I have been diving into eighteenth century France for some reason (…circumspice) and my reading has veering into the historical, albeit through fiction. No surprise: I learned most of my history from fiction — books, television, films — because Americans are not generally taught history so much as a narrative of Manifest Destiny. Which is…
Category: books
Gothic: Black Magic by Marjorie Bowen
BLACK MAGIC (1909) Marjorie Bowen ‘I do not sin,’ he smiled. ‘I am Sin.’ I started this over at Internet Archive after seeing that Penguin would be republishing it as part of their ‘Weird Girls’ [yes, girls] series with funky faux psychedelic covers. At first I thought they looked kind of fun but the more…
Book Sale!
People are always saying they want an alternative to the ‘zon but do they ever use it? Here is a link to my books available via the Smashwords platform with the year end sale discount. BUY MY BOOKS This link leads to all platforms. I’ll be adding the others that I can; I don’t have…
Deluxe Strange & Norrell FTW
I was delighted — in the mad, action-packed, over-filled days before my departure — that the much anticipated last-I-swear-splurge-before-imminent-unemployment arrived: the Folio Society edition of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Many of you know how much I delight in Susanna Clarke’s novel, but with the addition of illustrations and glorious endpapers by Charles Vess, is…
Charlotte Brontë: The Professor
An impulse at the Oxfam Book Shop — AKA my local kryptonite dealer (must weed some more to donate)! Undoubtedly it’s due in part to the end of my career as a tenured professor (though in this story it is ‘professor’ in the French sense of teacher). Anyway, I always enjoy spending some time with…
What I’ve Been Reading
Because I have to wait on some things — always irksome — I will quickly (very quickly) mention a few things I’ve been reading so you will not think I am simply lazing around (although some of the books are meant to be exactly that). Also doubtless I will leave out all the research-oriented things…
Hard-Boiled Witch: FREE!
For the season that’s in it (and hopes renewed of creating a new episode) the original HARD-BOILED WITCH will be FREE October 3-5. Pop on over to the Amazon page to grab a copy (click the picture above). See where it all got started! Don’t like Amazon? Get a PDF copy direct by paying what price…
Letty Lynton: Marie Belloc-Lowndes (1931)
On holiday so I am reading novels and watching fun things and yes, I was curious about the novel which (allegedly) inspired the film since they seemed a bit different — also there was that whole plagiarism case with the play that inspired the film Dishonoured Lady (1947) (again, I can only guess allegedly!). Having…
Out Soon: Man of the World – Paul D. Brazill
MAN OF THE WORLD Paul D.Brazill Out April 17 from All Due Respect Books but you can pre-order it now. It’s always good news to hear that Mr B has a new book out. I even got my grubby mitts on an advanced copy so read ’em and weep, folks — I already have! Read…
Con-Eire FREE!
In honour of SFF con season, my short play Con-Eire from today through Thursday will be completely FREE! It’s appropriate for this season as it’s a love letter to the hard-working folks behind the scenes putting the madness all together: It’s three days before the start of Con-Eire, the best Irish-themed science fiction and fantasy…