The fascination of Capybaras with Mike Allegra

Tags

Capybaras, Mike Allegra, Rodents, Sleepy happy Capy Cuddles, Writing for children, Writing tips

“Hi, Dudes! I cannot even begin to say what a pleasure it is to finally meet you! As I think you know, I love all rodents. I am very pro rodent. I’m prodent. I might be the prodentest person in the history of ever. So to meet you at last is a dream come true…..”

QUESTION ONE. You caught the reading and writing bug young, was that what drew you to write for children?

MIKE ALLEGRA. I don’t think so. When I was young, my goal was to write stories that adults would find funny. It was easy to amuse my friends, but if I could get my parents or my teachers or my cranky Uncle Bill to laugh, well that was an achievement. When I pulled it off, I felt like a million bucks.

Now that I’m an adult with an adult sense of humor, I’ve done a 180. The challenge and the joy of my career is to make kids laugh. I love writing kid’s stories because it gives me permission to delve into the silly side of my personality.

Being silly is not only fun for me, I think it makes me a better person. The world would probably be a better place if more adults allowed themselves to get their silly on.

Could a worldwide increase in fart jokes lead to world peace? I’m not sure, but it’s a hypothesis worth exploring.

QUESTION TWO. You’ve written plays, worked as a reporter, an editor, as well as being an author, which would you say is your favorite and why? 

Mike Allegra . All of the writing gigs in my life were fun and rewarding in one way or another. My two years as a reporter, however, was, far and away, my most valuable work experience. It made me the writer I am today. The job taught me how to research and write fast, polished work on tight deadlines. It taught me how to work with editors, conduct interviews, and deal with critics. It also taught me the ins and outs of government, which may not be important from the perspective of a writing career, but is essential to anyone who wants to be a good citizen. (We should all want to be good citizens.)

I recommend a stint as a reporter to anyone who wants to do this writing thing as a career. I even wrote a blog post about it:

But my most satisfying work is my children’s book career. I love letting my imagination go wild. I love visiting schools and meeting my readers. The gig isn’t very lucrative, but it makes me terribly happy.

QUESTION THREE Which book have you had the most fun writing?

Mike Allegra . That’s a tricky one, but I think it’s my most recent picture book, Sleepy Happy Capy Cuddles. The main character is a capybara, the world’s largest rodent. (See? I told you I was prodent!) I’ve been fascinated by capybaras ever since I’ve first heard about them as a kid in the 1980s. Back then (and now!) I kept gerbils as pets, so the idea of a rodent being the size of a golden retriever captivated me in ways I can hardly explain. When I became an adult, and I learned more about these ginormous critters, I was even more captivated. Capys cuddle with other animals! They babysit each other’s children! They are excellent foster mothers to other species! They are amazing swimmers! And they are soooo cute! How could I not write a book about a cuddly capybara?

God, I love this book.

QUESTION FOUR Have you ever written a book about a hamster? 

I feared this question might come up.

My picture book, Scampers Thinks Like a Scientist, stars mice; another book of mine, Everybody’s Favorite Book, features a guinea pig; and, as I mentioned, Sleepy Happy Capy Cuddles has a capybara. But no hamsters yet. No gerbils either—much to the consternation of my beloved fur children, Dusty and Oreo. But fear not,

I have more books in me. I’m sure I can get a couple of cool dude hamsters in one of them sooner or later. I’ll write a book starring gerbils, too.

MIKE ALLEGRA Ah. Writing tips? Question five eh?

Okay……. I will give them. Aspiring writers please forgive the tough love:

Your book ideas are worthless if you don’t write them down. Don’t just talk about your ideas; don’t pass the buck by trying to collaborate with someone; don’t say, “You know, I really should write a book.” Get your tush in a chair and start writing. Writing is slow, hard work. It can sometimes be frustrating, exhausting, maddening and make you want to bang your head against the wall. But don’t get discouraged. Keep going. Because when those words of yours finally come together in just the right way, when your story makes people think, laugh, or see the world with a new point of view, well, dang, that’s the best feeling in the world.

QUESTION SIX 6. What’s next for Mike Allegra

MIKE ALLEGRA Well, in addition to running around telling everyone about Sleepy Happy Capy Cuddles, I’m also gearing up to run around to tell everyone about my next picture book, Pirate and Penguin, which will be out in May 2023. It’s the story of a penguin finding his way onto a pirate ship and being mistaken for a chubby, mute, monochromatic macaw. It’s a fun one. 

BIO:

Mike Allegra is the author of 17 books for children including the picture books Sleepy Happy Capy Cuddles (Page Street, 2022), Scampers Thinks like a Scientist (Dawn, 2019), Everybody’s Favorite Book (Macmillan, 2018), and Sarah Gives Thanks (Albert Whitman and Company, 2012). He also wrote the chapter book series Kimmie Tuttle (Abdo Books, 2021) and Prince Not-So Charming (Macmillan, 2018-19; pen name: Roy L. Hinuss). Scampers was the winner of Learning Magazine’s 2020 Teacher’s Choice Award and was selected for inclusion in the Literati Kids subscription box. His story, “Harold’s Hat,” was the winner of the 2014 Highlights fiction contest and was published in the July 2015 issue.

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Mike-Allegra/e/B00E5M07EI?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1663250421&sr=1-1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mike.allegra

Influential Observation with Catherine Cavendish

Tags

An Elford Childhood, Catherine Cavendish, Dark Observation, Doris Buttery, Elford, Flame Tree Press, Horror, New book, writing

My Greatest Influence BY Catherine Cavendish

Since I’ve been fortunate enough to be a published writer, I have met many others and once of the first things I discovered is that I wasn’t alone in having been the nerdy schoolgirl who used to inwardly cheer when our English teacher would set us an essay to write for homework. I especially hugged my inner creative embryo when we were given no clear parameters as to what that essay would centre on. Sometimes it would be a line from a poem which could be interpreted in a myriad of ways. On other occasions it would be an emotion we had to express – be it joy, sorrow or whatever. All around me, my fellow students would groan while I wanted to do that Mary Tyler Moore thing with my (ridiculously old fashioned) school hat.

For decades I believed I was the only one who ever felt like that. What a relief to discover I wasn’t.

I should have realised it really though because while there have been and still are a host of people I count as influences on me and on my writing, there is one who stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Her name was Doris May Buttery. She was born on 23^rd October 1920 and passed away on 13^th March 2018 – and Doris was my Mum. She loved to write.

When I was a little girl and, okay, I’ll say it first, that was a long time ago, one of my enduring memories is of Mum sitting at the dining room table, her pencil sharpened, lost in her own world as she busily transcribed memories of her childhood, growing up in a small Staffordshire village between the two world wars, onto sheets of lined foolscap paper. 

While Mum wrote, I would play with my dolls or my cat, Penny. I would make up stories, read, let my imagination run free…

And day after day, once her chores were done, Mum would write. She had a small win on the Football Pools and used to it to pay for a creative writing course where she learned the art of short story writing. I still have at least some of those stories. They were fiction but always, somewhere, there lurked a grain of truth. Invariably set in the 1920s or 1930s there would be a character in there that I would later come to identify in her memoirs. Sometimes she would write about a scandal that I would later discover had actually taken place – although the names and some identifying details had all been changed.

I can’t remember exactly when she stopped writing. But for years, maybe a decade or more, the pencils and foolscap were put aside only for her to return one day and pick up where she left off. This became a pattern. Days and weeks of daily writing followed by months and years of none. From her childhood she moved onto recollections of the war years 1939-1945 when she served in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) – the British women’s army of the time. Sadly, she didn’t get too far with these but the account of being a naive eighteen-year-old office girl joining up (against her father’s wishes) immediately casts the reader back to those far off years. Mum could certainly create atmosphere and a sense of time and place in her writing.

Meanwhile, I had caught the writing bug. Watching her may have been the catalyst, or perhaps it was simply because she enjoyed it. Some of those school essays of mine grew into short stories; one eventually morphed into a novel. Mum encouraged me while my father considered my desire – at around eight or nine years old – to purchase a portable typewriter as a complete waste of time and money. I bought my typewriter, selling a number of toys in order to do so. The rest, as they say, is history.

After Mum passed away, I found the folder I knew existed and opened it. There were Mum’s childhood memories. These eventually became a published book An Elford Childhood .

Mum never ventured down the path of supernatural, ghostly or scary stories. Nor did she attempt a crime story – although in her later years especially, crime fiction was by far her preferred genre. She did, however, tell me that she had always enjoyed a good spooky book when she was younger so maybe that’s where I get it from. I also enjoy crime – real or fictional and Agatha Christie was a shared passion of ours.

Mum left me a legacy of a love of reading and writing, history and cats. Wherever she is now, I hope she is enjoying a good book, with a cat purring on her lap, a notebook and pencil by her side and a nice cup of tea.

As for my latest? Well, I hope Mum would approve. There is an awful lot of her in one of my main characters – Vi  – and then of course there’s her hero,Winston Churchill, those secret underground war rooms and…

Eligos is waiting…fulfil your destiny

1941. In the dark days of war-torn London, Violet works in Churchill’s subterranean top secret Cabinet War Rooms, where key decisions that will dictate Britain’s conduct of the war are made. Above, the people of London go about their daily business as best they can, unaware of the life that teems beneath their feet.

Night after night the bombs rain down, yet Violet has far more to fear than air raids. A mysterious man, a room only she can see, memories she can no longer trust, and a best friend who denies their shared past… Something or someone – is targeting her.

Dark Observation is available here:

Flame Tree Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Waterstones

Bookshop.org (where you can support your favourite local bookshop)

and at good bookshops everywhere (on the shelf or to order)

About The Author

Following a varied career in sales, advertising and career guidance, Catherine Cavendish is now the full-time author of a number of paranormal, ghostly and Gothic horror novels and novellas.

Her novels include: Dark Observation, In Darkness, Shadows Breathe, The Garden of Bewitchment. The Haunting of Henderson Close, The Devil’s Serenade, The Pendle Curse an Saving Grace Devine.

Her novellas include: The Darkest Veil, Linden Manor, Cold Revenge, Miss Abigail’s Room, The Demons of Cambian Street, Dark Avenging Angel, The Devil Inside Her, and The Second Wife

Her short stories appeared in a number of anthologies including Tomes of Terror, One of Us and Haunted Are These Houses.

She lives by the sea in Southport, England with her long-suffering husband, and a black cat called Serafina who has never forgotten that her species used to be worshipped in ancient Egypt. She sees no reason why that practice should not continue.

You can connect with Cat here:

Catherine Cavendish

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram

Goodreads

Images:

Shutterstock

Nik Keevil and Flame Tree Studio

Author’s own

Jade. (Or a gown to die for…..) by Resa McConaghy

Tags

Artgowns

Have you ever walked away from love?

Yes!? Then you know its bittersweet taste.

Jade has been called by Chinese poets “the concentrated essence of love”.

Well, all that sounds like a Historical Romance novel to me, and Shehanne Moore writes the best .

Art Gown, Jade, is lovingly dedicated to Shehanne.

If anyone knows the twists and turns of romance, it is she.

It all began with 2 vintage decorator pillow shams. My friend, Kat, found them in Wiarton’s Goodwill – 220 km. north of Toronto. She sent them to me.

I wasted no time pinning one onto Judy. It was a natural. Last year Kat sent me 40 pounds of fabrics, much of it stored for up to 25 years. In the poundage was a generous yardage of 60″ wide green polyester faux silk.

That was cut on bias and hung for 2 weeks. I harvested miles of ribbon from an old gown. It was marked with needle holes, so I gathered it to hide the flaws.

The faux silk had been cut without blunting the bottom for a hem. The points were picked up, and attached onto the bodice. This meant no fabric was wasted, and I sewed (by hand)  420 inches of seams & 660 inches of hem.

540 inches of ruffled salvaged ribbon was sewn onto the hem. The decals from the 2nd pillow sham were cut out, and positioned strategically onto the gown. Then began the fun of designing the bustle.

Jade is a dream to drape. That polyester faux silk is like fabric butter. However, it does not biodegrade like butter.

Front lit or backlit, she shines.

OUTTAKES

I’m a huge fan of Shehanne’s books. I’ve read all but one, so far. These are just 5 of her titles. Click on the banner to go to her Amazon page!

D. Wallace Peach – Myths of the Mirror has just read “Loving Lady Lazuli”. Her review will appear in her next books review.

However, you can read it NOW! Just click on the book cover!

I read if you hit a piece of jade, it rings like a bell. Whether for pleasant listening or for ritual practices, chimes, xylophones, and gongs have been created from melodically resonant jade.

I kept hearing this song while doing the post. Maybe because Sade looks like Jade, but an “s” instead of a “j”. When I learned about jade being resonant, I put it in.

On top of it all, Timothy Price – Off Center Not Even sent me a gift of LED lights with 4 filters: red, orange, yellow and blue. Jade is the first Art Gown learning lesson. I experimented in night, and day.

As Jade retires to the plant room, I’m mini Jade here to say thank you for popping by & come again!

Author D. Wallace peach’s review of Loving Lady Lazuli

Loving Lady Lazuli by Shehanne Moore

Ten years ago, Sapphire, the infamous London jewel thief, slipped the Wentworth emeralds into the pocket of an unsuspecting young lord. Caught with the jewels, Devorlane Hawley spent ten years serving in the military, which included getting shot. At the end of his service, he returns home to find a very familiar face at his welcoming party.

Cassidy Armstrong feigns innocence and concocts a series of lies that unravel as quickly as she can think them up. Retired from her years as Sapphire, she’s on a mission to prove that she’s the heir to the Armstrong estate, but in order to do that, she needs to scour a stack of paperwork entrusted to you-know-who… Devorlane. Bent on revenge, Devorlane agrees to let her search through the documents as long as she agrees to become his mistress for the duration of her search.

These characters dislike each other intensely (despite their attraction), and that conflicting dynamic plays out for most of the book as they attempt to irritate each other. Multiple POVs give glimpses into both characters’ thoughts and motivations as well as their ambivalence. As always with Moore’s romances, there is plenty of witty humor, and to me, the action/thoughts around sex were more entertaining than the act itself.

Secondary characters are colorful and distinct, adding complications and personality outside the main conflict. The pace is snappy, and I read the book in one sitting. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy witty characters, enemies to friends romances, and a wild plot.

July Book Reviews https://mythsofthemirror.com/2022/07/21/july-book-reviews-3/ via @Dwallacepeach

A visit to the Klementinum and a new review.

Tags

Freya Pickard, Libraries, Prague, Review, Shehanne Moore, The Champagne Lovers Band, The Klementinum

Shey’s trip to Prague

Length of stay –5 days.

Attractions Visited. 5 -The Castle, John Lennon wall, Old Town, The Klementinum . Wenceslas Square.

Attractions not visited 1. The day was just too warm.

Bars Visited. 4. Bella Vista Cafe, the Olympia, the Stage Bar, and the outdoors deckchairs bar downstairs from the Bella Vista Cafe.

Bars visited more than once. 3. Bella Vista Cafe, the Olympia, and the outdoors deckchairs bar downstairs from the Bella Vista Cafe.

Bars we wanted to visit more than once. 1. The Stage bar.

Bars not visited – every other one there.

Weddings in bars, not asked to but ended up there anyway. 1

Bars flung out of on last night there with magnificent resident-in-Prague-Scots-couple., met by chance two nights previously and again that night . . 2

Glasses nicked that night…. The count was lost.

Locals THAT couple cannot show their faces in again?? 2

Hotel stayed in?? The Red & Blue Design. Five stars to them.

Epic musicians listened to. 1. The Champagne Lovers, whose gigs are on the Charles Bridge.

Book Shops visited. 1 Palace of Books. Five stars to them. Now that’s a book shop.

The Klementinum by night.

View from the top.

A quiet cafe

The epic Champagne Lovers, Jazz Band/Skiffle. Total class. Fantastic Charles Bridge feature. No second thought about buying their CD.

My new favourite authors! https://dragonscaleclippings.wordpress.com/2022/05/31/authors-i-recommend/ via @FreyasClippings

The Dudes aren’t in the kitchen with D. Wallace Peach.

Tags

Catlin's Bane, D. Wallace Peach, Epic Fantasy, fantasy, The Rose Shield, World Building

D. Wallace Peach. Thanks so much for the invite to visit with you and the Dudes, Shey. What a treat to hobnob with the famous (infamous?) Hamstas.  Hi guys.

Question one. ·  Fantasy  can stand or fall on the world building and making a reader completely believe in that world.  When you first sat down to write Catling’s Bane, what came first, the world  she inhabits or Catling?

D. Wallace Peach. For me, both happen at the same time.  Usually, the theme comes first – in this case, the ability to manipulate emotions. That bit of inspiration starts a cascade of character, world, and plot ideas that inform each other as the story takes shape. Not until that magic has run its course, do I begin writing.

D. Wallace Peach. Oh I am definitely a plotter.  And I wrote all four books before I published the first. That way all the details line up from start to finish. I can’t help obsessing about the cohesiveness of my stories, so it’s how I’ve written all my series.D.Wallace Peach – I’ve definitely considered it. Hamsters have fabulous personalities. So dashing and clever. 

D.Wallace Peach —And handsome! I forgot to mention how incredibly handsome they are.

D. Wallace Peach—. Most of my books have an element of social or political commentary, usually based on the corrupting influence of power. A timeless theme, right?!  I like asking “what if” questions about issues I’m passionate about and turning them into fantastical tales.

D. Wallace Peach. Ha!  Great question, but no recipes. I’ve eaten just about everything my characters have, including eels, snakes, and crocodiles (crajeks). None of my characters eat hamsters, by the way. That would be unforgivable.

D. Wallace Peach. Find a way to get constructive criticism!  It’s wonderful to hear about how great your books are, but you need to know what’s not working in order to improve. Well-considered and specific criticism is a huge gift!

D. Wallace Peach I hope to have another stand-alone book out this summer called The Necromancer’s Daughter. Adventure, danger, flight, dragons, love, and raising the dead!  Stay tuned.

Thanks, Shey, and the Dudes for having me over. This has been great fun.

A book that puts the e in epic, the f in fantasy and the w in world building.

All within the first few paragraphs too. In that brutal early part we also meet Catling, a little girl who can do what no-one else in that world can—see through the power of the ‘influencers,’ to the horror that lies beneath. I did say fantasy, didn’t I? And maybe you’re saying I don’t read fantasy, but that’s all right, normally I don’t either, but I will now be reading more. Certainly of this series. The map is magical and the writing spell-binding. That any book can stand or fall by the believability of the world created, is especially true of fantasy, which is I why want to say that the world-building wasn’t just engrossing, it was effortlessly done, people, places, plants, all leap off the page, but the idea of a world where thoughts are shaped, something that resonates in today’s actual world, leapt in huge print, alongside political intrigue, inequality and yep…less than wonderful leaders. Meantime, a previous mysterious and mystical culture peeps, a culture squashed and slaughtered beneath the boot of the existing rulers, adding even more layers to the story.
I absolutely loved the idea of this book. How can this be fought, especially when only one person can see it. AND even worse, that person is a lowest of the low child who’s already fallen through several cracks? That they are also the only one with the power to break the system, means the ride is not going to be easy. People have their own needs and plans after all.
All in all, a book that delivers on every level, an amazing constructed world, with gripping characters and a plot that whips us along on the promise of more to come in book two.

Links:

Blog: https://mythsofthemirror.com

Author Website: https://dwallacepeachbooks.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dwallacepeach

Bio:

A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked.

In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.

Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.

Where O’Roarke’s Destiny ends… the playlist for Wryson’s Eternity …

Tags

Cornwall, Music, Music to write books to, New book, Romance, Shehanne Moore, Smugglers, writing

https://t.co/h63dNJgnz5

SHEY —- BUT WHO WOULD WANT TO?

SHEHANNE–Okay dudes can I get a word in now? It’s taken a while but drumroll and fanfare–a playlist means there will soon be a new book. Book two of Cornish Rogues featuring a hero and heroine, who I think you might get the drift of from some of these song titles. There’s also a couple of classicals thrown in that feature in the book, Bach’s Goldberg Variations

and a Mozart. And the Cyrin version of Where is my Mind? is also something I play. Both leads are certainly looking for their minds. Of course it should have been ‘Where is My Hamster?’ but then ‘Gone I hope,’ might be the reply. To return to Mercury and the Architects, Mercury does indeed sing with the Architects, one of whom is the amazing LYNZI on the list in her own right with Be My Valentine.

I hate to break it to you dudes, but that is the least of your worries this week. Vodka has just been removed from the shelves of several UK supermarkets…. I say nothing about your little dance that always accompanies it. But ere you despair there’s two song titles here for you, ‘Far Far’ which is where you might want to go and ‘Creep’….. Now, I will ‘put on playlist’ and listen to it…

A tongue can be sacrificed as easily as a goat . . .

   


 

Ten Quotes —-The Viking and the Courtesan – Available ebook and paperback from Amazon-14 the Feb 2022. Presently available on Hinovel.

“No doubt Miss Mallender told you I did try to find her. And I begged her on bended knees. That was for my betrothed’s benefit. She has a lot of money. I don’t want to lose it.”

                                                                               ——-

He was her cousin twice removed. But whether it was twice or ten, it wasn’t far enough.
——-

   “No talking over there, a tongue can be sacrificed as easily as a goat.”
                                                                               ——-

     “You know damn fine you have never been any wife of mine. And if you are pregnant it must rank with the immaculate conception in terms of miracles. Of improbabilities.”

                                                                               ——-

“Although he is no longer game of step, my father shall give you his sword, my heart’s dearest.”
      Game of step?  Hardly able to walk one was a more apt description.
——-

“I don’t care what you want. Shoes are what you can have. And jewels and whatever . . . Do you understand? Now. Lie down. That’s it. Steady. Steady. And do it. You’re in no position to bargain here. If you can’t moan, I’ll get someone else up here who can.”
      She stuck her chin in the air. “So you say. But the choices didn’t exactly look up to much if you ask me.”

                                                                               ——-
        Hadn’t all the girls said as much, that men said all sorts of things because of course, they were greatly misunderstood.  No doubt it was all her fault he’d gone into hiding for four years with Aunt Carter’s silver teapot and Malice’s twenty guineas.  Probably he believed she’d deserted him and not the other way about.
                                                                               ——-
These stars are not mine. 

                                                                               ——-

        “Whether I love her is not the point. I will be her husband.”
       “Oh really? Well, if it’s anything like the husband you made me I wouldn’t hold my breath if I was her.  Unless she wants to die of suffocation?”
                                                                               ——-
                                                                         
  “Being his . . . I do not think I wish to be his wife. No. No. Not if he should take a stick to me. Malice, you cannot mean this. All these years I have known Sinarr, he has never once shown the desire to take a stick to me.”
 “’e must have been alone in that.” Gentle set the cup down on the table.

https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/books-by-shehanne-moore/the-viking-and-the-courtesan/

In 898 AD she wasn’t just from another land.
Wrecking a marriage is generally no problem for the divorce obtaining, Lady Malice Mallender. But she faces a dilemma when she’s asked to ruin her own. Just how businesslike should she remain when the marriage was never consummated and kissing her husband leads to Sin–a handsome Viking who wants her for a bed slave in name only?
She came from another time.
Viking raider Sin Gudrunsson wants one thing. To marry his childhood sweetheart. Only she’s left him before, so he needs to keep her on her toes, and a bed slave, in name only, seems just the thing. Until he meets Malice.
One kiss is all it takes to flash between two worlds
But when one kiss is no longer enough, which will it be?  Regency London? Or Viking Norway? Will Malice learn what governs the flashes? Can Sin?
Where worlds collide can love melt the iciest heart

This Year . . .

Tags

Auld Lang Syne, New Year

United States,  India,  United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Germany,  Spain, China, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Ireland, Kenya, Japan, Thailand, Finland, Malaysia, Turkey, New Zealand, Kuwait, Greece, Czech Republic, Morocco, Peru, Uganda, Austria, Mexico, Portugal, Egypt, Ukraine, Poland, Nepal,  Australia, Philippines, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Ecuador, Chile, Croatia, Israel, Zimbabwe, Serbia, South Korea, Bahrain, Norway, Belgium, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Columbia, European Union, Singapore, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Guatemala, Netherlands, Lithuania, Switzerland, Algeria, Venezuela, Iraq, Hungary, Togo, Belarus, Taiwan, American Samoa, Latvia, Bahamas, Jordan, Tanzania, Ghana, Malta, Jamaica, Vietnam, Macedonia, Qatar, Denmark, Puerto Rico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monaco, Cameroon, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lebanon, Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Cambodia, El Salvador, Myanmar,  Bermuda, Curacao, Burkina Faso,  Bhutan, Oman, Hong  Kong SAR China, Luxembourg, Sin Maarten,  US Virgin Islands, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago

A Little SLice of Raunch

A Little Slice of Raunch

Reviews, Podcasts and 1st Chapter discussions,https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/2021/09/26/reviews-podcasts-and-first-chapter-dissections/

The Ball’s the Thing

The Ball’s the Thing https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/2021/05/04/the-balls-the-thing/ via @shehannemoore

More Than Seven When It Comes To Wonders.

Tags

Dundee, Jim Mclean, Kengo Kuma, Mary Shelley, Mary Slessor, More Than Seven Wonders, Peter Black, The Battle of Jarama, William McGonagall

November Book Reviews https://mythsofthemirror.com/2021/11/28/november-book-reviews/ via @Dwallacepeach

1…..Kengo Kuma On The Bus

In Juteopolis

More Than Seven Wonders

The Ballad OF Peter Black

Dancing Around An Alibi

Mother Of All The Peoples

Larkhall to Nazareth

Oor Wullie

No Pasaran Albert Square

Churchill’s Nemesis

Mary Shelley’s Blues

McGonagall’s Ghost

Shey.. Hey dudes where’s the rest of the post?

Down some cold field in a world outspoken. Peter Black and the Newport War Memorial https://shehannemoore.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/down-some-cold-field-in-a-world-outspoken-peter-black-and-the-newport-war-memorial/ via @shehannemoore

https://bit.ly/3opS2mr

THE ACOUSTIC Version—not the final one of the title track.

McGonagall’s Ghost…still working the crowd.

Tags

Dundee, New York, poetry, William McGonagall, Writers and Social Media, writing

William Topaz McGonagall a Scottish poet of Irish descent, writer of roughly 200 poems, including “The Tay Bridge Disaster” and “The Famous Tay Whale”, which are widely regarded as some of the worst in English literature.

ONE……..A writer with a voice that took uniqueness to a whole new level.

TWO….. A true journalist in terms of reporting everything.

THREE…. He self published.

FOUR… He was shameless when it came to self promotion.

FIVE.. Proving there was no such thing as bad publicity. And could you imagine him on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter today?And the use he’d make of it?

SIX…. He was deeply into public appearances in terms of meeting his fans.

SEVEN … He also did literary dinners. And bestowed himself briefly on New York, as other famous authors including Charles Dickens

and Oscar Wilde had.

‘Oh mighty city of New York, you are wonderful to behold,

Your buildings are magnificent — the truth be it told.’

…….’When I go to Ireland, they won’t treat me as I was treated in New York. In the streets there when they looked at my poems with the Royal coat of arms, printed on the top, the Yankies shouted ‘To the deuce with that.’ ………..W McGonagall. ….

EIGHT He was very well read for a man from a poor family quite important for a writer and prepared even more therefore to branch out…

NINE…. He rubbed shoulders with the famous.

TEN….. Like him or loathe him he has not only remained a controversial figure to this day, he has stood the test of time.

ELEVEN.. Before ve open vodka and do cossack dance for you, McGonagall’s Ghost is Track 12 on More Than Seven Wonders. More to follow once the Archie Foundation get the online buy link live, but presently available from Oxfam Books and 13 Records in Dundee.