I’ve dealt with the editing of Have Wine will Travel with Virtual Tales and now it only remains for me to sign the contract. I’ve included the new cover on my slideshow, but for those of you who haven’t spotted that, here it is again, together with my original - a decidedly DIY effort created with the aid of a scarlet tablecloth; an old bottle of wine (later used in a casserole) and a couple of glasses from Sainsbury's. 
In the meantime, they tell me that the rating is going to change from 13 plus to R - which means restricted, I think, to a more or less adult readership - due, so they tell me, to the mature themes and controversial content (discussion of abortion, the gay couple, “living in sin”, extramarital affairs, domestic violence, etc.). I said I thought this was reasonable; I was rather surprised it originally had a 13 plus rating. Perhaps the watershed would have been better set at 15 or 16.
And talking of age related issues, I’ve been to have a hearing test, and apparently I’m losing some of the higher pitch sounds, which accounts for tinnitus rushing in to take their place. I have to learn to ignore this - like I also try to ignore the double vision that I suffer from sometimes. My brain is having to work hard to ignore all these things.
At Guildford Writers, last night, I managed, after some speedy copy typing to produce a couple of pages of the next novel to read to the group. This was taken from the stuff I wrote on holiday, but needs work. So, alas, does every aspect of my life at the moment. As always, I don’t know what to do first.
Before the book circle provides me with next month’s read, I managed to squeeze in most of The Shining Skull by Kate Ellis, another of my prizes from Piatkus Books. This is a far better book than To Die For, which I read on holiday. There’s no gratuitous sex or violence in it, and to me comes under the genre of traditional detective story in that nothing too terrible is likely to happen to the detectives so one can be a bit detached. The author also has a sense of humour which comes out in the narration. I am near the end and am curious at how it will come out; it has an intricate and carefully worked out plot. Having said that, I found the numerous characters difficult to sort out initially. But The Shining Skull is the 11th book in a series about the same detective; no doubt if I had read the others, I would have known something about the principal characters at the beginning. I still find a problem with the many viewpoints though. With Tainted Tree, I deliberately set out to have one main viewpoint, apart from letters and diary entries. It seems to me that if you have too many viewpoints, it weakens the book from an emotional point of view. Interesting but not moving.
The Son&Heir and family are coming at the weekend and hope to enjoy our Village Open Day, where I and my Goldenford buddies will have a table. There’ll be lots to do for them, so I won’t be missed. A maze and a scarecrow competition and the army out in force with things to explore, as well as lunch, ice-creams and strawberry teas. Let’s hope the sun shines.
In the meantime, they tell me that the rating is going to change from 13 plus to R - which means restricted, I think, to a more or less adult readership - due, so they tell me, to the mature themes and controversial content (discussion of abortion, the gay couple, “living in sin”, extramarital affairs, domestic violence, etc.). I said I thought this was reasonable; I was rather surprised it originally had a 13 plus rating. Perhaps the watershed would have been better set at 15 or 16.
And talking of age related issues, I’ve been to have a hearing test, and apparently I’m losing some of the higher pitch sounds, which accounts for tinnitus rushing in to take their place. I have to learn to ignore this - like I also try to ignore the double vision that I suffer from sometimes. My brain is having to work hard to ignore all these things.
At Guildford Writers, last night, I managed, after some speedy copy typing to produce a couple of pages of the next novel to read to the group. This was taken from the stuff I wrote on holiday, but needs work. So, alas, does every aspect of my life at the moment. As always, I don’t know what to do first.
Before the book circle provides me with next month’s read, I managed to squeeze in most of The Shining Skull by Kate Ellis, another of my prizes from Piatkus Books. This is a far better book than To Die For, which I read on holiday. There’s no gratuitous sex or violence in it, and to me comes under the genre of traditional detective story in that nothing too terrible is likely to happen to the detectives so one can be a bit detached. The author also has a sense of humour which comes out in the narration. I am near the end and am curious at how it will come out; it has an intricate and carefully worked out plot. Having said that, I found the numerous characters difficult to sort out initially. But The Shining Skull is the 11th book in a series about the same detective; no doubt if I had read the others, I would have known something about the principal characters at the beginning. I still find a problem with the many viewpoints though. With Tainted Tree, I deliberately set out to have one main viewpoint, apart from letters and diary entries. It seems to me that if you have too many viewpoints, it weakens the book from an emotional point of view. Interesting but not moving.
The Son&Heir and family are coming at the weekend and hope to enjoy our Village Open Day, where I and my Goldenford buddies will have a table. There’ll be lots to do for them, so I won’t be missed. A maze and a scarecrow competition and the army out in force with things to explore, as well as lunch, ice-creams and strawberry teas. Let’s hope the sun shines.
3 comments:
I so love that cover - and the title too!
:))
A
xxx
Time's past and I'm less protective than I was at the beginning.
I agree, the cover's great.
Hi Emily/Jules,
I'm somewhat confused.
I've emailed you, but perhaps you can provide me with more details.
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