The imminent arrival of the new Hobbit movie (part 1) to our cinemas has me indulging in yet another viewing of the movies that started it all: Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I love these movies. I'll never forget the first time I saw Fellowship of the Ring. I went a couple … Continue reading Journeying through Middle Earth again
Here's the thing. I died on Saturday night. That is, my D&D character did. She stepped on a pressure pad when trekking down a dark tunnel, fell into a pit and was defeated by a giant centipede. Excellent! Not. We'd all been traipsing up a river, looking for a back way into the goblins' secret … Continue reading D&D Chronicles: Death… and Resurrection
You want to know what I think is one of the best things about the new WONDERFUL era of publishing and e-books? There no longer need be any such thing as 'out of print'. That's right. Books are now the most accessible they've ever been, and they can now live for ever online, just waiting … Continue reading No more ‘out of print’
This is just going to be a quick update of where I'm at with stuff (aka NaNoWriMo sanity check). The most excellent news is that I'm still on schedule to complete the 50K in 30 days and sailed past 35K this evening. There was a mini meltdown on Monday evening, when the pressure of producing … Continue reading NaNoWriMo sanity check
If I've learnt anything while learning how to play Dungeons and Dragons, it's that games don't seem to go the way you expect. Our group reconvened last weekend all ready to storm the temple and kill goblins, but . . . fate intervened. We left our last session on the outskirts of the clearing of … Continue reading D&D Chronicles: Of spiders and a squirrel
I'm a little bit excited. This week I took the plunge and signed up for my first NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The challenge -- and readers of this blog might be aware I love a challenge -- is to write 50,000 words of a novel during the 30 days of November. (Technically the challenge … Continue reading Did I just sign up for NaNoWriMo?
It's my great pleasure to welcome author Rabia Gale to my blog today. Her bio says she breaks fairy tales and fuses fantasy and science fiction... How could you not want to read anything and everything she writes? I invited her here to discuss, among other things, her novella, Rainbird, which she launched this week. Here's … Continue reading Talking Rainbird with Rabia Gale
Our little band of adventurers is really starting to hit its stride now. After Saturday's D&D session, we are lurking at the edge of a clearing in the forest, above which is suspended a temple in the treetops, completely overrun by goblins, hobgoblins and the like. We are poised for the battle of our short … Continue reading D&D Chronicles: the temple in the treetops
I asked my mother this (of me) the other day, wanting to correlate my memory of my first reading experience with hers -- and was surprised by the answer. I've long thought the first chapter book I ever read was Charlotte's Web, when I was about eight. This is what I've been telling people for years. Only it … Continue reading What was the 1st book you ever read?
OK, so I've lost count of the number of people who have told me The Princess Bride is their favourite movie in the whole wide world. It's certainly one of mine... and this short tribute is in honour of its 25th birthday -- which I understand was last week. The Princess Bride is one of … Continue reading Celebrating 25 years of The Princess Bride
Ellen Gregory 