C.F. Dunn's Blog, page 2
March 7, 2023
5* NEW BOOK REVIEW for WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Only one week to go until the book launch and WHEEL OF FORTUNE has a 5* review!
‘CF Dunn’s strong, hard-hitting narrative is also often intensely lyrical and poetic. I found every aspect of this novel utterly compelling.’
author SC Skillman
Find the full review here at https://scskillman.com/blog-scskillman-writer-psychological-paranormal-mystery-fiction-young-adults-and-new-adults/
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*NEW BOOK REVIEW #1* WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Is it daft that I’m getting ridiculously excited? The #1 peek at the cover for my new book WHEEL OF FORTUNE.
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March 2, 2023
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* NEW BOOK ALERT*
*NEW BOOK ALERT*
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March 1, 2023
The Kitchen Garden in Review
It’s that time of year when I settle down on a wet February afternoon and plan the planting for the kitchen garden. I’ve also been reviewing last year’s successes and failures and what I might do better. So how has my kitchen garden done in the last year?
Potatoes: the best crop yet – loads of good-sized, quality potatoes free from blight and the dreaded wire worm.
I planted Maris Piper again – one set in a new raised metal bed, the other in the kitchen beds as normal.
The galvanised planter had fresh soil to avoid wire worm. The kitchen border had the same soil (I always rotate my crops) but, like the previous two years, I went over every square inch of ground with a narrow trowel, removing any wire worms. The robin became my constant companion and we are now on first-name terms.
Despite the drought, the potatoes grew well and I harvested them quite early. Perhaps this was why they avoided blight?
The only down side of an early harvest is that the tatties have not stored as well as I hoped. They have all spouted despite being kept in optimum conditions. Perhaps it was just too warm an autumn for them?
Onions: my utterly reliable Stuttgart Giants utterly failed. Or at least they should be renamed Stuttgart Minis as they are no larger than a shallot. However, they have kept well and I am indeed using them as shallots so not all is lost. I put it down to the very dry weather last year and move on.
Leeks: ditto as onions. A miserable crop that bolted as soon as the temperatures rose. No sign of rust, though, which is a plus. This year I’m moving them to the big square raised border and see how they do there.
Garlic: not at all bad. I wanted to avoid garlic rust so planted out a few tubs and distributed them around the garden. The resulting bulbs weren’t huge, but they were plentiful and have kept well. They did get a bit of rust, but I was able to harvest them before it could spread.
This year, I planted some out (along with a few spare onions) in November and, despite the torrential rain, they have put on good growth and seem quite pleased with themselves. Time will tell if planting them out in the very wet West was a good idea or not.
Broad beans: last year I planted them the previous autumn in pots, in the greenhouse. By February 2022 they were in full flower. I potted them on and then planted them out a few weeks later. In effect, it meant handling them three times, so three times more work. However, they shot up and flowered their little hearts out. Unfortunately, few of those flowers set (plenty on bees on them) and then the blackfly attacked. We did get a crop, but I don’t think all the extra bother gained us anything at all. This year I planted the beans directly in the ground in November. Every one germinated and were about four inches out of the ground when the December cold snap hit.
I didn’t bother checking them for a couple of weeks. Christmas was coming and I wanted to press on with the latest book project. I needn’t have worried about the fate of the little plants as they laughed off the cold and are still there, looking chirpy.
Tomatoes: the best ever harvest. Every year I have planted cherry tomato types in special pots, tending them with extreme care. And every year, despite large crops, they have been hit by blight and I’ve lost a good third of the harvest. This year, I had a few ‘elbows’ when pinching out the plants, plus a random beef tomato plant, which I bought cheaply at the local garden centre. I thrust the whole lot into a raised bed around a newly planted white beam tree where they flourished, producing big, fat healthy tomatoes. And no blight. Perhaps it was (not) a good year for blight?
Chard: I’ve never grown ruby chard before and probably won’t bother again. It’s still going strong but no one in the family seems particularly keen on eating it.
Sprouting broccoli: beloved by aphids, it was a bind washing the little blighters off the sprouty bits. Nor did the plants produce enough to justify the space they took.
Butternut squash: mixed results. One plant produced ENORMOUS fruits, while the others were undersized. They’ve all kept well, though.
Courgettes: Not bad all things considered. The season was short, but that was no bad thing.
A mixed year, then. I am ever reminded that our ancestors relied on the food they grew and went hungry when crops failed. Tending my little plot I feel the connection to the earth acutely and celebrate the little wins knowing I cannot predict what next year might bring. There is a long story of Man’s relationship with the soil stretching back before Antiquity, and we recall just a little of it every time we plant a seed in hope of a harvest.
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December 31, 2022
Happy New Year 2023
Wishing everyone health, happiness and a hopeful new year.While we carry the past with us, the future is yet unchartered.Happy New Year!The post Happy New Year 2023 appeared first on C.F.Dunn.
December 23, 2022
Christmas Past, Christmas Present
We have been unwrapping the Christmas boxes and finding all our old friends. I imagine many families have similar hallowed decorations. You’d think we’d get tired of all the Christmas prep in which we indulge at this time of year. Decades have passed and we’re still bringing out the baubles and making plans to the sound of the same carols we’ve been singing for generations. But we don’t. If anything, time adds its own resonance as the years pass and the bells and baubles, stringy tinsel and tatty angels are welcomed from their boxes with fond smiles of recollection.
We have kept all the decorations from both sides of the family. The oldest bauble dates to the letter years of Queen Victoria’s reign; a few others to the first decades of the next century. A good dozen remain from our own – vintage – youth, and many, many more have been added over our daughters’ childhoods. Every year each girl chose a decoration and these they will take when they make their own homes. With this in mind, we add a bauble here and there as others meet their inevitable doom on the wood floors or at the swipe of a 
dog’s tail. I’m not particularly attached to the newcomers, but these additions will take on their own patina over time, accumulating memories and associations of their own.
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October 17, 2022
Free! Free! Free! Mortal Fire: Publisher Give-away on Kindle
My wonderful publisher is offering Mortal Fire FREE on Kindle until 19th October, 2022. With just 24hrs to go, grab a copy while you can and find out why Mortal Fire won GOLD for Adult Romance in the USA Book of the Year Awards.
Perfect for curling up as the nights draw in, Mortal Fire combines romantic mystery with paranormal suspense as young historian, Emma D’Eresby, hunts the secret hidden in the pages of a 17th century diary. Emma finds herself drawn into conflict with the present; but can she discover the truth – and will she believe it?
‘C.F. Dunn’s vivid prose holds the reader’s attention right to the riveting conclusion.’ Mel Starr – The Unquiet Bones
‘The sense of growing menace will have readers gripping the edge of their seats. A tense and accomplished debut blending romance with thriller.’ Fay Sampson – The Hunted Hare.
‘An ominous sense of developing tension… a most fluent writer.’ Colin Dexter – Inspector Morse
The Secret of the Journal series is a single story told over five books.
Book 1 Mortal Fire
Book 2 Death Be Not Proud
Book 3 Rope of Sand
Book 4 Realm of Darkness
Book 5 Fearful Symmetry
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June 28, 2022
New Book Review: BRAVER by Deborah Jenkins
I read Braver as a new book review copy, keeping an open mind as this is not a genre I would normally choose. Braver, however, has turned this around, demonstrating the power of a simple story involving seemingly unremarkable people. It’s told with a powerful intelligence and absolute conviction of people’s inner strengths and had me hooked from the start.
The story revolves around three ordinary individuals, for whom everyday life is compromised by traumatic events and lingering fears: Hazel’s acute anxiety, Harry’s home and school life, and Virginia’s struggles with her past and burdens of the present.
The characters are deftly crafted, evolving as the novel progresses from the roots of their differing pasts. Each is treated with empathy and respect, and without judgement, letting them speak for themselves.
Hazel’s anxiety is particularly well handled, especially considering such a complex range of difficulties. However, all the characters stand out as engaging and beautifully human individuals.
Deborah Jenkins writes with a light touch, illuminating the story and characters through moments of brilliant imagery. Through her skill and elevated prose she roots the reader in the tender reality of the everyday.
‘It’s a drab day with a sky the colour of lead and the kind of spring chill that makes you sulk. Of course it is.’
Demonstrating the power of a simple story, Braver by Deborah Jenkins is a study in humanity and an unadulterated joy to read.
Published by Fairlight Books, Braver is released on 30th June 2022.
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April 28, 2022
Digging Dirt
I’m turning the soil in the raised beds ready for planting veg. Even though I protect them with a thick layer of leaves against winter rain, by spring the soil is compacted and heavy and frankly uninviting if you’re a seed. I spend some considerable time with a narrow trowel forking the soil, breaking up lumps, removing larger stones and hunting dreaded wire worms.
I’ve a sudden image of all those ‘medieval’ films from the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s in which peasants can be seen digging. I’m not sure what they are digging and I don’t think they do too, but digging dirt is what they are doing – even though there’s no sign that the soil shows any evidence of being husbanded before.
Come to think of it, have you ever noticed how – in films – castles and villages stand as if plonked on the landscape, devoid of any sign of agriculture, industry, or anything else which indicates human occupation over a long period of time? Occasionally, chickens scutter past the lens, a pig, perhaps even a dog, but little else. The landscape lacks purpose and the people associated with it are portrayed in the same way – aimless. And, like the earth they dig, they are always dressed in brown. The villages they live in are brown – sometimes grey (the medieval period comes down to us with a blue filter, whereas the 1970s nearly always has a yellowish tinge.) Where are the clashing colours so beloved by our ancestors and seen in clothing, church and castle? Their world, like ours, was richly hued, even if often mired in mud.
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