Chrissy

Very true. There are precious few lighter moments. Mind you, he’s not quite the worst author I know for that. Not exactly fantasy (although he did write a collaborative series with Terry Pratchett), Stephen Baxter has the habit of making you identify with and root for particular characters, and then watch as their responses to ever tougher…[Read more]

@woolleybeans wrote: “For me, that aspect [the defining factor of PD] was/is the level to which the POV character’s thoughts, feelings etc influence/become part of the writing style itself.

As for how that correlates to film/TV…

The saturation of colours? Whether the shot angles up through something? The somewhat cliché blurry/wobbly scen…[Read more]

You’re probably right re urban fantasy, I have a rather vague grasp on the various subgenres, and that’s when authors oblige and ensure that their work falls squarely within one category. I have no idea where to put China Mieville’s Bas-Lag novels, and I suspect he likes it that way. They have the epic sweep and complex magical systems of high…[Read more]

We had one of those alight on the edge of our utility room door a little while ago. Huge, and very striking. Almost big enough to have the same sort of presence as a bird rather than an insect. Can’t find pics of it now, but we fairly often see them out and about, along with different types of dragonfly and damsonfly.

Dragonflies are increasing Dragonfly species are colonising the UK ‘at a greater rate than ever before’ | Natural History Museum (nhm.ac.uk)

I can’t remember if it was last summer or 2020 that we had dragonflies in the garden even though there are no ponds nearby.

The Big Butterfly Count starts today if you’re interested — and can cope with the heat!

I was going to edit this to add some links but apparently I’m too late. Anyway, in case there are any non-SE grads out there, some details on psychic distance here

That sounds fantastic (in both senses of the word). My tbr pile is probably already longer than I will get through in my lifetime but I will add it anyway.

Fantasy definitely did seem to go through an obligatory magic ring/sword phase, not to mention the ominpresent dark lord – the overlong series’ of Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind and, to a lesser…[Read more]

Thanks Ath, and everyone who’s kept this place going. I admit I haven’t done as much as I would have liked to help the process, and like everyone else who has commented I would miss the Den if it were not here. I’ve been in a bit of a low spot for (fiction) writing for a while but I have recently been meaning to wander back in the hope of a chat…[Read more]

I think our reading tastes have developed in a similar way, Richard. I read fantasy as a teen (though never a LOTR fan) but as I got older and every book back I read seemed to involve a magic sword or a ring and sorting the good from the bad became impossible, I moved away from the genre.

I do enjoy (and often write) our reality with a…[Read more]

I really enjoy the annual short story challenge, and I try to participate in the odd monthly competition. My SE group has also used the Den as a lifeboat. So I’d hate to see it go and lose contact with some talented people.

I think one of the differences from the more active Word Cloud, is there was a constant flow of fresh blood funnelled via…[Read more]

I like Sandra’s idea of being able to expand our profiles, not just for new members but for existing ones. Apart from topics that come up in posts, I mostly don’t know what is interesting to fellow Denizens, either long term or temporarily. I’m thinking of writing and reading though anything else is welcome too.

Thank you, Sandra. I haven’t tried commenting so I don’t know if the link works or not, but thank you for attempting it.

The admin side of writing stories is boring. Looking for submission sites, keeping track of submissions and rejections and keeping my stories filed in an easy-to-find order — it’s all time consuming, and I don’t even write…[Read more]

Thank you!! I keep thinking I must submit that story somewhere.

If you’re in the mood for another, CafeLit published one of mine earlier this month CafeLitMagazine: A Horse, A Queen, Some Crockery by Elizabeth Leyland, homemade lemonade

But honestly only read it if you feel like it.

CafeLit asks writers to name a suitable favourite drink -…[Read more]

Tell me about it! 🙂 🙂

I don’t remember a sex scene in The Offing though if I sense something – anything – which seems a clunky effort to suddenly heighten the drama, I start to disengage. If the author has a crisis of confidence, so do I.

I find it easier to explain why I dislike something than why I like it. Though I very rarely ‘dislike’ anything, I just get…[Read more]

In my notebook I put, ‘Gave up page 82. So many adjectives. Characters insufficiently interesting.’

I don’t know what was wrong with p 82 but I don’t think anything gruesome had happened yet.

Sounds super critical and a bit rich coming from someone so keen on Mrs Dalloway. I think basically it wasn’t my cup of tea, otherwise the adjectives would…[Read more]

‘really good’ 🙂