Well ...

... my Cybook should have finished charging by now. So, Caribbean Mystery, here I come! :)

My Cybook's Stuck

Okay. Not really. It has just run out of power (when I was about to finish Agatha Christie's THE CLOCKS -- duh. I had to finish reading the book on the computer). Connecting the reader to a power source for a few moments finally allowed me to switch it off. It's now happily charging and the afternoon which I wanted to spent reading is now gaping emptily ahead of me.

Double duh.

I might have to resort to desperate measures: I might have to clean my flat. Oh no!

Norbert Davis, The Doan & Carstairs Series

If there ever were books written to resemble a mad rollercoaster ride it is Norbert Davis's Doan & Carstairs series. Not only is one of the protagonists a really big Great Dane, but the cast of characters of each story resembles a bunch of lunatics and, moreover, the novels don't follow any sort of narrative conventions. As a result you can never be sure what's going to happen next, and villains are revealed in the manner of white rabbits drawn out of black hats. Reading those novels leaves you somewhat breathless -- but also wheezing with mirth. They're all wonderfully whacky and fiendishly funny!

The first book in the series, THE MOUSE IN THE MOUNTAIN, published in 1943, is set in Mexico: the book opens with the arrival of a bus in front of a hotel and a group of tourists that board the bus to travel to the small, picturesque village Los Altos for some sightseeing. Yet the private detective Doan -- "He was short and a little on the plump side, and he had a chubby, pink face and a smile as innocent and appealing as a baby's. He looked like a very nice, pleasant sort of person, and on rare occasions he was." -- and his dog Carstairs, a fawn-coloured Great Dane -- "Carstairs was so big he could hardly be called a dog. He was a sort of new species." -- aren't the only unusual passengers on that bus: there are also the Henshaw family with their horrid son Mortimer, the rich heiress Patricia Van Osdel and her entourage (consisting of a starchy maid and a Greek loverboy), and school teacher Janet Martin, who has studied the diaries of one of Cortez's lieutenants and has come to Mexico to explore the places he described. Last but not least, there's their driver Bartolome, "accent on the last syllable, if you please -- chauffeur licensed and guide most qualified, with English guaranteed by the advanced correspondence school, conversational and classic."

Much to poor Bartolome's dismay, the magnificent sightseeing-tour (with comments!) soon deteriorates into a nightmare when they arrive in Los Altos: not only is a minor rebellion going on, and a murder as well as the army on the loose, but to make matters worse, an earthquake cuts the village off from the rest of the world, and nobody can tell any longer who is friend or foe. Strange new characters turn up in the streets of Los Altos, and Janet even meets a descendant of her lieutenant, while Mortimer plunders the crumbled stores in the village. Soon more and more bodies are discovered, forcing Doan and Carstairs to play cat and mouse with the murderer -- and the army!

~*~

Norbert Davis's Doan and Carstairs books make for great reads. THE MOUSE IN THE MOUNTAIN was followed by SALLY'S IN THE ALLEY (1943) and OH, MURDERER MINE! (1946). They're all available for free download from Many Books, or you can buy print versions from the Rue Morgue Press (also available on amazon).

The Cybook in Action

I've been using my brandnew e-reader for several days now and I'm loving it! At the very beginning I still suffered from something like reading-vertigo (due to the fact that I couldn't feel the book and hence my progress in the story while reading it -- rather curious, isn't it? I would've never thought that feeling the book is such an important part of the reading experience!), but by now I've become quite used to reading e-books and watching the book progress bar at the bottom of a page.

I love how easy it is to download and store books on the Cybook. By browsing sites like Project Gutenberg or Many Books, I've already discovered several new-to-me authors -- the most exciting find so far is probably Norbert Davis and his hilarious Doan & Carstairs detective series (Carstairs is a Great Dane) (a really big Great Dane *g*) (I'll write a blog about this series soon), which starts with The Mouse in the Mountain (1943).

Navigation on the Cybook is easy, though somtimes I would wish for some short-cuts (e.g. back to the Library). When you switch on the reader, it takes about 20-30 seconds to boot and meanwhile entertains you by showing the image from the cardboard box in which it arrived:

... still booting ...

And then -- voilà -- the Library. This is the 20-items-per-page display, which I prefer to the 5-items-per-page (see next picture) or the 10-items-per-page. You get to see the covers of your e-books and the first few words of the title. Structuring your Library is a bit of a problem at the moment, because the Cybook doesn't yet support folders apart from the basic e-books, images, music, fonts, system. At the moment I'm sorting the Library by file name and add genre and author to the file name before uploading the book in question (e.g. the file of The Mouse in the Mountain is named Mysteries-Davis-Doan&Carstairs1-MouseInTheMountain.prc), thus creating some sort of systematic order.

When you arrive at the Library, the last book you've opened is highlighted. Then you only have to press the "okay" button and you're taken to the last page you've read. (Or at least you're supposed to be taken to the last page you've read -- sometimes, after several hours of reading, the Cybook is confused about pages. Sometimes, after several hours of reading you also can't place bookmarks any longer. But this only happens occasionally; it's not something that greatly disturbs your reading experience.

A big advantage of the Cybook is that you can change fonts and font sizes. I prefer reading with a relatively small size to make the most of the screen, but the larger ones must be a real blessing for readers with bad eyesight.

Most of the navigation on the Cybook is done with the square silver button on the front and the itty-bitty button inside the silver square: right / down takes you one page forward, left / up one page back. When there are hyperlinks on the page, up / down takes you through the links.

The button inside the square acts as "okay" or "Menu" button, depending on where you are, e.g., while reading a book, it makes the context menu pop up. In the context menu you can change fonts, font sizes, the layout of the page (with/without header, book progress bar, justified text, bold text), you can add bookmarks, go back to the beginning of the book, go to a specific page (well, when you're reading Mobipocket files, which are displayed without page numbers on this reader, you have to make an educated guess), switch to the look-up mode (another interesting feature: if you've got a dictionary on your device, it allows you to look up words in that dictionary), or go back to the Library. Some choices in the context menus will make another context menu pop up, which can make navigation a big awkward.

The buttons on the left side are "Music", "Menu", "Back" and "Delete File" (the latter is not yet activated). All in all, the buttons have a cheap look and feel, and after only one week of heavy use, the silver paint on the square button on the front begins to come off: on the ridge of the right side (i.e. "Page Forward") there's now a small stripe of black, which is only going to become bigger with time. Hmph.

As you can see I've made my peace with the black cover: after the stink of the dye (or whatever produced that horrid, chemical smell) has worn off, it is very comfortable to use. The leather is smooth and soft and very nice to touch, and the sling-thingy on the right is far less irritating when reading than I feared. Yay! In addition, the reader is now somewhat protected and I no longer handle it as if it were made of eggshells. (Though I'm still reluctant to carry it with me in my purse. The only time I did take it with me to show it to a friend, I wrapt the whole thing in some long johns -- well, it was very cold that day and Petra might have suggested a walk, so the long johns would have come in handy. One needs to be prepared, right?)

As I said at the beginning, I love reading books on the Cybook, even if there are a few things that are not ideal about this reader. But I'm definitely sold on e-books now! :)

Surprising Revelations

Relaxing can be quite hard. So this week, I'm reading, catching up on sleep, and trying not to worry / freak out about stuff I need to do. But the latter has proven suprisingly difficult. Hmm. [Note to self: This is ridiculous. Need to relax more often!]

E-books are more fun than I've ever thought. Just imagine: when you're in the mood for a nice, cozy mystery and don't have any standing around on your bookshelves and, drat, it's Sunday or a bank holiday and the shops are all closed, all you need to do is hop online, go to the site of one of the umpteen e-book sellers and buy a book. Or go to one of the umpteen sites that offer free e books. Within minutes you can download the novel of your choice and start reading. It's perfect! It's lovely! It's absolutely wonderful!

So far I've read

• P.G. Wodehouse, RIGHT-HO, JEEVES!
• Lucy Gordon, THE ITALIAN'S WIFE BY SUNSET
• Linda Howard, MACKENZIE'S MOUNTAIN
• Agatha Christie, THE THIRD GIRL
• Agatha Christie, MISS MARPLE'S FINAL CASES
• Shirley Damsgaard, WITCH WAY TO MURDER

And at the moment, I'm enjoying Norbert Davis, THE MOUSE IN THE MOUNTAIN. :)

More detailed reports will follow soon!

Happy Holidays!

As you might know, in Germany Santa Clause or the Christkind (Baby Jesus) brings us our presents on Christmas Eve. Therefore, if you go to my website, you'll find a special Christmas present for the subscribers to my newsletter in the Members Section: the first three chapters of BEWITCHED as a pdf file, available for downloading. -- Enjoy & happy holidays to all of you! :)

Thanks bunches!!!

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A big thank you to all who came and cheered me up when I was in revision hell! And another big thank you to everybody who offered advice on scenes, looked up words and adviced me against garbled animal methaphors! :) It was all very much appreciated! *mmmwah*

Introducing the Cybook

So last week I finally got my Cybook Gen 3, the new e-reader from Bookeen. Since this is my first e-reader EVAH!, I was extremely excited and documented each step of the unravelling of the FedEx package:

The FedEx package:

If you open it on one side and peer inside,

that's what you see:

And here's the Cybook box itself (pretty cool, eh?):

And inside this box, there's another white box.

And when you opened it, you're presented with this view:

The leather cover for the device

(they actually sent me the wrong cover: not chocolate brown, but executive black - grrrr)

And here's the Cybook itself in its pink protection foam bag:

And here it is! The Cybook!!!

(There's still the protective foil on the screen, hence the reflection.)

Like the Sony, the Iliad and the Kindle it uses the e-ink technology, which makes reading the screen so comfortable and comparable to reading a print book. The Cybook is slightly smaller than a normal massmarket paperback and the mantle of the unit is made of plastic -- a lot of people have commented that this makes the device look cheap. Still, the overall design is rather nice (especiall when compared to the butt-ugly Kindle!!!), even if the main navigation button at the front is perhaps not ideally placed.

The Cybook is very light and very thin. It reads txt, html, pdf, and prc (Mobipocket) files; as well as jpg, gif, png and MP3 files (i.e. you can listen to music while reading). The internal storage memory is 64 MB. However, storage size can be extended with a 2 GB SD card. The device is charged via USB (either by connecting it to the PC or to a USB charger), and the battery, according to the Bookeen website, will last up to 8000 page turns (i.e. screen refreshes).

You can upload books to the Cybook either via USB (the computer treats the Cybook like a storage device) or you can put them on the SD card. The whole uploading process couldn't be easier, really!

So far I've read 1 1/2 books on the Cybook and I have to say it makes for very comfortable reading indeed, I haven't experienced any sort of eyestrain whatsoever: the screen isn't really white, but more grayish in colour (like a newspaper) and the resulting contrast between the black letters and gray background is rather nice. Still, as a first-time e-book reader I found it somewhat strange to read without being able to feel how I'm progressing through the book. Funny, isn't it? I would have never thought that this aspect of reading is so important to me. But I'm sure in time I'll get used to reading on the Cybook without suffering from a slight vertigo. :)

Some negative points:

• The organization of the library: at the moment library folders are not supported, thus in order to find a book you have to click through the pages of the library (now imagine if you're using your SD card and have thousands of books show up in the library!)
• A minor irritation: the Cybook doesn't always turn the page when you press the relevant button
• Another minor irritation: you have to press the SD card really far into the card slot to make it lock. (At first I actually thought my device wouldn't take the card, but after some minor panic attacks, I tried again this morning and it worked like a charm when I used my fingernail to push the card in)
• A major irritation: Bookeen's customer service. Or rather, their momentary lack of customer service: they don't seem to answer e-mails from customers (or at least not on a regular basis), and what's worse they don't keep customers informed, e.g. about changes in shipping dates. And even though the Terms of Trade on their website explicitely state that in case one of the products is not avaible and has to be replaced by another, they will send an e-mail to the customer, we did not receive any sort of prior information about the exchange of the brown leather cover to the black one. Indeed, there wasn't even a note in the Cybook box to explain the switch. Hello? You can't just send a completely different product to your customers. On Saturday I sent an e-mail to Bookeen to complain about this switch, but who knows when or if it will ever be answered... Duh.

Update: I've just got an e-mail from Bookeen about the cover. Good!

DONE!!!!!!

I iz happy now. :)

I even think my readers might actually survive the experience of reading my next book! Yay!

Of course I now feel as if a load of bricks had dropped onto my head. But nothing new there! He.

How to Kill an Eeeeeevuhl Plant, Part 2

Remember the eeeevuhl plant? Well, I've decided not to kill it with a sword after all and not use a spade either (the sword wouldn't have only been a deux ex machina, but also completely ridiculous -- hence no sword). Instead, I now use a machete (and salt and lime water) to get rid of the nasty thing. :)

Page 303 -- wheee! There's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Page 253 -- Chapter 17

.... starts with "It was a long time until he composed himself."

I successfully dealt with the evil sorcerer last night and worked on my hero's inner thoughts in Chapter 16 this morning so that he longer looks like a "wafflling jerk" (my editor's words) (hmmm, what exactly does "to waffle" mean? Need to look this up). I guess I've managed to make him look like a pigheaded mutthead (mixed animal metaphors, ahoy! Laura will love this! hehe) instead.

Now I just need to work on the boundaries and definitions of blood magic and Bob will be my uncle.

If I'm really lucky, I'll even manage to get to the love scene in the snow today! Whee!

Btw, does anybody know what duvets were called in the early 19th century??? Is "featherbed" a mattress, or can it also be used for a blanket (filled with feathers)?

Revisions Interim Report

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I've reached page 232. Not too bad, I guess. At the moment I'm working on the evil sorcerer. In the original manuscript I had a buy-one-get-one-free evil sorcerer, now there's just one evil guy. (Why I invented the other man in the first place is beyond me, really.) (On the other hand, there are several things about this ms that are truly beyond me!)

But remember that last scene* I wrote before handing in the ms back in March? It's not as bad as I thought it was. Yay! Miracles do happen!

* This is the blog post the people at Rambert were channelling when the put up a blog on their website. Now somebody only needs to tell them that it's no fun if they're not updating said blog on a regular basis!

Wheee!!!

My Cybook has just arrived! *doing another happy dance* At the moment it's charging, so I'll have to wait until this evening to upload stuff and download the books I bought in the past few days from Fictionwise. The reader looks really cool, is very thin, and extremely light. I can't wait to try it out!

BUT --

Bookeen's customer support is beyond the pale: when I ordered the Cybook, my order page on the Bookeen website showed 5 December as shipping date. It finally shipped yesterday, after the original shipping date had vanished from the website without any sort of explanation.

In addition, I received a black cover for the reader, whereas the cover I ordered was chocolate brown (it's also a different model, so I assume they've run out of their own covers and got additional stock from M-Edge). Again, no explanation.

I find this unacceptable.

Terry Pratchett has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's

On the website of PJSM Prints, which Pratchett uses for updates and news about his work, he has announced that he has been diagnosed "with a very rare form of earlyonset Alzheimer's." I'm in shock and I actually cried when I heard about this. As you know, he is one of my favourite authors. Heck, he is a genius!

Wheee!

I've just got an e-mail from FedEx that my Cybook is on the way to me. It's scheduled to arrive tomorrow before midday. *doing a happy dance*

Dropping somebody a curtsy ...

... is apparently not 19th-century speech, but it turns up in (historical?) novels written in the early 20th century, e.g. in Georgette Heyer's THE RELUCTANT WIDOW.

Well, since Heyer used it, I guess my Amy can drop people a curtsy, too. :)

Meh

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I'm stuck in the middle of the $%&U)"§=! love scene. Which is on page 160. Of a 316-page manuscript. Which I have to hand back in complete with revisions next Monday. ARGH! ARGH! ARGH!

Let's Make Love

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I'll be working on the love scene this evening. Earlier today I managed to nice transition from "oh-gosh-we-really-lust-after-each-other-but-we-can't-indulge-in-passion" to "oh-gosh-we-really-lust-after-each-other-so-let's-rip-our-clothes-off". Well, at least I hope it's a nice transition and better than the original passage. I do wonder, though, whether people will understand that it's the love potion at work. Hmm. *scratching my head*

"Come to my room later, " she repeated. She thought of the pleasure they had shared at the Temple of the Muses--his hands on her breasts, her bare thighs. The flames flared up, burnt her inside out. Compared to this scorching desire, the reasons why they shouldn't indulge in pleasure seemed trivial. If she could not have him--tonight--she would die, she was sure of it.

"Amy ..." His voice sounded as tormented as she felt.

"Don't say no." Stepping forward, she leaned into his body and her hands curved around his waist. "I wouldn't be able to bear it," she whispered. Shivering, she pressed closer against him, his warmth, felt his muscles bunch. "I need you. I need you, I need you, I need--"

Strong fingers lifted her chin and his mouth closed over hers in one of those hard, intense kisses which always made her bones melt.

Still alive

Sort of.

Triumph! Triumph! Triumph!

I've actually managed to transform the pre-love-love-scene into something that's actually quite nice: instead of Amy being miffed at Fox stopping, they are now both fighting valiantly against the lust which devours them alive. And gnaws at them like a wild beast. Hmhm. :)

I feel like a fraud

Remember this? Yup, here we go again. I guess I'll have to completely re-write the pre-love-love-scene. Duh. Or perhaps I can somehow get people to read only the first third of the book ... Hmm ...

Drat

I wanna cry: I've now reached the original uh-oh part of the book. And it's still uh-oh. *sob*


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Ponderings on Virginity

One of the things I've been asked to do when revising BEWITCHED is to make it clearer how important her virginity is to the heroine and what it would mean to her to lose it.

Hmmm.

Wouldn't a normal romance reader know how important the intact hymen of an unwed middle- and upper-class girl was considered to be in the early 19th century?? And that having sex with your fiancé would be a big no-no?

Oh my gosh!!!

I love google to pieces! Truly I do! Look here:


View Larger Map

Do you know what this is? This is Blickling Hall, on which I modelled the country estate of my hero's family. Isn't this fantastic? You can zoom in until you almost appear to be standing on the drive. Wow!

Drat

People are being mean to me! :-(

Even more fantastic info

A Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts: And Collateral Information in the Arts ... By Arnold James Cooley

On Tobacconists

Apparently, women could become tobacconists, too. Here's a snippet from Captain Jesse's The Life of George Brummell:


Beau Brummell By William Jesse

And from A Dictionary of the English Language of 1828:


A Dictionary of the English Language By Samuel Johnson, John Walker, Robert S. Jameson

(See? "Toaster" is an old, old word. But if you'd ever used it in a Regency romance? -- uh-hu ...)


Southern Literary Messenger By Carnegie-Mellon University, School of Computer Science

Hmm. So tobacconists sell snuff boxes as well. But I distinctly remember that in Austen's S&S the horrid Mr. Dashwood buys his snuffbox at Gray's on Sackville Street and that was a jeweller's.

And here's the Irish Penny Journal:


The Irish Penny Journal 

Hu?

But looka, looka here: The Panorama of Professions and Trades --


The Panorama of Professions and Trades, Or, Every Man's Book By Edward Hazen

Now, what do you think? Isn't Google Books the bestest? :)

Where do you buy snuff?

Amy and Fox are buying snuff (as a present for Fox's brother), and my editor wants me to describe the shop in some more detail. Ack! What does a snuff shop look like? Does it resemble a modern tea shop perhaps (well, not the online version *g*)?

So at the moment I'm doing a google book search and have already found all kinds of curious information:



The Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer By Richard Burn, Joseph Chitty, Thomas Chitty
Hmm. Let's see what else will turn up ...



The American Magazine
HA! Now look at this (Note: original big picture did strange things to my blog, hence the smaller snippet):


The Table Book By William Hone

And here:


An Apology for the Life of James Fennell. By James Fennell

So now I know where to buy snuff: at the tobacconist's. Now let's do a search for "tobacconist" ...

Remember, Remember, the 5th of December

... because that's the day when my Cybook will be shipped. If all goes well, I should get it at the end of this week. *happy squee* I can't wait! :)

Creature Comforts

Shamelessly stole this from Schrumpfkopf's blog. :) Enjoy the spoils of the raid! (Isn't the penguin at 02:45 totally cute?)

Adding to the Menagerie

Spell? Bentham thought, his wits scattering like a flock of birds before a sparrowhawk.

Squiggles Conquer the Page

That's what a page of the manuscript looks like after I revised the text (the scanner is acting weirdly these days and cut off the top third of the page). Hmm. Perhaps I can sell those pages as modern art when I'm through with the revisions? Hehe.

In the middle of the page you see the bit in which Fox imagines his friend Drew pecked to death by the golden partridge's sharp retorts. In the bottom margin Miss Bourne purrs, her voice sweeter than those sticky molasses. At the top of the margin on the right you can just see the last bit of the rat terrier simile, and running down the rest of that margin is dragon Lady Holland.

Checked the Molasses

As mentioned in the comments below, last night I searched "molasses" in the Online Otymology Dictionary to check whether that stuff was already known in the Regency. Apparently, it was. Yay for me! :)

My Top 100 Romances: 1-25

While browsing the AAR message boards, where they are talking about the results of the Top 100 Romances poll, I've realised I've never posted my own Top 100 list. So here we go: # 1-25:

1. Susan Fox, THE PRODIGAL WIFE
2. Penelope Williamson, KEEPER OF THE DREAM
3. Jane Austen, PRIDE & PREJUDICE
4. Jane Austen, PERSUASION
5. Gaelen Foley, LORD OF FIRE
6. Anita Mills, THE DUKE'S DOUBLE
7. Margaret Moore, THE WASTREL
8. Liz Fielding, A WIFE ON PAPER
9. Teresa Medeiros, YOURS UNTIL DAWN
10. Victoria Gordon, A MAGICAL AFFAIR
11. Janelle Denison, BRIDE INCLUDED
12. Julia Ross, NIGHT OF SIN
13. Lucy Gordon, THE PREGNANCY BOND
14. Laurie McBain, DEVIL'S DESIRE
15. Victoria Holt, THE DEVIL ON HORSEBACK
16. Susan Sizemore, WINGS OF THE STORM
17. Rachel Gibson, "Now and Forever", from SECRETS OF A PERFECT NIGHT
18. Sherrilyn Kenyon, "Fire and Ice", from MAN OF MY DREAMS
19. Teresa Medeiros, THE BRIDE AND THE BEAST
20. Kathleen Givens, KILGANNON
21. Stephanie Laurens, A RAKE'S VOW
22. Alison Fraser, THE STRENGTH OF DESIRE
23. Kathleen Harrington, THE MACLEAN GROOM
24. Valentina Luellen, THE DEVIL OF TALLAND
25. Barbara Cartland, A HAZARD OF HEARTS

Revisions, Revisions

I'm working away on the revisions for BEWITCHED. I prefer doing revisions on the print out because this way I can flip through the pages and compare phrases and passages more easily. In order to save ink and paper, I printed the 324-page ms four-on-a-page, which might have some advantages, but also leaves me relatively little room for notes and additions. As a result my notes squiggle topsy-turvy across the page, along the margins; different additions run into each other and vie for space. In other words: the ms looks a mess! *g*

One of the tasks my editor has given me is to intensify the conflict between the protagonists at the beginning of the book. They're supposed to nearly blow up at each other on the evening of their second meeting. Ooookay. So here we go:

"You don't normally like music?" His was a polite, bland voice. They might have been talking about the weather.

"The opposite is the case, I assure you."

"Ah." He nodded knowingly.

Oh yes. How could she have forgotten? Carrotty hair, cold as a fish, a stiff bore, and on top of that, he was a Mr. Know-It-All-Magic-Doesn't-Exist. Splendid.

Once again Amy was left to wonder what exactly she had done to deserve this. True, turning Three Elms blue had been a serious offense -- what if somebody had paid a visit on them that afternoon? Or what if one of the villagers had happened to pass by the house? Cobalt blue manor houses were rather difficult to explain away. But still, being forced to mingle with obnoxious people in a city that reeked with dirt seemed too harsh a sentence.

"But you don't play the fortepiano yourself?" the voice of the horrid Mr. Carrothead cut into her reveries.

Now she did twiddle her thumbs. No, I'm afraid not. I never had the opportunity."

And from his POV:

Not even Miss Bourne's loveliness could outshine this musical fiasco. And she was lovely, he grudgingly admitted, in the way of a plump, golden partridge. Twice now he had gotten the impression that she was silently laughing at him, however, mocking him. Impertinent chit. Who did she think she was? A little nobody dragged from the depths of the country and without any polish or style. Why, she couldn't even play the fortepiano! The most basic of female accomplishments!

Fox shuddered to think what would have happened if poor, deluded Drew had decided to marry the chit. Not only would she have pecked the poor chap to death with her waspish tongue, no, she also would have been a desaster as a hostess and would have made Drew's soirées into scandalous, ridiculous affairs, and thus welcome fodder for the gossipmongers. She surely would have ordered her guests around like servants in the manner of that obnoxious dragon Lady Holland. How fortunate that Drew had seen the light of reason in time!

And:

She turned towards him, her eyes flashing pansy-blue annoyance. "Interesting was what I wanted to say."

Heavens, what was wrong with this girl? Snapping and japping like a rat terrier!

And then:

"A veritable crush, is it not?" Miss Bourne purred, her voice sweeter than sticky molasses [Note to self: Find out what exactly molasses are.] "It makes one wish for green hills and meadows, where one might meet a faery's child -- oh, I am sorry." Her free hand rose to cover her mouth while she trilled a laugh. He swore he could see a devillish glint light her eyes as she goaded him. "You don't read Keats."

"Indeed I do not," he forced out between gritted teeth. By Jove, he had never felt the urge to strangle a woman, but this one -- oh, he would happily put his hands around her white throat! As he could not follow these urges inn such a public setting, he needed a drink. Fast!

~*~

What do you think? Is there enough dislike between the two of them?

Blogging Dancers

A few months ago I remarked how lovely it would be if dancers would start blogging (hanging out on authors and romance blogs all the time is a bit incestuous, after all). And the guys at Rambert heard me! Yay! (Okay, okay, not heard-heard me. They probably did some channeling or something. Caught the vibes that were floating around in cyber-nirvana.) Now they just need to get the hang of weekly blogs, and Bob will be our uncle. Or something. :)

A So-and-So Day

Jago, the kitty with the kidney problems, isn't eating properly, therefore Mum and I are rather worried he might have taken a turn for the worse. In addition, my grandfather called last evening to tell us that there's something wrong with his urine. Mum went to the doctor with him this morning. Luckily, we seem to have caught the inflammation just in time, but still, it was a big scare (and I promptly spent a rather large part of last evening sitting in a corner and crying my eyes out -- again *sigh*). Even though my grandad is already 89, it's difficult to believe that he won't be with us forever.

After all the worrying, I didn't feel well enough to go to uni today. Instead, I tried to continue with the revisions for Bewitched, but that didn't go too well either, so in the end, after trying to persuade Jago to eat something, I rummaged around in my fridge and cupboards and baked the first batch of Christmas cookies. I tried out a new recipe (which is always exciting), yet for some reason, instead of being done after 10 minutes in the oven, my cookies decided they'd need almost 30 minutes. Uhmm ... *scratching my head* Ah well, as long as they taste nice! :)

Wheeee! Breaking my own record

Today I not only finished the diss-chapter on Tenniel, but I also wrote 5 whole pages! In ... uhm ... nine hours or so. (Haven't I mentioned that academic writing moves along at a snail's pace?) Still, 5 pages is one more page than I usually manage on a really good day of dissing. So hooray for me! :)

And a hooray for my chatterblog: this is post #601!

And now I should probably sing "Oh, what a beautiful ev'ning, oh what a beautiful day!" Hehe.

A Scholarly AAAAARGH!!!!

Just when I'm about to wrap up the Tenniel chapter of my diss, I stumble another relevant work of secondary literature: Roger Simpson's Sir John Tenniel: Aspects of His Work. Argh! *head desk*

Now, the big question is: ought I give the inter-library lending system a try? or order the book from abebooks? or just forget that I've ever seen it???

It probably doesn't take a genius to guess that abebooks will most likely win. Argh! At the moment, I'm still resisting valiantly, but in the long run, aka tomorrow morning ....

First Christmas Gift!!!

Today I bought a Christmas present for my Mum. The first Christmas present of this year! (Does that mean I'll get all cards written and all presents mailed until Christmas? Nay.) I got her the first part of the first season of Murder She Wrote. Now I'm thinking about buying her the Anne of Green Gables anime, which she loves, for St. Nikolaus Day on 5 Dec.

But so far, I've still got no clue what to buy for my Dad .... *scratching my head*

More Play Time with the Mobipocket Creator

After cleaning the bathroom and mopping the floor this morning, I've decided I needed a treat and played some more with the Mobipocket Creator. The result? I've finally managed to put together the e-book with the pictures (ha! I knew it! the source code of the html file needed fixing!)! Yay!

And now I'll dash off and order some nice pizza. :)

Playing with the Mobipocket Creator

So far I've managed to convert a .txt file into .html (using the Mobipocket Reader) and then into .prc (using the Mobipocket Creator), plus adding a cover pic and a table of contents. I've found that the latter doesn't work if it was already included in the .html file. But use the Mobipocket Creator to create a table of contents for you and the result in .prc looks just fine.

Today I tried to convert a html file with pictures into .prc -- which didn't work at all. *sigh* Some of it is due to the source code of the html, but as to the other stuff ... who knows? I hope I'll manage to figure this out, though.

Kindle Kindles Your Enthusiasm -- Not

I'm sure you've already heard that yesterday amazon.com released their e-reader, the Kindle. It uses the e-ink technology, has a keyboard and a wireless connection, which enables you to download books (or magazines or newspapers) directly from amazon.com without ever having to use a 'puter. You can also subscribe to specific blogs (which might or might not be picked by amazon) at a monthly fee. The device has received praise and laurels from such eminent writers as Toni Morrison, James Patterson and Neil Gaiman -- so the Kindle must be a book-lovers dream, right?

Well, apart from the fact that it only supports a very limited number (as in, "we'd prefer if you'd read only books in the format we've specifically created for our lovely Kindle") of formats.

And apart from the fact that

[t]he Device Software will provide Amazon with data about your Device and its interaction with the Service (such as available memory, up-time, log files and signal strength) and information related to the content on your Device and your use of it (such as automatic bookmarking of the last page read and content deletions from the Device). Annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings you make in your Device are backed up through the Service. Information we receive is subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice. (from the Amazon Kindle License Agreement and Terms of Use)

Wheee! Isn't this splendid? Didn't you always want to find out what it's like to live in a totalitarian state? Didn't you always want to have a Big Brother?

Now, I know, of course, that amazon is already collecting info whenever I place an order on their site. And since Mobipocket belongs to amazon, too, information on purchases I make there is also collected. BUT to collect info about what I do with my books??? Where I place bookmarks? What kind of annotations I make? Hello???? This is most definitely not my idea of a book-lovers dream!

~*~

Dive into Mark has an interesting bit on the Kindle: The Future of Reading (A Play in Six Acts).

Derrible Deeds of the Day

Dragged my students through almost 500 years of British history (from Norman invasion to Wars of the Roses, well we didn't really manage to get to the Wars of the Roses ...) in just 90 minutes. I'm afraid we suffered a few losses along the way.

Put the finishing touches to the dedication and author's note of BEWITCHED.

Played with the Mobipocket Generator (available for free on the Mobipocket website) and managed to convert a txt file into a Mobi e-book with cover and table of contents! Now I just have to hope that the cover will show up on the Cybook, too! (I actually spent the larger part of Sunday evening downloading books from Project Gutenberg. For my new collection of Thackeray's works, I created a cover of my own, using one of the lovely notebooks of Paper Blanks:

Apart from Thackeray's books, I also started to download P.G. Wodehouse's novels and searched online bookshops for old covers. It gave me a special thrill to choose those cover pics -- I swear it was almost as good as catching sight of the actual books in an UBS!

Have I already mentioned that I can't wait to get my Cybook? :)

Wheee!!!! again

Look what I've just found: Bewitched on amazon.com. And on amazon.de. :)

A Cybook All For Little Sandy!

I've just ordered my very first e-reader ever: the fantastiggerish Cybook, which, I hope, will turn out to be as wonderful as reviews suggest. I've already got an account at Mobipocket and Fictionwise, have downloaded the Mobipocket Desktop Reader as well as a few samples from Mobipocket and free e-books from Fictionwise and Baen Books. And the Cybook manual, of course. *g* I suppose some time in the next few days I'll also buy and download the Ultimate Handheld Classic Library at Mobipocket. This collection was one of the things that sold me on the Cybook: just imagine! to carry sooo many books with you all the time! Très cool!

Of course, I could also download these titles from Project Gutenberg. Hmmm. Perhaps I'll wait for the Cybook and see what it does with txt-files. :)

Cover Picture!!!

Some things are more easily solved than others -- yesterday I found out that there might have been some sort of muddle, but there's no trubble after all, which is a relief. In addition, I got the cover pic for BEWITCHED!!! Yay! It's very different from the other two, but I think it has turned out lovely and the font they used is simply adorable! So here it is; how do you like it?

E-Books, here I come!

I'm supposed to correct some more research papers right now. As you can see, I'm a bad girl and am having fun instead (hehe), which includes surfing to www.bookeen.com and admiring their new e-reader, the Cybook Gen 3 (and it's all Jane's fault!). After evaluating the situation of my shelf space (uh-oh) and browsing the Mobipocket and Fictionwise online stores (prices in US dollars!!!!!!!), I'm now determined to get an e-book reader for Christmas. (Okay, not for Christmas. For Nikolaus Day on Dec 5. *g*)

Here in Europe there are currently only two e-readers available -- the Iliad and the new Cybook. The price for the Iliad is utterly and completely beyond what I'm prepared to spend on such a device. And while the Cybook is still expensive, it's not outrageously so, given that it works with e-ink and that Bookeen is apparently a relatively small company. In addition, the battery life of the thing is impressive: 8000 page turns! Apart from Mobipocket files, it reads pdf, txt and html, and you can also load and view images. But that's not all! It also has a built-in MP3 player, which allows you to listen to your favourite music while reading. Not too bad, eh? What really sold me on the Cybook was the sheer number of books you can store on a 2 GB SD card and carry around with you all the time. Wheee!!!! So sometime this week I'm going to take the plunge and order a Cybook. All for myself. And then I'm going to hug it to my breast and lisp and hiss, "My preciousssss." Hmhm.

Gigi from Ebooks About Everything hast started blogging about her experience with her new Cybook (Part 1 and Part 2)-- and it all sounds sooooo good!

Muddle, Muddle, Toil, and Trubble

As you might have guessed there's a reason why I haven't been blogging on a regular basis lately. It's not just that the new semester is well under way (and I've got another pile of student papers to correct *sigh*) (and so far, the correcting was rather depressing ... *sigh-sigh* I DO speak Chinese in class, I tell you!), but writing-wise things are also a bit muddled at the moment, which is good for the thesis (I'm getting some work done - yay!), but bad for the Muse. She sits in her corner and sulks, poor thing. In order to cheer her up, I started looking into polishing and translating one of my old German manuscripts. Naturally, I'm not satisfied with the results so far, but it's better than nothing. Besides, it's awfully nice to rediscover this particular story: as I wrote it eleven years ago, I no longer remember all the details (frankly, I'm amazed at some of these details -- "I wrote that?? I say!" *g*).

So here's an itty-bitty glimpse of the first chapter of my YA fantasy novel (remember, I told you I'm not at all satisfied with it so far):

There was nothing I hated as much as the assemblies at court.

For one thing, I couldn't stand crowds, especially the ghastly crush of mind-numbing perfumes, stiff brocade, and fake smiles. And if that wasn't bad enough, I also lived in constant fear of tripping over the hem of my dress, of dropping my glass, or, worse, of spilling gravy all over my clothes and making a fool of myself.

Really, there was nothing I hated more than those assemblies. But, of course, I had to attend every single one of them -- after all, that's what was expected of the king's daughter.

But at least nobody had said I had to take part in the endless rounds of gossip and all the petty intrigues which accompanied dainty sips of sparkling wine. Thus I usually withdrew to the safety of an recess at one of the windows and watched the ladies of the court besieging my brother.

That evening I was in a particularly bad mood because outside the full moon was sailing across the sky and I longed for my forest. As my blood flowed in the rhythm of the moon, I couldn't shield my mind against her powers.

A shiver whispered through my body when I felt the howls of the wolves echoing through the forest.

The mark on my forehead began to throb.

Hmmm. As I said: not at all satisfied yet. Duh.

Anne Weale Dies

Last weekend I put the finishing touches to my ballot for AAR's Top 100 Romance Novels. Among the many category romances that ended up being on my list is Anne Weale's Castle in Corsica at #56. I found the book five years ago in the darkest, dustiest corner of the English Bookshop in Mainz, together with several other old Harlequin novels. I greatly enjoyed Weale's novel, especially the ending when, just as the heroine is about to leave the island, the hero races after her to make her face the truth about their relationship:

"For once in your ostrich existence, I want you to face the truth. If you honestly believe that the feelings that you've been at such pains to suppress boil down to nothing more than antagonism -- well, I still won't be convinced but I'll accept it. But be very sure you aren't deluding yourself, little one." He paused and she saw the muscles at his jaw working. "I'm asking you to marry me, Polly."

Right on the next page he calls her a nincompoop and continues to give her an ultimatum: he'll wait outside in the car and give her half an hour to make up her mind -- and she lets him wait 25 minutes (which he apparently spends "pacing up and down the pavement behind the car" -- tee-hee, he is definitely not as cool as he wants to make her believe) before she finally comes after him. I have, of course, no idea whether the author intended it to be read this way, but I thought the scene very sweet and funny, though it does have some gritty undertones. Yes, from among that stack of old Harlequin novels I found in that dark corner in the English Bookshop, Castle in Corsica is one of my favourites.

Yesterday I was greatly saddened to learn from a post on Kate Walker's blog that Anne Weale had died on 24 October. Between 1955 and 2002 she wrote 88 novels for Mills&Boon, the last one having been The Man from Madrid. In the "Dear Reader" at the beginning of the book, she calls herself a "World Wide Web enthusiast" and writes, "I believe the Web can be used to enhance our enjoyment of reading." It is therefore not surprising that from 1998 to 2004 she wrote a website review column for the UK magazine The Bookseller, which she later used as a basis for her blog, Bookworm on the Net.

A biography of Anne Weale can be found on the Harlequin website (for some reason the link on the M&B website seems to be broken). Both Kate Walker and Liz Fielding have written tributes to her on their blogs.

(This is a double post from Teach Me Tonight)

Thursday Thirteen

This week you can read my T13 on Unusual Historicals: 13 Great Research Books. Enjoy!

Do you know this woman?

Do you know who this is?

My students didn't. 'Tis truly shocking.

When Your Research Makes You Cry

As you know, I'm currently working on a chapter about Richard Doyle for my PhD project (it's crahhhhhhhhhhwling along at a snail's pace). When Doyle was nineteen, he began to work for PUNCH. He mainly drew initial letters and text fillers, but also some of the larger cartoons and, most importantly, in he designed the famous Mr-Punch-and-his-doggie-Toby-surrounded-by-fairies cover for the magazine that would last until the 1950s. In the 1840s he also got his first commissions for book illustrations -- he provided drawings for a new edition of the Grimms' fairy tales, THE FAIRY RING (which you can buy on abebooks for 900 Euros ...), for Montalba's FAIRY TALES, and contributed illustrations for Dickens's Christmas books. Later, after his break with PUNCH over the magazine's attacks on the pope, he also illustrated several of Thackeray's works and the second book of the new literary wunderkind, Thomas Hughes (whose first published novel, TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS, was a big hit -- unfortunately, his second book wasn't quite that good).

One of Doyle's brothers was Charles Altamont Doyle, the father of Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes. Charles was several years younger than Richard, but apparently they were very close, and when Charles tried to become an artist in his own right, Dicky sent him letters full of advice.

So I was quite intrigued when I found out that one of Charles's diaries was published a few years ago under the title of THE DOYLE DIARY: THE LAST GREAT CONAN DOYLE MYSTERY and that he also mentions the weekly shows which the Doyle children organized for their father and which frequently appear in Richard's journal of 1840. So yes, I was intrigued and curious and quite excited about my find. And yesterday THE DOYLE DIARY finally arrived.

But it's not quite what I thought it to be.

For one thing, Charles primarily used the book as a sketchbook. And for another, he composed it in 1889 when he was living in Sunnyside House, a part of the Montrose Royal Lunatic Asylum. Indeed, Charles spent the last few years of his life in at least three of such instutions, where he was treated for alcoholism and epilepsy. Most of the watercolours in the book are of fairies, reminiscent of Richard's fairy paintings, but whereas Richard's small creatures are naughty and impisch, Charles's are large-eyed and shy and most of them look rather sad. Some of the black and white sketches are quite funny, for example, the Lion and the Unicorn taking a stroll behind Herald's College in London. Yet others are much more disturbing, like the man (and I assume this is supposed to be Charles himself) who reaches out and grabs the hand of a skeletal death dressed as a bride.

The diary entry about those long past, weekly Sunday shows is one of the longer textual entries and I found it very poignant as it starts with a mention of Richard's Journal, which was published in 1885, two years after Dicky Doyle's death. Apparently, Charles read it for the first time while he was at Sunnyside House.

A propos of "Dick's Journal" - Copy of which Dr. Howden has kindly lent me - I should like to mention one point on the inner life of the Doyle Family when this Journal was written - It is this - On Sunday the Day was observed by all the Children - Great and Small - Annette, James, Dick, Henry, Frank, Adelaide and myself, going to the Mass [...] and getting home to Breakfast at 10 - The after day was spent in perfect quiet till 8 in the Evening when the Camphore Lamp and Mole Candles were lit in the Drawing Room, and guests began to arrive, often comprizing the most distinguished Literary and Artistic Men of London and Foreigners [...] Most delicious Music was discoursed by Annette on the Piano - and James on the Violencello till about 10 when the Supper Tray was laid [...]

Those reminiscences of a happier past struck me as quite sad, especially combined with the fact that Charles wrote them while locked up in a mental hospital. On the whole, I found DOYLE'S DIARY extremely disturbing.

Thursday Thirteen #5: 13 Favourite Romance Novels

When I tried to come up with ideas for this week's TT13, I thought "13 Cups of Tea" might be a fitting (if slightly boring) topic. However, I'm sure I've already drunk more than 13 cups of tea today, so I had to drop the subject again. "13 Favourite Scenes from Gene Kelly Musicals" might have been fun on the one hand, but, on the other hand, might have been regarded as a Kelly overkill. So, no 13 scenes with Gene Kelly either.

Instead I'm going to do a list of 13 favourite romance novels to coincide with AAR's current "Top 100 Romance Poll". I put my list together sometime last week, but it still needs some tweaking because not only appear some of my very favourite novels in the 20s or even 30s right now, but because I also forgot to list Jane Austen and Julia Ross. Furthermore, I didn't know it was alright to list novellas as well.

Right, so here's a selection from my ballot for All About Romance:

13 of My Favourite Romance Novels First, #1, 2, and 3 on my list: 1 Susan Fox, THE PRODIGAL WIFE 2 Penelope Williamson, KEEPER OF THE DREAM 3 Jane Austen, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Some examples from my Top Twenty: 4 Gaelen Foley, LORD OF FIRE (That scene when bad, bad Lucien Knight finds out the Goody-Two-Shoes heroine has managed to invade his den of iniquity? Priceless!) 5 Margaret Moore, THE WASTREL (A very sweet historical with hysterical secondary characters -- and as far as I know, it was one of the first Harlequin/M&B covers depicting only the hero) 6 Kathleen Givens, KILGANNON (Kath's debut novel was the second romance I read as a romance. You can therefore imagine what a pleasure it was to meet Kathleen in person for the first time at last year's German Booklovers Conference. I'm happy to say that since then she has become a dear friend.) 7 Victoria Holt, THE DEVIL ON HORSEBACK (Wheee! One of those Golden Oldies -- if I remember correctly it was also the first Holt novel I ever read back in my teens, and my German copy has long since been reduced to a mere loose-leaf collection *g*) 8 Julia Ross, NIGHT OF SIN (How could I forget Julia Ross??? I got THE SEDUCTION and THE WICKED LOVER, which also made it on my Top 100 list, at the Beau Monde silent auction back in 2005. It were not only the gorgeous covers that first captivated me, but also the dedication to THE SEDUCTION: "This book is respectfully dedicated to the memory of Dorothy Dunnett. -- Lymond will remain forever unequalled." Hear, hear.) Two novellas I particularily enjoyed 9 Sherrilyn Kenyon, "Fire and Ice" (from MAN OF MY DREAMS) (Tortured hero anybody? *g*) 10 Rachel Gibson, "Now and Forever" (from SECRETS OF A PERFECT NIGHT) (High-school lovers reunited at the high school reuinion, very sweet) Books that stand out: 11 Penny Jordan, A REKINDLED PASSION (An old Mills&Boon romance and a second-chance-at-love story. What I find so intriguing about this book is that the protagonists are in their late 30s / early 40s -- not all that usual for a romance written in 1989!) 12 Susan Sizemore, WINGS OF THE STORM (One of the best time travels I've ever read with a strong, but sweet hero, who is at one point likened to a big, old tomcat. *g*) 13 Valentina Luellen, THE DEVIL OF TALLAND (One of the more obscure titles among my collection of romance novels; the back cover blurb reads: "Overwhelmed by pity and believing he had only a few hours to live, Roxanna agreed to marry the stranger she met in a Cornish inn. How could she have known that she would find herself caught up in a web of intrigue and treachery, where jealousy wrestled with a new found love. -- Snatched from death by the husband she thought dead, could she trust the stranger who demanded his rights -- handsome, enigmatic Ross, whom she suspected of being not only a smuggler, but a traitor to his country?" -- What can I say? It's got a "devil" in the title, which should tell you it is a good, old-fashioned romance with an moody, brooding, domineering hero!)

'S Wonderful After All

The good things about a cold?

#1: You can sit the whole day on the couch, suffering picturesquely, and don't have to feel bad about not getting any work done.

#2: You can sit the whole day on the couch, suffering picturesquely, and don't have to feel bad about not getting any work done because you're having a Gene Kelly Day (and as we learnt from Monday's post, Gene Kelly is good for the Muse. Toh-TAH-ly!).

So today I watched On the Town, followed by That's Entertainment 2 and Cover Girl. I've got a feeling I'll spent this evening watching Brigadoon (and then I'll probably go straight to amazon and order The Pirate and Take Me out to the Ball Game *happy sigh*).

As I need to totter back to the couch to suffer picturesquely, I leave you with a clip I found on YouTube (love, love, love those arms!). Enjoy!

Duh

Got a cold. Feel like sh*te. 'S not so marvellous. :-/

Writers of Historicals Need to Have Lots of Visual Inspiration

Yes, indeed, we do! Even if we don't model our heroes on the aforementioned visual inspiration, the Muse still needs the nourishment. Toh-TAH-ly.

Isn't that a great excuse to watch old MGM musicals, specifically those featuring Gene Kelly?

'S marvellous.

Wonderful, even. :)

Besides, if you're not into crime and mysteries, our TV programme (CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Navy CIS, Cold Case, Without a Trace, Medium, Ghost Whisperer, plus several German detective series) is uninspiring in the extreme. Not to talk about majorly depressing. By contrast, those old musicals are wonderful, feel-good entertainment, and you can count on them bringing a smile on your face.

And there is Gene Kelly, of course. Have I already mentioned Gene Kelly? *g*

Anatomy of a Scene

Today I typed the scene which I had scribbled on some sheets of paper yesterday, into the computer. Normally, while I thus copy passages or whole scenes, I tend to revise them yet again. And this is what I did today, too:

Once the floodgate had been opened, there was no escape from the memories that rose to the surface of her mind as giant sea monsters rose from the depths of the oceans to swallow up the unwary seafarer.

Being surrounded by all the dead birds did not help. They seemed to swirl around her in a grotesque roundelay, intertwining her past and present. There was the white face of a barn owl, its smooth outlines destroyed by moths, the eyes two jetblack, lifeless dull marbles. Yet in front of Georgina's inner eye, it spread its wings and flew away, far away over wide, open fields, a noiseless ghost in the soft, grey light of dusk. How often had she stood and watched it its brethren fly across the gently rolling hills before she had walked back towards the golden lights of the ancient sprawling mansion at the edge of the lake where water lilies bloomed, white and pure.

Hmm. I'm still not quite happy with this passage, especially with the first sentences of the second paragraph. I see my books as films (and, I suspect, animated films on top of that!) and sometimes it can be difficult to catch those images on paper.

Take the beginning of this whole birds-and-rising-memories passage: what I wrote yesterday reads:

Only the discovery of a lifeless puffin among the birds had sent a chill down Georgina's back as she had been transported back to the windy cliffs of Cornwall, where she had once stood to watch puffins play. She could almost taste the salty air again, feel the soft, thin layer of grass under her feet while overhead the seagulls cried, alarmed at the sight of the two human intruders. Yet all that was eclipsed by the feeling of the hard male hand engulfing hers, skin to skin, his thumb drawing lazy circles over her wrist. And the joy, the giddy joy which had filled her and had mixed with the languid stirring of desire. She remembered how she had surprised him by slipping a hand around his neck and drawing his head down for a kiss which had quickly turned wild and hot.

What I want to achieve here is a blending of past and present, or rather the superimposing of the memories on the present, which is triggered by the sight of the stuffed puffin. And I want to keep it all a bit vague in order to convey Georgina's surreal feeling of being in two places at the same time (if that makes sense). But when I typed this paragraph this morning, it occurred to me there was too much telling at the beginning of the passage. It didn't manage to capture that sense of being bombarded out of the blue by memories. Therefore the paragraph was transformed into:

Only the discovery of a lifeless puffin among the birds had sent a chill down Georgina's back It was the discovery of a lifeless puffin among the other birds that sent a chill down Georgina's spine. The call of the seagulls echoed in her head as she was transported back to the windy cliffs of Cornwall, where she had once stood and watched puffins play. She could almost taste the salty air again, feel the soft, thin layer of grass under her feet while overhead the seagulls cried, alarmed at the sight of the two human intruders. Yet all that was eclipsed by Her hand tingled from the feeling of the hard male hand fingers engulfing hers, skin to skin, his thumb drawing lazy circles over her wrist. And With bittersweet pain she remembered the joy, the giddy joy which had filled her and had mixed mingled with the languid stirring of renewed desire. She remembered How she had surprised him by slipping a hand around his neck and drawing to draw his head down for a kiss which had quickly turned wild and hot and quite indecent.

When I just read through this again, it struck me that the beginning was still not immediate enough. And so I've changed it into:

The sight of the lifeless puffin caught Georgina by surprise. A sliver of ice slithered down her spine while the call of the seagulls echoed in her head. All at once she stood again on the windy cliffs of Cornwall, where she had watched the puffins play so long ago.

Hmm. Of course, I now have the problem that the sentence before this passage also contains the word "sight". Duh.

Looking up my own books on abebooks ...

... can make for some surprises: the highest price for Castle of the Wolf is $ 34.21 (€ 24.86), and the two highest prices for The Lily Brand are $ 47.78 (€ 34.71) and an astonishing $ 77.87 (€ 56.58)!!! Interesting.

Writers of Historicals Need to Know about Birds

Remember the book on birds I bought when I was in Newcastle? Not only are the English names for birds terribly cute (I mean, little ringed plover? coot? capercaillie? shoveler? tree pipit? yellow wagtail? chiffchaff?), but I also made good use of the book today (see? I told you writers of historicals need to know about birds!) and combined it with a scene from THE BRITISH ISLES: A NATURAL HISTORY:

[set up: Georgina and Martin Renner have driven to Frankfurt and are shown a collection of stuffed birds which the new naturalist society of Frankfurt* has just acquired.]

Once the floodgate had been opened, there was no escape from the memories that rose to the surface of her mind as giant sea monsters rose from the depths of the oceans to swallow up the unwary seafarer.

There was the white face of a barn owl, its smooth outlines destroyed by moths, the eyes two jetblack, lifeless marbles. Yet in front of Georgina's inner eye it spread its wings and flew away, far away over wide, open fields, a noiseless ghost in the soft, grey light of dusk. How often had she stood and watched it fly across the rolling hills before she had walked back towards the golden lights of the ancient, sprawling mansion at the edge of the lake where water lilies bloomed, white and pure.

Oh, yes, the Muse has finally returned. Tee-hee! :)

* the Senckenbergische naturforschende Gesellschaft

A Day Filled with Books and Good Reviews

Carrie has just sent me a link to a link to a new blogger review of The Lily Brand. A new 4 1/2 stars blogger review of The Lily Brand!!! Wheee!

The story is intense and dark, as Troy struggles with his hate and anger, and Lillian with her guilt and fear. Their characterizations are very believable, particularly in how they remember what happened and in how they react and show (or don't show) their emotions.

Now, that's what a girl wants to hear. You bet I'll run around with a beaming smile on my face for the rest of the day. :)

And as if a nice review weren't enough to brighten anybody's day, I also got three (THREE!!!) packages with books today, including a big, fat parcel from play.com with David Dimbleby's How We Built Britain. I got the DVD of the series of the same title a few weeks ago and loved, loved, loved it (favourite scene: Dimbleby trying to squeeze through a particularily narrow entrance to a priest hole in Harvington Hall).

A Beautiful Day

Today it was simply beautiful outside so I decided I'd need to visit the Villa under the Linden Trees again in order to find out what it looks like in autumn, which would also provide a good opportunity for a nice walk along the river Main. Here are a few impressions ...

Isn't that a beautiful blue sky?

And here it is: the Villa under the Linden Trees :)

And just when I stepped through the gates into the park, the wind whispered through the tree tops and red and golden leaves were raining down on me.

The coachman's house -- do these windows belong to Georgina's room?

The entrance to the icehouse: