T.A. Moore's Blog, page 19

State of the TAM - 16th Feb

State of the TAM

Shift Work, Book One of the Night Shift series of novellas, is available for preorder now!

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You'd think the werewolves would be the worst thing about the Night Shift; you'd be wrong.

All Officer Kit Marlow wanted was a cup of coffee and some downtime before his next night shift. Instead, he got a naked man in the elevator and an unaccounted-for dead girl in the morgue. He's going to need to deal with both before he can head for his bed.

Or anyone else's. Although not much chance of that.

Reluctantly partnered with the acerbic security consultant Cade Deacon—last seen naked in the elevator—Marlow delves into the dead girl's life. Between them, they uncover a new crime scene with the whiff of old corruption. A corruption that, five years ago, nearly took Marlow's life and ended his career.

Finding out who killed the dead girl on the slab might only be the start of this investigation. Oh, and it's the second night of the full moon. So 80% of the city, including Cade, will turn into werewolves in the middle of the case.

So, there's that.

Pre-Order Now

The various irons in the fire are proceeding quickly! I should be able to run some things past you guys soon. I know that Garrett has started work on Skin and Bone, so that’s awesome. I really can’t wait for you guys to hear it!

Umm, there’s also a new Lidl opening in Newtownards. It’s huge. I’m very excited. I mean, obviously I’m far more excited than is reasonable, but still. It hasn’t exactly been a year when exciting news wasn’t also bad news?

So I’m taking what I can get :D

Pupdate of the Week

Would you like to meet the nosiest dog in the world? Here you go. I swear, if there something to look through or over? He can’t resist.

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February 16th 2021

28 Retweets286 LikesRecommendation of the Week

I love a shared world. Thieves World was my jam, even though I bought them from our local used book store back then and I got them all out of order. So you have to check out The Magic Emporium series. In this one by Meghan Maslow, the Emporium takes a trip to fair Verona.

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You’d think being magically tethered to the hottest warden in all Verona wouldn’t be a hardship.

You’d be wrong.

Incubus Nico Azertiran has his dream job as a cherub-in-training. It’s the perfect position for a lust demon who’s more interested in happily-ever-afters than one-night stands. Or it would be, if he didn’t keep screwing it up. When a new cherub gadget misfires, Nico is left trussed to Verona’s most eligible warden, the incredibly grumpy, Sir Flame.

Flambeau Illume has a job to do. Someone’s murdering Verona’s rich and famous, and Sir Flame’s hot on the killer’s trail . . . until he has the misfortune to get magically lassoed to the most infuriating incubus he’s ever had the displeasure to meet. Except, maybe Nico isn’t so terribly awful. But how can he solve his case and keep Nico safe at the same time? Especially when the sweet demon seems to have a bullseye on his back.

Together they need to solve the crime, stay alive, and—if their luck changes—maybe even fall in love. Easy, right?

Must Love Demons is part of the Magic Emporium series. Each book stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium, a shop that can appear anywhere, but only once and only when someone’s in dire need. This book contains explicit scenes, a lariat of love, a demon tail with a mind of its own, and a guaranteed HEA.

Buy Now

I’ve been here!

Barra Best @barrabestPerfect weather today at County Down’s Silent Valley. Photos via Jon Morrison.

February 16th 2021

19 Retweets316 LikesMust Read of the Week

The UK is the third most surveilled country in the world. It’s fascinating, and disturbing. Obviously it helps fight crime, but can you trust the government to stop there? Can you trust corporations? Thieves World wasn’t the only shared world I loved, I was a big Shadowrun fan too.

There Are Spying Eyes Everywhere—and Now They Share a Brain

Security cameras. License plate readers. Smartphone trackers. Drones. We’re being watched 24/7. What happens when all those data streams fuse into one?

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One afternoon in the fall of 2019, in a grand old office building near the Arc de Triomphe, I was buzzed through an unmarked door into a showroom for the future of surveillance. The space on the other side was dark and sleek, with a look somewhere between an Apple Store and a doomsday bunker. Along one wall, a grid of electronic devices glinted in the moody downlighting—automated license plate readers, Wi-Fi-enabled locks, boxy data processing units. I was here to meet Giovanni Gaccione, who runs the public safety division of a security technology company called Genetec. Headquartered in Montreal, the firm operates four of these “Experience Centers” around the world, where it peddles intelligence products to government officials. Genetec’s main sell here was software, and Gaccione had agreed to show me how it worked.

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This is so funny. I laughed so hard.

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February 15th 2021

320 Retweets2,335 Likes

State of the TAM - 9th February

What’s Up

Shift Work is now submitted to Amazon and will be up for pre-order ANY DAY NOW! To be precise in the next 72 hours. Or so. It will be out March 19 which is a little later than planned, but I do need to sort out a blog tour and arcs.

That was nerve-wracking. I think I’ve done everything right, but I guess we’ll see in a couple of days! Fingers crossed. I’d say I’m going to go grey at this rate, but frankly that ship has visibly sailed since I really need to crack the hair dye open.

Anyhow that and writing away is what I’m up to for the rest of this week. Well, that and giving Jax a bath. He went into the dog park tonight and had the best time with a big staffie/greyhound cross. Unfortunately ‘best time’ for two puppies involves a lot of being bowled over in the mud and quarry dust slurry.

I’ve brushed most of it out, but it makes him itchy so I’ll give him a hose down and tuck him up in his best robe.

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I haven’t done one of these for a while, but this is so peaceful and soothing. The Window Swap opens a window somewhere in the world. You can even add your own window if you want.

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Click Now

Pupdate

The life of a #writingstaffie is a hard one. People just constantly wanting to kiss your nose and nom your ears. (Bribery may have been involved in this photo).

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February 9th 2021

12,688 Retweets104,462 LikesRecommendation of the Week

A ‘sentient sourdough starter’ isn’t that just a starter, Kim?

Jokes asked this is how we all wish our quarantines had gone, more romance and adventure and less second helpings of coffee cake and the embrace of tracksuit bottoms (to be fair, I regret nothing and had embraced the ‘lounging pant’ years ago. Theoretically, though!)

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Morli is a prince on a mission—but he’d rather be baking.

Baxter is a lonely production artist stuck in a pandemic lockdown.

They are literally universes apart. But with a little help from a magic shop, a raven, and a dead great-aunt who was possibly a witch, Morli and Baxter are joined together on a cross-worlds adventure. Battling killer brambles in order to rescue an enchanted princess seems simple compared to their real challenges: discovering their strengths and creating a future together.

The Muffin Man is part of the Magic Emporium Series. Each book stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium, a shop that can appear anywhere, but only once and only when someone is in dire need. This book contains reluctant heroes, sentient sourdough starter, lots of carbs, and a guaranteed HEA.

Buy Now

If I have to see this, so do you! And ok, I scroll twitter using my own finger and freewill but STILL!

@HeinzUK Beanz on bix for breakfast with a twist. #ItHasToBeHeinz #HaveYouHadYourWeetabix ","username":"weetabix","name":"Weetabix","date":"Tue Feb 09 09:38:47 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/EtxmaJ...Weetabix @weetabixWhy should bread have all the fun, when there's Weetabix? Serving up @HeinzUK Beanz on bix for breakfast with a twist. #ItHasToBeHeinz #HaveYouHadYourWeetabix

February 9th 2021

12,149 Retweets40,084 LikesMust Read of the Week

For some reason this is where substack decided to NOT save anymore and send the email anyhow. So having to fix!

Anyhow, as someone who is online a lot I find this fascinating. Our online personas are simultaneously so fragile and so overwhelming. Especially, unexpectedly enough, for people who AREN’T extremely online.

It doesn’t even take a lot of l33t black hat skills, just spite and persistence.

A Vast Web of Vengeance

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Guy Babcock vividly remembers the chilly Saturday evening when he discovered the stain on his family. It was September 2018. He, his wife and their young son had just returned to their home in Beckley, an English village outside of Oxford. Mr. Babcock still had his coat on when he got a frantic call from his father.

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Help! I started to laugh and can’t stop.

Lawrence Hurley @lawrencehurley“I’m here live, I’m not a cat,” says lawyer after Zoom filter mishap“I can see that,” responds judge

February 9th 2021

33,186 Retweets110,690 LikesStaceys555 🌊🌊 @staceys5551Who is old enough to remember this?

February 7th 2021

1,327 Retweets14,773 Likes

State of the TAM - 2nd Feb

For some reason it won’t let me set a subject line this week!

What’s Up?

So, I’ve got some irons in the fire this year. I’ve mentioned this before, because I’m quite excited about it. I’ve never really had ‘irons’ before. OK, calling them ‘irons’ might be a little extravegant, but still…

Anyhow. Awesome news!

Skin and Bone, the second Digging Up Bones novel, is going to be available in audio. I cannot tell you how excited I am. I was impressed by his first audition, but the extract only had one of the MCs in it. So I as asked to hear one with both Javi and Cloister, and I was blown away by his interpretation of them.

So I am deleted to announce that the wonderful Garrett Kiesel is going to be recording Skin and Bone and I hope you all love his Javi and Cloister as much as I do! He’s really awesome! I will keep you updated on news as things progress.

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Books!

That wasn’t quite an iron, but still pretty cool! :D

You can do audio episodes on here too. I’ll have to try it sometimes, although how much anyone would be able to understand of it!

Pupdate of the Week

Jax and my mum on the trails at Mount Stewart. Look how happy they are :D

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I mean, that squirrel is HUGE if you think it’s life size. Poor pupper.

WeRateDogs® @dog_ratesThis is Stella. She just unlocked a new fear: inside squirrels. Not sure why nobody else is concerned. 13/10 someone hold her

February 1st 2021

15,840 Retweets134,033 LikesReccomendation of the Week

Speaking of audio! Check out Rhys Ford’s Bound as narrated by the talented Greg Tremblay.

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Listen Now

How cool are these? Nature is AWESOME. OK, if I used anything like this in one of my worlds I’d have something creepy and wrong crawl out of it, but in the real world it’s just an awesome little bee!

Living Morganism 🌱 @ok_girlfriendUnlike other bee species, Osmia avosetta is a solitary bee that doesn't have a colony to help it raise its young. So instead of building hives, they craft tiny 'cocoons' from flower petals to protect their eggs. Each cocoon holds just one egg

January 31st 2021

1,925 Retweets10,965 LikesMust Read of the Week

OK, coffee addiction is considered de rigeur for authors these days. Imagine if rotten apples had caught on instead? Instead of queues of us at Starbucks durng literary conventions, we’d all be down the grocery store fighting over the squishiest apple.

The most unusual writing rituals of famous authors

All artists have their eccentrics, and authors are no different. Here, from hanging upside down to sniffing rotten apples, are some of the most unusual habits famous names have used to get the juices flowing...

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In November, following the publication of his presidential memoir, it emerged that Barack Obama wrote the entire 760-page tome by hand, on yellow legal notepaper with a pen. A pen!?

"I still like writing things out in longhand, finding that a computer gives even my roughest drafts too smooth a gloss and lends half-baked thoughts the mask of tidiness,” he wrote in A Promised Land.

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This was the first draft. They said it was better if she didn’t smile quite so much.

Shannon Stamey @ShannonStameyWIP. Updated detail shots. Pencil on tea-stained paper.

December 26th 2020

97 Retweets517 Likes

I love London ephemera. As a city it was almost designed for Urban Fantasy. It’s got a little creepy something for everyone! OK, this is just interesting rather than creepy…but still fun.

This looks cool if there’s anyone out there that fancies it :D

@thebookseller are recruiting a Senior Reporter for maternity cover. Do you have reporting experience? Have a ❤️ for books? Want to write articles for the company? Then apply by 12/02.\n\n➡️ow.ly/JQLB50DhlcF\n\n#CAOPPS #PublishingJobs","username":"_CreativeAccess","name":"Creative Access","date":"Mon Jan 25 17:02:24 +0000 2021","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"retweet_count":8,"like_count":5,"expanded_url":{"url":"http://ow.ly/JQLB50DhlcF","... Details | Creative Access","description":"Are you a tenacious journalist with demonstrable experience of news reporting on a business-to-business magazine, daily or weekly newspaper or news website? The Bookseller is recruiting a Senior Reporter to join their team. Apply now!","domain":"ow.ly"}}">Creative Access @_CreativeAccessLove writing news stories?Well, @thebookseller are recruiting a Senior Reporter for maternity cover. Do you have reporting experience? Have a ❤️ for books? Want to write articles for the company? Then apply by 12/02.➡️ow.ly/JQLB50DhlcF#CAOPPS #PublishingJobsOpportunity Details | Creative AccessAre you a tenacious journalist with demonstrable experience of news reporting on a business-to-business magazine, daily or weekly newspaper or news website? The Bookseller is recruiting a Senior Reporter to join their team. Apply now!ow.ly

January 25th 2021

8 Retweets5 Likes

State of the TAM - 26 Jan

What’s Up

Why do they always have the gluten-free stuff you want at Sainsbury’s when you order (GF cob loaf! croissants!), but not when it comes time to pack up groceries? It’s not like I’m out money—you would all have heard the screeching—but it’s still disappointing.

Small problem in the scheme of things, I know. Still. I wanted a really nice ham sandwich, with chutney and applewood cheese and homemade red onion pickles. It would have been delicous.

Ah well.

News!

Shift Work by TA Moore - Coming soon

a.image2.image-link.image2-639-423 { padding-bottom: 150.96153846153848%; padding-bottom: min(150.96153846153848%, 638.5673076923077px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-639-423 img { max-width: 423px; max-height: 638.5673076923077px; }  You'd think the werewolves would be the worst thing about the Night Shift; you'd be wrong.

All Officer Kit Marlow wanted was a cup of coffee and some downtime before his next night shift. Instead, he got a naked man in the elevator and an unaccounted-for dead girl in the morgue. He's going to need to deal with both before he can head for his bed.

Or anyone else's. Although not much chance of that.

Reluctantly partnered with the acerbic security consultant Cade Deacon—last seen naked in the elevator—Marlow delves into the dead girl's life. Between them, they uncover a new crime scene with the whiff of old corruption. A corruption that, five years ago, nearly took Marlow's life and ended his career.

Finding out who killed the dead girl on the slab might only be the start of this investigation. Oh, and it's the second night of the full moon. So 80% of the city, including Cade, will turn into werewolves in the middle of the case. So, there's that.

Pupdate of the Week

I tried to take a picture of a cute, tiny snow gnome that someone had made up at Mount Stewart. Before I could Jax bit the head off it.

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He regrets nothing, by the way.

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January 25th 2021

17,222 Retweets94,424 LikesThings You Don’t Know About TA Moore

Or might know. I don’t know. Some of you will know it. I tend to be a motormouth. If there’s anything that anyone wants to know, do let me know. You all know whereabouts to find me on here.

OK. So….um…I’ll ease you all in. Medical stuff!

I’m allergic to penicillin, intolerant to wheat, I have asthma, and I’m a very poor clotter. I do not have tonsils anymore, when I had them I hallucinated some very angry people lived in my wallpaper and threw oranges at me.

I can have none of these, but don’t they look delicious?

tasteatlas.com/search ","username":"TasteAtlas","name":"TasteAtlas","date":"Wed Jul 04 16:43:23 +0000 2018","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/DhRn3L...TasteAtlas @TasteAtlasEveryone knows about French crêpes, but have you tried some of these tasty treats? Which country has the best pancakes?View more: tasteatlas.com/search

July 4th 2018

8 Retweets29 Likes

Bwah hah ha

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He’s talking to ants right? Or bugs. Bugpathy. I would never write this (insects squick me out), but I love the idea of it. We might be never more than six foot away from a rat, but we’re never more than six inches from a bug.

*shudders*

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An Andi Hayes Murder Mystery

Detective George Donavon doesn’t plan to stay in Charleston long. Skeptical and by-the-book, he’s on the fast track to the top, and he won’t let anything derail his career. Especially not Andrew Hayes, his grumpy, awkward new partner—and not the chief’s secret order to find out how said partner solves even the most difficult cases.

George and Andi can’t agree on anything except their mutual dislike, but when three dead girls turn up at a storage unit, they must put their differences aside before the suspected trafficking ring claims another victim.

There is no crime without witnesses. Andi knows George suspects his always-right “hunches” point to corruption, but he doesn’t care. All that matters is catching a killer… and keeping his secret. But with leads on this sprawling conspiracy drying up, he has no choice. He just can’t let his partner find out how he’s getting the information.

Andi’s on the verge of losing his life, his mind, and his career. He could take George down with him…

If the violent criminals who are always one step ahead don’t get to them first. 

Preorder Now

Must Read of the Week

I had no idea about this place? It sounds wild.

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The sleepy Sussex market town of East Grinstead has gained a reputation in recent decades as a hotbed for offbeat religious activity.

It has been described as Britain’s strangest town and the real-life answer to Twin Peaks. But East Grinstead hardly exudes a sense of dreamlike Lynchian terror. Elegant 14th-Century buildings house bookshops and jewellers; butchers hawk burgers and sausages from market stalls; and friends cluster cheerfully outside cafes. The scene is one of pleasant gentility. It all seems so… normal.

Beneath the surface, however, this otherwise unremarkable Sussex market town is charged with an unlikely religious zeal. A disproportionate number of spiritual organisations have made their home here; some are ancient and some modern, some orthodox and others unconventional. One group in particular has generated more column inches than the rest.

Read More

@Roisin_McNally! ","username":"IanFayArt","name":"• I Λ П | F Λ Y •","date":"Mon Jan 25 22:47:39 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/EsnKHs...• I Λ П | F Λ Y • @IanFayArtThe Mummy - Rick O'ConnellCommissioned by @Roisin_McNally!

January 25th 2021

3,164 Retweets14,308 LikesEva Grosman @evagrosmanYou can do virtual tours of almost every major London museum and gallery You can do virtual tours of almost every major London museum and galleryLife without art and museums is just a whole lot of Netflix and cheap lager, that’s what self-isolation has taught me. Good heavens, I miss museums. The smell,timeout.com

January 25th 2021

8 Retweets13 Likes

Gothaburra or kookagoth?

@abcbrisbane #wildoz \n📸: Alena Possum ","username":"shelleymlloyd","name":"Shelley Lloyd 🎙","date":"Wed Sep 25 23:09:37 +0000 2019","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/EFWITy...Shelley Lloyd 🎙 @shelleymlloydA rare black kookaburra spotted at Forest Lake in Brisbane's west yesterday. @abcbrisbane #wildoz 📸: Alena Possum

September 25th 2019

760 Retweets2,698 Likes

State of the TAM-19 Jan

What’s Up?

Well, not my feet. I ordered a new sofa last year and due to…y’know…it’s taken a while to get here. It was supposed to arrive last week, but hasn’t.

No point in getting all het up about it—there’s a lot going on!—but I do wish I knew if it was Brexit on the pandemic holding it up. I’m putting bets on May for the sofa, to be honest.

Other news…picked the narrator for Skin and Bone. I asked for an extra scene for the audition, so I could hear Javi and Cloister together, and his rendition of them blew me away. I’m very excited to work with him ongoing.

I also had a second narrator who I loved, but his voice just wasn’t quite right for Skin and Bone. So he’s going to be on deck for the next American based book of mine that goes to audio (I believe that the next book lined up is actually Stone the Crows, and I want to get someone that can do good Brit for that).

What else? I have OBSESSIVELY reorgnanized my desktop filing system. It is currently a thing of highly efficient beauty. We’ll have to see how long that lasts.

Pupdate of the Week

Jax got a bath this week :D and he got to wear his Xmas robe from his Aunt Penny.

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This adorable.

Kaye 🌈 @SimkayeOfficialA game of Solitaire 🐹

January 19th 2021

152 Retweets706 LikesRecommendation of the Week

I love this series by Kim Fielding. I am always a sucker for secret government agencies that deal with the paranormal. Do NOT ask how many times I’ve watched Hell Boy (and yes, I’ve also read the comics. But I rewatch the film).

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World War I veteran Thomas Donne is new to San Francisco. Always a stoic man, shell shock and a lost love have nearly turned his heart to stone. No matter—a private eye has no room for softness. Almost broke, he takes on what appears to be a simple case: finding a missing young man.

As a magician and medium, Abraham Ferencz cons his audiences into believing he can cheat death and commune with their dearly departed. Although his séances are staged, the spirits are very real, and they’ve brought him almost more pain than he can bear.

When Donne’s case becomes complicated and the bodies start to pile up, he and Ferencz must fight their way through a web of trickery and lies. The truth is obscured by the San Francisco fog, and in their uncanny world, anyone can catch a bullet.

Read Now

Patrick Dexter @patrickdextervcAmazing Grace from the west coast of Ireland. Sending warm wishes across the Atlantic on this important week for America 🇺🇸

January 19th 2021

585 Retweets2,523 LikesMust Read of the Week

In this, the year of We Expected Better, we really did, there’s something both compelling and cozy about the idea of brickophiles quietly, merrily building little cairns of aesthetically pleasing bricks.

Inside the World of British Brickophiles To devoted collectors, the humble building materials are full of stories—and well worth stockpiling. Brick Index.","title":null,"type":null,"href":"https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/brick-collecting?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB"}" alt="Devoted collectors are often drawn to bricks with striking typography and design. These appeared in Patrick Fry's Brick Index."> a.image2.image-link.image2-807-1280 { padding-bottom: 63.046875%; padding-bottom: min(63.046875%, 807px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-807-1280 img { max-width: 1280px; max-height: 807px; }

Four hundred bricks line Jason Harris’s hallway, and none of them hold the ceiling up. Arranged in an earthy ombre from ruddy terra cotta to cream, these once-functional rectangles are now purely for show. The London-based architect doesn’t think this hefty display lends him much gravitas in British brick collecting circles, though. “I’m a lightweight brick collector because I just like the color and the shapes,” Harris says. “I feel a little bit of a fraud amongst the collecting community.”

And he’d definitely be a fraud among builders, since his bricks all face the wrong way. Their frogs, the indentations on the top sides, are exposed to reveal writing that’s usually hidden in a wall.

Frogs were first pressed into bricks in the late 18th century, to make for easier handling and allow room for extra mortar. A century later, manufacturers were stamping their names and addresses into the frogs, with lettering ranging from the primly functional to the wildly ornate. “It’s design for utility that often has a strange, imperfect quality that really appeals,” says Patrick Fry, a graphic designer who published a life-sized Brick Index book based on Harris’s collection. “It holds an honest story.”

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As someone who lived in the North of England for a while, this made me cackle. I also miss Newcastle! As soon as we can travel again, I’m going over for a weekend.

Em Humble @em_humbleEvery “Northern” character in a musical.

January 16th 2021

16,467 Retweets125,320 Likes

I wish I could watch this, but Jax is deeply, personally offended by woofing.

@GraemeDogfather work his magic 😂\n#DogsBehavingVeryBadly ","username":"DannyPillo91","name":"Dan Pilling","date":"Tue Jan 19 21:55:38 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/EsIGGG...Dan Pilling @DannyPillo91Hugo loves settling down to watch @GraemeDogfather work his magic 😂#DogsBehavingVeryBadly

January 19th 2021

2 Likes

OK, the food looks good but mostly this woman’s voice is amazing. This is the most soothing food video ever.

State of the TAM - 12th Jan 2021

What’s Up?

The edit for Shift Work, the first novella in a three book series, is in my sweaty little hands. I’m done with the first sweep and just need to write some more bits and pieces before it goes off to copy edit. The Plan is for it to be up at the end of February, I just need to put all my ducks in a row.

I think it’s really good! I enjoyed writing it :D I’ll probably do a preview of the cover here once I finalize my blurb! So maybe next week, depends if I can sidle up on it and catch it by surprise.

The narrowing of choices for a Skin and Bone narrator continues. I’ve narrowed it down to two. If I can I’ll probably use whoever doesn’t do Skin and Bone for something else, because they’re both great.

It’s SURPRISINGLY hard to pick audio book narrators though. A: listening to my words being read aloud gives me that weird feeling you get when someone makes a fool of themselves on a TV show and B: I run faster than most audio narrators. Anyone who has heard me talk can testify to that, if I get really excited it’s like listening to a dolphin. So I always think they read too slow, even though it’s the perfect speed.

I think I’ve made some good choices though!

Pupdate of the Week

As of today Mount Stewart is still within the Ring of Responsible Behavior so Jax is getting dragged there every day for his walk. This national trust membership has been a godsend over the last few months, although I’m lucky that Mount Stewart is so close to my house.

It’s also amazing how much stuff is at Mount Stewart that I never knew about! The trails are amazing.

The swans I always knew were there, but Jax seemed surprised :D

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I am not going to lie, it would work on me. When I used to live in Newcastle there were so many markets and I went to all of them. I was constantly drawn in by the cheese stalls, even when I got burned.

(I don’t judge people who like it, but there was this weird peppery cheese that tasted like I imagine an fungal foot would.

Mappers @CarolMapsIMPORTANT 👇🏼

January 12th 2021

1,337 Retweets6,825 LikesBook Recommendation of the Week

Look.

Look.

I love weddings. I know, I know It’s not on brand, but I just love ‘em. The pomp! The circumstance! The pretty dresses! The potential for disaster!

The - in my family - almost 100% certainty that something will kick off and it will all end in tears. Or yelling. Then tears.

So this? This looks so much fun. :D

a.image2.image-link.image2-600-400 { padding-bottom: 150%; padding-bottom: min(150%, 600px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-600-400 img { max-width: 400px; max-height: 600px; } A Brandt and Donnelly Caper: Case File Three

When a high-profile gay celebrity couple asks two of the city’s most established vendors to provide cake and flowers for their wedding and they refuse, a resulting boycott threatens to shut them down. It’s up to the next generation in the family-owned businesses to save them from ruin. Justin Capella, baker's son, and Roman Montgomery, floral scion, work together to plan the gay wedding of the year.

Justin and Roman haven’t seen each other since that fateful day in third grade when a single kiss shocked Justin and sent Roman to boarding school. As fate would have it, Justin and Roman rediscover love while working on the wedding. But disaster might pry them apart again.

Troopers Brandt and Donnelly are working with a statewide task force for the rights of LGBT citizens—all while searching for a killer wedding planner. As guests at the “wedding of the year,” they are the first responders when all hell breaks loose. In investigating, the troopers are led to a shadowy figure they believe seduced Roman into doing his bidding. But the real murderer will cover his tracks at all costs, including Roman and Justin’s lives.

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

Buy Now

Ankith Harathi @ankithharathiIn 1959, a Swedish engineer at Volvo patented what would become one of the greatest inventions of all timeVolvo stood to make billionsBut after a meeting with Volvo's President, he decided to give it away for free - and it changed the worldHere’s how that meeting went 🧶👇

January 12th 2021

2,330 Retweets6,365 LikesMust Read of the Week

The mother and baby homes in Ireland are one of our greatest shames. It was wrong then. People knew it was wrong. It was just too hard for them to do anything about it. It’s not The Past either. It’s not period clothing and nobody knowing any better. I have met people who spent time in them, who were still at work and still going to the cinema and still out in Tesco’s on a Saturday to buy their lamb chops.

This isn’t the past. It’s still close enough to be the present.

Tuam: 'I need to know what happened to my brothers' a.image2.image-link.image2-549-976 { padding-bottom: 56.25%; padding-bottom: min(56.25%, 549px); width: 100%; height: 0; } a.image2.image-link.image2-549-976 img { max-width: 976px; max-height: 549px; }

Anna Corrigan was in her mid-50s when she made a shock discovery about her family.

The Dubliner was raised as an only child, but in 2012 she found out she had two older brothers her mother had never told her about.

She also discovered both boys were born while her mother was a resident of the Tuam mother and baby home in County Galway.

Anna has spent the past eight years trying to confirm their fate.

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Kelly Turnbull @CoelasquidThis is exactly what I would hope the gravestone of a man named Skeffington Liquorish” would look like

Sad Charles @charleswrites

Heck of a name lad https://t.co/FDgPkU1p3q

January 11th 2021

92 Retweets438 Likes

I am the only one of my friends who finds Letterkenny hysterical. At least, I’m the only one who’ll admit it! Because c’mon! It’s funny!

Oh man, I loved this series. I was reminded when I found it on Prime and I am 100% going to do a rewatch next week!

State of the TAM - 5 Jan 2020

What’s Up?

Back into Lockdown: Electric No Boogaloo 4? 5? 5 1/2? Who can tell anymore.

Honestly, I think a lockdown is a good idea. Obviously. I’m one of the ones likely to end up in the ICU if I get sick (asthmatic!). It’s just the constant chop and change that’s bewildering.

Ah well, more time inside will just give me more time to write. Or procrastinate about writing and bake more biscuits! I made some excellent Rocky Road at Christmas!

The novella I’ve been working on is being edited AS. WE. SPEAK and I’m working on the second installment.

Skin and Bone, the second book in the Diggin’ Up Bones series, is going into audio now! I’ve got some auditions that I’m going through now. I’ve narrowed it down to four. Maybe five? Definitely not six.

Probably :D They’re just all so good!

Pupdate of the Week

I GUESS that we’ll not be going to Jax’s training classes tomorrow due to the new restrictions. We’ll see. There’s only three people in the class plus the trainer, but we’re obviously from four different households.

Ah well, it’s cold anyhow. Jax and I will just have to wrap up warm and stay home.

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@thelinenhall's Reading Group review of @michellegallen's book 'Big Girl, Small Town'. And the author herself joined us for the discussion. It's all here: youtu.be/UZIRUPbvLto ","username":"thelinenhall","name":"Linen Hall Library","date":"Tue Jan 05 09:00:25 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/Eq9OXC...Linen Hall Library @thelinenhall"Outrageous - I loved it." One of the many reviews from @thelinenhall's Reading Group review of @michellegallen's book 'Big Girl, Small Town'. And the author herself joined us for the discussion. It's all here: youtu.be/UZIRUPbvLto

January 5th 2021

1 Retweet5 LikesRecommendation of the Weekbooks2read.com/TheGangster\n\nInt... - Collection of old & brand new shorts spanning the timeline of the Snow & Winter mystery series\nbooks2read.com/Interlude ","username":"cs_poe","name":"C.S. Poe","date":"Mon Jan 04 17:06:02 +0000 2021","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/Eq5zRN...C.S. Poe @cs_poeThe Gangster - Steampunk adventure & gay romance set in NYC, 1882 featuring a magic-casting special agent & infamous outlaw
books2read.com/TheGangster

Interlude - Collection of old & brand new shorts spanning the timeline of the Snow & Winter mystery series
books2read.com/Interlude

January 4th 2021

1 Retweet7 Likes

Must Read of the Week

Bad decisions are a writer’s meat and potatoes. A character that makes the right decision all the time, isn’t a great help to the narrative most of the time. Drama lives at the juncture of mistakes and misjudgements. At least some of the time your characters need to screw up: their life, the plot, the world? Something.

Still, this is interesting. Especially since I talk to myself all the time. I’m constantly chuntering away to myself if there’s no one else around to chunter to :D

Why You Should Talk to Yourself in the Third Person

Evidence suggests that there are real benefits of talking to yourself in the third person—in your head, not out loud.

According to the Bible, King Solomon, the Israelite king, was an incredibly wise man. People traveled far and wide just to ask for his advice, including two women who claimed to be the mother of the same baby. Solomon devised a clever way to solve the dispute. 

Solomon's wisdom, though, only applied to matters external to himself. His own life “was a shambles of bad decisions and uncontrolled passions,” wrote Wray Herbert in The Association for Psychological Science. “He kept hundreds of pagan wives and concubines, and also loved money and boasted of his riches. He neglected to instruct his only son, who grew up to be an incompetent tyrant. All these sins and misjudgments contributed to the eventual demise of the kingdom.”

This is referred to as Solomon's Paradox. Whether the tales of Solomon are rooted in historical fact or not, they describe how we are often more wise when it comes to helping others than we are with ourselves.

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Good advice is good advice, man!

Doth @DothTheDothI’ve said it before but it bears repeating

January 4th 2021

2,282 Retweets10,873 LikesLovin Dublin @LovinDublinHa'penny Bridge by night

State of the TAM - 29 Dec

What’s Up?

Well, that’s Christmas behind us.

The presents have been opened, the turkey eaten, the brussel sprouts picked around, and the nibbles nibbled on. It’s all done and dusted, except for the dusting.

New Year’s Day is the next big thing. I don’t think many people are going to be sad to say goodbye to 2020. Hopefully 2021 will bring good things, although at this point I’m not going to put the scud on anything with predictions!

So, no idea what I’ll be up to travelwise next year. The hope is that I’ll be at the Salon du Livre in Paris (if they are letting us off our Plague Island by then), at the UK Meet (if it happens next year), and then to GRL (which is in Oct so no idea what will go on then.). Whether ANY of that will happen? Another story.

Currently my asthmatic ass is Level 6 in the UK, I believe, and will be getting vaccinated sometime around June/July. Maybe? I mean, don’t get me wrong. I am fully on board with a vaccine. Jab me up, baby. It’s more planning ahead at this point.

Writing wise? Much more on the ball :D

I’ll have a novella out in February, and I’m really excited about it. I can’t wait to tell you guys a bit more about it! I should have a cover reveal on here sometime soon :D

I am enjoying #Bridgerton, but I’m not in love with it yet. To be honest, I love the Featherington family so much more than the Bridgertons. Daphne seems nice enough (I am not binging!), but she’s a perfectly marriagiable miss. I find the Featheringtons more interesting, because they (the two older sisters, at least) don’t want anything but a good match. They just try so hard, and so visibly, that they are mocked for it. There’s NARRATIVE there, you know?

#Bridgerton ","username":"isaIovestory","name":"sic mundus","date":"Tue Dec 29 15:24:51 +0000 2020","photos":[{"img_url":"https://cdn.substack.com/image/upload...sic mundus @isaIovestoryThe Bridgertons

#Bridgerton

December 29th 2020

36 Retweets215 LikesPupdate of the Week

Jax is one!

From this:

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To this:

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Recommendation of the Week
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"Are you afraid yet? You should be."

Undercover narcotics agent and former drug trafficker Lucky Harrison paid his debt to society and now lives a law-abiding life, complete with a home, a man he loves, and their son.

An old enemy lurks in the shadows, threatening all he holds dear. A dead witness. A kidnapping attempt. Arson. All send the message: "I’m coming for you." Hiding in Atlanta’s underbelly, always one step ahead of Lucky, the killer will stop at nothing to exact revenge on the man who thwarted his plans.

But if anyone thinks they’re going to take away the perfect world Lucky’s created, they’d better think again.

This volume also includes bonus novella Domestication, Diversion 9.1.

Buy Now!

OK, technically Christmas is over, but the 12 Days of Christmas are still going strong. Plus this is just cool as everything.

Catriona Claire @lacatchatBest Yuletide front door in Lewes knocking it out the park once again. I came this way specially to see what it was this year and I was not disappointed

December 27th 2020

1,209 Retweets10,616 Likes

Oh man, the stories I could tell about deranged teachers. Hmmmm….OK, just one? Our art teacher lost his ENTIRE MIND one day, picked up a boy, threw him (quite a distance!) into a cupboard, and locked in. We had to spend two hours (Double Art!) awkwardly drawing a boot and a vase of flowers while he screamed and hammered at the door.

(There was always the time our music teacher had a total breakdown, locked thirty first formers in a classroom, dropped his trousers and played chopsticks on the piano until the special doctors came to take him away. But I didn’t actually see it, just him being taken away in a van.)

Claire Allan @ClaireAllanPE Teacher pulling back shower curtains to make sure girls were showering naked and not just having a quick, modest, wash.

Mic O’Holy Wright

State of the TAM

Today is the release day for Cash in Hand by TA Moore. Aka me! Shouldn’t be a surprise, really. If it is, you are really in the wrong place and maybe want the TA Moore who does physics.

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The last monster died a hundred years ago. At least, that’s what the monsters want you to think.

Half-monster Cash just wants to keep his head down and raise his daughter, Ellie, to be an upstanding member of monstrous society. Even if she’d rather spend the summer with her human friends than learn the art of man traps at Camp Dark Hollow.

So the last person Cash wants to see is her uncle Arkady Abascal, who’s also Cash’s ex-boyfriend.

Arkady has more than Ellie’s summer plans on his mind. He’s there to enlist Cash to find out who’s been selling monster secrets. Cash hasn’t gotten any better at telling Arkady no, but it’s not just his weakness for Arkady that makes him agree. The Prodigium thinks an Abascal exposed them to humans, and now the whole family is at risk—including Ellie.

Recruited to help Arkady identify the culprit—or frame a scapegoat—Cash finds the machinations of monstrous power easier to navigate than his feelings for Arkady. At least, at first. But when things get bloody, he wishes romantic disasters were all he had to worry about….

Buy Now!

There’s still a one day of the blog tour left as well! Check it out!

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My next book, well novella, has also just hit the editor’s desk. So it should be out early next year! AND I have the rest of the week off to do as I please!

culturefly.co.uk/the-best-books… ","username":"Culturefly","name":"Culturefly","date":"Mon Dec 14 15:29:48 +0000 2020","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/EpNRe4...Culturefly @CultureflyIt was a difficult task to narrow down all the books published in 2020, but from award-winners and mystery-thrillers to wondrous fantasy and future YA classics, these are the books that get the Culturefly team’s picks for Best Books of the Year. culturefly.co.uk/the-best-books…

December 14th 2020

2 Retweets13 LikesPupdate of the Week

Merry Christmas!

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Also, just because it’s probably the best picture I’ve ever taken, bonus pupdate!

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Recommendation of the Week

I absolutely love the ‘Baddish guy finds out he picked the wrong mark’ trope. Also vampires.

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Personal assistant Sam Coleman can do it all: housekeeping, groundskeeping, bookkeeping. The catch? It’s a con.

Ed Simon, his newest millionaire boss, doesn’t know Sam Goldman is a Robin Hood for hire who targets rich jerks. Sure, Sam keeps the money for himself, his crew, and his real employers, but at least they only steal from bad people.

Until sweet, fumbling Ed, who doesn’t seem to have a single vice. Too bad the people who hired Sam won’t let him back out. They want Ed’s money, and they’ll hurt Sam and his friends to get it.

For years Ed has kept people at arm’s length, but Sam’s charms wear down his defenses—just as he learns their budding relationship was an act. Sam isn’t who Ed thought he was, but Ed has a dark secret too: he’s a vampire. And someone is framing him for a series of bloody murders.

When the real villains force their hand, Sam and Ed must choose: work together, trust each other, and give in to the feelings growing between them… or let what might have been bleed out like the victims piling at their feet.

Buy Now

I have always wanted to join a choir. The problem is I can’t sing, and am just a wee bit tone deaf. It’s a real stumbling block. Yet even if the Ely Cathedral Choir said they’d let me join, they would NEVER EVER get me up there. Never! (I’m not afraid of heights, I’m afraid of tripping to my death and the sharp stop at the end and the headlines that would read ‘Idiot fell over three times and rolled to their death’.)

@Ely_Cathedral ","username":"GeoffRobinson49","name":"Geoff Robinson","date":"Fri Dec 11 14:21:30 +0000 2020","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/Eo9n3w...Geoff Robinson @GeoffRobinson49The Girl Choristers of Ely Cathedral Choir​ Christmas rehearsal on the roof of @Ely_Cathedral

December 11th 2020

122 Retweets662 LikesMust Read of the Week

I don’t actually care if my pets eats my corpse if I die unexpectedly at home. It’s better than the poor baby going hungry, and I’m, you know, dead. So no skin off my nose…. I mean, you know.

Did not realise cats showed more ‘just make SURE they’re definitely dead’ consideration than dogs, though. I would have sworn my cats would have nommed down on me if I was too deeply asleep at dinner time.

Every day, learning something new.

(The hamster story, though!)

Dogs, cats, other pets: would they eat you if you died? Would your dog, cat, or other pet eat you if you died? The truth about if — and how soon — our animal friends start to see us in a different light. 
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Things would be so much simpler if we could converse with our pets and really know for certain how they think and what they feel. As it is, we’re always left squinting at the dividing line between understanding and anthropomorphism. And we’re left wondering what a pet’s affection means and how deep it runs. Which is to say, would they eat us if we die?

Read More

I love this version of Little Drummer Boy by For King and Country (they are, by the way, very Christian Country, which was a bit of a bummer since not really my genre, you know?)

Look, I love me a highland coo, alright?

highlandcowawareness A post shared by Highland Cows (@highlandcowawareness)

State of the TAM - 8th December

Last week of pre-Christmas lockdown here. The schools are apparently considering closing next week. On the one hand, it’s understandable. Teachers don’t want to have to quarantine over Christmas after all the stuff they’ve already had to deal with this year. And YET I can’t imagine how feral the various reopened shops are going to be if they do.

Ah well. My mask and me are mostly staying out of the way. Shop local! But online! *thumbs up*

The Cash in Hand blog tour starts soon! Prizes! An original vignette set in the Prodigium world! Stuff about me!

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I am also taking part in Talking RoMMance with a British Accents Advent Calendar! Along with a great bunch of authors and some audiobook narrators. Check it out!

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My weekly Christmas link!

2,183 Likes