Natasha Duncan-Drake's Blog, page 53

Author Interview: Roland Clarke - #WriterlyWednesdays 23

Please join me today in welcoming the lovely Roland Clarke to my blog. He has been kind enough to give me an interview.

Roland Clarke - Interview
Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

As a kid, I wanted to be a farmer so writing was a side road that came along – once I started scribbling fantasy and SF shorts in my teens. Well, there was an essay competition that I won when I was younger, but that wasn’t career moulding. Anyway, one failed sci-fi fanzine later I became a journalist, and...

Sick And Tired Of Doing Social Media The Old Way? Read This #TipsTuesdays 23

Sick And Tired Of Doing Social Media The Old Way?
So thanks to the lovely Sara C. Snider my Twitter and Facebook have a new lease of life. In a post last week she introduced me to Buffer and I cannot stress how easy this makes certain aspects of social media.

Good things about Buffer:It is FREE to a certain level, which is perfectly usable for those of us just wanting to get one account going.It has a tool to work out your accounts optimum posting times.It allows you to schedule tweets days and...

5 Dragons You Definitely Don't Want To Mess With - #MonsterMondays 33

Good morning and welcome to my blog for Monster Mondays 33 - today I am talking about the ultimate in monsters: dragons!
5 Dragons You Definitely Don't Want To Mess With
I have always loved dragons, be they the good guys or the bad guys - they are simply awesome creatures. Today I present five that made an impression on me. These big guns you definitely don't want to tangle with "for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" :). These are in no particular order because I would never dare tak...

Ladyhawke - A Love Stronger than All Evil - #FanFridays 17

So in honour of Valentine's Day on Sunday, for Fan Fridays 17 I have chosen to geek out about one of my all time favourite fantasy movies, because it is also a gorgeous love story.

Ladyhawke - A Love Stronger than All Evil
Now if you haven't seen Ladyhawke then you are missing out. This is a film from 1985, but it's a fantasy film, so it hasn't dated. It is a wonderful story of a curse, an epic romance and bravery.

First of all this film has a magnificent cast:
Rutger Hauer as Etienne NavarreMich...

Why Writing Is the Secret Ingredient - #ThinkyThursdays 10

Why Writing Is the Secret IngredientSo I was lying in bed this morning just pondering the whole idea of writing and why on earth some of us choose to do it. Let's face it when you look at the downsides you'd think we were crazy:Those niggly little plot points keep us awake at night.Characters talk to us at the most inopportune moments.It's hard to turn mental images into words.Sometimes vocabulary just seems to vanish for no apparent reason and we turn into Forest Gump as far as expression go...

Guest Post: Paul DeBlassie III - How Writing and Reading Horror Make You Happy - #WriterlyWednesdays 22

Please join me today to welcome Paul DeBlassie III to my blog to talk about horror writing and how it can have beneficial properties.


How Writing and Reading Horror Make You Happy byPaul DeBlassie III
There's nothing like waking up, first thing in the morning, to horror. All night long dreams turning to nightmares have spun through hallowed recesses of consciousness. Your pulse is wild, mouth dry and hands clammy.

Well, okay maybe this isn't anything we go through on a nightly basis. But, mind-bl...

The Most Useful Piece of Software - Adblock Plus #TipsTuesdays 22

The Most Useful Piece of Software Adblock Plus
So today's Tips Tuesday is very simple it is a piece of advice for every user of the internet. I am sure most of you already know, but I didn't realise how useful something like this was until a friend mentioned it. Since I installed it, so many things have become easier.

The piece of software I am talking about is Adblock Plus.

It is a FREE plugin for many browsers including Safari that blocks ads on websites for you. Thus making your browsing easie...

I am seeking pre-release reviewers for my new book to pos...

I am seeking pre-release reviewers for my new book to post during the launch week which starts on 21st Feb 2016. When you boil it down the new book is gay romance with telepathic figure skaters, so if you like that sort of thing, this is the book for you :).

I can provide an ARC of the book in PDF, Kindle (mobi) or ePub.

There was an earlier version of the story published as part of the giveaway games anthologies, but this one has been re-polished and it has grown by a third, so it is a lot d...

Vincent Price - The Master of the Human Monster #MonsterMondays 32

Greetings and welcome to Monster Mondays 32. It is my 19th wedding anniversary today so, for a change, rather than picking one of my own favourite monsters, I asked my darling husband to pick his. His response was "All that comes to mind is Poe characters, portrayed by whats his name." This turned out to be Vincent Price :).

Vincent Price The Master of the Human Monster

I have to admit, I am not a huge Poe fan, I find his stories a little too dark for my tastes, but I do very much like "The Masq...

Disturbed - The Sound of Silence - Awesome version of the song

So I know this is a little late since this song was uploaded in Dec last year, but it is brilliant.

I grew up with Simon and Garfunkel in that my parents were fans, so I have always loved their music and this version of "The Sound of Silence" by Disturbed is brilliant. The powerful ending is simply amazing and the lead singer has a fantastic voice.

The video is beautiful as well.