In which we are thankful for books and reading........

Or, what I read in November!

There was a lot of re-reading this month, the Tales of Amaranth series because I needed to re-read the first four before I could read the new one to refresh my memory - and yes, I these books may be on the short side but I really do like them - I think because the happy endings aren't reliant on the slave becoming free - this is a Master/slave society where freedom isn't an option so both must make the best of what they have.

Some of the other re-reads were caused by the death of Kindle the Third..... can't manage 6 days without reading something so comfort reading it was!

Favourites of the new books this month go to Mahu by Neil Plakcy - not a romance as such but a good solid detective story with a gay MC who is suddenly forced out of his closet in a hostile environment.  I shall look forward to reading the rest of the series and Threshold by Jordan L Hawk - the second book the Whyborne & Griffin series (featuring the wonderful Christine) sees them battling supernatural/alien creatures who are taking control of the workers in a mine - looking forward to the third in the series which is out next month

1.                Ricochet – Xanthe Walters (r)

2.                Dark Heart – Thom Lane (r)

3.                Healing Heart – Thom Lane (r)

4.                Hidden Heart – Thom Lane (r)

5.                Runaway Heart – Thom Lane (r)

6.                Gambling Heart – Thom Lane - Nice addition to the series, and sees the return of Lucan and Tam from the first book.

7.                Tag Team – SJD Peterson - this is the second book in this series, and whilst I enjoyed it more than the first I really struggle with some issues in the plot and find myself getting very annoyed when reading.

8.                Unacceptable Risk – Kaje Harper (r)

9.                Unexpected Demands – Kaje Harper (r)

10.            Jacob’s Ladder – Z.A. Maxfield (r)

11.            Faith & Fidelity – Tere Michaels (r)

12.            Coyote’s Creed – Demont R Vaughan - This urban fantasy was my PIFM book this month.  Not one I'd have chosen myself, but it was a nicely set up story with a wicked sense of humour running through the writing

13.            Threshold – Jordan L Hawk

14.            Mahu –Neil Plakcy

15.            Shock & Awe – Abigail Roux 

16.            Devil at the Crossroads – Cornelia Grey

17.            Taken – Andrew Grey - This is the follow up to Stranded, and I enjoyed both books, but, there was a huge problem for me when the characters went off the UK... the author clearly didn't run his choice of language and narrative past anyone who actually lives here as some of the words he used, well, just no, really, seriously, no

18.            Worth Waiting For – Kim Dare

19.            Love & Loyalty – Tere Michaels (r)

20.            Homo Action Love Story, A Tall Tale – Ben Monopoli - This was fun, a lot of fun, in a mad and random kind of way... I mean, Paintball as a professional sport that has eclipsed all other forms of professional sports?!

21.            Duty & Devotion – Tere Michaels (r)

And so we head off to the final month of the year.  I have a writing deadline on 5th December so there will be no reading anything new until the story is finished... that said... I have saved the Market Garden series by Voinov & Witt to start, and probably finish, this month ... well I've nearly 10 days away from work over Christmas... serious reading time I think!!

Saturday song.......

The Feeling are a band that I love some of their songs, and can leave the rest... this, most recent one, I really like....

Again with the powers of destruction........

Last week, on Wednesday in fact, I had been happily reading on my Kindle at lunch time, but by the time I had got home it was dead....... not one to believe things straight away I cursed, rebooted, cursed again, checked online help, rebooted again.... but no, half the screen saver remained stubbornly stuck across the reading screen.... so I phoned up the Dead Kindle Helpline to be told, yep, it's dead......... and as it's not under warranty anymore - why yes, I did finally manage to keep one for over a year - I would need a replacement......... So I have gone from a Kindle Keyboard to a Kindle Touch (not brand new, the Zon offer guaranteed refurbished Kindles for cheap when you are phoning to whine a lot about your's dying) ... It arrived on Tuesday and I am slowly getting to grips with it - though I have safely transferred all my books over.......

Then, the same day I get the replacement Kindle, it's the turn of my mobile phone to die.... well not die as such.... but suddenly decided that it can't read the SIM card......... it refuses to recognise that it's even in there.  I did as the mobile provider suggested......... removed the SIM card, wiped it with a clean cloth and put it back... but no... still nothing.....

I was out Tuesday night for sister's partner's birthday meal so last night, I picked up the land line phone to phone the mobile provider (whilst wincing more than slightly at the call charges for doing so from a landline) only to find that lo and behold..... my landline wasn't working.  It appears to be a fault with the handsets or base unit - though I'm not sure why as it was working fine Tuesday night...... so this weekend I shall have to go to the mobile phone shop to get them to find out why the SIM card has stopped working and then to the Evil Cult of the Electrical Devices to purchase a new land line phone.......... Though I fear that me walking into a big shop selling electrical equipment may possibly result in terminal chaos....

I am hoping, as these things come in threes, that that this is it on the breaking technology for a while.... a long while......... but I wouldn't bet on it!

Busy doing nothing......

So, it's the weekend... yes.... a time to relax and chill out from the working week.... or in fact write like the wind in view of the 5th December deadline...

And I have no Kindle at present thanks to my amazing ability to kill technology so I hadn't got books as a distraction (well aside from the paper ones that lurk in most rooms of the house)

well that last part was the plan....

Yesterday I faffed about, did laundry, got my shopping delivered, ordered Christmas presents on line, watched Dr Who (okay, well, that was kind of obligatory in our family) and wrote... bugger all.

Today, I had good intentions........ I got up early, switched on the computer then.... made a birthday cake for my sister's partner, chopped up a load of veg to make a casserole in the slow cooker, made a spinach, red onion and mushroom fritatta and cauliflower cheese (which, really, I must stop calling boiled brain in cheese sauce... but really, a whole cauliflower does look like that)...

I've also cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and bleached the yard......

I've been up and down the stairs about a million times... mainly because I've got the electric fire plugged in up there in the hope of having dry clothes for work.... but every time I hear the thunder of paws overhead and something go crash I have to go check the cats haven't managed to knock something off the coat hangers that are hanging in the doorway and draped it over the fire.... yep, paranoid, but with reason, it's the sort of evilly stupid thing my cats would do.

oh and manicured my finger nails and taken the unusual step of painting them.... I don't normally, because really it's just not usually me, but today I felt like it......... they are ice blue...... which of course is a totally reasonable colour for a professional 40 year old to colour their nails isn't it??

I have opened the word document I am working on.... twice... but the words they are just not happening....

Ah well, I've a whole evening ahead to..... ooh, look, shiny.....  hummm,.... what was I saying :)

100 words - the midweek edition ....

As much as I belong to them, they belong to me.

No one asked them to take me in, to care for me. My heart was as broken and battered as my body, my mind screamed for the loss of my love. Slowly they taught me that my world did not end with him, that I could survive.

I couldn’t tell you when survival became living, or when I discovered that there was still hope in the world. I couldn’t tell you when I came to love them, or when they came to love me.

Together we are a family.

Don't wanna go to work tomorrow and other stuff............

I've discovered a problem with having long weekends........... come Monday night I really don't want to go back to work again the next day.

This has been the second of four long weekends I am having to use up my annual leave - I had good intentions to write, do housework, buy Christmas gifts......... what I've done is catch up on a lot of sleep and laundry, and broken in a new pair of Converse.

Turns out the breaking in of new shoes was a bloody good and long overdue occurrence..... my knees and back have been particularly bad for the last couple of months - not unusual this time of year - but my right knee in particular was starting to worry me .... but miraculously.... or probably not... wearing new shoes for a few days and my knee is tonnes better - turns out I need to replace my shoes before they are almost completely warn through because the way I walk wears down the soles in a certain way to make my knees twist and hurt my back.......... I shall try to remember this!  

Okay, so I did write a bit over the weekend.... but then I decided today that in fact I suck at it, can't do it and that everything I write is crap....... I don't know why I do this every single bloody time I am about a third of the way through writing something, it's like my self confidence has this trigger point and implodes....... okay, not helped by the fact I beta read something for an author whose work I love ..... I need to go read something published by a mainstream author that is truly crap so that I can remind myself I can do this....... and, erm, soon... cos like 5th December deadline is looming ominously!  

I say this about my writing at the same time as discovering my LHNB story has been nominated in one of the categories in the M/M group's 2013 awards......... 

What else....... erm........ the wing mirror dropped off my car today - I must go get it fixed......... if of course come tomorrow morning I can get out the driveway as we are promised freezing temperatures overnight - and they aren't kidding - the thermometer is dropping rapidly......... oh and I need to get petrol on the way to work as I forgot earlier.... 

Ah well, I should go get some more bits and pieces done......... like more knitting of Christmas hat the second. .... before bed time....

100 Words...

The cold metal of the gun’s muzzle ran up my spine, through the goose-bumps that had risen on my skin.  It came to rest, pushing hard at the base of my skull.  

My heart rate accelerated.  My head started to spin, the air seemed to rush from my lungs.… and I did something I’ve never done before.

“Tortoise.” I gasped.

The gun was flung to one side.  I felt the bed next to me dip with his weight.  Warm hands took me by the shoulders and pulled me over into his solid body.

“It’s fine. You’re safe,” he whispered.