3 Things Tag

Today I’m doing the Three Things #Tag, and why not, I mean who posts anything on a Thursday these days anyway. So …

Three Read Once and Loved Authors

— Louise Penny, of course, I love her and the Three Pines series.
— Laurie R. King, most definitely, I started with her Kate Martinelli series.
— And in the last couple of years, Barbara Nickless, Kathleen Kent, and Steph Broadribb.

Three Titles I’ve Watched But Haven’t Read

— The Hunger Games: Never read any of the books but did catch the movie on the TV.
— The Shawshank Redemption: Saw the movie but didn’t even know there was a book. Go figure.
— Sphere, by Michael Crichton and no, I haven’t read any of his books, but I have seen quite a lot of the resulting movies.

Three Characters You Love

— That’s got to be Steph Broadribb’s kick-ass hero, Lori Anderson.
— Also, Kathleen Kent’s Betty Rhyzyk from The Dime!
— And, of course, Barbara Nickless’ Sydney Rose Parnell.

Three Series’ Binged

— That has to be the Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series from Louise Penny, where I read at least seven in the series one after the other. Like chocolate, you just want more.
— The Eve Ronin series by Lee Goldberg.
— The Sydney Rose Parnell series of books by Barbara Nickless.

Three Unpopular Bookish Options

— I’m not a fan of ebooks. I just cannot get into them. Give me a paperback each and every time.
— Books into movies, while there maybe one or two that can and do work, for the most part, no book should be anything less than a mini-series on TV. Which is a much better idea.
— I don’t use Amazon … Goodreads … Facebook …

Three Goals for the Year

— Write more blog posts
— Read more books
— Buy more books

And, if you haven’t already been tagged, then consider yourself tagged now!

I Turned to a Life of Crime

Or, to be exact, a life of crime reading, which began several years ago. Up until then, I would say I read a mixed bag and cross section of genre. And, up until then, was probably reading close to 80% SF and speculative fiction. I say speculative because at one point, I moved from almost exclusively reading SF through most of my teen years, to reading some fantasy, a little paranormal, and some supernatural. I never really took to horror, in the same way I strongly dislike ‘horror’ movies. It always boils down to violence, and I’m just not interest.

Which makes it all the more odd that I eventually wandered into reading crime fiction. But then again, crime fiction is an umbrella term I think we all use to cover quite a cross section of tropes that fit neatly, and some not so neatly, under that umbrella.

We’re all familiar with the whodunnit, courtroom drama, murder-mystery, suspense, cozy mysteries, police procedurals, detective stories, and, of late, forensics and psychological thrillers, which, yes, I also include under the umbrella. The latter are usually quite different to the modern thriller which, these days, tends to be about someone from an alphabet organisation (CIA/NSA/MI6/FBI), running around the planet trying to stop international criminals, terrorists, or organised crime and the like.

I don’t remember exactly which book started it all, that kind of recall escapes me these days. I just know that I picked up several more titles all considered ‘crime fiction,’ one of those was a Louise Penny novel from her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache stories: Bury Your Dead. It just happened to be on the shelf and caught my eye, and I saw it was set here, in Québec. Even if the setting is fictional, a lot of the story was set here, in Québec City, my home. How could I not read it?

And from there on in, I was hooked. Hooked on Louise Penny, the fictional village of Three Pines, and more, crime fiction at large.

If you haven’t read any Louise Penny, may I humbly suggest you do, but don’t start as I did, with what I think is book six. Start with book one, Still Life, and work your way through. The character development in this series is excellent, and unlike any other series I’ve ever read.

And you? What recommendations do you have for me.

7 Random Facts About Me

So, are you ready to be bored dazzled by 7 Random Facts about me? Probably not, but here we go anyway.

FACT #1 : I was in the military.

Yeah, and I survived! Ha! Ha! I did 8 years in the Women’s Royal Air Force, to be exact, as an Air Traffic Controller. Does that fact scare you knowing I was in charge? Well, okay, maybe not in-charge and it was military fighter jets, not passenger flights, that we landed!

FACT #2 : I jumped out of a hovering helicopter over the sea.

Not once, or twice, but several times. No, really! See, this one ties in with being in the military. We got to do some really stupid things, like this. But it was all in the interest of teaching Search and Rescue techniques to SARs Crews, and survival (that would be me, bobbing around in frigid waters) — yes, we had survival suits on.

FACT #3 : I was a qualified Netball Referee.

See, I bet you never saw that one coming either. Ha! Again, this is the kind of thing you get up to, while in the military. I had to go to London to train and then, had an exam. Yeah, for netball!

FACT #4 : I’ve been to, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, and New York.

Okay, now don’t laugh, as I kid I was fascinated by those glossy perfume ads in magazines that featured these seemingly, exotic cities. So I had this thing about wanting to visit them all, and I did. Thanks Mum!

FACT #5 : Growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist.

Yeah, I  know, go figure. It was watching all those TV shows featuring one of my dad’s heroes, Jacque Cousteau, that started it, that and I love the ocean. I’m convinced I’m part mermaid or was a tardigrade in another life. The water and I are best buddies.

FACT #6 : I love to cook.

This one is in homage to my mother. And while I don’t know if I’m as good a cook as her, I know I learnt a great deal from her. I do all the cooking here, and I’m always trying new things and tweaking recipes to suit my taste buds. I do love me some spicy food and love my herbs. I cannot imagine life without bay leaves.

FACT #7 : I still have my childhood teddy bear.

It’s a small Steiff Bear and if the apartment was burning down, that would be the first thing I would grab and save. My dad bought it for me when he found out my mum was pregnant with me. There is nothing more precious to me.

Now it’s your turn to share 7 random facts with us all. Go on, you know you want to.

Top 5 Tuesday: 5 Mind Blowing Mysteries

As a reader who loves a good mystery, picking 5 of my top favs to share with you was difficult. But adding the parameter of “mind blowing” made it a little easier.

Here are my choices:

#1. GLASS HOUSES by Louise Penny — anyone who stops by here regularly knows I’m a huge Louise Penny fan, and love the Three Pines mysteries featuring Chief Superintendent Armand Gamache. GLASS HOUSES was (for me at least) an outstanding read. To quote my own review it was:

“Gripping, suspenseful, powerful and, by the end, shocking!”

#2. RESURRECTION BAY by Emma Viskic — It’s not often I pick up a debut novel by a new (to me) author, and am totally blown away on just about every level, not just by good writing, but thoroughly absorbing characters. Viskic has crafted a really excellent read that, on the surface, is a familiar one. But then? Adds so many layers to it with her characters, but also twists in the plot that even I didn’t see coming. Refreshing, to say the least!

#3. THE DRY by Jane Harper — If you haven’t heard about Jane Harper you’ve either been living under a rock, don’t read mysteries, or don’t read full stop. I would like to nominate all three books she’s written so far. But have to say the first, THE DRY, is still my favourite because, again, it was such a surprise for a debut novel. There’s only so many times you can use the word ‘outstanding’ before it loses its potency. But like Louise Penny, Jane Harper is master storyteller. You should also check out THE LOST MAN which, like The Dry, had an award-winning formula.

#4. THE DEFENCE by Steve Cavanagh — This is the first outing in Cavanagh’s Eddie Flynn series and, IMHO, the best. With plenty of twists, mis-directs, heart-pounding action, and adept sleigh of hand, The Defence has something for everyone, including a great story!

#5. THE SILENCED by Anders de la Motte — Swedish novelist Anders de la Motte has crafted an action-packed thriller—set in the majestic city of Stockholm—which is the ultimate story of power, corruption, betrayal and deceit at the highest levels of government, and within the police.

So there you have it. Those were my top choices now, over to you. What would be your recommendations?

A Million Words

As someone who has written literally millions of words and curated just as many since moving into print and publishing, it’s a mute point as to what’s hard and what’s not when it comes to writing. Whether it’s for myself or work, a short story or a blog post, each offers it’s own set of challenges and sometimes, obstacles. Including do I really want to write today to, “Oh my god the deadline is when tomorrow?”

When it comes to writing for myself, I have no set agenda I write when inspired and enjoy the whole process rather than subject myself to pressure for whatever reason. My short stories are written when they’re written, same goes for a blog post. I simply do not stress anymore. And for good reason. I’ve had a life time’s worth of deadlines and stress working in publishing so take the approach, this is for me, it should be fun.

I want to enjoy life, and that includes my writing, I want it to be something done purely for pleasure. Like today’s post, which is, in part, inspired by David over at Forking Mad writing on the same topic.

And you? What do you find fun or hard about writing?