N.O.A. Rawle: Through the Eyes of a Stranger

This is a long overdue review for a book I won, devoured and wrote this review for, but for no reason whatsoever, never posted. Now we're well into spooky season, I thought some werewolves might satisfy reading tastes. Hellhound by Lou Yardley  Gnashing teeth and tender flesh, mortal desire and immortal madness; werewolves in unfettered glory. Hellhound binds the lives of Christine, Kit, Casper and Shannon in ways they can't imagine as they stand on the threshold of The Hound and Philosopher pub. Will Christine and Shannon satisfy their curiosity? Will Kit improve his employment prospects? Will Casper finally get what he's been waiting for? Join them at the bar, get a beer and relax if you dare. Lou Yardley writes fast paced and action-packed scenes, switching perspectives and power plays, slipping in twists and taking the reader on a rollercoaster ride of blood and guts that will keep pages and stomachs turning. Her characters are relatable, her scenes familiar yet terrif...

*TRIGGER WARNING*  Discussion of exhumation, death, bodies and skeletons. Feel free to skip this post.  Dead and buried , laid to rest , phrases that in English imply the end, death, the matter is over and done with. Our very language tells us that death is the end of (the) matter and we have no need to revisit it. In Greece that is not the case.  The day dawned cool and cloudy with the odd shower, a portent of the coming winter and a very fitting atmosphere for my first task of the day. Today was a dear aunt's exhumation. Yes, you read that right, she was being dug up. Due to the lack of suitable ground (not too rocky, not prone too flooding, on the outskirts of town, but not too far out) graveyards are hot property in Greece. Here, your final resting place is actually just a port of call, (unless you're willing to pay luxury house prices that is). In Greece, graves are hollow pits, lined with cement blocks, somewhat reminiscent of a garage, and like cars are parked in a...

I've been living abroad - in Greece - half my lifetime come this October! In that time I haven't really talked about where I live or what it's like being a stranger, learning Greek or getting used to a different routine so I thought I'd post occasionally, on what I've come to love, live and learn here. The atmosphere here in Trikala has started to feel autumnal early this year, due to a plethora of thunder storms so strong that storm warnings were even issued and mobiles started buzzing all over the city. (Mine, having English as its prefered language, reads out the Greek as phonetic gobbledegook in an overtly strong American accent. This obviously diminishes the urgency or severity of any warning...) So with the drop in temperatures to a cool 22 degrees centigrade (at the time of writing) I'm in full-on autumn mode and thought I'd share five things that I enjoy at this time of year.  1. Autumn Leaves No list would be complete without enjoying the autu...

As it's that time when one reviews the year, I thought it was about time I got my act together. If you have visited here recently, it might seem that I have been dormant for two whole years and you'll most likely have scooted off to more prolific writers/bloggers. My statistics have dropped, both in blogging and writing. That was a conscious choice. My health was suffering (too many sleepless nights creeping up on me) and I needed to devote myself to family and paying work (which I've had to literally double the hours of, what with wage cuts and crazy taxing.) So here are the last two years in review (an easily condensed version)! Stemming from my steampunk interests I've been sewing a whole bunch of things, all shamefully unfinished, apart from a Victorian style choker and a cute hat. The former is made out of a remnant of lace scooped up from the floor of a local seamstress and the latter was a gift from a friend which, if I am honest, I would never have worn a...

At some point in time you may have mused on the romantic idea behind pirates, adventure on the high seas, stolen loot and buried treasure. Rie Sheridan Rose takes those romantic notions one step further in her fantasy novel Mutiny on the Moonbeam, published by Mocha Memoirs Press. When Branwyn St. Clair stands up to her step father and stows away aboard the Moonbeam, she doesn't realise that it will lead her to to a life of adventure and pirating. Johnny Pate, the only human on the elven crew tries to keep her safe, but there are forces working behind the scenes that bring them together in ways which even they can't imagine. Throughout her blog tour , Rie Sheridan Rose has elaborated on the characters and their inspiration and motivation. I didn't read any of it until I got to the end of the book and to writing this review - it's like watching the film before reading the book - for me that just won't do! The characters pull you in and drag you helter-skel...

Ahoy m' hearties! It is my honour that Rie Sheridan Rose, author, poet, lyricist and editor has decided to kick off her blog tour for her latest Fantasy Romance novel, 'Mutiny on the Moonbeam', right here on Through the Eyes of a Stranger. I've been lucky enough to have been granted a sneak preview and I can tell you the book's a fantastic read (but more on that in the coming week), so without further ado, let me hand over the reins! Why Do We Love Pirates? Long before Jack Sparrow took to the High Seas, readers (and viewers) have had a love affair with pirates. From Disney fare like “Blackbeard’s Ghost” to the swash-and-buckle of Errol Flynn, something about these buccaneers has captured the imagination. It’s not like real-life pirates were anything to romanticize. They robbed many a ship, killed more than their share of sailors, and probably lived a fairly filthy existence if we are honest about it. Still, they have wormed their way into the h...

So here's a ramble of the kind I don't do so often. I set 2019 as a purge year - no don't go thinking I've been running riot on the streets dressed in carnival costumes while I gleefully find ways of slaughtering everyone who so much as piqued my anger. I've been clearing out the physical cr*p in my life. I'm no fan of the KonMari method, but any fool can see that when your house is cluttered so is your life! My house is full of four generations of such clutter, not all of which I can dispose of. So, that means I've been clearing out stuff from my own past mostly, or at least re-ordering it. This in turn has lead me to contemplate everything I've done thus far, as well as all the places I've been and the people I've met. And I've been thinking about getting old - I'm at that stage and it's been in my mind more than ever. Now if you don't know me personally you probably won't know I'm the youngest in my family. My oldest s...

How's the summer (or winter for my friends from the southern hemisphere)? I'm clawing my way back into the blogging habit now that my day jobs are over for a while. Now we're into July, I'm a little late in telling you about 'Southern Steam: Tales from Port Reprieve', which is available from Amazon. My fellow steampunk authors at the Scribblers' Den and I have gotten together for our third anthology. This one is set around the world of Port Reprieve, the  brainchild of fellow anthology author and the founder of the Scribblers' Den, Jack Tyler, is a fictional port in the southern US. The content is as follows: Stars and Bars by Steve Moore The Stench Street Revs by William J. Jackson Hoodwinked by N. O. A. Rawle The Aeronaut by Bryce Raffle Sea Story by Jack Tyler Now this was quite a difficult challenge for me as I have never had the good fortune to visit the southern States, so I thought about what I knew best about this area and someth...

Spring touched Greece and I was trying to get into the rhythm of Monty Python (Always look on the bright side...)! Valentine's Day blew by me this year and I was feeling a little blue. Don't go imagining my my loved one had forgotten, we don't 'do' Valentine's as such (after all, love is for every day not just Valentine's). No, my sky-hued mood was down to my late submission of a few romantic horror drabbles I'd hoped would make it the Feb 14 deadline and as I'd heard nothing I was sure they hadn't been accepted. But I was wrong! 'Trembling With Fear' from the Horror Tree have accepted both drabbles I sent in their direction. Thankfully, with spring comes rain and then come the flowers! All kinds of blossoms like new love blooming in glorious abundance until the petals fall and the raspy husk is all that's left. Does it fall or become fruit? Does the love die or survive? All flowers have symbolic meanings. Take Forget Me No...

(This was supposed to be a New Year post!) It's been over five months since I posted here and there is many a reason for this. Most sincere is that I need time for my family. Needs must as the devil drives - and here in Greece the devil drives a very hard bargain these days, so I'm working long hours in my day jobs - thus what little free time I have goes to my babes (12, 13 & 40+), not writing. Braced for worse to come. Then it seems like everything is breaking: the cooker, the washing machine, my sewing machine, the toaster, my computer - bits are even falling off the house. I've written virtually nothing. Prices are rising. Taxes are impossible and wages are dropping as are hours of work. Even my phone company seems to be playing sneaky tricks. And dribble of drabbles is all I've come up with. Then there's the weather. Now I like a white Christmas as much as the next person but 2019 swung by and brought snow with thunder and lightning, then i...

You may or may not know this but today is Aunts and Uncles Day and so it seems most fitting to catch up with Karen J. Carlisle, fellow of The Scribblers' Den and the author behind Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire. I've managed to get her to take a break from her hectic schedule and answer a few questions about Aunt Enid and other projects she is working on. Why don't you get yourself a nice cup of tea and join us? So Karen, most of your novels are in the Steampunk genre, what made you take a break from writing Steampunk this time? I’d written three (slightly dark) steampunk books. I needed something a little more light-hearted. I delved into my WIP progress box for the steampunk adventure novel I had almost completed… At the same time I was going through some old photos and reminiscing… and reading an article on garden gnomes. I wondered where mine had disappeared to. Then a few things fell into place. Could garden gnomes move? What colour would hydrangeas be ...

AUNT ENID: PROTECTOR EXTRAORDINAIRE Manos, the gnome from my home. I never really liked gnomes, but I'm looking at Manos in a whole different light these days, and I'm thinking of planting hydrangeas outside my door. Karen J. Carlisle and her latest book Aunt Enid: Protector Extaodinaire are to blame! I've watched this book grow from the beginning when Karen J. Carlisle announced to the writers' group The Scribblers’ Den that she was writing something not Steampunk. Knowing her Steampunk fiction well, I was really looking forward to reading Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire. What do you know? I won a copy of the ebook in her Facebook book launch. (I would have bought it anyway so this was just an extra bonus!) Aunt Enid is a feisty octogenarian with an uncanny ability at winning bingo, a garden full of gnomes and a freezer stuffed with scones. Kind of like anyone's favourite aunt really, except that Aunt Enid has a secret; she is protecting all...

Once upon a time there was a writer who lived in house surrounded by titanic fruit trees. She was a little known writer who wrote mostly for her own pleasure and because, at times, it felt like there was a ravenous word demon roiling inside her. She loved creating worlds of wonder and impossibility, etching out visual and sensual nuances with language. Then one day, because she had a whole lot of other stuff to do, she had to abandon tug-of-war with the demon and wean herself off creative word usage. It was hard going and she missed it dearly, but there was no other quick and easy way to feed her family, and a ten-hour day job didn't leave much energy to play with words. How she longed for the summer, a time of freedom and fruitful work at her ageing laptop. In her notebooks she had been scribbling dreams and visions of other worlds, she had been visited by so many characters that she was beginning to feel her head would explode. The summer inevitably arrived and finally she s...

A guest post by David Wiley When I sat down to write Monster Huntress, I didn’t know much about the world in which it was taking place. I knew the type of world I wanted, but it transformed and evolved over the course of revisions, always growing either in size or in the details. While the story of Monster Huntress visits only a small portion of the world I’ve created, there are some lessons I’ve learned from J.R.R. Tolkien that have had a ripple effect toward my approach to worldbuilding. The biggest of those lessons was to provide the promise of something greater. What I mean by that is there is something more out there beyond what the reader is experiencing. There is a larger world, other events going on. There is a rich history, filled with named heroes and battles and events that can be referred to over the course of the book. The reader doesn’t need to know what the Wizard Wars were, for instance, but knowing that there was some massive war hundreds of years ago is important ...

The saying goes  All good things come come to those who wait,  and so here it is. Her Dark Voice Volume Two, edited by Theresa Derwin and published by Quantum Corsets. I'm really looking forward to this anthology for many reasons. It is the second time that I have worked with Theresa Derwin - the last time being the  Once Bitten  anthology (currently free on Amazon Unlimited for kindle edition) from Knightwatch Press. Theresa is a super editor and staunch supporter of  Women in Horror . Then there's the fact that this anthology will raise money for the charity  Breast Cancer Now . I have pledged all my royalties to the charity. The launch is planned to coincide with  Edge Lit 2018 , where there will be author readings and so much more. My story will be nestled with a whole bunch of great reads from some superior authors. More on that later. Until then, feast your eyes on the cover!

2018 looms and I'm still wallowing in a dirge of expiring tech and a deluge of work-that-isn't-writing. (Stevie Smith's Not Waving not Drowning springs to mind.) Yet I am sure all is not lost! So here's the run down of 2017 - not an inspiring picture as you can see. Published: Acceptance (Trembling With Fear, The Horror Tree) No Ordinary Game ( Trembling With Fear, The Horror Tree)                  Reprints: Synchronysi (Great Jones Street) Balancing Act (Great Jones Street) Shark Nose (Great Jones Street) There is a sliver of molten gold peeling across the horizon of 2018, however. Let's hope I can turn it into a wedge or even an ingot! Forthcoming 2018 (so far!): The Arrangement, Her Dark Voice Volume 2 (Quantum Corsets) On the reading front, my Goodreads Book Challenge  target has been reached. Click the link to see. I have work, my family are well & happy and my bills are paid, so life has been a success ...

I've been stuck for so long that I really didn't do much writing. Fairy talk and forest visits have built ideas and inspiration but I've put little pen to paper, so to speak. My excuse? I couldn't see the wood for the trees! My laptop, my chief writing tool, 'is old and has no memory', to misquote Gary Oldman in Dracula. It keeps popping up little warnings and runs like sloth. So, despite fear of the unknown, I've been forced to sort out my desk top. No big deal for you digital natives out there maybe, but I'm home-schooled in computing. My son (10) is a bit of a whizz at these things has helped me out with this. (Thanks Villy!) and I now have nice little folders for all my work and can see just what I have to do each day and what I have ahead. Now, I must have mentioned in the past, that I am an easily distracted person which means extreme organisation is the key to success for me. (Ask my family about my 'Book of Lists' and they will tell yo...

So I'm back and the wedding's over. It was a glorious but small affair in the gorgeous Grand Hotel perched on the edge of the Jurassic Coast. I met family members I've never ad the chance to meet (they were born after I emigrated ) and was reunited with many more. I wasn't there for nearly long enough but times are tough and purses are not over-flowing. Durlston Castle I haven't finished reading any of the books I recommended in the last post - not because they aren't superb but because I stocked up on some second hand bargains during my stay at home! I love charity shops and Swanage is stuffed with them, I found a hardback copy of Violin by Anne Rice that I haven't read - hadn't even heard of to be honest, although the character was touched on in the Prince Lestat. Looking forward to diving into that. Didn't get hold of her latest book but I'll ask for it for Christmas! The one that has really got me stuck though is Second Nature by Al...

July already and it's averaging 40 degrees Celsius here in Greece. The heat's not so conducive to writing - or much else for that matter - I do not do air conditioning (for various reasons I won't bore you with here!) So with fans swirling overhead, I've been reading and packing for a long awaited trip home for my niece's wedding. So here's the (wedding) low-down on what I'm currently reading (or planning to)! SOMETHING OLD: The Aviary Gate by Katie Hickman. I'm about a third of the way in and intrigued! A friend of mine, who I always meet on holiday, gave me this last year (it had been passed on to her from a friend of hers). I had a pile of books on the go and didn't start it then. This year I picked it up and I'm really stuck in it. The story slips smoothly between the present and the past following the research of Elizabeth Stavely, who is running away from a troubled trelationship, and Paul Pinder, who discovers that his lost fiance ...