tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51150964507460231602024-02-19T03:17:32.275-08:00Frances Clarke's Book PageAll about someone writing books but not somehow finishing very many of them yetUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-45195921680106982972016-11-18T06:17:00.002-08:002016-11-18T06:19:07.343-08:00Review <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26530982-fates-and-furies" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Fates and Furies" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442658049m/26530982.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26530982-fates-and-furies">Fates and Furies</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/690619.Lauren_Groff">Lauren Groff</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1815204024">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5529489-frances-clarke">View all my reviews</a>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-14569970535305506602016-11-15T06:25:00.003-08:002016-11-15T08:10:31.911-08:00You might have thought I was doing no writing at allBut I've been doing A LOT.<br />
It's just that it's all on <a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/namrip/index.page?" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: large;">...</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmq0mp_u2I9k-Rp9eH6mxiuYnbV1FfzVGuhP8srmt8jgM4dpLFH-VmKY-Ix7Iyz0ZwFFjeQz0Z2Wmhcwzfy_h2S0XoemHPfuyRDN-0mp0VZIm-fJ0LdzeQVLn1rEhQxu9Edfq-pdpaAc/s1600/namrip+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWmq0mp_u2I9k-Rp9eH6mxiuYnbV1FfzVGuhP8srmt8jgM4dpLFH-VmKY-Ix7Iyz0ZwFFjeQz0Z2Wmhcwzfy_h2S0XoemHPfuyRDN-0mp0VZIm-fJ0LdzeQVLn1rEhQxu9Edfq-pdpaAc/s640/namrip+logo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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All about the University of Southampton's Network for Anti-Microbial Resistance and Infection Prevention (NAMRIP)<br />
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and <a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/autonomous-systems/index.page" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhZzo3yDwEuXhP62xsLo_vV3RClebCVTTxZ-N04GI-Dabn6L0m2XYzC3WEiXW4oe_gf696tJi8G2kv4CptszeTGGerx6DxUzTR6pc5E4MPeDnIePDyShCYmm0GGohnPARq2G61bDDnU8/s1600/autonomous+systems.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVhZzo3yDwEuXhP62xsLo_vV3RClebCVTTxZ-N04GI-Dabn6L0m2XYzC3WEiXW4oe_gf696tJi8G2kv4CptszeTGGerx6DxUzTR6pc5E4MPeDnIePDyShCYmm0GGohnPARq2G61bDDnU8/s640/autonomous+systems.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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All about the University of Southampton's network of researchers working in the field of Autonomous Systems devising platforms to carry sensors and sensors to monitor and relay data, in places too dangerous for humans like the deep ocean , space, earthquakes, glaciers or disaster zones<br />
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and <a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/cleancarbon/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioluVEtKJZOvAkpCLTMdwacepakPJh_XAz1k49OyMCgNb45WphS0ix2bw4CYNIqMOyE0roWS1lFw65DCmCg7tuWLjqpcA8EAxf_MskjBTVOmpHvg2UAZuDqwpDxejivB7iV6nxfrWe2FI/s1600/clean+carbon.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioluVEtKJZOvAkpCLTMdwacepakPJh_XAz1k49OyMCgNb45WphS0ix2bw4CYNIqMOyE0roWS1lFw65DCmCg7tuWLjqpcA8EAxf_MskjBTVOmpHvg2UAZuDqwpDxejivB7iV6nxfrWe2FI/s640/clean+carbon.bmp" width="640" /></a></div>
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All about the researchers at the University of Southampton who are concerned about the rising levels of anthropomorphic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and are trying to do something practical about it<br />
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and <a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/nexus-science" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcH_Z6agxMxW07PONwI8MDJtfLJuxdP-o5mL-AQgd1MlKoYeqh70RSMykOIKw46827cOU8b7lyT9QRfxytJcp7T_hhF_K_rbRdimnLp33uApUbW99u1RNTCW4_Ba9CkYyHLVmEh5lQRrs/s1600/nexus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcH_Z6agxMxW07PONwI8MDJtfLJuxdP-o5mL-AQgd1MlKoYeqh70RSMykOIKw46827cOU8b7lyT9QRfxytJcp7T_hhF_K_rbRdimnLp33uApUbW99u1RNTCW4_Ba9CkYyHLVmEh5lQRrs/s640/nexus.jpg" width="640" /></a>All about the research centred at the hub where the crucial challenges posed by the highly interconnected interdependencies between water, energy and food security meet and overlapUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-75800845941790151882016-08-02T14:59:00.001-07:002016-08-02T15:04:16.604-07:00Square Peg Stories - an opportunity for writers with autism<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNFIu9E_drtI9ai0ShviQzC5nDBchuiYQtM52vNrEHn6WYHbi-VfpiAOo66Wtqs7pIlmLd_myjL9fM1XvGCO551kWB0v8QbiYJirTuoEHjDLFgejdIzSua7t68URHbhWaWa-ltr0k7IK8/s1600/mainspring+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNFIu9E_drtI9ai0ShviQzC5nDBchuiYQtM52vNrEHn6WYHbi-VfpiAOo66Wtqs7pIlmLd_myjL9fM1XvGCO551kWB0v8QbiYJirTuoEHjDLFgejdIzSua7t68URHbhWaWa-ltr0k7IK8/s320/mainspring+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a>Yes - a fantastic opportunity that has been created especially for people with autism spectrum condition who like writing. That might be you, or maybe someone you know, and whatever the case let's help to spread the word so that as many people hear about it as possible and take part. <br />
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The scheme is organised by <a href="http://www.mainspringarts.org.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mainspring Arts</a> which was founded in in 2015 by Katya Balen and Miranda Prag because they were frustrated by the lack of diversity in the arts; for example, non-disabled actors or writers frequently assume the roles or voices of people with disabilities. They think those people should be able to tell their own stories, and devised Mainspring Arts to <a href="http://www.mainspringarts.org.uk/square-peg-stories/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">help them do it</a>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GeOVoPTce9c5ASVnKdobkhf5-Re19AbbTw3JNN6Cum7RM4JD0Xd3ZQ1tV_3WncptaK5Hz7t73WW8yx-M49Yd0S5oFlATCLyZ-a3UQ5G03_rMylzy7pC2w6TLzfkYzjtNvuxk7d4lqkk/s1600/mainspring+miranda.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4GeOVoPTce9c5ASVnKdobkhf5-Re19AbbTw3JNN6Cum7RM4JD0Xd3ZQ1tV_3WncptaK5Hz7t73WW8yx-M49Yd0S5oFlATCLyZ-a3UQ5G03_rMylzy7pC2w6TLzfkYzjtNvuxk7d4lqkk/s320/mainspring+miranda.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Miranda of mainspring Arts, promoting the scheme</td></tr>
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There are brilliant distinguished writers working with them on the project, among them poet, <a href="http://joannelimburg.net/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Joanne Limburg</a> and prize-winning novelist, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Mitchell/e/B000APTQBE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">David Mitchell</a>, author of, among other books, the Booker shortlisted <em>Cloud Atlas</em>. He says: <em>I asked to be involved in the project because I believe in the importance of changing public attitudes to autism, and dispelling ignorance about autism. What better way to prove that people with autism experience emotions and possess imaginations than showcasing their writing?</em><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">They are on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mainspring_arts?lang=en-gb" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@mainspring_arts</a></span><br />
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and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mainspringarts/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a> - Like their page!<br />
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But mainly - tell everyone you know of who might like to <a href="http://www.mainspringarts.org.uk/square-peg-stories/apply/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">apply</a>. <span style="font-size: small;">You can tell this is a fantastic idea because even if you began by wondering if it was really for you, one look at the Mainspring Arts dog and you would be convinced in a flash. (He appears on their Facebook page.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"></span> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-17935137122551860402015-10-24T16:55:00.000-07:002015-10-24T16:55:46.395-07:00Southampton's spoken word Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhxftGRRAoaEROl8KOmEgqTvp7kFKdrlrcsK0BbO1E4kU7-JznDVSlFxzPQSxkx-BfAupKw9e_YaQoMRTW958QIvuSBG3NTj44bqipHnfHqnl0t-8vZYp2E9yp_fHl_8rvRPOQiOI-Qb0/s1600/bargate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhxftGRRAoaEROl8KOmEgqTvp7kFKdrlrcsK0BbO1E4kU7-JznDVSlFxzPQSxkx-BfAupKw9e_YaQoMRTW958QIvuSBG3NTj44bqipHnfHqnl0t-8vZYp2E9yp_fHl_8rvRPOQiOI-Qb0/s1600/bargate.jpg" /></a></div>
Southampton is holding a writers and writing stuff festival - the <a href="http://www.sotospeakfestival.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">So: To Speak</a> festival; from October 23 - November 1; and it looks amazing. Have a browse through <a href="http://issuu.com/charliehislop/docs/so_to_speak_2015" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the programme</a> where the mix of events is unique and imaginative and unexpected. Excellent writers like <a href="http://www.philiphoare.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Philip Hoare</a> and <a href="http://www.alisparkes.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ali Sparkes</a> will be appearing (<a href="https://www.ticketsouth.co.uk/event.asp?show=sots" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">book tickets</a>!!) I like the sound of the celebration of the Spitfire with performance poet <a href="http://www.artfulscribe.co.uk/?page_id=201" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Matt West </a>and musical contribution from the <a href="http://www.thespitfiresisters.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spitfire Sisters</a>. And where else would you have the venue for that, but an <a href="http://www.solentskymuseum.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">aircraft museum</a> with a Spitfire in it...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1p6VtyUOO6T5CUw5hih_Q6BlDT06fM7b4KhvbQ2hXFCSgok2vK1oKNYpomFWdy-2YnOxj9zqWlfawejhkMlPATYL2AGQ-ZoQ2YMwjAvg_7tcXOGEQZsSRRJNTsx6kDJ5FBszphoipQM/s1600/Spitfire%252Bfan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1p6VtyUOO6T5CUw5hih_Q6BlDT06fM7b4KhvbQ2hXFCSgok2vK1oKNYpomFWdy-2YnOxj9zqWlfawejhkMlPATYL2AGQ-ZoQ2YMwjAvg_7tcXOGEQZsSRRJNTsx6kDJ5FBszphoipQM/s320/Spitfire%252Bfan.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Spitfire Sisters</td></tr>
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Another first for Southampton which will be part of the action is a celebration of Persian poetry, film and music.<br />
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I shall definitely be going to hear acclaimed biographer <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/nov/09/ray-monk-life-in-writing" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ray Monk</a>'s talk at October Books in Portswood High Street. It is at 7.00pm on Friday 30 October. Another not-to-be-missed author who is speaking at another Portswood High Street event (The Library this time) is <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/rebecca-smith/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rebecca Smith</a>. Rebecca's talk, which marks the centenary of Portswood Library, is called 'Writing Southampton' and is on Thursday 29 October at 7.00pm.<br />
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The Dancing Man Brewery at 1 Bugle Street (in the building formerly known as the Wool House), will host many of these events and Arts Organisation, Element Arts, will be putting on ‘Transported’, a collection of art installations and performances which will be inside a specially built village of shipping containers in Guildhall Square. Element Arts have collaborated with Williams Shipping and the shipping container village will be there for people to explore for the whole week.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-5864091640329747352015-10-17T04:40:00.000-07:002015-10-17T04:44:30.708-07:00Talking about it - not doing it yet...Writing that is. But at least I'm talking about it - with other writers. Things I have talked about doing are:<br />
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<ol><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgQ53PLaLyOsKJGPqPPLBrsF7JpbUif7KMtRH77FnJ9b3lk7SnyievNSQKwJCmHgtq0pPLfk6TDyOE-5CGl_nv-UYeC4ajG2S9VquYBcrc09yVrqFh8gZWOjTFXCh7griD5D_kKlfjNE/s1600/dourovalley.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgQ53PLaLyOsKJGPqPPLBrsF7JpbUif7KMtRH77FnJ9b3lk7SnyievNSQKwJCmHgtq0pPLfk6TDyOE-5CGl_nv-UYeC4ajG2S9VquYBcrc09yVrqFh8gZWOjTFXCh7griD5D_kKlfjNE/s200/dourovalley.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li>Going on a writing course again. <a href="http://www.arvon.org/course" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Arvon</a>, I say, I'll check their catalogue of goodies. Then I don't.</li>
<li>What about this one in Portugal, one of my writer friends suggests. It looks amazing , is rather expensive and I seize on that as an excuse not to look at it further. However I sense that I am just being an idiot and these are cold feet I am exhibiting, not valid reasons.</li>
<li>Let's hire something cheap and cheerful on Air B&B and not too far away, says another writer friend, and we'll shut ourselves away from it all and just write for a couple of days. This one seems really do-able: not to long (has to fit in with the day job) not too costly (obvious reasons).</li>
<li>I glance between the Portugal option (<a href="https://twitter.com/JDawsonwriter?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">fabulous expert tutor, Jill Dawson</a> and gorgeous location) and the Air B&B option (near and cheap and short but no tutor) and come up with a brainwave:</li>
<li>Hey, I say to the writer friend - why don't we spend the AirB&B money on hiring ourselves a fabulous writing tutor to come and give us our own writing workshop <i>in one of our front rooms? </i>Oh dear. It seemed like a good idea as I said it.</li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-32348358508964751302015-05-11T12:31:00.001-07:002015-05-11T12:33:48.426-07:00Which is your favourite Asimov title?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhajPMV69dKV9npo0KikT1gqvixj4ZRC-YsbNB4hMBihxwy0L_p501MCBnFVZ1W_umy2ZxTQfOQKo77B2PF1iQ2T3Hyn5qp5pNj7G_aARKW7-OM6Y6pPISD1OKYLnAE79hEOwGGTyiL2Aw/s1600/asimov.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhajPMV69dKV9npo0KikT1gqvixj4ZRC-YsbNB4hMBihxwy0L_p501MCBnFVZ1W_umy2ZxTQfOQKo77B2PF1iQ2T3Hyn5qp5pNj7G_aARKW7-OM6Y6pPISD1OKYLnAE79hEOwGGTyiL2Aw/s400/asimov.JPG" width="298" /></a>The nice thing about this book is that it comes from the station. Our station is really sweet. It has its own bookcase and all us train users can borrow the books and then leave them on a train if we like...<br />
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Or we can bring them back again.<br />
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I thought no-one except me ever examined the shelves but last Friday when I was going to work I saw a girl kneeling on the floor and rummaging through their offerings.<br />
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The Asimov wasn't there the last time I looked at the titles. I was delighted to see it. I used to devour science fiction. The stories that stick in my mind most vividly are science fiction. I read one when I was about eighteen called <i>The Ruum</i> by Arthur Porges. I never ever forgot it. It's utterly perfect.<br />
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This has been my bedtime reading (and sometimes early morning tea in bed reading). But I am on the final story so very shortly it goes back to the station.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-46552542636602125642015-05-04T09:53:00.000-07:002015-10-17T04:26:54.996-07:00'Grave Misgivings & other stories' by Caroline Wood<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">These are robust, vivid stories crafted
from startling ideas; in <i>Growing Things</i> buried animals are
reborn as if they are plants. In <i>Foothold</i>, a woman has hands
for feet. In <i>Wings </i>– the story is a well-written feast of
gothic sumptuousness and in <i>Shaggy Dog Story</i> a son sends his
mother telepathic pictures of what he wants.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">There are memorable characters, like
Ronnie, in <i>The Cobbler</i> who engage us and the skilful
storytelling compels us to find out what happens to them – even though we also
kind of know – because we are abetting a mischievous authorial voice that lurks
out of sight providing us with sly jokes just as the hapless characters are
reaching their dénouements – for example the doctor who finally comes to take
Ronnie (the cobbler of the title) away is called Dr Last. ‘Be the Kipper you
need to be – be the sort of Kipper you really are. Let your inner Kipper shine
through…’ says the mentor to the unfortunate Norman (nicknamed Kipper), in <i>Touchy
Feely. P</i>oor Norman:<i> </i> ‘I enable them to own their
feelings and then re-direct them towards me,' he says, 'That way, they don’t
carry things back to the work place. It seems to be successful and I’ve had no
trouble persuading them to focus their resentment on me.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">In <i>Resident Power</i> a
woman accepts a house-sitting assignment in a village of perfect, pastel
painted cottages, so that a frail old lady can have a holiday with her sister,
a nun who is only allowed out into the world once a year. ‘I saw myself
wandering down country lanes on sunny days, or cycling along riverbanks…’ the
woman tells us, but somehow, once we've seen her bedroom; ‘…a room
with a sloping ceiling, billowing white curtains and flowers from the
garden on the dressing table…’ we just know that this isn't going to
end well. The woman finds everyday reality: ‘… scraps of circling litter,
a clattering, jingling milk-float that stopped as soon as it had started…’
coexisting with the surreal: a post office where a monstrous woman refuses to
sell her anything; a petshop full of caged hedgehogs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">And, in <i>Menu,</i> the
ghost of Sweeney Todd rises up as soon as the protagonist notices that
there is a strange smell in the unfriendly pub she has to stay in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Characters spring instantly to life,
like Neville, the cat: ‘…with huge fluffy feet and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">deliberate intentions. Had he been
human, Neville would be the sort of person to stride up and shake hands very
firmly. As it was, he threw his feline bulk at my calves and looked up at me
with a cheerful face.’ The author is adept at scene setting: for example in <i>Clean</i>: ‘Then I
saw the two paths and noticed curtains in the upstairs windows. That’s the only
way you can tell, really. All the windows have mis-matched curtains upstairs
and down. Sometimes there’s a real clash of tastes, with plain, neat nets on
the lower floor, then frilly, flouncing ones above.’ Wood deftly achieves
maximum information with minimum fuss while conveying something of the uneasy
watchful caution of the protagonist. Or: ‘The neat little shed was opened for
my inspection – a warm, dry<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">place holding trapped sunshine and
stored apples.’ We are given precise, spatial and sensory information. Sharp
eyed observation and succinct language is in evidence throughout the
collection, not only to describe settings or characters (one memorable image
evokes a shop assistant whose blue eyeshadow gave her the look of a 'chilled
parrot') but also to make social comments; for example neighbours borrowing
things from one another: ‘There was no particular kindness in this give and
take arrangement, but rather the necessity of favours.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Economy of language is a great thing in
a writer and Caroline Wood's economy extends to titles too – like the excellent <i>Foothold</i>,
a beguiling story which, like the other stories showcases the author’s
impressive power of description e.g. this, about the inside of the body: ‘Strands
as fine as hair weaving in between his pulsing, beating organs – visible like
underwater rocks, dark vibrating shapes. And his bones – ivory segments of
spine like a line of church candles, the ribs a sculptured cage.’ Or: this, of
a dwelling, in <i>The Cobbler</i>: ‘Surrounded by rambling, tilted
outbuildings and a shed made entirely of old doors, the house looked
abandoned.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This collection has affinities with
Grimms fairy tales in the length and pace of each story and the short titles.
It bears kinship to legend, magic and myth; such things keep shifting into view
and disappearing – silkies, vampires, <i>Alice in Wonderland</i>, <i>Stepford
Wives</i>, <i>Midwich cuckoos</i>, <i>The Prisoner</i>, these are its
cousins. It has grotesques like the Savage twins with their purple Punch
profiles; it has hostile taxidermy and a Fellini-esque dwarf barber. Its
protagonists often have a sense of unreality. Their dreams reflect their
predicament or they are haunted by illusory memories that they can’t quite
bring into focus. The stories are unsettling in the way that all the best
spooky stories are. And, in my head at least, the ghost of Sweeney Todd rises
up as soon as, in <i>Menu</i>, the protagonist notices that there is a
strange smell in the unfriendly pub where she has to stay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">This collection would make a good TV
series - it reminds me of <i>Tales of the Unexpected.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/534528" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Download it as an ebook</span></a> from Smashwords.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-49366922771194577342015-04-18T04:17:00.001-07:002015-04-19T10:17:14.674-07:00Blurred birds - focused readers<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwDa1o4Fy9_boiIcMOMqK9Zrs5asVJsI2365Cmu8O-xQL6PTbqNx3K4wXHl_a9NlbMZAwyz3COf_xT5goj_c9Vjr2UbT4hgX5BuPPTpLcP0SQPbGrbrVIW9sMM2GDIbJLepVtvdpax0EM/s1600/kingfisher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwDa1o4Fy9_boiIcMOMqK9Zrs5asVJsI2365Cmu8O-xQL6PTbqNx3K4wXHl_a9NlbMZAwyz3COf_xT5goj_c9Vjr2UbT4hgX5BuPPTpLcP0SQPbGrbrVIW9sMM2GDIbJLepVtvdpax0EM/s1600/kingfisher.jpg" height="297" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>kingfisher</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>It's invigorating </b> to be confronted by your readers. I should explain that I was invited, as an author, to speak to a reading group in Hertfordshire. What a group this is! I saw the list of books they have 'done' since the group started and it is a very long list indeed. This group has been going for years and the evening was well attended.<br />
<br />
It is isolated being a writer. You plot and scheme and aside from the things you make the characters say and do, you weave themes and recurring images into your text when you are writing but you never know if anyone, apart from you, notices any of it.<br />
<br />
Well, they <b>do</b>. Reading groups are, if you like, professional readers. Each of those readers I faced had read my book and was an expert on its contents. Nothing had escaped their attention - they 'got' everything and had noticed all kinds of things that had been put there deliberately.<br />
<br />
As a writer, the activity of reading is something I do a lot of. But I only read some books more than once. Not so these guys. I do believe that these readers in Hertfordshire read all their books more than once. They talked about it saying things like '... I only noticed it the second time round...' as if that was just their normal way of reading. I was deeply impressed. The time flew by. As I finished answering one question another took its place and each of these answers was more like a conversation anyway as the group all joined in with observations and supplementary points as we went along. They effortlessly asked me astute questions about the characters and about how I had structured the book. They knocked spots off any literature event audience I have ever been part of. (I myself have never been able to think of a question at such events,)<br />
<br />
So if you're a writer; any chance you get to visit a reading group, take it. It obviously helps you to sell books so is a great opportunity for a writer anyway but the most wonderful thing is the rapport that you'll find you have just because they understand so well what you were getting at . You can't put a price on that. It just feels like the most inspiring kind of support you could possibly have so thank you, Hertfordshire Reading Group, I salute you.<br />
<br />
Postscript: I have always wanted to see a kingfisher. While in Hertfordshire I went for a walk and saw three of them as we strolled alongside the river, Three! I practically leapt into the river with excitement and managed to take a picture of one of them with my phone. I also saw a great crested grebe and three herons and took blurred pictures of them too. I've seen herons before but the grebe and the kingfishers were a first for me which made the whole trip even more amazing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-8589725352770479522015-03-07T08:38:00.003-08:002015-04-19T10:14:19.314-07:00Mango<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSavVKzFFicG9o0VKXiO2Ln0K6P_xD4qCBjjfUV5cfQCVojscit3NxJJ9HvOaqpthFsBHW5El9eyKdakkCFAFj6XOexpXDmQy1Xy3itRMJLyBj3TQEeaMraM36fiekDQTV3nrqaClSQq0/s1600/mango.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSavVKzFFicG9o0VKXiO2Ln0K6P_xD4qCBjjfUV5cfQCVojscit3NxJJ9HvOaqpthFsBHW5El9eyKdakkCFAFj6XOexpXDmQy1Xy3itRMJLyBj3TQEeaMraM36fiekDQTV3nrqaClSQq0/s1600/mango.JPG" height="400" width="298" /></a>I just ate a whole mango to myself.<br />
'Was there no-one around you could have shared it with?' I hear you cry.<br />
Do I hear that? I remember once confessing that at times I ate almost to the bottom of a big pot of yogurt in a frenzy of greed - attacking it as I was putting the shopping away - unable to get it into the fridge without ripping its top off and 'sampling' it.... and then Carol and Helena (for it was indeed they) just looked at each other and said: 'So?'<br />
Maybe everyone else has a mango each so this is no big deal, but any fruit that costs more than 50p for one fruit brings out in me a kind of (did I have SUCH a Presbyterian upbringing?) puritan dismay that such a costly food has made it into the house. Mind you; ours might be a house where we are used to scrimping and making-do, but actually we are by no means... oh, what is the opposite of self indulgent? That, anyway. We're not. But we do share our mangoes. And now I've just eaten the whole thing. There was no-one else here. They were all out. I was on my own.<br />
Ah well - in the words of Roy Orbison <i>Only the lonely..... know the heartache, of peeled fruit.</i>...<br />
<br />
Or as Helena and Carol might say - 'So?'Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-53383627505608246802015-02-24T13:03:00.000-08:002015-03-07T08:40:41.123-08:00Anne Stevenson and John Lucas on the same bill - best poetry night ever<br />
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That the great <a href="http://www.anne-stevenson.co.uk/index.html" target="_blank"><b>Anne Stevenson</b></a> was reading felt, to me, like an extraordinary piece of good fortune. I had spotted that John Lucas was reading a month earlier and I went for that reason - his name leapt out and I didn't look to see who else was on. Thanks, Universe! The event was one in the Lumen series organised by the poet <a href="https://ruthocallaghan.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Ruth O'Callaghan</a>. Among the poems Anne read were some from <i>Astonishment </i>which I managed to bag the last copy of. She hadn't brought many copies and they went like hot cakes.In a rush of maternal affection I lent mine to Only Daughter who had also come to the gig. She lives in London so I will have to wait a bit until she comes home to visit for my turn to read it. Unless she posts it. </div>
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7HV_M0vf-_TB5zkaKNY02_rdNNU-UrGUWujPbgxj1mprFtwxqLaUMPATGMTUgSSsWau4MiC4iVdaL4337V_ukuHkpIeqOmLBVJWV48AIStuk7VBAt87paOV-bc_SM-LbE0nRUlZPlew/s1600/john_lucasbook.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ7HV_M0vf-_TB5zkaKNY02_rdNNU-UrGUWujPbgxj1mprFtwxqLaUMPATGMTUgSSsWau4MiC4iVdaL4337V_ukuHkpIeqOmLBVJWV48AIStuk7VBAt87paOV-bc_SM-LbE0nRUlZPlew/s1600/john_lucasbook.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a>The wonderful John Lucas read from his new collection <i>Things To Say, </i>which is<i> </i>published by that most admirable of organisations,<b> <a href="http://www.fiveleaves.co.uk/poetry.html" target="_blank">Five Leaves Publications</a></b>.<br />
<a href="http://www.anne-stevenson.co.uk/images/astonishment.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Astonishment 2012" border="0" src="http://www.anne-stevenson.co.uk/images/astonishment.png" /></a>I was a bit slow once I got home with my precious signed copy (John and I go back a long way) and I have yet to wrench it out of the hands of Son 3, who took an immediate fancy to it. He is a poet himself - of the songwriting persuasion and you can <b><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dom+prag&FORM=VIRE5#view=detail&mid=7C436D750EEA8911F7B37C436D750EEA8911F7B3" target="_blank">hear him here</a></b> if you like folk (there's even a small contribution from the seagulls of Brighton). I recommend him. (Yes, I <i>am</i> biased).<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-4698341842571065372014-10-17T11:49:00.000-07:002015-05-11T13:16:15.731-07:00Independent authors have Stuff like this to help them sell books<br />
I'm an independent author therefore I too have stuff like this. It is a handy <a href="http://amazon.com/author/frances_clarke" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>author page</strong></a> where anyone who wants to find out what you write and who you are can do just that. They can also find out what readers have said about your books. And they...scroll...scroll<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03p1H7MmxO2pWJhGxyJQAsY3MFZLdHK2gXL2Fbls88wJOquIesLmlorvpfHwqqK1el3Pr16OvfeT7GNDwV6xCNckmg6wTpd3LeJg2fCtkA-kt4vxBy3OgxKYKf9g_FYZyuMfp12ozrBk/s1600/scrn+shot+author+central+page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03p1H7MmxO2pWJhGxyJQAsY3MFZLdHK2gXL2Fbls88wJOquIesLmlorvpfHwqqK1el3Pr16OvfeT7GNDwV6xCNckmg6wTpd3LeJg2fCtkA-kt4vxBy3OgxKYKf9g_FYZyuMfp12ozrBk/s1600/scrn+shot+author+central+page.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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can see the full list of that author's books - but my paperback edition of The Glassblower's Daughter is not listed, even though I have updated that page several times. So if you <b><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Glassblowers-Daughter-Frances-Clarke/dp/1499262205/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1424515817&sr=8-1" target="_blank">want to buy the paperback use this link</a> </b>and eventually I'm sure the page will catch up and list it ll correctly.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-91847479651220349842014-10-09T13:36:00.003-07:002014-10-09T13:38:09.925-07:00Man and Flamethrower<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhm-_x0He4f6QjgYThL6g0wRf3bf5r-yB3tFTtGesa9L92nCnqwRqTuX7q4QaVAaViven5WL2vBQ0syL76TqWJKzvF9lZNF3hrHp6Z-07JrWzPFtCWVIEhWOdHg2Dj5wDjw5yK1Lj5p1Y/s1600/man+and+flamethrower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhm-_x0He4f6QjgYThL6g0wRf3bf5r-yB3tFTtGesa9L92nCnqwRqTuX7q4QaVAaViven5WL2vBQ0syL76TqWJKzvF9lZNF3hrHp6Z-07JrWzPFtCWVIEhWOdHg2Dj5wDjw5yK1Lj5p1Y/s1600/man+and+flamethrower.JPG" height="476" width="640" /></a></div>
Two weeks ago, on a day of blinding sunshine I glanced out of a window at work and was so arrested by this that I stood for ages watching this man and even made a short phone video because I felt compelled to. The smoke coming up as he patiently burnt the white paint off the tarmac must have been full of the most poisonous particles and gases and he has nothing to protect him except a tiny pair of goggles and some fat gloves. The black lines that look like shadows are where there were painted lines before. The shadow he casts and the shadow cast by his attached cylinder of gas, just out of the picture and only apparent because of the shadow - look substantial but he looks fragile and bleached out and so do the shadows that the flamethrower left on the ground. I hope someone paid him a lot of money to do such a toxic job but I bet they didn't.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-58473904240217477752013-11-23T05:42:00.001-08:002013-11-23T07:08:19.405-08:00Day 2 - Bandages<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGP98rPZuryHxyaBIhhYEanvyXPN-3NBtGbOsKRU8jre-16KMpKD4cX9x8D5jYMNB2C0vfxglwMEERrCoIC-4MxR6hQtuMedBrJm92ACSiT102EcJwl3TMZYYG5Qu-j4smclUTXFY1b_w/s1600/bandage+legs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGP98rPZuryHxyaBIhhYEanvyXPN-3NBtGbOsKRU8jre-16KMpKD4cX9x8D5jYMNB2C0vfxglwMEERrCoIC-4MxR6hQtuMedBrJm92ACSiT102EcJwl3TMZYYG5Qu-j4smclUTXFY1b_w/s320/bandage+legs.JPG" width="239" /></a>As a child, reading about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table, Robin Hood and, from my parents' bookcase, <em>Tell England</em>, (which I read, though scarcely understood), I used to fantasise about being wounded in battle. A head wound, with white bandages, was what I wanted. I didn't think that it would hurt as much as wounds elsewhere - I had suffered painful scrapes to my knees and elbows but never my head. I had no idea at all what would actually happen in terms of bone, tissue, ligaments and muscle. An arrow or a bullet would graze the side of my head and blood would flow and I would fall (gracefully, of course) and be lifted by a brave comrade and carried to safety. A period of unconsciousness might be involved but that sounded pleasant, like drifting off to sleep and then hazily waking again. Hmm.<br />
<br />
This is Day 2. I am writing about a process which began with surgery to get rid of my varicose veins. So at last I have wounds, and plenty of bandages. Both legs. The back view is not so pretty (bloodstains!)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-36132828923093891722013-03-01T10:01:00.000-08:002013-03-01T12:59:10.293-08:00The digital savvy of the Geneaologist<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2irrunNvjMG21tEMzWbDla4DVhBXi_ixAAV_jfd2mlw6Tzxc8l7sMcNncYKFvUKsPd27emGjDJ5gKhlnpBVAjgFkhLljxdhg2qoDWIqiDLncHCQi2-foAq65T84MYfluJtAHkJrflBA/s1600/olympia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd2irrunNvjMG21tEMzWbDla4DVhBXi_ixAAV_jfd2mlw6Tzxc8l7sMcNncYKFvUKsPd27emGjDJ5gKhlnpBVAjgFkhLljxdhg2qoDWIqiDLncHCQi2-foAq65T84MYfluJtAHkJrflBA/s320/olympia.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Angel Delight</strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h3>
Olympia teemed with genealogists...</h3>
many of them professional - offering research expertise to those tracing family histories. Enthusiasts crowded the vast hall and it hummed with purposeful pilgrimage. As you can see, I had fallen into a raspberry Angel Delight. <br />
<br />
I am impressed by how clued up these people are. Among the stalls offering research facilities there were sophisticated marketing niche stalls. Some offered bespoke kit for people who are archiving family history documents - sleeves, made of clever polythene which won't damage photographs or leach their chemicals out, for example. Some offered ... well I'm not sure how to describe them but they were quite computer-y looking and one was selling a handheld scanner the size of an iPhone that would enable you to come away from an archive visit with digitally scanned images of all the old documents you needed to prove your ancestor was Rob Roy or whatever.<br />
<br />
Since then I've been struck by the interconnectedness of this network. Their websites are smart, they have Facebook pages and blogs and are on Twitter. The hashtag #wdytyalive was zinging with lively tweets. <br />
<br />
So I was wondering which group is the more digital media enhanced - writers or genealogists?<br />
One writer who leaps to mind as an icon for the coming age of digitisation of all we hold dear (goodbye, dusty tomes!) is Kate Pullinger. <a href="http://www.katepullinger.com/blog/comments/hug-a-technologist-toccon-nyc/"><strong>Her blog</strong></a> is essential reading for any writer who is happy to face the future digitally brave.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-69096309725563980282013-02-15T10:42:00.003-08:002013-03-01T10:18:10.908-08:00Who do you think you are? LIVE<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2negnfeGo5xndJFShpSnwRLF504bx6KXQVRIJfezlna2Si4Im12S-x0juBTfHQl0n6pH6_CydlsWmmn8gUzdvNctZY8dj9L5aPa0nOUj_CunCurT2aVSe-nm-CoyNyW3BO_ZC2958dU/s1600/bobbie_graham+hill2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV2negnfeGo5xndJFShpSnwRLF504bx6KXQVRIJfezlna2Si4Im12S-x0juBTfHQl0n6pH6_CydlsWmmn8gUzdvNctZY8dj9L5aPa0nOUj_CunCurT2aVSe-nm-CoyNyW3BO_ZC2958dU/s320/bobbie_graham+hill2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>The young Bobbie Neate, with racing driver Graham Hill</strong></td></tr>
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<h3>
On Friday Saturday and Sunday, Feb 22, 23, 24 </h3>
Bobbie and I will be manning a stall at the <a href="http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com/ticket-prices">WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? - LIVE! SHOW</a> at Olympia. <br />
Bobbie, of course, will be signing books.Who is Bobbie? You ask. <br />
<br />
Well I've been pretty involved in the story of how author, Bobbie Neate wrote the book <strong><a href="http://bobbieneate.blogspot.co.uk/"><em>Conspiracy of Secrets</em> </a></strong>and now that it is published (by John Blake Publishing) and out there garnering admiration and praise from astounded reviewers, I am taking part in its doings once again as an organiser of publicity and events for it. It is great fun and I am really looking forward to being at Olympia. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpIMK8aTfWB44Aa2PxGKncpFuCNA7jqjhfM-vZporh1A_WhwZWgDmpeQHLYshiLcL0STegPI0Fe_onxpCL9ZTl9pI944V8N0ob7noaPNfHjh_58sGjnekuUen4meUHcm6qMZX7ZQqAitk/s1600/cover_conspiracyofsecrets%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpIMK8aTfWB44Aa2PxGKncpFuCNA7jqjhfM-vZporh1A_WhwZWgDmpeQHLYshiLcL0STegPI0Fe_onxpCL9ZTl9pI944V8N0ob7noaPNfHjh_58sGjnekuUen4meUHcm6qMZX7ZQqAitk/s320/cover_conspiracyofsecrets%255B1%255D.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
The people attending the show will be serious family history enthusiasts and so we hope that <em>Conspiracy of Secrets</em> will be a big draw - because what Bobbie did was delve bravely back into her past, unearthing, in the process, the most astonishing secrets which had been deliberately concealed all these years. The book is amazing - part detective story, part memoir and part biography. So if you are going to the <strong>Who Do You Think You Are?</strong> show, please come and find our stand - it is number 201 and we will be delighted to see you. <br />
Wish us luck!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-89289616127723951042013-02-10T05:46:00.001-08:002013-02-10T05:51:25.343-08:00Ouch, Amazon, That Hurts!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJh6iQJNFQfUwlK-uNujtHS-SRk7Tp8LJnPTbCS5Y1ObPskaqZWyGveNpPP0l7nkOu_KRbR4knQtNvghyphenhyphenirL1ppJ8g_nrBNQSSkrbt5Xg_YRctx4IdKyEsMBvg25VRBUUp7IsFIBciao/s1600/dorset+cream+tea++14+oct.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNJh6iQJNFQfUwlK-uNujtHS-SRk7Tp8LJnPTbCS5Y1ObPskaqZWyGveNpPP0l7nkOu_KRbR4knQtNvghyphenhyphenirL1ppJ8g_nrBNQSSkrbt5Xg_YRctx4IdKyEsMBvg25VRBUUp7IsFIBciao/s320/dorset+cream+tea++14+oct.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>A cream tea did much to ease my pain</b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Why would Amazon start listing my book as being published by Vesta Publishing when it isn't? But they do - see previous posts - and so I have been taking them to task. They helpfully emailed me the other day with the information that there is a handy 'suggest changes to product details' button at the foot of the page. I was pleased and also felt a fool because you would think I might have scrolled down to the foot of the page to see what else lurked. Although I don't find those<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1604818743/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me&seller"> pages</a> inviting. Do you? <br />
I made my change. I clicked 'submit your changes' and I arrived at a screen which said...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
If you don't hear from us right away, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
don't despair; </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>we tend to review
corrections for more popular items first, </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
but we take them all seriously </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
and will reply as soon as possible</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Ow ow ow! OK, I am not a popular item as well as being too foolish to check for ways to amend the listing at the foot of the page. But all the same - OWW!!!</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-41199291481463984432013-01-18T12:18:00.000-08:002013-02-10T07:25:07.830-08:00Attacked by the Penguin<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYsKMnMLdBDArYiw3XzBfn9xo52iqL0tuyqNvB_r_P_y43zM6bdVYgtlVj6wEJjULfEC9e4ZvCGgU6fRJVZyvbmPRc_YRo_estnaYfU8C_Ixw6OJRsUI-L4QrHs0N-B5hx6-Dpyh-Ap0/s1600/penguins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeYsKMnMLdBDArYiw3XzBfn9xo52iqL0tuyqNvB_r_P_y43zM6bdVYgtlVj6wEJjULfEC9e4ZvCGgU6fRJVZyvbmPRc_YRo_estnaYfU8C_Ixw6OJRsUI-L4QrHs0N-B5hx6-Dpyh-Ap0/s320/penguins.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I got in
touch with Author Solutions by completing their online form. My message to
them asked the following question: why is Vesta Publishing listed on Amazon as
the publisher of my two titles in paperback when this is not the case? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also asked: why, since Vesta Publishing is
an imprint of AuthorHouse (and AuthorHouse is part of Author Solutions) did AuthorHouse
deny all knowledge of Vesta, when I rang them up to enquire?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>To date I
have received no reply.<o:p></o:p></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I rang
AuthorHouse – see previous post – and now I have received an email from them. Marcus
Montegrande <span style="color: #444444;">(</span>for it is he) ignores my issues however. His reply bears no
relation at all to the discussion I had with Chanel (see previous post). It behaves
as if I have asked to be published by them (far from it). Obviously I can't disseminate the email but this paraphrase is the gist:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">OK, Marcus, over to you:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><i>Dear
Frances, <br />
Welcome to AuthorHouse, the world's most experienced and trusted leader in the
self-publishing industry. </i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Hello, Marcus. As you are a senior Publishing Consultant</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b> and also a Supervisor, I hope that you can sort out this disturbing muddle.</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><i>You requested information on publishing ...</i></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
</span>
<br />
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</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
</span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>No I didn't.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i>Based on the information you provided, we were selected as a good
match for what you are interested in.</i> </div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b>Er... probably so - I'm sure you are a very good publisher - </b><br />
<b>BUT - I rang your number from the website and spoke to Chanel </b><br />
<b>and she was concerned at the problem I raised</b><br />
<b> and said someone would get back to me and clarify the situation.</b></div>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i>AuthorHouse is one of the world's largest self-publishing companies.... <b>A</b>uthorHouse who has pioneered self-publishing for the past 15 years, have
earned...</i></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b>Hang on, your subject is singular and your verb is plural in that last bit, Marcus</b>...</div>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i> ...the trust and confidence<b>...</b></i> </div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b>Marcus! Stop! What about my question </b><br />
<b>and the issue I raised about Vesta Publishing?</b></div>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
...<i>of over 90,000 authors, giving birth to over
140,000 book titles... authors are first time
authors and others have already ...have an undying passion for ...deprived the chance...politicians and experts of their field who want to share...rejected because ...is "not good for our business".
AuthorHouse is a self-publishing company. We will turn...</i></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b>Yawn. I saw this on the website...</b></div>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i> ...your manuscript into...investment on your part...retain full
ownership and copyright of your work. You will make the key decision from... the book to look like.
AuthorHouse uses print-on-demand technology...</i></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b>Yawn...</b></div>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<i>... books will be
delivered fresh to...eliminates the need for substantial
... inventory, distribution and warehousing.
Here's what's in it for you:</i></div>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<b>Zzzzzzz</b> <b>What? Sorry - drifted off there. </b><br />
<b>This is nothing to do with what I talked on the phone about, Marcus. </b><br />
<b>Chanel said someone would get in touch to sort my problem out; </b><br />
<b>the problem that one of your imprints - Vesta Publishing</b><br />
<b>(well Amazon says so) claims to be my publisher. </b><br />
<b>You are not actually sorting it out, Marcus.</b></div>
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
.....</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><i>personal attention with your own professional team of designers and consultants. </i></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
</span><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
<b>Yikes! Bullet points!</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">
</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><ul>
<li><i>...you control and experience you want for publishing. </i></li>
<li></li>
<li><i>...retain the rights to your work so you are not tied down to any strings...</i></li>
</ul>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Good point Marcus! Being tied down to any strings is always a thing I have feared.</b></span> <i> </i></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<ul>
<li><i>Your book will be in print forever because of Print-On-Demand technology.</i> </li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Forever? How ghastly! </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Marcus - they have trained the common sense out of you </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>and you have let them do it for the money. </b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Wake up and resign and go to work for your local independent bookshop...</b></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> ...</span><i>Please let me know when a good time/
date would be to review this information ... with you. Alternatel<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>y...</b></span>
</i></div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Sorry to interrupt Marcus. You mean 'alternatively' there...</b></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<i>...you can reach me through ....</i></div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Yes...</b></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<i> ...email</i>.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>I absolutely will do one of those things - no - both of them, Marcus. </b><br />
<b>Because why haven't you answered the question I asked? </b><br />
<b>How come your subsidiary, Vesta Publishing, says on Amazon</b><br />
<b> that it publishes my titles in paperback? It doesn't. </b><br />
<b>I am published in paperback by Wordclay ONLY. </b><br />
<b>And Wordclay has gone out of business. </b><br />
<b>And I have an email from them</b><br />
<b> saying that I now have NO PUBLISHER in paperback</b><br />
<b> and will have to start again from scratch.</b></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<i>I look forward to speaking with you!</i> </div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Me too!</b></div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
<i>Sincerely, </i></div>
<div>
<i>
Marcus </i></div>
<div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So<b> </b>What am I going to do? Why won't they answer?<br />
They can't just carry on saying they are my publisher can they? They are NOT!!<br />
Wordclay is. Was. They have gone out of business.<br />
This is part of Penguin.<br />
That's the thing that is so hard to accept.<br />
Penguin.<br />
Which published all my favourite books when I was little. And when I was at university.<br />
Actually - all my life until now.<br />
So Penguin, in a way, are trying to put one over on me and they won't talk to me about it so far. Sigh.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br />
</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-74870049481620216882013-01-14T04:11:00.000-08:002013-03-01T09:28:53.525-08:00Wordclay speak to me from the grave<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0qyjHbd3u_FvAa4IvH6laRWIXaX1RHPXvStfd8He8q6hCKsmvpB97Eyb8C4oP9nDklqurS1Ke0DDkYohmm11IeeRdXOG0II1eJkMCl4IhtY2xt57ti8Hp_vZGE8Hube0izC9tjtXPkBA/s1600/graveside+1DSC_4741.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0qyjHbd3u_FvAa4IvH6laRWIXaX1RHPXvStfd8He8q6hCKsmvpB97Eyb8C4oP9nDklqurS1Ke0DDkYohmm11IeeRdXOG0II1eJkMCl4IhtY2xt57ti8Hp_vZGE8Hube0izC9tjtXPkBA/s320/graveside+1DSC_4741.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong>Not from this grave! - this is Mum's</strong> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Last week, having found out that the publishing companies: AuthorHouse, Vesta Publishing, Lightning Source and the now defunct Wordclay, were all part of the Author Solutions empire, I used their online form to communicate the following message:<br />
<strong></strong><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><strong>Re: ASIN: 1604818743 <i>The Glassblower's Daughter </i></strong></span><br />
<span style="color: #444444;"><strong>Dear Author Solutions,Can you confirm you are the publisher of the above item which is</strong> one of two titles that I published with Wordclay? I am having difficulty understanding how Wordclay went out of the business without telling me who I now need to deal with to get information about how my titles are selling. Amazon have investigated the mystery and they tell me that AuthorHouse publish my title. But when I rang AuthorHouse yesterday, they denied any knowledge of either of my titles</span>. <br />
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;">
</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;">
I did not get any reply that day or the next and was also busy trying to talk to Amazon and the other players listed above (see previous post).</div>
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But today Hurrah! I got a message from Wordclay. The message above had been forwarded to them<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;"> </span></span>perhaps ( I am guessing) and they said: to paraphrase:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">Greetings Frances,<br />We were your publisher but we have closed for business now so now you have <b>no</b> publisher. We have asked all resellers to cancel your titles but it might take a while so your books might still be available for a short while. Final accounts will be settled before April.<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666;">Best wishes<br />Wordclay</span></div>
<div class="ii gt adP adO" id=":66">
<div id=":67">
<div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><u></u> <u></u></span></div>
<div>
<br />
Phew - what a relief. So if I want to carry on having a paperback version of my books I will need to sort out some other arrangement. I wonder why Wordclay couldn't have sent a message like that when they made their announcement about closing down, back on December 4th. <br />
But there remains an unanswered question which is this: how come Vesta Publishing and AuthorHouse are listed on Amazon.co.uk and on BooksEtc as being the publisher of my titles when they are not? <br />
Amazon.com, I should make clear, has continued to list Wordclay as the publisher.<br />
I assume that the answer is really simple. But if it is, why don't the companies listed know what it is? They don't even seem to talk to each other let alone to me. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-35083971534238797702013-01-11T09:22:00.003-08:002015-05-11T12:57:56.919-07:00Aaarghhh!! Something weird is going on<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHhtaPmvcD2MF0Faa89iiUhL0WFXFgbAXggXli-intRYZn6nc70I979YIMxlESq2INOT5zP7aDtXGzEs67C2Synk6ErgFgWE5kL_FK-vNKcVWw_OprljgDeXR8U9l3u-XcdauaPgSXdQ/s1600/bookcover_mother_daughter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpHhtaPmvcD2MF0Faa89iiUhL0WFXFgbAXggXli-intRYZn6nc70I979YIMxlESq2INOT5zP7aDtXGzEs67C2Synk6ErgFgWE5kL_FK-vNKcVWw_OprljgDeXR8U9l3u-XcdauaPgSXdQ/s320/bookcover_mother_daughter.jpg" width="200" /></a>I have been on the phone to Chanelle in the USA for 40 minutes now and she is as puzzled as I am.<br />
'I'm gonna put you on hold...'<br />
Chanelle is from AuthorHouse Publishing.... she has gone off to speak to someone. I'm shivering (because I've got a temperature) and I've put the phone on loudspeaker so I can wrap the sofa blanket round me and snuggle while I wait. I am beyond puzzled. I am disturbed. Is foul play going on? I have been having an alarming exchange of emails with Amazon. Amazon list my paperbacks as being published by a Vesta Publishing who I have never heard of....<br />
'Are you still there Ma'am?'<br />
Hell yes - and Chanelle sounds disturbed now.<br />
'Ma'am did you say that you have an email from Amazon that says Vesta Publishing are affiliated to us?'<br />
'Yes.'<br />
'Could you send that to me please?'<br />
'OK'.<br />
<br />
<div class="gmail_quote">
So I forward the relevant exchange of emails to AuthorHouse. The gist of those messages is as follows:<br />
<br />
Me to Amazon 10 January 2013:<br />
<br />
Dear Amazon,<br />
I rang AuthorHouse yesterday. They agreed that they were part of Author Solutions but denied that either of my titles was published by them and said my ISBN numbers were not on their records. The person I spoke to did not know Vesta publishing.<br />
Have you asked AuthorHouse if they are my publisher? Who am I to believe - you, who say they are, or them, who deny it?<br />
There is a disturbing lack of transparency here and I am very confused and upset. Please ask them why they deny being my publisher even though you list them as my publisher and see what they say. I would like you to report back to me what the results of that would be. I am not satisfied that you have investigated this fully. There is too much discrepancy. It is suspicious.<br />
Best wishes<br />
Frances<br />
<br />
On 10 January Amazon answered. This is a summary of their message:<br />
<span style="color: #666666;">We can't take down the titles you asked us to remove based on what you've said to us so far. Wordclay was affiliated to Author Solutions and it has gone out of business. Vesta Publishing is one of AuthorHouse's imprints and both are affiliated to Author Solutions. So your rights aren't being infringed. Contact any of these companies if you want to get to the bottom of this, - <b>or get yourself a lawyer</b>.</span><br />
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Now that IS alearming. Help!<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-19343403830943533852012-12-10T15:54:00.001-08:002012-12-11T12:42:07.152-08:00Schubert's glasses - The Glassblower's Daughter another year on<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ExJpcsa2IOR2ykVmWv-caScskjVLIS1mqZrd5aHD_iLh-d3KfzZKz_DDcrK5XCTDUEY2zo9NIrZXb5Wrxe5uWa-9CK_Vy007jF6g_aSKVNoRxu-v2duPiYEn-csOqpJa3rwZ-ayiW_c/s1600/schuberts_glasses.jpg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ExJpcsa2IOR2ykVmWv-caScskjVLIS1mqZrd5aHD_iLh-d3KfzZKz_DDcrK5XCTDUEY2zo9NIrZXb5Wrxe5uWa-9CK_Vy007jF6g_aSKVNoRxu-v2duPiYEn-csOqpJa3rwZ-ayiW_c/s320/schuberts_glasses.jpg.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Schubert's glasses</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Why does having a book published seem unreal? I know <em>The Glassblower's Daughter</em> exists but the book I'm working on is the only one that feels real. And it's too difficult to write so I'm stuck. So I don't take any notice of any of them and months go by. Then yesterday someone pointed out a really sweet review of it (<strong><em><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/frances-clarke/id413611805?mt=11">Glassblower's Daughter</a></em></strong>) to me and on the <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10042363-the-glassblower-s-daughter">same webpage</a> I found that loads of other people had been reading it and 20 or so of them had reviewed it (oh yes- VERY mixed!) And then I found out it is stocked in the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-glassblowers-daughter/id413611804?mt=11&uo=4"><strong>Apple ebook store</strong></a> and so is <em>Unusual Salami.</em> I was touched to find that the readers are out there, reading. So I went online to view my sales figures and I am heading for 3000 downloads. As my heroine Charlotte Bronte might have said - Thank you, dear readers. <br />
Well, let that be a lesson to me. Just because I'm stuck it doesn't mean that everything else to do with me is. Here's hoping that with that small flash of comprehension I will from now on see more clearly - as though I were looking through the spectacles of Schubert, let us say, as I am doing in this picture.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-68079277749967145962012-06-23T10:15:00.008-07:002012-06-24T03:47:54.887-07:00Too Asian Not Asian Enough<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LKmeYssdKwftqtfiiFoWD5HMaxaVObC283P3GCMQ72KtxxRG_B_iD5M7xWt09jHg_thj6xo6Xy0dXaxWuVO9TqoCux8yyGeqMw0kqNjMyjVPm6dKfOzjW_LTGH9C-Y_pniIqw4S44uQ/s1600/kavitas+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5LKmeYssdKwftqtfiiFoWD5HMaxaVObC283P3GCMQ72KtxxRG_B_iD5M7xWt09jHg_thj6xo6Xy0dXaxWuVO9TqoCux8yyGeqMw0kqNjMyjVPm6dKfOzjW_LTGH9C-Y_pniIqw4S44uQ/s320/kavitas+book.jpg" width="233" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">The stories in <a href="http://www.tindalstreet.co.uk/books/too-asian-not-asian-enough">Too Asian, Not Asian Enough</a> are brilliant.</span> The whole vibrant collection is published by the estimable <a href="http://www.tindalstreet.co.uk/">Tindal Street Press</a> and I am currently exploring the insides of people's houses with the intrepid Mrs Sharma - a pensioner who has turned cat-snoop (as opposed to cat-burgler) to while away the lonely hours. She has just discovered (she's hiding under his bed) that the builder opposite, who has come home unexpectedly, trapping her inside his house, is a transvestite...</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_97Nozs68YIqYYBhghLm5dV4TI9fiUoj3nD9rIxBJDQ9m5l7qGBpqQbeSNobJDUvSWd9tUU4I4SrS_4TrAG7uFgeOcRm-67R69aTO_nWINns0_EVdgyoHegkVwRIIwsA1rj0O7KjV_UQ/s1600/too+asian+not+asian+enough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>In her introduction, editor Kavita Bhanot laments the way that mainstream representations of South Asian immigrants and their descendants offer '...the same few narratives again and again, stories about generational and cultural conflict...'. She describes the cliched perspective which has bred the idea that all Asian parents force their children to wear suits, have arranged marriages, abstain from alcohol and avoid the pleasures of western life. In publishing terms many Asian writers have been held back and they all have stories of agents and publishers who frame rejections of their work in the words used by the book's title.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_97Nozs68YIqYYBhghLm5dV4TI9fiUoj3nD9rIxBJDQ9m5l7qGBpqQbeSNobJDUvSWd9tUU4I4SrS_4TrAG7uFgeOcRm-67R69aTO_nWINns0_EVdgyoHegkVwRIIwsA1rj0O7KjV_UQ/s1600/too+asian+not+asian+enough.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="edited by Khavita Bhanot" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_97Nozs68YIqYYBhghLm5dV4TI9fiUoj3nD9rIxBJDQ9m5l7qGBpqQbeSNobJDUvSWd9tUU4I4SrS_4TrAG7uFgeOcRm-67R69aTO_nWINns0_EVdgyoHegkVwRIIwsA1rj0O7KjV_UQ/s200/too+asian+not+asian+enough.jpg" title="Too Asian not Asian enough edited by Kavita Bhanot" width="130" /></a>It has been a while since I read a work of fiction published with such a thoughtful and intelligent introductory essay. I hope it catches on. Anyway, as I began by saying - the stories are brilliant. The authors are: NSR Khan, Gautam Malkani, Divya Ghelani, Niven Govinden, Kavita Jindal, Rajorshi Chakraborti, Rajeev Balasubramanyam, Madhvi Ramani, Bobby Nayyar, Nikesh Shukla, Ishani Kar-Purkayastha, Harpreet Singh Soorae, Reshma Ruia, Sushayl Saadi, Dimmi Khan, Azmeena Ladha, Anoushka Beazley, Amina Zia, Kavita Bhanot, Bidisha, Rohan Kar. And that is the order the stories appear in the book. Just buy a copy and read them. I have not read them in that order. I began with the one by Kavita Bhanot and then allowed the titles to dictate which I read next. And now, finally, I am reading about the foolhardy, the agile and the undeniably intrepid, Mrs Sharma... sounds are coming from behind the half open bathroom door. The door opened and...<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-6850959901866457252012-05-05T16:12:00.003-07:002012-12-10T08:35:05.547-08:00Dissent With ModificationHere is a brilliant book to read if you are interested in archaeology but also like the novels of H.G.Wells and don't mind learning a bit more about how anthropology developed as an academic subject of study.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvN-40-6UTOqNhfDdhkT1DPtDueaGroZhdsDWJRTc-gS5_MPJgvlPAfWrAMuxRywbxxYVdwRVWTHRpiW3O7N6UTV564S9k0UjDho5soSMoNnPaW5mK3TUNBW0Zdc4LKVfXjwF54DBQ6E/s1600/dissent_with_modification.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLvN-40-6UTOqNhfDdhkT1DPtDueaGroZhdsDWJRTc-gS5_MPJgvlPAfWrAMuxRywbxxYVdwRVWTHRpiW3O7N6UTV564S9k0UjDho5soSMoNnPaW5mK3TUNBW0Zdc4LKVfXjwF54DBQ6E/s320/dissent_with_modification.jpg.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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The author, John McNabb, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the university of Southampton, has an engaging style of writing and such an invigorating enthusiasm for his subject that you will be swept along learning all about it despite your previous unfamiliarity with all the technical terms.<br />
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If you become seriously interested there are thousands of references to follow up and this book will be an invaluable text for anyone either doing or about to start on an archaeology degree.<br />
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Dr McNabb is an academic who inspires great devotion in his students and at the event to launch <em>Dissent With Modification</em> the largest lecture theatre on the university's Avenue Campus was packed. The book is that pretty rare object - an academic work that is also a very good read.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-78091362753817146102012-03-10T09:41:00.000-08:002012-03-10T09:41:37.576-08:00A Mouse Appears<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://alloveralbany.com/images/brown_mouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" id="il_fi" src="http://alloveralbany.com/images/brown_mouse.jpg" style="padding-bottom: 8px; padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px;" width="225" /></a></div>The mouse made its way over to the speaker and then sat on its haunches and looked at me. It was very healthy looking and attractive. But maybe it was not happy. Why do a thing like that? It can't have had any reason to believe I am mouse-friendly. Maybe it construed the absence of a cat as mouse-friendliness - or assumed, due to the cheese 'n biscuit crumbs from the snacks people consume while watching TV that it was open house. But to revert to my first theory... So the suicidal mouse sat there and looked at me and twitched its surprisingly large ears and blinked its shiny black eyes. I called a witness to come and behold the astounding recklessness on display. The arrival into the room of said witness caused the mouse to decide it would stroll back the way it had come - no hurry - and it disappeared alongside the sofa. Next morning, the little tray of blue grain I had set down at the sofa's corner was empty. Another, next to the speaker, was half empty. Oh dear. Stop making me into a murderer, mice! <a href="http://www.patrickandrews.com/writing/pdfs/RatTrap.pdf"><strong><span style="color: blue;">Here</span></strong></a> is a wonderful discussion of how to catch rats and mice. I can't say exactly that it cheered me up - though I laughed - but at least the mouse, if he/she could have read it, would have had to agree that it expressed sound scientific reasons for culling its murine ass. (Still feel bad though).Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-15504430129443699582011-08-15T08:26:00.000-07:002011-08-29T11:41:54.634-07:00Jill Dawson's 'Lucky Bunny'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5rfN2LRKPCX0BglyZmXMS1oqSyJX4BvJMXRMGSbuX8RC9EWEiU7itKEToLjrtyNntDIS7LYOpLsu2XOq9BP5dptUr5CwVuNeW0DD1rROjvuFhMftiTkiodameNV52A9FyfBw3PN9O2Io/s1600/lucky+bunny.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5rfN2LRKPCX0BglyZmXMS1oqSyJX4BvJMXRMGSbuX8RC9EWEiU7itKEToLjrtyNntDIS7LYOpLsu2XOq9BP5dptUr5CwVuNeW0DD1rROjvuFhMftiTkiodameNV52A9FyfBw3PN9O2Io/s1600/lucky+bunny.jpg" /></a></div>Lucky Bunny is the toy rabbit her father gave her the day she was born –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a delicate, pretty, white soft toy<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the first clue that better lives are lived, somewhere; safe orderly lives with biscuits for tea, ponies and window boxes full of pansies.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">So what is it that makes us who we are? In tackling this mighty question through the viewpoint of the knowing Queenie, a child wise beyond her years who re-names herself at the first opportunity, the book takes a risk; but such is Dawson’s skill that she pulls it off in a breathtaking continuous panoramic sweep that takes in the blitz, Borstal and London in the swinging sixties.</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are Dawson's usual deft moments of scene-setting</div>…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">His favourite game was to go over to Vicky Park with his shilling knife with the bone handle – all the boys had knives in those days – and practise throwing it at trees, while the crows tottered on the grass like fat vicars, and the Jewish boys chased each other around Vicky Fountain, throwing their black caps in the air</i>…:<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">And her inspired gift with metaphor means that we feel as if we are there too and not just in sharing the sights and smells of the environment but also inside the character, as for example when the six year-old Queenie, mad with hunger, about to steal milk off a doorstep notices that … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the light is sticky, warm and making you feel like you’re a wasp in a jar of honey</i>…</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">From the filth and squalor of a home where her drunken young mother is descending into insanity to the safety of their Nan’s; to evacuation in the Fens, Queenie, the quicksilver child, tries to shield her little brother Bobbie. Always hungry and dirty, resourceful Queenie is drinking in every detail, learning every angle, cottoning on to every hint,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>clocking every clue. “What’s a Brass?” she asks her Nan.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">When tragedy leads to her mother’s removal and then she loses her Nan in the notorious Bethnal Green Tube disaster (breathtakingly described here) she becomes a skilful apprentice to the glamorous Green Bottle shoplifting gang while her black marketeer father, busy forging, stealing or rigging greyhounds, looks on in approval.</div><br />
Queenie is a character you can’t help cheering for. At the approved school she is found to have an IQ of 180. ... <em>“No doubt you got hold of your file and changed the figure,”</em> says the nun in charge, <em>“Recite some Shakespeare, can you? Explain Pythagoras’s Theorem? Thought not.”</em> ...<br />
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... “<em>They all say they have dreadful backgrounds</em>,”... sneers a Magistrate, who sees the fact that she has never known an example of a felon who transcended such circumstances as evidence that they must all be lying. Such attitudes inflame further the sense of injustice that gnaws Queenie’s soul.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Whether Dawson’s taut, lucid prose paints the suffocation in the blackness at the foot of the subway stairs, the silky ripple of a stolen mink coat billowing with Christian Dior perfume, a child on a train clutching a stolen bar of soap, teenage girls running away from an outraged john in their Anello and Davide ballet pumps or an ageing<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>good-time girl, …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">sinking n her yellow dress like a lemon soufflé, mascara blackening her cheeks…</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the narrative, like a well-paced film, never falters. <br />
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And does Queenie make it? Well; through friendship, love and finally motherhood, her state of mind always compellingly portrayed, Queenie finally works out what she must do to escape and enable her little daughter to transcend her terrible origins. And the denouement is an absolute cracker which I will not spoil by any kind of hint. Suffice to say it is an audacious imaginative feat of the kind at which Dawson excels.<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5115096450746023160.post-76332324146399690532011-08-13T03:58:00.000-07:002011-08-14T03:02:36.670-07:00'Velázquez’s Riddle' by Lyn Moir<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Lyn Moir, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Velázquez’s Riddle</i> Calderwood Press 2011 (<a href="http://www.calderwoodpress.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.calderwoodpress.co.uk/</span></a>) </div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2250N7eHHv0LJDUGm4ZMInUoUDPD_4_ZHn0kh-7-YlyPqzhVUbQ6P9-maR504DPHZq4IhBVYmb_mcneVZMS9AwV0TXeaOUAx8g0NayNKk5cjiXKZPinIKdX13oNowu0sP0xrc-vVK7Ng/s1600/velazquez-las-meninas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2250N7eHHv0LJDUGm4ZMInUoUDPD_4_ZHn0kh-7-YlyPqzhVUbQ6P9-maR504DPHZq4IhBVYmb_mcneVZMS9AwV0TXeaOUAx8g0NayNKk5cjiXKZPinIKdX13oNowu0sP0xrc-vVK7Ng/s320/velazquez-las-meninas.jpg" width="272" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><v:shapetype coordsize="21600,21600" filled="f" id="_x0000_t75" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas> <v:path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f"> <o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"> </o:lock></v:path></v:stroke></v:shapetype><v:shape alt="" id="il_fi" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 405.75pt; margin-left: -1in; margin-top: 8.4pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; position: absolute; width: 345.75pt; z-index: -2;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-47 0 -47 21560 21600 21560 21600 0 -47 0"> <v:imagedata o:href="http://mystudios.com/art/bar/velazquez/velazquez-las-meninas.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Prag\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg"> <w:wrap type="tight"> </w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape></div>Take two artists (Velazquez and Picasso) and a subject, the painting <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Las Meninas</i> by Velazquez. You now have two worlds; two histories heaving with seething characters and multiple landscapes (Picasso did over 50 of his variations). Pit them one against the other in the arena to explode like firework displays and you have <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Velázquez’s Riddle </i>by Lyn Moir. Moir’s understanding of Spain and of art is pointed up by <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=penelope+shuttle&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=7574771569&ref=pd_sl_8l8ox4a23t_e"><span style="color: blue;">Penelope Shuttle</span></a> in her review, quoted on the back cover… <em>Seldom have poet and subject been so perfectly matched...</em> she observes.<v:stroke joinstyle="miter"> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"> </v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:f></v:formulas> <v:path gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect" o:extrusionok="f"> <o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"> </o:lock></v:path></v:stroke><v:shape alt="" id="il_fi" o:spid="_x0000_s1026" style="height: 405.75pt; margin-left: 1.5pt; margin-top: 96.75pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; position: absolute; width: 345.75pt; z-index: -1;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-47 0 -47 21560 21600 21560 21600 0 -47 0"> <v:imagedata o:href="http://mystudios.com/art/bar/velazquez/velazquez-las-meninas.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Prag\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.jpg"> <w:wrap type="tight"> </w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Velázquez’s Riddle</i> is the movies, it is theatre …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">note the solid dwarf whose open stare demands we join them on the crowded stage</i>… (p.25 ‘Setting The Scene’). The ‘Cast of characters in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Las Meninas</i>’ on the opening page is Shakespearean, each character’s voice is clear. Moir is mistress of; creates indeed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a finely-wrought tapestry of dramatic<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>monologue</i>…. (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Poetry-Masterclass-John-Greening/dp/1906075581"><span style="color: blue;">John Greening</span></a>) quoted from the back cover) and as the poems unfold you see the scenes, the circumstances of the characters and the physical spaces they inhabit, both figuratively and, as you refer to the paintings, actually. I studied the paintings over and over, drawn by the irresistible pull that Moir builds, learning more and more. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Up to now, the things I had particularly noticed in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Las Meninas</i> by Velazquez were the dog and the Infanta. The female dwarf also demanded attention. Moir, the movie director strides in however and you see not only <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the luminous princess</i>… (p.8 ‘Velázquez’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Las Meninas</i>: an Inventory’), …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this gold and silver girl</i>… (p.13 ‘Velázquez on the King and Queen) </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">but also that she … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">is a baby adult with a gaze of steel</i>… who already understands her own worth … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’m being groomed, I know my studbook status</i>… (p. 12 ‘When I am Queen’).</div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">You are shown that the top half of the painting, which Velazquez draws your eyes away from, is in fact a space which: … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not empty, balances the scene below</i>…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you will either be made giddy by or understand that; …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we have some effect upon the scene, that if we breathe too hard, too short, we might disturb the balance of the court.</i> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Balance is key in this volume. The poems exhibits balance in the economy of their expression; the precision of the language. Moir achieves balance in her composition; half Velazquez, half Picasso; and the character of Velazquez balances in the book, a colossus foot in each half, a …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">looming figure, in whose hands the whole illusion rests</i>… (p.9 'Velázquez on Velázquez'). <v:shape alt="" id="_x0000_s1027" style="height: 405.75pt; margin-left: 153pt; margin-top: -810.55pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; position: absolute; width: 326.25pt; z-index: -1;" type="#_x0000_t75" wrapcoords="-50 0 -50 21560 21600 21560 21600 0 -50 0"> <v:imagedata o:href="http://search.it.online.fr/covers/wp-content/pablo-picasso-las-meninas.jpg" src="file:///C:\Users\Prag\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image003.jpg"> <w:wrap type="tight"> </w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape>He observes us, he observes Picasso working on his series of variations; he is the …<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ringmaster with the power to position unwitting performers at the point of maximum tension</i>… he is described as both a hero and a star … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">the bill-topper …who makes us gasp at his audacity and skill in wire-walking</i>… (p.9 'Velázquez on Velázquez').</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhst9pVQ78Xpf2SrIrn6eg8G19IM4fmnJt6CetM9X6o_sIwTKbth7MxoCselA2e_8ZLNDiLZv7wrsy2gtz3V4eNGiyCeA12wsZcOV9Ng_Rm3aoPM1zoAXKqpOpH6aXqUboIySUa9UA2e7Q/s1600/pablo-picasso-las-meninas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhst9pVQ78Xpf2SrIrn6eg8G19IM4fmnJt6CetM9X6o_sIwTKbth7MxoCselA2e_8ZLNDiLZv7wrsy2gtz3V4eNGiyCeA12wsZcOV9Ng_Rm3aoPM1zoAXKqpOpH6aXqUboIySUa9UA2e7Q/s320/pablo-picasso-las-meninas.jpg" width="257" /></a>With the transition from one half of the book to the next the … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">world constructed on a symbol</i>… where … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">stability and order are the key</i>…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(p.21 The Outsider)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>becomes a world where we must <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">… identify the structural geometry</i>… ( p.24 ‘Picasso Lays Claim to Velázquez’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Las Meninas</i>’). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It becomes ever more a world of trick and illusion, Picasso is a wizard who creates… <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">A dialogue as permanent as words inscribed on water blown by wind</i>… (p.25 ‘Setting the Scene’). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It sparkles with mischief and humour. Picasso vows to …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">transmogrify the dog</i>… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Princess wails: …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I’ve turned into a royal dwarf – can this be me</i>?... (p.27 ‘The Green Infanta’), and endures ‘Bad Hair Day' (p.37). Both Wonderland and Neverland appear, coming memorably together in ‘Neverland’ (p.39) where the Queen, a white dot in the slate grey mirror, wishes that she and the king could <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">… leave behind the cares of state and palace, walk together, talk alone, fuck unencumbered by maids of honour, by the court</i>… </div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Geometry rules (‘Geometry’ p.38) and people get upset. … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Válgame Dios!</i> … exclaims Velázquez, …<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The princess is blurred, her dwarves Halloween nightmares</i>… (p. 44 ‘First Viewing’).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in a grim soliloquy he tells us in the next poem that Picasso is doomed; because he paints … <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">knowing he can never escape the talons of my shadow</i>… (p.45 ‘In the Shadow’). <br />
I enjoyed the sensation of being part of the drama; of finding out where I, (the viewer - the reader?) was seen by the key players in the paintings. I enjoyed the feeling of skewed gravity - Velazquez as a planet around which we all, including Picasso, orbit; and I enjoyed the truly weird sensation of finding out that all this time I have been standing close to the king and queen.</div><br />
Order the book from <a href="http://www.zen39641.zen.co.uk/cwp/cat.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Calder Press</span></a> (scroll down three books to reach it) read it and be transported.<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0