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On Holiday in a Bookshop – Part 3: We Go West!
Before I wind my way west to Shropshire (where we stayed in week 2), just a quick mention for the Titles Bookshops. There’s a few dotted around the Peak District, but the one we visited was in North...
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A-harrr, Me Hearties, Win A Prize!
Ahoy there, landlubbers, it do be me, Cap’n Alison, that’s havin’ a prize suitable for younger readers, on account of it bein’ Talk Like A Pirate Day. It do be Anna Nilsen’s Pirates, which is a puzzle...
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On Holiday In A Bookshop Part 4: The Cinema Bookshop
I think I’ve already mentioned ConstructoBoy’s obsession with Zeppelins. All through the holidays, and our many outings and pop-ins to bookshops (believe me, I’ve not mentioned them all in my posts),...
View ArticleSanta Silliness!
Yes! I bring you news of a major literary prize win! Well OK. Not a major literary prize, BUT the lovely Wendy Soliman, who causes me constant pangs of envy because she spends most of her time in...
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A Pocketful of Good Advice (and Peak District)!
Last weekend I threw caution, preplanning and all the things I should have been doing to the wind, and uprooted us all to the Peak District for a long weekend. It’s not the kind of a place you need an...
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Cephrael’s Hand Lands Here Tomorrow (lightly, I hope!)
Today sees the start of the blog tour for Melissa McPhail’s Cephrael’s Hand. I’ll be talking about it every day this week but for today, here’s a quick bio of Melissa for those not familiar with her...
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Cephrael’s Hand – A Teeny Weeny Teasey Taster!
Okay, I lie. This is a taster for Melissa McPhail’s Cephrael’s Hand, but it’s not teeny. It’s a full bag of prawn crackers. If you like Raymond Feist, I think you’ll rather enjoy this… Happy Reading!...
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Interview with Melissa McPhail, Author of Cephrael’s Hand
Time to interrogate the lady herself – an interview with Melissa McPhail, author of Cephrael’s Hand, courtesy of Novel Publicity. Enjoy this interview with Melissa, then read on to learn how you can...
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Guest Post: Melissa McPhail – My Take On Magic Systems
Officially the blog tour has finished, but to round off the week here is a guest post by Melissa McPhail, talking about magic systems in fantasy and how she devised the one she uses in Cephrael’s Hand....
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Stopping Sexism Before It Starts
I am a relatively calm person. This is a good thing, because I’ve always had jobs where I’m public facing. I’ve stayed calm whilst being vomited over by poorly patients, spat at by children who have...
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I Dabbled in a Drabble
Yes, I dabbled in a drabble. That is, a teensy tiny story. And it was fun. One of my fellow #100kwords100days members, Gerald Hornsby, mentioned an anthology that was looking for sci-fi and fantasy...
View ArticleThe #LetBooksBeBooks Campaign; an Open Letter to The Book People
Today, with the might of well-known authors Philip Pullman, Malorie Blackman, Carol Ann Duffy, Joanne Harris and Victoria Lamb behind me, not to mention the huge coverage of @LetToysBeToys...
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A is for Amazing: The Shell Grotto in Margate
Luckily, I didn’t need to rack my brains too hard for something amazing, because I came across something that fits the description just two days ago. On Sunday myself, Mr IT, ArtyDaughter,...
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C is for Cool: Competitions, Evolution, Bono, Penguins & Positive Productivity!
I have the same problem with Cool as I did with Boring yesterday. So many things are cool – where would I begin? People with enquiring, open minds; people who aren’t scared to speak up against...
View ArticleD is for Disappointing: The Reply from The Book People CEO
I hadn’t even looked to see what the D adjective was today, but I came home from a work meeting to find a reply to the email that The Book People had asked me to write, regarding the #LetBooksBeBooks...
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E is for Enthralling: The Fantasy and Sci-Fi Books that Got Me Hooked
The inspiration for today’s post comes from the ‘chat’ (i.e. blog comment exchange) I had yesterday with Roland Clarke, fellow writer, A to Zer and 100kin100days member (you could visit his blog...
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F is for Fascinating: My Teenage Fantasy (Novels!) and Beyond
In which we carry on with our trip through the fantasy (novel) loves of my youth I’m 12 now, and I’ve read The Hobbit, but we’ll get to Tolkien in a bit because I won’t read Lord of the Rings until...
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G is for Goofy: Because Fantasy Can Be Funny
Don’t worry, we will get to the goofy part. Yes, it was a bit tenuous. But I wanted to finish off the whole fantasy books thing, ok? Just settle down… I know a lot of the time scales have overlapped,...
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H is for Horrible: Noah’s Ark (the novel) and Giant Killer Crabs
Just a short post today about two things I find horrible. First up: Barbara Trapido’s Noah’s Ark I tried, I really did. But a few chapters in I was finding it all very whiny and unpleasant to read in...
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K is for Kooky: Eccentric Geniuses and British Festivals
Kooky: ‘Strange or eccentric’. Stumped for ideas once again as to what I personally find strange and eccentric, I cast my net upon the world wide web, curious as to what hits I’d get if I put in...
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