Dark Nights and Delicious Books

Dark wintry nights are closing in. It should be an ideal time in which to read good books. No distractions from the window of sunshine on the Malvern Hills beckoning me out for an evening walk. No prospect of sitting out in the garden and watching the birds and the bees. Now it's just darkness out there and glittering little orange lights on the hills to indicate the fact that everyone is tucked up indoors. Probably on FaceBook or Twitter.

So to enjoy these dark nights with all this time to read, I took myself to London and the Diiarts launch of four fabulous new authors. Diiarts,or Dragon International Independent Arts is a new imprint and one to watch as they may in time turn to varied publications besides books,perhaps music, art and so forth. Take a look at their website www.diiarts.com. The launch was held at a most interesting venue, the London Canal Museum, near King's Cross Station. I hadn't even known of the existence of this place till now and will have to return at a quieter time to see its wonders. There were barges, a replica horse (stuffed, drugged?) and all the cheerfully painted accouterments of canal life in the olden days.
There was little time to explore all this as,with wine flowing nicely,there were lots of friendly familiar faces from the Harper Collins site Authonomy to talk with and to enthuse over everything. Some had come all the way from the States and New Zealand and were making a holiday of it, such is the enthusiasm for this new imprint. It's talented authors are like good,familiar friends, their books our books, their words our words as we have all helped one another to shape our creations with criticism, praise and even a few sibling-like quarrels and boozy Friday night flirtations. Authonomy is where we met and where the concept of Diiarts was conceived. So some good came from all our varied authorial nit-picking labours! I came home armed with a couple of tomes and am getting well stuck now into May 1812 by M M Bennetts. That'll keep me going right through the Napoleonic wars.

But somewhere I'll have to stop all this blogging and reading and Facebooking and emailing and ..yes, deal with the first proofs of The Crimson Bed. I'm a bit scared. Will I still like this novel? Of course, it's brilliant. Isn't it? Oh well, off I go to do some work on it and lay my intriguing book aside for a bit.

BTW if you want to hear my podcast about the book...where I sound as articulate as a footballer's wife or a lead guitarist of the 1960's... try this site! The actress Tessa Nicholson (who recently appeared in the first episode of BBCI's 'Garrow's Law')reads extracts from the book beautifully in contrast to my sad mumblings!

http://lorettaproctor.shortstoryradio.com/