I’m sure most of us have the experience of writing a government-sponsored exam. It may not be one of our favorite memories. However, not many of us have experience in marking any of these dreaded exams. Over my thirty plus years of teaching, I had several opportunities to work on marking teams for provincial writing …
For Sale – Four Horses and One Apocalypse
“What is wrong with those people?” I happened to be wandering by the Corral when I overheard the conversation between four of the old hands who’d just ridden in after a hard day in the fields. The one speaking was shaking head as he turned his red horse to face the other three, sitting sadly …
A Book Contest, Prizes and Reviews – Part Two
In my last blog I outlined the BookLife Prize for authors with unpublished/self-published books. If you need the criteria for the contest, it’s in my last blog, where I mentioned entering all three of my novels for evaluation: ‘The Odin Incident’, ‘Punto’ and ‘Punto and Me’ (all these novels have excerpts in earlier blogs if …
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A Book Contest, Prizes and Reviews – Part One
Some of you will no doubt have encountered Publishers’ Weekly (PW), a company that devotes itself to the book publishing industry. If you’re a collector of first edition modern literature, you may have checked out their list of ‘Best selling books in America’, or the ‘Best selling children’s books in America’ that tracks sales of …
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Dark Days in ‘Murica
‘Murica is currently embarked on the biggest educational campaign seen since the 1960’s. As it was back then, there’s real dedication to getting back to the basics with a focus on the three ‘R’s: Rioting, Rebellion & Revolution. There are masses of people taking evening classes that can last all night in the hopes that …
Roald Dahl – A Guide To Collecting his First Editions
In my earliest years of teaching, I found myself in a local bookstore looking for something to read to my class of ten year olds. I came across a new publication entitled ‘The Twits’ by the English author Roald Dahl. Like many books for the young, it was possible to read right in the store …
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Sense and Sensibility
The minute my DDD (dearest darling daughter) sees me waxing about Jane Austin’s books, she’s likely to run screaming from her computer, muttering darkly. When it comes to merit, Ms. Austin is one of the few authors over whom we have never agreed. However, after spending a few weeks with four contemporary novels, a dip …
A Book Bin Quartet
According to a blog called ‘The IFOD’ (interesting fact of the day) there are roughly 300,000 new book titles published each year in the U.S. and, in 2013, about 2.2 million world-wide. The number of self-published books within this total is harder to pinpoint, but all sources agree that the percentage is noticeable and growing. …
Really Old Classics – Boccaccio’s Decameron
One of the advantages of the current COVID isolation is the abundance of time with which to read. While I enjoy many genres of contemporary fiction and modern writers, I occasionally dip into some of the classics of yesteryear. For many readers, the old ‘classics’ are difficult to wade through if only because of the …
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Old Classics and Politics
I was walking the dog the other day and came across evidence of someone doing a very COVID type of activity. There was a heap of stuff outside the house with a ‘FREE’ sign attached. I’ve noticed a lot of people house cleaning lately and am convinced it’s part of the cabin fever stuff people …
