Life News:
Well, I must say of course how utterly splendid in every way the Royal Wedding has been. I was up early on Friday and I stayed glued to the TV (apart from very rapid loo breaks ...) from 8am until 2pm. Underneath this prickly and kick-ass exterior beats a heart of marshmallow, my dears, after all. I loved every single moment of it, and I think Kate and William (or Team Cambridge, as we now appear to be calling them) were wonderful throughout. The Middletons came out of it all as the classiest and most elegant family in England and have definitely done their daughter proud on all fronts. Good for them - we middle classes aren't quite as bad as everyone thinks, ha! And at least Mrs Middleton does know how to choose a hat, unlike Posh Beckham who appeared to have a quashed unicorn on her head, and Princess Beatrice who seemed to be wearing a copy of the female reproductive system on hers - or was that a cunning message to the country?... The mind boggles. In fact both Prince Andrew's daughters were dressed by some evil person in clothes more suited to a 70-year-old living in the 1950s - which is a shame as they're such pretty girls. Talking of which, everyone was I think bowled over by Earl Spencer's three daughters - who were giving a good impression of the Three Graces with their very eyecatching blonde beauty and style. Ah, there's trouble ahead there for the Earl, I think ... I also loved the two balcony kisses from Team Cambridge (ahhhh ....) and, earlier on, the wonderful image of the flunkey opening the car door for the Queen and saluting while she ... um ... exited with Prince Philip on the other side of the car. I imagine the flunkey must have been rather startled by her non-appearance, ah well.
Anyway, it was a fantastic day, and just proves that we British are indeed the best in the world when it comes to doing pomp and circumstance with that essential hint of informality and genuine joy. Bliss indeed. I'm already looking for my commemorative teatowel.
K and I have spent the rest of the weekend in a mini-tour of houses & gardens with Royal connections in honour of the occasion. Saturday was Polesdon Lacey (where the Queen Mother and King George VI spent some of their honeymoon) and Claremont Landscape Garden, which even had a Royal Weddings trail, hurrah. Then today, we've spent a lovely day at Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey was filmed, so there's TV royalty there, I'm sure. It was great fun walking round the castle (which has 50 bedrooms, but thankfully there's a whole floor not open so you don't have to take sandwiches to keep up your strength) and seeing where parts of the series were filmed. Actually, I didn't recognise any of the rooms as I think I was too focused on the characters and plot while I was watching it. The only part I did recognise was when we were outside and I suddenly realised I was in the scene at the start when Hugh Bonneville is walking up the meadow (um, their garden, I now realise) to the house with that pesky golden labrador (sorry, I really hate dogs, and golden labradors are the worst ...). Then later on we had lunch on the lawn where the last scene of Series One takes place, and K suddenly put his cup down, leaned over towards me across the table and said: I have bad news, darling. We are at war with Germany. A joke which you will only get if you saw the end of the series, I fear ...
After all this excitement, we popped in to Sandham Memorial Chapel, which is tiny, but the walls are covered with some really wonderful and very moving war paintings by Stanley Spencer. I thought they were great and well worth a visit if you're in the area.
Turning to less exalted matters (unfortunately), I must say that the recent Dr Who 2-parter which ended (well, sort of) yesterday has been quite ridiculously bad. K and I felt as if a handful of writers, probably on speed, had thrown together every plot cliche they could possibly think of and decided to see if they could do it at a gallop to boot. No sooner had one Big Reveal been uncovered than we were swept on to the next, and then the next and the next. It had more plot holes than the Grand Canyon and would have been far, far better if they'd concentrated on only two themes instead of dozens. Or, alternatively, made it into a 7-parter (at least!) so the viewer could have an essential breather now and again, and the writers could work on making it hang together. Such a shame ... So I'm hoping tonight's new crime series, Vera, will be much better, even though it wins the TV prize for the worst-named programme so far this year.
Book News:
The Girl in the Painting has a new buy link at Untreed Reads, and I'm also very pleased with my first quarter royalties for 2011, both for my Amber Allure books and for The Bones of Summer, so that's been a nice boost really.
Here's the latest meditation poem:
Meditation 525
Sheerah is a builder
of towns.
She stands strong
in the foundations,
her bright hair
glinting in fiery sun.
She holds one smooth stone
in her hand and lifts it
to the sky,
already seeing houses,
streets and people
in her mind’s true eye.
The Sunday haiku is:
The morning chiffchaff
lilts its rhythmic springtime beat
in our sleeping ears.
Enjoy the rest of the bank holiday weekend!
Anne Brooke
ANNE BROOKE BOOKS: Independent writer of modern fiction
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Meditations, mascara and Royal Weddings
Book News:
Not much news this week on the writing front really. I'm continuing on with my gay erotic short story, For One Night Only, and, with only a couple of scenes left to do, should get the first draft finished over the next few days.
In the meantime, here are some meditation poems:
Meditation 522
So many sons
and not one daughter
which categorically
fails to demonstrate
a vision of life
as it oughta.
Meditation 523
Hushim has no siblings.
He stands alone,
shadowed in the evening light
and waits for the wind
to breathe over his skin
whispering of silence
and all that lies within.
Meditation 524
The Aramean concubine
had no name
but her sons
founded a dynasty
and in that there’s no shame.
Life News:
How a few days changes everything on the house-buying front, sigh. Earlier this week we were rushing round trying to find rental properties to move into as our buyer wanted to move in on the week commencing 16 May. We found a lovely one in Woking on Monday and were all set to give the go-ahead on Tuesday when our solicitor tells us that our tricky middle neighbours have just lost both their buyer and their solicitor all in one swoop. Lord only knows what's really gone on there!... I must admit I couldn't help but laugh but of course that (rather long) moment of schadenfreude has turned round to bite me. Because they no longer have a buyer, all our own flat transfer documents etc etc have to be redone with the nasty middle neighbours' details on it rather than the new middle neighbour (as really should have happened in the first place, but they would insist ...) - and of course now we have no legal hold over them with our possession of their transfer document, then they have no real reason why they should agree to our sale at all. Deep groan. We're waiting for our solicitor to let us know what (if any) response she gets when she writes to the middle neighbours, but I strongly suspect we're going nowhere on the week commencing 16 May, and may well lose our buyer if more delays occur. We also suspect we're possibly moving into a situation where neither of our flats will be able to sell as neither of us will be prepared to sign the necessary documents for the other. Though, on the other hand, it may be that the middle neighbours are so desperate to get rid of us (one can only hope!) that they'll do anything. We'll have to wait and see, eh. Honestly, you couldn't make this up.
In the meantime, and while our purchase of the Woking house goes on - and on and on - we're still viewing other houses, which has led to the point that one of the local estate agents who is apparently in the middle of helping our vendors buy a house has found out we're still looking, and is terribly anxious in case we drop out of our original purchase and therefore he in turn can't sell his house to our vendor. Ha! Really, I have little sympathy and at least it'll put more pressure on that agent to get the vendor out more speedily. Again, one can only hope ... However, if we can't sell our flat (see above ...), money's going to be tight though we can - just - do it, and we may have to think about renting it out instead. At the same time, we'll need to do it up, I suspect, before any lettings agent will take it on, and that takes money, which we'll have to watch etc etc. Goodness, what fun 2011 is turning out to be, hey ho ...
However, it's not all misery and moaning here in the shires - well, not quite anyway. The lettings agents of the flat in Woking we were intending to rent come mid-May is being an absolute star (thank you, Jennifer of Martin & Co) and says this sort of thing happens all the time and if anyone else expresses interest in the flat, she'll let us know. Above and beyond the call of duty, I feel, and very much appreciated. What a nice woman.
Not only that but I've had the whole of this week off as the University is closed until next Tuesday - and really, I've needed the break, and I can well see what bliss retirement is set to be. Dream on, sigh ... Whilst I've been away from work, TV has been good - loads of stuff on about the Royal Wedding which I have been lapping up, my dears, being a big softie at heart, and also I am getting seriously hooked on the zany but occasionally rather moving Campus. I can't bear to miss it now and I do hope there'll be another series. Some of those one-liners are seriously fantastic and the developing relationships are grand. Lovely. Oh, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was a top-class factual drama with a very classy main character and if you were unfortunate enough to miss it, do try to catch it online if you can. It's definitely worth it.
Plus, today, I have nipped into Godalming and bought my first lipstick and mascara for a whole four years - so the anti-depressants must indeed be working, Gawd bless 'em. I've even put them on and look somewhat more defined in the mirror than I usually am. Though whether that's a good or a bad thing is anyone's guess.
Finally, tomorrow from 8am I intend to be glued to the Event of the Year and I wish the happy couple, and indeed everyone else celebrating tomorrow, every joy in the occasion. Must rush and dust off my wedding hat ...
Anne Brooke
Not much news this week on the writing front really. I'm continuing on with my gay erotic short story, For One Night Only, and, with only a couple of scenes left to do, should get the first draft finished over the next few days.
In the meantime, here are some meditation poems:
Meditation 522
So many sons
and not one daughter
which categorically
fails to demonstrate
a vision of life
as it oughta.
Meditation 523
Hushim has no siblings.
He stands alone,
shadowed in the evening light
and waits for the wind
to breathe over his skin
whispering of silence
and all that lies within.
Meditation 524
The Aramean concubine
had no name
but her sons
founded a dynasty
and in that there’s no shame.
Life News:
How a few days changes everything on the house-buying front, sigh. Earlier this week we were rushing round trying to find rental properties to move into as our buyer wanted to move in on the week commencing 16 May. We found a lovely one in Woking on Monday and were all set to give the go-ahead on Tuesday when our solicitor tells us that our tricky middle neighbours have just lost both their buyer and their solicitor all in one swoop. Lord only knows what's really gone on there!... I must admit I couldn't help but laugh but of course that (rather long) moment of schadenfreude has turned round to bite me. Because they no longer have a buyer, all our own flat transfer documents etc etc have to be redone with the nasty middle neighbours' details on it rather than the new middle neighbour (as really should have happened in the first place, but they would insist ...) - and of course now we have no legal hold over them with our possession of their transfer document, then they have no real reason why they should agree to our sale at all. Deep groan. We're waiting for our solicitor to let us know what (if any) response she gets when she writes to the middle neighbours, but I strongly suspect we're going nowhere on the week commencing 16 May, and may well lose our buyer if more delays occur. We also suspect we're possibly moving into a situation where neither of our flats will be able to sell as neither of us will be prepared to sign the necessary documents for the other. Though, on the other hand, it may be that the middle neighbours are so desperate to get rid of us (one can only hope!) that they'll do anything. We'll have to wait and see, eh. Honestly, you couldn't make this up.
In the meantime, and while our purchase of the Woking house goes on - and on and on - we're still viewing other houses, which has led to the point that one of the local estate agents who is apparently in the middle of helping our vendors buy a house has found out we're still looking, and is terribly anxious in case we drop out of our original purchase and therefore he in turn can't sell his house to our vendor. Ha! Really, I have little sympathy and at least it'll put more pressure on that agent to get the vendor out more speedily. Again, one can only hope ... However, if we can't sell our flat (see above ...), money's going to be tight though we can - just - do it, and we may have to think about renting it out instead. At the same time, we'll need to do it up, I suspect, before any lettings agent will take it on, and that takes money, which we'll have to watch etc etc. Goodness, what fun 2011 is turning out to be, hey ho ...
However, it's not all misery and moaning here in the shires - well, not quite anyway. The lettings agents of the flat in Woking we were intending to rent come mid-May is being an absolute star (thank you, Jennifer of Martin & Co) and says this sort of thing happens all the time and if anyone else expresses interest in the flat, she'll let us know. Above and beyond the call of duty, I feel, and very much appreciated. What a nice woman.
Not only that but I've had the whole of this week off as the University is closed until next Tuesday - and really, I've needed the break, and I can well see what bliss retirement is set to be. Dream on, sigh ... Whilst I've been away from work, TV has been good - loads of stuff on about the Royal Wedding which I have been lapping up, my dears, being a big softie at heart, and also I am getting seriously hooked on the zany but occasionally rather moving Campus. I can't bear to miss it now and I do hope there'll be another series. Some of those one-liners are seriously fantastic and the developing relationships are grand. Lovely. Oh, and The Suspicions of Mr Whicher was a top-class factual drama with a very classy main character and if you were unfortunate enough to miss it, do try to catch it online if you can. It's definitely worth it.
Plus, today, I have nipped into Godalming and bought my first lipstick and mascara for a whole four years - so the anti-depressants must indeed be working, Gawd bless 'em. I've even put them on and look somewhat more defined in the mirror than I usually am. Though whether that's a good or a bad thing is anyone's guess.
Finally, tomorrow from 8am I intend to be glued to the Event of the Year and I wish the happy couple, and indeed everyone else celebrating tomorrow, every joy in the occasion. Must rush and dust off my wedding hat ...
Anne Brooke
Monday, April 25, 2011
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
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
Thursday, April 21, 2011
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
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
Sunday, April 17, 2011
On reaching the end ...
Book News:
Fabulous news twice over on my Gathandrian Trilogy series: I've completed the final proof edits for The Gifting and sent those back to Bluewood Publishing so I'm looking forward to that one coming out in due course. At the same time, I've actually finished (yes, finished!) the first draft of the final part of the trilogy, The Executioner's Cane, which came in at 126,500 words, well gosh. I can't believe I've actually got a whole book I can edit and play around with at some stage. And now, having completed the story in full, it's surprising how very empty I feel, in spite of the fact that I've been longing and dreaming about this moment for months, my dears, months. I do still feel as if writing a whole trilogy is, for me, a huge personal achievement, but I swear I'm never going to write another one. Never, never, never ... But hell, I'm really going to miss thinking about those people, and the cane, and the raven, and, well, the whole dang thing actually. Lordy, but I'm confused. 'Twas ever thus.
Much to my delight, Brady's Choice was given a very nice review at Queer Magazine Online, so many thanks for that, Lena. And I'm also pleased to say that my lesbian erotic story, Butterfly Girl, has received over 1040 hits, which is lovely, even though nobody likes it much. Ah well. Mind you, this shouldn't come as a surprise to me after the latest comment on one of my reviews at Vulpes Libris where Gay Reader (Gawd bless 'em) tells me (in so many words) that I'm nothing but an envious, self-promoting, dried-up writer with neither heart nor soul, whose fiction is bland, flat and riddled with cliches, particularly in A Dangerous Man. I felt quite chuffed by those comments, and also impressed by the amount of passion and poetry in them. Mind you, as K says, does this mean I'm now set to win the Booker Prize? Oh goody! Anyway, my new strapline is now: bland, envious and self-promoting but served up with style. I hope you like the new improved image!
Here's some recent meditations:
Meditation 520
Hazzelelponi bears her syllables
with pride and despises
those with humbler names.
She has no need
of children to remember her by
and she walks tall
lifting her head
to the sun
whose warm rays
melt into her skin
and brand her
with a lesser glory.
Meditation 521
I remember Reuben:
I nearly played him once
at primary school
in Joseph
but was prevented
at the last minute
by a badly scheduled
hospital trip.
I’ve regretted it ever since
and forty years on
still have a rare sympathy
for this less important brother
where we share an understanding
of our place on God’s list
and taste the bitterness
of opportunity missed.
The Sunday haiku is:
When my chores are done
one pink shoe lies on tarmac
waiting for the night.
Life News:
Thursday at work was a heck of a long one, but that's always the case on the last day at work before Easter (as I'm on a University conference next week for three days). I got in at 8.30am and left at about 8.15pm. I worked like a Trojan and managed to get done everything I needed to, hurrah! Ah, the satisfaction of an empty desk has to be tasted to be believed, I'm telling you. Mind you, the sad thing was that, because of all that, I didn't manage to get to the performance of Annie Get Your Gun at Charterhouse theatre, starring Ruth's husband Douglas, which I was really sorry for - next time, I promise, both! And there was a hugely embarrassing moment at about 7.15pm when I went to the ladies, and then couldn't get back into the office as the security locks had activated. I had to go downstairs and get the security team, who laughed till they cried (and can you blame them!), to let me back in. Well, I do like to provide a certain amount of entertainment in the office environment now and again ...
Friday, Marian and I had a completely amusing game of golf and were laughing so much we could hardly hit the ball at all. Which may possibly have been a good thing. And it cheered me up greatly from the ongoing drama of our attempts to buy a house. Groan, and double groan. It appears that the lovely package of papers sent to our solicitor by the vendors' solicitors on Wednesday contains nothing but copies of what we've been sent before, and therefore our sixteen unanswered but actually very simple questions remain outstanding. No sign of any exchange date there then. We are therefore going to write one last firm email today, and send it to our solicitors, the selling estate agents and the vendors' solicitors, and if there's no movement by the end of this week, then we will withdraw our offer. It's a shame that a relatively simple process has been messed about so much by the sheer incompetence of the vendors' solicitors, but that is their look-out and not ours. In the meantime, we saw a very nice house in West End Village yesterday which will be empty in June as the tenants move out and the sellers are already living in Scotland, and that seems a very attractive option right now. Plus next week, while I'm away on conference, K will be checking out another couple of good options in Bisley, just to see the lie of the land.
Yesterday, we got away from it all briefly by visiting the Spring Garden Fair at Loseley Park, which was very pleasant indeed. And today we have done our bit for Palm Sunday (big palms! little crosses! all those great processional hymns! though, sadly, no donkey ...) and I've done some packing ready for tomorrow's trip. Golly, how organised I am. I've even managed to complete the ironing, triple gosh.
Tonight it's Lewis on TV, so a pretty good Sunday, really.
Anne Brooke
Fabulous news twice over on my Gathandrian Trilogy series: I've completed the final proof edits for The Gifting and sent those back to Bluewood Publishing so I'm looking forward to that one coming out in due course. At the same time, I've actually finished (yes, finished!) the first draft of the final part of the trilogy, The Executioner's Cane, which came in at 126,500 words, well gosh. I can't believe I've actually got a whole book I can edit and play around with at some stage. And now, having completed the story in full, it's surprising how very empty I feel, in spite of the fact that I've been longing and dreaming about this moment for months, my dears, months. I do still feel as if writing a whole trilogy is, for me, a huge personal achievement, but I swear I'm never going to write another one. Never, never, never ... But hell, I'm really going to miss thinking about those people, and the cane, and the raven, and, well, the whole dang thing actually. Lordy, but I'm confused. 'Twas ever thus.
Much to my delight, Brady's Choice was given a very nice review at Queer Magazine Online, so many thanks for that, Lena. And I'm also pleased to say that my lesbian erotic story, Butterfly Girl, has received over 1040 hits, which is lovely, even though nobody likes it much. Ah well. Mind you, this shouldn't come as a surprise to me after the latest comment on one of my reviews at Vulpes Libris where Gay Reader (Gawd bless 'em) tells me (in so many words) that I'm nothing but an envious, self-promoting, dried-up writer with neither heart nor soul, whose fiction is bland, flat and riddled with cliches, particularly in A Dangerous Man. I felt quite chuffed by those comments, and also impressed by the amount of passion and poetry in them. Mind you, as K says, does this mean I'm now set to win the Booker Prize? Oh goody! Anyway, my new strapline is now: bland, envious and self-promoting but served up with style. I hope you like the new improved image!
Here's some recent meditations:
Meditation 520
Hazzelelponi bears her syllables
with pride and despises
those with humbler names.
She has no need
of children to remember her by
and she walks tall
lifting her head
to the sun
whose warm rays
melt into her skin
and brand her
with a lesser glory.
Meditation 521
I remember Reuben:
I nearly played him once
at primary school
in Joseph
but was prevented
at the last minute
by a badly scheduled
hospital trip.
I’ve regretted it ever since
and forty years on
still have a rare sympathy
for this less important brother
where we share an understanding
of our place on God’s list
and taste the bitterness
of opportunity missed.
The Sunday haiku is:
When my chores are done
one pink shoe lies on tarmac
waiting for the night.
Life News:
Thursday at work was a heck of a long one, but that's always the case on the last day at work before Easter (as I'm on a University conference next week for three days). I got in at 8.30am and left at about 8.15pm. I worked like a Trojan and managed to get done everything I needed to, hurrah! Ah, the satisfaction of an empty desk has to be tasted to be believed, I'm telling you. Mind you, the sad thing was that, because of all that, I didn't manage to get to the performance of Annie Get Your Gun at Charterhouse theatre, starring Ruth's husband Douglas, which I was really sorry for - next time, I promise, both! And there was a hugely embarrassing moment at about 7.15pm when I went to the ladies, and then couldn't get back into the office as the security locks had activated. I had to go downstairs and get the security team, who laughed till they cried (and can you blame them!), to let me back in. Well, I do like to provide a certain amount of entertainment in the office environment now and again ...
Friday, Marian and I had a completely amusing game of golf and were laughing so much we could hardly hit the ball at all. Which may possibly have been a good thing. And it cheered me up greatly from the ongoing drama of our attempts to buy a house. Groan, and double groan. It appears that the lovely package of papers sent to our solicitor by the vendors' solicitors on Wednesday contains nothing but copies of what we've been sent before, and therefore our sixteen unanswered but actually very simple questions remain outstanding. No sign of any exchange date there then. We are therefore going to write one last firm email today, and send it to our solicitors, the selling estate agents and the vendors' solicitors, and if there's no movement by the end of this week, then we will withdraw our offer. It's a shame that a relatively simple process has been messed about so much by the sheer incompetence of the vendors' solicitors, but that is their look-out and not ours. In the meantime, we saw a very nice house in West End Village yesterday which will be empty in June as the tenants move out and the sellers are already living in Scotland, and that seems a very attractive option right now. Plus next week, while I'm away on conference, K will be checking out another couple of good options in Bisley, just to see the lie of the land.
Yesterday, we got away from it all briefly by visiting the Spring Garden Fair at Loseley Park, which was very pleasant indeed. And today we have done our bit for Palm Sunday (big palms! little crosses! all those great processional hymns! though, sadly, no donkey ...) and I've done some packing ready for tomorrow's trip. Golly, how organised I am. I've even managed to complete the ironing, triple gosh.
Tonight it's Lewis on TV, so a pretty good Sunday, really.
Anne Brooke
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Publishers, proofs and paintings
Book News:
I'm happily going through the final proofs for The Gifting and should have those ready to send back to Bluewood Publishing sometime over the next few days, I hope. It's nice to key into the beginning of the trilogy once more and to get back in touch with how things are in Gathandria and Lammas. Some things I honestly can't remember writing at all, but hey somebody must have done. But, in my defence, I did write it quite a while ago.
Other positive book news is that Butterfly Girl, my lesbian erotic short story, is now available for free at Oysters and Chocolate webzine, and has been read about 620 times, which is heartening. Continuing the lesbian theme (though not the erotic one), I'm happy to note that The Girl in the Painting was briefly at No 78 in the Amazon UK charts, so that was nice too.
Other less positive book news is that one of my publishers has, rather dramatically I feel, threatened me with legal action for attempting (wisely, to my mind, since they haven't yet paid me the royalties from 2010, let alone 2011, Gawd bless 'em, and their dealings with me have been sooooo slow as to be virtually non-existent) to extricate myself from their grip. Somehow I can't help but be wryly amused by this, hey ho. I may yet end up in a foreign jail, who knows! However, I've had several offers of cakes by post with files in them, so you may not have heard the last of me yet ... However, if this blog goes suddenly silent, you know where I am! There's a story in there somewhere, my dears - maybe even a movie ...
Today at Vulpes Libris, you can read my review of Robert Goddard's Long Time Coming - in which the end is really way too long in coming. It was an exhausting read - not quality Goddard at all, sadly.
This week's meditations are:
Meditation 518
It seems a shame
seeing he was so evil
the Lord killed him
that the unfortunate Er
couldn’t be granted
a longer name.
Meditation 519
Women from Carmel
are tall and dark-haired.
Their beauty is legendary.
They float like a ship
through the air’s mysterious tides.
They say little
and when they do speak
their words are full of wisdom
whilst their breath
smells of honey and spices.
They make deceitful friends
but true wives
as they walk through the world
in their secretive lives.
Life News:
Whilst selling our flat seems to have ground to a (hopefully temporary!) halt due to our buyer's mortgage not being quite there yet, the news on our house purchase is rather more interesting. It looks like (praise be ...) our vendors' solicitors have finally delivered all the necessary information to our solicitors and it may be that one day in recordable time the issue of an exchange date might be discussed. Watch this space, eh ... In the meantime, we have also booked to see a very nice house in West End Village on Saturday so our options remain, as always, open.
But there is more positively good news, hurrah. In spite of potentially being a known literary criminal of no fixed abode, my doctor tells me that my anxiety levels are officially down a little whilst my depression levels have halved. Hurrah indeed! Keep those little happy pills coming, is what I say.
Anne Brooke
I'm happily going through the final proofs for The Gifting and should have those ready to send back to Bluewood Publishing sometime over the next few days, I hope. It's nice to key into the beginning of the trilogy once more and to get back in touch with how things are in Gathandria and Lammas. Some things I honestly can't remember writing at all, but hey somebody must have done. But, in my defence, I did write it quite a while ago.
Other positive book news is that Butterfly Girl, my lesbian erotic short story, is now available for free at Oysters and Chocolate webzine, and has been read about 620 times, which is heartening. Continuing the lesbian theme (though not the erotic one), I'm happy to note that The Girl in the Painting was briefly at No 78 in the Amazon UK charts, so that was nice too.
Other less positive book news is that one of my publishers has, rather dramatically I feel, threatened me with legal action for attempting (wisely, to my mind, since they haven't yet paid me the royalties from 2010, let alone 2011, Gawd bless 'em, and their dealings with me have been sooooo slow as to be virtually non-existent) to extricate myself from their grip. Somehow I can't help but be wryly amused by this, hey ho. I may yet end up in a foreign jail, who knows! However, I've had several offers of cakes by post with files in them, so you may not have heard the last of me yet ... However, if this blog goes suddenly silent, you know where I am! There's a story in there somewhere, my dears - maybe even a movie ...
Today at Vulpes Libris, you can read my review of Robert Goddard's Long Time Coming - in which the end is really way too long in coming. It was an exhausting read - not quality Goddard at all, sadly.
This week's meditations are:
Meditation 518
It seems a shame
seeing he was so evil
the Lord killed him
that the unfortunate Er
couldn’t be granted
a longer name.
Meditation 519
Women from Carmel
are tall and dark-haired.
Their beauty is legendary.
They float like a ship
through the air’s mysterious tides.
They say little
and when they do speak
their words are full of wisdom
whilst their breath
smells of honey and spices.
They make deceitful friends
but true wives
as they walk through the world
in their secretive lives.
Life News:
Whilst selling our flat seems to have ground to a (hopefully temporary!) halt due to our buyer's mortgage not being quite there yet, the news on our house purchase is rather more interesting. It looks like (praise be ...) our vendors' solicitors have finally delivered all the necessary information to our solicitors and it may be that one day in recordable time the issue of an exchange date might be discussed. Watch this space, eh ... In the meantime, we have also booked to see a very nice house in West End Village on Saturday so our options remain, as always, open.
But there is more positively good news, hurrah. In spite of potentially being a known literary criminal of no fixed abode, my doctor tells me that my anxiety levels are officially down a little whilst my depression levels have halved. Hurrah indeed! Keep those little happy pills coming, is what I say.
Anne Brooke
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Gardens, Gifting and Rosie galore
Book News:
Happily, Rosie by Name has begun to spread her wings a little and can now be found at Amazon US, Amazon UK (where it's actually got a ranking so someone must have bought a copy - many thanks indeed!), All Romance Ebooks and Bookstrand (where it's classified as "steamy" - mainstream with some adult language, in case you're wondering ...). And it looks as if someone might just have bought a copy there too, so thank you for that, whoever you are.
Keeping with exciting packages from Bluewood Publishing, I'm thrilled to have received the final proof copies of The Gifting today, so my main focus over the next days will be going through that and marking down any typos I might find to get it ready for publication. As a result, though I've completed Annyeke's part of the epilogue for The Executioner's Cane (a milestone which actually has made me feel quite sad, even though I've been longing to get there for weeks), I'm leaving Ralph's and Simon's parts of the epilogue until I've finished the proof checks for The Gifting.
My most recent meditation is:
Meditation 517
Methuselah is a name
to conjure with:
fire and wind
and storm,
a wildness to cling to
when the days
are dusty and dry,
and the journey bleak.
And the Sunday haiku is:
When a plastic bag
grows up, it becomes a swan:
feathers and sunshine.
Life News:
After I threw all my toys out of the pram last week in terms of our potential house-purchase and our issues with the vendors, things look set to improve, I hope. The estate agent called yesterday to say that the vendors are both 100% behind selling their house to us, and therefore answers to the two outstanding questions will be with our solicitor by the middle of next week, at which point we can start discussing an exchange date. Plus they apologise for the delay, which is nice. Lordy, if it actually happens as the estate agent promises, it will be bloody brilliant as I am more than desperate to get into the new house.
However, we're keeping a Plan B route open in case that doesn't happen and so viewed three other properties yesterday also. Top of the list is a very nice bungalow in Wood Street Village, with a great garden, which we can both happily see ourselves living in. But we won't make any decisions until next week begins to unfold. Wish us luck, eh - we need it.
Meanwhile, our selling estate agent, the marvellous Lucy of Seymours (may her name be praised) seems to be the only one who really knows what she's doing and has been chasing round in terms of the sale of our flat. She's also beaten everyone over the head with the information (which we keep on telling people but nobody pays a blind bit of attention) that we are not in a chain and can leave here and rent somewhere whenever we need to, and on the other hand occupy the next house without initially selling this one. I hope they have now understood these details from Lucy, when they cannot do so from us. It also appears that the only one left to sign our transfer document is the new middle neighbour, so we hope he begins to be rather more amenable than he has up to now. It's about time he did something positive and pleasant - as so far he hasn't really covered himself in glory. Watch this space indeed ...
Anyway, our trip to the theatre on Thursday to see To Kill a Mockingbird ended up being pretty damn classy. A very slow and rather unnecessary start finally gave way to a stonkingly good finish so it was well worth the wait and the journey. I can only recommend it if it travels your way.
Friday night saw us out for dinner at Robin & Gavin's, along with Liz & John (hello, all!) and it was lovely to catch up before Easter rolls over us. This morning we have pottered along to church where the first two hymns were utterly unfamiliar to everyone and we were desperately struggling with the tune (how I hate it when that happens) but luckily the final two were more familiar though, as a congregation, we were so emotionally drained by the first two hymns that we were barely able to squeak our way through at all. We did our best, but the spirit was willing, etc etc, as they say.
We've had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon strolling round Coverwood Lakes & Gardens, which is open today as part of the National Garden Scheme. Being a working farm, it was really more parkland than garden, but still very pleasant especially in this weather and the tea & cake were lovely. Mmmm.
Tonight, it's the glories of Lewis on TV, and once more I can't wait for it. The perfect end to a Sunday.
Anne Brooke
Happily, Rosie by Name has begun to spread her wings a little and can now be found at Amazon US, Amazon UK (where it's actually got a ranking so someone must have bought a copy - many thanks indeed!), All Romance Ebooks and Bookstrand (where it's classified as "steamy" - mainstream with some adult language, in case you're wondering ...). And it looks as if someone might just have bought a copy there too, so thank you for that, whoever you are.
Keeping with exciting packages from Bluewood Publishing, I'm thrilled to have received the final proof copies of The Gifting today, so my main focus over the next days will be going through that and marking down any typos I might find to get it ready for publication. As a result, though I've completed Annyeke's part of the epilogue for The Executioner's Cane (a milestone which actually has made me feel quite sad, even though I've been longing to get there for weeks), I'm leaving Ralph's and Simon's parts of the epilogue until I've finished the proof checks for The Gifting.
My most recent meditation is:
Meditation 517
Methuselah is a name
to conjure with:
fire and wind
and storm,
a wildness to cling to
when the days
are dusty and dry,
and the journey bleak.
And the Sunday haiku is:
When a plastic bag
grows up, it becomes a swan:
feathers and sunshine.
Life News:
After I threw all my toys out of the pram last week in terms of our potential house-purchase and our issues with the vendors, things look set to improve, I hope. The estate agent called yesterday to say that the vendors are both 100% behind selling their house to us, and therefore answers to the two outstanding questions will be with our solicitor by the middle of next week, at which point we can start discussing an exchange date. Plus they apologise for the delay, which is nice. Lordy, if it actually happens as the estate agent promises, it will be bloody brilliant as I am more than desperate to get into the new house.
However, we're keeping a Plan B route open in case that doesn't happen and so viewed three other properties yesterday also. Top of the list is a very nice bungalow in Wood Street Village, with a great garden, which we can both happily see ourselves living in. But we won't make any decisions until next week begins to unfold. Wish us luck, eh - we need it.
Meanwhile, our selling estate agent, the marvellous Lucy of Seymours (may her name be praised) seems to be the only one who really knows what she's doing and has been chasing round in terms of the sale of our flat. She's also beaten everyone over the head with the information (which we keep on telling people but nobody pays a blind bit of attention) that we are not in a chain and can leave here and rent somewhere whenever we need to, and on the other hand occupy the next house without initially selling this one. I hope they have now understood these details from Lucy, when they cannot do so from us. It also appears that the only one left to sign our transfer document is the new middle neighbour, so we hope he begins to be rather more amenable than he has up to now. It's about time he did something positive and pleasant - as so far he hasn't really covered himself in glory. Watch this space indeed ...
Anyway, our trip to the theatre on Thursday to see To Kill a Mockingbird ended up being pretty damn classy. A very slow and rather unnecessary start finally gave way to a stonkingly good finish so it was well worth the wait and the journey. I can only recommend it if it travels your way.
Friday night saw us out for dinner at Robin & Gavin's, along with Liz & John (hello, all!) and it was lovely to catch up before Easter rolls over us. This morning we have pottered along to church where the first two hymns were utterly unfamiliar to everyone and we were desperately struggling with the tune (how I hate it when that happens) but luckily the final two were more familiar though, as a congregation, we were so emotionally drained by the first two hymns that we were barely able to squeak our way through at all. We did our best, but the spirit was willing, etc etc, as they say.
We've had a wonderfully relaxing afternoon strolling round Coverwood Lakes & Gardens, which is open today as part of the National Garden Scheme. Being a working farm, it was really more parkland than garden, but still very pleasant especially in this weather and the tea & cake were lovely. Mmmm.
Tonight, it's the glories of Lewis on TV, and once more I can't wait for it. The perfect end to a Sunday.
Anne Brooke
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Rosie by Name
Book News
I'm delighted to say that my comic and just a little bit naughty short story, Rosie by Name, is now available at Bluewood Publishing, and what a totally fabulous cover that is. I love it. So if you want some springtime laughter, do pop along and find out more. Rosie's quite a gal!
On a rather different tack, I've just found out that my lesbian erotic short story, Butterfly Girl, has been accepted for publication by Oysters & Chocolate webzine, so I'm thrilled about that one too.
In terms of reviews, A Dangerous Man has been doing well though, sadly, royalties for the paperback version are continuing to be very poor, which I'm sorry about really - I feel rather guilty for my paperback publisher as they've taken a risk on it and I fear it's not paid off ... Still the ebook is doing okay so that's some consolation for sure. Anyway, at Goodreads, it gained an interesting 4-star review (thanks, Kate) and a fascinating 5-star review (thank you, Sonya), so both of these were lovely.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to note that 5 copies of The Secret Thoughts of Leaves have been borrowed from libraries during April, so I hope the borrowers have enjoyed that. Call me old-fashioned but actually having someone take one of my books from a library always gives me a thrill. It's almost like being a real writer, you know.
And my review of Andy Frankham-Allen's magnificent fantasy novel, Seeker, is now up at Vulpes Libris, so please ignore that quite dreadful new cover it has (!) and go along and find out more. It's a work I can thoroughly recommend for all.
Meditations so far this week are:
Meditation 514
A long, bleak path
from the place you know
to one you do not;
with every slow step
the chance for life
fades away
and you know you will not
make the journey back
one day.
Meditation 515
Great power
brings greater risk
so do not choose
to seek it.
Walk the quieter path
and mark your step
on the earth most suited
to meet it.
Meditation 516
Freedom comes by being open
to the day’s surprises
which often arrive
in strange disguises.
Life News:
Difficult news on the house front, alas. It appears that our vendors might be having second thoughts about selling us their very nice house, groan. I appreciate they're in the middle of a tricky divorce and have every sympathy for that, but we've got so far down the road that I can't bear the thought of our second attempt at purchase falling through. We're getting zilch information from their solicitors or their estate agents, though the solicitors did tell us their clients were probably too busy divorcing to pay us much attention or words to that effect (nice, eh!...), so we're really none the wiser. K sent a firmly worded email earlier in the week, which has been ignored. And today I've rung up the estate agents - actually to ask them if we can view another house on their books, which put the wind up them rather, but frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn - who got terribly panicky and promised to ring back asap. Which they have now down, so hopefully someone's on the case ...
Anyway, in the meantime, we're keeping our options open and I've arranged three other house viewings for Saturday and, if we find one we like and they're actually willing and able to sell it to us, we'll seriously consider withdrawing our offer and starting afresh, with a keener vendor. The one good thing that comes out of this is our solicitor is likely to make a fortune from our misfortune (glad someone is!). A few more situations like this and we won't be able to afford to move at all. Hey ho, you've got to laugh, I suppose. Thank goodness for anti-depressants! Though, understandably, I've had a bit of a relapse this week and have been supplementing them with Quiet Life pills, which seem to have helped a little.
However, all is not lost as nice things have happened too, hurrah. I had a totally lovely reflexology session with Helen at work on Wednesday which was bliss. I even fell asleep twice so it was great to feel that relaxed. What with Easter in the way, I've made my next appointment in May, and I can't wait. Today, I've popped in to see the ground-floor neighbour now in Woking and was delighted to find him in much better form than during my last visit. We talked about politics, the environment, gardens, war and tea, so a great time was had by all. I swear that, between the two of us, we could probably change the world.
The world of television has been a fascinating one this week. The Model Agency was as grippingly shallow and socially horrid as ever but, now it's over, I shall miss it, I fear. It was, I imagine, much like watching a Victorian freak show - the freaks being the agency bookers, definitely. Something one is fascinated by but never wants to connect to ...
However, it was wonderful to have Lewis back on Sunday nights and I wallowed in its classiness, bliss. Sooooo much better than the increasingly wretched Midsomer Murders. Talking of which, I'm told that the Jack Russell now taking the main role in Midsomer is the same dog as the one in the recent series of adverts (advertising what, I really don't know) who's attempting to find a home by doing the washing-up and the gardening etc etc for its potential new owners. Give that animal an Equity card - it could go far ...
And I watched (again, as the same episode was on last year, I think) the pilot episode for the utterly surreal, terribly rude and strangely accurate university comedy series, Campus. Ah, that Vice-Chancellor - how I loved him. It's bold, brutish and takes some breathtaking risks, but I laughed out loud several times, particularly at how well it portrayed some of the current issues of universities (though in a larger-than-life way, I hasten to add!), and I'll definitely be watching again.
Tonight, K and I are off to the theatre to see To Kill A Mockingbird, so that should be ... um ... fun. Sort of! Well, classy anyway. Which should round off the week nicely, hey ho.
Anne Brooke
I'm delighted to say that my comic and just a little bit naughty short story, Rosie by Name, is now available at Bluewood Publishing, and what a totally fabulous cover that is. I love it. So if you want some springtime laughter, do pop along and find out more. Rosie's quite a gal!
On a rather different tack, I've just found out that my lesbian erotic short story, Butterfly Girl, has been accepted for publication by Oysters & Chocolate webzine, so I'm thrilled about that one too.
In terms of reviews, A Dangerous Man has been doing well though, sadly, royalties for the paperback version are continuing to be very poor, which I'm sorry about really - I feel rather guilty for my paperback publisher as they've taken a risk on it and I fear it's not paid off ... Still the ebook is doing okay so that's some consolation for sure. Anyway, at Goodreads, it gained an interesting 4-star review (thanks, Kate) and a fascinating 5-star review (thank you, Sonya), so both of these were lovely.
Meanwhile, I'm happy to note that 5 copies of The Secret Thoughts of Leaves have been borrowed from libraries during April, so I hope the borrowers have enjoyed that. Call me old-fashioned but actually having someone take one of my books from a library always gives me a thrill. It's almost like being a real writer, you know.
And my review of Andy Frankham-Allen's magnificent fantasy novel, Seeker, is now up at Vulpes Libris, so please ignore that quite dreadful new cover it has (!) and go along and find out more. It's a work I can thoroughly recommend for all.
Meditations so far this week are:
Meditation 514
A long, bleak path
from the place you know
to one you do not;
with every slow step
the chance for life
fades away
and you know you will not
make the journey back
one day.
Meditation 515
Great power
brings greater risk
so do not choose
to seek it.
Walk the quieter path
and mark your step
on the earth most suited
to meet it.
Meditation 516
Freedom comes by being open
to the day’s surprises
which often arrive
in strange disguises.
Life News:
Difficult news on the house front, alas. It appears that our vendors might be having second thoughts about selling us their very nice house, groan. I appreciate they're in the middle of a tricky divorce and have every sympathy for that, but we've got so far down the road that I can't bear the thought of our second attempt at purchase falling through. We're getting zilch information from their solicitors or their estate agents, though the solicitors did tell us their clients were probably too busy divorcing to pay us much attention or words to that effect (nice, eh!...), so we're really none the wiser. K sent a firmly worded email earlier in the week, which has been ignored. And today I've rung up the estate agents - actually to ask them if we can view another house on their books, which put the wind up them rather, but frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn - who got terribly panicky and promised to ring back asap. Which they have now down, so hopefully someone's on the case ...
Anyway, in the meantime, we're keeping our options open and I've arranged three other house viewings for Saturday and, if we find one we like and they're actually willing and able to sell it to us, we'll seriously consider withdrawing our offer and starting afresh, with a keener vendor. The one good thing that comes out of this is our solicitor is likely to make a fortune from our misfortune (glad someone is!). A few more situations like this and we won't be able to afford to move at all. Hey ho, you've got to laugh, I suppose. Thank goodness for anti-depressants! Though, understandably, I've had a bit of a relapse this week and have been supplementing them with Quiet Life pills, which seem to have helped a little.
However, all is not lost as nice things have happened too, hurrah. I had a totally lovely reflexology session with Helen at work on Wednesday which was bliss. I even fell asleep twice so it was great to feel that relaxed. What with Easter in the way, I've made my next appointment in May, and I can't wait. Today, I've popped in to see the ground-floor neighbour now in Woking and was delighted to find him in much better form than during my last visit. We talked about politics, the environment, gardens, war and tea, so a great time was had by all. I swear that, between the two of us, we could probably change the world.
The world of television has been a fascinating one this week. The Model Agency was as grippingly shallow and socially horrid as ever but, now it's over, I shall miss it, I fear. It was, I imagine, much like watching a Victorian freak show - the freaks being the agency bookers, definitely. Something one is fascinated by but never wants to connect to ...
However, it was wonderful to have Lewis back on Sunday nights and I wallowed in its classiness, bliss. Sooooo much better than the increasingly wretched Midsomer Murders. Talking of which, I'm told that the Jack Russell now taking the main role in Midsomer is the same dog as the one in the recent series of adverts (advertising what, I really don't know) who's attempting to find a home by doing the washing-up and the gardening etc etc for its potential new owners. Give that animal an Equity card - it could go far ...
And I watched (again, as the same episode was on last year, I think) the pilot episode for the utterly surreal, terribly rude and strangely accurate university comedy series, Campus. Ah, that Vice-Chancellor - how I loved him. It's bold, brutish and takes some breathtaking risks, but I laughed out loud several times, particularly at how well it portrayed some of the current issues of universities (though in a larger-than-life way, I hasten to add!), and I'll definitely be watching again.
Tonight, K and I are off to the theatre to see To Kill A Mockingbird, so that should be ... um ... fun. Sort of! Well, classy anyway. Which should round off the week nicely, hey ho.
Anne Brooke
Sunday, April 03, 2011
Butterflies, Brits and bestsellers
Book News:
Sad to say, this weekend sees the end of British Fortnight at Brief Encounter Reviews, and what a fantastic fortnight it's been. I've learnt a heck of a lot about my fellow UK gay fiction writers and, if you missed my slot (as it were), you can find it on 22 March. Many thanks, Tam & Jen, for arranging it all, and thank you to everyone who took part.
Good news this week is that I've broken the 120,000 word marker in The Executioner's Cane, with only the last chapter to go, plus the epilogue. Lordy, but it's been a mammoth task and I was beginning to think I'd never reach this point. Once I've finally written "The End", I shall collapse for a month and not write a thing, and certainly not another trilogy, please God no. Though, hell, but I'm going to miss Simon and the Gathandrians, not to mention the mind-cane - they've been part of my ruddy life for so damn long, I can't think what I shall do without them ...
Also today, you can find an interview with me at The Accidental Author, where I discuss art, handbags and the vital importance of coffee. Many thanks to Jesse for arranging it and asking such great questions. Meanwhile, I'm happy to say that The Girl in the Painting is once more in the Untreed Reads bestsellers' list - for March it came in at Number 3, so I'm very pleased with that. I have no idea why that particular story continues to be quite so popular, but I'm glad it is! Thank you to everyone who's bought a copy, and I hope you enjoyed it.
At Amber Allure Press, all my books can be found at a 25% discount during April, so don't forget to treat yourself to a scintillating shopping experience for spring. You know you want to ...
Recent meditation poems are:
Meditation 512
The last thing he sees
is the royal garden
wrapped in night-time quiet,
the scent of daylight flowers
still hinted on the faint breeze
that lifts his hair
as the distant stars look down,
majestic and unaware.
Meditation 513
It’s a history
not of kings
or people
but of objects:
bronze columns and carts,
tanks, shovels, lamps,
sacrificial bowls and coals
and incense.
All the paraphernalia
of rich and poor
who in this, their story,
live no more.
The Sunday haiku is:
The duck stalks my bench:
expectation on her beak,
water off my back.
Life News:
The middle neighbours seem to be playing silly devils again, sigh, and this time not with us. They've apparently laid claim to both sheds and their contents in the garden, even though only one of them belongs to them, and the other one is the ground floor neighbours'. Also it appears that the new middle neighbour might (if he ever arrives ...) consider (from what he's been told by them) that all the garden belongs to him, when in fact he only has the rear section of the back garden and nothing whatsoever of the front. Another deep sigh, eh. The upshot is that I've advised the tenants of the ground floor to let the ground floor owners know this is happening, and of course we're prepared to help them hang onto what is theirs if we need to! Lordy, when will it all end? I do so wish I was out of here ...
On the up side, I enjoyed golf on Friday with Marian, and she beat me by one shot on the last hole, oh the shame of it! Still we were neck and neck up to that point so the crowds (should there ever be any) were going wild with excitement, hey ho. And The Mentalist was great in the evening so rounded off the week quite well. Not only that but I've started wearing earrings again - when I'm depressed I just can't bring myself to care enough to change them (I think I've actually worn the same fall-back pair for about two or three years now, which should really have told me something, if I'd bothered to listen ...), but yesterday and today I have put different pairs in. Maybe the anti-depressants are working? I do think they might be and I hope it continues, hurrah.
Yesterday, K and I had a lovely lunch out at and a walk round Wisley. The orchid display in the Greenhouse was particularly stunning and is well worth a visit if you have time - it last until the end of April. We also loved the sense of spring coming to the garden - with the camellias, rhododendrons and daffodils out in all their splendour, and huge amounts of butterflies. We saw in one half-hour a brimstone, an orange-tip, a tortoiseshell and a peacock butterfly. So many out so early in the year - it was astonishing really. Wisley also have a brand-new bird-hide and, though we didn't see many birds there, we did see a grass snake about two foot long (enormous!) swimming along the river. I've never seen any snake swim so that was a first for me. It stayed quite a time too which was wonderful. The yellow collar behind the head was very obvious.
Today, of course, it's Mothers Day - and Mother (Gawd bless 'er!) woke us at 8.45am when we were enjoying a much-needed lie-in to thank us for our presents. Still, I only have myself to blame for being a lazy stop-in-bed - as a farmer's daughter I should be ashamed of myself as my inheritance is that I should be up at 6am daily and working out in the fields. Dream on!... Anyway, Mother is off to London with her theatre group for a concert and I hope she has a fabulous day. Tonight, it's the joys of Lewis on TV, and I can't wait. It's got to be better than the new Midsomer Murders, that's for sure.
Anne Brooke
Sad to say, this weekend sees the end of British Fortnight at Brief Encounter Reviews, and what a fantastic fortnight it's been. I've learnt a heck of a lot about my fellow UK gay fiction writers and, if you missed my slot (as it were), you can find it on 22 March. Many thanks, Tam & Jen, for arranging it all, and thank you to everyone who took part.
Good news this week is that I've broken the 120,000 word marker in The Executioner's Cane, with only the last chapter to go, plus the epilogue. Lordy, but it's been a mammoth task and I was beginning to think I'd never reach this point. Once I've finally written "The End", I shall collapse for a month and not write a thing, and certainly not another trilogy, please God no. Though, hell, but I'm going to miss Simon and the Gathandrians, not to mention the mind-cane - they've been part of my ruddy life for so damn long, I can't think what I shall do without them ...
Also today, you can find an interview with me at The Accidental Author, where I discuss art, handbags and the vital importance of coffee. Many thanks to Jesse for arranging it and asking such great questions. Meanwhile, I'm happy to say that The Girl in the Painting is once more in the Untreed Reads bestsellers' list - for March it came in at Number 3, so I'm very pleased with that. I have no idea why that particular story continues to be quite so popular, but I'm glad it is! Thank you to everyone who's bought a copy, and I hope you enjoyed it.
At Amber Allure Press, all my books can be found at a 25% discount during April, so don't forget to treat yourself to a scintillating shopping experience for spring. You know you want to ...
Recent meditation poems are:
Meditation 512
The last thing he sees
is the royal garden
wrapped in night-time quiet,
the scent of daylight flowers
still hinted on the faint breeze
that lifts his hair
as the distant stars look down,
majestic and unaware.
Meditation 513
It’s a history
not of kings
or people
but of objects:
bronze columns and carts,
tanks, shovels, lamps,
sacrificial bowls and coals
and incense.
All the paraphernalia
of rich and poor
who in this, their story,
live no more.
The Sunday haiku is:
The duck stalks my bench:
expectation on her beak,
water off my back.
Life News:
The middle neighbours seem to be playing silly devils again, sigh, and this time not with us. They've apparently laid claim to both sheds and their contents in the garden, even though only one of them belongs to them, and the other one is the ground floor neighbours'. Also it appears that the new middle neighbour might (if he ever arrives ...) consider (from what he's been told by them) that all the garden belongs to him, when in fact he only has the rear section of the back garden and nothing whatsoever of the front. Another deep sigh, eh. The upshot is that I've advised the tenants of the ground floor to let the ground floor owners know this is happening, and of course we're prepared to help them hang onto what is theirs if we need to! Lordy, when will it all end? I do so wish I was out of here ...
On the up side, I enjoyed golf on Friday with Marian, and she beat me by one shot on the last hole, oh the shame of it! Still we were neck and neck up to that point so the crowds (should there ever be any) were going wild with excitement, hey ho. And The Mentalist was great in the evening so rounded off the week quite well. Not only that but I've started wearing earrings again - when I'm depressed I just can't bring myself to care enough to change them (I think I've actually worn the same fall-back pair for about two or three years now, which should really have told me something, if I'd bothered to listen ...), but yesterday and today I have put different pairs in. Maybe the anti-depressants are working? I do think they might be and I hope it continues, hurrah.
Yesterday, K and I had a lovely lunch out at and a walk round Wisley. The orchid display in the Greenhouse was particularly stunning and is well worth a visit if you have time - it last until the end of April. We also loved the sense of spring coming to the garden - with the camellias, rhododendrons and daffodils out in all their splendour, and huge amounts of butterflies. We saw in one half-hour a brimstone, an orange-tip, a tortoiseshell and a peacock butterfly. So many out so early in the year - it was astonishing really. Wisley also have a brand-new bird-hide and, though we didn't see many birds there, we did see a grass snake about two foot long (enormous!) swimming along the river. I've never seen any snake swim so that was a first for me. It stayed quite a time too which was wonderful. The yellow collar behind the head was very obvious.
Today, of course, it's Mothers Day - and Mother (Gawd bless 'er!) woke us at 8.45am when we were enjoying a much-needed lie-in to thank us for our presents. Still, I only have myself to blame for being a lazy stop-in-bed - as a farmer's daughter I should be ashamed of myself as my inheritance is that I should be up at 6am daily and working out in the fields. Dream on!... Anyway, Mother is off to London with her theatre group for a concert and I hope she has a fabulous day. Tonight, it's the joys of Lewis on TV, and I can't wait. It's got to be better than the new Midsomer Murders, that's for sure.
Anne Brooke
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Max Factor, murder and men
Book News:
A sudden flurry of activity for A Dangerous Man this week, which has been very pleasing. It briefly turned up at No 62 in the Amazon US Kindle charts and at No 54 in the Amazon UK Kindle charts, so many thanks for buying. And it also achieved a 5-star review at Goodreads (thank you, Dlee) and some lovely comments at Reviews by Amos Lassen (many thanks, Amos).
Meditation poems this week so far are:
Meditation 510
When kidnapping great men
and workers
it’s key to remember
the blacksmiths
due to the value
of horses and iron
and more to the point
they’re not shirkers.
Meditation 511
When God seems always cross
you have no hope
of winning
so you may as well throw caution
to the winds
and keep on sinning.
Life News:
It's been quite a good week and a restful one which has been nice. Much to my joy they're restarted reflexology sessions at work so I spent a lovely lunch hour on Wednesday having my feet rubbed by the new reflexologist, Hilary. Bliss. I've booked again for next week and sod the expense, eh.
I also popped into the bible study last night (I missed last week as I didn't feel so good) - and so had all the drama and peculiarity of the ten plagues of Egypt. Marvellous. Just the sort of topic you need for Lent - and we did indeed have a great deal of fun with that one.
Other than that, it's been a week for TV, both good and bad. My, but I will miss the legal drama, Silk, whose last episode of the first season aired on Tuesday. I've loved it. Thankfully they're doing a second series but I will have to wait till 2012 to catch up with them all, sigh. And, also thankfully, Midsomer Murders was slightly better this week (well, nothing could be worse than last week, really ...) but I still don't like the way the relationships are being played within the team now. It's most unsettling and I do hope they start being more pleasant to each other soon - this kind of frustration and outright dislike is not what we watch Midsomer for!...
Meanwhile, I worry deeply for young teenager, India, in the increasingly bizarre and somehow grippingly shallow The Model Agency. India: you so nearly escaped from the evil bookers' clutches in an earlier episode - so don't let yourself be enticed back into their strange and secretive fold! Run, my gal, run for the hills ...
And is it just me, or is the woman in the Max Factor Makeover advert so much more alluring in her "before" shot than in the "after" one?? Before the wicked Max Factor people get their hands on her, she looks very pretty and a nice normal person I would probably chat to. After they've ruined (ruined, darlings, utterly ruined!) her hair and trowelled her with warpaint, she just looks like every other 20s blonde on the street and the personality is gone. Shocking! I'm all for the value of makeup (Lord knows I need it) but not when it covers up a character completely - there's a lesson for us all in there somewhere ...
Anne Brooke
A sudden flurry of activity for A Dangerous Man this week, which has been very pleasing. It briefly turned up at No 62 in the Amazon US Kindle charts and at No 54 in the Amazon UK Kindle charts, so many thanks for buying. And it also achieved a 5-star review at Goodreads (thank you, Dlee) and some lovely comments at Reviews by Amos Lassen (many thanks, Amos).
Meditation poems this week so far are:
Meditation 509
An army that never
goes to war
is one that wastes
its labours
but when all is said
and much is done
it surely gives peace
to the neighbours.
Meditation 510
When kidnapping great men
and workers
it’s key to remember
the blacksmiths
due to the value
of horses and iron
and more to the point
they’re not shirkers.
Meditation 511
When God seems always cross
you have no hope
of winning
so you may as well throw caution
to the winds
and keep on sinning.
Life News:
It's been quite a good week and a restful one which has been nice. Much to my joy they're restarted reflexology sessions at work so I spent a lovely lunch hour on Wednesday having my feet rubbed by the new reflexologist, Hilary. Bliss. I've booked again for next week and sod the expense, eh.
I also popped into the bible study last night (I missed last week as I didn't feel so good) - and so had all the drama and peculiarity of the ten plagues of Egypt. Marvellous. Just the sort of topic you need for Lent - and we did indeed have a great deal of fun with that one.
Other than that, it's been a week for TV, both good and bad. My, but I will miss the legal drama, Silk, whose last episode of the first season aired on Tuesday. I've loved it. Thankfully they're doing a second series but I will have to wait till 2012 to catch up with them all, sigh. And, also thankfully, Midsomer Murders was slightly better this week (well, nothing could be worse than last week, really ...) but I still don't like the way the relationships are being played within the team now. It's most unsettling and I do hope they start being more pleasant to each other soon - this kind of frustration and outright dislike is not what we watch Midsomer for!...
Meanwhile, I worry deeply for young teenager, India, in the increasingly bizarre and somehow grippingly shallow The Model Agency. India: you so nearly escaped from the evil bookers' clutches in an earlier episode - so don't let yourself be enticed back into their strange and secretive fold! Run, my gal, run for the hills ...
And is it just me, or is the woman in the Max Factor Makeover advert so much more alluring in her "before" shot than in the "after" one?? Before the wicked Max Factor people get their hands on her, she looks very pretty and a nice normal person I would probably chat to. After they've ruined (ruined, darlings, utterly ruined!) her hair and trowelled her with warpaint, she just looks like every other 20s blonde on the street and the personality is gone. Shocking! I'm all for the value of makeup (Lord knows I need it) but not when it covers up a character completely - there's a lesson for us all in there somewhere ...
Anne Brooke
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Leaving things till tomorrow ...
Life News:
Everyone, stop doing what you're doing at once and relax ... This weekend has contained the wonderfully-named International Procrastination Day, which highlights the existential wisdom of not acting instantly and putting things off till tomorrow. Ah, there's joy in inaction, you know, and the creator of this auspicious event even says we can put off celebrating the day itself, so if you didn't know it was happening, you've not missed out ...
You'll also be pleased to hear (and surely celebrating the pleasures of the last paragraph in itself) that I've finally got round to using the first of my Christmas stamps, thus ensuring the joys of the season can even last until spring, hurrah.
Thursday night, K and I had a great time seeing Guys & Dolls at Haslemere Hall, as Ruth from work was in it. It's ages since I've seen the film and I don't ever think I've seen it on stage before and it was fan-bloody-tastic. I am still humming the tunes, so well done, Ruth, and the Salvation Army hat looked worryingly good on you ... Other good news is that (double hurrahs and put out the bunting) I don't have to have the bowel cancer screening - the doctor spoke to the expert who says that apparently having an uncle who died from the disease and a mother who's survived it is not reason enough to put me on the checking list just yet. However the medical advice is that I should be screened at 55 years instead of the compulsory 60 years, so there's another thing I can put off until tomorrow, and round about 8 years of tomorrows at that.
Marian and I had a wonderful time on the golf course during one of the first glorious spring days of the season on Friday - and I even beat her for the first time in a long time too. Though, to be fair, it was rather that she lost the game with her unfortunate putting rather than me actually winning it with my amazing play - I wish, eh. Still, it was great not to have to wear my woolly hat and I think I might even have taken off my scarf at one point, well gosh.
Yesterday, K and I had free tickets for the Ideal Home Show, which I was very much looking forward to, and K less so, I think. In the end it was quite fun and certainly an eye-opener, but also very busy & exhausting and I'm not sure I'll be rushing to go again. But the cappuccino was nice. Because of the huge busyness of Saturday, today is turning out to be a total chill-out day, which is lovely. Mind you, what with the clocks going forward yesterday night, I am missing my hour, and will no doubt be trying to catch up with it all summer, hey ho.
Book News:
At Vulpes Libris, I've reviewed Serena by Ron Rash - which is a novelistic take on Macbeth, but rather diluted, I feel.
Not much else this week really. I'm slowly getting to the end of The Executioner's Cane, and I've also started a new erotic short story I'm calling For One Night Only. Still, no rush on either, I don't think - as I've learned this weekend, there's always tomorrow, eh.
The Sunday haiku is:
This first spring sunlight
leads me to the lake: mirror
of heat and comfort.
Anne Brooke
Everyone, stop doing what you're doing at once and relax ... This weekend has contained the wonderfully-named International Procrastination Day, which highlights the existential wisdom of not acting instantly and putting things off till tomorrow. Ah, there's joy in inaction, you know, and the creator of this auspicious event even says we can put off celebrating the day itself, so if you didn't know it was happening, you've not missed out ...
You'll also be pleased to hear (and surely celebrating the pleasures of the last paragraph in itself) that I've finally got round to using the first of my Christmas stamps, thus ensuring the joys of the season can even last until spring, hurrah.
Thursday night, K and I had a great time seeing Guys & Dolls at Haslemere Hall, as Ruth from work was in it. It's ages since I've seen the film and I don't ever think I've seen it on stage before and it was fan-bloody-tastic. I am still humming the tunes, so well done, Ruth, and the Salvation Army hat looked worryingly good on you ... Other good news is that (double hurrahs and put out the bunting) I don't have to have the bowel cancer screening - the doctor spoke to the expert who says that apparently having an uncle who died from the disease and a mother who's survived it is not reason enough to put me on the checking list just yet. However the medical advice is that I should be screened at 55 years instead of the compulsory 60 years, so there's another thing I can put off until tomorrow, and round about 8 years of tomorrows at that.
Marian and I had a wonderful time on the golf course during one of the first glorious spring days of the season on Friday - and I even beat her for the first time in a long time too. Though, to be fair, it was rather that she lost the game with her unfortunate putting rather than me actually winning it with my amazing play - I wish, eh. Still, it was great not to have to wear my woolly hat and I think I might even have taken off my scarf at one point, well gosh.
Yesterday, K and I had free tickets for the Ideal Home Show, which I was very much looking forward to, and K less so, I think. In the end it was quite fun and certainly an eye-opener, but also very busy & exhausting and I'm not sure I'll be rushing to go again. But the cappuccino was nice. Because of the huge busyness of Saturday, today is turning out to be a total chill-out day, which is lovely. Mind you, what with the clocks going forward yesterday night, I am missing my hour, and will no doubt be trying to catch up with it all summer, hey ho.
Book News:
At Vulpes Libris, I've reviewed Serena by Ron Rash - which is a novelistic take on Macbeth, but rather diluted, I feel.
Not much else this week really. I'm slowly getting to the end of The Executioner's Cane, and I've also started a new erotic short story I'm calling For One Night Only. Still, no rush on either, I don't think - as I've learned this weekend, there's always tomorrow, eh.
The Sunday haiku is:
This first spring sunlight
leads me to the lake: mirror
of heat and comfort.
Anne Brooke
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The British are here ...
Book News:
Be afraid, be very afraid!... British Fortnight at Brief Encounters is now in full and glorious swing, where you can discover all about my own royal wedding experience and where to get the best cream tea EVER - along with a whole host of other authors & goodies so do pop along and join in the party. Anyone for a cucumber sandwich?...
At the same time, you can find a review of Entertaining the Delaneys, and don't forget that both The Delaneys and Me and Entertaining the Delaneys are being offered as one of the British Fortnight prizes, along with many others, so it's definitely an offer not to be missed.
Also this week, I've been additionally lucky in being interviewed at the Book Wenches site, so you can read all about my current and future plans there.
Reviews this week have included an unexpected review of Maloney's Law at the Niciasus Book Blog and a 5-star review of Brady's Choice, also at Niciasus (thanks for both these, Nicci), and a 4-star review of The Delaneys and Me at Goodreads (thank you, Casey).
Recent meditation poems are:
Meditation 506
There’s not much truth,
but a great deal of silver
and gold:
a combination of factors
that never bodes well,
I’m told.
Meditation 507
If in doubt or under threat
create a tax to fleece ’em.
The enemy must be appeased
and as for friends – police ’em.
Meditation 508
The past has its own echoes
that enrich the mind
like a memory of God
or the scent of jasmine,
fragrant and kind.
Life News:
What can I say? Still we struggle on in the ongoing battle with the pesky middle neighbours and their really irritating solicitors. Our desperate attempts to make some kind of contact with the bloke buying the middle flat last week via the estate agents met with friendliness on the part of the estate agents and absolutely no action. Surprise, surprise. So first thing this morning, I ring up the middle flat estate agents again and they're all very friendly and promise to ring back as soon as possible - and so far (3pm) nothing. Hey ho. I don't expect anything either - but hey at least the woman I spoke to actually seemed to grasp the concept that if we sign their transfer document which has the incorrect address for the new middle neighbour on, then yes that does mean we can't sell our own flat to our buyer as we can't get the new middle neighbour to agree to the leasehold transfer as we don't know where he lives now, and the sale of our flat is therefore put into jeopardy. Deep deep sigh.
In the middle of all that it appears that our own solicitor has a Cunning Plan but has only this afternoon seen fit to reveal it to us. Bloody hell (sorry ...) but if she'd simply had the sense to talk to us two weeks ago, then we wouldn't have had to run around like the proverbial attempting to explain to the very deaf ears of the horrid middle neighbour solicitors why we'd love to sign their wretched transfer (we hate the current middle neighbours! We want them out, as indeed do most of the other neighbours too!) and why we can't (it means we can't then sell our flat, you ridiculous people, as you won't tell us where the new middle neighbour actually lives ...) Nor would I have had to - twice - attempt to contact the new middle neighbour's estate agents for this vital legal information, and nor would K and I have had even half of the amount of angst we've had to go through for the last two weeks. Ruddy solicitors ... (sorry).
Anyway, it is a Class One plan and may actually get us round the obstacles the middle neighbours and their solicitors are putting in our way, and with no legal prejudice to us and our sale - which is of course my only concern. I don't care two hoots about them and would like nothing more than to take their transfer document and shove it where the sun don't shine, my dears. Now there's a happy smiley thought that is cheering me mightily, ha!
But, hey, I'm not worried - it's Lent! And hopefully soon (please God) we'll have a lovely happy house in Woking with a garden all of our very own, and we will never ever have to think about shared leaseholds again - what bliss! There's always hope, eh.
Turning to the simpler joys (or possibly not) of TV, I must say I thought last night's episode of the new Midsomer Murders was very choppy to say the least. K did point out that there were indeed, as the recent media row has pointed out, no black people anywhere, not even in the city disco scene, though we did keep our eyes peeled just in case ... The main problem though was what the heck have they done with Sergeant Jones??!!?? Last time we saw him, he was the nice, bumbling, pleasant copper we all know and love, but yesterday he was a rude, angry, punch-the-witness-and-hold-him-down-till-he-confesses yob. What??!!?? Did I miss something? Is Jones so distraught that the original Barnaby (not to mention the nice police lady - where is she?) has gone that he has had a total personality transplant?? The Case of the Missing Sergeant: it's a plot worthy of Midsomer indeed ... Whatever next?
Anne Brooke
Be afraid, be very afraid!... British Fortnight at Brief Encounters is now in full and glorious swing, where you can discover all about my own royal wedding experience and where to get the best cream tea EVER - along with a whole host of other authors & goodies so do pop along and join in the party. Anyone for a cucumber sandwich?...
At the same time, you can find a review of Entertaining the Delaneys, and don't forget that both The Delaneys and Me and Entertaining the Delaneys are being offered as one of the British Fortnight prizes, along with many others, so it's definitely an offer not to be missed.
Also this week, I've been additionally lucky in being interviewed at the Book Wenches site, so you can read all about my current and future plans there.
Reviews this week have included an unexpected review of Maloney's Law at the Niciasus Book Blog and a 5-star review of Brady's Choice, also at Niciasus (thanks for both these, Nicci), and a 4-star review of The Delaneys and Me at Goodreads (thank you, Casey).
Recent meditation poems are:
Meditation 506
There’s not much truth,
but a great deal of silver
and gold:
a combination of factors
that never bodes well,
I’m told.
Meditation 507
If in doubt or under threat
create a tax to fleece ’em.
The enemy must be appeased
and as for friends – police ’em.
Meditation 508
The past has its own echoes
that enrich the mind
like a memory of God
or the scent of jasmine,
fragrant and kind.
Life News:
What can I say? Still we struggle on in the ongoing battle with the pesky middle neighbours and their really irritating solicitors. Our desperate attempts to make some kind of contact with the bloke buying the middle flat last week via the estate agents met with friendliness on the part of the estate agents and absolutely no action. Surprise, surprise. So first thing this morning, I ring up the middle flat estate agents again and they're all very friendly and promise to ring back as soon as possible - and so far (3pm) nothing. Hey ho. I don't expect anything either - but hey at least the woman I spoke to actually seemed to grasp the concept that if we sign their transfer document which has the incorrect address for the new middle neighbour on, then yes that does mean we can't sell our own flat to our buyer as we can't get the new middle neighbour to agree to the leasehold transfer as we don't know where he lives now, and the sale of our flat is therefore put into jeopardy. Deep deep sigh.
In the middle of all that it appears that our own solicitor has a Cunning Plan but has only this afternoon seen fit to reveal it to us. Bloody hell (sorry ...) but if she'd simply had the sense to talk to us two weeks ago, then we wouldn't have had to run around like the proverbial attempting to explain to the very deaf ears of the horrid middle neighbour solicitors why we'd love to sign their wretched transfer (we hate the current middle neighbours! We want them out, as indeed do most of the other neighbours too!) and why we can't (it means we can't then sell our flat, you ridiculous people, as you won't tell us where the new middle neighbour actually lives ...) Nor would I have had to - twice - attempt to contact the new middle neighbour's estate agents for this vital legal information, and nor would K and I have had even half of the amount of angst we've had to go through for the last two weeks. Ruddy solicitors ... (sorry).
Anyway, it is a Class One plan and may actually get us round the obstacles the middle neighbours and their solicitors are putting in our way, and with no legal prejudice to us and our sale - which is of course my only concern. I don't care two hoots about them and would like nothing more than to take their transfer document and shove it where the sun don't shine, my dears. Now there's a happy smiley thought that is cheering me mightily, ha!
But, hey, I'm not worried - it's Lent! And hopefully soon (please God) we'll have a lovely happy house in Woking with a garden all of our very own, and we will never ever have to think about shared leaseholds again - what bliss! There's always hope, eh.
Turning to the simpler joys (or possibly not) of TV, I must say I thought last night's episode of the new Midsomer Murders was very choppy to say the least. K did point out that there were indeed, as the recent media row has pointed out, no black people anywhere, not even in the city disco scene, though we did keep our eyes peeled just in case ... The main problem though was what the heck have they done with Sergeant Jones??!!?? Last time we saw him, he was the nice, bumbling, pleasant copper we all know and love, but yesterday he was a rude, angry, punch-the-witness-and-hold-him-down-till-he-confesses yob. What??!!?? Did I miss something? Is Jones so distraught that the original Barnaby (not to mention the nice police lady - where is she?) has gone that he has had a total personality transplant?? The Case of the Missing Sergeant: it's a plot worthy of Midsomer indeed ... Whatever next?
Anne Brooke
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The British are coming!...
Book News:
Next week sees the start of UK Fortnight at Brief Encounters Reviews, which will include spotlights on lots of good authors and your chance to win prizes! Enter now to avoid disappointment ... My own special day will be Tuesday 22 March so do pop in to Brief Encounters Reviews on that and indeed any other day. Satisfaction guaranteed.
At the same time, I'm happy to say that Entertaining the Delaneys is now available as a Kindle book both at Amazon US and Amazon UK and should liven up your Sunday afternoon no end - so buy early buy often. As they say.
During the week, A Dangerous Man received an interesting 4-star review at Goodreads - many thanks for that, Rod. And you can find out what's coming up at Vulpes Libris this week, which includes exciting new authors, Macbeth and the Bay of Pigs, so never let it be said we don't work hard to revolutionise your reading lists indeed.
The latest meditation poems are:
Meditation 504
Even if you give away
everything you have
and the best of your heart
God cannot be bought
by tricks, deceit
or a liar’s art.
Meditation 505
If you must die
make sure there are men
and chariots enough
to mourn you;
the last thing you desire
is the enemies
of your land
to scorn you.
And the Sunday haiku is:
Waiting by the sink
the pink cupcake umbrella
expects a girl, soon.
Life News:
In a last-ditch and, may I say, really rather generous attempt to sort out the pesky middle neighbours (and their increasingly snippety solicitors - how rude can they get!...), we have tried to make contact with the new middle flat buyer directly via his estate agent to ascertain his address, confirm the ownership of the internal stairs, and a couple of other issues our own buyer has asked us for (and which those wretched solicitors won't answer either). The estate agents are proving very amenable, but so far no response from the middle flat buyer or his solicitors. We will wait and see - but K can foresee a time where we simply have no option but to refuse to sign the transfer agreement for the middle neighbours and they no doubt will refuse to sign the same agreement for us. It may yet be that nobody will be able to sell their respective flats, a situation we don't particularly want to happen in terms of our plans (though we don't care two hoots about them, really) but we may have to live with. Ah well. As I say, we will see, but we are in all honesty doing the best we can under very difficult legal circumstances. Sigh.
To cheer us up, K and I spent a really lovely day yesterday wandering around Nymans Garden and nearby Wakehurst Place (Kew). And for the first time it felt really springlike, which was wonderful. The rhododendrons and camellias were beautiful.
Finally, I must say what a gripping, well-acted and truly classy drama last night's Christopher and His Kind was on TV. Matt Smith really owned that role and, for the first time, I began to see what people see in him. Great stuff - more like that, please. TV producers, take note.
Anne Brooke
Next week sees the start of UK Fortnight at Brief Encounters Reviews, which will include spotlights on lots of good authors and your chance to win prizes! Enter now to avoid disappointment ... My own special day will be Tuesday 22 March so do pop in to Brief Encounters Reviews on that and indeed any other day. Satisfaction guaranteed.
At the same time, I'm happy to say that Entertaining the Delaneys is now available as a Kindle book both at Amazon US and Amazon UK and should liven up your Sunday afternoon no end - so buy early buy often. As they say.
During the week, A Dangerous Man received an interesting 4-star review at Goodreads - many thanks for that, Rod. And you can find out what's coming up at Vulpes Libris this week, which includes exciting new authors, Macbeth and the Bay of Pigs, so never let it be said we don't work hard to revolutionise your reading lists indeed.
The latest meditation poems are:
Meditation 504
Even if you give away
everything you have
and the best of your heart
God cannot be bought
by tricks, deceit
or a liar’s art.
Meditation 505
If you must die
make sure there are men
and chariots enough
to mourn you;
the last thing you desire
is the enemies
of your land
to scorn you.
And the Sunday haiku is:
Waiting by the sink
the pink cupcake umbrella
expects a girl, soon.
Life News:
In a last-ditch and, may I say, really rather generous attempt to sort out the pesky middle neighbours (and their increasingly snippety solicitors - how rude can they get!...), we have tried to make contact with the new middle flat buyer directly via his estate agent to ascertain his address, confirm the ownership of the internal stairs, and a couple of other issues our own buyer has asked us for (and which those wretched solicitors won't answer either). The estate agents are proving very amenable, but so far no response from the middle flat buyer or his solicitors. We will wait and see - but K can foresee a time where we simply have no option but to refuse to sign the transfer agreement for the middle neighbours and they no doubt will refuse to sign the same agreement for us. It may yet be that nobody will be able to sell their respective flats, a situation we don't particularly want to happen in terms of our plans (though we don't care two hoots about them, really) but we may have to live with. Ah well. As I say, we will see, but we are in all honesty doing the best we can under very difficult legal circumstances. Sigh.
To cheer us up, K and I spent a really lovely day yesterday wandering around Nymans Garden and nearby Wakehurst Place (Kew). And for the first time it felt really springlike, which was wonderful. The rhododendrons and camellias were beautiful.
Finally, I must say what a gripping, well-acted and truly classy drama last night's Christopher and His Kind was on TV. Matt Smith really owned that role and, for the first time, I began to see what people see in him. Great stuff - more like that, please. TV producers, take note.
Anne Brooke
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Collections and contracts
Book News:
I've very happy to say that Untreed Reads has produced my first short story collection which you can buy at the Sony Bookstore at a very reasonable price. And what a marvellous book title it is too, tee hee.
Meanwhile, one of the stories in the collection, A Woman like The Sea, was briefly at No 15 in the Amazon UK Kindle charts this week, but has dropped its placing since then. And The Delaneys and Me was at No 68 in the same charts, again briefly.
Other book news this week relates to Vulpes Libris, where you can find (a) a fabulous article about growing up in a bookish family which seems to have seriously keyed in to people's experiences; and (b) my review of Maeve Binchy's The Return Journey - in honour of St Patrick's Day.
Life News:
The middle neighbours are again being difficult, or rather their solicitors are, deep deep sigh. They've sent us the contract to sign our agreement to transfer the middle flat to the new buyer as we're all part of a shared freehold but they've (a) failed to provide us with his current address, simply stating that he already lives in the flat he wants to buy (which he doesn't as he doesn't legally own it); and (b) stating that the internal stairs are not ours but theirs. Which is untrue according to the lease - they own the external stairs, not the internal ones. To be fair, I'm assuming that Point B is simply a typing error but we'd like it cleared up before we sign anything as our own buyer is entitled to those stairs! In addition, if we sign the dang agreement, yet we don't actually know where the new middle neighbour lives now, that messes us up for our own flat transfer as we can't get anyone to sign the shared freehold contract to let our buyer in if we don't know where the new neighbour is - and who's to say that he might not take months to actually move in? We've never even met the guy ...
Anyway (sorry it's confusing, but the law is alas never simple), the middle neighbours' solicitors are now getting very snippety and demanding that we sign "urgently", as well as contacting our own solicitor (who has nothing to do with their case) asking her to hurry us up. The laughable thing is that we are more than happy to sign anything (anything!!) that will get the ruddy awkward neighbours out of the middle flat and out of our lives, but we'd darned if we're doing it when it puts us in a very tricky legal position. Some people have no sense, my dears. All they have to do is answer our questions ...
With all this going on, and still no exchange date on the house we are so very desperate now to move to, it's a relief that the new anti-depressants appear to be working. I had a lovely chat with the nice doctor this week, and she tells me that I'll be on these for nine months. Then I'll come off them. If I have a relapse then I'll go back on them for 3-5 years, then they'll try to come off them again. If that doesn't work, then I'm on them for life. Seems a reasonable rule of thumb to me, and nice to have an aim, and I'll see how I get on. But I do definitely feel more like myself, and more hopeful. Gosh. Whilst there, the doctor and I were also chatting about family medical history - which in my case is crammed full with diabetes (I'm regularly tested for that) and bowel cancer. Ah, the trick is which of these will get me first! She suggested that it would be a good idea to get an early screening for the bowel cancer possibility via GUTS who are of course local to here - which makes perfect sense to me even though, rest assured, I am symptom-free, so we're arranging for that. Lord knows what exactly they'll do to me but I suspect I won't be able to sit down for a week, remembering what other members of the family have had to go through - ah the fun and games of it all indeed.
Today, I've had a lovely relaxing morning having tea and chocolate biscuits with Jane H (hello, Jane - great to see you!) and we've put the world to rights again, hurrah, and now - well now I'm about to go for a well-deserved nap. How I do love a busy day.
Anne Brooke
I've very happy to say that Untreed Reads has produced my first short story collection which you can buy at the Sony Bookstore at a very reasonable price. And what a marvellous book title it is too, tee hee.
Meanwhile, one of the stories in the collection, A Woman like The Sea, was briefly at No 15 in the Amazon UK Kindle charts this week, but has dropped its placing since then. And The Delaneys and Me was at No 68 in the same charts, again briefly.
Other book news this week relates to Vulpes Libris, where you can find (a) a fabulous article about growing up in a bookish family which seems to have seriously keyed in to people's experiences; and (b) my review of Maeve Binchy's The Return Journey - in honour of St Patrick's Day.
Life News:
The middle neighbours are again being difficult, or rather their solicitors are, deep deep sigh. They've sent us the contract to sign our agreement to transfer the middle flat to the new buyer as we're all part of a shared freehold but they've (a) failed to provide us with his current address, simply stating that he already lives in the flat he wants to buy (which he doesn't as he doesn't legally own it); and (b) stating that the internal stairs are not ours but theirs. Which is untrue according to the lease - they own the external stairs, not the internal ones. To be fair, I'm assuming that Point B is simply a typing error but we'd like it cleared up before we sign anything as our own buyer is entitled to those stairs! In addition, if we sign the dang agreement, yet we don't actually know where the new middle neighbour lives now, that messes us up for our own flat transfer as we can't get anyone to sign the shared freehold contract to let our buyer in if we don't know where the new neighbour is - and who's to say that he might not take months to actually move in? We've never even met the guy ...
Anyway (sorry it's confusing, but the law is alas never simple), the middle neighbours' solicitors are now getting very snippety and demanding that we sign "urgently", as well as contacting our own solicitor (who has nothing to do with their case) asking her to hurry us up. The laughable thing is that we are more than happy to sign anything (anything!!) that will get the ruddy awkward neighbours out of the middle flat and out of our lives, but we'd darned if we're doing it when it puts us in a very tricky legal position. Some people have no sense, my dears. All they have to do is answer our questions ...
With all this going on, and still no exchange date on the house we are so very desperate now to move to, it's a relief that the new anti-depressants appear to be working. I had a lovely chat with the nice doctor this week, and she tells me that I'll be on these for nine months. Then I'll come off them. If I have a relapse then I'll go back on them for 3-5 years, then they'll try to come off them again. If that doesn't work, then I'm on them for life. Seems a reasonable rule of thumb to me, and nice to have an aim, and I'll see how I get on. But I do definitely feel more like myself, and more hopeful. Gosh. Whilst there, the doctor and I were also chatting about family medical history - which in my case is crammed full with diabetes (I'm regularly tested for that) and bowel cancer. Ah, the trick is which of these will get me first! She suggested that it would be a good idea to get an early screening for the bowel cancer possibility via GUTS who are of course local to here - which makes perfect sense to me even though, rest assured, I am symptom-free, so we're arranging for that. Lord knows what exactly they'll do to me but I suspect I won't be able to sit down for a week, remembering what other members of the family have had to go through - ah the fun and games of it all indeed.
Today, I've had a lovely relaxing morning having tea and chocolate biscuits with Jane H (hello, Jane - great to see you!) and we've put the world to rights again, hurrah, and now - well now I'm about to go for a well-deserved nap. How I do love a busy day.
Anne Brooke
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Prostitution, pimps and pornography
Book News:
Much to my delight, Brady's Choice gained an "Excellent" review at Well Read Reviews, and Entertaining the Delaneys received a 5-star review at Literary Nymphs Reviews, so many thanks to both reviewers for their comments.
My review at Vulpes Libris was on Jonathan Kemp's London Triptych, which must be the most unsexy erotic novel I've ever come across. Probably more pornographic than erotic, to be honest, and I certainly didn't take to it. Still (and strangely), many have, so I am obviously a lone voice of dissent in the reviewing wilderness. Again!
My latest meditation is:
Meditation 503
When the work is done
the party starts
so he captures their strength
and then their hearts.
And the Sunday haiku is
Small bright narcissi
dance in the shade of the house
where my neighbour lived.
Life News:
I've had a good haircut this week and played a bad game of golf, so the universe is balanced once more, hurrah. The haircut must have been more radical than I'd thought as I popped in to the local Quaker service again today and they didn't recognise me. Though, on second thoughts, they don't often recognise me, bless them, so I must try to make more of an impression. Perhaps I'm simply too quiet?? No, don't laugh ...
Yesterday, K and I had a lovely day out at The Vyne, near Basingstoke. The gardens and woods were very relaxing though there's not much out yet in terms of flowers. It should be wonderful in two or three weeks or so however. We'd forgotten, in our tour of the house, how keen the National Trust volunteers are in the early part of their season to talk to you and tell you everything they've just learnt. I did have a desperate urge to rugby tackle one sweet old gent just to make him be quiet for a second, but managed to stifle the urge. That said, the volunteer in the Stone Gallery was great and I learnt a lot of interesting stuff about the Kent school that was evacuated to The Vyne during the war. Some fascinating stories there.
And last night, we attended the Guildford Choral Society concert at the Cathedral and cheered on Robin, Gavin, Beryl and Liz (yeah, all!) in their singing endeavours. I enjoyed the Rutter piece in the second half, but thought the first half might have been a tad too relaxing. It was great to catch up at the bar after the show too - it's the first time the Cathedral has left the bar open after the interval's done and I'm sure it's a tradition in the making. One hopes.
Anne Brooke
Much to my delight, Brady's Choice gained an "Excellent" review at Well Read Reviews, and Entertaining the Delaneys received a 5-star review at Literary Nymphs Reviews, so many thanks to both reviewers for their comments.
My review at Vulpes Libris was on Jonathan Kemp's London Triptych, which must be the most unsexy erotic novel I've ever come across. Probably more pornographic than erotic, to be honest, and I certainly didn't take to it. Still (and strangely), many have, so I am obviously a lone voice of dissent in the reviewing wilderness. Again!
My latest meditation is:
Meditation 503
When the work is done
the party starts
so he captures their strength
and then their hearts.
And the Sunday haiku is
Small bright narcissi
dance in the shade of the house
where my neighbour lived.
Life News:
I've had a good haircut this week and played a bad game of golf, so the universe is balanced once more, hurrah. The haircut must have been more radical than I'd thought as I popped in to the local Quaker service again today and they didn't recognise me. Though, on second thoughts, they don't often recognise me, bless them, so I must try to make more of an impression. Perhaps I'm simply too quiet?? No, don't laugh ...
Yesterday, K and I had a lovely day out at The Vyne, near Basingstoke. The gardens and woods were very relaxing though there's not much out yet in terms of flowers. It should be wonderful in two or three weeks or so however. We'd forgotten, in our tour of the house, how keen the National Trust volunteers are in the early part of their season to talk to you and tell you everything they've just learnt. I did have a desperate urge to rugby tackle one sweet old gent just to make him be quiet for a second, but managed to stifle the urge. That said, the volunteer in the Stone Gallery was great and I learnt a lot of interesting stuff about the Kent school that was evacuated to The Vyne during the war. Some fascinating stories there.
And last night, we attended the Guildford Choral Society concert at the Cathedral and cheered on Robin, Gavin, Beryl and Liz (yeah, all!) in their singing endeavours. I enjoyed the Rutter piece in the second half, but thought the first half might have been a tad too relaxing. It was great to catch up at the bar after the show too - it's the first time the Cathedral has left the bar open after the interval's done and I'm sure it's a tradition in the making. One hopes.
Anne Brooke
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Read an Ebook Week!
Book News:
Welcome to Read an Ebook Week! I hope that those of you who read ebooks are having a great time and those of you who haven't taken the plunge yet might get the urge to have a go, especially in view of the range of discounts offered during the week by a wide variety of publishers.
In terms of my own books on offer this week, here's what there is:
1. 20% discount on all my work at Rainbow Ebooks - until this Saturday
2. 25% discount on The Hit List - direct from the publisher
3. 20% discount on all my ebooks at Dreamspinner Press
4. 20% discount on my haiku collection, Sunday Haiku - direct from the publisher
5. If you buy A Woman like The Sea, then my other books at Untreed Reads are at a 40% discount
And what could be nicer than all that? Enjoy!
Other book news is that Creative Accountancy for Beginners was briefly at No 43 in the Amazon UK Kindle charts, and The Delaneys and Me came in at No 90 in the Amazon UK Kindle Gay charts, so that certainly put a smile on my face.
In addition, Entertaining the Delaneys is now available from All Romance Ebooks, and I'm also happy to announce that I'll be taking part in the British Author Fortnight at Brief Encounter Reviews - my slot is 22 March so I'm looking forward to that.
Meanwhile, I'm quietly pleased to say that I've reached my 500th meditation poem. Doesn't mean a lot to anyone else, I know, but I feel pretty happy about it. Maybe I'll reach No 1000 one day - there's plenty of bible left to read, that's for sure! Here are the most recent poems:
Meditation 499
To make a fresh start
sometimes all you need
is a trusted road
and an open heart.
Meditation 500
God is best discovered
in the search
for something else
when we become aware
of the shimmer
at the edge of vision,
the thought
we can’t quite capture,
the friend we’ve forgotten
to meet:
that borderline land
where dreams still stand.
Meditation 501
Words when spoken aloud
create their own
unknowable life:
they break down
ancient temples,
destroy the history
we thought we knew,
change men’s lives,
reshape what is to come.
Meditation 502
After activity
the time comes
for celebration and rest,
the rhythm
of life’s seasons
being only the best.
Life News:
Well, we've had Pancake Day on Tuesday (mmm, pancakes - always good with ice cream and treacle, mmm ...), so Lent has begun in full. Forty days of trying to ease down on the worrying - I'm doing okay so far, but hey it's only Day Two. But I'm not worrying about it (ha!) so that's all right. My mantra, or rather two of my mantras, so far are: it might just work out well if I leave it alone; and God's more worried about this than I am, so let him do his job ... Not catchy, I know, but I'm letting them settle. The anti-depressants are good so far too, and are no doubt helping my Lenten focus. I feel surprisingly calm, even measured. That's not a feeling I've had for a while - it's very pleasant change. It may be psychosomatic as I've not been on them for more than a week, but I'm not complaining.
I even quite enjoyed staffing the Student Care table at last night's Postgraduate Open Event with one of my colleagues from Student Advice. It was great to catch up and we had some good conversations with visitors. At one stage, I even sounded fairly knowledgeable, which surprised me most of all. I doubt that will last long as really I don't know a bean.
And television is weaving its strange and mystical spell upon me. I was severely disappointed with the utter melodrama and laughable plot of the last episode of South Riding on Sunday. What were they all thinking? I giggled all the way through it (is it the pills?). As Andrea at work said, how can a cliff fall down onto a beach taking horse and rider with it and not one person notices that the cliff is missing. What??! I blame the lack of electricity they appear to have oop North - as everything was done in the utmost gloom. Somebody switch a light on and we can all head for the door ...
Mind you, I am still gripped with the huge amount of Awful People (capitals deliberate) who work at The Model Agency. They are all utterly horrid, my dears, honestly. It comes to something when the sanest, nicest and most sensible people in a TV programme are the teenage models themselves. It's the old people at the agency I despair of. What is the world coming to?
Anne Brooke
Welcome to Read an Ebook Week! I hope that those of you who read ebooks are having a great time and those of you who haven't taken the plunge yet might get the urge to have a go, especially in view of the range of discounts offered during the week by a wide variety of publishers.
In terms of my own books on offer this week, here's what there is:
1. 20% discount on all my work at Rainbow Ebooks - until this Saturday
2. 25% discount on The Hit List - direct from the publisher
3. 20% discount on all my ebooks at Dreamspinner Press
4. 20% discount on my haiku collection, Sunday Haiku - direct from the publisher
5. If you buy A Woman like The Sea, then my other books at Untreed Reads are at a 40% discount
And what could be nicer than all that? Enjoy!
Other book news is that Creative Accountancy for Beginners was briefly at No 43 in the Amazon UK Kindle charts, and The Delaneys and Me came in at No 90 in the Amazon UK Kindle Gay charts, so that certainly put a smile on my face.
In addition, Entertaining the Delaneys is now available from All Romance Ebooks, and I'm also happy to announce that I'll be taking part in the British Author Fortnight at Brief Encounter Reviews - my slot is 22 March so I'm looking forward to that.
Meanwhile, I'm quietly pleased to say that I've reached my 500th meditation poem. Doesn't mean a lot to anyone else, I know, but I feel pretty happy about it. Maybe I'll reach No 1000 one day - there's plenty of bible left to read, that's for sure! Here are the most recent poems:
Meditation 499
To make a fresh start
sometimes all you need
is a trusted road
and an open heart.
Meditation 500
God is best discovered
in the search
for something else
when we become aware
of the shimmer
at the edge of vision,
the thought
we can’t quite capture,
the friend we’ve forgotten
to meet:
that borderline land
where dreams still stand.
Meditation 501
Words when spoken aloud
create their own
unknowable life:
they break down
ancient temples,
destroy the history
we thought we knew,
change men’s lives,
reshape what is to come.
Meditation 502
After activity
the time comes
for celebration and rest,
the rhythm
of life’s seasons
being only the best.
Life News:
Well, we've had Pancake Day on Tuesday (mmm, pancakes - always good with ice cream and treacle, mmm ...), so Lent has begun in full. Forty days of trying to ease down on the worrying - I'm doing okay so far, but hey it's only Day Two. But I'm not worrying about it (ha!) so that's all right. My mantra, or rather two of my mantras, so far are: it might just work out well if I leave it alone; and God's more worried about this than I am, so let him do his job ... Not catchy, I know, but I'm letting them settle. The anti-depressants are good so far too, and are no doubt helping my Lenten focus. I feel surprisingly calm, even measured. That's not a feeling I've had for a while - it's very pleasant change. It may be psychosomatic as I've not been on them for more than a week, but I'm not complaining.
I even quite enjoyed staffing the Student Care table at last night's Postgraduate Open Event with one of my colleagues from Student Advice. It was great to catch up and we had some good conversations with visitors. At one stage, I even sounded fairly knowledgeable, which surprised me most of all. I doubt that will last long as really I don't know a bean.
And television is weaving its strange and mystical spell upon me. I was severely disappointed with the utter melodrama and laughable plot of the last episode of South Riding on Sunday. What were they all thinking? I giggled all the way through it (is it the pills?). As Andrea at work said, how can a cliff fall down onto a beach taking horse and rider with it and not one person notices that the cliff is missing. What??! I blame the lack of electricity they appear to have oop North - as everything was done in the utmost gloom. Somebody switch a light on and we can all head for the door ...
Mind you, I am still gripped with the huge amount of Awful People (capitals deliberate) who work at The Model Agency. They are all utterly horrid, my dears, honestly. It comes to something when the sanest, nicest and most sensible people in a TV programme are the teenage models themselves. It's the old people at the agency I despair of. What is the world coming to?
Anne Brooke
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Of farmers and kings
Book News:
I now have a new webpage for The Art of the Delaneys which is due out on 15 May 2011, and you can also read an extract. I've tried to put more about Liam's working life in this one, though obviously those Delaney Twins also loom large (as it were). More plot and less sex, eh - whatever next ...
In terms of recent reviews, I'm pleased to say that The Bones of Summer gained a 5-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Deb), and The Delaneys and Me received a 4-star review there (thank you, Lucy). Still at Goodreads, How to Eat Fruit had an interesting review (thanks, Jarrah) and I was grateful for that.
Meanwhile, I was thrilled that Brady's Choice was included in the February Recommended Reads list at Jessewave Reviews, and in addition Creative Accountancy for Beginners was briefly at No 80 in the Amazon UK Short Story charts, gosh indeedy.
However, the very exciting news of the week was that Vulpes Libris was mentioned on the BBC website for our recent Archers' interview, so well done, Moira, for that. Double gosh.
The latest meditations are:
Meditation 497
After bitter secrets
blood spills
which can never
be wiped clean
for all the water
in Judah’s hills
and all the good
you’ve seen.
Meditation 498
When the noteworthy fact
about a man
is that he’s dead
it’s probably time
to read about
someone else instead.
And the Sunday haiku is:
Whenever I'm sad,
cupcakes and cappuccinos
make everything glad.
Life News:
Marian and I went to see The King's Speech at Godalming Borough Hall, which is a charming little occasional cinema which always has an interval halfway through the film (while they change the reel). Bliss really - all cinemas should do that. And what a truly fantastic film. I loved it. Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth were especially amazing, and it also brought back fond memories of having my own speech therapist when I was a lass (couldn't say a hard "k" sound for the life of me, you know, and of course having the slight family stammer didn't help ...) - how I loved that woman. It was also interesting to see that King George VI being forced to use his right hand instead of his left in writing etc brought on his stammer - which is exactly what happened to my middle brother at school, and his remained the worst stammer of all of us really, at least for a very long time. I also enjoyed seeing that George marked his speeches with notes of when to pause and difficult words he needed to take time over - which is just what I do too. Though actually when I'm reading out any passages from my books in public (a rare event but it happens), I change the words I can't say to those I can - author's privilege, don't you know. Ha! Anyway, it's a great film and, if you haven't seen it already, I can heartily recommend it.
Yesterday, K and I spent a pleasant morning and lunchtime at Wisley, which you can really never have enough of, and found a big container where they were offering free pots. Free pots - what heaven! We took loads - hope we weren't supposed to be limited to just one ...
Today has been a day for relaxing and doing nothing very much - though we did pop into church this morning just to show willing. We were bamboozled by some of the hymns but we did our best, especially when we (yikes!) had to tackle a dreaded Graham Kendrick classic, Lord preserve us. Way too modern for our tastes and he never seems to quite get the words (such as they are) to fit the music. As you can tell, we're not fans, ah well ...
Anne Brooke
I now have a new webpage for The Art of the Delaneys which is due out on 15 May 2011, and you can also read an extract. I've tried to put more about Liam's working life in this one, though obviously those Delaney Twins also loom large (as it were). More plot and less sex, eh - whatever next ...
In terms of recent reviews, I'm pleased to say that The Bones of Summer gained a 5-star review at Goodreads (thanks, Deb), and The Delaneys and Me received a 4-star review there (thank you, Lucy). Still at Goodreads, How to Eat Fruit had an interesting review (thanks, Jarrah) and I was grateful for that.
Meanwhile, I was thrilled that Brady's Choice was included in the February Recommended Reads list at Jessewave Reviews, and in addition Creative Accountancy for Beginners was briefly at No 80 in the Amazon UK Short Story charts, gosh indeedy.
However, the very exciting news of the week was that Vulpes Libris was mentioned on the BBC website for our recent Archers' interview, so well done, Moira, for that. Double gosh.
The latest meditations are:
Meditation 497
After bitter secrets
blood spills
which can never
be wiped clean
for all the water
in Judah’s hills
and all the good
you’ve seen.
Meditation 498
When the noteworthy fact
about a man
is that he’s dead
it’s probably time
to read about
someone else instead.
And the Sunday haiku is:
Whenever I'm sad,
cupcakes and cappuccinos
make everything glad.
Life News:
Marian and I went to see The King's Speech at Godalming Borough Hall, which is a charming little occasional cinema which always has an interval halfway through the film (while they change the reel). Bliss really - all cinemas should do that. And what a truly fantastic film. I loved it. Geoffrey Rush and Colin Firth were especially amazing, and it also brought back fond memories of having my own speech therapist when I was a lass (couldn't say a hard "k" sound for the life of me, you know, and of course having the slight family stammer didn't help ...) - how I loved that woman. It was also interesting to see that King George VI being forced to use his right hand instead of his left in writing etc brought on his stammer - which is exactly what happened to my middle brother at school, and his remained the worst stammer of all of us really, at least for a very long time. I also enjoyed seeing that George marked his speeches with notes of when to pause and difficult words he needed to take time over - which is just what I do too. Though actually when I'm reading out any passages from my books in public (a rare event but it happens), I change the words I can't say to those I can - author's privilege, don't you know. Ha! Anyway, it's a great film and, if you haven't seen it already, I can heartily recommend it.
Yesterday, K and I spent a pleasant morning and lunchtime at Wisley, which you can really never have enough of, and found a big container where they were offering free pots. Free pots - what heaven! We took loads - hope we weren't supposed to be limited to just one ...
Today has been a day for relaxing and doing nothing very much - though we did pop into church this morning just to show willing. We were bamboozled by some of the hymns but we did our best, especially when we (yikes!) had to tackle a dreaded Graham Kendrick classic, Lord preserve us. Way too modern for our tastes and he never seems to quite get the words (such as they are) to fit the music. As you can tell, we're not fans, ah well ...
Anne Brooke
Thursday, March 03, 2011
The Importance of Fruit and the welcoming touch
Book News:
It is a matter for general astonishment on all sides that during February when it was offered as a free story, How to Eat Fruit was actually downloaded 4,800 times. Ye gods and little fishes, that's more than a 1,000 times a week! I know at least a couple of those who took the punt didn't enjoy it, but I hope some of the others did. Now, just imagine how big a smile I'd have if it hadn't been free! But in any case it's lovely to think of 4,800 readers, or potentially so - therefore a BIG thank you to all who clicked on that button! Well gosh.
A Woman Like The Sea now has its earlier review up at Queer Magazine Online, so thank you to Victor and Anders for that. In addition, if during March you buy A Woman Like The Sea, than you can get any other of my Untreed Reads books with a 40% discount - so there's another good offer to whet your reading appetite. Keeping with Untreed Reads, I was pleased to see that The Girl in the Painting was No 3 on their international bestseller list for February, gosh again.
Reviews this week so far have been as follows:
The Delaneys and Me gained a 4.5 star review at MichelenJeff Reviews.
At the same review site, Entertaining the Delaneys gained a 5 star review.
And Brady's Choice received a 5+ star review, so that was thrilling, I can tell you. Gosh indeed! And thank you to Jeff for reviewing all those so kindly.
Not to be outdone, Sunday Haiku was briefly at No 68 in the Amazon UK Kindle chart, and I even managed to reach the 110,000 word marker in The Executioner's Cane, huzzahs galore and put out the bunting. Heck, I might even finish the trilogy one day - who knows.
This week I've reviewed Ron Butlin's Vivaldi and the Number 3 for Vulpes Libris, which is a musically surreal short story collection that it's wisest not to consume all at once. And recent meditations are:
Meditation 494
The shadow from the sun
retraces the silent step
for a paste of figs
and bitter tears
so one man’s grief
exceeds the worth
of the truth carved out
through all the years.
Meditation 495
Do not trust
the messengers of Babylonia,
do not let them in:
they’ll admire
everything you own then take it
when they leave again.
So do not trust
the messengers of Babylonia,
my friend:
they come
with gifts and smiles but they’ll only hurt you
in the end.
Meditation 496
To be remembered for water
is how to begin
so still the tongue
and let the brightness in.
Life News:
A difficult week, health-wise, but also positive really. Without the HRT, I've been all over the place so I finally bit the proverbial damn bullet and went to the doctor this week about my mood (low, if you're asking). I did the mercifully short (as I didn't have my reading glasses) test she gave me and we discovered I'm 9/21 for anxiety and 8/21 for depression. Which apparently makes me moderately, but not severely, depressed. So it's not all bad news and gloom really! Lord knows it could be worse ... Anyway, the upshot is I'm now on my first medically-prescribed anti-depressant (ah, welcome to mid-forties womanhood indeed ..) which is called Cipramil. Yes, of course I looked up the list of side effects on the NHS site but it was so long I thought I'd stop reading before I jumped out of the nearest window. Ha! Anyway, I'm now on Day 2 of the new Happy Pills and am feeling surprisingly perky. Which must be psychosomatic as they're not supposed to kick in for at least 2 weeks. I can't take the St John's Wort with these, alas, so they're on their own, the pesky little devils. We will see, eh ...
On a happier note, I have decided, along with the lovely Kirsty at Vulpes Libris, to give up worrying for Lent. I was toying with giving up chocolate, but hell I could do without the pressure right now, so an attempted lack of worrying seems like a better idea. I've also enjoyed finishing off the story of Joseph and his brothers at bible study this week. Now there's a disfunctional family if ever I saw one. Too much favouritism is never anything but a dangerous game, my dears ...
I also spent a lovely lunchtime at Wisley yesterday, though I'm afraid there were no cupcakes and the cappuccino just isn't as good as at The Savill Garden, but nonetheless the camellias were out, alongside some gloriously scented daphne sprigs and irises, amongst others. It was all very relaxing which was just what I needed really. And I've popped in to see my former neighbour in Woking today, so that was good to catch up.
I'm hoping all this positive input will help me through the no doubt agonising final episode of the increasingly grim South Riding on TV - I am still traumatised by last Sunday so who knows what I'll be like after the weekend. Someone get me some happy TV to watch, soon!
Finally, I am beyond thrilled to announce that it's now official: UK students have voted our University as the most welcoming in Britain, and my boss gets to have a few words in the article too, hurrah! Good for Student Care is what I say - we all put a heck of a lot of work into Welcome Week arrangements and changes (which takes up a good portion of our year and takes me a month to recover from afterwards!) and it's lovely to think that the students do get something out of our efforts. Well done to them and us, and here's to this year's Welcome Week also - the champagne's on me ...
Anne Brooke
It is a matter for general astonishment on all sides that during February when it was offered as a free story, How to Eat Fruit was actually downloaded 4,800 times. Ye gods and little fishes, that's more than a 1,000 times a week! I know at least a couple of those who took the punt didn't enjoy it, but I hope some of the others did. Now, just imagine how big a smile I'd have if it hadn't been free! But in any case it's lovely to think of 4,800 readers, or potentially so - therefore a BIG thank you to all who clicked on that button! Well gosh.
A Woman Like The Sea now has its earlier review up at Queer Magazine Online, so thank you to Victor and Anders for that. In addition, if during March you buy A Woman Like The Sea, than you can get any other of my Untreed Reads books with a 40% discount - so there's another good offer to whet your reading appetite. Keeping with Untreed Reads, I was pleased to see that The Girl in the Painting was No 3 on their international bestseller list for February, gosh again.
Reviews this week so far have been as follows:
The Delaneys and Me gained a 4.5 star review at MichelenJeff Reviews.
At the same review site, Entertaining the Delaneys gained a 5 star review.
And Brady's Choice received a 5+ star review, so that was thrilling, I can tell you. Gosh indeed! And thank you to Jeff for reviewing all those so kindly.
Not to be outdone, Sunday Haiku was briefly at No 68 in the Amazon UK Kindle chart, and I even managed to reach the 110,000 word marker in The Executioner's Cane, huzzahs galore and put out the bunting. Heck, I might even finish the trilogy one day - who knows.
This week I've reviewed Ron Butlin's Vivaldi and the Number 3 for Vulpes Libris, which is a musically surreal short story collection that it's wisest not to consume all at once. And recent meditations are:
Meditation 494
The shadow from the sun
retraces the silent step
for a paste of figs
and bitter tears
so one man’s grief
exceeds the worth
of the truth carved out
through all the years.
Meditation 495
Do not trust
the messengers of Babylonia,
do not let them in:
they’ll admire
everything you own then take it
when they leave again.
So do not trust
the messengers of Babylonia,
my friend:
they come
with gifts and smiles but they’ll only hurt you
in the end.
Meditation 496
To be remembered for water
is how to begin
so still the tongue
and let the brightness in.
Life News:
A difficult week, health-wise, but also positive really. Without the HRT, I've been all over the place so I finally bit the proverbial damn bullet and went to the doctor this week about my mood (low, if you're asking). I did the mercifully short (as I didn't have my reading glasses) test she gave me and we discovered I'm 9/21 for anxiety and 8/21 for depression. Which apparently makes me moderately, but not severely, depressed. So it's not all bad news and gloom really! Lord knows it could be worse ... Anyway, the upshot is I'm now on my first medically-prescribed anti-depressant (ah, welcome to mid-forties womanhood indeed ..) which is called Cipramil. Yes, of course I looked up the list of side effects on the NHS site but it was so long I thought I'd stop reading before I jumped out of the nearest window. Ha! Anyway, I'm now on Day 2 of the new Happy Pills and am feeling surprisingly perky. Which must be psychosomatic as they're not supposed to kick in for at least 2 weeks. I can't take the St John's Wort with these, alas, so they're on their own, the pesky little devils. We will see, eh ...
On a happier note, I have decided, along with the lovely Kirsty at Vulpes Libris, to give up worrying for Lent. I was toying with giving up chocolate, but hell I could do without the pressure right now, so an attempted lack of worrying seems like a better idea. I've also enjoyed finishing off the story of Joseph and his brothers at bible study this week. Now there's a disfunctional family if ever I saw one. Too much favouritism is never anything but a dangerous game, my dears ...
I also spent a lovely lunchtime at Wisley yesterday, though I'm afraid there were no cupcakes and the cappuccino just isn't as good as at The Savill Garden, but nonetheless the camellias were out, alongside some gloriously scented daphne sprigs and irises, amongst others. It was all very relaxing which was just what I needed really. And I've popped in to see my former neighbour in Woking today, so that was good to catch up.
I'm hoping all this positive input will help me through the no doubt agonising final episode of the increasingly grim South Riding on TV - I am still traumatised by last Sunday so who knows what I'll be like after the weekend. Someone get me some happy TV to watch, soon!
Finally, I am beyond thrilled to announce that it's now official: UK students have voted our University as the most welcoming in Britain, and my boss gets to have a few words in the article too, hurrah! Good for Student Care is what I say - we all put a heck of a lot of work into Welcome Week arrangements and changes (which takes up a good portion of our year and takes me a month to recover from afterwards!) and it's lovely to think that the students do get something out of our efforts. Well done to them and us, and here's to this year's Welcome Week also - the champagne's on me ...
Anne Brooke
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