgic memories about carbon paper. Ah indeed - whatever happened to that?... It's amazing how much has changed only in the last twenty years.

Yesterday K and I had our Christmas trip to see Mother. I took a good strong dose of Quiet Life pills to keep me smiling and all, I believe, was well. She was in high spirits indeed, or perhaps that was the effect of the drugs. Whose drugs, nobody can tell, hey ho ... And today, we've spent a long time in the garden, weeding the shrubbery and some of the remaining borders, and also planting twelve rose bushes along the trellis at the back. I'm going to have to get a nailbrush to de-garden my hands, I think. Nature certainly ain't that clean!

Anne Brooke
The Origami Nun

Garden delights and The Thoughtful Corner

Book News:

Lots of exciting news this week, so hang on to your hats. As it were. I'm really pleased to say that my Christian novella, The Prayer Seeker, is set to be published by DWB Publishing on 5 December 2011, so the ideal Christmas present for your spiritually-minded friends indeed.

You can now find the latest August news on my website, and I've also started a quarterly newsletter which you're more than welcome to sign up for. It will contain fascinating writing snippets, exclusive extracts and free giveaways with each edition - so what have you got to lose! Go on, you know you want to, and hey it won't cost you anything either. What could be nicer?

On a rather more philosophical level, I've also started a new and quieter blog, called The Thoughtful Corner - where I'll be posting monthly on issues that make me think, so please do feel free to visit if you need a bit of a break from the demands of life, and indeed the fast-moving parts of the Internet. I like to think of it as a small opportunity to experience "life in the slow lane" and hey we all need a taste of that sometimes. The first issue I'm looking at is demands and delays, and how we can balance these contrasting pulls in our lives. I'd love to hear how you do that, or even if you do it, as I know it's something I find very hard, and more so as I get older! Heck, I need all the help I can get ...

In terms of reviews, I'm very happy to have received an interesting review on gay comedy The Hit List, some lovely comments on gay BDSM story Give and Take, and a 5-star review of gay romantic story Two Christmases. All from Goodreads, all in Italian (but Google Translate solved my problems in no time!) and all from a lovely lady called Anncleire - so very many thanks for that!

Meanwhile the equally lovely bestselling and very talented crime novelist Vicki Tyley has kindly showcased The Gifting on her blog - so thank you so much, Vicki - I'm really touched by that gesture. Well, you knew I was pretty odd anyway ...

There's one meditation poem this week:




Meditation 555
He fills the space
for prayer
with so many words

I can barely remember
if God is there
at all.


This week's haikus (the second one as we've had a rather tricky time with Celia Satnav this weekend, Gawd bless 'er ...) are:

Two grey cats yowling
their displeasure like soldiers
preparing for war.


Take the first exit
for joy, the fourth for sorrow.
Recalculating.


Life News:

We attended our old neighbour's funeral on Friday - it was a very moving occasion, as these things often are, but I learnt a great deal about what we like to call his "middle years" which was great - as both M & G, his children, gave wonderful talks at the Crematorium. I knew a fair amount about Henry's war years, and of course about the last twenty years when he lived in the same house as us, but knew little about the time between. It was good to fill out the picture. I'll certainly miss him.

There's also some very positive news once more about the Elstead house. It looks like the completion date might end up being 1 or 2 September, which suits us fine, but we can't tell until tomorrow when our solicitor gets the final signed documents from ourselves (which we dropped in to her today) and I can get hold of our removal people to see if either of those dates are free for them. Ah, the tension is mounting, you know. I only hope we can actually get to exchange date without more disasters this time round! God willing.

And our new washing machine is totally fabulous. I think I am in love with it. It's sooo big. I could stuff a whole roomful of clothes in there and still have room for the odd extra cardigan or two. Bliss. It's just a damn shame we can't take it with us, sigh.

This weekend we have gone garden-mad, and really enjoyed it. Yesterday was the delights of The Savill Garden - which is well worth a visit, and the cappuccino and cupcakes were, once again, to die for. Mmmm. But, much to my horror, they've changed the shop!!! That shop was wonderful when we last visited, but they've now made it a lot smaller (why, oh why?...) and there's virtually nothing to buy. What could they have been thinking? Deeep sigh indeed.

Today, however, we are more than mollified by our visit to the utterly wonderful Old Croft Garden in Dorking. It was very beautiful indeed, incredibly peaceful and oh so cleverly designed. Ooh, and the mini cream tea was pretty good too. However, the definite comic highlight was the delightful old couple who were looking closely at the list of plants to work out what was what:

She: Are you sure you can read that without your glasses, darling?
He: But, my dear, I'm wearing my glasses ...

Honestly, you couldn't make it up. We're still chortling ... Sadly though, it's the last day this particular garden is open this year, but they're re-opening on both Sunday and Monday of both May bank holidays next year - so we plan to be there. I can thoroughly recommend it.

Anne Brooke
The Thoughtful Corner

Popes, Prayer and paint

Life News:

A hell of a lot of painting has gone on this week - we've painted the bathroom door and skirting board, the hall cupboard, the spare room door & cupboard, some of the hall skirting boards and two sets of the three wooden frames that are a feature of our hallway. It all lightens it up nicely, which is hugely pleasing - if we'd known it would look so good, we've have done it much earlier, but it certainly should make it more desirable at the very least. And it's a lesson to us for our next home - paint everything light colours and watch the space increase!

Not only that but I've tidied the living room and spare rooms so they look much bigger - or the spare room would if we hadn't today moved everything around in order to paint, but it will do when it's back in its right place again! I've also recycled six bags of books last week and have created another nine bags of books today to take to the recycling point this week. We do have a lot of books - K did an estimate a while back and made it 1200, but it's 15 bags less now! We've also chucked away a load of old videos and tapes that we never watch/listen to - Lord only knows why we were keeping them. Laziness probably.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon behind the Student Care stand at the University Open Day - not as hectic as the last time which was truly horrible, but I wasn't feeling that well really, so I kept smiling inanely and hoping that people believed whatever it was I was saying. Most seemed to.

Oh, and Marian and I played an outrageously bad game of golf on Friday - we were so bad we became utterly hysterical at one point and couldn't stop laughing. Thank goodness no-one was behind us. Marian managed to get both her tee shots on the 6th hole into the pond, which is at least consistent, and I managed to hit not one, not two, but three trees on the 8th, two of them with the same shot. Lordy, but I'm good, um not. Thankfully, Marian and her husband came round for dinner on Friday night (pre-painting extravaganza) so we were able to drown our sorrows in good measure.

Finally, rumour has it that some elderly Catholic gent has come over to the UK for the weekend, Gawd bless 'im. I hope he enjoys his brief stay, though I do think the least we could do is give him a car he could actually get in and out of successfully. He is 83, after all, and Jaguar's don't really allow for much leeway ... Mind you, K reminded me that he must have been greatly chuffed indeed during his private audience with the Queen and Prince Philip - to be at last the youngest person in the room must have fulfilled a lifetime's ambition for him, hurrah!

Book News:

I've finished the edits for The Prayer Seeker, so I now feel happier with that. Now all I have to do (ho hum) is find someone who might want it. Suggest no-one holds their breath though! And I'm pleased to say that Tommy's Blind Date is now available at All Romance Ebooks and, not to be outdone, The Delaneys and Me popped briefly back into the Amazon Charts at No 78 though not for long.

This week's meditation is:

Meditation 429
If you’re in a desert
where ravens bring you food
and God provides the water

sneak away quickly
as your odds for happiness
probably just got shorter.


The Sunday haiku is:

A sparkle of birds
wheels and dances in the sky.
Sunlight on water.

Anne Brooke

Reviews and DIY delights

Book News:

I'm very happy to say that Tommy's Blind Date gained a lovely 4.5 star review at Jessewave Reviews - so thank you, Wave, for that! It's also been lucky enough to gain two 4 star reviews at Goodreads, one from Ami and the other from Chris - many thanks, both. It's much appreciated.

Determined not to be left behind, Tuluscan Six and the Time Circle also received its first review at Obsidian Bookshelf, which I'm very pleased about. Thank you, Val! I'd been worried nobody liked it at all so nice to know some do.

Meanwhile, I'm continuing the edits for The Prayer Seeker and hope to have finished them by the time we get to Freshers' Week (aarrgghh!!!) at the end of September. I like to have a clear head for battle, don't you know.

Here at the meditations so far this week:

Meditation 425
For everything on earth
there is a price;

the only question is
when you pay it.


Meditation 426
If I’d been king
for only seven days

I too would want to die
in fire and heat and agony

if only so the buggers
remembered me.

Meditation 427
Another year, another king
leads to more disputes,
one new town,
not much action
and no-one’s learnt a thing.


Meditation 428
For the city’s foundation
you lose a son

and for its gates
your youngest dies:

so God’s sacrifice
when it is done

should come to you
as no surprise.


Life News:

Hmmm, ruddy vendors. What can I say? I've really lost interest in them and in their flat myself now, so if that's what they were aiming for, they've certainly succeeded. What's happened most recently? Well, they were fairly unhelpful over the weekend (which is becoming something of a hobby for them really), accusing us of chopping and changing our demands. We responded by saying that may indeed be true, now, but it is after all a skill we have learnt from them. No response to that, yet, hey ho. We have therefore returned the plants we were tending on their behalf to the flat - well, we don't want to be accused of taking them without permission even though that's what they agreed to (vendor memories don't last long, I fear ...)! We have also removed the items of our neighbour that have been in our outer hall cupboard and put them back in his flat (neatly, of course - how could you think otherwise, ho ho?! - and we have at least informed them that's what we've done), and taken the precaution of fixing the cupboard with a padlock and marking it as ours. Just in case of dispute, don't you know. Really, it's been nice to store some of our larger items in it and creates much needed space for us.

Therefore, in the interests of making our flat as purchasable as possible, I have scrubbed the outer hall stairs and window, tidied and dusted the shared hallway, sanded and washed the bathroom door and skirting board, cleaned the fridge, and K and I have washed the kitchen walls. Lordy, we're good! Actually, if the vendors do unexpectedly start playing nice and taking our offer seriously, I'm now at the point where I actually don't want it any more. I think it will be far nicer to move elsewhere, frankly. Their loss. And I do think it's high time K and I moved on.

Today, Liz came round for tea (hello, Liz!) and we had a lovely chat whilst she admired our sparkling new hallway. We then put the world to rights, and the universe is now perfect. Don't blink in case you miss it!

Anne Brooke

Blind Dates galore

Book news:

I'm happy to announce that Tommy's Blind Date is published today and available at a first week discount at Amber Allure Press. Enjoy!

I've also spent a really wonderful day today at the inaugural UK gay fiction writers & readers conference in Ely - it's been fabulous and we're definitely going to do it again next year. It was fascinating to meet some of the writers whom I've known for a while on the Internet and via email, and to meet some new faces/names too. Great stuff. Special thank yous to Alex Beecroft for organising it all, and for Sarah & Jo who had to put up with me in the car - a special medal for them for sure! Can't wait for our Christmas get-together either.

Meanwhile, The Executioner's Cane has finally made it to the 70,000 word marker so well over half-way now. Phew. And the first-round edits for The Prayer Seeker are looking interesting, with my editor/consultant (a new one to me, but she deals with religious fiction) describing it as "quiet and luminescent". Gosh, I didn't think any of my stuff would ever be described in that way and it certainly feels nice. Still a lot to do to improve it but I'm on the road. Somewhere ...

This week's meditation is:

Meditation 424
Beware of dogs
and vultures,

beasts that bite
and beasts that fly:

no good will come
of either.


The Sunday haiku is:

Girl in a pink top
and purple skirt is dancing
amongst the fuchsias.


Life news:

K and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on Saturday which was great. We spent most of the day at Wisley Flower Show - it's amazing what they can do with flowers, don't you know! - and had a picnic there as the weather was just about okay to sit out. At least it wasn't raining. And we opened a bottle of champagne in the evening - which always goes down well. I've never met a champagne bottle I didn't like.

Earlier in the week I spring-cleaned most of the kitchen. I have to say the under-the-sink cupboard was utterly gross in every way and took 2 buckets of hot soapy water to clean it properly. I don't know what had died in there but I spent a long time mopping up a vast and evil lake of what appeared to be a gravy and soy sauce mix that had flowed everywhere without us noticing (we are such slobs). Honestly I had to prize the tins of peas away from its sticky grasp, so it was not pleasant! All clean now, thank the Lord, and at least I didn't find the head of John the Baptist, or Shergar, both of whom would be grateful not to have spent time there, I imagine.

Finally, the news on the house remains distinctly disappointing and, really, I just don't want to talk about it that much. It just makes me too angry and upset. Suffice it to say we made another slightly higher offer in response to the vendors' new apparent reasonableness, and they have come back with another rude and unnecessary email not really responding to our offer but just expressing their personal opinions about us, so seem to have reverted to type somewhat. All very exhausting - don't these people have any idea how to do business??? Well, obviously not .... Anyway, we will send another letter to them and their solicitors reminding them that our new offer is still on the table if they wish to consider it again and see what that brings out of their very peculiar communications pot.

In the meantime and on a happier note, we continue the efforts to spruce up our flat and are busy admiring the lovely number of buyable properties in the local paper this week. If the vendors want to keep us as potential buyers which is after all the easy and cheap option for them as we're already in the damn house for goodness sake, then they're going to have to be a lot nicer and work much harder than they currently are. Hmm, don't wait up, eh ...!!

Anne Brooke

Of beetles and bemusement

Book News:

I've sent the final edits for Tommy's Blind Date back to the publisher, so am now waiting for the galley proofs to come back for a look through. At the same time, I'm continuing the edits of The Prayer Seeker's Journal so will be adding no more to that blog as it stands. I will also be taking it down at the weekend, I think.

Meanwhile, my review of Ned Beauman's novel, Boxer, Beetle, is now up at Vulpes Libris. It's a brilliant and bizarre book let down by a bumblingly bad blurb. Which is a shame, but I hope you enjoyed the alliteration in my last sentence anyway. I certainly did.

Here's this week's meditation poetry:


Meditation 405
Spices, jewels,
gold and the beginnings
of wisdom

warm the air
and bring forth truth
from the heart tonight.


Meditation 406
If I had
all the money
in the world

I probably wouldn’t buy
weapons, spices,
horses or mules

but for wisdom’s taste
and song
there’s no true accounting.

Life News:

I've started a new gardening blog, called The Bemused Gardener, which will explain the joys and horrors faced by Lord K and myself, beginner gardeners extraordinaire. Or potentially so at least. Nope, we've no real idea what we're doing either, but that's never stopped us before, hey ho. It's probably a consolation prize for myself for ending the prayer blog (see above), as I am after all a glutton for punishment.

While I'm on the subject of nature's bounty, it's glorious to see that the first of the English apples are in the shops at last, hurrah! How the smell of them takes me right back to my father's apple farm in rural Essex and that enormous cold-store. Astonishingly, it's Tesco who's won the battle to bring the firstfruits in this time, as usually it's Waitrose, so well done, Mr Tesco. They're great stuff too - Discoveries and they smell like heaven, just like an apple should.

I'm also feeling much better, health-wise, and actually like a real person, rather than simply a huge and sniffly nose on legs. Hmm, nice image, eh. That said, the doctor has just rung up today to check that I do want the referral to the Guildford specialist, and yes I do, as per the other consultant, so at least that's going forward now, hurrah.

I must also say how much Lord K and I have enjoyed the lamentably few episodes of Sherlock which have graced our TV screens for the last three Sundays. Bliss - more please, and soon. I particularly loved the portrayal of Moriarty, but Lord K says that's because I simply can't resist a depiction of male psychotic lunacy contained by intellectual strength. My response was only to agree, and it's precisely why I married him in the first place. He muttered something in turn about me being the female version of that (which is no doubt why we're so well suited), but I fear I am in fact far worse: the lovely Ruth G (formerly of the University chaplaincy but now moved on to bigger and better things) told me only yesterday that she did realise I wasn't actually the Anti-christ, but if I chose to be she thought I'm make a really really good job of it. My, how we laughed, slightly hysterically I admit, but we did laugh. Good to know I may at last have found my ideal career path after all these years - I wonder what the vicar will say ...

Anne Brooke
The Bemused Gardener

Bitchy women and difficult men

Book News:

Angels and Airheads is now available for sale at All Romance Ebooks and, talking of sales, Untreed Reads are offering a 29% discount on ALL their titles for today only if you put HAPPYBIRTHDAYPC in as a discount code at checkout, so click here for a fabulous shopping experience.

I'm happy to note that Creative Accountancy for Beginners is No 10 on the Omnilit ebooks bestseller charts, well gosh, so a big thank you to those of you who've bought that one. Speaking of chart placings, The Delaneys and Me is back, after a brief holiday, into the Amazon Gay Fiction charts and is currently lying at No 59. I'm also thrilled to say that Martin and The Wolf has been chosen as one of the Recommended July Reads at Jessewave Reviews, so thank you, Wave, for that!

Also, to my surprise as at heart I'm a glass-half-empty sort of person, The Girl in the Painting appears to be selling well in the UK, so that's lovely to know. Another thank you to those readers out there. And yet another thank you, this time to Charles for his mention of Sunday Haiku at the ever-popular and very classy Ink Sweat & Tears webzine. (Apologies if that last link doesn't work, as Blogger doesn't seem to like it no matter what I do, sigh, but it is there, honest!...)

In addition, I've finished the first draft of my online novella, The Prayer Seeker's Journal, which has come in at about 45,000 words. So I'll start editing that when we're back from our holiday. Weirdly, I've started writing a story with a child who can't speak as a main character, so Lord alone knows where that's going. I'm calling it The Origami Nun - a title inspired by Ruth G at work. I can see the whole story in my head right now, which never happens. Is it my age? Or am I being switched with my far nicer twin after all these years?? Who can tell ...

Meanwhile at Vulpes Libris, my review of Suzannah Dunn's The Confession of Katherine Howard takes a look at bitchy women and difficult men, Tudor-style. I am of course an expert in the former (from self-knowledge, naturally) and have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of the latter, ho ho.

This week's meditations are:

Meditation 403
All the cedar,
pine and gold
in the world

cannot ease the bitterness
of counting everything
as evil.


Meditation 404
The great temple
was built
not just by Solomon’s
godly obedience

but by the blood
and sweat
of the men he forced
to die for it.


Life News:

Work's been really tricky this week and, once again, I seem to have been at odds with the world, alas. So yes it probably is me. I am naturally angry all the time, sigh. Anyway, I ended up yesterday evening at home sobbing like a baby about it all whilst Lord K attempted to provide sustenance and support, bless him. Surely the change in my HRT regime can't have kicked in quite so soon?? Lord preserve us. Soon I will be wailing and screaming at least once a day while I wait for the menopause to arrive. Hey ho. Again.

Mind you, I think I've been leading up to another bout of nasty catarrh illness as I'm as sick as the proverbial today, a state made rather worse by being able to grab only a couple of hours' sleep last night. Why can't the TV channels have nice light comedies on during the very early mornings when we sick people of Britain actually need them? I'm thinking of writing a letter of complaint along these lines as I don't want politics, news, rampant naughtiness or murders when I'm feeling that delicate. I really don't understand why the programmers can't see that ...

What with all that, I looked like a zombie that had seen better days a long long time ago by the time the real morning was here - so thank goodness Lord K was on hand to deal with the mortgage surveyor who arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 8.30am to give his verdict on the flat below. So I think we've done everything that we need to do to ease the buying process along and all we have to do now is wait for the various reports to arrive, and take stock at that point.

So far today then, I have been enjoying a diet of Lucozade, Lemsips, Sudafed, Vitamin C pills and allergy relief pills, together with lots of castor oil rubbed on to my neck to ease the breathing process - so never say I don't know how to enjoy myself. I ought to have some food later on, really, but with this old familiar monster (catarrh, not me - oh, on second thoughts, maybe me too ...) there's no point rushing it as it's over only when it says it is.

I have managed to do some packing though, trailing my boxes of tissues with me - as tomorrow Lord K and I are off to see the Egypt Group of friends (ie friends we met in Egypt - how good at titles I am!) oop north for the weekend and then we're spending a few days in Northumbria. I hope I don't spread too much disease along with southern largesse and style (if I had any), but I would advise avoiding any of the service stations on the A1 tomorrow as you are likely to meet me doing something unspeakable with castor oil on the way and looking unbearably slimy. What joy for you!

However, to take our minds off that frightening picture, Lord K has now put pictures of the Seville festival on his website, so enjoy the colour and true spectacle that only Spanish senoritas can provide.

See you next week - hope you all have a good (and healthy) one!

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Milestones and mortgages

Life News:

A slightly earlier mid-week blog than usual as I'm fiddling around with my days this week, so am working tomorrow and then straight out to London to see a friend. As a result today has been hugely busy and I appear to have driven at least 75 miles in the pursuit of health and happiness.

Had my appointment with the lovely gynae consultant at the hospital today, who is cautiously pleased with my progress thus far but is altering the doses of my HRT in order to take the St John's Wort happy pills into account - so I'm a bit concerned about how that will affect things, but once again we'll have to see. I'm also being referred to another gynae expert in Guildford to see whether I might at some stage need another op or not. I hope not, but you never can tell. Such is the exciting health life of we middle-aged Surrey women. Hey ho.

Immediately after that I drove across to near where Lord H works in order to sort out, with him, the conveyancing on our new flat purchase, so we've now instructed a conveyancer and a mortgage company, so I'm not sure there are any other orders we need to give anyone. Not yet anyway. So far, there are only a couple of issues that need sorting out - so I will I suspect feel calmer when they're out of the way. All this unfamiliar stuff is making me terribly jittery - which doesn't surprise me.

Thank goodness for tonight, when we're out to see The Importance of Being Oscar at the Guildford Theatre, so an opportunity to relax and enjoy definitely beckons. How I need it!

Other life excitements this week so far have been the redoing of the tarmac at the University car park which means everyone is desperately juggling for spaces and we all have to get in early in order to find one. Not too much of a problem, and these things have to be done - my only difficulty has been attempting to find where the heck I've put the car at the end of the day as it's not in my usual place and, being me and a creature of routine, I end up staring soulfully through the fencing at where I usually park and wondering why I can't get there, and why indeed the car isn't there at all. Really, how people live lives of adventure and change is beyond me - I like structure and for things to be the same. Lordy, what a wimp, eh.

Book News:

The Delaneys and Me continues its whistle-stop tour round the Amazon Kindle Gay Fiction charts, and was up as high as Number 20 earlier this week. Many thanks to those people who are buying - it's very much appreciated.

I'm also very happy to say that I've reached the 40,000 word marker in my blogged novella, The Prayer Seeker, and you can read the latest episode here. I reckon it might end up being 45-50,000 words, but certainly no more.

Not only that, but I've reached my 400th meditation poem, hurrah! Here are the latest two:

Meditation 399
Through all the bustle
and clamour,

the demands, the dreams
and the night-waking fears,

the greatest desire of all
is simply to be heard.


Meditation 400
When all is done –
the words, the tears

and the hard-won hope –
what counts

above all
is mercy.


Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal