My review of a fabulous short story by B A Spicer
Month: August 2015
Book Launch Blog Party: Theme BOOKS
It’s launch day for the second book in Luccia Gray’s Eyre Hall trilogy. Come and join in the launch party 🙂
It’s past midnight in Europe, where I live! It’s officially the launch day of my second novel, Twelfth Night at Eyre Hall, and to celebrate, I’ll be hosting my first Blog Party with the help and encouragement of Suzie Speaks! Thank you Suzie! I would never have been so daring without your example and support!
I have never hosted a Blog Party before. I have looked at at a few, like Suzie’s, and searched on the Internet and I’ve discovered it’s basically a spot for bloggers to share their work on the same day and check out the work of others.
So, visitors post links from their own blogs and interact with other visitors by checking and commenting on their blogs, too. It all takes place on the hosting blog, in this case Rereading Jane Eyre.
The result is that visitors reach an audience they might not…
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Proof Read Top 10 Checklist
Great advice on tackling that final proofread.
I’ve just printed out my novel for the final time. As soon as the kids go back to school next week, I shall lock myself in the summerhouse and set about my final proof read. I’ve read lots of articles on proof reading and done plenty of editing over the years to have come up with a checklist that works for me.
- Use a hard copy (it’s too easy to skip over errors on the computer)
- Read aloud (but make sure the neighbours can’t hear you)
- Read it slowly, word by word (at reading pace your brain skips over words it expects to see and doesn’t pick up the errors)
- Use a ruler or blank page to highlight the line you’re reading (this ensures you don’t get ahead of yourself)
- Keep focused and hydrated by drinking lots of water (this helps keep you awake, and the trips to the toilet provide…
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Challenges
Nick’s really close to his target – do read this post and help him raise those last few pounds by donating, tweeting or sharing – thanks 🙂
… rode 20km in 50 minutes
… swam 750m, in a wetsuit, in a lake….
…ran 5km, then climbed to the top…
Together they faced challenges, they faced their fears and they achieved something very special.
The team have almost achieved their goal of raising £3,000 for a brain injury charity. You have been incredible in support of what they have done. With only hours to go, please help me with a final push to share the campaign as widely as we can to help them reach their target!
You can still support Nick, Eva and Heather by sharing their story… and you can visit Nick’s campaign by clicking here.
Rosie’s Book Review Team #RBRT ‘Angels’ by B A Spicer @BevSpice @rosieamber1 #bookreview
I read and reviewed ‘Angels’ as part of Rosie Amber’s Book Review Team
This gripped me right from the beginning and I read the whole story in one sitting – very unusual for me however much I love a book because my life is horrendously busy! But I was so drawn in that I had to read on.
This story sensitively and yet honestly portrays the lengths mothers will go to for their children and the emotional depth there is behind a mother/daughter relationship. I won’t say too much for fear of spoiling the story, but as a mother it spoke to me, and I identified so closely with the main characters that it was actually quite unsettling.
And that goes to show what a talented writer B A Spicer is. The writing is beautifully crafted, the characters really well drawn for such a short piece. I do think this story has real potential to be developed into something much longer.
Nick and co at the Para-Tri Triathlon
They did it 🙂 A wonderful post to brighten up your Monday.
Where do I start? It has been the most amazing, incredible, glorious day. The road through Little Kimble had marked a turning point for my son and we drove through the sleepy village with a red kite watching from its perch in a tree beside the road. Any other day I would have stopped and grabbed the camera… today, though, even the kites would wait.
A red kite watches over the event
We had left in good time, so we had taken a short detour via the route Nick had taken the first day he got the trike… and his first real taste of freedom in six years. A month later and we were on our way to the Paralympic venue of Dorney Lake, just outside Windsor.
Calm before the storm…
Once there we headed to the registration tent and I finally got to meet the rest of the team…
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Nick and the BBC
Not long to go before Nick’s para-tri event this Sunday. Please watch his interview if you can. And please support him – thanks 🙂
“You’ll have to be here by seven…” It was just as well that I was too, as Nick was still fast asleep and he didn’t have long. The phone rang half an hour later and Nick was live on air for a short interview with Julian Clegg of BBC Radio Solent. The interview is available online via the station’s podcast by clicking here. (Skip to 1:13:45 for Nick’s interview.)
Not bad before breakfast…but there was more.
It seems Nick’s determination to ride in the Para-Tri event and raise awareness and funds for brain injury, has stirred up a bit of attention.
At 10.30 BBC News reporter, Ben Moore, arrived with cameraman Trevor Adamson. Three hours, three locations and a huge amount of editing to produce a two minute feature airing on BBC One’s South Today at 18.30 GMT. A Yorkshireman himself, Ben stands six feet five in his…
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#FridayFiveChallenge ‘Isabella: Braveheart of France’ by Colin Falconer @rosieamber1
Welcome to the Friday Five Challenge
Rosie Amber’s Friday Five challenge only takes five minutes, so grab a cuppa and join in!
In today’s online shopping age, readers often base their buying decisions on small postage stamp size book covers (Thumb-nails), a quick glance at the book description and the review. How much time do they really spend making that buying decision?
AUTHORS – You often only have seconds to get a reader to buy your book, is your book cover and book bio up to it?
The Friday Five Challenge is this….. IN ONLY FIVE MINUTES….
1) Go to any online book supplier,
2) Randomly choose a category,
3) Speed through the book covers, choose one which has instantly appealed to your eye,
4) Read the book Bio/ Description for this book,
5) If there are reviews, check out a couple,
6) Make an instant decision, would you BUY or PASS?
This week it’s all things French. The weather has been miserable but I’m keeping my spirits up because I’m off to France in eight days (can you tell I’m counting the days off!). And I’ve just finished reading a book set in France (the wonderful ‘The Undertaker’s Son’ by Bev Spicer), have started reading another book set in France (‘a La Mod’, that I bought as a result of reading a Friday Five Challenge post) and I’ve been watching the last week of ‘My Kitchen Rules’ with bated breath (though not at the excitement of the final cook off, but just at the sight of wonderful French chef Manu Feildel). So, my Friday Five Challenge search naturally led to France.
There were lots of books about living in France, but as I’m reading one at the moment, I don’t really need another one. I scrolled and scrolled for ages; some of the books that came up seemed to have very little to do with France but this one looked just my kind of thing.
Price: £3.49 (Kindle) and £8.99 (paperback) in the UK and $5.43 (Kindle) and $9.89 (paperback) in the US. Maybe a little pricey for a kindle book, but it is 299 pages long.
Book description:
She was taught to obey. Now she has learned to rebel.
When Princess Isabella is offered as bride to King Edward of England, for her it’s love at first sight. But her dashing husband has a secret, one that threatens to tear their marriage—and England—apart. As Isabella navigates the deadly maelstrom of Edward’s court, her cleverness and grace allow her to subvert Edward’s ill-advised plans and gain influence. But soon the young queen is faced with an impossible choice, taking a breathtaking gamble that will forever change the course of history.
In the tradition of Philippa Gregory and Elizabeth Chadwick, Isabella is the story of a queen who took control of her destiny—and the throne.
Reviews
Nineteen in the UK, mostly four star, but one 1 star. The one star review says that the reviewer liked the book, but that there were duplicate pages in their copy. Hardly the author’s fault and rather unfair. The other reviews are solid – the writer appears to have done his research. There are 336 reviews on Amazon.com, most four and five star. The lower starred reviews do cite typos and sloppy formatting, but the book description states that the current version has been changed.
Would I buy or pass? BUY
Analysis
I love historical fiction that’s a bit more history than fiction, and I’m a sucker for stories about strong historical women, so this is right up my street. I’ll be taking it to France – and hopefully the sun will be shining. Meanwhile – I’ve got the lovely Manu to keep me going!
If you want to join in the Friday Five Challenge pop over to Rosie’s blog to find out more. See what Rosie choose when she searched for Nightdress!
And have a look at some more Friday Five picks:
Barb’s enjoying the sunshine in Spain and reading about dogs!
Cathy’s already thinking about Christmas.
Liz has chosen a mystery set in the Algarve:
Shelley is looking back on previous Friday Five books from the comfort of a deck chair in Italy (I’m not jealous at all!).
Terry’s looking at beauty tips for those of a certain age.
Why writing fiction really matters
All you writers and readers out there – this is why writing matters. Please help Nick reach his target, any donation can really make a difference 🙂
“Insert!” He extended his foot…
“You sound like a Borg.” … and wriggled his toes into the sock. “That would make me a cyborg.” He paused. I could see the wheels turning. “That’s it…my recovery… the screwdriver must have damaged the wiring… and the nano-bots have been busy with repairs…”
He stopped as I sighed… to be fair, it wasn’t a bad analogy. Most of Nick’s problems are caused by faulty wiring. He is fitter than most, carries not an ounce of fat and is all muscle. Even so, there are a few of the moving parts that don’t function as well as they should, in spite of the incredible recovery he has made so far.
His eyes are one of them. And that had hit hard. Nick had always been an avid reader, sharing my ‘library’ and devouring fantasy and science fiction. Being unable to hold and read a…
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When a smile breaks your heart
Please read and donate if you can – every donation will help. Thank you 🙂
Nick, Bournemouth, before the attack
I frequently write about my son… as I see him every day, it is natural that he is very much part of my everyday life, even without the story of his incredible journey to tell. But I have two sons, and my younger son’s story is a quieter tale.
Alex is three years younger than his brother and they were inseparable. When Nick, always the daredevil, climbed trees and got into scrapes, Alex was with him. Nick loved books and taught his little brother to read, blond heads together, poring over the pages of Dr Seuss and the Narnia stories. Where Nick was always sharp, brilliant and bright, Alex was a warm, golden glow. Apparently alike in many respects, they approached life from opposite angles; they were very different. Even so, together they managed to get into… and out of… huge amounts of mischief as…
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Alison Williams Writing 