Blog Tour Day Four and a Birthday

Book News:

It's Day 4 of my blog tour, and today you can get to know Mark, my main character in The Heart's Greater Silence, a little better at the Book Wenches Site. Happy reading and don't forget to leave a comment or enter the competition for a chance to win a prize. Good luck!






Life News:

A big Happy Birthday to my lovely husband! We've had a great day today - though it did get off to a strange start when I accidentally gave him his Valentine's Day card instead of his birthday one, groan ... I managed to snatch it back before he'd actually finished reading the verse, but I suspect I may have to get him another one anyway - it's a matter of honour, you know.

And more strangeness at breakfast when Roofer Chappie Number 3 unexpectedly turned up with the scaffolder to take a look at the situation in terms of scaffolding - so while we were enjoying our coffee & porridge, the workmen were measuring the side of the house with a tape measure - how quaint. Always good to watch the servants work while the posh folk eat, dream on eh ... Plus I was rather taken with the older chappie who told me in the tones of an ancient prophet that it would be cold for another month and we'd be lucky to see spring before at least April. We're all doomed, captain, doomed ...

Anyway, after they'd departed, as part of K's present, we both attended the Roses Pruning and Maintenance morning workshop at Wisley - which was fantastic and very useful indeed. We shall set to with our pruning with much more confidence now, thank goodness. We then had lunch at the cafe, a walk through the spectacular butterflies in the glasshouse, and a wander round the really very chilly gardens (I fear my roofer prophet might be right ...), before spending our hard-earned cash in the shop. Mainly on roses equipment and two new climbers for the garden gate. Bliss.

Tonight it's definitely a champagne supper and celebrations all the way to the finale, hurrah!

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Blog Tour Day 3

Book News:

Today, Day 3 of my Blog Tour for The Heart's Greater Silence, you can find me at Amara's Place, where you can read about what animal I'd love to be, and what I'd probably end up being (sigh ...!) - don't forget to leave a comment in order to enter the giveaway competition and let me know what animal you are at the same time. I bet yours beats mine.

Keeping to the theme of gay fiction, I'm delighted to see that short story Give and Take has received two 4-star reviews at Goodreads - one from the lovely Brita Addams, and one from the equally lovely Michi - many thanks indeed to both of you.

Turning briefly to my lesbian literary fiction, I was very happy indeed earlier today to see The Girl in The Painting at No 7 in the Amazon UK gay and lesbian stories chart. Gosh indeedy. I'm delighted it's still selling and I do hope readers are enjoying it.

Here's today's meditation poem:




Meditation 623
Doing what’s good
is so wearisome
when the whispers of evil
excite us

but beware of that call
as evil has teeth
and is likely to turn round
to bite us.


Life News:

Yesterday evening's MAJOR domestic disaster was Bad Me spilling half a glass of our best port all over the lovely cream carpet of my husband's study. Groan ... Well, that'll teach me to all but snatch it out of his hands in order to have a quick taste, won't it ... All those Wife Points lost in one fell swoop, alack and alas. Naturally we rushed into action with stain remover, kitchen towel and water (him) and much weeping (me - well, every drama should have a sound track), and I think we might just have managed to salvage something, but I fear it may never be quite the same again. However, many thanks indeed to all those lovely online folks who have offered essential tips and support, and I will be sure to have all your suggestions in the store cupboard for next time imminent disaster threatens.

This morning, I have attempted to Make A Cake (capitals deliberate as I'm not a natural baker so this is a Big Commitment for me) - well, it's my husband's birthday tomorrow and he said how much he liked the Lemon Drizzle cake I tried to put together a couple of weeks ago, so I am having another stab at it. I must try to claw back those missing Wife Points somehow, you know. I think it'll be okay - though I do appreciate I'm supposed to blend the butter into the mix instead of leaving it in little pieces as my arms were so tired with all that stirring. The result was that halfway through I had to take it out of the oven and pour off the heated butter which was gathering together for safety on top of the cake before it drowned entirely in its own juice. Hmm, it's the thought that counts, I suppose. Still, I shoved some icing on the top to cover my shame, and I'm hoping for the best. Hey ho. I suspect the TV Series, Cooking with Anne, remains a distant dream ...

Tonight, we're off to the theatre to see The King's Speech - I've already seen the DVD, so it will be interesting the live version of it - and will also be the first time K has seen it, so I'm hoping it will be a treat for him. Perhaps it will take his mind off the cake?...

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Blog Tour Day Two

Book News:

Today on my blog tour you can find me at:

It's Raining Men - where you can discover the importance of setting in my fiction
Miz Love - where my ideal career is finally revealed!
Dawn's Reading Nook - to find out what my husband really thinks about me ...
Louisa Bacio - to take a walk on the dark side.

Not only that but you can get in the mood for tomorrow's blog tour stop over at Amara's Place, and see some of her very lovely jewellery too.

Meanwhile, it's the absolutely LAST day for you to buy a copy of fantasy novel The Gifting and get a FREE ebook from my backlist - so act fast so you don't miss out ... Happy reading.

Today's meditation poem is:




Meditation 622
To understand the man
look first at his mother
and see how the blood
really flows.

For all of her wrongs
will be multiplied twice
but as for her goodness –
who knows?


Life News:

Today, I've had a lovely time having my rebalancing facial and an eyebrow wax at the Elstead beauty salon and very enjoyable it was too. The therapist was particularly good at the eyebrow defuzzing and I hardly felt a thing. No, honestly. So now my eyebrows are utterly perfect in every way and I can even see out, hurrah! How glorious the world is now I'm not staring at it through the brows of a yak, hey ho. I might even have it done again sometime.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy - last day of the FREE offer!
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Blog Tour Day One

Book News:

Yes, it's here at last, hurrah. My literary gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence has been published today and you can find it at Riptide Publishing, All Romance Ebooks, Amazon US and Amazon UK, alongside other major ebook stores. Happy reading to all.

At the same time, today is the first day of my blog tour which will last until 16 February. There are loads of prizes and giveaways, so do pop in and leave a comment or enter the competition for a chance to win THREE ebooks from my backlist - there's nothing to lose and everything to gain. Today you will find me at Top 2 Bottom Reviews where you can find out 10 very strange things about me; and Long and Short Reviews where you can discover what 5 items I'd take to my own desert island.

Today's other book news is that it's Day 6 of the Buy One Get One Free offer on The Gifting - so there's still time to pop a copy into your shopping basket and get a FREE ebook from my backlist. Don't delay, as the offer only lasts till Tuesday 7th Feb ...

Meanwhile, literary gay short story Brady's Choice received a 4-star review at Goodreads - so thank you to Meggie for that.

And, speaking of Amber Allure Press, I will be their Spotlight Author on Friday 10 February and this event will include a FREE giveaway of a backlist ebook, so please do pop along to that and join in the fun there too. You'll be more than welcome.

Finally, here's today's meditation poem:




Meditation 621
So many voices
in the world
pushing at my ear’s
tender skin
in an attempt
to be heard

when only one voice
is needed
and its final arrival
makes the harsh demands
of every other whisper
faintly absurd.


Life News:

Not a great deal has happened today which isn't writing-related, except the snow appears to be melting - so a cause of great celebration indeed. Oh, and I am enjoying a week off to use up my holiday days before the end of March, which is the end of our holiday year. So that's lovely.

Plus, in a less lovely way, I did get an email from British Gas asking me to give them a meter reading online. Bearing in mind the series of disasters which took place the last time I attempted to do this - including an inability of their website to recognise me as a customer at all, several abortive attempts to contact them by telephone, and the fact their engineer eventually turned up to read the meter - I've told them I won't do this but to simply send the engineer instead to avoid customer disappointment. No response yet, but we won't wait up, eh ...

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy - still time for a free book!
Gay Reads UK - naughty but nice
Biblical Fiction UK - because faith turns up when you least expect it

Blog tours and beauty

Book News:

Well, it's almost here - as of tomorrow until 16 February, my literary gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence is going on tour and will be appearing at a variety of venues at a computer near you. Don't miss out! Especially as there's a big bag of goodies and other fun stuff to give away while we're travelling. Plus don't forget you only have till Monday 5am UK time to preorder and be in with a chance of winning a year's supply of books - happy shopping! Also because of the tour, I'll be posting a quick blog each day to update you as to where I am and what I'm up to (in the politest possible sense, naturally ...).

In addition, I'm pleased to say that I've received a few very nice reviews for The Heart's Greater Silence in the past couple of days: there have been three 5-star reviews at Goodreads, one from Nithu, one from Suzette, and one from Aija. Thank you so much to all of you, both for reading and commenting. Plus there's also a lovely 4.5 star review at TWLIB Reviews - many thanks indeed, Nicci.

Meanwhile, my Buy One Get One Free offer continues - so if you purchase a copy of my fantasy novel The Gifting in ebook OR paperback version, you get a FREE ebook from anything on my backlist as well. This offer absolutely has to end on 7 February so don't miss out on that one either!

Keeping to the subject of The Gathandrian Trilogy, I was thrilled to receive back the first impressions from my independent editor in response to the final part of the trilogy, The Executioner's Cane. She very kindly said it's a "powerful evocative final book for the trilogy." Gosh, thanks, Sarah! This was especially welcome as the so-far poor sales record of The Gifting has left me feeling rather down recently, and I was wondering if I had the ability to finish it properly at all. Well, maybe I have, and maybe it's not as awful as feared. I hope not anyway. I'll certainly be getting lots of edits and alterations from Sarah (I hope - as I really love getting my teeth into a good editing task), but now I feel there might be something there worth improving. You never know, eh.

Other book news is that there's a 20% discount on my Sunday Haiku collection direct from the publisher, so it's the ideal opportunity to slip some nature poetry into your shopping basket. Enjoy. Speaking of which, here's my latest Sunday haiku:

This golden evening
dreams away the honeyed time,
making winter warm.


Life News:

As both a traditional Christian and a staunch believer in LGBT equality, I'd like to draw your attention to this petition to allow vicars to bless the civil partnerships of gay and lesbian couples in church in the UK. It's something I believe in very strongly indeed and I've already signed it, so I hope some of you out there will consider signing it also. One day - surely! - the church has to show at least some understanding of equality and justice ...

On a more practical level, our roof problems continue. The third roofer chappie came round for a third time this week to discuss options, and he's coming round again next week with a scaffolding expert so he can begin to get together a proper quote for us. Really, it's all fun and games here in the shires. As always.

Plus there's wonderful local news: I've won a free MOT with our local garage in Elstead, so I'm looking forward to taking that up later in the year. And my neighbour and friend, L, and I sipped champagne on Friday afternoon at the reopening of our local beauty salon, hurrah, and hic! It looks marvellous, and we've both booked treatments for next week. I'm having the rebalancing facial and they're going to cut through my eyebrow hedge at the same time. Good luck to them on that front, eh ... Honestly, I'll be a new woman next week - you won't recognise me.

Astonishingly, I also managed to win our golf game on Friday morning - I can't remember the last time I beat Marian so we were both severely shocked. Perhaps I've been swopped with an alien? Who can tell ... I've also had a haircut which I'm very pleased with and can now see out (well, apart from the eyebrows problem), hurrah. And on Friday evening, we had L & J, and R & G round for dinner, which was fabulous. Our first dinner party at the house, dahlings - what fun! K really pushed the boat out, and we ate pate and crispbreads, followed by mushrooms in Yorkshire pudding with potato wedges and green beans, all finished off with pears roasted in honey and pine nuts with clotted cream. Oh and not forgetting the cheese & port course, and coffee and chocolates. Bliss .... That should keep us nicely going through this sudden onset of winter.

Because, arrggh, the snow! Horrid. Though thank goodness it appears to be melting. Let's hope that continues. After all, I don't want anything coming between me and my new eyebrows next week, ho ho ... Perish the thought.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy - critically acclaimed but commercially sagging
Gay Reads UK - for intelligent kink (as it were)
Biblical Fiction UK - for a new look at those old stories

Buy One Get One Free and Roof Disasters

Book News:

Fantasy novel The Gifting is currently being advertised on the Kindle UK Users Forum until 7 February, so if you buy a copy before then, you also get a FREE ebook from anything on my backlist. I am indeed the Queen of the Offers this year (as it were) so happy shopping!

Meanwhile, don't forget that my gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence is less than 72 hours away from being released to you if you've preordered it. And if you haven't, I believe there's still time to do so and also enter into the Riptide competition to win FREE ebooks for a year, so don't miss out ... Speaking of which, there's a lovely 5-star review at Goodreads just in today, so thank you, Jeff, for that. So pleased you enjoyed the read. And don't forget my blog tour will start on 6 February and there will be lots of goodies and prizes to win, as well as some exclusive extracts, so I do hope you'll join me. I'm sure it's going to be fun.

At the same time, there's a whole baggage of exciting book news this week, which I will list below for ease of understanding:

1. My gay thriller A Dangerous Man is one of the entries for the LGBT Scholarship auction, so please feel free to make a bid and support a very worthy cause. It will end on Sunday 5 February, so there's still time - just! Many thanks.
2. Gay romantic short story Angels and Airheads will be published by Musa Publishing in September, so I'm looking forward to that.
3. Gay erotic short story The Delaneys and Me gained a 4-star review at Goodreads - thank you, Sandra.
4. Not to be outdone, Dating the Delaneys also gained a Goodreads 4-star review - many thanks again to Sandra.
5. Literary lesbian short story The Girl in The Painting was for a time at No 7 in the Amazon UK Short Story charts, which was lovely. It's down to No 25 now, but hey I'm still smiling. It is odd though how people are buying it (for which thank you!) but nobody seems to want to talk about it afterwards. Perhaps it's a secret vice, even though there's no sex in it at all? It is indeed a mystery but a nice one.
6. Another literary lesbian short story A Woman Like The Sea is also subject to a 30% discount at Untreed Reads for the whole of February, so why not give it a try? Again, no sex, but a whole lot of emotion. Enjoy!
7. Two copies of my biblical short story A Little Death have been bought by a library in Indiana, so that's very positive too, well gosh.
8. And, finally, you can now find all my romantic stories and novels in one place at my page at Romance Reviews, so happy browsing there too.

Today, you can find my review of Lisa Jewell's chicklit novel 31 Dream Street at Vulpes Libris Reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was greatly pleased indeed that the main character was a man - good for you, Lisa!

This week's meditations are:


Meditation 619
Everything new begins
with the destruction
of something old

for there is a balance
in the universe
as our stories unfold

and all that fades
is exchanged
for everlasting gold.




Meditation 620
Money has the gift
of deadening thought

where each fresh idea
dies when bought

so all our dancing life
remains uncaught.


Life News:

Jolly cold here in the outback, Captain, I must say. Golly gosh, have we been transplanted to Russia and nobody's told us?? It wouldn't surprise me. Suffice it to say that my thermals are in good use this week, and I even wore them to work for the first time ever. Another weather first was earlier in the week I snuggled up in front of the TV with a blanket round my knees. Not the sexiest image you could think of, I admit, but I have to say it was bliss. I am indeed turning into my grandmother after all and any day now I will be taking up knitting and developing a Geordie accent. You heard it here first ... I'm now wondering if I should invest in a slanket or a snuggie - yes, it is sad that I know these phrases - but I'm not sure K's reaction would be positive.

Mind you, with the way things are developing with our Roof Problem, a slanket may turn out to be a wise option yet. Our third roofing man turned up today to give us a quote and he too thinks it's not good news and the whole lot will have to be redone. He's even coming back tomorrow with a friend so he can take a proper look at the really disastrous parts, ah well. Which in a strange sort of way is actually reassuring as we're therefore not being taken for a ride by the first chappie. No news yet from Chappie No 2 however - perhaps he was just too traumatised by it all. Not only that but in chatting with the neighbour today, it appears that the roof of our house has always been an issue and in fact the extension roof doesn't fit properly with the original one. As this is exactly what today's man said too, I suspect there'll be trouble ahead, my dears. The only mystery now is whether Chappie No 3's quote will be four figures or five.

I'd best start knitting then. Anyone willing to buy a jumper? My prices are good, hey ho ...

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Hedges and haiku

Life News:

Had a great time yesterday at Elstead Writers' Group and got some wonderful ideas about a story I'm struggling with about a widow and a very special library - loads to think about so thank you to all! I've also continued with my baking extravaganza and this weekend's delight has been chocolate fudge cake. There were one or two dodgy moments with the icing but it was a lot better if I didn't follow what the packet said, sigh. Anyway, I think I managed to salvage it and there've been no complaints, hurrah.

And, with thanks to Jacqui at Elstead Writers, I have rushed to Waitrose and bought gingerbread porridge. Mmm, can't wait to try this. Apparently it's amazing. For most of this weekend, K and I have been planting our red dogwood hedge in the front garden - we did half yesterday and have just finished it off today, and it looks pretty good. Mind you, it's certainly heavy work so I don't think we'll be doing another hedge for a while.

We've also obtained a second quote for our roofing problem from another recommended chappie and are now even more confused than we were before, sigh. I'll try to chase up the third company tomorrow and see if I can get them to come round at some point. It might be a little clearer after that - I'm hoping so anyway as it's totally messing with my head at the moment, sigh ...

I've also just completed this weekend's RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, and have spotted 2 great tits, 4 blue tits, 2 long-tailed tits and 2 redwing, so have submitted those to them, and will look forward to seeing the results for the UK later this Spring. It's great to be able to take part in this for the first time ever, as of course we've never had a garden to do it in before (as it were). Hell, it's almost like being grown-up, you know.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, having a big packet of Giant Chocolate Buttons in the house does make the days seem brighter, double hurrah and hang out the bunting. Plus there's even some left for tonight, mmm.

Book News:

Just a reminder that in case you're looking for something to read that'll take you to places you've not been to before, then I'm happy to point you in the direction of the first in my fantasy trilogy, The Gifting. The Kindle ebook is only £1.91, and the paperback only £7.68 with free delivery worldwide so buy early and buy often! Don't forget you can browse the reviews and read an extract to whet your appetite. Thank you.

And the Sunday haiku is:

A pair of buzzards
master the sky, their wingtips
caressing bright cloud.

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

Author of The Week and Daughter of The Year?

Book News:

Gosh, indeedy, but I appear to be in the running for Author of The Week over at Pants Off Reviews - which, you may remember, recently gave me a rather nice review for upcoming gay literary short story The Heart's Greater Silence. Well, if you like, you can even pay them a brief visit and vote for me - and many thanks if you do. Honestly, I'm blushing ... No, really.

I'm also pleased to see that gay erotic short story Dating the Delaneys is now finally up at Amazon US, and Amazon UK - and for a while it was even at Number 69 (no, please, say nothing, people!...) in the Amazon UK charts, so that was very heartening.

Meanwhile my Twitter ebook giveaway fortnight went quite well (it ended yesterday) and I had nearly 40 new followers and gave away about 20 ebooks, so I hope everyone enjoyed their reads. I know some did, as they were kind enough to comment - thank you! I'm planning another giveaway in February to coincide with the advertising campaign for fantasy novel The Gifting - so watch out for that one too. 2012 is the Year of the Giveaway, that's for sure.

Finally, I'm thrilled to announce that the final part of The Gathandrian Trilogy, The Executioner's Cane, has been accepted in advance by Bluewood Publishing (many thanks, Paulette and David), so I need to get the edits sorted out and submit it properly to them by the summer. Am very much looking forward to getting my teeth into that one, hurrah.

Here are the latest meditation poems for you:




Meditation 615
The ocean of blood
connecting a family
cannot be denied:

it’s a wild current
where strange feelings
dance or hide

and when the wind shifts,
the waters press down
in this overwhelming tide.




Meditation 616
The clash of great armies
swallows up the air
and is never silent.

Its echo sings
in the sky
and drifts

across the treetops,
tainting all ages
and people to come:

a memento of pain
when the fighting
is done.




Meditation 617
Perfection lies
not in the wanting
but the waiting

as the whole universe
from the brightest star
to the smallest

blade of grass
lies in grave
expectancy

knowing one day soon
it will come
to pass.




Meditation 618
Out of the quiet shadows
into the full light
and noise of the day

you creep blinking,
with hands which stutter
for a safer way

and you know
the path is always forward
so you cannot stay.


Life News:

Great excitement once more on the garden front as our dogwood hedge has been delivered, so we'll need to plant that in over the weekend. I'm praying for sunshine then, as I no longer have a working brolly, alas. Not that a brolly would be useful when planting a hedge, but there you go, eh.

Yesterday's girly fun was finding one of my colleagues in automobile distress in the car park after work, as her battery was flat. Heck, I've been there so often that I had every sympathy (K and I still wake up screaming at the memory of the time the battery on our rickety old removal van died on the main roundabout linking the A12 to the M25. My, what joy that was ... though the mention on the Radio 4 traffic news was nice). Anyway, as I'm the only person on the planet who actually has jump leads in the back of her car, we managed to get it started though I admit we did have to Ring A Man to ask how to put the jump leads on. Yes, I hear you laughing, but probably not as loudly as the Security staff were as they watched us on the CCTV, hey ho ... Girl Power "R" Us, but only after we've powdered our noses.

And today we've had a recommended builder round to give us a quote on our loose tiles and guttering at the back of the house. Ah, what innocence there is in that statement. After getting to the top of a very tall ladder (me - please admire my courage at this point ...) and crawling round and over the roof (him), it is fairly obvious that the roof of our lovely new house is Not A Happy Place. The cement is disintegrating, hence the falling tiles and damaged guttering and, actually, none of the roof tiles are fixed to anything as a result and can be lifted off without any effort at all. Meanwhile at the front of the house, someone has done a veneer cementing job to fool the casual passerby (a category which, evidently, included our surveyor, sigh) and added chicken wire to keep the tiles on. Chicken wire! Whatever next?... There'll be no damn eggs from that, I fear. Ah, Carruthers, I foresee trouble ahead and a Very Big Bill (as it were - and please excuse appalling Use of Capitals, but really it's that kind of a day). Ah well, we  hadn't planned on having a holiday this year - and maybe best to make that two years. Groan.

Add to that a bit of a Tricky Moment with Mother (TMM for short) last week during our regular phone call and all is jolly interesting indeed in Elstead this week. Mother was telling me all about a woman she met on the bus into Colchester who visited her dying father every day at the hospital, come rain or shine, and then came out with the fatal thought (Note to people: never ever say this phrase or anything like it to anyone if you don't really want to know the answer ...): I don't think any of my children would ever do that for me, would they? Ah, Manipulation, you are indeed a dying art. My less than kind answer to this was: No, probably not, but isn't that what nurses are for? Hmm, I suspect I'm not in the running for Daughter of The Year this year, or any other year indeed ... Situation normal, then.

Finally, as I come from a family of both victims and survivors of this disease and am on the Hit List for testing when I reach 50 (always have something to look forward to, is what I say), I'd like to bring to your attention that this week is Bowel Cancer Awareness Week - so don't forget to get involved and save a life, maybe even your own, especially as it's one of the easiest cancers to cure if it's caught early enough. Keep well and keep going, as they say!

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Gay Reads UK
Biblical Fiction UK

Hellebores, Haiku and Heart

Book News:

There have been two really lovely 4.5 stars reviews of The Heart's Greater Silence late this week - one at Pants Off Reviews (many thanks, Darien) and one at Between the Covers Reviews (thanks, Alex).

I've also been more than happy to receive a 4.5 star review for Dating the Delaneys at Jessewave Reviews. So many thanks to Raine for that one, and of course apologies that you'll never be able to watch Four Weddings and a Funeral in quite the same way again. Such a great film too, ah well!...

Not only that, but I was pleased to see that Tommy's Blind Date has received two interesting reviews at Goodreads - one from Mandy, and one from Victoria who thought the story was "sweet and spicy". Many thanks to both of you!

Meanwhile I've now had the fully signed contract for upcoming gay short story, Where You Hurt The Most, returned by Riptide Publishing, so that's great. The likely publication date is sometime in May, I gather, but this has yet to be confirmed.

And there's only THREE DAYS left for my Twitter Giveaway - so if you follow me up to and including 25 January, you'll receive a FREE ebook of your choice - happy tweeting!

I've also updated my meditation poetry page so you can find all the latest poems there, but in any case here's Number 614 for you:




Meditation 614
All that secret
wisdom hidden
in the heart
of books
we no longer
understand:

the mysteries
of the sea
waiting deep
beneath the waters
which playfully
kiss the sand.


The Sunday haiku is:

My grandmother's voice
in its electronic soul:
the satnav's secret.


Life News:

Great excitement in the garden this week: we've trimmed the red dogwood stems at the back and brought them in for display in the dining room - and very beautiful they look too. With any luck we'll get new and even more colourful growth this coming year, so something to look forward to indeed. Plus our dogwood front hedge is due for delivery this week so K and I staked out the position of each plant today. They'll be fifty of them and it looks like a pretty good fit to us. The excitement's certainly mounting.

Plus we now have one snowdrop in the back garden, with its friend looking like it will make an appearance very soon (hurrah!), the crocuses at the front are pretty much in bloom, and the hellebores we planted last year are definitely on their way. The miracle of nature - if you plant things, sometimes they actually grow, ye gods and little fishes. Whatever next?

Meanwhile, further miracles abound - yesterday's baking opportunity was blueberry muffins and they're very tasty indeed. However, I must really get a proper muffin tray (as it were) and an apron to avoid potential disasters (blueberries are very ... um ... blue, aren't they?). Perhaps soon it will be time for my new book, Cooking by the Skin of Your Teeth. Any buyers? Hey ho ...

This morning was church, and the greeting of the wedding couples due to get married in Elstead or our sister church in Thursley throughout the year, and very jolly it all was too. Always good to practise those old wedding favourites just to see what they sound like - it's almost as if Spring were here in truth.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Biblical Fiction
Gay Reads UK

Crocuses and crime

Book News:

I'm pleased to say that crime does actually pay, hurrah: my most borrowed library book over this last year has apparently been psychological thriller Thorn in the Flesh, so that's very pleasing, I must say. Good for my heroine, Kate!

At the same time, gay crime thriller A Dangerous Man garnered a 4-star review at Goodreads this week - thank you, Suzette! I particularly enjoyed the phrase about "sifting through the darkness to find the light." Ah, as in writing, so in life, indeed ...

This week, I've written three more blog posts for my upcoming book tour, including articles on bullying and the call of the dark, and have reviewed Jane Gordon-Cumming's novel, A Proper Family Christmas, for Vulpes Libris. So, I've not been idle, you'll be pleased to hear.

At the same time, I've decided to bring to a close my experiment with thoughtful blogging at The Thoughtful Corner for a variety of reasons, not least because the year is set to continue to be busy in writing terms so I don't believe I can spare the time for it. But many thanks to those of you who did pop in for a visit, and I hope we can all keep up the rather slower approach to life in the months ahead. Thus making this paragraph something of a contradiction in terms, I know, but there you have it. As it were.

I've also been rather wickedly amused with a couple of recent articles about the state of publishing: one on the different approaches of the big publishers and Amazon; and one on how local independent bookstores aren't really local and don't do much to encourage reading. Do take a look and see what you think - when it comes to it and even though Amazon don't appear to be that keen (still!) on gay literature, my sympathy is actually with Amazon on both counts as I don't think much of the attitudes of the big publishers or agents, and I've long since given up on the concept of the local bookshop - even though I appreciate that's distinctly not what I'm supposed to say, it is when it comes to it what I really think. My writing and reading life has, after all, long since gone online and that's where my heart lies.

Recent meditations are:


Meditation 611
We live in the balance:
floating somewhere between
our wrong decisions
and the occasional good
we do

whilst far beyond
our understanding
the planets turn
and ancient stars
still shine.




Meditation 612
When the measured dance
and glance of time

meets the wild light
of bright eternity

then the strong harmony
we long for

will like a forgotten chord
finally be restored.




Meditation 613
In each life
there’s a time

for silence
and a time

to speak.
The wisdom

is finding
the difference.


Life News:

We now have a crocus that is actually in bloom in the front garden, well gosh! It's absolutely beautiful and I hope it manages to hang on in there somehow. Almost a miracle to find such a sign of spring in the middle of winter. We do indeed have to grasp the small hopes when we see them, eh.

And it's back to my normal working routine so that's a relief - I feel much more settled than I did last week anyway. Plus I had a lovely lunch with a writing friend of mine at the University, Ali, yesterday, so it was great to catch up there. Keeping to the socialising theme, I invited a couple of neighbours round for coffee and shortbread this afternoon after I'd finished writing my blog articles, so that's been fantastic too. Heck, I'm almost sounding like a normal member of the community - whatever next?...

Tonight, K and I are off on our first theatre trip of 2012 to see Alan Ayckbourn's new play, Neighbourhood Watch. It looks more sombre than his earlier offerings, so I'm interested to see how it goes. Recently I think he's been taking a more serious tone in his plays and I've really enjoyed it, so I have high hopes. But the best joy of the week is certainly the news that crime drama Whitechapel is coming back to our screen on 30 January for a series of 3 two-parters, hurrah! Bliss. I can't wait.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Biblical Fiction UK
Gay Reads UK

Signs of Spring?

Book News:

Have been very industrious this weekend and written up 5 interviews/blog posts for the upcoming book tour for The Heart's Greater Silence and for other sites who've requested one too (thank you!), so feel I'm gradually getting on top of that. One more to go at the moment, and I must say I'm enjoying it. It's certainly making me think - which can surely only be a good thing.

Speaking of which, I'm delighted to see that the 5-star review for The Heart's Greater Silence is now up at Top 2 Bottom Reviews - so many thanks for that!

Life News:

Friday was a work day due to a big morning & lunchtime meeting involving all departmental staff - thankfully it seemed to come off well, and things went smoothly. The only thing was afterwards I was utterly shattered and my stomach was hellish, darn it, so I struggled through the afternoon. I think part of the issue is that, lovely though everyone is, I'm not my best with a lot of people, so I think I've probably done all my social inclusion for the next three months - at least. A nice quiet week ahead to recharge those batteries is what I need ...

Mind you, Saturday was great, as our good friends, Pauline, Tony & their son Darren came for the day, so we had a wonderful time catching up. As they're keen gardeners, that was pretty dang useful too - we now know the names of some of the plants we weren't sure about and, thanks to Pauline, we've noticed that there are actually mauve crocuses coming out into bloom in the garden. Gosh, indeed! A sign of Spring already, perhaps ... but it's the first ever Spring flowers we've had, so we're hugely chuffed indeed.

Whilst they were with us, we also paid a visit to Watts Gallery, which was great, and I picked up another couple of good but cheap pictures for the house, hurrah. The only thing is I need to sort out the frame for one of them, and buy a new frame for the other before I can actually hang them. Might have to wait until next weekend then.

This morning, we paid our first visit to church for 2012, and very nice it was too, though I was puzzled by the hymns and their tunes - I'm not sure I quite understood where some of the notes were going, my dears. I was also delighted to hear that the vicar has some further group workshop plans up his sleeve for Lent and beyond, so will be looking forward to that, for sure. Roll on Ash Wednesday (um, 22 Feb, since you're asking ...).

Afterwards, we strolled round the monthly Farmers' Market at Secretts Garden Centre and managed to pick up some essential organic and local provisions, as you do. The cakes were nice too, though I suspect they won't last long. And tonight, it's the utter joy of the glorious Sherlock on TV - I can't wait, though my happiness will be tinged with a bitter grief (as it were), seeing as it's the last one, sob ... When oh when will we see the like again?

The Sunday haiku is:

Morning's icy start.
The field outside my window
vanishes in mist.


Anne Brooke
Gay Reads UK
The Gathandrian Trilogy

More January sales and a new publisher

Book News:

Much to my delight, gay comic romance Angels and Airheads, which was originally published by Torquere Press but went out of print last year, is to be republished by Musa Publishing, so I'm really excited by that. I've just now sent the signed e-contract back so it's great to be part of their line-up.

At the same time, the January book sales are still here, so don't miss out! You can get 40% off ALL my Untreed Reads books, provided you enter the coupon code NEWYEAR at the checkout.

Plus you'll find 25% off ALL my Lulu Books, so long as you search for my name and enter the code LULUBOOKUK305 at the checkout. Hurrah!

In terms of books yet to be published, I've now uploaded the first chapter of children's book The Origami Nun onto the Biblical Fiction website, so I hope you enjoy the beginning of that story.

Over at Vulpes Libris Reviews, you can see my opinion on Nicci French's novel Complicit - a book which at the very least does tell us what not to do at a crime scene. You never know - this could come in useful one day ...


Here are meditation poems so far this week:


Meditation 608
That deadly correlation
between holiness
and possessions

makes those of us
who don’t quite
have enough

appear distinctly second-class
just for the lack
of brass.


Meditation 609
Truth is not found
in the great number
of people who tell you
a thing.

It is as small
and delicate
as a bird
about to take wing;

therefore be still
and wait, trusting
for its magic
to sing.


Meditation 610


Ahab

All day he waits
for death,
that single pointed fire
in the joints
singing him to darkness

and when it comes
at last
its accompaniment
is the flash and wild flame
of the fast fading sun.


Life News:

I'm working odd days this week due to an important meeting at work on Friday, so I do feel rather unsettled. Really, the only thing lying between me and complete lunacy is my familiar routine, ah well.

Still, it was utterly lovely to meet Jane H (hello, Jane!) at Costa Coffee in Godalming for a few drinks and a chat yesterday. Though we were both rather overcome by the sheer size of the large cappuccino I ordered - makes mental note to go for the medium sized one next time. Really, what with the amount of caffeine in my system, I didn't manage to scrape myself entirely off the ceiling for hours, hey ho.

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Biblical Fiction
Gay Reads UK

Delaneys, cake and FREEBIES!

Book News:

I'm astonished and indeed delighted to tell you that I've received the first royalties for gay literary short story, The Heart's Greater Silence, even though it's not out till 6 February. Well, gosh, thank you to those of you who've preordered it and don't forget those of you who haven't yet still have a chance to win a year's supply of free books if you do! What could be nicer?

Speaking of which, there was a fascinating pre-publication review of The Heart's Greater Silence this week at Amos Lassen Reviews. One of the things he wrote was:

"Since I began reviewing some five years ago, I have noticed that there are certain authors that continuously deliver good reads. Anne Brooke is one of those and she never disappoints … Brooke has created an unforgettable character in Mark and in his despairs and conflicts. His desires ruled his decisions and the fact that he has two very different boyfriends shows that he is searching for himself. When the story is over, we are still not sure of what he plans to do but whatever it is, if Anne Brooke lets us, we will be there to find out."

Many thanks, Amos - really appreciate your comments.

Turning to other books, I'm very excited that fantasy novel The Gifting has won a week's free advertising at the Kindle Users UK Forum from 1 February, so I'm hoping people might catch the advert as they pop in and out and be tempted to give it a whirl. You never know!

I'm also rather chuffed with a 4.5 star review at Goodreads for gay short story Martin and The Wolf, many thanks, Jerry. That one's been around for a while so it's nice people are still reading it now and again. And I've also stared on Number Five in the gay erotic Delaneys series, The Delaneys At Home. I'm a thousand words in now, so only another 9,000 or so to go. It's nice to be back with them, I must say. I've rather missed them over the Christmas and New Year break. I suspect that, contrary to my original expectations, this won't be the last we see of them either, as I still have the idea for the final story, The Delaneys, My Parents and Me in my head. We'll have to see, eh.

Plus there's FREE GIVEAWAY news I must tell you about, hurrah! Anyone who follows me on Twitter between now and 25 January is entitled to one FREE ebook from my backlist, so spread the word, and a very happy new reading year to all of you!

This week's meditation is:




Meditation 607
God is not

to be seized in alarm
from the air
as he passes by

but like a butterfly
enticed by prayer
let him rest on your palm:

something we forgot.


The Sunday haiku is:

Three little robins
on my tree; I smile at them
and they chirp at me.


Life News:

Ah, the dangers of Christmas have come upon me. There was I tidying up the decorations we put up (minimal but elegant, I like to think ...) and wondering vaguely where the holly was that I put on the windowsill when I ... um ... trod on it. Goodness me, but holly's quite sharp, isn't it ... Hey ho. Next time, I'll keep my eyes to the floor.

And I've made another cake, well gosh, and shake out your aprons! This time it was Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle cake mix and very nice it is too - though I had a moment of panic when I put it in the oven and realised I'd forgotten to add the water, and it might therefore turn out to be a lemon brick. However, either the good Lord was smiling upon me or my use of three medium eggs instead of two large ones (possibly both ...) saved the day and all was well, thank goodness. I might seriously get into this cake mix lark - but I'll definitely get an electric hand whisk if that turns out to be the case.

Today, K and I have rehung the gate in the back garden - which was rather more challenging and ... err ... fun than we anticipated, but we got there in the end. Part of the issue is that the end of our garden backs onto a drainage ditch so the only way to do the job was if K got into his waders and stood in the stream while I held onto the gate - for dear life. What fun we have in the country, my dears ...

Anne Brooke
The Gathandrian Trilogy
Gay Reads UK

Hearts, webs and daffodils

Book News:

I now have the dates and stops for my upcoming book blog tour for literary gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence, which takes place from 6 to 16 February. Hope to see as many of you there as possible - there will be loads of competitions, goodies, giveaways and some big prizes so well worth putting it in your diary! So far this week, I've completed and sent off a couple of interviews for it, and the questions have been very searching indeed - so watch this space.

Meanwhile, on the first day of the new year, I sold a copy of fantasy novel The Gifting, which is very heartening news indeed - as sadly it's not one of my best-selling works, I fear, ah well. So if anyone would like to double this quarter's numbers and make it 2, I'll be your friend for life! Scary thought there ... Mind you, I'm thrilled that The Gifting has won free advertising on the Kindle UK Users' Forum in February, so perhaps I might persuade a few others to take the plunge too. You never know.

In other book news, I now have a website purely for my gay and lesbian fiction which I hope will enable readers and visitors to find what they're looking for more easily. So now, I have a gay fiction site, a Biblical fiction and poetry site (which includes my latest meditation poetry) and a fantasy site for The Gathandrian Trilogy. I'm thinking about a literary fiction site as well, but I'll have to see how things go for that.

Over at Untreed Reads, lesbian short story The Girl in the Painting was their no 3 International bestseller for last month and also reached No 22 in the Amazon UK charts earlier this week, which was nice. Surreal short story The Secret Thoughts of Leaves was purchased by a Canadian library, and literary short How To Eat Fruit gained a 4-star review.

Not to be outdone, literary short story Painting from Life also received a 4-star review, as did erotic gay romance Dating the Delaneys. Many thanks to you all for your comments. And over at Preditors & Editors, you can vote for romantic comedy Rosie By Name in the Short Stories (Other genres) category and historical fiction Dido's Tale in the Romantic Short Stories category. Many thanks indeed if you do!

During the week I've also found this wonderful website which combines internet book shopping with support for your local independent bookstores so I've ordered a couple of books and am looking forward to seeing how it works. Well done indeed to the Hive Network.

Here's this week's meditation poems:


Meditation 604
The whisper of silver
and glittering gold

is a siren song
to make men bold

but the gentler whisper
of God’s redemption

is never a thing
they like to mention.


Meditation 605
The understanding
that God sees all

is both a promise
and a threat;

it makes our good deeds
just a little better

and our bad ones
a far greater debt.


Meditation 606
At the end of life
the only mementos

are the shadow
of the deep encroaching rock

and the whisper
of spices.


Finally in this section, I'm delighted to announce that if you follow me on Twitter up to and including 25 January, then you win a free ebook of your choice from my backlist. Happy New Year to you!

Life News:

This week, I've been back at work for a couple of days and I must say it's rather satisfying to get back into my familiar routine - what a creature of habit I am, eh. It's also been very useful to catch up before the students return next week, as now I feel I'm prepared for them, hurrah. So nice to get in and get acclimatised again before the rush - always a wise move.

We've also finally bought the curtains we wanted and have put them up in the reading room (as we like to call it). They look amazing and cosy up the place no end. Lovely. Now we're planning to get matching cushion covers (how very Surrey!...) and then at last we'll be a really grown-up couple ...

Today, I've also done battle over the phone with Tesco Bank, groan. All I wanted to do was change my address, but I had to go through a whole rigmarole of personal questions, including a list of former jobs I've had etc etc, before they'd accept I was who I said I was, sigh. They then said that as I wasn't on telephone banking and didn't have a pin number it wouldn't be official, and please could I set up telephone banking and get a pin number in order to make it so. Deep sigh. Call me old-fashioned, but I actually don't want to - on the grounds that by the time I've gone through the list of questions to make telephone banking work, then I might as well have got into the car, driven into Guildford and spoken to my main bank directly. It would at least be quicker. Hmm, I don't think they took kindly to my saying that, nor to the moment I reassured the call-handler that I knew we were both nothing more than pawns in the capitalist system but could he please just update my address before we both imploded? Oh well, who knows where my next Tesco letter will end up? If you find it, just pass it along, will you? Many thanks ...

The day was however considerably lightened in its existential suffering quota when I saw there were actually daffodils in bloom on the Research Park. Gosh indeed! Is it Spring already? What fun.

Anne Brooke
Gay Reads
The Gathandrian Trilogy

Happy New Year!

Book News:

Happy new year to you, and I hope you're all having a great 2012 so far. I certainly am. There are several items of book news today so hang on to your hats. First off, I'm thrilled that literary gay short story The Heart's Greater Silence has received its first review of 5 stars at The Novel Approach, prior to publication on 6 February. Many thanks, Lisa, for that! If the review stimulates your interest (as it were), then don't forget you can preorder a copy at Riptide Publishing and thereby (a) get the book early and (b) be entered into a competition to get free books for one year - so happy shopping!

Here's a quote from Lisa's review:

"Anne Brooke has written a somber and beautiful story of a man who had everything and lost it all because he coveted two very different men. It is dark and solemn and resonates with a sense of conflict and despair that wove the ideal atmosphere. It was moving and played beautifully against the knowledge that sometimes free will and human nature simply don't leave room for happy endings."

Meanwhile, gay comedy The Hit List also gained a 4-star review at Goodreads (thank you, Fynn) and romantic comedy Pink Champagne and Apple Juice received a 5-star review also at Goodreads (thanks, Nell!). 

I'm also thrilled to say that fantasy novel The Gifting received a fascinating and lovely review from Sharon Bidwell on Facebook (thanks, Sharon!), which certainly made me think. It's great that you loved Simon the Scribe so much as he appears from reader reaction to be a "Marmite Man" - like many of my fictional heroes, I suspect. I was also fascinated by the connection to Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant in the Thomas Covenant Chronicles, as he was who I had in mind when I was writing Simon. That was certainly a fantasy series that had an extremely powerful effect on me when younger, and how I do love a wounded hero ...

I couldn't let New Year go by without some sales news, hurrah! So for today and tomorrow only, you can find 25% off ALL my Dreamspinner Press books, so happy shopping to you.

And, much to my delight, gay thriller A Dangerous Man was one of the Top 2011 Picks at Top 2 Bottom Reviews. Well, gosh, and a big thank you.

Finally (well, sort of ...), I've now created a website for my biblical fiction, where you can find my bible-based short stories, the latest news, and a list of Christian links I've found useful or consider to be interesting, amongst other delights. Enjoy!

The New Year haiku is:

The year eases round

until it begins again.

Slow epiphany.

Life News:

I must say a HUGE thank you to our friends and neighbours, L & J, with whom we spent a wonderful New Year's Eve yesterday. Just a few of us for dinner, drinks and chat so perfect really. I'm afraid I was therefore too tired to make church this morning, but I suspect God can manage without me for a week or so ...

It's been a strange couple of days though - yesterday I actually baked (baked!! Whatever next?...) chocolate buns which aren't bad really, though I say it myself. Mind you, I did use a cake mix and an icing mix from the shop, so yes it's cheating but hey life's too short to get flour under my nails. That's sooo last year ... And K isn't complaining. In fact I'm having trouble keeping him away from the tin. I hope he doesn't think this is going to happen again for at least another year, ah well ...

We also attempted to have a morning at the sales on Friday, but it was rather a disaster. We couldn't find the curtains we wanted in the size we needed them in and the shop assistant told us they weren't going to make them any more (groan), I couldn't remember how to buy books from an actual bookshop where I can't click onto what I want, and then the art gallery we wanted to buy pictures from was shut. Deep sigh. I don't think I'll be doing s-commerce again for a while. Still, at least K ended up with some garden stuff he wanted and a new computer desk which looks lovely, so some joy was salvaged from the morass of gloom. As it were.

And today, we find our narcissi are starting to sprout shoots in the pot we put the seed in, so nature does work, hurrah! Is it Spring yet?...

Anne Brooke

The Gathandrian Trilogy: a fantasy series to make you think