Malla Duncan's Blog, page 3

Armistice Day - Remembrance Sunday

Reblogged from Stephen Liddell:

I am re-posting this article from last year as many of my reader won't have seen it before and it is still one of the most viewed posts I have written.

Sunday sees the third, final and probably by far the most important in the triumvirate of special days in the UK autumn calendar, Armistice Day. Regular readers of my blog will know that I take an interest in visiting memorials around the country (and indeed the world) and Sunday will see the whole nation do like...

Review: ‘Sebastian’ – a light on history

When I’d finished reading ‘Sebastian’ by Christoph Fischer, I was grateful for two things: that people still write about dark periods of our history with such quiet emotion, detail and research – and secondly that the sense of the era was so compellingly conveyed. I have always viewed WW1 in lightless photographs, and believed everything at that time was in monochrome. But the author brings clarity to this colourless time by emphasizing the effects of war on the microcosm of the family in a w...

Writing review: “Candlepower” – the art of literature

I’ve just read with great enjoyment “Candlepower” by Janet Doolaege – a contemporary novel full of mystery and intrigue. Stella lives in a small apartment in Paris where – through the close-knit of modern living – she gets to know her neighbours Rose and the dark-eyed Olivier with whom she falls in love. Rose, a figure of strange powers it seems, has a curious connection with birds and a bizarre effect on anything electrical. This uneasy triangle of friendship, subtly threaded with an underly...

Review: ‘Hereward’ The Last Englishman – history kicking butt

James Wilde has done a rollicking job with his first book in the Hereward series. With little consideration for our delicate sensibilities honed through fifty years of social indignation and political correctness, we are summarily dragged into the 11th century and our noses rubbed in the dirt.

Hereward is a complex man who is both brave and barbaric but threaded with glimmerings of the age of chivalry that was yet to come a century or two later. He is a man in his time and of his time – so we...

Review: ‘The Celtic Dagger’ – the making of mystery

I’ve just finished reading ‘The Celtic Dagger’ by Jill Paterson – a conventional detective whodunit murder mystery set in Australia where the author lives. I’m not a great fan of detective novels but I enjoyed this book for several reasons. The style of writing was clean and crisp, no waste of words or pointless conversations – everything was pertinent. The plot was carefully structured with some intriguing twists and turns along the way. I liked the characters – all appearing upright, decent...

‘The Next Big Thing’ blog hop: My WIP

So honoured to be tagged to join this interesting and unusual blog hop. Having never done anything like this before I am feeling my way to say the least. I always find what other writers are working on to be rather fascinating and often inspiring. So let’s hope I succeed on both counts! I was tagged by LK Hunsaker – http://lkhunsaker.blogspot.com After you check out my next big thing, go check out her Next Big Thing!

The rules of the blog hop are simple: Answer ten questions about your WIP (Wo...

War Poets Remembered

While cleaning out my bookcase (a mammoth task as you can imagine) I came across an old book of poetry by Rupert Brooke which had been given to me by my mother when I was eight years old. For a moment I was lost in time remembering that book – old and tattered even then – and how it had affected my love of poetry; that curious lilt and flow of language that has fascinated me all my life.

And I remembered how I loved that book, how I would trace the words with my eyes, hungering for understandi...

Book review: ‘Candy’s Man’

I have just finished reading ‘Candy’s Man’ by Jeanette Hornby. From the start, I was taken by the cover – which I thought just gorgeous glam. So it’s been on my TBR list for some time. I must also say that romance is not generally my genre, but I know there are millions who love it – and that’s why I can say with confidence that those millions will love this book. ‘Candy’s Man’ has all the bells and whistles: snappy, slick, with a well-planned plot laden with passion, twists and thwarted desi...

Review: ‘Grimsley Hollow – Eve of the Beginning’

I’ve just finished reading ‘Grimsley Hollow – Eve of the Beginning’ by Nicole Storey, prequel to ‘Grimsley Hollow – The Chosen One’. Related in first person, the prequel is pacy, well-written and intriguing. A complete magical world is brought to life with all the mythical beings who once lived on earth but now occupy Grimsley Hollow – a place populated with witches, werewolves, vampires and pixies.

When a wicked witch takes charge of Grimsley Hollow, the residents have only one solution up th...

One Night ~ the book that wrote itself.

My latest suspense thriller ~One Night~ will be up for free on Amazon on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 September. I know we are all bombarded with free books all the time and sometimes it’s almost a chore to download yet another one. But I do think readers (particularly if you are a writer) may find this one interesting not only from the story point of view, but also the history of the writing of the book.

Because, in fact, this book was written with hardly a change. As you read it is as I wrote i...