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Dead Scared

Plan the Play revisited

In 1996, Dave Huggett and I jointly wrote a bridge book on declarer play for intermediate players. It received quite a few favourable reviews at the time.
   But now it is the digital age, so with the help of Robin Khan, we have turned it into an e-book.










Kindle versions are available at both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
add comment | read comments (2) | 2011-12-17

Lucky for some

So Book Thirteen of the Wheel of Time has surfaced in paperback form. I accidentally wandered into a bookshop, and accidentally bought it. I hope it's worth it, especially as I know nothing about Brandon Sanderson other than the fact that son no. 2 says he's read some of his other offerings, and they have been 'pretty good'.
   The trouble is, it's... well, I don't know how many years it's been since the Wheel of Time started. It feels like a whole cycle of the Wheel has trundled by while we wait for each book. So I confess I can't remember much about the early books, which I think were better than the later ones (I think the later ones became rather self indulgent and far too detailed). Anyway, the thing is that I think I'm going to have to read the previous twelve books before I try Brandon's latest addition.
   So watch my books review section in, oh, about twelve months time. Perhaps by then I'll be able to tell the world what I thought of Towers of Midnight.
add comment | read comments (0) | 2011-11-17

Say it ain't so

I’ve checked, and my insurance doesn’t cover shattered illusions.
   I was brought up on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Narnia books, followed by the Lord of the Rings, moulded my thoughts on what good fantasy is all about. So I am currently reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to six year old Dylan when – yes, you saw it coming – I found something that should have been picked up by a competent editor. A mistake. Small and unimportant, but a mistake nonetheless. 
   It takes place in Chapter 7; A Day with the Beavers.  At one point, as the children arrive at the Beaver residence, dear old Mrs Beaver says “...The potatoes are on boiling and the kettle’s singing and...” Then there is a paragraph telling how the boys go off fishing with Mr Beaver. And then the very next paragraph begins “Meanwhile the girls were helping Mrs Beaver to fill the kettle...”
   Oh dear!  Do the Beavers have two kettles, then?  One already singing, and one waiting to be filled?  I don’t think so.
   Happily, Dylan is thoroughly enjoying the book and, with another six of them to go, I can see Narnia seeing us through winter.
add comment | read comments (0) | 2011-10-21