I’ve been a bad bad writer, not keeping you all up to date. But I have also been very busy.
So I give you a brief report of our Halloween trip, something about NaNo and some news. The news is at the end. Yes, I’m making you wait. I’m mean like that! Continue reading A fairytale trip, NaNo and a little bit of news
While at Octocon I was interviewed by Sarah from Geek Girl on the Street. That went up online today so now you can check it all out and see how little sense I actually made after a weekend of insanity. Geek Girl on the Street
I’ve been working on Graffiti Angel rewrites and plantsing along on my YA Space Opera this (last) week. Plus the odd bit on my May Queen sequel. Hey, at least it has a draft synopsis now. That’s something. Octocon is coming up this weekend so my delightful pre-con stress dreams have started – you know the type: locked in a loo, went out for a coffee and can’t get back etc. This means of course that I’m even more unfocused than usual! Really looking forward to the convention though.
So this post is a mixture of things that have caught my fancy on the internet over the last while:
Spacy stuff for himself
1)Sergey Korolov was the chief rocket scientist for the Soviet Union during the 1960s space race with the US. His identity was so secret he was referred to only as The Chief Designer. It is probably due to his early death in 1966 that the US were the first to land on the moon. His Soyuz spacecraft is still in use today, and has now taken on a new significance (video from BBC – sorry about the ad). I guess, as my space-mad husband pointed out, you could say he won in the end. 😉
Books I love, writers I admire
2) Alan Garner’s books have been really important to me for as long as I can remember. Here he is talking about The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (video from The Guardian) and the influence of Alderley Edge on his books. He describes perfectly the way I feel about Dalkey and Killiney, and how landscape works its way into writing. To (probably mis-) quote: “Here I learned the rockness of rock, the treeness of tree and the skyness of sky” – “…a sense of otherness about the place that goes back as far as there have been people to react to it”.
History
3)Pictures of people re-enacting the Battle of Hastings amuse me!
Funny
4) Hogwarts online amuses me too!
and finally
5) RNA is Fabulous at Fifty. Get all the goss! 😀
So that’s it for now. I will be at Octocon over the weekend, talking books, sci-fi, fantasy and chasing my children all around the place. If you’re there say hi!
As part of their celebration of Fantasy Romance this month, I was asked to write a guest post for the Book pushers.
Come and tell me about your favourite fantasy romances and why you love them.
I’m delighted to have my good friend and critique partner David to blog here today. David’s “Beauty and the Bastard” has just released from Liquid Silver and its about angels. And so is his post.
So, without further delay…
—
When Angels Visit
Thank you for inviting me, Ruth. I’m thrilled to be here sharing my happiness upon the release of Beauty and the Bastard.
I believe in angels.
There: have an Abba earworm. J You’re welcome.
Beauty and the Bastard is my first story involving angels and demons, and I’m working on a second one now. But even though I only started writing about these beautiful beings last summer, they’ve been around in my life for years. Continue reading Angels everywhere – Guestblog from David Bridger
On Friday night we went on a night tour of Wicklow Gaol – highly recommended, really entertaining and very moving.
Oh, and creepy.
It’s known as one of the most haunted places in Ireland. Actors in period costume greet you, introduce you to the gaol and its history and, oh yes, follow you around scaring the bejaysus out of you!
At one point, my best friend E and I were standing in a cell (a tiny tiny dark cell) reading something on the wall, when a convict crept up behind us silently, leaned in between us and said, in a whisper “do you have any money?”
Screams, jumps, minor cardiac incidents, general hillarity for everyone else. 😀
Overall its a fantastic experience. Especially at night. The actors are amazing, the gaol is really well organised, fascinating and very very moving.
I stood in one room and it felt like my breath had been stolen from me, in another and I just wanted to cry, on the deck of a model of a transport ship where the slope of the deck and the sound of the quays made me feel like I was standing on a ship at sea.
And one room… oh man… it was weird. Like you walked in and the pressure completely changed, closing in around you.
Did I see anything? No. But there are lots of orbs in my photos. Whatever those orbs might be. You can make up your own minds 🙂
Btw, the people in 18th/19th century prison clothes… yes, they would be the actors. Honest. 😉
Awesome research material. Awesome night out.
In the absense of anything much to say 😉
I’m working on a YA urban fantasy with an Irish setting. Can you tell?
I’m also using The Call, but can’t embed that. It’s well worth a watch though. There are a number of songs informing this story – from Celtic Woman to Green Day.
I love using music as a basis for stories. Sometimes, as I think I’ve mentioned before, the right song comes along at the beginning, and sometimes its later on when the story is formed but not yet complete. Music acts as the soul of many of the tales I tell. It adds that extra layer and draws everything together. Songs filter through everything I write.
So I like to share them from time to time.
Enjoy.
LR Cafe’s Best of 2009 Awards voting is open and The Scroll Thief has been nominated for Best Fantasy of 2009. If you’ve a vote to spare for The Scroll Thief, I’d really appreciate it.
To vote email at dawn_roberto @ yahoo DOT com with “LRC’s Best of 2009 Awards” in subject line. This is important as anything else will get deleted.
Voting ends on 22nd with the 23rd as a deadline for those in other time zones/countries to get their votes in. Anything after the 23rd is thrown out unopened so make sure the votes are in.
Award winners will be announced on 2/25 at NOON EST on the LRC’s yahoo loop from noon-2 PM EST. A full list of the nominees is available is LRC’s yahoo loop here.
The Fantasy Nominees are:
First Lord’s Fury (Jim Butcher-Ace)
Storykeeper (Jade Buchanan-AMP)
Lycan Tides (Renee Wildes-Samhain)
The Betrayal (Patti Nagle- Del Ray)
The Oath: Bound (Adrianne Brennan-Freya’s Bower)
The Apostle of Asphodel (Celina Summers-AMP)
Spying the Alcove (Laura Tolomei-Extasy)
Dragon Slayer (Fiona Jayde-Noble Romance)
Strange Fortune (Josh Lanyon-Blind Eye Books)
The Scroll Thief (RF Long-Samhain)
Dark Lady’s Chosen (Gail Z. Martin)
Any questions, please email Dawn at the above address.
Steampunk Workshop
January 21-23, 2010 at Romance Divas
Featuring:
This workshop will take place at the Romance Diva Forum. All are welcome. To get access to the forum you will need to register.
I think I’ve said before I get a lot of my inspiration from music. And sometimes the song comes after the story, but still manages to encapsulate everything I was trying to say.
This just happened for May Queen, my YA paranormal/fantasy with this song, “Green the Whole Year Round”.
Plus, its Christmassy too! A bonus!
Or perhaps its lining up for a place with the sequel, should I write one. Hmm…