http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adelecosgrovebray/ Discover Adele's FREE Yahoo! group newsletter. There's a clickable link on the side menu, or use the link above. The group has been around for quite a while, but from today members can now communicate and reply to each other. Enjoy!   

Ed Alleyne-Johnson plays his electric violin. Thursday saw me in Chester, having a day's break from proofreading Tamsin.  After a pleasant lunch of chicken escalopes with prosciutto di Parma and mozzarella, I wandered onto Eastgate Street and immediately recognised the distinctive sounds of Ed Alleyne-Johnson's electric violin.  He was busking by one of the short flights of stone steps leading onto the mews, which are something of a tourist magnet because of their 'olde worlde' charm. So, after enjoying the music for a while, I wandered round the shops.  Why are Xmas decorations up already?  It's November still!  I really dislike the gradual spreading-out of this festival, with all its attendant kitsch.  If it was contained to the main fortnight it would be far less tedious. Each year at Riverside Writers, when we're setting our monthly writing project, someone will try to push for December's story or poem to be on a Xmas theme.  By far the majority of

The mid-afternoon sun was streaming through newly-revealed branches, keeping the top layer of fallen leaves crisp.  These mounds of leaves are apparently enthralling, at least to my dogs who seem compelled to inspect in detail each undulating heap.   Puddles command similar attention, which means that a walk which should take under an hour actually took closer to one and a half.  But it was a lovely autumn day; there was no reason to rush. The bulrushes have shed their fluffy wigs now.  Ygraine once savaged some poor bloke's prize pampas after it made the mistake of waving in a breeze.  And as much as she loves a good swim, trying to fish a dog out of a deep pond whose banks are slathered with greasy black mud is not my idea of a fun diversion during an otherwise pleasant stroll.  Therefore Ygraine has to be restrained around anything tall and wobbly like bulrushes. As the late afternoon sun cast amber-gold over the tree tops, we headed into the little woodland then out amo

This short ebook is now available on Kindle. The ASIN for this in all Amazon stores is ASIN B00690Q10I. Pirates, selkies and witches battle to survive in this dramatic short fantasy tale. When Charlie Porter makes a deal with Spanish Jones, he ensnares the Porter family in a vicious centuries-long feud. Can Charlie's descendent stop the violence? Set on the ruggedly beautiful Hilbre Island in the Dee Estuary, history and folklore blend to create a magically atmospheric tale by Adele Cosgrove-Bray.    

As of today, Entering the Grove can be purchased direct from Amazon UK, USA, France and Germany. The ebook's ASIN for all these stores is B00695TH5Y. What was the beyond-human being who walked into her dreams? How could mere dreams seem more real than reality? This collection of poetry describes how, at the age of nineteen, Adele Cosgrove-Bray entered an order known variously as the Eternal Companions or the Initiates of Ma'at, which was led by an elderly man called Thomas Joseph Walton, (or "T"). His philosophy was similar to that of GI Gurdjieff's. "Entering the Grove" describes her seven years with this group. She hoped to find answers to a series of experiences which had haunted her since early childhood, as depicted in the poems "I Wonder", "Twilight" and "Love's Hermitage", but she gradually became disillusioned with Walton’s philosophy. In 1999, Adele joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Dru

Penguin's Book Country self-publishing option offers writers 70% of the sale price of any book.  The catch is that this publishing service costs between $99 for a DIY option, and $549 if you pay Penguine to format the text for you. I fail to see why a person would pay $99 for the privilege of formatting their own ebook when this can be done for free, for similar returns, on Smashwords.   Book Country seems to want exclusive rights to epub files, also. Ok, so you'd get the famous Penguin logo on your ebook.  But it will take more than a cartoon birdie to promote the resulting ebook.  The author will still have to do the majority of that for themselves - as is also usual with traditional paperback publishing these-days anyway. Learn more:  http://bookcountry.com/ Learn even more Joe Konrath's blog at:  http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-country-fail.html   who by sheer synchronicity blogged about the same thing today, as I've just discovered when checking

Bonfire time at Maison Cosgrove-Bray.  Going up in flames was a 1940s chest of drawers, the type which is more wood than drawer space - an ugly old thing well beyond its usefulness or re-sale value.  There was also a heap of autumn pruning - branches, bits of hedge, snapped bamboo canes, broken brush handles etc.  Oh, and two kitchen rugs which were remarkable only for their vileness. In the midground of the photo are two compost bins made from recycled rubber.  The cone-like sides lift up cleanly if a garden fork is levered beneath them; they don't have a base.  These bins have been in constant use for ten years and show absolutely no sign of wear.  Beyond the compost bins is the green-coloured chicken coup. The photo shows only half of our rear garden, which is also the side which we've done the least with so far.  The garden is now ready for a good tidy-up before winter sets in.  Brick flooring can a mixed blessing, as every tiny groovy between each brick becomes a home

Here's the poster for this year's Parallel Dimensions, which takes place on Saturday 10th December at West Kirby Library.  Doors open at 2pm, but be early to ensure a seat as previous PDs have been well-attended. This is the third Parallel Dimensions, so I think it's ok to call it an annual event now. FREE event!  Please pass on the image and the information.  If you have any queries, either leave a message here or email me.   

Yesterday I saw the English National Ballet's new production, Strictly Gershwin, at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. I love ballet, and was excited to see some of my favourite dancers again, especially Erina Takahashi who partnered with Zdenek Konvalina for Someone to Watch Over Me and with Esteban Berlanga for The Man I Love .  The dancers were wonderful, the costumes were gorgeous...but did the choreography quite work? Gershwin was never meant to be twee, and unfortunately the show sometimes felt stilted and unadventurous, particularly with Rhapsody in Blue where the dance bore no relation at all to the story told by the music which, for that piece, was played in a lacklustre manner by the orchestra. The orchestra formed a large part of the backdrop for the performance.  Perhaps this could have been exploited to greater visual effect, so that soloists might have been picked out by a spotlight - hardly a groundbreaking method of allowing the audience to see more clearly wh