Mad March Reading........

This has probably been the least I've read in a month for, well, ages, at least since I've had the Kindle.

My time has been taken up with work and writing, leaving not much time for reading.... mainly because after a day and then evening in front of a screen the last thing I wanted to do was look at another.  

Favourite books this month were Fractured by Mickie B Ashling - I really do like the way this author writes and the previous two books in this series are some of my favourites from my early days of reading M/M - and High Fidelity by M. Chandler, which is the last of the Shadow of The Templar series of crime capers.... all of these were good, but this one and the first were probably the bset.

Most disappointed with book was Ball & Chain, the latest in the Cut & Run Series by Abigail Roux.  I think the author has had enough of these characters - probably because they weren't both hers to start with - and is ready to move on to a new adventure.  It's just a pity that it shows in the plot line.

1. With a Bullet – M. Chandler
2. High Fidelity –M. Chandler
3. The Affair of the Porcelain Dog – Jess Faraday
4. Family Man – Heidi Cullinan
5. Ball & Chain – Abigail Roux
6. Elements of Retrofit – N. R. Walker

7. Foxe Tail – Hayley Walsh
8. Fox Hunt – Hayley Walsh
9. Out –Foxed – Hayley Walsh
10. Apple Polisher – Heidi Belleau
11. Keeping Sweets – Cate Ashwood
12. Fractured – Mickie B Ashling

13. Deviations: Submission - Chris Owen (r)

I've also been reading, well dipping in and out of, Medieval England, Who's Who in Early Medieval England, the Plantagenet Chronicles and various other texts whilst I've been writing my story for the Love Landscapes event.

100 words.....

By night we fly together, our bodies floating on the currents of the wind as we rise and fall under the light of the moon.  We dance in the sky, our feathers brushing as we pass close, the only touch we can have.

But at dawn it ends, by first light we are grounded. As the sun burns his wings away he returns to his fully human form, and then he returns to his lover and his mortal life.

Whilst I must watch over him, protect him day and night.  For me he is more precious than the crown jewels.

Saturday song.....

I couldn't work out who this song was by when I first heard it on the radio, but it caught in my head and I found myself singing along.... 

In which cats are the bane of my existence.....

Life hasn't been very interesting round here.... my free time has been taken up mainly with writing and desperately knitting my March project (which is doomed to failure at this stage but never mind...)

I think the cats are very disapproving of the lack of attention.........and it's not just mine.....

Though of course, it's mainly down to Hugo......

For Christmas, my mum bought me a new laundry basket... a nice pale blue plastic thing that looks like an old fashioned shopping bag with holes in the side.. I dutifully put my dirty clothes in it pending enough for a load of laundry....... and discovered a couple of weeks ago that Hugo thinks that this is an alternative litter tray and keeps peeing in it!  I've resorted to covering it with a black bin bag now - which defeats the object of having a nice looking laundry basket that matches the blue decor in the bedroom....

In another laundry related cat tale..... Gina has taken to throwing up...... on my bed....seriously, last week we went through four king size sheets and two duvet covers........ She's got no coat so I know it's not fur balls.... I was contemplating taking her to be checked over by the vets, till I caught her, pulling the loose hair out of my comb and eating it then throwing up..... comb is now de-haired and popped in the draw... I did catch her trying to open the draw but she's not managed yet!

Aside from the general annoyances.... there's then the actual physical injuries they've caused.  A few nights ago, I was getting the dogs ready for bed, pottering around the kitchen and switching off the electrical stuff (very important, this is me, leaving anything on over night is just asking for trouble!) ... as I bent forward over the kitchen table to log off the lap top, Gina suddenly leapt from the end of the bannister, over the babygate, and onto my back........ which only had a thin T-shirt covering it......... then she panicked...... realising that the dogs were all in the kitchen too and in fact had noticed her........ well, she got back over the babygate into the hall....... but my back was sacrificed for the greater (?) good!  It looks a little like it's been used as a pincushion (well, more so than usual - in the past for part of my medical treatment I had a lot of lumber punctures (34 in a period of 5 months) and I already have a tonne of needle mark scarring on my back already)

To add insult to injury last night Hugo decided that he needed to stroke my hair with his paws whilst I was trying to drop off to sleep...... which is all very well and good.... until he used his claws..... I ended up turfing him out the bedroom when he actually managed to draw them all down my scalp.  I'd forgotten about it by morning...... until I went to wash my hair......... there was cursing....... a lot of cursing......


I should be grateful....... apparently..... my mother's cat has discovered a stash of mice..... last night whilst I was round there having coffee after dinner, there was a crash as the at burst through the cat flap and ran into the lounge where we were sitting... She pounced a few times, which we thought at first was her just playing with the toys on the floor......... but no, she stepped back.... and lo! there was a mouse... a rather terrified mouse... which unfroze and legged it into the fireplace - which has no fire, but does have a nice selection of house plants.  The cat went to follow and I suggested mum move the plants before there was soil over the floor..... Unfortunately though the cat didn't want to play anymore (let alone dispose of the mouse)... and mum decided I wasn't allowed to leave until the mouse was out the house.  I used my best rodent wrangling skills ... and an old plastic tub.... to extract the mouse who was then dropped off over the fence on the opposite side of the road......... I am now waiting for the phone to ring with a request for my services as the family mouse extractor....... (thank goodness my sister's cat is an evil despot who simply takes mice to the theatre of death (the bath) and dispatches them there)


and here's me saying that I'm not having any more dogs after these four.... but will contemplate a couple more cats in due course.......... maybe I should seek professional help for this one......

Saturday Song.....

I heard this on the radio the other day and the lyrics just kind of stuck in my head.....

Research......

Well I am having lots of fun....

I have been lost in the 12 century or there about for the last few days whilst I find my way into my characters heads.

The topics for research have included....

Gay relationships in the medieval period - including looking at source material for same sex relationships in the nobility and church - some of which were formalised in "spiritual brotherhoods" and sometimes known as "affrerements"- which were blessed in church with a ceremony very similar to marriage.  It wasn't until about a century after my story is set that the church got really into their "sex is only for procreation" thing and began the long road of criminalising homosexuality - or sodomy as it was referred to then.  Finding this has given me quite a bit more scope for the relationships my MC has before he finally gets together with his other half.

There has been a lot of looking at pictures of appropriate everyday clothing for the average outlaw... with consideration to ease of access.... fastenings and undergarments......  which then bought about the question of lube .... I think the best we can do for that is going to be goose grease or lamb fat.....which for this vegetarian is just hard to get my head round...

I have scouted out locations and looked at reasonable distances for the traveller on foot and horseback........ luckily I get to set this one in England and what's more I can make it fairly local to me.  I've changed some names for main settings, but a lot are based on real places that still exist today....I am planning a drive about next weekend to see if i can get some photos and more inspiration.

And then there's the weaponry.  Now I am familiar with the long bow and can waffle on happily about draw
weights, arrow length, fletchings, trajectory... and how best to avoid giving yourself massive bruising on the inside of your arm and worse still your bust (yep... chest guards are a must for those with reasonable size busts - not something that our MC would have a problem with).... but my MC has a sword... and after spending a rather long time looking about on line and watching sword fights on YouTube I've decided that  it is a long sword, rather than a broad sword, and what's more .... I want one!

No seriously, I really want a long sword........... I mentioned this to a friend......... who pointed out that I'd probably only go and fall over and stab myself... or worse... she suggests I stick to mock battles with stalks of rhubarb.... some people are no fun :)

Love's Landscape writing event....

So here we are again.... after wavering and thinking I might not take part in this year's writing event hosted by the M/M Group on Goodreads, a few weeks ago I thought to myself, well, why not... if the right prompt came along.... and then I fixated on the fact that I wanted to write another historical (last year's contemporary was okay, but felt clunky and awkward to me, I much preferred my Vikings from the year before).

At first when the prompts went up there wasn't anything that really grabbed me and said "write my story", and it was difficult to get a prompt they were going so fast!  I stayed up late last night having though I'd found "the one" but missed it by milliseconds!  This morning I got up early and went into work well before time so I could sit in front of the computer and check the prompts, just in case.  And there it was... my prompt... From first seeing it to when the prompts opened I'd outlined the story... I just had to make sure I got it... and I did... So this is it....

Dear Author,

The man in the picture has a difficult choice to make, and whatever he decides will influence many lives. Who is he, and what led him to where he is now?

I'd love to read a story set in the Middle Ages, with plot that isn't solely focused on the relationship. Explicit sexual content and tension are beyond welcome, but please no non-con scenes or BDSM.

Think steel, blood, sweat, and forbidden lust. ;D

Sincerely,

Agnes

P.S.: I'd prefer it not to be too angsty— people were tough back then ;)

I am really pleased with this one..... I just hope that I can do the author's prompt justice and she likes it.... and the request for minimal angst is fine with me.... I still don't really get the concept!!
My kitchen table is currently covered in reference books and a couple of novels - the advantages to having an unfulfilled wish to study medieval history as I check facts and locations.... but I have a plan, and tonight I shall outline and possibly work on a couple of "flash back" scenes that my MC recalls whilst on his way to the meeting where the scene in the picture above will take place.....