Tag Archives: drollerie press

Sunday 9th May, 2010

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  May 9, 2010 - 00:13 | Site Diary
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Continuing to plug Coyote Con [External Link], a political aside and some minor life-organising.

Coyote Con [External Link], the “First Annual 31 Day Digital Author Conference”, continues throughout the month of May. I attended yesterday (last night for the afternoon session as I’m on BST while the servers are on EST – I think) and will be attending tonight. Transcripts of the sessions are also being posted on their blog. It’s worth taking a look at to see what came up in conversation. As mentioned last week, one of the key forces behind the conference is the cast and crew of the good ship Drollerie Press [External Link], who also deserve a look in. (And I’m on their forums so please say “Hi!”)

For those of you who are a) not British, b) not aware of British politics or c) living under a rock, you may not know or care that we just had a General Election. Suffice it to say that we have a rather archaic vote counting system here in the UK and there are a number of people – myself included – who are not happy with it (“Take Back Parliament” [External Link]). If you’re interested in what it’s like to be a(n apparently lily-livered) Liberal in the UK, Dylan Fox [External Link] made some interesting posts on working out how to use his vote during the process and some commentary since. How does this change my life? Unfortunately, not a lot.

The next point: the About Me page has been rewritten slightly. The catalyst for this is a change in job description: I’ve gone from being a Leachate Technician (which I’m not going to explain) to Closed Sites Technical Manager (ditto) covering South Yorkshire. All within the same company, Waste Recycling Group (or WRG) [External Link]. I’m also in the process of buying a house for the first time, so expect to see disruption to update schedules in the next few months – once I have a moving date and actually have to do something!

And a quick update on how my projects are going:

  1. 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf

    2 werewolves down, 23 to go.

  2. The Three Guineveres

    Part the 1st: 1 battle down, 12 to go.

  3. Not going to tell you!

    You know, I shouldn’t be teasing you about a project I’m not talking to you about…

Sunday 2nd May, 2010

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  May 2, 2010 - 00:10 | Site Diary
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A plug for Coyote Con [External Link] and a plug for me!

I hope the First of May passed more easily than folk tradition would suggest. It’s apparently an inauspicious day to start anything but there are at least two things I hope go well!

First of all, Drollerie Press [External Link] (whose forums I play around on and whom have been kind enough to publish one of my short stories) is one of the organisations involved in Coyote Con [External Link], the “First Annual 31 Day Digital Author Conference”, which runs for the month of May. Go have a look and have a natter. But be aware that server time is East Coast America.

And the plug for me. The podcast (that’s audio recording / broadcast to thee and me) of Half-Breed is up on Cossmass Infinities [External Link]. It’s episode 5 and read by Paul W Campbell, who has a lovely voice. (I’m not just saying that.) If you enjoy it, you might like to know it first appeared in print in Twisted Tongue, Issue 11 [External Link], which is available in hardcopy or pdf formats and is well worth a browse.

Addendum: Almost forgot the Great SteamPunk Debate [External Link], which also opened on 01/05/2010. Have a browse and enjoy that, too!

Sunday 28th November, 2009

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  November 28, 2009 - 18:23 | Site Diary
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A reminder of a November competition, a writing update and genealogy tweak.

The reminder first. The Drollerie Press forums [External Link] are running a contest:

Anyone who, between now and November 30, A) Posts in the DP forum (you may need to register to do so, if you are not already a member. When you register, please also send an e-mail to drollerie_interact@yahoo.com with the words “forum name” in the header and the name you registered in the body of the text) and B) Guesses one of my top two favourite forum posts as DokodemoElisa will be entered in a drawing to win one of two copies of Kinlea Keeper OR (if you can’t wait until the end of November to read Kinlea Keeper) a copy of the Curse, the second book in the series, which will be coming out by February.

This can be found with further details here: [External Link].

Information about the books mentioned can be found here: [External Link].

You’ve got another day left to enter if you’re interested. The ebooks are a good read and pretty cheap, conversion from US dollars to UK sterling, if you’d rather just buy them straight out.

On the writing front, I’ve been working on the ideas behind my Alex Jones world so the page has changed to reflect that. I’m also in the process of writing the third story – working title The Dog Handler. Actually, I hope to be finishing it some time today.

And finally, a tweak on the CHARLESWORTH page. Mike SPATHAKY of the connected CREE family (and owner of the CREE web-site [External Link] and the Bolsover Surnames index [External Link]) mentioned that there was a discrepancy between dates as given on the page and in the pdf file for the Job CHARLESWORTH line. This is, of course, down to sheer laziness. The program I use for all my files allows me to only report the primary dates for an individual rather than all variations and I’d picked the wrong dates to report. D’oh! All fixed.

Sunday 15th November, 2009

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  November 15, 2009 - 18:12 | Site Diary
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A genealogy update (with thank you) and some writing news.

I’ve finished, or at least got to a stage that I can share, a TABERNER update. There’s some additional information, a minor pruning on the Alternative line and a little extra linkage. Again, this is due to the Lancashire OPC [External Link] team and their project, so a big and well deserved “Thank you” goes to them. I have no idea what I would do without them!

The prize for most intriguing relationships goes to my great great great grandfather, William TABERNER, for marrying two Ann ROBYs. I’d always assumed the different ages given for census data were just lying to make herself feel better, but it turns out she’s two people! The first Ann became known as Alice and died in 1874. The second Ann had already been married to a RUTTER and married William in June 1874.

Next week, more CHARLESWORTH changes. Mike SPENCER and his postings on the DERBYS-Gen list have borne some more fruit. Along with some marriage look-ups by Sue BROWN (on the same list). Updates and proper thanks to the heroes in question next week, I promise.

And on to writing.

The Drollerie Press [External Link] Little Red Riding Hood anthology, Straying From The Path is well and truly out. You can find out more about it here: [External Link]. And just so you remember what to look for, my story is The Big, Bad Wolf and I’m Jo Thomas. Just making sure…

I’ve had another short accepted for an anthology. Broken Bear, my attempt at capturing a bit of Celtic and a bit of Viking mythologies, has been accepted for Ricasso Press’ [External Link] Through Blood and Iron Anthology. Oh, and if you care to know, a ricasso is “The unsharpened section of the blade near the hilt and usually within the guards in front of the quillions.” Says so right here: [External Link].

Sunday 8th November, 2009

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  November 8, 2009 - 18:06 | Site Diary
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Hey up! News of a competition if you’re interested.

I am, amongst other things, one of the moderators on the Drollerie Press forums [External Link] and my colleague there is running a contest:

Anyone who, between now and November 30, A) Posts in the DP forum (you may need to register to do so, if you are not already a member. When you register, please also send an e-mail to drollerie_interact@yahoo.com with the words “forum name” in the header and the name you registered in the body of the text) and B) Guesses one of my top two favourite forum posts as DokodemoElisa will be entered in a drawing to win one of two copies of Kinlea Keeper OR (if you can’t wait until the end of November to read Kinlea Keeper) a copy of the Curse, the second book in the series, which will be coming out by February.

This can be found with further details here: [External Link]

Information about the books mentioned can be found here: [External Link]

Otherwise, not much to say this week. I’m playing with the TABERNERs in the background, but no update until I’ve ironed out a few wrinkles. Writing is sort of on the back-burner. I have a few ideas but they’re not going very far very fast…

And to distract you from the lack of news, the lovely Michael Bublé. I think I’ve become addicted.

Sunday 1st November, 2009

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  November 1, 2009 - 18:01 | Site Diary
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Happy Halloween / Samhain to those of you who celebrate it as a proper religious holiday and a general thank you for anyone who’s had fireworks this weekend. I have one of the few dogs who enjoys watching them. And boy did he have fun last night!

Oh, and some writing reminders, again:

My second Alex Jones story, Heart’s Desire, has been accepted by Drops of Crimson [External Link] for their latest issue. It actually came out today (01/11/2009) but the links were a little screwy and I was credited as Jo Thompson. But please go and have a look as the errors should be fixed soon if not now.

The Drollerie Press [External Link] Little Red Riding Hood anthology, Straying From The Path, should have come out in electronic format(s) this week. It hasn’t so sorry for the mess-around. It should be out soon, though, and I’ll let you know as soon as!

Sunday 25th October, 2009

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  October 25, 2009 - 14:39 | Site Diary
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A weekend in Cumbria visiting my sister and niece, so no real news but two writing reminders.

First, the reminders:

My second Alex Jones story, Heart’s Desire, has been accepted by Drops of Crimson [External Link] for their October issue, due out on Halloween (that’s 31/10/2009).

The Drollerie Press [External Link] Little Red Riding Hood anthology, Straying From The Path, should be out in electronic format(s) from Monday 26th October. I have a stand-alone story The Big, Bad Wolf in it.

And that’s pretty much it. See you next week.

Sunday 18th October, 2009

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  October 18, 2009 - 14:41 | Site Diary
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Some more genealogy updates with thank yous and a writing success. OK, it’s just a little one but it’s still a success!

First, my writing news. My second Alex Jones story, Heart’s Desire, has been accepted by Drops of Crimson [External Link] for their October issue, due out on Halloween (that’s 31/10/2009).

And a moment of advance warning: The Drollerie Press [External Link] Little Red Riding Hood anthology, Straying From The Path, should be out in electronic format(s) from Monday 26th October.

In genealogy updates, I have a complete reshuffle of my CHARLESWORTHs page. This is thanks to new information from distantly related Julian WEBSTER. He got in touch and presented his research. This shifted the bulk of what I’d had a the MASON line over to the Black Bull line. There are some seismic shifts here, guys, so really check it against the data you’ve taken from me previously! If nothing else, it’s relegated a couple of lines to the Unconnected section on the page.

Finally, there are also some minor additions of CHARLESWORTH individuals and their dates, thanks to Mike SPENCER and his postings on the DERBYS-Gen list. Ta, Mike!

Sunday 12th April, 2009

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  April 12, 2009 - 15:34 | Site Diary
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Two bits of writing news today. First off, I’ve finally got round to putting my elf stories on-line. Or, at least, I’ve put the first of the three up. Faith is about 7 000 words or 31 pages long, so you may want to print it out if you don’t like reading from a screen. Hope will be up next week. (Poor you!)

Secondly, I’ve had the opportunity to read through a proof / draft of Straying From the Path (the anthology from Drollerie Press [External Link] that contains my story The Big, Bad Wolf). I don’t have a firm date, but I think we can expect it very soon.