Aly Monroe's Blog, page 14

The Seas South of Gaudi

When, on his way back home from Australia in 2003, Manuel Vazquez Montalbán died at the age of 64 at least half (the left-wing half) of Spain went into mourning. Television and newspapers went into overdrive. Spain had just lost a prolific journalist and writer who had provided frequently waspish and funny, always acute commentary, up to, through and beyond what is called the Transition – the movement out of dictatorship and into democracy.

Vazquez Montalbán was from Barcelona, born in the poo...

THE SEAS SOUTH OF GAUDI

When, on his way back home from Australia in 2003, Manuel Vazquez Montalbán died at the age of 64 at least half (the left-wing half) of Spain went into mourning. Television and newspapers went into overdrive. Spain had just lost a prolific journalist and writer who had provided frequently waspish and funny, always acute commentary, up to, through and beyond what is called the Transition – the movement out of dictatorship and into democracy.

Vazquez Montalbán was from Barcelona, born in the p...

Talking to Readers at The Edinburgh Bookshop

On Wednesday I went to the Edinburgh Bookshop in Bruntsfield Place to read from and talk about the first two books of the Peter Cotton series, The Maze of Cadiz and Washington Shadow. It was a lovely responsive audience and I'd like to say thank you to all for coming, and for your interesting questions and comments, which made it a very enjoyable evening for me.

Thanks, of course, to Vanessa and Andrew for inviting me and for making the evening possible. If you haven't visited the shop yet, do...

Visit to Goldsboro Books

I went down to London from Edinburgh on Thursday - a somewhat fraught trip as the train broke down and we all had to get out at Durham and wait to be transferred to another train. I found my agent was travelling on the same train so we travelled the rest of the way together and met up with my editor.

From there I went on to Goldsboro Books in Cecil Court to sign copies of Washington Shadow.

Goldsboro is a wonderful bookshop specialising in signed first editions and has clients from all over...

'Thankfully'

November 5th was official publication day for Washington Shadow and I have been taking a break from the gruesome winter of 1946-47, the background of the next Peter Cotton book, to answer a number of questions I have received from would-be writers and/or the curious.

These questions have ranged from how long a book should be and where did I learn to write, to how much control I have over shoutlines/taglines and book covers, and one from Bookhugger that asked me directly whether or not I have r...

Book Hugger Author Panel

I was recently invited by Book Hugger - the excellent online magazine that started back in June - to take part in one of their author panels together with Helen Walsh and Armand Cabasson. The panels are a great idea and I enjoyed the opportunity to exchange thoughts with these writers. The subject of the panel was Writing From Life. You can read this and lots more by clicking on the following link:

http://bookhugger.co.uk/2009/11/the-bookhugger-author-panel-writing-from-life/

The Edinburgh Bookshop

The Edinburgh Bookshop in Bruntsfield, owned by Malcolm and Vanessa Robertson- who are also the owners of the fantastic Children's Bookshop - only opened in September this year but is already making its mark on the city. I was delighted, then, when Andrew, the manager of the shop, said they would like to host an author event for the release of Washington Shadow, which is due to be released on 5th November.

If you want to know why we should support independent bookshops, look no further. Take a...

Sabores de Cádiz - Comfort Food Cadiz Style

Since I started this blog, I have, every now and then, been including some recipes for food Peter Cotton eats in The Maze of Cadiz. Some of the other dishes described - such as the delicious grilled snippets of calves liver, tiny fried squid (puntillitas) and sizzling prawns in garlic (gambas al ajillo) that Cotton watches Ramirez eat after viewing that gruesome body found in the underwater caves, are all hard to replicate - much better eaten as tapas in a good bar in Cadiz than cooked at hom...

Bulls and Bells

Further to my last blog, I have been thinking more about the use of language and the perceived exoticism of foreign settings.

I suppose the most famous novel in English involving the Spanish is For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway's take on the Spanish civil war. 'Bells, bulls and balls' was Nabokov's brisk summary of Hemingway's interest in Spain. And I have some sympathy for that.

A little less dismissive was the complaint of an absurdly archaic tone given by Hemingway's use of 'thou' fo...

The Language of Character

I don't as a general rule respond to other people's comments about my books, but Fiction Desk's review of The Maze of Cadiz, and the subsequent thread of comments which I came across recently, raised some interesting questions that confront any author who writes a story with a foreign setting, where many of the conversations are actually taking place in another language that will not be understood by the majority of readers. Should you simply put everything in English - thereby making no dist...