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: ‘Women at War in the Classical World’, by Paul Chrystal

Women at War in the Classical World

Published by: Pen & Sword Press

 

 

Publication Date: 20th March 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9781473856608

Price: £25.00

Format: Hardback

Blurb

Paul Chrystal has written the first full length study of women and warfare in the Graeco Roman world. Although the conduct of war was generally monopolized by men, there were plenty of exceptions with women directly involved in its direction and even as combatants, Artemisia, Olympias, Cleopatra and Agrippina the Elder being famous examples. And both Greeks and Romans encountered women among their ‘barbarian’ enemies, such as Tomyris, Boudicca and Zenobia.
More commonly, of course, women were directly affected by war as non-combatant victims, of rape and enslavement as spoils of war and this makes up an important strand of the author’s discussion. The portrayal of female warriors and goddesses in classical mythology and literature, and the use of war to justify gender roles and hierarchies, are also considered. Overall it is a landmark survey of how war in the Classical world affected and was affected by women.

Available: here

Continue reading “Review: ‘Women at War in the Classical World’, by Paul Chrystal”

Exploring different distribution channels

For my novels

I’ve been looking at increasing the distribution channels for the ebook of Hidden Fire; currently it’s only available through Amazon as a Kindle book. I don’t want to limit myself. Long ago I signed up to Smashwords but I’ve never done anything with it, because I was encouraged to use KDP for the ebook. I’ve been reading through the modules for my Writer’s Bureau course that deal with self-publishing and Smashwords came up a few times in relations to distributing books widely.

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HIDDEN FIRE now available to order from my blog

I’ve been fiddling around with CreateSpace and worked out that I have an eStore. Yes, I know, shocking that it’s taken me a month to work this stuff out. That it because I’m not great with technology, and the having to move stuff has been messing with my critical faculties.

So, if you want to buy the book direct, without having to go through Amazon and give the author a little bit of extra cash, order here

I will be adding the link to the book page too, so it’s easy to find later.

Thanks

28th May Writing Prompt

Do you remember that writing prompt experiment I was trying in April? I only managed to get a few prompts written, for various reasons. I tried again this month, and failed miserably, but I have managed to make something decent out of the prompt from 28th May, ‘bloody footprints’.

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Putting down roots; Or, someone give me a mortgage, please.

I have to move out of the house I’ve been in since 11th September 2014; long-time readers may remember the breakdown I had about having to move then? Due to my landlord not paying his bills (allegedly), he has to sell the house, which means I have to move.

Continue reading “Putting down roots; Or, someone give me a mortgage, please.”

Review: ‘The Path of Paganism’ by John Beckett

 

Published By: Llewellyn Worldwide

Publication Date: 8th May 2017

Edition: Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9780738752051

Price: $19.99 (US)

Blurb

The Path of Paganism provides practical advice and support for living an authentic Pagan life in our mainstream Western culture. Witches, druids, polytheists, and other Pagans will discover an experiential guide to the foundations and practices of these deeply meaningful traditions.

For John Beckett, practicing Paganism means more than adopting a set of books, tools, and holidays. Practicing Paganism means cultivating a way of seeing the world and your place in it. It means challenging the assumptions of mainstream society, keeping those that prove true and helpful while discarding those that show themselves to be false. It means building a solid foundation from which you can explore the nature of the universe, the gods, your self, and your community while learning to strengthen your relationship with all of them.

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Ahh! Copies of my book have arrived!

A box of books turned No automatic alt text available.up this afternoon. My books, ten of them. A lot sooner than I expected. I’ve sold four already, so the rest are for the book launch. I’m considering ordering more, but I haven’t got enough money yet.

It’s rather exciting and i like the feel of the books. I’ll probably be making some changes for the next book, smaller text probably.

In other news, I’m working on the short story that goes with this novel. It might become a novella at the rate I’m going 😀

I’ve been sleeping a lot

Yep, I over did it last week and have basically spent two days asleep. Which is why I’m awake at one in the morning writing a blog post. I’m hoping getting things written down will allow me to get some sleep tonight.

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Review: ‘Earth’, by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Linda T. Elkins-Tanton

                                                                 Publication Date: 9th May 2017

Published by: Bloomsbury Academic  

Edition: Paperback

I.S.B.N.: 9781501317910 

Price: $14.95

 

Blurb:

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.

In Earth, a planetary scientist and a literary humanist explore what happens when we think of the Earth as an object viewable from space. As a “blue marble,” “a blue pale dot,” or, as Chaucer described it, “this litel spot of erthe,” the solitary orb is a challenge to scale and to human self-importance. Beautiful and self-contained, the Earth turns out to be far less knowable than it at first appears: its vast interior an inferno of incandescent and yet solid rock and a reservoir of water vaster than the ocean, a world within the world. Viewing the Earth from space invites a dive into the abyss of scale: how can humans apprehend the distances, the temperatures, and the time scale on which planets are born, evolve, and die?

Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.

Continue reading “Review: ‘Earth’, by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen and Linda T. Elkins-Tanton”

Oh, I’ve been nominated for a Mystery Blogger Award

Thanks to Planet Pailly for the nomination, I’m flattered, shocked and embarrassed. Also thank you to Okoto Enigma for creating this award.

Award Rules

  • Put the award logo on your blog.
  • List the rules.
  • Thank whoever nominated you and link to their blog.
  • Mention the creator of the award (Okoto Enigma) and provide a link as well.
  • Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
  • Nominate roughly 10 – 20 people for this award.
  • Notify your nominees by commenting on their blogs.
  • Ask your nominees five questions.
  • Share a link to your best/favorite post that you’ve written.

Three Things About Myself

  1. When I was a kid I was given a typewriter for one of my birthdays. Or possibly Christmas.
  2. I used it to write really bad ‘Famous Five’/’Swallows and Amazons’ type children’s adventures.
  3. I used to write during the night and wake everyone up with the sound of me hitting the keyboard. And possibly talking to myself.

Five Questions from Planet Pailly

  • What do you want to be when you grow up?

I refuse to grow up. Adulthood is a mugs game.

  • What book has had the most influence on you?

The Lord of The Rings

  • Has a movie ever brought you to tears? If so, what movie was it?

Loads of films make me cry. The Return of the King, and, The Help, are good ones if you need a good bawl.

  • If you were a dinosaur, which dinosaur do you think you’d be and why?

An ichthyosaur. I like the idea of swimming around in the Triassic ocean being the top predator. Have you seen them teeth!Thalattoarchon saurophagis looking big mean and ichthyosaurian. Here ...

  • What will be the title of your autobiography?

Where’s did I put my glasses?

Nominees

Gosh, this is hard. I’d nominate Planet Pailly, if James hadn’t already nominated me.

Blissful Scribbles

Grendel’s Mother

The Shameful Sheep

Okay, I know I’m supposed to nominate 10 – 20 bloggers but I’m not very good at this stuff. So two will have to do for now. I think I’ll have to add more blogs as I go along. I read irregularly, it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading all the blogs I follow, only that I don’t have a huge amount of time to read more than a couple of posts a day.

My Five Questions

  1. When did you start writing?
  2. Pluto: Planet or not?
  3. Favourite place to write?
  4. Pen or word processor for the first draft?
  5. If you were a mythical creature, what would you be?