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Thursday 27 May 2010

10 Journeys


10 Journeys is due to be released today (including At the Rawlings' Place, of course).  Unfortunately, I can't be in the UK to help celebrate its launch so thought I'd mark the occasion here instead.


At the Rawlings' Place is set in a fictional town in the Western Plains, which we travelled through this weekend, on our way to and from Daylesford (see last blog entry).  Thought I'd take a couple of photos to share an impression of the area, although without stitching several together it's hard to convey the flatness of the landscape, the vastness of the sky.  The story, I hope, will do that and more.


Oh, and hard-on-the-heels of my Five Wounds review, I've just posted an interview with Jonathan Walker and Dan Hallett across at The View From Here.


Tuesday 25 May 2010

Press: RESET


Siân and I decided to press the RESET button at the weekend.

There's times when there's just too much crowding the head and it feels like the brain is about to explode.

Rather than redecorate the ceiling, we decided to head off to Daylesford, a few hours north.  No writing, no painting, no reading of other people's work, no reports to write, no chores - nothing.  A weekend of delicious sloth.

The area is renowned for its natural springs and, once upon a time, folk would head that way to take the waters and soak in the mineral-rich soup that sprang out of the ground.  Although we did a fair bit of walking (notably around Lake Daylesford) we didn't go for the waters so much as to soak up the wine and the food.


Found our way to two superb restaurants: Frangos & Frangos on the Friday evening and Mercato on  the Saturday.  Stunning.  If you happen to find yourself in Daylesford, give them a try.


Visited the market on Sunday and finally brought myself a hat that I've wanted to buy since I was 17.  I'm patient.  It only took me 35 years!

Anyway, with a tad more brain-space, I posted a review of Five Wounds by Jonathan Walker and Dan Hallett over at The View From Here today.  Have just finished work on an interview and will posting that soon too.  You can find the review here.

Wednesday 19 May 2010

Recent Reads

 
Sometimes Jane Austen got things seriously wrong.  I came across this recently in Mansfield Park:
"If Fanny would be more regular in her exercise, she would not be knocked up so soon."
Hmm.  Quite the opposite.

Have been reading a remarkable book lately: Five Wounds, an illuminated novel by Jonathan Walker and Dan Hallett.  I'm not going to say much more about it right now, because I'll be reviewing it (as well having a chat with Messrs Walker and Hallett) over at The View From Here very soon, but you can find out more about it on Allen & Unwin's website.


Tuesday 11 May 2010

10 Journeys

Just released over at the Legend Press website is this 'ere cover design for 10 Journeys - Legend Press' latest anthology of short stories featuring At the Rawlings' Place by yours truly.  The cover matches the style of the previous four anthologies superbly.


10 Journeys is available on the 27th May, but can be pre-ordered directly from Legend Press, Amazon and the other usual suppliers, of course.  Or get it from UK book stores in a couple of weeks time.

Tuesday 4 May 2010

Book trailer for The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore

I'm blown away by this amazing book trailer that Jen Persson (The View From Here and formerly aka The Amateur Book Blogger) has created.  Thanks, Jen.  All other words are redundant.  Gob-smacked.


Saturday 1 May 2010

Everything's broken

This last week has been one of those weeks.  Nothing important - just Technology doing its nut.  So much so that it's absurdly amusing.
  • The food processor broke - beyond repair.
  • The CD player died after a long illness.
  • The microwave acted as if it had been taken over by a poltergeist: the number 4 randomly beeping onto the display, sometimes in quick succession and sometimes with a few hours between.
  • The rechargeable batteries on the telephone gave up their ghost - during a phone call, of course.
  • Yesterday, my laptop had a memory leak and couldn't open the Word document I wanted without spitting the dummy.
  • Last night, at 2:27 am, one of the smoke alarms decided to go postal... until I ripped its guts out.
None of this stuff is essential.  Technology will turn me into a Luddite.
Tomorrow I will move into a cave, grind my own pigments and paint stories on the wall.

Here's Bob Dylan rehearsing Everything is Broken: