Snapshots in a library

Libraryland, Photo Moments, ,

Thought I would share two pretty images I came across today – just small examples of the wonderful detials you can find in old books. The initials are illustrated with different animals (S=snake, P=Pig, C=Crane) but for the letter I the illustator added imaginary creatures – in these cases a multi-headed dragon and a griffin.

The imaginary has as much a place in our daily lives as anything else.  And since this book is from the 1630s, it has done for a very long time.

To my mind it always has and always will.

Since I’m working on my magical library book, I’m half expecting them to jump off the page and fly away. I’m very lucky to have such inspiration close at hand.

Bits & Bobs & Recovery

links and stuff

Storyland on RTE

Hope you’ve all headed over to watch the first webisode of Victory and of course VOTE! (Apparently you need to do this in Internet Explorer).

From Tumblr:

“Romance novels are feminist documents. They’re written almost exclusively by women, for women, and are concerned with women: their relations in family, love and marriage, their place in society and the world, and their dreams for the future. Romances of the Golden Age are rife with the sociopolitical limitations of their period, it must be said. They’re exclusively hetero, and exclusively white, for example. Even so, they can be strangely sublime.”

From this awesome awl article Romance Novels, The Last Great Bastion Of Underground Writing which I recommend you read. (via champagnecandy & iandsharman)

And finally, my website got hacked again. It’s (obviously) all sorted now. I can’t understand how anyone gains from this sort of thing. It’s just malicious, another form of bullying, and so very frustrating.

Busy busy busy

New Books, Publications, ,

Still in the writing cave. Peering out from time to time with at confused, “there’s a world out there” blinking gaze.

I’m a bit over half way through draft zero having got lots done this Sunday thanks to a rugby game which entertained everyone in the house, except for the last five minutes when they hid behind furniture, shouted & threw things*

But this is a small update to let you know that The Treachery of Beautiful Things is now available on Netgalley. There are criteria with regards to getting a review copy however, and not that many available. But still its a very big YAY from me. I hope everyone enjoys it.

There is also a review on goodreads from someone who had one of the print ARCs. This also gets a very big YAY from me.

Oh, and on Friday I will be at the Pen Dinner which is very exciting. Because Joseph O’Connor is getting the award from the President. Of Ireland. SO for most of the rest of the week I will be tackling girlie things like hair and dresses and high heels.

*Retreats. Blinking.*

 

—

*not really… or at least not much

Ticking over & the Tyranny of Story

Libraryland, Writing Craft, Writing Life, , , , , ,

Well, recovery is one thing, but the website is all recovered from the nasty hacking (that was my most unfun thing possibly forever and totally ruined my watching of Endeavour, not to mention a couple weeks afterwards) and I’ve been something of a naughty author not updating my blog very much. Alternately, I’ve been a very good writer because I have been writing. Continue reading Ticking over & the Tyranny of Story →

Recovery mode

Life Happens

Well, that was horrid. My website (along with a large number of others) was hacked yesterday. We’re just about back to normal now thanks to my hosting people and their very hard work. My blog is still a little screwy, but hopefully I’ll have that back in action soon as well.

So lucky not to have lost anything.

2011 – the year of edits

Life Happens, links and stuff, Writing Life,

This time last year we were buried in snow, and edits. This year Christmas day was something like 20 degrees warmer than last years and the holiday has in general been a bit more rushed and fraught, and oddly enough, ill. Tummy bugs and the head cold from hell forced us to hibernate almost as much as the snow did.

So here’s the round up of 2011.

In January I went to Rome and Songs of the Wolf got some nice reviews. Continue reading 2011 – the year of edits →

The Wolf’s Destiny, an excerpt for the holidays

Free Read, New Books, New releases, , , , ,

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. As a bit of a Christmas present, and perhaps for some post breakfast/lunch/dinner reading, here’s the opening of The Wolf’s Destiny, book three of A Tale of the Holtlands. In The Wolf’s Sister, Jeren and Shan met when she fled her brother Gilliad’s realm, fearing his growing insanity. In The Wolf’s Mate they fought to stay together among his people, the Fey’na, and battled against their ancestral enemies the Fell’na, cementing their relationship and facing two divergent prophecies – one which predicted their separation, the other spending their lives together. And now, in The Wolf’s Destiny, prophecy and their past come back to haunt them, threatening to tear apart everything they have built together.

Two lives, one love, one destiny. Continue reading The Wolf’s Destiny, an excerpt for the holidays →