John S Alty

I enjoy reading this, I get a Station Eleven vibe from it (that’s a good thing) in terms of setting the apocalyptic atmosphere and hinting that something’s coming however I think it might be a bit too much setting up in one go for my liking and I’m not overly fond of the omniscient narrator style (but that’s a personal preference of mine). I agree…[Read more]

Histfic can definitely have mainstream appeal. Seems as though one of Juliet Mushens’ biggest successes as an agent recently was with The Miniaturist. Though I gather Juliet is interested in history. The blogpost about how that novel was pitched to her is interesting. I think the link was posted somewhere around here. Go for it

@Daedalus – thanks!

Thanks @richardb
I’ve just ordered a copy from the library 🙂

🙂

Yes, that’s right!

@philippaeast Lovely to see you too! Was Cynthia the one I was chatting to with you? I’m pleased to have inspired her 🙂

@alanr Ha! Thank you very much, kind sir 😀

@squidge Indeed we do!! 😀

@Julie, Probably the most enjoyable novel I’ve read this century is ‘The Crimson Petal and the White’, which is set in Victorian times.

Thanks Giselle, Phillipa and Debi for the info and encouragement. Good to hear interest is rising in hist fic – it seems to go with austerity I reckon!
Hi Alan – mine is Victorian so definitely historical.
I need to reconsider my opening, but due to work commitments I’m unlikely to achieve a rewrite of that in time for the submission. But I…[Read more]

Apologies, Richard, I saw that you’d written this blog a few days ago but was busy, and then it slipped my mind. I’m ashamed to say, as a fan of SF, that I’ve never read any Le Guin (or K Le Guin). I’d been wondering where I might start, and now I know. The Dispossessed sounds as though it is brimming with ideas, which is to my mind a hallmar…[Read more]

I removed that sidebar because a glitch in the WP software meant that it was displaying posts from private groups publically, Richard. Apparently this has been an ongoing issue since 2013 and no one has yet found a workable repair to the code. Will have a proper look at it or at an alternative when I’ve got time next week. But that’s why it’s gone…[Read more]

I’ve been tempted to read Earthsea a few times, but was put off when I read Le Guin uses a quite distant narrative style.
This blog has piqued my interest though, and I think I might go find out for myself, because The Dispossessed sounds fascinating.
Thanks for writing about it Richard.

I see the ‘Latest Topics’ sidebar is still absent. Is there any way of bringing it back? I posted a blog a few days ago to almost total apathy. Of, course it may be that it’s a load of boring drivel, but it was quickly followed by a flurry of posts that pushed it off the front page, and it may simply have slipped below everyone’s radar.

Thanks all, very useful.

I’m sure many know it, but Mslexia has their children’s novel competition; deadline this september 30th. Just for the women amongst us. I’m polishing up the dragons and submitting.