Tina Rath's Blog: A Writer's Diary, page 9

World Fantasy Con – Poetry Event

See http://www.thewritersgreenhouse.blogspot.co.uk/

Where Megan Kerr offers a virtual look at the Saturday night poetry reading at the World Fantasy Con

World Fantasy Convention 2013

Me and the Chimaera at WFC

Last weekend I went to the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton. I read from my book A Chimaera in My Wardrobe to a small – but select – audience, mentored a panel on vampires (Have Vampires Lost Their Bite? – majority decision being no, they hadn’t), contributed to a panel on Arthur Machen (Sorcery and Sanctity), and read at the Round Robin Poem Evening on the Saturday organised by Allen Ashley

I also extensively patronised the Regency Restaurant (seafood, steak) the Mock Turtle (home made cakes and tea) and Indian Summer (Indian street food), all of which I can thoroughly recommend.

And I won an original print – one of Reggie Oliver’s illustrations to Anna Taborska’s thoroughly scary collection of short stories -  For Those Who Dream Monsters, published by Mortbury Press and launched at the Convention!

A successful Convention. If only I could have managed a swim…

HALLO

Hallo, this is my first post on my New Blog

World Fantasy Convention

I will be going to the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton at the end of this month - it runs from Thursday 31st (Halloween) of October to Sunday 3rd of November and I shall (probably) be:
Reading from A Chimaera in My Wardrobe at 5pm on the Thursday
On the panel Have Vampires Lost Their Bite?
at 2pm on the Friday
Contributing some of my verse to the World Con Poetry Showcase on Saturday evening
Contributing to the panel Machen and the Mysteries on Sunday at noon.
If anyone else is going along, see you there?

Look out for the hardback of A Chimaera in My Wardrobe

Available now – the hardback large print edition of my latest collection of stories:-

Hardcover book cover page image

My Blog

I’ve been busy writing poems… for a sample please click here

Regal visit to a Victorian steam fair

A few years back years  I spent a lovely  day walking about inspecting glorious Victorian Steam engines.

Dracula and Me

I shall be giving a talk on vampires the week after next, and, synchronistically an e-edition of Dracula has appeared on Goodreads, featuring a new introduction written by m.
Looking over it again it strikes me how practically everything we know about vampires is wrong - which, rather fortunately will be the theme of my talk.
I shall be looking at some on this blog in the next couple of weeks to get my thoughts in order for the occasion.
First - let's look at silver. We know that silver bullets are for verevolves (although this was not always true) but when did silver become a problem for vampires? There are some ingenious explanations: a silver cross (or crucifix - there is a difference, believe me) could be powerful against vampires because, one author suggests, it would protect the major arteries of the throat - only if it was wrapped round, surely - if I wear a cross it rests on the base of my throat or on my chest - silvered mirrors betray vampires by refusing to reflect them - sometimes...and silver does have antibacterial properties...so perhaps it could cauterise an infectious bite...
But a short story written early in the nineteenth century features a female vampire 'the terrific Brunhilda' who will only wear - silver jewellery...
More later but does anyone have any views on silver and vampires?

Bad Kitties

Boris - or possibly Vlad - has been chasing squirrels.
Oh dear.

Upstaged by a cat

With a great deal of help from my husband and a friend I recorded an audition and sent it off yesterday - too late I realised that while I was doing my best for the camera a small furry head had risen over the table beside me with an expression of alert interest, before dropping out of sight.
I wonder if they'll book him instead...