Author Archives: R Cawkwell

Hi I'm Rosemarie and I like to write. I write short stories and longer fiction, poetry and occasionally articles. I'm working on quite a few things at the minute and wouldn't mind one day actually getting published in print.

Review: ‘We Were The Salt Of The Sea’, by Roxanne Bouchard, trans. by David Warriner

 

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Published By: Orenda

Publication Date: 28th February 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9781912374038

Format: Paperback

Price: £8.99

Information here

 

 

 

 

Blurb

As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman dredges up in a fisherman’s nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man’s heart in knots. Detective Sergeant Joaquin Morales, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he’s thrown into the deep end of the investigation. On Quebec’s outlying Gaspe Peninsula, the truth can be slippery, especially down on the fishermen’s wharves.

Continue reading “Review: ‘We Were The Salt Of The Sea’, by Roxanne Bouchard, trans. by David Warriner”

Review: ‘Ape Mind, Old Mind, New Mind’, by John V. Wylie, M.D.

36668818Published By: BookBaby

Publication Date: 1st January 2018

I.S.B.N.: 9781543919370

Format: Paperback

Price: £11.62

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb

Ape Mind, Old Mind, New Mind is a personal memoir by a psychiatrist who gradually discovers from his patient’s descriptions of their mental illnesses that human motivations have been evolved over millions of years for productive engagement rather than competitive fitness. A new uplifting and spiritual view of human nature emerges that is not only consistent with the science of human evolution, but also opens up a simple explanation for such ancient mysteries as self-awareness, reflective thought, and the vast complexity of language.
All other books about the evolution of emotion approach it from the “outside” as an object; this book is about the biological evolution of the “inside” experience of emotion-and-motivation, which can only be known empathetically.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Ape Mind, Old Mind, New Mind’, by John V. Wylie, M.D.”

Pendle Fire Blog Blitz

I’ll be reviewing this book at the beginning of April, and I’m looking forward to reading it. Sarah Hardy organised the blog tour and I want to thank her for the opportunity to take part.

B L O G B L I T Z

Pendle Fire blurb

Social worker Johnny Malkin is battling a crippling workload and a hostile local community. That’s on a good day: things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Two fourteen-year-old girls are found wandering Aitken Wood on the slopes of Pendle Hill, claiming to have been raped by a gang of men. With no female social workers available, Johnny is assigned to their case. But what, at first, looks like yet another incident of child exploitation takes a sinister turn when the girls start speaking of a forthcoming apocalypse.

When Johnny interviews one of the girls, Jenna Dunham, her story starts to unravel. His investigation draws him into a tight-knit village community in the shadow of Pendle Hill, where whispers of witchcraft and child abuse go back to the Middle Ages.

One name recurs: The Hobbledy Man. Is he responsible for the outbreaks of violence sweeping across the country?

Is he more than just myth?

Author Bio:

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Paul Southern was born in the 1960s to itinerant parents who moved from city to city. He lived in Liverpool, Belfast, London and Leeds, then escaped to university, where he nearly died of a brain haemorrhage. After an unexpected recovery, he co-formed an underground indie group (Sexus). Made immediate plans to become rich and famous, but ended up in Manchester. Shared a house with mice, cockroaches, and slugs; shared the street with criminals. Five years later, hit the big time with a Warners record deal. Concerts at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, Melody Maker front cover, Smash Hits Single of the Week, Radio 1 and EastEnders. Mixed with the really rich and famous. Then mixed with lawyers. Ended up back in Manchester, broke. He got a PhD in English (he is the world’s leading authority on Tennyson’s stage plays!), then wrote his first novel, The Craze, based on his experiences of the Muslim community. He has three other published books and has written for ITV. He was shortlisted for a CWA Dagger award in 2002 and received positive reviews from national and international press, including The Guardian, Arena, Radio 4, Ladsmag, and Kirkus, amongst many others.

Links:

www.paulsouthern.org

https://www.facebook.com/paulsouthernauthor/

 https://twitter.com/psouthernauthor

Uni: Week 8

Finally got back to university today. The workshop today was ‘Revisiting Verse’. The tutor played us a piece of music and we had to write down our impressions, then write a poem. Not my strongest subject, but I gave it a bash. I wrote a narrative poem. It was okay, but I didn’t read it out.

I might try the same thing in future, if I get writer’s block.

Bonus Review #1: ‘Snuff’, by Sir Terry Pratchett GNU

8785374Published by: Doubleday UK

Publication Date: 13th October 2011

Format: Hardback

I.S.B.N.: 9780385619264

Price: £18.99 (And yes, I did pay that much, I used to get my Discworlds as soon as I could)

 

 

 

 

 

Blurb

According to the writer of the best-selling crime novel ever to have been published in the city of Ankh-Morpork, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a policeman taking a holiday would barely have had time to open his suitcase before he finds his first corpse.

And Commander Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is on holiday in the pleasant and innocent countryside, but not for him a mere body in the wardrobe. There are many, many bodies and an ancient crime more terrible than murder.

He is out of his jurisdiction, out of his depth, out of bacon sandwiches, and occasionally snookered and out of his mind, but never out of guile. Where there is a crime there must be a finding, there must be a chase and there must be a punishment.

They say that in the end all sins are forgiven.

But not quite all…

 

 

Continue reading “Bonus Review #1: ‘Snuff’, by Sir Terry Pratchett GNU”

Review: ‘When I Grow Up’, by Patricia Asedegbega

When I Grow Up

 

 

 

 

Blurb

“You need a plan B,” said Alicia’s mother when at five years old she told her what she wanted to be when she grew up. Thirty odd years later, Alicia is on plan D: sharing a flat, no tangible savings, and working for hateful Julia, whose sole purpose in life is to make her existence utterly miserable. Good thing she has Oscar and the girls to make the long hours at work bearable. But when a series of events tears the close-knit group apart, putting friendships and motives under suspicion, will Alicia be able to restore balance and set things right? More importantly, will she ever be able to upgrade her life to at least plan C?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Author of I stand corrected, When I grow up…, Rewind, Balou uncensored, Bienvenidos a gatos anónimos, Pasarse cuatro Pueblos and Sesenta segundos dan para mucho, Patricia Asedegbega Nieto was born to a Spanish mother and a Nigerian father in Madrid. As a child, she relocated with her family to Nigeria and later returned to Spain, where she acquired her BSc and master´s degree. She is currently living near Madrid with her family and her very stubborn cat, Merlin Mojito.

http://www.patriciascorner.co.uk/

Twitter @Patricias_Place 

Continue reading “Review: ‘When I Grow Up’, by Patricia Asedegbega”

Conversation; or I can’t do small talk

No, really I can’t. I find it boring and shallow. Unless the conversation is going to quickly move on to something deeper, I’d rather not talk at all. From my reading around the subject of my provisional ASC diagnosis last year, it would seem that it’s normal for me, but possibly not for most people.

Continue reading “Conversation; or I can’t do small talk”

University update: Week 7

I haven’t written much of anything about university this year. That’s because, after the first two weeks this term I haven’t been. For various reasons the workshops have been cancelled.

Week 3 – tutor sick, no replacement available

Week 4 – tutor sick, no replacement available

Week 5 – reading week

Week 6 – cancelled due to snow

Week 7 : Authorised absence

Only this week have I been responsible for me not turning up, and that’s because I had my first ASC Diagnostic team appointment. I arranged an authorised absence for Wednesday.

According to a colleague, I didn’t miss much; the tutor was still not up to snuff so he showed a film called Fat man on a beach by B. S. Johnson. This isn’t Bloody Stupid Johnson, famed architect and inventor of Ankh-Morpork, but another with the same initials. The film was quite daft, but the discussion got philosophical, and all I can think is did STP know of this film and film maker? Because something that obscure would appeal to him.

There are two weeks left before the end of term, my assessment booklets have arrived – they’re getting the proof copies, not ones I plan to sell. After the Easter break there are three weeks of workshops and I understand that at some point there will be three extra sessions to make up for the three cancelled workshops.

Then it’s on to the dissertation.

I probably won’t be reviewing many books between May and September.

Enjoy your weekend, I will be reading books and cuddling my hounds.