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downtime
I captured this incredibly display yesterday: It didn’t last long, but it was beautiful while it did. Later there was more rain, as is the way in Ireland in January. You really have to enjoy it while you get it at this time of the year. I’m going to be offline for most of the day as there is a scheduled interruption of my electricity service, ‘in order to renew the network in your area’. I guess its palm flower crystal is blinking… Renew! Renew! All my devices are charged up, I’ve a Thermos flask of hot water filled, and I have pens and paper. It’ll probably be a good…
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what is known reveals what is unknown
I discovered this video today thanks to a post on Facebook by Ian Culbard. It’s wonderful. It’s a vivid demonstration of how we are just a speck in the known universe, and how much we have yet to learn about the cosmos. Congratulations to the American Museum of Natural History for putting this together, and injecting a sense of awe into my day.
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The Hanging Tree
That’s the name of my short story that’s appearing in the current issue of Black Static (issue 38), which should be posted out to subscribers in the coming week or so. Here’s the terrific cover by Joachim Luetke: The table of contents is: Stories A Knot of Toads by Andrew Hook The Last Fear by Tim Waggoner Passion Play by Malcolm Devlin The Hanging Tree by Maura McHugh Passchendaele by Danny Rhodes His Artist Wife by John Grant Columns Coffinmaker’s Blues by Stephen Volk Blood Pudding by Lynda E. Rucker Reviews Case Notes: Book Reviews by Peter Tennant Blood Spectrum: DVD/Blu-ray Reviews by Tony Lee I’ve been published a couple…
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pretty in ink
I love history and studying the past. My first college degree was an English and History combination, and I seriously considered doing a history MA afterwards, but my love of English triumphed and I pursued a MA in that subject instead. So, I tend to continue to read a lot of history, which is pretty much a necessity for research for stories, but it’s also a pleasure. Reading about people’s lives in the past reminds me how vibrant individual people were, and how even ‘ordinary’ people could achieve extraordinary goals. There is a tendency among some depictions of the past (film is the worst for this) to portray people as…
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after the sun, the rain
After a blast of sunshine this morning the rain rolled in as I was out walking the dog in Coole Park – luckily I was wearing the right clothing for the inclement change. The light was so grey at this point in the afternoon that several of the photos I took looked just as well in black and white. This image looks better larger – just click on it. It’s a good example that rain can have its advantages, if you ignore the damp and chilling aspect of it! The turlough in Coole Park is huge and has swallowed up many of the trees. I’m used to this sight, as…
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the moon we share
I captured this image of the full moon last night. This was taken at the bottom of my back garden, and I didn’t have a tripod, so it was the best not-too-blurry picture I could get while trying not to shiver from the cold (as was typical I decided to just ‘nip out quickly’ and wasn’t dressed for the frosty weather). I like the somewhat eerie atmosphere of this shot. Whenever I see a stunning full moon in a clear sky shot through with stars, I think of my friends and loved ones, far away, who are looking up at the very same moon, and that gives me a sense…
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leaf on fire
I spotted this little beauty in the woods during a walk that started with me walking determinedly through a haze of rain, and ended with me almost skipping in sunshine. January is a difficult month because there are very few signs of renewal – apart from the very early flowers – and there’s not much evidence of the incremental gain in the length of the day. Plus, the weather… well, it’s challenging. Yet, a dead leaf on the ground can become a chiaroscuro bonfire when hit by unexpected sunshine. I treasure these sudden glories in winter, especially the ones fashioned from everyday material.
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fun with pandas
A panda is another word for a photograph of a person’s shadow. Over the years I’ve taken a few of my own. Sometimes we make our own entertainment. At this time of the year we don’t get a lot of strong sunshine, so perhaps that’s why I took some more recently. In the dull, winter light usually there’s just me walking with the dog, minus an accompanying shade. Here’s my shadow waving – such surprise that she is around in January! Ahead is a dark patch, and she’ll melt into the rest of the darkness. I was wearing my long winter coat with a hood, which is why it looks…
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best of 2013 – games
This is the final section I put together for the ‘Best of 2013‘ post for the Forbidden Planet International blog, which never appeared due to length. I play various video games, but not as much as my husband Martin, who has offered a selection of titles he’s enjoyed this year, which are mostly PC-based and/or Indie. BioShock Infinite was considered (and not included – and we were both fans of the previous games), and we haven’t played The Last of Us. I can certainly vouch for the first game on the list. Tomb Raider Genre: Action/Adventure Designer: Darrel Gallagher Writer: Rhianna Pratchett Developer: Crystal Dynamics; Publisher: SQUARE ENIX, Eidos Interactive…
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best of 2013 – music
This section didn’t appear in my ‘Best of 2013‘ piece for the Forbidden Planet International blog. That’s because when I checked the original request (after I had written this up) I realised I had written way more than I’d been asked to supply. But that’s what my blog is for: the extra features. A caveat: music is a huge field, and I’m concentrating specifically (barring one album) on the category I attend to most often: soundtracks. They’re what I listen to when I write, so I’m always looking for new and evocative ones for inspiration. Not surprisingly, I find the soundtracks to genre movies the best ones for my interests.…
