The Girdle of Melian

is for X marks the spot! Well, sort of. Today's posts were ones I saved around the time they discovered Richard III's grave : Ever had a ghost in your bed? And your mother thought it was a sheep? Blackadder Here's the skeleton: And, as Kate Beaton says: "Now that they found Richard III's body for sure you know what comes next right"? Weekend at Bernie's - er, Richard's - courtesy of Kate Beaton I guess you had to be there... Twitter vs Facebook... I did notice, while sorting through all my Twitter favourites for this challenge, that a number of conversations that were funny at the time, were less amusing when they required lots of explanation if I wanted to share them long after the original event. In that respect, Twitter is very much a real-time conversation with all sorts of friends and people around the world, offering something you can't get in the more static interactions on Facebook and other places. I...

is for Wartime. I love stories of ordinary heroes during wartime. One oft-forgotten fact is that rationing in England continued long after the end of WWII: Then there's the poetry:   Sassoon Sassoon again Owen A while back the Shropshire Star featured a two part interview with Dame Vera Lynn ! And look - a new digital edition of Anne Frank's diary includes formerly unreleased photos, video footage, and letters. I've always wanted to reread her diary, ever since I found out that the edition we usually read is the heavily edited one, in which her father cut out many of the more bitter and heartfelt passages. Only three A to Z Challenge posts left! How are all of you who are participating holding up?

is for visions of England... A few days ago was the anniversary of Lord Byron's death. Here's a quote from the anniversary of his birthday: Later on, Byron came up under quite a different sort of conversation : And now, two unrelated items: The Natural History Museum is celebrating naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace all year! Newton, by Blake, posted by Sir William Davenant : And now, the giveaway I talked about yesterday! I featured James Forrester on the blog when his Elizabethan conspiracy novel Sacred Treason was released. And now the second exciting installment, The Roots of Betrayal , is coming out in North America! Until 30 April, anyone who preorders The Roots of Betrayal will receive a free ebook of Sacred Treason ! Just email proof of the preorder to sbpublicity@sourcebooks.com anytime in April, and they'll send you a code to download the book through the Sourcebooks website. What's on your reading wishlist?

is for useful writing tips! One of my favourite recent quotes comes from Claire Legrand : "LIKE, DIALOGUE IS NOT THE ULTIMATE IN EMOTIONAL CONVEYANCE. WE ARE NOT WRITING PLAYS WE'RE WRITING NOVELS." I always think of that when I'm having trouble with showing - through conversation - rather than telling. Another link I came across on Twitter was to Literary Composition by H. P. Lovecraft , first published in the January 1920 issue of The United Amateur . Some it is out of date - as much as we love the English language, we can't fight all changes. "Viewpoint" sounds fine to me, even though I'm always railing against phrases like "going forward" and "low-hanging fruit": Lovecraft also has a lot to say on description. I'm quoting his advice on word choice in its entirety: " An excellent habit to cultivate is the analytical study of the King James Bible . For simple yet rich and forceful English, this masterly pr...

is for Tolkien. Mais bien sur ! Here's me preparing a tweet for Tolkien's Birthday Toast: Others had the same problem: Here's Chaucher tweeting him happy birthday: Chaucer Doth Tweet ‏@LeVostreGC: "Alasse i Lirillon merendenna! Happye Birthdaye to J. R. R. T., the man who did so muchel for ower beloved Beowulf, Gawaine, and myself." Here's an intriguing post on Tolkien and Lewis' executors: Pieter Collier ‏@TolkienLibrary: " #Tolkien Christopher Tolkien, Warren Hamilton Lewis, and Laurence Housman: Earlier this week, somebody called JP... " A timeline of the One Ring! ( bigger version here ) Here's a nice article about Belly Ballantine reminiscing about publishing Tolkien in the United States . And here's a promotional leaflet from George Allen and Unwin . And here's a wonderful set of photos of Tolkien and his wife in 1961 . Here's Tolkien by a tree: And here's me in a tree: ...

is for Scotland . I've only ever visited Edinburgh, but would love to see more of the country! Here's a tweet I favourited, to remind myself to get this book: ‏@BiblioConnect: "Published today Jan 18th in 1775 Samuel Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland . #books #literaryhistory" Here's Scotland from the International Space Station : Here's a link from National Trust Scotland: ‏@N_T_S: " Scotland's Stories | Find out about life as a crofter in Scotland's north west highlands " Sneak peak at Diana Gabaldon's forthcoming Written in My Own Heart's Blood : And... Here're Eric Idle and Billy Connolly talking about the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens ("' I saw the new moon late yestreen / With the old moon in her arm; / And if we go to sea, master, / I fear we'll come to harm .'"):   I haven't been on Twitter much this month - hope I'm not missing other fun ...

is for reaching out to others! Author Claire Legrand was tweeting about busyness when Kait Nolan tweeted back: "@clairelegrand Do I need to email you a link to your own post about not forgetting to shower ?" A very important post for all creative people! Here's author Barbara Rogan on the band Whisky Trench Riders : "@wtriders Funny, literate tweets AND terrific music? Nice to meet you guys. Loved this :" Lots of friends and fans banded together to support author Jay Lake . There was a PayPal glitch. But everyone on social media helped fix it! ‏@scalzi: "And now @jay_lake can get his cash again. Thank you @askpaypal, and thank you everyone who raised their voice for Jay." Quitting alcohol or something else? Amanda Palmer started a support group : "OK, here's the thread : use hashtag #TheWagon if we're hitting each other with shameful empty wine bottles on twitter." Whisky Trench Riders did the same: "Booze Hia...