Chris Power - Author

I now have a new laptop - Phoenix 3 - and my son has spent most of the morning getting it set up for me. Could have done it myself, but given he has all the disks I needed for the programmes I simply can't do without, and he loves to play with techno-toys, who am I to turn down his offer? It also meant I could stagger down town to the Carphone Warehouse while he was playing, and get myself a mobile broadband for it so I don't have to rely on friends' internet connections or the public libraries. Now I have to make sure all the Document folders and files are loaded across. And the Photos folder. And some of the videos... Hmm, thank the gods for 250 GB hard drive...

On the plus side, we had a great review for War Trail - not the Royal We, that. It's Terri as well. It'll be interesting to see how it's sold when we get the quarterly royalties in a few months' time.

 

My own Argent Dreaming comes out on September 11th, and I'm keeping everything crossed that it'll do okay. The cover is really great - it would catch my eye if I was browsing for a book, so I'm hoping it will pull in others enough to get them interested in what's under the picture.

 

On the down side, I'me finding it bloody hard to get back into the discipline of writing. That six week break I took to help out in the revamping of the garden has shot it to hell. Yes, we now have a patio and edging all the way round the flowerbeds, plus a new rowan tree and a black elder tree, and big beds partially dug out from the bindweed and rampant raspberry canes, BUT I have two novels stonewalled two-thirds of the way through to the extent I am second-guessing the plot arcs in both, and the second draft of Sea-Change is just hanging there. I know what needs to happen in the re-written start, but there is this gap between that and the keyboard, and it should be filled with coherent words but isn't.

 

Another downer is the imminent death of my laptop. The one that gets dragged everywhere with me when I travel. It's about five years old now, a trusty Dell Inspiron 1100, but the poor dear is slow and clunky and the casing is beginning to crack. Also, I am beginning to run out of memory. Soooo, the cash I was trying to save to get back to Malta next winter/spring has had to go towards a replacement.

 

On the plus side, my son [who deserves a medal] tracked down a great deal for me. Dell has recently started selling through store outlets, and Tesco's had an Inspiron 1525 with all the bells and whistles I want along with a 250gb hard disc and an amazingly good value on the price. The local stores had all sold out, so we are trying to get it from the online store. They've accepted the order in spite of the 'sold out' flash and I've had a 'dispatched' message this morning, so it should turn up tomorrow...

 

Now I need to kick my brain cell into line and get some bloody writing done!!

And a great one. A year ago I had a chance to book a cheap[ish] ticket for the RSC's Hamlet at Stratford Upon Avon, and grabbed it. I *love* live theatre, and I get high on Shakespeare's words, and as I rarely get a chance to actually go to the theatre because the seats are usually priced waaay out of my reach - well, had to go for it, didn't I? Regardless of who were taking the starring roles. When I heard that Patrick Stewart *and* David Tennant were leading, I was amazed but not hopeful. I expected that they wouldn't be on stage for a Saturday afternoon Matinee. But Saturday I discovered I was wrong. They were and they were utterly brilliant. Tennant was an anguished Hamlet, beautifully done, and Stewart doubled as Claudius and The Ghost of Dad. He was just masterful. The whole cast were wonderful, and since I didn't splash out on a programme I haven't a clue who they are. So I'll just say Gertrude was besotted, worried, and ultimately betrayed, Rozencrantz and Guildenstern were perfect, Ophelia was tragic and frenetically mad, Laertes was a noble blinkered idiot, Horatio was loyal and tragic, and Pollonius damn-near stole the show as the statesman-buffoon.

 

It was done in modern dress on a stark set that was enlosed on three sides by the audience, and it just about blew me away. I have now decided that my down on modern-day Will is just stupid - after all, the magic is in the words and their interpretation, not the pretty costumes. Unless you're talking Troillus and Cressida - saw that years ago with the Greeks in short black leather kilts and lots of sleek muscle, and the Trojans in long black leather kilts, ditto. *Very* scenic...

 

I am going to do my damnedest to see more live plays, though *not* in London. The prices are just plain daft.

 

Well, I suppose it does fit the trade description of a patio - a tadpole-shaped area of about 3 square metres with slabs on the wide end for a large round picnic table and incorporated seats, big enough for all of us to sit round in comfort, given that the three adults are not exactly slim. The rest of the area is barked and it does look pretty good. It's in the south corner, under the apple tree. We've finished edging and planting the flowerbed in the west corner - we now have a small black elderberry tree planted there to grow up beside the fence. The foliage is an amazing dark reddish colour that will contrast beautifully with the golden hop growing over the archway, when it's grown up a bit. We planted the rowan tree by the pond, in the bed that links west and north and it's settled in well by the look of it. The north corner needs a bit of work, but it's the East corner and the long bed that links it to the South that needs the most work. It is smothered with bindweed and raspberry canes.

 

Still, we're more than half way there as far as the flowerbeds are concerned, and if the last month hadn't been so wet, we would have been a lot closer to finishing. As it is, I have about a week before I'm off to visit Anth and go to see Hamlet at Stratford Upon Avon. Hopefully, we can get the centre circle done over the autumn.

 

The writing hasn't been nearly as productive. Sea-Change has finished its first draft, but it needs a lot of work, especially on the beginning. I'm not entirely sure what'll be a good hook into the story and people - maybe the release of the Monk seals? Better than the red pickup, possibly.

 

Fox Hunt is being a pain in the arse. I don't want to write a sequel, but it is difficult to go with a Happy Ever After Ending when the hero is a vampire and the heroine isn't. And Starfall won't get out of my head, which is so not helpful.

 

But on the good side I had my quarterly royalties cheque arrive and Dark Waters did quite well for me, even if the exchange rate and bank commision ate up half of it.

 

Oh, well, back to the garden and the bloody bindweed...

...That  ARGENT DREAMING has had its release date moved back - now due out on September 18th. These things happen. Usually it's because the Ed-in-Chief has to juggle the genres to get an even balance in the release blocks, and there's a lot of paranormal titles out there.

 

I'm in something of a limbon at the moment. What with one thing and another I'm finding it hard to get back into my WiPs, and very soon I'll be taking a six-week semi-hiatus to help DinL attack the humans' half of the back garden. The dogs' half is fine, can more or less be left to nature as it's grass surrounded by bushes. The other half needs major weeding, edging, leveling, a new flowerbed digging and edging, the area where the garden table has to be leveled and paved, and the centre circle laid with pea gravel and the occasional slab. Any writing - always assuming I'm in a fit state to actually sit and think - will have to be done in the evenings.