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Oct 29, 2010

Nerves

Sleep - I hate you.  I've been cramming my days full so that I don't have to think about my looming deadline.  Nov 1st - no not Nanowrimo! - that's when I get to see the copy of my ms, and know what edits I'll have to make.

So last night I had a horrible dream, my editor ( a bloke - my editor is a lady) gave me back the manuscript and the pages were bleeding, letters dripping onto the floor.  The he balled up the pages one by one and threw them at me, saying in this horrible soft voice, ' it's crap, it's crap'  

Now the idea lingers, and I have to ask myself why am I doing this?

The answer, because I thought it would be fun and don't get me wrong the writing part is fun.  So I'm going to silence my snide inner critic, work my myself to sleep and not eat cheese tonight.

Oct 22, 2010

Thoughts on Day of Honey

Memoirs are not normally my thing but this one - wow!  It's not out until next year (February) but it is a great read and so topical right now - even as I'm writing this the cauldron of middle east politics is still threatening to boil over.  Good books inspire emotions, and this one did (mostly anger at two countries who really should have learned about persecution and a certain US politician's comments about witnessing the 'birth pangs' of a new middle east have a whole new meaning when shells are flying past your kitchen window) but it also inspired something else, suspense.  In war we lose people, some we know, some we love but loss is generous, likes to make sure we all get some.  Now from real life to spy life, "Our Kind of Traitor" Le Carre's new one.

Oct 20, 2010

Swedish is the new black

In mystery that is, Swedish writers are being taken up like catnip.  In Red Wolf, Liza Marklund's protagonist, journalist Annika may not be altogether likeable but you can't help sticking with her throughout her investigation.  For me the glimpses of Sweden that you get - even the everyday details - are a bonus.  The story gets woven around messy lives, Annika and the others aren't perfect, they have affairs, they lie their way into people's lives, they put their career ahead of everything else, they drink, they identify and attack their rivals and squabble about who's picking the kids up from school.  They make mistakes - lots of them.  Red Wolf comes out in February 2011.  Full review then.

Oct 15, 2010

November approaching

Regular readers will know that November means NanoWrimo.  If you've never done it before it goes a little like this.  Starting Nov 1st you have all month to produce 50,000 words, of unedited novel.  You don't have to punctuate, self edit or even use capital letters just get the words down on the screen.  It doesn't cost you anything - although they welcome donations and it's a great way of taking an idea out of your head therefore freeing up space for more.  If you cross the finish line - great! and you can spend the rest of the year editing.  If not, there's always next year.  This will be my fourth nano, the book that came from the first took three years and multiple edits.  If you feel like you need a challenge visit http://www.nanowrimo.org/

I'm going to try and blog during nano, which I normally don't but we'll see how it goes.  This morning the arc for Red Wolf by Lisa Marklund arrived, I do love a good Swedish mystery.

Oct 14, 2010

Uprisings for the Earth : Osprey Orielle Lake


We all know about global warming, the green revolution, recycling and renewable energy and here most people yawn, plug in their mp3 player and go back to sleep.  ‘Our government or our scientists will save us,’ they say, ‘that’s why I voted for them.’

Lake doesn’t feel that way, her message and it’s a timely one is that we need to re-acquaint ourselves with the planet we’re currently polluting to death. 

Civilizations much older and - I would say - wiser than ours revered the land, shared a deep connection with it.  Our generation treats the planet like an all-you-can-eat buffet and we're about to get the bill.

Lake isn’t saying that we should tear down our cities and go back to living in caves, she’s suggesting that we are the solution to our own problems. Individually or in small groups we can come up with solutions that big business can’t or won’t implement.  Her argument is persuasive, her words poetic, her stories compelling.  

Further reading
Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken
Biomimicry by Jane Benyus
Hot Flat and Crowed by Thomas Friedman
The Great Turning by David Korten
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Oct 11, 2010

A Beginners Guide to Acting English

Shappi Khorsandi is an Iranian comedienne and this is a memoir of her life in Iran and then London after her father had to flee with his family.  I'm more fascinated by the small details than the big story the description of family, Shappi's multiple uncles, trips to the baths, the food, the parties, their attitude to animals, how everyone, even poor people have a maid.

The attitude of my countrymen (not all of my countrymen) to an Iranian family - calling them Pakis made me cringe at the ignorance.  It's funny in parts but I'd recommend it more for the cultural aspects.

To Fetch a Thief - Spencer Quinn

Chet's back!  The canine part of the Little Detective Agency and his human, Bernie, are back on the case.  Peanut the elephant has vanished into thin air along with his circus trainer Uri.  Bernie and Chet happily drop a divorce case which could turn sticky for Bernie when Popo the clown hires them to track man and pachyderm  down.

Soon Bernie is asking questions, dodging baseball bats, animal rights activists, corrupt cops and puff adders while generally messing things up with Suzy his on/off reporter girlfriend.  And Chet? apart from his diet of slimjims, donuts and doggie treats, naps and plenty of running. Chet gets a lead on Peanut and finds an elephant out for revenge.

Oct 6, 2010

On the Menu

This weeks serving of books includes, the new Chet and Bernie - To Fetch a Thief by Spencer Quinn, A Beginner's Guide to Acting English (not a new title but I'll review it 'cos it came out in UK), for bookclub The Lost City of Z and finally my guilty pleasure of the week Naked Heat by Rick Castle:-)

I have also started the second of my blog strands which I'm hoping leads to debate not flamage
http://mysterygirlwantstoknow.blogspot.com/

When a bookseller says 'jump'

Especially when that bookseller is the wonderful Wendy Foster Leigh and she didn't tell me to jump.  Less than a week before we left for Singapore I got an e-mail from Wendy, 'a lady in her book group has a daughter in Singapore and we should try and meet up' So after a couple of backwards and forwards e-mails between myself Wendy, Elaine Davis and daughter Christy we arranged to get in touch the day after we arrived in Singapore.

After a text and a couple of phonecalls we arranged to meet Christy and Regan (her hubby) at the ticket wickets at Little India tube station but at City Hall interchange Christy came up to us, she'd figured that two Gaijin (foreigners) one with red hair could only be me and Chris.  We went to a barefoot restaurant called Lagnaa in Little India, best indian food I've had since we left UK. It was a fun evening. 

Warlord, Ted Bell


Can the Warlord save the Royal Family?

MI6 operative Alex Hawke puts aside his grief to hunt down a vengeful killer targeting the British Monarchy.  The killer known only as ‘Pawn’ has struck twice in the last thirty years claiming the lives of two beloved royals and has carried out countless attacks on the cabinet and even Windsor Castle.  Hawke is convinced that the motive for the original killing will lead them to the Pawn but the Pawn has an insider planted in Hawke’s group and they're about to initiate the move Pawn takes Kings.

Using a blend of real events, blistering action and global threat Bell takes Hawke to new heights and sets up the next book in the final pages.

Oct 4, 2010

Read. Blog. Read. Repeat

Today I'm back in the saddle, I actually finished Notes from the End Times the day before we left but it's out now so here's a brief review.

When I reviewed Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012 The Return of Quetzlcoatl a couple of years ago I wrote

"2012 won't be the end of the world just a change of mindset less material and more spiritual"

Notes from the End Times is a series of articles Pinchbeck has written since.  Reading them cover to cover you do find a little repetition but there is a message worth noting, I went and checked out the Evolver.net website as a result.

Now I'm reading Fated by S.G Browne and I also completed the first blog post on my travel strand http://mysterygirlontour.blogspot.com/

Oct 3, 2010

The Mind’s Eye, Oliver Sacks


A person can lose a limb and compensate with prosthetics but what if what you lose – or gain comes from your brain?  Sacks gives us a neurological casebook of his patients and one case that’s very personal – a melanoma in his right eye.

We have the female concert pianist who can’t recognize objects any more but with her eyes closed can reproduce past performances.  The vital woman whom a stroke rendered speechless and the experience while frustrating has enhanced her life.  The writer who overnight lost the ability to read, yet he can still write.  And Stereo Sue, she’s seen in mono all her life and suddenly the whole world is like a magic eye picture. Every one of these patients is inspiring. They don’t have physical scars, but they’ve lost mental processes that we take for granted. (Published end of October)

Bandit Love, Massimo Carlotto


If you like your noir Mediterranean, with an extra side of grit then Massimo Carlotto is for you.  Marco “The Alligator” Buratti inhabits a world of thieves, informants and cut-throats.  He thought he was leaving his past behind but it just came back and grabbed him by the throat. 

Forced to investigate a narcotics theft when his partner’s girlfriend is snatched, Buratti  finds himself caught in the middle of a Mafia standoff between Italians, Kosovars and Serbians.  Buratti and his cohorts are going to have to bring on the mayhem to get the quiet life they feel they deserve but as Buratti finds it never ends - no matter whose side you’re on.

Entangled – Graham Hancock


This fantasy thriller is set in two time periods.  Present-day Los Angeles and back in the time of Neanderthals with two tough teenage female protagonists, Ria, a skilled hunter, whose simple act of kindness throws her into the jaws of a prophecy and brings her to the attention of a demon and Leonie, spoilt party girl with some traumatizing emotional scars. Her parents have just tried to have her committed because she’s about to spill the beans on a family secret.  Leonie and Ria are brought together to defeat the demon Sulpa but he’s not going down without a fight.

Hancock’s rather bloodthirsty battle scenes are not for the faint of heart but there are enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.  First in a trilogy.

Sleepwalkers, Paul Grossman


Berlin, 1932.  Willi Kraus, Kriminal Polizei Inspector, holder of the iron cross, Jew.  Willi’s latest case is disturbing in the extreme, a young woman who seems to have been experimented on before her death.  Soon there’s a surgeon in the frame, but he may have been framed.  Willi wades through the glitz of Berlin, ignoring the warning signs.  The Nazi party is bankrupt they can’t possibly win the upcoming election and he’s a proud German who has nothing to be afraid of.

Willi focuses his attention on a hypnotist whose volunteers keep sleepwalking away into the night.  While the country sleepwalks towards a new genetically pure Germany.  The dawn of the Third Reich. 

Hello October

I know things have been quiet on the blog because I've been travelling.  To celebrate our 10th Anniversary we've been in Singapore and Hong Kong.  I'm starting a couple of extra blog strands.  I'm going to try my hand at travel writing http://mysterygirlontour.blogspot.com/ (first posts when my jet lag has worn off hopefully tomorrow.  Reviews for October coming up.