Happy ROW80 Check In! Plus Stickers, Outlander-related Photos, and Amazon Reviews...

Look what I got the other day:


That's the first time I've gotten such a notification; happy that it was for Talli!

Last week Google featured a cute Doodle for Edward Gorey's birthday:


I've noted three Doodles in the past, the ones for Agatha Christie, the Royal Wedding, and Mark Twain. Which ones have you enjoyed?

So, ROW80. Druid's Moon is, how shall I put this... getting there. I feel like I'm pulling a sled. Every time I turn around, I find it's tipped over on its side again. I have to right it, and resume dragging it along behind me.

On the one hand, I've finished the on-screen edits! Only a couple weekends behind schedule.

On the other hand, I still have edits on paper for the first few chapters to enter, plus a few more dialects to check/fix (I've got at least one character with a Cornish accent), and some spells and curses to write!

I also need to find an example of an archaeological discovery involving Merlin, from the past hundred years or so...

Speaking of archaeology, the other day I visited the Chateau Ramezay museum here in Montreal. I hadn't been there before! The 300 year old house is directly across from City Hall:


There are a number of interesting artefacts, some of old Montreal, some of which reminded me of the Outlander series...

Here's the house...

A list of the owners over the years

Bit of description of the house...

Dickens! He visited Montreal on a lecture tour

Mr Jean Talon

A little information about him. The thing is, we have a Jean Talon market, and a Jean Talon metro station, but I'd never thought of him as a real person before...

Views of Montreal, this one looking towards the harbour and the mountain

This one looking down on the town from the mountain

And another one looking towards the town and the mountain - how empty and green it was!


Two shots of Alfred E Neuman!
Really. They had a mini-exhibit on smallpox and other diseases that the earliest townsfolk had to face, all the way up to the beginning of the 20th Century. I was surprised to see Alfred's face on an old calendar!
Turns out it wasn't always a MAD Magazine image, but a very common face used to advertise all sorts of things.

A pretend-apothecary wall - reminds me of Claire Fraser shopping in Edinburgh...

Benedict Arnold. I have a feeling he's going to be in the next book in the Outlander series, too...

I don't really know much about this battle, even though it happened just over the river from Montreal

Ramezay himself is seated at the table...


Some Highland artefacts

Dagger and letter from a Mr. Murray...

Dagger and powder horn

Old car! It bears the first licence plate in Quebec, painted on the back: Q1

And this guy I liked because he's a 19th Century sailor.
This must be what the Count of Monte Cristo looked like while he was still a lowly sailor.
I'm still only halfway through Volume I. It's slow going, reading the original French...

And finally... this isn't an artefact, but the photo I forgot to share over the weekend, of some of my prizes. Exciting!


Also there's these:


Stickers! I love stickers. Except for scrapbooking, though, I don't quite know what to do with them. So I thought I could at least share them with you.

Have you ever been notified that your review helped someone? Which historical periods are you interested in? Don't you love stickers?

Comments

Michael Di Gesu said…
Hi, Deniz,

I WENT to that museum when I visited a Montreal a year and a half ago!

SO cool to see it again. Montreal still looks beautiful ... even in the snow.

DId you have fun in Chicago? Sorry You had such LIMITED time.


I do hope you come back this summer and we could get together.

I love historical novels and setting. You newest sounds very exciting. HOW MANY projects are you working on these days?

My current favorite period in time is the 1940's. My current WIP is set in 1940's Chicago. Film Noir.

I would perhaps write another few stories in this tim period. Perhaps set in Europe. The war is a great setting for any story.
Jean Talen? I thought it was Charles II.

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Maria
Anonymous said…
You had a good week. Did you get any good ideas from your trip to the museum?
Linda G. said…
Great museum pics! I love visiting museums--I could wander around for hours in most of them.

And I love that pic of my book next to Jack Whyte's! Talk about a thrill. :)
J.L. Murphey said…
Deniz, this site may help you on Arthurian Studies http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0095.xml

It has a list of books.
nutschell said…
Awesome pictures! Oh I wish I could've gone there--thanks to you, however, i feel like i was right there in the museum with you .:)
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
S.P. Bowers said…
Honestly, I'm indifferent to stickers. I like the idea of them, put in practice, well, they're impermanent and sticky.

I love books and chocolates though.
Matthew MacNish said…
There are such things as archaeological evidence of Merlin? How awesome is that?
Looks like they had an exhibit on everything. Cool building.
Archaeological discovery involving Merlin... that will be one fun Google search!
Anonymous said…
I haven't heard of that museum before but my next visit to Montreal (this summer!) will be with kids, so not sure I'll manage it this trip.

I LOVE the Jean Talon market. I, too, never thought about him being a real person. How cool.

A friend of mine wrote an award-winning YA book about Benedict Arnold (Steve Sheinkin), in case you're interested in some research.

-Vicki
I used to collect stickers when I was younger; my favorite were the scratch and sniff stickers. I liked the ones that the teachers put on my tests back in grade school, too. And omigosh, I was just about to say that that Neuman picture looked like a Mad Magazine cover, too! :) I'm interested in the 1920s and 1930s, but I'm also interested in contemporary periods like the 1990s and the 2000s. I can still remember what life was like before the Internet, and it's interesting to observe (and write about) how much life has changed because of it.
Susan Fields said…
That's great that your review helped someone! I don't write reviews very often, I probably should do that more.
Nick Wilford said…
It's fun to find out about local history in your area. That looks like a great house to visit.
Deniz Bevan said…
It is Nick! To both your comments :-)
Deniz Bevan said…
I missed you too Michael! I definitely wish I could have had more than two days in Chicago.
Love the 1940s! The closest I've come is a Canadian story set in 1913 or 1939 (haven't figured it out yet), but I won't be writing that one for a while... Got so many to edit!

I'm not surprised, Maria! I've featured Charles II on this blog before :-)

Ooh, thanks for the link, Jo and the book recommendation, Vicki! Montreal in summer is definitely a great time to see the city.

Thanks everyone for coming by! I felt badly that I'd been falling behind on blog commenting...
Anonymous said…
Hello, just dropping by as part of ROW80! The Count Of Monte Cristo is an amazing story. Hope you enjoy it. I imagine the French might be even more rich and idiomatic than the English translation...
Deniz Bevan said…
It *is* fun reading some of the 19th aristocratic slang!