The Girdle of Melian

've got lots of book reviews! First up are two new releases by James Forrester and C C Humphreys. I was lucky enough to feature an interview with James Forrester last autumn, on the release of the first book in his Elizabethan conspiracy series, Sacred Treason . The second installment in the trilogy, The Roots of Betrayal , is now published in North America! "It's 1564, and Clarenceux has been entrusted to protect a dangerous document, containing a secret so powerful that it could challenge Queen Elizabeth's legitimacy on the throne. When the document is goes missing, Clarenceux suspects an underground society known as the Knights of the Round Table. With England on the verge of a bloody conflict, Clarenceux's determination to protect the Queen (and his own life) takes him from the dungeons in the Tower of London to the high seas (with a roguish captain inspired by the real Elizabethan adventurer Peter Carew). With Forrester's mix of vibrant h...

wards galore! Thanks so much to Neurotic Workaholic , Lara Lacombe , and Deanie Humphrys-Dunne ! *happy flail* Here are the questions I was asked: 1. What's your favourite cancelled television show? A lot of the old British ones. The Young Ones, Father Ted, Blackadder... Or is that not quite what you meant by cancelled? 2. Which show do you wish would get cancelled? Well, I do wish music channels played more videos and fewer reality shows... 3. If you could meet any author, who would it be? All of them? No, seriously, dead = Tolkien. Living = Neil Gaiman (at the moment, but I'd make a fool of myself with any author) 4. If you could relive high school, would you? Relive how? With my current brain? I might. Just think, all that uninterrupted reading time ... 5. Why would you want/not want to relive high school? See above re: reading time. And with my current brain, I'd be a lot more outgoing. 6. If you could meet the characters of any book, which boo...

ey look! Glynis Smy has a new book out! A year ago saw the debut launch of Ripper, My Love by Glynis Smy.  Today, the sequel makes its presence known : Ripped Genes . Ripped Genes will be at a special launch price of 99c(77p approx) for the ebook version, until end of May.  The descriptive blurb holds a spoiler for those who have not read the first book. If you would like to read  Ripper, My Love  f i rst, then contact Glynis at: glynissmy at outlook dot com , and put FREE BOOK PLEASE in the subject line . You will be sen t a code for Smashwords, where you can download a copy in any format you please. This offer will finish at the end of May, so spread the word.   Growing up in late nineteenth century East London, Kitty Harper’s life is filled with danger and death – from her mother, her beloved  neighbour  and the working women of the streets ... Read more. PURCHASE and Review Link to all books by Glynis Smy ...

nd now back to our regularly scheduled programming... A to Z was amazing! Thank you to Arlee , to Alex , to Matthew , to everyone who made it possible. I thought, naively, that scheduling my posts would mean more free time for editing. Of course it didn't work that way, both because I didn't schedule as many posts in advance as I should have, and because commenting on others' posts was so much fun. And I've reached 400 followers ! Thanks so much to all of you, new and old. Makes me giddy just thinking that so many people are reading! Despite ROW80 and having signed up for CampNaNo , I barely got any editing done in the past couple of weeks. I'm at the point where I keep revising the first chapter or two of Druid's Moon , and can't seem to move beyond that. So much tweaking. But I'm also rereading Book 6 of the History of Middle-earth , which includes many of Tolkien's drafts for the first few chapters of The Lord of the Rings - not onl...

is for ze end of ze list. A to Z month is over! Beware, this is going to be a long post. I've got a jumble of favourites here, all from the last two months. Also touching on Insecure Writer's Support Group day and remembering to check in for A Round of Words in 80 Days ! First up, Diana Gabaldon promised me a Table of Contents in the next book! Then there are updates from astronaut Commander Hadfield ! Here's his April Fool's Day joke . All the photos he's posted are free to use. "Please just credit NASA" he says. Also this: "A thought - maybe some of these pictures would be useful on Wikipedia to show how places really look. Please add to Wiki pages if they help." On other days, he tells us about life on board the International Space Station: "We bathe, shave, wash hair and brush teeth, all with less than 1/4 litre of water" and "Where does Station water come from? We collect humidity and urine, purify it, heat it, disp...