Are some genres more equal than others?

I love bookshops. I love bookstalls at charity dos and the second-hand paperback club. I love the book table at conferences. The second and third are informal; the offer is either serendipity or confined to the books written by speakers (and certainly in the case of the RNA) attendees. Running my hands over the spines […]

What if?

Ever mislaid something, convinced you’d left it on the kitchen table and then found it on the bed? Or been somewhere completely certain of having made the journey before?

One answer could be that you did and you have, but you’ve shifted a nano-interval into another reality, according to a short story I’ve been reading […]

Elizabeth Buchan talks about undercover work, daughters and separate beds

I am thrilled to host author Elizabeth Buchan on my blog today.

When I asked for suggestions for my brand new Kindle reader, Separate Beds was recommended of Carole Blake of Blake Friedman Literary Agency. Tweeting with Elizabeth, I discovered one of her novels was about a female SOE agent in war-time France, Light of […]

A secret and a competition...

Excitement is bubbling up here at Madness Towers. Tomorrow (Friday), as the first of an occasional series of guest appearances, I will be talking to an Important and Famous Author about her writing life.

And … a signed copy of one of her books will be the prize in a competition afterwards.

Watch this space…

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Bridging sensibilities…

Simon Scarrow always succeeds in letting me into his tough, male Roman world without alienating me from an environment so different from my own. His heroes, Macro, the blunt-speaking grizzled veteran, and Cato, the educated and younger soldier, bash their way through numerous adventures (including Eagle in the Sand) in the time of Emperor Claudius.

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