Inkheart

Since the success of Harry Potter, film makers have cast their beady eyes over children’s literature, so it is no surprise to learn the Inkheart will be released as a movie in 2006. And for once, I am betting that the movie version will be an improvement.
Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart, translated from the original German by [...]

Ecxhanging Art

I have just taken part in Artella’s Sprites of Spring art exchange, and once again have been thrilled with the experience of exchanging art across the world. My recipient is in the USA, and posting things cross the ocean isn’t as easy or as fun as it used to be, so I have no idea [...]

After a long hot summer..

It’s sobering to read the latest news on global warming. I subscribe to the National Geographic newsletter and have been avidly following the discovery of a dinosaur that makes the T-Rex look like a pussy cat as well as the `Judas Scrolls’ but it is the articles on global warming that claim most of my [...]

Blackberry Memories

Today I bought a punnet of blackberries for $3 – therewas barely a couple of handfuls, but at the prices growers have been charging recently, they were a bargain.
In terms of memories, they were priceless.
One look at the shining fruit, like clusters of tinyblack pearls, and I was back in England, a child again, setting [...]

The L-Shaped Room

Listeners to BBC UK’s radio program Women’s Hour recently chose this book as one of the top 30 titles in a list of women’s watershed fiction. I decided the time was ripe to revisit this book and find out why.
Even at first glance, it’s not hard to understand – The L-Shaped Room broke a lot [...]

As I mentioned before, the writer’s life is one of ups and downs. One of the downs is watching the mailbox for cheques to arrive. Seems to take longer every year. One of the ups is getting a `best of’ anthology from an editor with your story in it.
I recently received my copy of Wondrous [...]

Empress Orchid

Life as a writer is full of discovery, but life as a reader even more so. I love discovering a writer new to me, but very rarely do I discover a perfect writer, a flawless book. In Anchee Min’s Empress Orchid I have found both.
Writers who read can be a pain in the butt, mentally [...]

Forever and a day…

The writer’s life is, as we all know, one of ups and downs. But sometimes the up and the down come at the one time. I received an email recently from a well known anthology series – one of my stories is being considered for inclusion in one of their books.
Great news? I thought so, [...]

More Chinese New Year

My son Chris took these great pics of the new fountain at Brisbane Chinatown. We miss the old fountain with its tinkling waterfall but at least it was replaced, and the carp as well – the lamented cherry trees have not.

Chinese New Year

Tomorrow is the start of Chinese New Year, and next week we will be going up to Brisbane’s Chinatown to join in the fun.

Last year we watched the Dragon Dance at Chinatown Street Mall. This year I’ll be taking my movie camera. There have been some changes at the mall so I am not sure [...]