Tanith Davenport's Blog, page 20

My "go-to" book or movie for a pick-me-up

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an interesting one. For one thing, when I need a pick-me-up, I don't tend to turn to a book. I don't know why - I think it's just the immediacy of a film that does it. And my favourite film, funnily enough, is not one that people are likely to think of for a pick-me-up.

Heavenly Creatures.

I know a lot of people would look at that film and think "How on earth could a film with an ending like that be enjoyable?" And I would agree, except that the rest of the film is both passionate and uplifting. Peter Jackson's direction takes you through a wild swirl of romance and excitement which sweeps you up, all the more to shock you at the end - by which point I'm in a better mood and more ready for it.

My other two go-to films are Blazing Saddles and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I absolutely adore Gene Wilder and he is at his hysterical best in these two films, especially Blazing Saddles which is one of the few comedies I actually like. Even though I've seen them both dozens of times I don't miss a moment whenever I watch them.

So what do you go to for a pick-me-up?

My life in photos

I am terrible at taking photos - my husband is the photographer in our family. So when this topic from Long and Short Reviews came up, I had him to thank for taking so many. In fact, I almost had too many to choose from. Before lockdown we went to a lot of scenic places and he always, always takes his camera, knowing full well that if he doesn't a red kite will start posing in front of him.



Firstly we have Dash and Spot, my two adorable little furballs who like to watch me write while begging for treats.


Then we have Cala D'Or, which is our favourite holiday destination. The bar in the photo is Kallypso Tutti Frutti, owned by two of our friends and governed by their two parrots Tutti and Frutti. We intend to go back there as soon as we're able, which will probably be next year now.


This was taken at Bruntingthorpe. We love going to aircraft museums - my husband gets to explain what everything is, while I get to admire them. We came here specifically to see this plane as I had never seen one before.





And of course, we have my writing.

The green bag above was a gift from a Smut By The Sea event run by Victoria Blisse. I haven't got to a Smut event for a while, but it was always fun playing games and listening to readings. I will always remember one by Rachel Kincaid which caused someone behind me to gasp "Oh my God!"

"The Hand He Dealt" was my first novel, published after being critiqued by the Romantic Novelists' Association, and it still holds a place in my heart after all this time. I've had many heroes and heroines over the years, but Ash will always be the hero to die for.

I'm so looking forward to seeing your photos!

Favourite poems, short stories or novellas

An interesting topic from Long and Short Reviews this week. Most of my favourite stories are novel-length, so I had to stop and think which shorts I enjoyed. The first one was probably obvious.

Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle.

Oh, how I love Sherlock Holmes. Not so much as a personality - Watson is more likeable - but I love his stories. My favourite in particular is Silver Blaze, which contained the famous phrase "the curious incident of the dog in the night-time".

The others I immediately thought of were Stephen King, although I can't remember which book they were in. One was "Dolan's Cadillac", the other was "You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band".

"Dolan's Cadillac", which was later made into a rather poor quality film, involved a car being buried under a road and, according to King, could never have happened the way he told it as he didn't want to give people ideas.

"You Know They Got A Hell Of A Band" is probably best read without spoilers, but it was one of the creepiest King stories I've ever read, focussing on the fact that so many rock stars died young.

So which are your favourites?

Things I wish I were better at

What do I wish I were better at? If you asked my husband, he'd probably say housework, which I admit I'm terrible at. But to be honest, I've never wanted to be any better at cleaning. I can run a dishwasher and that's about it.

What I would like to be better at is dancing. As a teenager I wanted to go into musical theatre; I studied acting and was a trained singer, but I fell down on the dance side of things. I have some rhythm, but can't remember a routine and lack the precision to be in a chorus line.

I have also always wanted to be able to write songs. I attempted this several times in my teens and can still remember most of them, but all were an embarrassment. I occasionally hit on an OK lyric, but I struggled to write original music and was limited by what I could play on my keyboard.

The final thing? Driving. I've been driving for years, but a few years ago I made use of vouchers for a drifting course and the chance to drive a Lamborghini and an Ariel Atom. Because it was made clear to me that if I spun the car it would immediately be taken back in and I would lose the rest of my laps, I didn't dare push either of the fast cars to do what I knew they could do. As for the drifting, I spent my five laps spinning round in circles. I never did manage a proper drift.

So what do you wish you were better at?

Books set in my city or state

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was a tough one. For a while I honestly couldn't think of any book set anywhere near where I live. However, I then remembered that Haworth is within an hour's drive of me, which means only one thing... Bronte Country.

While the Brontes liked to obscure the names of the places in their stories, they famously set them in Yorkshire. "Shirley" is particularly well known for taking place in a Yorkshire mill town dealing with the Luddites, while "Wuthering Heights" is set up on the Yorkshire moors. I've often gone walking around the area to enjoy the moors the Bronte sisters would have enjoyed during their lives.

In my own writing I have often set stories in Yorkshire, but rarely described it to that degree. I did, however, write a short for Smut By The Sea called "I Like It Wet" which was set in Scarborough - a place I would love to visit again now that I'm stuck indoors.

So which books have been set near you?

How I'd fare in a zombie apocalypse

I can safely say this topic from Long and Short Reviews was not one I had ever considered. I don't generally watch zombie movies, I don't watch The Walking Dead, and I don't really read zombie novels, either. So I had to really think about what would be required during a zombie apocalypse.

I admit I'm not much use for practical purposes. I'm not a great hand-to-hand fighter, not much good at scavenging or McGyvering equipment, I don't like leading groups and wouldn't know much about building shelter if necessary. So that's not a great start.

On the other hand, if I got the chance to spy on zombies from afar I think I'd be quite good at figuring out their behavioural patterns and ways to defeat them. I'm also a good follower and, having watched many horror movies, have no qualms whatsoever about using weapons - I would quite happily pick up a gun and blow a zombie's head off.

So I'd be the intelligent follower in the group. Whether that would help me survive long is open to question. I can't speak for zombie films, but I do know that in horror films it's often the comic relief that gets killed, so I'd be behind them at any rate.

So how would you fare in a zombie apocalypse?

A villain that I wish could be redeemed and why

I struggled a bit with this topic from Long and Short Reviews, because I don't tend to think about redeeming villains. I suppose there was Draco Malfoy of the "Harry Potter" series, but from what I read he was mostly redeemed already by the end of the story.

So the only one I could think of initially was Heathcliff. I love "Wuthering Heights" and Heathcliff's doomed love for Cathy drives the story even as he ruins the lives of everyone else around him. I've read the Clandestine Classic version which shows him living an eternal life in Cathy's arms and definitely found that to be a great ending.

I did, however, come up with one of my own - Reed James.

In my shorts "I Heard Your Voice" and "Tamar Rising" Reed is very much the antagonist - I've had readers tell me they want to slap him. A celebrity medium who secretly uses the sensitives around him to leech their psychic powers, he is an arrogant jerk and I very much enjoyed making him suffer. So I thought when writing the third part of the trilogy, "Spiritwalker", I would try to redeem him.

Sadly for anyone who will read this later this year, I failed. Reed is basically irredeemable.

I did, however, manage to make him suffer a bit more.

So which villain would you like to redeem?

Favourite holiday of the year and why

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was an easy one, because for me there is only one real holiday in a year. I don't tend to do anything for Easter (apart from the odd egg), we go out for dinner on Halloween to avoid having to pretend we're not in to trick-or-treaters, and as we're in the UK Thanksgiving doesn't happen - although I do envy Americans for the fantastic Thanksgiving feast.

No, for me it all comes down to Christmas.

I love the build-up, the dark nights lit with fairy lights, the mulled wine and the presents. I love having Christmas dinner with family and cooking beef on Boxing Day. For me it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

So I'm hoping the current circumstances have settled down by then and we can actually spend it with family, because we haven't seen them in weeks.

So what's your favourite holiday?

Reason why I stopped reading a series I loved

This topic from Long and Short Reviews was a tough one, because when I start a series I usually finish it even if it is driving me mad. So I struggled to find one that I had actually given up on.

I did, however, find one.

"The Forest of Hands and Teeth".

I had never read a zombie novel before so I thought I would give the series a try. The first one I enjoyed, although I did notice a couple of points which should have given me an idea of where the series was going. Unfortunately these points became serious annoyances in the second novel, which is why I gave up.

The reason? The utter inertia of the characters. Nobody could make a decision, nobody could do anything, they just sat and agonised about everything. I spent most of the second novel screaming "Just DO something!" Needless to say, the third novel and the prequel remained unbought, because I couldn't face any more characters who let the world go past them.

So what led you to give up on a series?

My silliest pet peeves

Another tough topic from Long and Short Reviews, because I struggled to think of pet peeves that could be considered silly. All mine seem quite obvious to me. I did, however, manage to think of a few which might not fit into everyone's world.

My first is best explained by saying that I hate, absolutely hate, being in the cab on the way home from a restaurant thinking "I wonder what that would have been like?" If there is something weird or new to me on the menu, I have to try it. Often this has worked out (cactus sorbet, anyone?) but a number of times I've been left with a meal I couldn't stand, leading my husband to get annoyed that I didn't just order the spaghetti bolognese like a normal person.

Another hate? Streets that don't show up properly on satnavs. Mine is built into my dashboard and can't be updated, which means new streets (like the one I live on) completely confuse it - but even without that, I have spent many times driving in circles because my satnav has decided that there is no number 125 on this street even though I know that's where the restaurant is.

And finally, as a film lover - trailers that give away the plot. Particularly, as a horror fan, trailers that give away all the good bits. I recently saw a film called "The Prodigy" which had, in its promo, announced that they had had to re-edit a scene after test screenings because audiences had been so floored by one scare that they missed all the dialogue in the following scene. It was a good scare, I agree, so why the hell was it in the trailer? What a great way to ruin a film!

So what are your weirdest pet peeves?