We have a couple of feeders at the house. Yesterday we were suddenly deluged with a huge flock of these guys. I’m thinking the red tail that’s been hanging around might want to tell a few friends. Otherwise it’s going to be a lot of pies!

Birds seem to have become a theme of late. Or is it for a while? I notice I have a category ‘birds’ for the blog, so it’s come up before. I’m teaching a prose writing class this term and using Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird as our text. It’s almost Valentine’s Day, so I have The Parliament of Fowles on my mind. But it’s been this way for a while: for a long time it was all wombats, then it became all wolves and for some time — maybe since Ireland, maybe before — it’s been all about birds.

I even have bird-themed publications!

My crime story ‘Mandrake and Magpies’ is in the current issue of Lit Noir; it takes place in Galway and features a location I really hated, which is the walk out to where the special Garda office is for immigration issues. You may recall that I had to repeat that journey a few times. (-_-) There are also offerings from Mr B and pal B.R. Stateham in this issue.

My story ‘Rook’ gets an outing in the latest Broad Pod along with an excerpt from Ellen Larson‘s The Measure of the Universe. This story also takes place in Galway (hmmmm) starting at Bohermore Cemetery and then ambling down to the Corrib. It’s also available as a video with pictures of the town. Of course it’s in my collection Unquiet Dreams, available from Tirgearr.