The Girdle of Melian

ntroducing... The Dirty Bits , from Carina Press! "A new line that’s meant to be fun, sassy and, well, dirty. Although these romances are shorter in length, we are definitely not compromising on that high heat level we’re known for. The Dirty Bits from Carina Press are “micro-romances”, designed to be read in an hour or two. ... guaranteed to pack a punch and deliver a happily ever." The first book in the series -- Seducing His Student , by London Hale -- is out now! There'll be a few other releases between now and December, but in mid-December... Guess what? Summer Fire by Deniz Bevan Is that my name on the cover?! A few minutes to bask in the reflected glory of that book cover... and then it's back to work. The final round of A Round of Words in 80 Days for this year has begun, and here are my goals for the round, including -- in keeping with the latest ROW80 blog post -- both learning and performance goals: end-September: Learning: Kee

oday is snip day! I’ll break up the text with some photos of the characters involved. Summer Fire Ayşe Meral had been in Istanbul for two weeks and hadn’t had a single moment to herself since the day she’d landed. ... Family members, touristy sites, endless meals. She wasn’t ungrateful, but on the long flight out from Montreal she’d developed a secret hope that something – no, someone – exciting would come along. Now, with little more than a week of her trip left to go, and her grandmother on the phone every day rounding up more of the clan, Ayşe had resigned herself to an interesting, but in the end unromantic, holiday. ... All the running around, obliging her relatives, wasn’t that far off her part-time work at the hospital. When she started her residency on her return to Montreal, she’d have all kinds of experience in being polite, anticipating people’s needs, and rushing from one hot spot to another. Maybe. Pushing aside the nervousness that came with every reminder that

hotos from a staycation! Not exactly, as these were taken over the course of the summer, and we did travel to other places. But many weekends it's nice to stay home and explore our surroundings a little more. I've posted photos of Founex and the neighbouring towns before, and collated all the Switzerland photos during this year's A to Z, but for the sake of completeness, here they are again: Founex #1 Founex #2 Founex in the snow Founex #4 Founex in the summer And then two more posts from after the A to Z cut off: Winter in Switzerland February in the valley Here is this summer's collection: A new tea shop in the town of Coppet Looking down on the Dole, the highest peak of the Jura, from the plane Photos from on the Dole: Looking towards Geneva on the right, at the end of the lake From the plane, the Ain river in France, and then Founex Entering Founex by road

cotland! I've already shared a bit of this trip, in my review of the stage performance of Tolkien's Leaf by Niggle . But here are a few other photos! Starting in the village of Culross, where some scenes set in Cranesmuir in the Outlander world were filmed: Culross Abbey and the view from the Abbey  Geddes House, a former schoolhouse turned into residences The graveyard by the Abbey, directly beside Geddes House I wonder what "3 Lairs" means? Culross Palace and gardens, used as the Castle Leoch kitchen garden in Outlander! The Lockit Well of St Serf, a spring used by the monk and his followers 1,500 years ago The Tron, a replica of an ancient weighing stone View over the Firth of Forth    Mercat Cross, Culross, and Mercat Cross, Dunfermline, marking the fact that both towns had a traditional right granted by a monarch or bishop to hold a regular market or fair