Watching Willow Watts Launch Party!

It's really great to see so many blogs out there celebrating the Launch of Talli Rolland's Watching Willow Watts - her fabulous second novel.

I have my copy already and if you're so inclined, you can buy a copy of Willow for yourself on Amazon UK for £1.71, or on Amazon.com for $2.99.
Paperback coming in November!

So ... If I could be anyone, who would I be?

There are so many choices, as there are so many people that I admire (and envy just a little bit). But the person I'm going to choose is Bertie Wooster.



Bertie Wooster was a fiction character created by the inimitable PG Wodehouse. He is a gentleman of independent means (in other words sufficiently wealthy that doesn't have to work for a living) and is looked after by the utterly brilliant Jeeves - his "gentleman's gentleman". If you ever get a chance to read any of the PG Wodehouse stories or watch any of the TV series episodes broadcast between 1990 and 1993, staring Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, take it with both hands.
I can only hope I wouldn't be such a silly ass as poor old Bertie!

Actually, if I were to give a more serious answer to this question, I would say that if I could be anyone, I would be me. For all the ups and downs of my life, I wouldn't want anyone else's, because I already have so much that I could not bear to let go.

Good luck Talli with launch day - I hope that Willow is the huge success that you deserve it to be!

The Pivotal Point

Last week I awoke from a hectic dream where I was the central character at a moment of high drama. I was aware that the world was fully formed in the background and the moment of the dream was a wonderful plot twist where the villain tried to destroy me but instead empowered me. There were four basic facts I needed to remember and I repeated them over and over in the hope that I would still remember them when I woke in the morning. Fortunately it worked.

As I re-imagined that scene from my dream, I realised that it was the key pivotal point in a much greater story. I could very easily trace backwards in time and see the steps that had to have occurred in order for me to arrive at that moment, indeed the pivotal moment practically dictated the starting point. I realised too that the rest of the story was simply playing out the inevitable consequences of that pivotal moment. I sat down for an hour and, seven pages later, I had mapped out the entire plot line for a high fantasy novel. The pivotal moment is not the climax, indeed it may not even be at a moment of crisis, neither is it just one of the key moments which joins a novel together like a dot to dot puzzle. It is the point to which the characters move from the beginning and from which the characters travel to the end.

For me the pivotal moment of JRR Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" was Frodo saying "I will take the ring to Mordor, though I do not know the way" Up to that moment the characters had been fleeing from a half understood evil, and were driven towards Rivendell. The rest of the novel related the consequences of that decision for each of the fellowship. Here the pivotal moment was comparatively early in the novel, but the pivotal moment could just as easily be nearer the end

Take an entirely different genre, say Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". For me the pivotal moment was not Elizabeth's visit to Pemberley, even though that was arguably the point at which Elizabeth's feelings changed from contempt to admiration, it was, I believe, the moment when Darcy declared Elizabeth to be "handsome" after she and the Gardiners had dined at Pemberly. Up to that point the characters words and actions had been controlled by their pride and prejudice, but this was the point after which the characters actions are controlled by their hearts rather than their heads and the story unfolds as a natural consequence of this.

Can you identify a pivotal moment in your favourite book. Can you identify one in your own book?

I'm Back!

Hello everyone - nice to be back.

We have just returned from a fortnight's holiday in the north of Wales in a little village called Llanaelhaearn (pronounced lan - eyel - hern apparantly) and am feeling much refreshed. The area we were staying in was essentially a farming area, as could be determined at the local newsagents - magazines about computers = 0, magazines about gaming = 0, magazines about knitting and stitching = 0, magazines about art = 0, magazines dedicated solely to tractors = 11! The holiday was biased towards walking and visiting ruined castles (which doubled up as some superb research for my fantasy series - I found the perfect setting and the perfect example of castle, as well as the perfect layout of medieval house as the Foresters Hall. I have been inspired!). We managed a couple of visits to the beach, but my complexion blushes at the mere mention of the sun, so I end up taking an umbrella and embarrassing everyone!

Here is the local beach with the almost mountain in the background which we climbed on our first day. I say 'almost mountain' because it is 50m shy of the official UK government definition of a mountain - ah well - you can't win 'em all.

Here is another view of the local beach / harbour. We managed a bar-b-q here one evening - had to light three of the portable ones before we got one that worked!

We visited Harlech castle when they were hosting a tournament. The castle was wonderfully situated and absolutely worth the visit, but the tourney was frankly a bit naff! Admittedly they might get into trouble if they injured each other mortally, but the participants merely knocked the swords together ponderously until one of them decided to fall over. Ah well, at least the show kept all the visitors in one place while I wandered around! Anyway, that's enough of photos. Suffice it to say that we did lots of things in a beautiful corner of the country.

Now I'm back to the internet I can go visiting and find out what you have all been up to while I've been away.

Friday Book Blurb - Chill Winds

The lovely Lisa at Writing in the Buff hosts Book Blurb Friday. Each week Lisa posts a pretend book cover to fire our imaginations. Our task is to write the book blurb for the back cover in 150 words or less.

Chill Winds Meredith had grown up dreaming of raising cattle on her parents’ farm and marrying the boy next door. After ten years in the city, she realises it is still her dream. Arriving back home in the early morning, she finds her parents and her brother gone. Tracks in the snow lead away from the farm, and then simply vanish. Farms for miles around have been abandoned overnight and soon childhood friends, and enemies, arrive from across the country, having all quit their jobs to return to their family homes. Meredith brings them together, but when arguments erupt over radically conflicting childhood memories, Meredith must keep the group together if they are to find their families before the authorities jump to the wrong conclusions. Someone or something has tied their disparate realities together but to what end? As a ferocious snowstorm engulfs them, Meredith must make an impossible choice between realities.

150 words exactly

We leave for a fortnight's holiday in Wales tomorrow morning and do not know yet whether we will have usable internet. I may or may not be blogging for the rest of the month!

Friday Book Blurb - A Time in Paris

The lovely Lisa at Writing in the Buff hosts Book Blurb Friday. Each week Lisa posts a pretend book cover to fire our imaginations. Our task is to write the book blurb for the back cover in 150 words or less.

A Time in Paris Kate 12.08.11.14.18 Rue de Bouvier m’aide Jacqui As children, the girls had giggled over the writing under the glaze of a genuine 18th century dish, and had wondered about their namesakes. But when Jacqui Bouvier disappears in Paris on 12th August 2011 sometime after 2pm, it is the only clue Kate has. Afraid the police would laugh at her, she hires a handsome young private detective to fly with her to Paris and help her investigate. Ryan has just inherited his father’s PI business and is way out of his depth, but he is all Kate could afford. Besides, he’s cute. In an apartment over the Rue de Bouvier, they find a high tech, illicit laboratory and are soon plunged into a world of industrial espionage and ruthless corporations searching for a maverick scientist. Somehow they must find him first, if they are to learn the truth about Jacqui.

149 words

I'm interested in how obscure you can be in a book blurb, but still give a general shape to the story. Is it obvious to you what's going on? Is it all a bit odd, but you'd be interested to find out? or is does it seem all too complicated, far fetched and too much effort to unravel?

Oh and sorry it's not Friday - I got a bit behind this week!

Friday Book Blurb - The Wrath of Storms

The lovely Lisa at Writing in the Buff hosts Book Blurb Friday. Each week Lisa posts a pretend book cover to fire our imaginations. Our task is to write the book blurb for the back cover in 150 words or less.

The Wrath of Storms “Give her a chance, mother!” “She is mortal, you are forbidden to see her again.” “What are you going to do, rain at me?” Now his words are coming back to haunt Kairos. Ever since he stormed out of Olympus, his earthly home has been racked by torrential rain, and the mayhem is spreading. Should he tell his young love, Cassandra, that his mother is really Iris, the Goddess of Rain? But his mother’s wrath is the least of his worries. Under cover of the chaos, someone is waking the enemies of the Gods. Kai must find a way to stop them before the Gigantes walk the earth again, but he is fast losing his immortal powers. Kai faces a desperate choice: return to immortality, save humanity, or embrace love as a human. But Cassandra has a few surprises of her own and Kai is soon running to keep up...

150 words exactly

Better late than never!

I managed to borrow a computer with a mouse - so at least I could fix my post!!

Novel Films Blogfest

Thanks to Madeleine at Scribble and Edit for hosting this blogfest. It has been quite a journey through the memory banks, a little dim and dusty at times, but here are a few highlights. There are, I have no doubt, many many more that I could have added to the list, and indeed many more that really ought to be on the list, but these are the ones that I can bring to mind. If your favourites are not here, then do remind me of them in your comments!

Books I have read whose Films I have seen:

(I have discounted films that spawn a “book of the film”)

Here they are as they occur to me!

Lord of the Rings                                JRR Tolkein

Narnia series                                      CS Lewis

Stardust                                               Neil Gaiman

Harry Potter series                             JK Rowling

The Hogfather                                     Terry Pratchett

Colour of Magic                                  Terry Pratchett

Going Postal                                       Terry Pratchett

James Bond Series                            Ian Fleming

Watership Down                                  Richard Adams

Pride and Prejudice                            Jane Austen

Emma                                                   Jane Austen

Northangar Abbey                               Jane Austen

Persuasion                                           Jane Austen

Jane Eyre                                             Charlotte Bronte

Many Dickens Novels                         Charles Dickens

Many Shakespeare Plays                  William Shakespeare

Swallows and Amazons                      Arthur Ransome

Moonfleet                                              J. Meade Falkner

Wind in the Willows                             Kenneth Grahame

2001: A Space Odyssey                    Arthur C Clarke

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang                      Ian Fleming

Sherlock Homes stories                     Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

My Family and Other Animals            Gerald Durrell

I Robot                                                   Isaac Asimov

War of the Worlds                                HG Wells

The Time Machine                               HG Wells

Many Agatha Christie crime novels   Agatha Christie

Many Alistair MacLean novels            Alistair MacLean

Books I have read (and loved) whose films I have not yet seen

Lovely Bones                                          Alice Sebold

The Hobbit (but soon, very soon!)        JRR Tolkein

Neverwhere                                            Neil Gaiman

Hornblower series                                 CS Forester

The Sword of Truth Series                   Terry Goodkind

Books I would love to see made into a film / films

Wheel of Time Series                         Robert Jordan / 
                                                              Brandon Sanderson

Mistborn series                                   Brandon Sanderson

Quantum Gravity series                     Justina Robson

Black Magician series                       Trudi Canavan

Vatta’s War series                             Elizabeth Moon

Riftwar Cycle                                      Raymond E Feist

The rest of the Discworld Series     Terry Pratchett

Dragonriders series                          Anne McCaffrey

The Belgariad                                    David Eddings

The Malorean                                     David Eddings

The Elenium                                       David Eddings

Ringworld                                           Larry Niven

Tower on the Rift Series                   Ian Irvine

The Player of Games                        Ian M Banks

(and other culture novels)

It will be of no surprise to you that the novels listed here display a distinct lean towards the fantasy and science fiction spectrum, with a healthy nod towards the crime/mystery/suspense genre. I shall have a look around some of your lists later - perhaps I might get some ideas to broaden my horizons!