Mailbox Monday - April edition (on Tuesday)

These public holidays are really throwing me out of sync. It was only as I was going out last night that I realised that it was Monday and not Sunday. As long as I remember to go to work on Thursday I guess it doesn't really matter, but I nearly forgot to do my Mailbox Monday post for this month!

If you compare this list of books to last month it looks pretty small, but really, it is still a lot for just one month. Here's what I got:

For review:

The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross - When I was at ARRC 2011, there was a publisher representative there talking about various books. As soon as I saw this one, I knew I wanted it. The cover is stunning.

Trade Winds by Christina Courteney - This author co-blogs with one of my very favourite authors and so that was enough to make me want to try her books. Yes, I am that easy to tempt!

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton - I've been seeing some really good reviews for this book!


Queen by Right by Anne Easter Smith - I loved Anne Easter Smith's first book, but never read anymore. This one looks really good though, so when I was offered a spot on an upcoming book tour I jumped at the chance.

The Wedding Shroud by Elisabeth Storrs - Another gorgeous cover! If you are interested in finding out more about this book check out the Aussie Author Month guest post from Elisabeth, and for the Aussies, you can win a copy of the book too!

Netgalley

Netgalley is a dangerous, dangerous place to spend time in!

Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - Shadow of the Wind is one of my favourite books of all time, but I haven't quite been brave enough to read anything else by him.

Royal Wedding anthology - Gives me a chance to finally try Stephanie Laurens.

A Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn - I was very excited when I saw this was available. The previous book in the series was probably my favourite so I have high hopes for this one.

Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman- This got a good write up at BethFishReads the other week so when I saw it was available I thought I would give it a try.

The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly - No matter where you live in the world, you would possible have heard me squeeing very loudly when I got accepted for this one! I have been waiting for this book for about 5 years!

Portrait of Seduction by Carrie Lofty - Carrie Lofty's Song of Seduction was the first book I read on my e-reader and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so happy to give this one a go too.


Freebies

La Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver - This was being given away through Facebook following the Orange long/short list nominations. (whichever list came out not too long ago anyway).


Photographs and Phantoms by Cindy Spencer Pape - Free book from Carina Press.

Romeo, Romeo by Robyn Kaye- Can't remember where I go this one.

Won

Soul, Tremble and Yearn by Tobsha Learner - won all three of these books from Meghan at Literary Life.


Purchased

The Beauty Chorus by Kate Lord Brown - I tried to get this through Netgalley, but it was only available to Canadian readers! I thought about waiting to see if anyone got it here (ie at the library) but in the end decided that I wanted it too much.

Love Me Tender by Heather Boyd - Heather talked about the starting premise of this story at ARRC at the Up and Coming Authors panel, and I knew that I wanted to read it then.

Next month, I am going to have some self control. No really.

Mailbox Monday is on tour and for April it is being hosted at Passages to the Past. Head over there to share your links, or to see what everyone else has posted about this week.

Anzac Day 2011 reflections

Today is Anzac Day, a day that for Australians and New Zealanders is full of significance, a day when we celebrate the sacrifices made by our soldiers during conflict. The reason why we celebrate on this day, is because on April 25, 1915, our soldiers arrived a Gallipoli, the first time that we had fought not as British soldiers, but as Australians.

The word Anzac stands for Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, and this is a day that we share proudly with our New Zealand comrades. For all the jokes that are made at each other's expense, the sporting rivalry, and more, we know that in a time of need that New Zealand will stand by Australia's side and vice versa. This year, this was evidenced by the support and mateship that was shown in the aftermath of the terrible natural disasters that affected both of our countries.

The focus of the day is on all those who have served - from World War I to those who are serving now in conflicts around the world.

This year, in honour of Aussie Author Month's fundraising for the Indigenous Literacy Project, I wanted to acknowledge the part that indigenous Australians have played. Indigenous diggers signed up to fight for this country in World War I and subsequent conflicts, even though at the time they weren't even recognised as citizens, and they or their families did not receive the same benefits as their white Australian mates they had served along side when their war ended, either on their return to Australia or when they were killed in action. When visiting the Sydney Museum last month, I was reminded that it was only 4 years before I was born that indigenous Australians received the right to vote and to be citizens. I guess I like to think that we are a lot further ahead in these kinds of issues than we really are, and sometimes it is good for a non indigenous Australian, like myself, to be reminded of these things.

When I was trying to think about what I would write about this year, one of the things that I kept coming back to was the song Only Nineteen by Redgum. I remember being moved by the lyrics when the song first came out in the early 1980s and it still moves me now. Whilst the lyrics are specifically written about a young soldier in Vietnam, the sentiments are relevant to all conflicts I would have thought. I hope you will take a couple of minutes to listen to the song, but first here are the lyrics:

Only Nineteen - Redgum

Mum and Dad and Denny saw the passing-out parade at Puckapunyal
It was a long march from cadets.
The sixth battalion was the next to tour, and it was me who drew the card.
We did Canungra, Shoalwater before we left.

And Townsville lined the footpaths as we marched down to the quay
This clipping from the paper shows us young and strong and clean.
And there's me in my slouch hat with my SLR and greens.
God help me, I was only nineteen.

From Vung Tau, riding Chinooks, to the dust at Nui Dat
I'd been in and out of choppers now for months.
But we made our tents a home, VB and pinups on the lockers
And an Asian orange sunset through the scrub.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I stil can't get to sleep?
And night-time's just a jungle dark and a barking M16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only ninteen.

A four week operation when each step could mean your last one on two legs
It was a war within yourself.
But you wouldn't let your mates down til they had you dusted off
So you closed your eyes and thought about something else.

Then someone yelled out "Contact!" and the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours, then a Godalmighty roar
Frankie kicked a mine the day that mankind kicked the moon,
God help me, he was going home in June.

I can still see Frankie, drinking tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a thirty-six hour rec leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
Til the morphine came and killed the bloody row.

And the Anzac legends didn't mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real.
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn't even feel
God help me, I was only nineteen.

And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them

Lest we forget.

Weekend Cooking: Brunch

I was contemplated doing something Easter-ish for Weekend Cooking this week but in the end decided not to. Easter is kind of a strange holiday for me. I grew up in a religious household and was very involved in church activities so understand all the religious significance. Every Easter when I was a teenager I used to go away on church camps and there would be lots of discussion and celebrations etc. These days though, I really don't consider myself to be Christian, and so the fact that we have these four days off is something of an anti climax. Actually, this year we have five days off, and then I am taking Wednesday off as well so it is a six day weekend. I am not complaining about having time off at Easter, I just often feel at something off a loose end for it, especially this year as the boy has been away for a week, and only comes home tomorrow and my sister and her family have gone camping so there is no big family lunch like we normally have.

So instead of something Easter-ish I thought I might post a brunch recipe, because I did go out for brunch (actually turned out to be lunch by the time everyone got there) with friends this morning.


As much as I love a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms, toast etc, I do also really like the idea of something that still feels like a breakfast but is just that little bit different. I was flicking through the free recipe magazine that you get from the supermarket, and saw this and immediately wanted to try it so this recipe has been added to the recipes-I-want-to-try-once-my-oven-is-fixed file.

Spanish Eggs with Chorizo, Potato and Tomato

1 tbs olive oil
3 chorizo, skin removed, chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled, cut into 2cm cubes (450g)
1 brown onion, finely chopped
3 tsp ground cumin 2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp smokey paprika
800g diced Italian Tomatoes
1 bunch coriander, leaves removed
4 Free-Range Eggs


1 Preheat oven to 180°C. Heat oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add chorizo, potato and onion. Stir until combined. Cook for 8 minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Add cumin, coriander and paprika. Stir and cook for 1 minute. Pour tomatoes over mixture and bring to the boil.
 
2 Roughly chop half the coriander and stir into tomato mixture. Form 4 indentations in tomato mixture with the back of a spoon. Crack an egg into each indent. Cover pan with a tight fitting lid or foil. Place in oven for 15 minutes. Remove cover and cook for 5 minutes or until egg white is just cooked. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining coriander leaves. Serve.
 
Serves 4
 

 Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.

Library Loot: April 20 to 26

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Land of Painted Caves by Jean Auel - I started reading this series since I was a teenager. There is no way I wouldn't be reading the final book, despite the fact that I haven't seen too many overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Harvest Moon by Robyn Carr - After overdosing on Robyn Carr's books late last year, this is the only one of her Virgin River books I haven't yet read.

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark - I wasn't overly fond of the last book by this author, but the setting of this one sounded so interesting that I couldn't possibly not borrow it!


What loot did you get this week? Add your link to Mr Linky below so we can come and have a look!

Two Teaser Tuesday

This week I have two teasers for you again. One is from a book that I finished today, and the other is from a book I just started today.

First, I just finished reading The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith, the latest instalment in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. The teaser comes from page 146:

"In that case I would say to myself: It is an odd thing that Mma Ramotswe has done, but if that is what makes her happy, then I am happy too."

She looked at him fondly; that he had been sent to her, when there were so many other, lesser men who might have been sent, was a source of constant gratitude. That we have the people we have in this life, rather than others, is miraculous, she thought; a miraculous gift.

The second teaser comes from page 179 of The Last Letter from your Lover by JoJo Moyes:

He had cried with shame and relief when he got it. He suspected afterwards that part of it, the part she did not talk about, was that she still bore the humiliation of that hotel room, no matter how hard he tried to convince her of his reason for not making love to her. For all that he said, he suspected she was still not convinced that she was more than just another of his married women.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out  all about it, and how to join in!

Book Trailer: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

I am not sure why, but I happened to be looking at the events section of one of the local bookstores here (whose website I don't visit very often) when I noticed that they had an event with Geraldine Brooks coming up soon! A quick email to one of my friends who likes bookish type events, and I have now booked for A Conversation with Geraldine Brooks! Can't wait!

In the meantime, here is the newly released book trailer for Caleb's Crossing. If you would like to know more, see the Q and A that I posted a few weeks ago.

Aussie Author Month: Elisabeth Storrs guest post **includes giveaway**

I am very excited today to welcome Elisabeth Storrs to my blog as part of Aussie Author Month to talk about her book and about getting the word out about her debut historical fiction novel! I am even more excited to be offering a giveaway of two copies of her book (with the gorgeous cover!). By the way, if you are interested in finding out more about Elisabeth's book, head over to Historical Tapestry, where Elisabeth wrote a fabulous guest post including lots of images of Ancient Etruscan art for us a while ago!

Elisabeth's Storrs first novel, The Wedding Shroud, is set in early Rome and Etruria, and was researched and written over a period of ten years. It was released last September by Pier 9 /Murdoch Books in Australia and New Zealand.  Elisabeth is currently writing the sequel which will be released in 2012. She lives with her husband and two sons in Sydney.

The ancient world has always held a fascination for me. It must be in my genes because one of my fondest memories is that of my father telling me stories about the Greek gods. As a kid, I also found a book in our house that had been handed down from generation to generation within my family entitled The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens. It was published in 1892.

This book has a leather cover, the spine frayed so that the webbing that binds the folios is exposed. The pages are mottled, yellowing. It is a treasure. Inside, the lives of the fickle, adulterous, benevolent or malevolent deities are revealed; their bickering and flaws similar to mortals but their ability to bless, curse and manipulate man’s fate, divine.

Discovering Berens was not enough. I want to read such tales in the language of those times. Nerd that I was, I eagerly studied Latin at school and then Ancient Greek at university while also learning the history that gives context to such literature. It was wonderful to at last be able to translate parts of the works of classical authors and philosophers such as Livy and Homer, Plato and Socrates, Euripides and Julius Caesar.

The greatest impact upon me was that of the poignant tale told by the Roman poet Virgil of Trojan Aeneas, and Dido, the queen of Carthage. How tragic their love was! For Aeneas, fated to found Rome, deserted Dido causing her to throw herself upon a pyre in despair as his ship sailed away.

My novel also tells a love story between two people from different worlds: Rome and Etruria (a civilization in Italy that predated the Roman republic.) A young Roman girl, Caecilia, is married to Mastarna, a nobleman from the Etruscan city of Veii, to seal a truce between two implacable enemies. She is determined to remain true to her Roman beliefs but finds herself grappling with conflicting moralities when she discovers a sophisticated culture that offers her independence and pleasure. She is also introduced to a mystical religion which gives her the chance to defer her destiny. And so the gods play their role in Caecilia’s life as she strives to woo the goddess of fate and avoid the demons of the Afterworld.

I researched the early Romans and Etruscans for ten years, sitting up reading history books into the night while setting aside two to four hours every week to write the novel. In that time I had to juggle the ups and downs of raising young children and running a business so I always looked forward to escaping into ancient times. I now have a contract to write the sequel so the chance to once again delve into the worlds of Rome and Veii is irresistible to me.

As Australia is such a small market, it was hard to find an agent and a publisher so I was lucky that Pier 9 was prepared to give a debut writer a chance. Promoting the novel has also proven to be quite a challenge. I’ve set up my own website www.elisabethstorrs.com which explains my journey and the inspiration for the book. I’ve also ventured into the world of Facebook and Twitter. I hope to start my own blog although the deadline for the sequel beckons! Local libraries have been very supportive in providing a venue for me to speak and I’ve enjoyed giving author talks to book clubs as well. Gaining publicity in the media, however, is very hard for an unknown novelist and so I was delighted to discover the blogging world with its wonderful community of historical fiction lovers. Ironically I’ve found it difficult to be reviewed in Australia; instead the most encouraging reviews have been from reviewers and bloggers in the USA which is fantastic. At present The Wedding Shroud can only be found in Australian and New Zealand but is available online at such retailers as www.dymocks.com.au,  www.booktopia.com.au, www.qbd.com.au, www.thenile.com.au  and other Australian online bookstores.

As for the myths of Greece and Rome, I still keep Berens beside my bed, a little piece of family history as well as a great resource. Sadly my father died a few years ago without reading my book. I think he would have liked learning about Etruria, I hope you will too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elisabeth is pleased to have two copies of The Wedding Shroud available to win for Australian readers! If possible, it would be great if the winners could review the book within two months of the competition to help spread the word. In addition, Elisabeth is always happy to be interviewed or provide guests posts as well so if you are interested in hosting Elisabeth please contact her through her website. 

To enter the giveaway click on the link to the form below. The giveaway is open to Australian residents, and will close at the end of Aussie Author Month - April 30.

Entry form

And in closing, here is the trailer for the book!

Sunday Salon: ARRC wrap up - Part 2

After last week's wrap up post of the Friday and Saturday of ARRC 2011, this week I am going to tell you about Sunday, at least what I can read of my notes!

I should note that this wrap up is in no way comprehensive. I am just attempting to give a taste of the sessions that I attended. If I was to type up all the notes I have, I would not only be here all night typing them up, but I am pretty sure I would lose readers!

The morning started at 9.30 on Sunday. I had gone to bed relatively early as I was trying to get my voice back, but I know that there were some hard partyers who struggled to get to the first session on time. It is yet another sign that I am getting old that just thought of that is tiring to me!

Cindy Gerard

Cindy Gerard was the third of the key note speakers, and was our US guest. She is a writer of romantic suspense, and the only one of the key note speakers that I hadn't already read.

She started her speech by declaring that Anna and Nalini had stolen her thunder, as she was going to talk about Australians in romance until Anna did that, and then she thought that she might speak about writing series, until Nalini did!

Cindy was funny and entertaining, and enjoyable to listen to even though she was a bit worried about speaking to readers not only authors. In the end she gave a speech on success. First though she talked a little about her road from reader to published author. She was very naive in that she sent her first manuscript to LaVyrle Spencer because she had answered some fan mail some time before. As a result of the feedback that she was given, Cindy joined Romance Writers of America.

Most of what Cindy talked about was about having the ability to confine, control and dominate self doubt, no matter whether you are talking about being a writer or about whatever avenue you are following in your life. She never knows where in the process self doubt would hit - could be starting a new book, could be in the copy edits, but it happens at least once in every book. What she has learnt is that she thought she was the only writer who felt like this, but it is true for a lot of them.

What she know she should do is eat security for breakfast and self doubt for lunch. the most important thing is to give yourself permission to be who you are and who you aren't.

She finished with saying despite the battle with self doubt she loves publishing, loves other authors, and loves readers. Even with lower than lows and higher than highs she is proud to be a romance writer.

Concurrent Session 3 - Up & Coming Authors

Left to Right in the picture:

Helene Young
Heather Boyd
Shannon Curtis
AB Gayle
Maggie Nash 
Jenny Brassel

This was another small session that ended up having really good interaction between the authors and the attendees, and I have to say that Jenny Brassel did a fabulous job of moderating the panel. She had loads of questions ready for the panel. I am not going to go through all of the responses, but they encompassed topics like

• What made them want to become a writer
• Were they a reader or a writer first
• What would you never write
• If you were not writing romance, what would you write
• What is your absolute favourite book and why
• Describe one of your character that you love
• What authors influenced you most
• What is the favourite book you have written?

Some of the conversation related to e-reading, what do readers want to see when it comes to promotion for up and coming authors, how do you find out about new books, what are deal breakers for readers in terms of content and where do you want to be in 5 years. I am pretty sure that one of our panellists wanted JR Rowling to be cleaning her bathroom, but I am not going to tell you which one!

I came away from the session definitely wanting to read more from most of these authors, and having thoroughly enjoyed the interaction between the panellists and the audience.

Concurrent Session 4 - Historical Romance

Anne Gracie

The final concurrent session that I attended was a conversation between Anne Gracie and Anna Campbell introduced by Jenny Brassel, and this was a very entertaining and fun session. You can tell that Anne and Anna are good friends and they just bounced off each other throughout the session. They started the session talking about how they met at a cocktail party where there was no food.

Anne and Anna both talked about the difficulties of getting published. For example, Anna had submitted her books as Regencies and been told that they were no longer being published. What she should have called them in her queries was Regency historicals. One of the most surprising things about being published for the first time was how much promo there was to do, but conversely it is lovely to hear from readers, especially when a story can reach people across the world.

Anne Gracie is a teacher, and she admitted that before she started writing it, she used to dismiss the genre, and even after writing it, she only stopped calling it fluff because she had a letter which showed her that it can touch people in ways you can't imagine when you write it.

As I mentioned in last week's post, Anna Campbell is a very funny speaker, and even in this more intimate setting this proved to be the case, as the audience was left laughing several times

Anna and Anne both talked about where ideas for certain books came from. For Untouched (Anna Campbell) the idea came in the bathroom when she was picturing a Sleeping Beauty in reverse, where the prince was the captive, and for Unclaimed Courtesan she had been reading another book where something happened that just wouldn't happen. She was going through King's Cross (which is an area notorious for gangs, prostitution etc in Sydney) the morning after the night before and seeing the people there had the idea playing in the back of her mind.  Anna thought she was writing romantic comedy (which if you read any Anna Campbell books is definitely not the case).

There is obviously a lot of mutual admiration between these two authors. One thing that made me need to pick up an Anne Gracie book is that she cries at her own writing! I am such a sook myself that this endeared her to me a lot!

Anna Campbell said that she loves that Anne's books are funny, but that they turn on a sixpence emotionally. They are not all funny or all emotional.

Something that struck me as very true is when Anne was talking about the combination of voice and world. She rightly pointed out that even that both Anna and Anne write novels set in the Regency, there is no way you could ever confuse an Anne Gracie novel with an Anna Campbell one.

At this point, the two authors moved on to talking a little bit about the craft of writing. Anna talked about using music to get into the mood for writing, and that each book quite often has just one song (always instrumental) that takes her to that world. Anne said that she generally doesn't have song but for Midnight's Wild Passion there was a Muse song called Undisclosed Desires that she equated to a romance novel in 3 minutes.

Anne does use collage as a tool, and she handed around pictures of some of the collages she has done. The pictures don't necessarily reflect the way the characters look but will definitely reflect their attitudes. She also wrote the novelisation of the Tudors series and so had a collage for that one too.

There was a bit of discussion about titles and covers, and about how they are often changed during the creative process, often to include current buzz words. Some times publishers get covers right, and some times they don't. We did get to see a few international covers, some of which were very surprising!

Towards the end of the session, there was a chance for the audience to ask questions. One that was asked was about historical accuracy in romance. Anne Gracie responded saying that she writes historically plausible rather than historically accurate. One comment from Anna was that our view of the past is sometimes much narrower than actual history, but she has had to change scenes which were accurate but wouldn't fit reader expectations. People like to catch authors out, and some times it does happen. Anne talked about one such example where she got something that she thought that she knew incorrect. She had researched what she didn't know, but it turned out that she didn't know something she thought she did.

Anne Gracie makes jewellery to match up with her books, and as part of the closing of the session some of these were given out, as well as lots of other prizes!

Closing Session

The closing session was one where the delegates got to choose who was on the panel. The lucky authors answering audience questions were:

Anna Campbell
Cindy Gerard
Keri Arthur
Nalini Singh
Lexxie Couper
Helene Young

Questions from the floor were asked including

• If you weren't a writer what would you do, which had Cindy Gerard bursting into song (and she was very good!)
• Dealing with deadlines (Nalini - warn editor that might be late and work with them. Don't leave it to the last minute) Cindy did suggest that her excuse this time might be her trip to Australia
• What couldn't you write? (Keri Arthur couldn't write straight romance - she needs dead bodies)
• Do they read the last page of a book when they are reading (otherwise known as killing fairies)
• Do they have a 50 pages rule before putting down a book they are not enjoying?
• What's the secret to becoming a NY bestseller (CG - luck, timing, fairy dust and need the publisher to step up to the mat. KA - luck and a good story. NS - regular output to build momentum. CG - have to be a consummate professional.)
• Lexie was then asked about pros and cons of epublishing - really close connections with your readers, but this is time heavy.
• Social Networking (NS - use intelligently as can be a huge timesuck.
• What do they like to read, and how many books at a time.

And after a few formalities, that was the end. Certainly most of the delegates that I spoke to were looking forward to the next one, which is a good sign. Here's hoping that there will be ARRC 2013 to look forward to, and well done to the organisers of ARRC 2011.


P.S I am also claiming this post for Aussie Author Month, as with the exception of Nalini Singh and Cindy Gerard, all the authors mentioned in this post are Aussies!

Weekend Cooking: Damfine pie

Weekend Cooking is one of my favourite posts of the week. One thing that I love to do is look back through my posts and look at the previous posts I have done and revisit them - the memories, the recipes etc. The other thing is that when I am reading a book as soon as there is a passage about food I find myself wondering if that is potential Weekend Cooking fodder, or perhaps I should refer to it as inspiration rather than fodder! Doesn't matter what kind of book it is! In this week's case it was an epic fantasy novel that is nearly 1000 pages long, but I still found something!

This quote comes from page 333 of The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss:

"Anything left for the stragglers?" Graham asked as he sank onto his stool.

Before he could reply, a bull-shouldered man clattered an empty plate onto the bar and set a fork down gently beside it. "That," he said in a booming voice," was a damn fine pie."

A thin woman with a pinched face stood next to him. "Don't you cuss, Elias," she said sharply. "There's no call for that."

"Oh honey," the big man said. "Don't get yourself in a twit. Damfine is a kind of apple, innit?" He grinned around at the folks sitting at the bar. "Sort of foreign apple from off in Atur? They named it after Baron Damfine if I remember correct."

Graham grinned back at him. "I think I heard that."

The woman glared at all of them.

"I got these from the Bentons," the innkeeper said meekly.

"Oh," the big farmer said with a smile. "That's my mistake then." He picked up a crumb of crust from the plate and chewed it speculatively. "I'd swear it was a Damfine pie for all that. Maybe the Bentons got them some Damfine apples and don't know it!

Last weekend when before I went to the Keith Urban concert (where my son fell asleep), we went out for dinner. For dessert I had an apple, rhubarb and berry crumble,which was delicious. It has however left me wanting to have more apple and rhubarb type dishes, especially as the nights are starting to turn cold and I am starting to think of comforting and warming winter foods.

I like this recipe because the pie is really a pastry lid, and so it should be pretty easy to use store bought pastry if I can't be bothered with actually making the pastry. I also really like the idea of a rustic open pie type thing where the pastry is folded up over the filling, but I couldn't find a recipe that sounded good for that.

Image credit

Rhubarb and Apple Pie

Filling
30g unsalted butter
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced
150g caster sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
1 bunch rhubarb, washed, sliced
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbs milk
Thick cream or custard, to serve

Pastry
300g plain flour
150g unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg

Instructions:

To make the pastry, place the flour and butter in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and 1-2 tablespoons chilled water and process until it comes together to form a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.


Preheat oven to 180°C.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the apples and sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes over low heat. Add the rhubarb and cinnamon and cook for a further 2-3 minutes until the fruits are just starting to soften. Transfer into a 3-litre (6-cup capacity) pie dish and set aside to cool.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface and cut a 1 1/2cm-wide strip of pastry. Press it around the rim of the pie dish and brush with a little water. Cover with remaining pastry, then trim the edges. (This method helps stop the pastry lid shrinking.) Pinch the pastry together to seal, brush with milk and scatter with the extra caster sugar.

Bake the pie for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is golden. Serve hot or warm with thick cream or custard.


Now I just need to get my oven fixed so that I can actually cook this!

 Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.

Aussie Author Month: Sara Foster - Writer on Tour

Before being published, I didn’t think much about the reality of touring and promoting books. Back then, writing felt like some kind of sublime struggle, a solo quest to set my imaginings on paper and shape them into the best stories they could possibly be. A lot of the time my search for the right words and phrases seemed like sifting sand, but now and again I would turn up something new – a stone? a gem? – and add it to my pile, until words became chapters and chapters became a book. I spent a lot of my free time in this solitary combat, turning my brain in on itself, driven by a determination that came from a place very deep inside me, one that seems to understand me better than I know myself. 

And then, publication! After a year of editing – which is a whole new level of brain sumo. And, of course, publication means publicity, which involves putting your pen down, sometimes for long stretches of time, and talking instead. My first public engagement – ever – was talking to 150 people in Winthrop Hall at UWA as part of Perth Writers Festival. I was so nervous that I mostly read from a script, something I repeated for much of the weekend. However, in my last event of the festival I was paired with two inspirational Australian women writers. Next to me was Anita Heiss, whose gregariousness and humour quickly charms any crowd. And beside her sat Liz Byrski, who might have been sitting in her lounge room, so assuredly did she lean forward and engage the audience, with no visible prompts, just an air of calm clarity that made you feel instantly at ease. 

 

After that, I wanted to be like both of them! I tend to believe that pretty much anything is possible when you set your mind to it – but I soon realised the folly of this ambition. Because the real reason I was inspired by them was because they seemed so unafraid to be themselves. What I actually needed to do was to encourage myself to be less guarded – to be unafraid of being me, not just in my writing, but in public speaking too. It was more about unravelling the knots I had tied around myself. That’s what I decided to aim for. 

This year I’ve done fourteen events so far for my new book. I’ve talked to groups numbering from five to eighty. I’ve had a wonderful amount of positive feedback. I’ve also watched one lady nod off repeatedly while I was talking, had one or two people leave mid-speech (hopefully because they had somewhere else to be!), and experienced a couple of people ripping into my book to my face. It was all a learning experience. Sometimes I’ve been as nervous as hell, but on other occasions I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. I didn’t write scripts, I just had prompt notes to hand, but I barely used them. I’m a work in progress, but I think I’m heading in the right direction. The irony is that just as you get used to life in public, you’re back to the solitary confinement of writing again. But for all its ups and downs I still don’t want it any other way.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you Sara for your post today!

Last month, I was lucky enough to attend one of those fourteen events, and no, I wasn't the person who was falling asleep! Sara was warm and gracious, spoke well and read from Beneath the Shadows, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! 

To find out more about Sara and her books, please visit her website.

Here are local bloggers with Sara at the event.

Library Loot: April 13 to 19

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

After quite a few weeks of only getting two or three books out of the library, this week there are quite a few more!

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith - The next book in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series.

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell - I enjoy reading Jill Mansell's books, so I am going to try and read those books of hers I haven't read yet.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch - I first heard of this over at BookSmugglers and have been waiting for it to come into the library every since.

Meet Grace by Sofia Laguna - this is the first in a series of historical novels for children, set in the early days of Australia. In all there are four girls to meet, and then each girl is going to get more than one story.

Angelique in Love by Sergeanne Golon - the next book in the Angelique series.

Emily by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles- the third and final book in the Kirov saga set in Russia.

Zombies vs Unicorns anthology - Oh dear. I seem to have become addicted to short story collections! There's a couple of Aussies in this one, so I have borrowed it in the hope of reading their stories this month for Aussie Author Month.

The Novel in the Viola by Natasha Solomons - I loved Mr Rosenblum's List when I read it last year, and have been anticipating this book ever since I read it!

Claire is hosting the Mr Linky this week, so head on over and share your loot!

Teaser Tuesday: Long and Short

For this week's Teaser Tuesday I am sharing two teasers, but they are from two completely different sized stories. One is from a short story that is about 20 pages long, and the other from a book that is very nearly 1000 pages long.

The first teaser comes from The Point of Roses, a short story that is in the Yellowcake collection by Aussie author Margo Lanagan, and is found on page 25 of the collection.

Alex's free hand crept into Billy's. Billy went still, feeling grateful and responsible and unworthy.

The second teaser comes from page 83 of Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

It was only then I realized I didn't know the name of Elodin's class. I leafed through the ledger until I spotted Elodin's name, then ran my finger back to where the title of the class was listed in fresh, dark ink: "Introduction to Not Being a Stupid Jackass."

I sighed and penned my name in the single blank space beneath.

Want to find out more about Aussie Author Month? Please click on the link!

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading. Head on over to find out all about it, and how to join in!

The Carmine Island stories from Glitter Rose by Marianne de Pierres

The Glitter Rose quartet is set against the stunning background of Carmine Island where a decade ago spores from deep in the ocean blew in by a freak of nature and settled there. Their strange phosphorescence brings a glitter rose dusk at certain tides.

Colourless at first, the sandy beaches rapidly become carpets of tiny, shining, rose-coloured grains as the sky darkens after sunset. These spores bring fierce allergies to the island locals. And maybe other, more sinister effects too. Follow Tinashi’s journey as she moves to the island, settles into island life and begins to discover just what is really happening on Carmine Island.

If you are coming to these elegant, truthful and sensuous stories for the first time I envy you. They’ll haunt your dreams, yes, but what fabulous dreams.– Trent Jamieson

My original plan when I decided to focus on short stories was to post about individual stories (much like I did for Relentless Adaptations) but that plan lasted only until I picked up Glitter Rose by Marianne de Pierres. This collection features five short stories, but four of those have the same characters, the same setting, and so are indelibly linked. It seems silly to review them separately, so instead in this post I will concentrate on the four linked stories and then I will post about the stand alone fifth story later.

In one way having the four stories connected makes this a really good collection for those of us who don't really normally read short stories, because the linked narrative and the chronological way they are put together in this book means that it is almost like reading different chapters in a novel.

In the first story, Glimmer-by-Dark, our main character Tanisha is returning to Carmine Island after years of being away. It is clear that Tanisha is escaping to Carmine right from the opening line:

I drifted back to Carmine Island on a whim - a fragment of memory - like a warm current. A means to float, no matter how much I wanted to drown.

In itself this decision is interesting given that Carmine Island has been afflicted by spores that have destroyed the islands tourism industry.

The spores had settled a decade ago, a freak of nature blown in from deeper waters, settling like a veil over Carmine, bringing with them fierce irritations and allergies. The residents who couldn't afford the expensive immunosuppressants, suffered the exotic, often terminal, afflictions of the spores. Holiday makers deserted - traded for those resolute in their seclusion. Tourism confined itself to the indolent young rich, clutching their antidote, Tyline, searching for the hint of danger to shift their inertia.

Tanisha is an outsider, but is soon taken in by a group of the locals who share with her the dangers of living in this place. Some of the dangers are obvious, but others are hidden in the strange and ethereal beauty that the spores have bought to the island:

With the last of the sunset, The Bara dropped to a breath, and strange phosphorescence claimed the sand, colourless at first and rapidly changing to a carpet of tiny, shining, rose-coloured grains. Something about them compelled me to hasten to the beach and run them through my fingers and toes.

But no one knows how the spores will affect them, and everyone is effected differently, and the danger is not only from the spores.

In Moonflowers at the Ritz, the focus shifts to some of the previously mentioned "indolent young rich" - "wealthy, youthful faces of the Ritz blended into a morass of prematurely softening features and casual sneers peculiar to those who never need concern themselves with money." The spores affect even those few tourists who come to the island, and the locals who are now Tinashi's companions, including the beautiful Lauren and the intense Katrin, do not remain unaffected by the chain of events that occur.

The third story is, I think, my favourite. In The Flag Game, we finally find out more about Tanisha, about what it is that has driven her to Carmine Island in the first place. When the butterflies come to Carmine it signifies a fertile year, and the flag game is played.

"The sandcastles are spore work, Tinashi.. No-one quite knows how they remain standing against the tides."

I thought of the immense, rose-tainted citadels that stoically endured wind and water. How I yearned to climb their ramparts at low tide and learn their secrets. Like everything on Carmine, the most dangerous things were the most enticing.

"When the butterflies swirl, the locals play a game among the castles. It must be completed before high tide, for no swimmer ca survive against the water's pull."

And what does the winner receive?" I asked, intrigued despite myself.

Katrin regarded me from underneath her lashes. I saw a flash of cruelty. "To outsiders the prize is seen to be a parcel of land but the truth is that the spores decide."

In the fourth and final story, Mama Ailon, both Tanisha and the reader get to know some of the indigenous population of Carmine. When a series of tragedies occur, Tanisha knows that she has something to do with it, but she doesn't know how, or why. Whilst the other three stories have been published elsewhere before being put into this collection, this one is a new story, and certainly feels like it brings the four stories to a suitable close.

The prose throughout the four short stories is powerfully beautiful and evocative, with what description there is of the island and the spores being sufficient to bring the world to life without spending pages and pages in world building - something that there really wouldn't be much space for in the short story format. I can see myself revisiting these stories time and time again.

I have mentioned a number of times before that I am a read in order kind of girl. It would have to be exceptional circumstances for me to know that the book I was reading was not the next book chronologically in a series. The reason why I mention this is that before being bought together in one collection in chronological order, these four stories were published individually in different magazines which led me to wonder how they would stand up if you read the third story first for example. I can't unread the stories in order to try and read out of order. From what I can imagine they would, as evidenced by the fact that at least one of the stories, The Flag Game, was longlisted for a BSFA (British Science Fiction Award) when it was originally published.

I do have to say something about the quality of this book. It is a gorgeous pink coloured small sized hardcover, with illustrations included. It is not a cheap book by any stretch of the imagination, but it does feel and look gorgeous and includes several illustrations (which can also be seen at Marianne de Pierres website) and so for me was worth the money. I was also very excited when I opened the book and saw that I had managed to buy a signed copy. It was only later that I found out that it is a limited edition and that every copy is signed!

My plan is to post about the final story in the collection (a non Carmine Island story) in the next week or so.

This post was produced as part of Aussie Author Month, counts for the Aussie Author Challenge, and also counts for the Short Story Quest in the Once Upon a Time challenge.

Weekend Cooking: What DO give a vampire for dinner? Part two

When I did my Weekend Cooking post on the weekend, I didn't realise that the author of A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness, had already provided some handy tips in relation to the questions, both in terms of what wine to serve, and what food to serve up!

When I did find these on Youtube, I just had to share!





 Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.