The Sevy Blog Tour
My good friend and great author, Sarah-Jane Lehoux (link to interview), is re-releasing her Sevy series with extra content and new (and gorgeous may I say) covers. This is the start of her virtual blog tour which runs from today until June 8th. Below is an excerpt from the second book in the series “Shades of War” (linked to original review). Also read my review of the first book “Thief”. I’m excited for what is to come with these books, good luck with everything Sarah-Jane. Read on… The rain fell once the sun set. The sound of it striking the river drowned out all other noise. Yy’voury had to shout to make her concerns known to Revik. She tried to tell him that she would bear Sevy on her back this time. It would be difficult...
Read MoreStrangeness of Memory
A friend of my husband has an active brain tumour, since a serious issue with it a few months ago his memory has deteriorated. Things he could do before – run computer programs, set up sound systems and so on – he can no longer remember how to do now. Something happened in his brain and all those memory paths are lost. I went for a walk today, along the foreshore at Hest Bank. There was a small group of houses and as I looked at them I suddenly was aware of a feeling I’d been there before. Turns out I had, my memory somehow created the pathways linking the image of the house to a remembrance long forgotten of a beach party I attended at high school. I recently read an article about how research is proving that the act of walking through a door...
Read MoreGoogle Girl
I’ve long used Gmail but, as Google add more and more services, I find myself becoming immersed in their ecosystem. Sometimes I pause and wonder whether I am giving over too much of my life to All Powerful G but it’s just so damned useful. I have an android phone and tablet(s). All my email routes through my Gmail account. I’m storing more and more docs in Drive. My music is played via Google and right now I’ve been uploading my pdfs etc into Google Books. Google+ is my second most used social network after twitter. Should I worry? There’s tales of people using their Google account for various reasons and if you lose that then you lose everything don’t you? However, the pros totally seem to outweigh any negatives. I can...
Read MoreSubscription economy
I get Bob Lefsetz’s email newsletter, he always has something interesting to say but his latest one extolling streaming/subscription services such as Spotify found me pondering. Adobe have recently announced that they will be moving to a subscription model with their products. Now their Creative Suite is damned expensive (more so if you live outside the US) so, on the face of it, paying a monthly fee is possibly better both for Adobe and their consumers. Adobe get a regular income stream and consumers don’t have to pay a large amount of cash upfront. BUT. Here’s the problem I find with this type of business model… What happens when you stop paying for the service? Currently I have an old version of Dreamweaver from Adobe. It’s...
Read MoreWhat is “Good Art”?
Make good art : Neil Gaiman But what is “good” art? I think Neil makes good art, however, not everyone will think that – so is it good? I make art; compared to Neil I feel my art is not “good” – but I created it, had fun, felt alive while making it. So is it good in as far as it is art and all art is good? If just one person enjoys your work – is it art? You’ve brought something to that one person, made their day, changed their viewpoiont, made them think – so is that the definition of good art? Touching even one person in some way validates your work as art. Do you need validation? Is the mere act of creation enough to say “I made good art”? These are just some of my thoughts, not a definitive...
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