Gormad fell in like with Yairil as he watched her swordpractice: by turns fierce and cheerfully rueful. A few days later, he noticed the way her nose wrinkled when she laughed at his jokes, and “like” burst into “love.” Three weeks on, he was standing under...
It’s been quite a few months since my last “trials and smiles” post (https://www.penelopewallace.com/trials-and-smiles-of-an-author-7-with-particular-reference-to-the-servants-voice/ ) and maybe it’s time to update readers on progress with book 4. The first thing to say is, Don’t hold your breath. The very fact that the book doesn’t yet have...
Mightier Than The Sword UK Publications is revising its website. As part of this revamp, I recently received a request to write little paragraphs about the Tales from Ragaris, AND each of the books, under a whole host of supplied headings. This is where I’ve got...
This post, like a football match, comes in two halves. A week today, we leave the European Union for a period of transition out. As readers of this blog know, I think this is a foolish and sad decision, but I may be wrong. But even...
(Happy New Year!) As most of you know, I allocated 27th December 2019 as a Voiceless Day: partly as a social media advertising device, and partly as an experiment in the life of my protagonist, Hridnaya. Hridnaya is a Voiceless servant, whose purpose is to enable her...
A certain amount can be learned about Christmas on Ragaris from the end of “We Do Not Kill Children” and the rest of the canon, especially “The Queen’s Gift”, which is here https://www.penelopewallace.com/the-queens-gift/. I do know a bit more – although it should be remembered...
My apologies to those of you who were at Middle St Resource Centre last Friday night, when I gave this talk: I started by saying something like the following, trying my best not to move my tongue (I hadn't gone to the length of having it...
I’m happily safe home from Uganda, and it was a fascinating and hugely enjoyable trip. I’m grateful for the health of the team, which meant that no one missed anything due to sickness; for the beauty of the land; and for the hugely generous welcome...
I am currently enmeshed in proof-reading, which is a very pleasant task. But also dangerous, in more ways than one. For example, I described a character as wearing green. Later in the story he was wearing brown, and although it was a different day, he was...
More about Japan later. But now for something rather different...