There is a small but positive book revew of City Stories here , a collection of fiction and poetry by members of Riverside Writers which I edited and contributed to. Riverside Writers now have a new website here .  Since moving from West Kirby to Oxton a year ago I haven't been a member of the group, but I'm pleased to see they're doing well. Pick up your copy of City Stories for FREE here .

We are now the proud owners of an exercise bike.  Richard's worn out just assembling the thing.  I chickened out of that little job, opting to walk the dogs round the park instead, which was pleasant despite the bitterly cold edge to the wind whistling off the Mersey. With a group of other people, I took part in the RSPB's annual Big Garden Birdwatch .  There we all were, sat in an enthusiastic row by the windows, binoculars at the ready, armed with shortcake and tea, and eager to spot wild birds...and there was hardly a bird to be seen.  The entire hour-long count scooped all of two magpies, one sparrow, six woodpigeons, one crow and a seagull - and the RSPB's list of desirable birds to spot didn't include crows or seagulls anyway.  Normally there are all sorts of birds hopping around.  Oh, well. My sister Evelyn gave me a pretty white and purple cyclamen a couple of years ago, and it was among the plants transplanted from our old garden and brought here when we

There is a short but sweet review of The Grumpets here. Book blurb for The Grumpets: Grumpets are shy creatures who live in compost heaps. They are small and wrinkly, with many long, pale limbs, and like nothing better than burrowing into fresh grass clippings. But the heap can be a dangerous place. Follow the adventures of young Chip Grumpet as ravenous Slimers and the dreaded Time of Turning threaten to destroy the Grumpet's world!  To date, this is my one excursion into the realm of fiction for children.  It was fun to write, and to be perfectly honest I was unsure how people might react to this total change of direction from me.  But such things are always beyond the control of the person who creates anything.  All we can do is launch a project on its way and wait to see how things go.

A corner of our garden. This morning, our house was photographed and measured by the estate agent in preparation for putting it on the market.  He said again that the garden is a major selling feature, partly due to its size but also because of the dense planting and the maturity of many of the trees and shrubs.  He also said that the house structure is fine, that the newish kitchen and bathroom are both fine, and that everything else is just cosmetic.   Previously I asked if we should redecorate and was advised, (by three seperate estate agents), not to bother as one person's idea of good  taste is the next person's idea of Yuck Made Manifest.  I pointed out that all the - interminable, which is one reason why we don't own one - TV shows depict the vendors frantically painting everything white or a variation of beige and installing new, equally colourless carpets.  The estate agents said that's mostly a waste of time and money, and often doesn't add enough va

I have finally got on with the job of cleaning out the pond.  The water desperately needed changing as it was quite murky and poor Marie Celeste, our sole surviving goldfish, was visible only as a vague flash of colour.  She - or is she a he, as if it even matters? - seems much happier now swimming doesn't involve the risk of crashing into stuff in the dark. All but two of my lovely water soldiers have vanished.  Maybe the algae problem blocked out too much light and so they perished?  They're one of my favourite pond plants.  They simply float around, sinking if light's poor and rising again on sunny days.  Well, they can when a blanket of green gloop isn't blocking their way. The gloop has been consigned to the compost bin, and 100% fresh water is in the pond now - but this also meant many of the damselfly larvae would have been killed.  I managed to save some of them at least, and I hope they survive the change of water. I've added a bunch of barley straw,

The first rose of 2014 The lawn already has a sprinkling of fallen rose petals.  The first rose to open was by the entrance to the grove.  This photo was taken from just inside the grove, which is approached down a narrow grassy path which turns sharply to the east-facing entrance.  Shade is cast by a towering contorted hazel tree ( Corylus avelana 'Contorta' ) and a wall of ivy.  Tucked next to the entrance is a small pond, which you can just about see half-hidden behind the ornamental grass in the lower left corner of the photo. Click on the images to view them larger. Within the Grove In the photo above, you can see where the circular lawn of the grove has been re-edged.  Bare soil is already disappearing under poppy seedlings and the allysum which I've since planted.  I also planted some French marigolds but they were eaten overnight by slugs and snails.  For the same reason, hostas don't survive long in my garden, which is a pity as I like the quilted

In appreciation of my Yahoo! newsgroup, some of whom have been members for several years already, I'm offering Tamsin: An Artisan-Sorcerer Story at the bargain price of $2 USD. If you're feeling left out of this offer, which runs until May 18th, 2014, then the solution is easy.  Join the TOTALLY FREE newsgroup to take advantage of this and future offers, chat via email to other members, and be among the first to learn of my forthcoming publications, public events and other news. Join here:- https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/adelecosgrovebray/info Or join by sending an email to:- adelecosgrovebray-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

I'm currently enjoying a week's annual leave from my day-job while writing more of Fabian.   I've also been busy in the garden while I've both the time and the weather for it.  Some of the borders were looking rather neglected, so I've been weeding and pruning and re-shaping the edge of the lawn where the divide between lawn and weedy mess had blurred.  The contrast between sitting still, other than from fingers tapping at the keyboard, and thinking creatively and analytically as I write, and moving around with tools, a bucket full of dug-up roots and pruned, leggy stems or fronds of invasive ivy, is marked.  It still requires analytical and creative thinking but of a different kind, (for eg., I'm planning to put in more spring bulbs this autumn, and move a young buddleia before it gets crowded by the holly tree, and can see that the forsythia needs pruning back now its buttercup-yellow petals are strewn on the ground).  Gardening can be a form of moving medit

ISBN: 9781476124902  Fifty copies of Bethany Rose have been set aside for volunteer bookworms.  To qualify to receive one free digital copy, you will need to have  - or contribute to - an active blog site or to be an Amazon reviewer.  In return for your free copy, you will pledge to write and publish your honest review of the novel, ideally within one month of receiving your copy. Apply by sending an email to ACBwrites@aol.com and write BETHANY ROSE REVIEW in the subject line.  Please provide an URL to your blog or reviews so that your claim may be verified. About the book: "Selkies, Ghosts, Terror and Romance!  Morgan seems perfect, but he is a member of a mysterious occult order. Can he protect Bethany Rose from power-crazed assassins?   "Horrified by visitations from a black-robed spectre, Bethany Rose runs to Morgan - and straight into danger.  They want to be together. But will love keep them apart?"

Following From: Goals for 2013 Goals for 2012 For the last two years, I've started the year by making a list of goals - partially for fun, and partially because it's a way of tracking my progress with projects. So, here were my goals for 2013: Complete 1st draft of Fabian. Complete NVQ Level 3 in Customer Care. Publish a 2nd free ebook anthology (with Riverside Writers and maybe other writers too). Write one short story per month (minimum). Write one poem per month (minimum). Add one new design to Spooky Cute Designs per month (minimum). (...And last but not least), have more fun. Let's see how I did... Ok, Fabian is not finished; approximately 30,000 words are still to be written, so while the end is in sight clearly there's work to be done. However, I not only completed the NVQ Level 3 in Customer Care but also achieved an NVQ Level 2 in Business Skills, and an NCFE Level 2 in the Principles of Dementia Care. This goes some way to explain why Fabia

City Stories: Tales of Modern Liverpool ISBN: 9781310916939 Love, terror and 21st century life! From the heart of cosmopolitan Liverpool come nine thrilling views of modern living. Blood-drinkers, killers and secrets. Old sorrows and new beginnings. The light and dark of human life set against the glittering backdrop of a reinvigorated city. City Stories. Tales of life today. Featuring:- Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray Pick up your FREE copy today here! Other distribution outlets will follow over the new few weeks.

City Stories, FREE ebook anthology   Contributors : Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray   Here's a preview of the front cover for the forthcoming City Stories ebook anthology, which is currently being proofread with help from Andy Siddle and Tim Hulme.  The photo on the cover depicts part of the Albert Dock in Liverpool, and was taken by my husband Richard, (who's currently trying to mend a broken stand for one of my Tangkou dolls).   Frog pond with pennywort, water soldiers, fairy moss and shy goldfish.   Who'd have guessed that fish have personalities?  To prevent the frog pond from becoming home to a legion of blood-sucking mosquitoes, my brother Eric suggested adding a few goldfish.  Three have been making themselves at home beneath the gradually-spreading canopy of pennywort and fairy moss.  They seem to like snoozing under the water soldiers, and they're particul

Shabby Chic - Toad Style!   One of our compost bins has been selected as a desirable residence by a toad.  Here he is, perched on top of an egg shell amidst a colourful squelch of veg and fruit peelings.  Toady seems entirely content, and has shown a distinct disinterest in moving on despite the lower edge of the compost bin having been propped up on an old brick so Toady can come and go easily.  Each time Richard or I go to the compost bin, we first have to check to make sure Toady has ambled off to one side to avoid being buried by a small avalanche of soggy teabags and kitchen peelings.   Location, location, location...  It's a handy spot for an amphibian.  The decomposing compost will help keep Toady warm in winter, and the thick recycled rubber walls of the bin itself will protect Toady from the worst of the winter storms.  The neighbours are edible.  And come spring, when Toady's feeling especially sociable, there's a lovely pond a small crawly-walk away wh

Click on the image to view it larger.     I was surprised to discover that one of my poetry ebooks, Entering the Grove , currently ranks at #66 in the Amazon.com Best Sellers listing for "Inspirational and Religious Poetry". The book blurb reads: "This collection of Adele Cosgrove-Bray’s poetry describes how, at the age of nineteen, she 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 Druids (OBOD), and this heralded the start of

        Here are the previews of the new paperback covers for the Artisan-Sorcerer series.  Intimations is only available as an ebook at this time, if you were wondering why it's absent.  The covers are currently undergoing the production process, and until that's complete the paperbacks won't be available, but that will only be for a day or so.

Welcome to this series of writing tips, to be posted each Wednesday. If you would like to pen a guest post for this series, email me at ACBwrites@aol.com.  If you want to be a writer, or to improve your writing and your chances of being published, you need to read.  Read all kinds of books, including those which you might not usually choose for yourself.  You can learn as much from authors whose work leaves you cold as you can from those you instinctively love.  You will discover ideas, methods of plot construction and literary styles which you many not have thought otherwise thought of.  Some of these you might choose to adapt for your own work; others you might make a point of never using on pain of  death.  But you will have given yourself the opportunity to analyse which aspects of any particular book worked and which didn't, in your opinion, and to make your own creative choices based on this. The publishing world is a fickle and is currently undergoing huge chang

The Grumpets! ISBN: 9781301565078 ASIN: B00D3JB0CW (for Kindle) Published Today! Grumpets are shy creatures who live in compost heaps.   At any moment of any day, wilting flowers, mouldy cabbage leaves or faded roses might tumble down upon them. But the heap can be a dangerous place. Grumpets have to keep alert for horrible Slimers.   And the dreaded Time of Turning…. Introducing a new species, one which even the mighty Sir David Attenborough has, as yet, overlooked!  Grumpets are, (as the above book blurb suggests), rather shy and retiring by nature, and they spend much of their time burrowing within warm, snug compost heaps.  They can be found in many gardens but it is unlikely, unless you keep a sharp eye out and know what you're looking for, that you will have spotted them. The Grumpets is a short fantasy story for children, though it may well appeal to 'children' of all ages.  This foray into children's fiction is a new av

Apparently, the New York Public Library has spent $1million USD on ebooks and is planning a major re-design of the old building which will create large, airy spaces, a cafe, and remove old and hardly-used books to stacks in the basement. Closer to home, Liverpool Central Library is already undergoing a major structural overhaul, which promises to look amazing once finished and I'm looking forward to seeing it re-open. Wirral Libraries are also changing.  In their draft strategy  for the future, they write, "The Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport quotes a decline in the number of visits to library premises of around 25% over a 16 year period, and a steady decline in the loans of adults’ books over the decade prior to 2008/9 by more than a third." It goes on to define the library service as: "4 .1 - Wirral library is a friendly, accessible place that provides a safe, trusted and welcoming resource aimed at meeting the needs of the local commu

"Little sister, let me tell you this story. I know your days are busy and your life full of important things. I promise not to delay you for long. "It is a simple story. It came to me last night in my dreams, and its beauty impressed itself upon my mind so strongly that when I woke, still hearing these words echo through me, I remembered you and sought a way to share it...." So begins this enchanting account of a mystical journey.         What is the ebook equivalent of "hot off the printing press"?  Here's the long-awaited release of an oldie which has been on the backburner for a while.  Getting the cover right caused the delay, as I did not want to see a pretty pastiche in pastels.  This cover is simple but bold.  Well, I think so anyway!  You're welcome to share your opinions of it.  Message... is available now from Smashwords  and Amazon . 

Jeannie Faulkner Barber writes crime and suspense novels, including Taste of Fire and  Scent of double Deception.   She is the co-author of a new fantasy novel, Destiny Never Sleeps , which is due out in 2012. Learn more about Jeannie's work in this interview with me here.