Woe is Me
Woe is me. I was given the lovely offer of another Bordeaux–Scharnelle’s sister and due to lack of space and the grumpy response of Miss Spoiled had to turn it down. Some things in life are measured by quality, some by experience, some by anticipation, and some by quantity. Currently my world is a small one, absence of chocolate (personal protest) abundance of cherries (it is summer) and the firm belief that too many Bordeaux are never enough. Unfortunately, I only have one queen size bed and two spaces, therefore any other additions would be relegated to being on the outside because one thing I have learned from my lovely Dogue is that Scharnelle doesn’t share!
Scharnelle and the Santa Scold
I woke to find a suspiciously absent Scharnelle as she usually demands her breakfast biscuit long before I am ready to roll out of bed. This morning, however, there was no panting in my ear to wake me. I wandered around the house until I found her sitting on my chair with one of my shoes in her mouth.
It wasn’t the shoe as much as the fact it was my Italian leather pink kitten heel slingback that dangled from the huge jaws of a mastiff. She hadn’t had time to do more than drool inside of it but I knew in my heart it would never be the same. Once a Bordeaux gets hold of something it rarely is. Since Scharnelle is well past the age of chewing personal items unless exacting revenge I decided that she needed reminding just who was top dog in our house.
One thing Scharnelle dislikes is the consumer idiocy of society, she frequently shows her displeasure by either farting, snorting or chewing the remote during television commercials. So after careful thought I realised that the best punishment was to subject her to the indignity of the Santa photo. Now do not misunderstand, Scharnelle is not against presents in fact she expects them on a nearly daily basis but to sit next to a ridiculous man in a red suit is enough to make any respectable mastiff belch in annoyance.
So we went to the pet store and she belched, attempted to run away, knocked over their fake Christmas tree and terrified a small foxy. A bull in a china shop had nothing on us, still the picture was taken and dutifully posted to the world. From now on I might put my shoes back in the cupboard.
Merry Christmas from me and from her.
Drive
Ryan Gosling in another understated, yet elegant performance is fast becoming the man to watch in cinema. Drive is a wry, thoughtful, slow burn thriller with an enigmatic hero caught between the consequence of poor choices. Known only as Driver, the first minutes of the film reveal a wonderful action sequence not because of special effects or explosions but because of the tense interplay between the Driver and his objective. This film is not for those who want cheap thrills, who want excessive cgi, who want muscle bound heroes doing improbable things. This movie is for people who enjoy complex characters, the inevitable brutality of those who live on the fringes.
This movie will bring the viewer between action, interaction and connection as Driver drifts into his decisions due to his involvement with the woman next door. This movie uses well what many forget and that is the strength of silence on screen. This is a character driven film of violence, action and atmosphere. It won’t be for everyone, many will fault it for not being the predictable action pap, those who enjoy it will discover a dark story of a man of calm intensity and the lengths he will go in order to protect what he values.
8.5/10 For the right person—superb
The Titles
I am very pleased with covers of all the books. The Vampiris Sancti series are just what I want and Not Really Mr. Smith also suits the genre. There are so many aspects to your work besides writing the story. Such as presentation for the emotional response of the reader to your cover can be a huge factor in determining if they buy or pass on your offering. It can have great reviews but if the covers look like hack jobs by a ten year old they might consider that your work will follow suit. So below are the finished covers with links to Amazon. I am pleased to be moving onto the next books in the series.
The Chase for Fame
The chase for fame for me is a double edged sword. The attention I want is not for personal notice as I would hate for anyone to recognise me in the street. I value the anonymity of life, however, I do want the world to know of my work and that it is out there.
This means having to promote and to me this is far more difficult than actually writing a book–even a series! While I am enjoying sales, they are not of the quantity to change my life and I am well aware they could dry up at any time. Resting on my laurels at this time would appear to be both foolish and a waste of time so I have taken to approaching book bloggers.
The dreaded review is something I have been trying to ignore since being published since I am well aware my fantasy is not mainstream and therefore will not please everyone. My hope is that it can please enough people to garner some decent reviews. It has been pointed out by others that reviews are very important in places like Amazon for sales.
I am not so worried about the romance as it is a general romantic adventure and as such will be reviewed more according to taste than failure of story. I have tried to keep the story believable and not to preposterous. Unfortunately, I find many romantic books to have contrived scenes and I can understand their lure because they forward the romance easily. Instead, I tried and hopefully succeeded in creating a logical and fun adventure.
So now I wait and see who responds, who ignores and more importantly what the reviews will say. I might as well start the next book in the series as there a few stories that need tending.
Not Really Mr. Smith
Not Really Mr. Smith is pending at Amazon and up at Smashwords. I am very pleased with this cover. Now to get the Vampire formatted to follow!
The Elf
The Elf is going up under Breedles Publishing. Wonderful covers have been made for the entire series. I am pleased that Mr. Smith will be up in December.
The Guard
The Guard with Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle is the offering created by John McDonagh and it’s clear to see the family humour is genetic as his brother made the excellent In Bruges, another Irish dominated comedy.
The story in brief is about Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Brendan Gleeson), a grumpy police officer who patrols a small Irish town. Investigating a murder he discovers it is linked to a drug ring being chased by FBI agent Wendell Everett (Don Cheadle).
The story is told in the usual Irish fashion of lots of cursing and lots of drink with hilarity so commonplace it appears to be more a component of life than oddity. This story, while not overly complex, has enough turns to keep the viewer interested and enough insanity to keep everyone smiling. While the action in this movie is not of the realistic variety it serves to propel the storyline along with an excellent dry humour that is a joy to behold. The Irishness of the movie adds to the charm and for the Australian ear the accents are not difficult to understand. Don Cheadle holds his own against the brilliance of Breedan Gleeson.
If you want a funny story that is well crafted, intelligent, wry and enjoyable you will find all of this and more in The Guard.
8.5/10 and worth every bit of your time!