I'm back!

• Ireland is pretty but cold.
• The Irish are charming and lovely - except for the finks that broke into our car and snatched a handbag.
• Dolphins are wonderful.
• So is my family.
• But I'm glad to be back.

Pictures and details will follow when I'm less knackered.

I missed you all.

Party on

I'm nearly packed to go tomorrow. Who'd have thought there'd be so much to do?

The cats are not happy. They know something is up. They don't have to go to a cattery, we have Animals at Home coming in twice a day, but they won't be allowed out. On past form, Rufus will bugger off for a few days when we get back.

We leave in the morning and I get the internet back two weeks later. If I can find an internet café I'll pop in and say hi!

I see Blogger has enabled spam filtering, so comment moderation is only set up for really old posts. You can have a party in here as much as you like! But if you make a mess with the food fights I'm not clearing it up.

Bye for now!

writtenwyrdd's flash fiction competition

Enter Writtenwyrdd's competition and you could win this!

Seriously, it looks like a fun competition and you only have to write 250 words. Why not have a go? Expiry date is 22nd August.

I shall be away but I'll read your entries when I get back!

Remix - recommended

I took advantage of Lexi's offer last week to get hold of her ebook free - and I enjoyed it so much I had to find a way to pay for it! (It's only $2.99 full price.)

It's a cosy mystery/romance, set in England. Caz, a rocking horse restorer, finds a strange man on her roof top garden. She's very attracted to him but finds he was implicated in a murder three years ago; if she can find out who did it then she'll know whether she can trust him.

What I liked: a sense of being in sure hands. The plot unfolds nicely, there's just the right amount of description and there are a lot of diverse characters. I also enjoyed the English setting, complete with gherkin in the distance. I found I cared a lot about Caz and wanted her to end up with the right guy. Then I started just wanting her to make it out alive!

What I didn't like: a few nitpicks in a single scene near the end that could have just been me not paying attention!

It was a very satisfying book to read and I enjoyed the way the ends tied up. I wish I could have taken it to bed with me but it was only available on my laptop. You can get it in a lot of formats. If you go for the epub version then all you need to do is to download Adobe Digital Editions (free) and you're away. You might as well get yourself a copy of Bernita's book while you're at it!

Lexi's book Remix is available here. Recommended.

Gherkin photo by Alexander Klint, Creative Commons licence.

I won and I'm off!

I'm one of the lucky winners from Bernita Harris' Release Party and Contest over at Bitten by Books. I've won a $20 amazon gift card and a silver lariat necklace. Thank you Bernita!

In other news, I'm off to Ireland on Saturday so I may not be around much because I'll be packing, or trying to. CFS and packing aren't a good mix. Plus the washing machine chose to break down last Friday and it's not likely to be fixed before we go. It needs an "unusual part". I'd like to tell Hotpoint where to put their unusual part but I shan't in case I get them annoyed enough to make me wait even longer!

We won't have internet access on holiday. Oh noes! So I shall be away from you for two whole weeks. I'll try not to cry but it will be a close thing.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but Blogger is being naughty. If it carries on then I'm off to my blog at Wordpress. I'll let you know if I go so you can come too! (Edited to add: I've found how to go back to the old editor. It works after a fashion.)

Help writtenwyrdd with her competition

Writtenwyrdd is setting up a competition but she needs input and prize suggestions. Can you help? Her contest plea is here.

Stop thinking!

Too much thinking can lead to worse judgements, according to this article in Wired.

When students were simply asked to rate jams for flavour their scores closely matched those of jam experts. However, when a second group of students were asked to do the same task but to give detailed reasons for their decisions, they went haywire and rated one of the worst jams as the best.

Reason doesn't seem to be very good at helping us make decisions and might even get in the way. What it's very good at is helping us persuade others that our judgements are correct.

I don't know about you but I don't find this a very comfortable thought.

Good News

I've just seen that California's ban on gay marriage has been overturned. Let's hope it stays that way.

Article here in Huffington Post.

Remix: Free Book!

Lexi Revellian is offering free ebook copies of her murder mystery/romance Remix, just for this week. (If you miss the freebie, the ebook is only $2.99 full price - it's a bargain!)

If you download the book in Epub format then you can download Adobe Digital Editions (also free) to read it on your pc and you're away.

I've read the first few chapters and I feel I'm in safe hands. The plot is developing nicely and the writing feels smooth and well-edited. I'm enjoying it.

Definitely worth a look!

Good stories

The Clarity of Night flash fiction contest has ended and the results are up.

Congratulations to Aerin on taking second prize both for the main contest and for the Readers' Choice! Other friends got well-deserved honourable mentions: Precie, Peter and Shona.

All the winning and honourably mentioned stories were well-written but I have to admit to a certain disappointment. I really thought Jane's humorous piece deserved to be up there with the greats. I actually found the winning entry too strong for my taste despite, or maybe because of, its being beautifully written.

I've realised that I like my fiction gentle, funny and upbeat. What sort of stories do you like to read?

The future is here...

...with a flavour-changing cookie!

You choose a flavour from a computer, then as you go to eat the plain cookie an image of the appropriate texture is projected on to it and the right scents are wafted to your nose. Almond or chocolate? The same cookie can be any one of seven flavours.

You just can't get more extreme in writing sci fi than real life already is.

The full article is in New Scientist.