review in senryü

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L Howard

this necromancer
bargains with Old Nick again --
with diverse humours

review in senryü

The Poison Garden by Sarah Singleton

Grandmama poisoned?
seven secret gardens are
Eden under glass

Fiona Robyn's 'The Blue Handbag'

Product Description
After forty years of happy marriage, Leonard thought he knew his wife Rose as well as he knew himself. It's only after her sudden death that he finds her old handbag, which contains a mystery he can't ignore. Accompanied by Lily, his wife's childhood friend, Leonard becomes a reluctant detective as his whole life starts to unravel! "The Blue Handbag" is steeped in a quiet poetry which reminds us to take pleasure from the ordinary details of life - reading stories to our children, sharing silence with our friend over a beer, enjoying the plants Leonard tends for a living - and never to take anything for granted.








My Review:

I'm not a great fan of chick-lit. I've tried to write it and it came out paranormal romance but Fiona Robyn does it very well indeed. She takes a very simple concept -- an older man coming to terms with the death of his wife three years ago -- and dances with it, making it a joy to read and keep reading. I've had a few delightful half-hours in bed with a cup of tea and this novel and found myself regretful I reached the end. An utter delight, and similar in vein to Tim Haddon's "A Spot of Bother"

The Blue Handbag is available from Amazon HERE or the Book Depository HERE

The Yellow Room Magazine

The Yellow Room magazine, issue 2

The editor, Jo Derrick, sent me a copy and An Ungodly Child is there on page 74. Hurrah!

"Rachel Green has written a cracker. Despite its supernatural setting this is a super, naturally funny tale about the underworld in general and a possible Antichrist in particular."

I'm not mentioned on the website but I'm there in the print copy, which can be ordered at £11 for two issues.

As the website says:

A place where women writers can gather together
for support, encouragement and friendship

They welcome submissions from women (though I've not got a piece in yet!)

Review of AUC :)

review of An Ungodly Child by Catherine Edmunds

Review: Little People in the City

Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu

'They're Not Pets, Susan,' says a stern father who has just shot a bumblebee, its wings sparkling in the evening sunlight; a lone office worker, less than an inch high, looks out over the river in his lunch break, 'Dreaming of Packing it all In'; and a tiny couple share a 'Last Kiss' against the soft neon lights of the city at midnight. Mixing sharp humour with a delicious edge of melancholy, "Little People in the City" brings together the collected photographs of Slinkachu, a street-artist who for several years has been leaving little hand-painted people in the bustling city to fend for themselves, waiting to be discovered...' Oddly enough, even when you know they are just hand-painted figurines, you can't help but feel that their plights convey something of our own fears about being lost and vulnerable in a big, bad city.' - "The Times".

About the Author
'Slinkachu' is a London-based artist whose creations can be found in doorways and cracks in the pavement across the capital. This is the first collection of his work in book form. See more of his pictures at www.little-people.blogspot.com

I have to admit to buying this in Waterstones on a whim but I'm glad I did. Whimsical and mysterious, Slinkachu's little people have been gracing the windows of my browser for weeks. This is the kind of thing I wish I'd thought of doing when I was in art college. Fabulous stuff.

Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu

Review - Alligator Boy

Alligator Boy by Cynthia Rylant and Diane Goode tells the (short) tale of a boy who, tired of being a boy becomes, with the help of an aunt, an alligator. His parents still love him just the same after his mother is reassured by a vet that he will be fine as long as he continues to attend school.

I bought this for the illustrations, which are charming. The text is odd, switching from a-b-c-b pattern to rhyming couplets and in several places the lines don't scan at all.

What is special about this book is that the boy-alligator is neither a dream nor a phase -- at the end of a book he remains an alligator-boy.

Utterly charming. (supposedly for 4-8 year olds)

Alligator Boy by Cynthia Rylant and Diane Goode

Review

Review of 'An Ungodly Child' at the
Bluechrome Blog

Available at Amazon.co.uk (will be back in stock this week, I'm told) or at Amazon.com, or order from your local bookshop or library.