A Serious Business

Writing News:

I'm happy to say that the lovely Anders at Queer Magazine Online will shortly be offering my gay short story, A Serious Business, as a free download in his new eBook store - so watch this space. And I do love that cover. Thanks, Anders!

I've also signed and returned the contract for Angels and Airheads to Torquere Press so it's great to be part of their author team as well. Meanwhile, The Delaneys and Me received a 4.5 star review at Goodreads - so thank you to Carole for that. And The Hit List gained a 5-star review at Amazon US, and many thanks to Amos for that one, as well as a 4 star review at Michelenjeff Reviews. Thanks, Michele!

In other book news, Thorn in the Flesh is now available (with free worldwide delivery) from The Book Depository, The Secret Thoughts of Leaves is now available in Kindle edition and I'm going through the text of A Dangerous Man to prepare it for its (hoped for) second life. So, never say I haven't been busy and there's surely something there for everyone.

Finally, my review of Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry is now up at Vulpes Libris. A fascinating book, but it rather lost steam in the final section, I fear.

Life News:

The week's excitement so far has definitely been seeing a sparrowhawk in the garden - a first for this year, hurrah! Though I do rather fear for the fate of our nesting blue tits ... we will have to see how it all pans out.

I've also been rather worried by the fact that the hospital didn't like the results of my recent CA125 blood test, so I have to take the damn thing again in May when I go in for my scan. Lordy, but these medical types do like a rummage. I had a bit of a panic (um, a lot of a panic, if I'm being honest ...) when the letter came through, but I was okay last year so I'm assuming it's just my hormone issues playing up again. So I've calmed down now (hurrah) and will have to wait for May. Many thanks to the kind commenters over the last couple of days who've been hugely supportive - much appreciated.

Anyway, today, I've had a lovely time at my Clarins massage, and tonight, Lord H and I are out at Guildford Theatre to see My Darling Clemmie - which I'm looking forward to as I'm a real fan of the glorious Winston. What a superhero.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Holidays and assorted fun stuff

A short blog as I really have to go to bed but here are the edited highlights:

1. We've had a really wonderful few days away.

2. Birds seen for the first time this year are: stone curlews, great bustards (lifetime first - and you can find out more about the reintroduction of these fantastic birds to the UK at the Great Bustard Group), a wheatear, house martins, a mandarin, reed warblers, sedge warblers, Cetti's warbler (the loudest bird on the planet), a whitethroat, a red kite and a swift.

3. Longleat is marvellous - I held my first snake at the snake handling session - a corn snake which was absolutely beautiful and incredibly warm. I loved it. However I passed on the tarantula holding session - mainly by running screaming from the spider handler woman. Ah the shame ...

4. We heard our first cuckoos, and our first ever booming bittern (though we didn't see it).

5. At the Hawk Conservancy, we flew a Harris hawk (briefly) and held a barn owl and a tawny owl. Marvellous. I love birds of prey. They're the best.

6. The Delaneys and Me received a very nice review at Jessewave Reviews - so thank you for that!

7. My review of Simon Van Booy's short story collection, Love begins in winter, is up at Vulpes Libris.

8. I wrote 2 haikus and here they are:

Elegant giraffes,
glorious gaudy ceilings:
Longleat in the spring.

Eight swans drift over
startled cattle: air shimmers
an ancient magic.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Leaves, Angels and interviews

Writing News:

I'm happy to say that my literary short story, The Secret Thoughts of Leaves, is now published at Untreed Reads, and you can also read an extract here. And isn't that cover wonderful? I love it.

Other writing news is that my gay fantasy short story, Angels and Airheads, will now be published by Torquere Press, so I'm looking forward very much to that. Further publication details will follow shortly.

I've also now received the author copies of The Hit List and they look great. No, I haven't licked them or slept with them under my pillow, but hell it's been close ...

And in terms of The Delaneys and Me, I'm delighted to say that I've been getting some very positive 4 and 5 star ratings and reviews which you can see at the Goodreads Delaneys page - so thank you for all who've read and made comments. It's very much appreciated.

Finally in this section, I'm happy to say that the very lovely Rick R Reed has uploaded a snapshot interview with me, and you can find out why I write at all here. Enjoy!

Life News:

After the disasters of not getting to Pompeii this week (groan!...), the lovely Lord H is whisking me off from tomorrow for a long weekend at The Bath Arms at Longleat, so I'm really looking forward to that, hurrah! Heck, I think we deserve it. Back on Sunday, so I'll catch up with you then. I hope you all have a totally fabulous few days.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

From the ashes of disaster ...

Writing News:

Seeing as I am (fairly evidently) not having my week's holiday in Pompeii (ah the irony of it all ...) - of which more later - here's some happy writing news: my gay erotic short story, The Delaneys and Me, is now published by Amber Allure, and you can find out more and purchase a copy here - there's a 35% discount for the first week so it's worthwhile rushing! Plus, for TODAY only, Jessewave Reviews is offering a FREE copy of the story to one lucky winner if you leave a comment at her review site here - good luck to all, and may the best man or woman win. Finally, for your viewing pleasure, don't forget to click onto the book trailer - enjoy!

I'm also very pleased to see that Give and Take is now available in Kindle edition at Amazon US. And that The Bones of Summer received a 5-star rating at Goodreads - many thanks, Tracy.

Other exciting news is that Untreed Reads is having a 25% discount off ALL their books until 22 April, and this includes three of my literary short stories, amongst others - so do pop across and browse their bookshop - but don't forget to use the coupon code FBFRIENDS at checkout. Have fun!

Finally in this section, amidst yesterday's holiday disappointments, I was delighted to receive a proof copy of Clare Morrall's latest novel, The Man Who Disappeared, from the lovely Carole at Sceptre Press - I'd chatted for ages with Carole at the recent Sceptre event and said how much I love Morrall's work, and so I was thrilled to receive this surprise package in the post - thanks, Carole! It's much appreciated, and I can't wait to get my reading teeth into that one ...

Other News:

Yes, well, what can I say? The delicious irony of not being able to go on my longed-for week's holiday to Pompeii & Naples because of volcanic ash has indeed not escaped me. But I really can't recommend the existential pain of unpacking when you ... um ... haven't actually been anywhere yet. Don't do it, folks! It's not pleasant. Though it does save a hell of a lot of washing and ironing, so I suppose there's always a silver lining to every volcanic cloud. Page & Moy promise us that refunds will be sorted on Monday, as we can't reschedule as this coming week was the only week we could do, Lord H's and my schedules being hugely tricky to juggle, alas. Ah well. Maybe Pompeii next year? Who can tell?

So we have spent the weekend having a mini-holiday and drinking champagne to give ourselves an essential lift - where planes could not perform that task. Yesterday, we had a lovely day out at Knole House in Sevenoaks and managed to spot two new birds for this year: a redstart and a willow warbler, hurrah! We also treated ourselves to a truly scrumptious holiday cream tea and admired the gorgeous butterflies, which this weekend have included several orange tips and a light scattering of brimstones. Bliss. Plus we just managed to get back in time for Dr Who, which was thankfully a whole lot better than last week's disastrous episode, hurrah! Phew, as I was starting to lose the faith a little, perish the thought ...

Today, our mini-non holiday continued with a day spent at Wisley Gardens - more butterflies and a riot of colour in the flowers, but way too many people wandering around the arts & crafts fair. We had to eat in the cafe, shock, horror! And they ran out of salad to serve with our pizza so it looked very lonely on the plate, sigh. Mind you, I argued successfully at the tills that we should have had the salad as it was part of the meal, and they took £2 off, so I am indeed the Bargaining Queen of Wisley, ha!

However, Wisley had its revenge in the end, as halfway round our afternoon stroll, I came over all peculiar and had to take a stomach pill in order to make it back to the car at all. I am a slave to my stomach pains, sadly. Anyway, I'd just been admiring the tee-shirt on a small boy which said: Zero to Naughty in Six Seconds, so after a few moments of sitting on a bench, groaning and wondering if I was going to be sick or worse (thankfully I was neither), I told Lord H that I should have a tee-shirt that said Zero to Sick in Three Seconds. However, Lord H reassures me that such a talent is merely an expression of my particular Super-Power, and I am saving many other people from being sick by taking it all on myself. Now, there's a thought. Though, like Lord H, I'd really rather have the ability to fly or be invisible. Ah well.

So, back to work tomorrow (sigh), but here's this week's haiku, inspired by events near Heathrow Airport, where apparently they can hear the skylarks for the first time in living memory:

All the planes are stilled.
Instead the song of skylarks
laces the bright sky.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Contracts and consultants

Writing News:

A lovely surprise today to receive my author copies of The Hit List - they look amazing. I've packed up one for a friend, one for my mother and one for a reviewer, and plan to post these off tomorrow, hurrah.

Other nice news is that I've sent off my contracts for Tuluscan Six and the Time Circle (gay fantasy romance) to Amber Allure Press, and for literary short story, The Secret Thoughts of Leaves, to Untreed Reads Press - so thanks to both publishers for this.

Depending on volcanic ash and planes (of which more shortly), I may be on holiday at the weekend, so this is also a reminder that gay erotic short story, The Delaneys and Me, is published on Sunday 18 April by Amber Allure. I hope you'll enjoy the read.

Strangely, I've also started writing a straight erotic short story (well, gosh!), whose title - The Boilerman and the Bride - has been supplied by Ruth at work (thanks, Ruth!) I've only written the first 130 words so it's early days, but I think I'm going to enjoy this one. And, on a less happy note, along with a small group of like-minded authors, I'm now in the middle of extracting myself from a contract for an earlier novel. The response to our reasonable request has been as expected by us all, sigh. The plot indeed thickens! Meanwhile, we carry on, being polite but firm.

Life News:

I've had to go back to my lovely gynae consultant this week, and she's moved hospitals from Guildford to Kingston, so I had to face the trauma of a longer drive to a new place - never my best concept, I admit. I arrived hugely early as parking is tricky, but at least I got a space. Thank the Lord for school holidays and a therefore easier journey. The upshot is that I'm doing okay at the moment - despite what the GP said ... - though I'll need regular check-ups once every 6 to 12 months or so. I also took another CA125 blood test while I was there so hope that's okay, and she's booking me in for a scan. Hey ho, and roll on the menopause, say I.

This morning, I've popped into see my neighbour in his Home in Woking - had a lovely chat and a stroll round the really quite beautiful gardens. The tulips are out! How glorious. The big news is that they're getting tropical fish in the corridor outside his room - I am hugely envious as I've always rather fancied fish. So very calming. Aren't they good for hormones? Surely they must be.

And, all things being equal and if the wind (ho ho) is in our direction, Lord H and I will be off to Naples on Saturday for a week's holiday, including one trip to Pompeii and one to Herculaneum. I'm so looking forward to it - or will be depending on the current wave of volcanic ash sweeping over northern Europe, deep deep sigh. All flights are cancelled from the UK until Friday, so I really don't know what will happen on Saturday. I do so hope we can get there, as I've always longed to go ... However, at the moment I'm trying not to get too anxious or excited, and hoping for the best. As ever.

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Birds, butterflies and bars

Writing News:

I'm pleased to say that my gay erotic short story, The Delaneys and Me, is now up at Amber Allure Press although it's not published until Sunday 18 April. I'm noting it now as I'll be away on holiday at that point so won't be blogging until I get back.

I'm also happy to say that Give and Take received a very positive review at Tam's Reads - you'll need to scroll down a little to see it. Many thanks, Tam!

And I've uploaded the final part of Chapter Ten of The Prayer Seeker's Journal where Michael is still dealing with the ex-wife.

Finally in this section, there are two haikus this week, which I hope you enjoy:

Grey heron flying,
painted across the bright sky:
harbinger of spring.


The peace of water
sinks into my skin: sunlight,
air and deep silence.

Other News:

I had a very enjoyable time representing Vulpes Libris at the Sceptre Press Book Bloggers party at the Hospital Club Bellini Bar in London on Friday afternoon. Thankfully I don't think they quite realised which Bookfox I actually am, or they very politely ignored it, and we all had a very good time talking with passion and commitment about books. We stayed so long that they had to throw us out in the end. Plus we all got a book goody bag, hurrah - thank you to the lovely Polly et all for that. It was nice also to meet some of their newer authors and fellow-bloggers too. I was on my best behaviour and said nothing about my thoughts concerning their new and distinctly dodgy marketing approach, but I was on the other hand (sorry, in-joke!) happy to say that I was very much enjoying the proof book they sent me, hurrah! I hope we can all do it again sometime, and that other publishers might take the proverbial leaf from Sceptre's party book. Speaking with my failing-would-be-mainstream-writer hat on though (ah how well it fits me), it was really incredibly refreshing to have any kind of conversation at all with a mainstream publisher that doesn't involve them either ignoring me, laughing at me or insulting me in suitably bitchy fashion, ho ho. And, yes, all that has happened in the past. Thank goodness I've now found publishers to whom my work is far more suited, eh. Saves all the pain really.

Yesterday, Lord H and I did a quick recce to find out how to get to Kingston Hospital - as I have to go to see my nice gynae woman there on Wednesday and I've been hyperventilating for days about the terrors of having to find somewhere new. Having done the journey once though, it looks fairly straightforward and the only real problem (apart from the inevitable traffic) is going to be finding someplace to park when I'm there, groan. Wish me luck ...

We then went on to spend a very pleasant day at Barnes Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, where we managed to spot sand martins, a little ringed plover, a great black-backed gull and lots of great crested grebes - all new for this year. I was also thrilled to see my second butterfly of the year - a common white. We spotted a beautiful peacock butterfly on the neighbour's chimney earlier in the week ... Plus Barnes actually had chicks, including some gorgeously bizarre moorhen chicks - and yes they really do look like that. Amazing.

Meanwhile, we've suffered the appalling disaster of yesterday's disappointing Dr Who episode - it felt like a nine-year old had been allowed to write it with no supervision and was, frankly, laughable. We trust the writer has been cast into the mouth of the beast, and that next week's offering will have at least more class. I can only admire the actors for not running screaming from the set, sigh ... Mind you, there is one good thing that came out of it - Lord H thought the idea of casting naughty schoolchildren into the Mouth of Hell where they are never seen again was a brilliant idea and all schools should take it up at once. That'll teach the little beggars not to learn their sums, eh ...

Talking of which, we have survived the traumas of being responsible for coffees at today's Family Service!! Pause for applause - go on, you know you want to. We practised our polite religious smiles before we went and they seem to have done the trick. It was, to be honest, less problematic than I'd feared, though we did have to sing a wretched Graham Kendrick song. Deep sigh. He must be the only songwriter around who's utterly unable to put the right number of words in a tune, and it's all so relentlessly glittery and bland. I did find myself turning to the song again to see when he was born (1950, if you're asking) and therefore when he might retire from the fray, but then thought that was probably way too bitchy even for me. Surely not! I am indeed the soul of loving kindness and warmth. Well, in my dreams anyway ...

Anne Brooke
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Reviews, ratings and reflexology

Writing News:

Am pleased to say that Give and Take has a new review at Three Dollar Bill Reviews, so thanks for reading, Kassa - much appreciated!

At the same time, The Hit List gained a 4 star rating at Goodreads, so that's very heartening too. Which is good as I must admit I've been feeling rather hopeless this week - the post-Easter droop, I fear. Ah well. Other good news is that Amber Allure Press have accepted my gay space travel story, Tuluscan Six and the Time Circle, and will be publishing it on 18 July, hurrah! Maybe it's time to stop drooping around like a sick puppy then ...

And I've finally (finally!) cancelled my subscription to the increasingly dreadful Mslexia Magazine - it's so terribly 70s and pretentious pseudo-feminist, not to mention headmistressy, these days that I couldn't even bear to take the last issue out of its wrapper before disposing of it. However no more copies will arrive now so I feel truly liberated. Perhaps time to burn my bra then. Yikes.

Life News:

Am rather stressed out with church at the moment - Lord H and I appear to have to do the coffee rota this Sunday and it's the family service, and I absolutely hate the family service, but don't feel there's enough time to get someone else. In our defence, it wasn't the FS when we signed up - the pesky religious powers have changed the damn thing! The woman running the service also rang us up and it appears to be chock-full of children, sigh, so am dreading the whole thing already. If I don't feel strong enough to have to pretend to be normal once more, I might just send Lord H into the lion's den, and pray a lot, ho ho ... I feel an attack of the vapours coming on.

Anyway, I've had a lovely reflexology session today and I feel slightly more balanced (hurrah!). Plus I've had lunch and a pleasant afternoon's shopping with Robin & Liz, so feel like a more integrated member of society. Hmm, I'll have one delivered then ... And, thanks to the true shopping genius of Robin, I have a new handbag and purse, 4 new tee-shirts and a lovely present for Liz's upcoming 60th birthday (so here's hoping she's not going to be reading this). I am indeed - with the right support - a genius.

Anne Brooke - a genius in disguise
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - in existential mood

Hit Lists, hot tips and haikus

Writing News:

I'm happy to say that The Hit List has received a very thorough 4-star review at Goodreads and I'm immensely pleased with that. Thanks, Kassa.

At the same time, Give and Take gained an "Excellent" grade at The Well-Read Book Blog so that's been a nice boost too. I was also thrilled to see that it's reached the dizzy heights of Number 4 in the Amber Allure March bestsellers list, well gosh, so thank you to everyone who's bought it, and I hope you've enjoyed the read.

Keeping to the subject of gay fiction, I've now chosen my Queer Magazine Hot Gay Fiction Tip for April, and you can read all about it at Queer Magazine Online. A great read and particularly enjoyable if you have a penchant for the military!

Turning to matters rather more spiritual, Vulpes Libris has now published my review of Nicholas Buxton's Tantalus and the Pelican which is an excellent book on monastic spirituality written by a fascinating man. Well worth a look indeed.

And here, rather later than usual due to Easter, is last week's haiku:

The grey dog trots by,
mouth holding two red mittens
for warming the paws.


Life news:

Easter's been fun. We spent the day with Mother on Good Friday - a penance for all involved indeed! - and I've been rather startled to see that Mother and I bought ourselves the same presents. Hmmm, must be something in the genes. If only we'd known, we could have saved all that wrapping paper, dammit. Ah well. We shall both be smelling of raspberry body cream in the future then.

On Saturday, Lord H and I spent a lovely day at Pulborough Brooks, though we managed to avoid the child influx, thank the Lord. Birds spotted included stock doves and a little gull (both lifetime firsts), plus skylarks and swallows. Swallows!! Heck, they're early. And we also spent some time gazing at an adder sleeping on the grass, which was fabulous. You don't see adders very often. Amazing.

Anne Brooke - feeling chocolatey ...
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - in quiet mood

Chocolate, wolves and bones

Happy Easter weekend! I hope you all have a glorious time and manage to avoid the worst of the rather bizarre weather we're having at the moment. Did summer already happen and I missed it??

Writing News:

I'm really thrilled with the cover art for my upcoming GLBT short story, Martin and The Wolf, which will be published by Amber Allure Press on 13 June 2010. You can also read an extract from the beginning here.

What with having to update my website with the new information, I've also improved my Short Stories page at the same time so it's now divided into 4 categories:



GLBT stories
Literary stories
Biblical stories
Comic stories

Of course, some of these fall into more than one category but I've taken that into account and put the various stories wherever I think they fit. I hope you enjoy the new look.

Meanwhile, Give and Take gained a 4-star rating at Goodreads, and The Bones of Summer was for a while at Number 93 in the Amazon UK gay romance charts, hurrah!

Finally, I'm pleased to say that All Romance Ebooks now stocks Dancing with Lions, How to Eat Fruit and The Girl in the Painting. All of which is very good news indeed.

Ooh, and I've just heard that Maloney's Law is in Elisa Rolle's Top 10 GLBT Referrals List for March, so that's lovely to hear - thanks, Elisa!

Other news:

I rather enjoyed the University Administrators' conference, which I returned home from yesterday. Though I must say my skills in the Learn To Juggle seminar were sadly lacking. The poor tutor had to put me back down to two balls when he saw the chaos I was creating with three. And, what with all that jumping about and picking up my lost balls for an hour and a half, I have to say my legs are aching in places I never even knew I had. I must be so unfit! It was so bad that yesterday when I popped into Tesco on the way home and accidentally dropped something out of my trolley, I could barely hunker down to pick it up. And there was a hell of a lot of groaning ... Really, you don't even want to know how long it took me to get myself out of bed this morning, and how Lord H laughed at the sight.

Other exciting conference news is that my room actually had a bath. A bath!! What luxury. All the other times I've been, I've had a seriously frightening shower that's so powerful that it's all but blasted me to the other side of the room and I've been unable to breathe, such has been the force of the water. So a bath was bliss indeed. Must be a sign of my age, I fear.

Tonight, Lord H and I are off to see The Graduate at the Guildford Theatre, so are preparing ourselves for "an evening of impure theatrical delight", as the Evening Standard puts it. All that and nudity too, hurrah!

Happy Easter!

Anne Brooke - impure but utterly delightful, naturally
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - the essential Easter read

Give and Take reviews and a bit of a spat

Writing News:

I'm happy to say that The Hit List is now available in paperback at Amazon US and it's received two 5-star reviews at Goodreads here and here. Thanks to both readers!

I'm also pleased to tell you that Give and Take has today received a thought-provoking 4.5 star review at Michelenjeff Reviews and another 4 star review at Rainbow Reviews. Many thanks to both reviewers for that. Give and Take is also now available for purchase at All Romance eBooks, so lovely to be there too.

There's also an interview with me which you can find at Michelenjeff Reviews Site, and a special thank you to Jeff for making me sound almost normal. That must have been very hard work indeed, Jeff!

Meanwhile, A Stranger's Touch received a 4 star review and a 5 star review, both at Goodreads, so thank you again to both reviewers for your comments.

And, if you'd like to try some of my Dreamspinner Press books, they're all at 20% discount for TODAY only so there's still time to buy The Bones of Summer or Two Christmases, or maybe even the pair!

In other book news, the latest chapter of The Prayer Seeker's Journal can now be found here - in which Michael begins to deal with his ex-wife. And I've reached the 30,000 word marker of The Executioner's Cane, hurrah!

There's also been a small but interesting disagreement by commenters responding to one of my Vulpes Libris reviews, which does at least prove that books can raise great passion in us all. A result always to be admired indeed ...

Finally in this section, I'm pleased to say that my poem, Meditation 37, is to be included in the upcoming Short Story Library Best of 2009 collection, which should be published early summer. Lovely to have that to look forward to.

Oh, and here's this week's haiku:

A woman in pink
walks slowly past cool water,
trailing dreams of spring.


Other News:

Marian and I played some pretty reasonable golf on Friday and even managed to produce two good tee-shots just behind the club pro as he was taking a playing lesson. Dammit but he didn't notice, and we certainly couldn't produce them again! And Lord H and I spent a lovely afternoon yesterday wandering around Wintershall Gardens as part of their Open Afternoon, and I have to say the grounds are very attractive indeed. And the staff do particularly wonderful cream teas, mmm ... What could be nicer? Even in spite of the rain.

Yesterday, we spent an exhilarating evening having supper at Liz & John's (hello, both!) and I think I was even relatively well behaved. Well, for me anyway. But this morning, I certainly felt my missing hour, what with the clocks going forward. I won't catch up till the autumn, I tell you.

This coming week, I'm away on the University Administrators' Conference in Warwick from Monday to Wednesday, so will have to look both intelligent and professional for three days. Not much hope there then ... Mind you, I've managed to book myself on to the Learn to Juggle seminar, and apparently you get to keep the balls! Gosh. I can't wait.

Anne Brooke - evil but interesting
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - dealing with the ex ...

Second novels and The Ministry of Fear

Book News:

I've had a fascinating review of GLBT short story, Give and Take, which you can read at Jessewave Reviews. I'm more than happy with the 4 star rating, but fascinated by the reviewer's comments on the bleakness and realism of the story. Actually I'd thought it was fairly upbeat, and had even made the ending far more hopeful for the future than my first ending had been. Amazing how many different takes can be found in a story - it's certainly opened my eyes! Perhaps my view of life is grimmer (more grim?) than I'd realised ... In the meantime, it's received both a 4-star rating at Goodreads and a 5-star review also at Goodreads, with a slightly different take on it in the latter link, I believe.

Another review received this week has been for Two Christmases which gained a 4-star review at Goodreads. Many thanks to all reviewers/raters - it's much appreciated.

Meanwhile, at Vulpes Libris, you can read my disappointment at Maria McCann's Orange Prize longlisted novel, The Wilding. Oh dear. I'd been so looking forward to it too as I absolutely loved her first novel, As Meat Loves Salt. Is it the dreaded Second Novel Syndrome??...

And I fear I missed offering you last week's haiku in my Sunday posting (shame on me!), so here it is. Late, but still relevant, alas:

Rain drives away plans,
makes the umbrellas blossom,
quietens the world.


Other News:

I have chilled out this morning with a lovely Clarins massage from Romana - it was so relaxing that I actually fell asleep. Still I needed the down-time as I've been working like the proverbial all week. Both on book stuff and University stuff. Heck, I deserve a break - roll on Easter.

And Lord H and I have had a wonderful time at the Aldershot production of Fiddler on the Roof. To my shame (again!), we'd never seen it before, and what a marvellous musical it is. Such a brave ending and all those tunes. Fabulous. I loved it. Tonight we're off to the Guildford Theatre to see The Ministry of Fear so I suspect all my relaxation points might well disappear sooner than I'd anticipated. Note to self: arrange massages for after thrillers, not before ...

Oh, and a new car radio has been delivered today, so I'm hoping Lord H might do his magic and put it into the car so I don't have to listen to the sound of my own voice singing for too long. Believe me, it's not been pleasant. The neighbours would no doubt agree.

I'm also proud to say that Lord H now has official superpowers - he has perfected the technique of standing next to a dysfunctional computer until it operates properly again. Without even touching it. Honestly, it works every time! And at the office as well as at home, apparently. Really, it's a pleasure to watch a superhero at the top of his game, though he does confess to rather preferring the ability to fly or be invisible - but superheroes must accept and work with the powers they're given ... Tomorrow: the world!

Anne Brooke - pondering what her own superhero status might be ...
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - rarely seen but somehow vital

Give and Take

I'm happy to say that my GLBT erotic short story, Give and Take, is now published by Amber Allure Press and you can find buying information, together with an erotic extract, here. You can also find out more details, and read another, non-erotic, extract at my website. For your added pleasure, there's also a book trailer. Enjoy!

Keeping to the book news (there's been a fair amount of this over the last couple of days, so bear with me!), Thorn in the Flesh can now be found in paperback at both Amazon UK and Amazon US so it's great to feel that particular project is now complete. I'm also happy to see that the new all-singing all-dancing version of The Hit List is now up at Amazon US though not yet in stock. A piece of good news still to come indeed!

In the meantime, I've finished the first full round of edits to Hallsfoot's Battle and will let that breathe a while before going on to the second phase of editing. The final edits for short story, The Delaneys and Me, are now also complete and I've sent them back to Amber Allure ready for publication date on 21 April.

In terms of reviews, I'm very happy with Sharon Maria Bidwell's review of A Stranger's Touch - much appreciated, Sharon, so thank you! And I'm over the moon to see that Maloney's Law is in the lovely Clare London's list of her Top 10 GLBT books - Paul Maloney is at Number 5, and he and I are both very grateful. Thanks, Clare!

In my other life, Lord H and I thoroughly enjoyed Guildford Choral Society's concert yesterday - you can't really go wrong with Copland and Carmina Burana though those pesky Cathedral seats leave much to be desired. Is it my age? And today I have spent a fun time with the RAC trying to fix my car. The upshot is that the radio display won't turn off so is draining the battery - so the man had to disconnect the radio to make the battery happy. So I now have a car that starts but must rely on my own voice for entertainment. That'll frighten the neighbours for sure ...

Tonight, we're off to hear Marian (golf partner) sing in a rock choir in Guildford, so we are preparing to rock around the clock and watch great balls of fire whizzing by - lordy, does that show my age way too much once more? I fear so ...

Anne Brooke - where a little give and take can work wonders
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - quiet but not entirely forgotten

The Girl in the Painting

I'm pleased to say that my literary feminist story, The Girl in the Painting, has now been published and more information can be found at my website. You can purchase a copy at Amazon US and at Smashwords, in a variety of formats, hurrah! There's also a book trailer for your enjoyment. Never say I don't look after your essential reading needs.

Keeping to the topic of short stories, I was astonished to see that for a very brief period Dancing with Lions was number 94 in the Amazon US Biblical fiction charts. Heck, I've never been there before, and I'm not there now, but ah the memory is sweet.

I'm also pleased to note that during last week's Read an Ebook Week, my short stories, How to Eat Fruit and Dancing with Lions were downloaded over 90 times. Well, gosh. I hope those readers enjoyed the experience.

My final piece of short story news is that A Stranger's Touch is available as a Kindle ebook and now even has its first five-star Amazon review there, well double gosh and crack open the champers! Thank you very much, Sirius11214 - that's made my day big-time. And yes, that is exactly what I intended the story to mean - I'm so glad it worked for you, thank you.

Meanwhile, back at Hallsfoot's Battle (anyone remember that??), I've now received the edits back from my ex-agent editor who commented: this is very good, much better than even the revised version of The Gifting. Which to me means a heck of a lot, as I've been worrying desperately about mid-series droop and whether any of it was remotely interesting at all. Thank you, John. Maybe I might just be a fantasy author after all, if the wind's in the right direction and there's a R in the month. Anyway, I'm going through his edits which are very very useful indeed and whipping the thing further into shape.

I've also uploaded my review of Megan Taylor's wonderfully dark literary novel, The Dawning at Vulpes Libris, and can thoroughly recommend the book. Great stuff, Megan!

In my other life, I've finished my online poetry course. I must admit I haven't enjoyed it as much as last term's and I don't think I'll be doing another for a while, but it's helped with the poetry. Always a good thing. I've also had my annual cholesterol blood test at the doctors - oh the fasting, the lack of breakfast and the desperate whimpering. I'm not known for my courage, ah well. We've endured a really weird day at work yesterday when everything went wrong that could go wrong - was it the feng shui lines?? Thank God there was chocolate cake around - we'd never have survived without it. And I've had a wonderfully relaxing hour at reflexology today. Bliss. Whatever would I do without my reflexologist?

Tonight, Lord H and I are out at the theatre to see The Secret of Sherlock Holmes with the gorgeous Peter Egan. When I was young, I was so in love with him, you know (don't tell Lord H - though actually he already knows this, and may well wonder if I'm going to throw my knickers on the stage in the manner of Essex Gals tonight ...), but I suspect we've all moved on since those glory days. Still, if you do hear tell of an arrest in the Guildford theatre, then no doubt it will be me. I hope you'll all vouch for my good character. Hey ho.

Anne Brooke - scrubs up well, if given enough time
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - getting distracted by life

Videos, poetry and some sad news

Let's start with the sad news. Which is that, unfortunately, our middle neighbour in our block of 3 flats died of heart troubles earlier this week. He'd been waiting for a heart operation in hospital and we've visited a couple of times, but he never made it to have the actual op. I'll miss him - he could be an archetypal crusty old gent of the old school, but he was always, always fascinating. He could also be extraordinarily generous. When we moved in 17 years ago, he left a bottle of very good champagne and two rather posh glasses at our front door to help us celebrate - a gesture that always makes me smile, even today. He loved high-class wine, birds (of both varieties, in spite of his age!), poetry and Spain - and who can argue with that? It leaves a big gap in our little house, which feels much emptier today. You can find two of his marvellous books (and he wrote just as he spoke, so was always a writer who was very much in touch with his voice) on Spain and flamenco dancing here and here. Both come highly recommended.

Keeping on the subject of death and what we remember, and indeed poetry, here's this week's poem (about my father) from my poetry course:

September 1977

We live
only four minutes’ walk
from school

and my mother’s car waits
in the car park
so I know my father is dead.

Hair blows across my face
and in the distance
I hear laughter.

The sky is so blue
and my schoolbag weighs heavy
across my shoulders.

When I take it off,
the fabric drags along the ground.
Without looking, I can name the books

that spill from it:
a Latin grammar;
Voltaire’s Candide.

They smell new.
The way spines snap
when first opened

is a memory
that prickles my skin.
I am so close to the car now.

I reach out,
take hold of the handle.
Breathe.


Turning to book news, I'm happy to say that Thorn in the Flesh is now available at Amazon US and Amazon UK. And I have uploaded the book trailer at YouTube.

Similarly, Pink Champagne and Apple Juice is now available with free worldwide delivery at The Book Depository. It too comes with its own book trailer - which is proving extraordinarily popular with 82 views since I uploaded it only a couple of days ago. Which just goes to show that the viewing public love comedy, jolly music and a pretty blonde girl. Must remember that for next time I write something new then!

And, finally, the latest chapter of The Prayer Seeker is now available for reading - it's on anger, as Michael finds he has much to work through. As do we all, really.

But, to end (or almost ...) with very exciting bird news, Lord H and I spent the day in Arne in Dorset yesterday - we saw some stunning sika deer, really close to, plus seven (yes, seven!!!) spoonbills, a couple of blackcaps, a few red-breasted mergansers - all of which were firsts for this year. Plus - the crowning glory and a lifetime first - a firecrest. Hurrah!

So, there are two haikus this Sunday for you:

The first signs of spring:
men on yellow bicycles;
a pink Fiesta.


It's a conundrum:
how to persuade daffodils
to unfurl their blooms.


Heck, I bet Wordsworth never had those problems, on either count ...

Anne Brooke - in fairly thoughtful mood
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - where anger finds a voice

The Gifting - news!

News! I have news! As I'm sure someone in a Jane Austen novel once said. Or should have done. Anyway, much to my astonishment and joy, I'm happy to announce that my fantasy novel, The Gifting has been accepted for publication by Bluewood Publishing. Hurrah! And I'm really so thrilled that, to be honest, I can't even speak. A blessing for those of you who have to deal with me face-to-face indeed. Though I suspect it won't last ... Anyway, many thanks to Paulette & David of Bluewood for saying yes, and I'm looking forward to working with you towards the publication date. It's lovely to think that Simon the Scribe is going to have a voice. Gosh indeedy.

As you can imagine, this news has rather overpowered the rest of the week and I am still floating delicately amongst the clouds - though for that I blame the champagne Lord H insisted we open on Tuesday night. It's a tough life, eh, but someone has to drink it ...

But other writing projects are also happily bubbling away (note the nice blending with the champagne image there, please!). I'm also delighted to say that two of my poems will be included in the first Every Day Poets anthology, so thank you to Oonah Joslin for her work on that.

In addition, Give and Take is now up at the Amber Allure Press site, though it's not published until 21 March. NB: That AAP link does take you to an erotic extract, so please be warned! I'm also very pleased that Untreed Reads have accepted my literary feminist short story, The Girl in the Painting (formerly known as Girl Undecided) for future publication, so I'm looking forward to working with Jay again on that one - thanks, Jay!

In terms of reviews, I was happy to see Painting from Life gained a 4 star rating at Goodreads - thanks, Kassa! And, at the same time, A Stranger's Touch gained another 4 star Goodreads rating - thank you, Deanna, for that also.

Keeping to the subject of reviews, Vulpes Libris now has my review of Ali Smith's novel, The Accidental and it's an astonishing and exciting book, so do pop in and be inspired.

Finally, in this writing life, I was heartened to hear that on the first day of Read An Ebook Week, my short stories, How to Eat Fruit and Dancing with Lions were downloaded for free 40 times. Gosh! I do hope people have enjoyed the reads. And if you do want a free ebook to enjoy, pop along to Smashwords here or here and take advantage of the offer. It ends on 13 March so there's still time!

And I think that's about it really. I'm just off now to have a glorious Hot Stone Therapy massage (hurrah!) so will no doubt be out for the count for the rest of the day. Bliss. Hell, but I think I deserve it.

Anne Brooke - full of sparkle and fizz this week!
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - keeping things grounded

Read An Ebook Week!

Good news for ebook lovers and ebook enquirers this week, as it's Read An Ebook Week. As part of this exciting prospect, two of my short stories published by Untreed Reads will be free for one week only at Smashwords.

So, you can find my literary love story How To Eat Fruit at Smashwords here.

And you can find my rewrite of a biblical story Dancing with Lions also at Smashwords here.

You need to put the code RFREE in at the checkout stage - though it explains that on site. The offer ends 13 March. Enjoy!

In other writing news, The Hit List is now available for purchase from All Romance Ebooks, and was for a brief moment of glory actually on their front New Books page, well gosh. Not so now, I fear - the world of eBooks moves on apace ...

Speaking of moments of glory, The Bones of Summer managed to make No 48 in the Amazon UK gay romance charts, though it has slipped down somewhat now and will probably be out of the charts altogether by the time you read this. Still, it was nice that someone bought a copy, and I do hope they enjoy it.

Meanwhile, I've uploaded the next chapter of The Prayer Seeker's Journal, where Michael begins to set up a schedule of prayer. And, on an entirely different note, my Hot Gay Fiction Tip for March is now up at Queer Magazine Online. And it's a book that contains the best scene of sex with a piano that I've ever read - dammit but I wish I'd written it. If only I could play the piano, eh ...

And, sadly, my lovely almost-week away from work ends today (groan ...), but we did manage to see an Egyptian Goose at Wisley yesterday, so something to hang on to when the Monday Morning Blues rears its ugly head once more. And we also saw some gorgeous spring flowers, which has inspired this week's haiku:

In the rose garden
a pruning. Snowdrops whisper
and crocuses glow.

Anne Brooke - classy and free, always
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - getting to grips with The Beyond

Bars, birds and wolves

Have had great fun today with the edits for Give and Take, and have now sent these back to my lovely editor at Amber Allure Press. It's due to be published on 21 March so I'm looking forward to that. How I love a good-hearted barman indeed.

Meanwhile, my first ever gay werewolf story, entitled (with that customary leap of imagination for which I am no doubt renowned) Martin and The Wolf, has been accepted by Amber Allure and has a tentative publication date of 13 June. Well gosh. Really, it's amazing what English lecturers (of which Martin is one) get up to.

Other book news is that How to Eat Fruit and Dancing with Lions are now both available at the Untreed Reads bookshop. Please bear in mind that Untreed Reads sells them only in ePub versions, but on that purchase page you can also see where you can find these stories in a wide variety of other e-versions also. Many apologies to those readers who have been confused by this (sorry, Sharon!...), and I hope that now you've got your books you'll be able to enjoy them.

I've also been pleased with a 5-star rating of Maloney's Law at Goodreads, and I have finally managed to get back to writing The Executioner's Cane after a too-long hiatus, and this now stands at the 25,000 word marker. Hurrah. So about one-fifth through then. Possibly. But who the heck can tell, eh? I think I'm getting slightly sidetracked by The Chairmaker's Tale therein (I've always wanted to use the word therein in something - are you impressed?), but I'll see where it goes.

Finally, my review of Chris Killen's The Bird Room is now up at Vulpes Libris. It's a wonderfully haiku-y and very surreal novel so well worth the rather bizarre read.

Lord H and I have also popped along to the University this week to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury in conversation with one of our TV profs, which was highly popular and actually rather enjoyable. I still find the whole Church thing sits with increasing unease on my shoulders these days due to their "official" view of (a) women and (b) gay people. But he's a nice enough chap really, though I became utterly muddled as to what his views on Creationism actually were. For or Against? Who can say?

Tonight, I'm off to see Jane H & Ang (hello, both!) for dinner in Godalming so I am attempting to look presentable amongst the Glamour of the Parish. Is the town really ready for the three of us??

Anne's Website - puzzling over chairmakers ...
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - treading water but looking to the shore

The Hit List - publication day

I'm very happy to announce that my latest novel, m/m romantic comedy The Hit List, is now published by Amber Allure, where you can also read a brief extract.

The blurb is:

Jamie Chadwick is straight. Determinedly straight. Or so he keeps telling himself. His small conference business is doing okay and, even though he looks after his ailing father, he loves living in the countryside and life is good. Sort of. But the arrival of old college friend, David Fenchurch, who’s just come out on the distinctly camp side of camp, together with Lucy Reid, his father’s sexy new physiotherapist, sets Jamie on a path he’d never dreamed of taking. On top of all that, the unexpected return of long-lost family friend, Robert Trevelyan, himself openly gay, means that Jamie can no longer ignore the past he’s kept hidden for six years. When Robert and David get together, Jamie’s feelings begin to surface in surprising ways. Who, amongst the crowd of people set to blow his life apart, will make it onto his fantasy hit list? And in the midst of Jamie’s own emotional battlefield, how can he keep things together at all?


I'm really happy with this one, as it's taken me six years to get it right - which, coincidentally is roughly the amount of time it takes Jamie & Robert to get their very rocky relationship sorted out too. All of which proves that writers do indeed grow to be like their characters, in time. I'm also happy to say it's a very different beast in tone from its distant self-published beginnings, and it's great to feel I can finally let it go, having got it to where I wanted it to be, probably all along.

Anyway, at heart, it's a modern, gay retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, so I hope you might take a chance on it and enjoy the read! The ebook is available now, with the paperback being published in mid-March. There's also a book trailer, featuring some rather good-looking young men, so what could be nicer on a Sunday?

Meanwhile, in other news, Lord H and I saw a chiffchaff yesterday (hurrah!) so another bird to be added to this year's list. And here's this week's haiku:

Words batter like rain.
They soak my skin, infiltrate
blood and aching bone.


Anne Brooke - in romantic and humorous mood
The Prayer Seeker's Journal

Dancing with Lions

I'm pleased to say that my biblical short story, Dancing with Lions, is published today and you can pick up a copy here - though I'm afraid you'll have to be patient as, for some reason, the links to Smashwords take an age to click through.

While you're waiting, you can read an extract from the beginning of the story and also enjoy the book trailer. Never say I'm not kind to you, and have a truly fabulous Friday!

Anne Brooke

Books, terror and song

I'm very happy to say that my GLBT erotic short story, The Delaneys and Me now has a hot-off-the-press book cover. As you can see. I'm hugely pleased as it has exactly the right amount of quirkiness and humour that (I hope!) is also in the story. You can read an extract here and it will be published by Amber Allure Press on 18 April 2010. Hurrah!

I've also managed to finish and return the galley proofs for The Hit List so am looking forward to the publication date for that one on 28 February, ie this Sunday. It will come out in eBook first, with the paperback following a few weeks later.

Before that however, I'm equally happy to say that my biblical short story, Dancing with Lions will be published by Untreed Reads Press on 26 February, ie tomorrow! So it's going to be one huge party all weekend, I can tell you!

And I also have some rather nice banners now for How to Eat Fruit, courtesy of Jay at Untreed Reads - thanks, Jay! Aren't they great? Haven't quite worked out how to get them onto the website or how to link them to anything yet, but we're working on it. I am indeed a Banner Virgin ...



and



In the midst of all this excitement, I am pleased also to say that The Bones of Summer received a 4-star rating from Jonathan at Goodreads - thanks, Jonathan!

Meanwhile, at Vulpes Libris I've uploaded my review of Linwood Barclay's thriller, Too Close to Home - he's a great crime author and I can thoroughly recommend his work.

In my other life (yes, I do still have one, just ...) I've been building up the tension by attending a presentation skills course at work yesterday. Which basically meant 2 whole days of feeling sick beforehand, having an enormous headache and not being able to eat properly and then that blessed feeling of relief now I've got the course over with. Yes, as you can tell, I am not a natural at giving presentations, and tend to try to avoid them at all costs. I live in fear that I have nothing of any interest whatsoever to say to anyone and will be found out to be a fraud and utterly inadequate in every sense. Ah well, same old, same old, eh. Anyway, the course itself wasn't too bad and the trainer was incredibly good. I got through my presentation and actually a part of me enjoyed it - more so when it was over, of course. I told them about the house I live in and its rather peculiar history, how we found it, the disasters of moving in and how much we love it now. So it's true what they say - content, and the passion for the content, is all.

I then treated myself and Lord H by taking him to Opera South in Haslemere to see La Perichole. If you scroll down to the list of altos in the chorus details on that last page, you can see Ruth McLeod (from my office) and Beryl Northam (honorary member of our Student Advice team) in all their glory! Anyway, in spite of having a stomach like a dead sheep from the traumas of the day, it was absolutely fantastic - wonderful opera, wonderful singers, fantastic costumes and a great production all round. The highlight of my week indeed, and I sooo loved Ruth's posh hat.

Anne's website - so well accustomed to bouts of terror and song
The Prayer Seeker's Journal - for those essential moments of quietness