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Archives for September, 2015

Car crash

Yesterday morning I had a bit of an altercation with a volvo. Having just dropped Alexander off at his school, I was taking Lucy to her swimming lesson in Oxted.  The weather was clear, bright sun and dry when the car crash happened. Car Crash As I went down Pendell Road towards Hawthorns school the black volvo pulled out of the school entrance in front of me. I just had time to start braking before impact.  Fortunately I'd not being going that fast because I'd just come round a bend. It was probably slower than 20mph car crash into the side of the volvo. Both my front airbags went off, and my glasses disappeared. The air was full of an acrid used fireworks smell. I could see some residual dust settling in the morning sunlight. The whole front of the car…
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reviews

Command the Raven by M J Logue [Book Review]

Command the Raven by Logue My rating: 5 of 5 stars Command the Raven is the second in the Uncivil Wars series by M J Logue. It follows on from Red Horse starting with the siege of Reading in Spring 1643. Command the Raven Although set during the first English Civil War, the Uncivil Wars books are more social history than military. Like its predecessor Command the Raven has its focus on the people, and horses, in Captain Hollie Babbitt's troop and their associates. Command the Raven opens with the siege of Reading and the troop's ennui with it. Luce Pettitt takes bad news from his widow very hard, and Hollie Babbitt wants away from the siege. A transfer from Essex's army to Fairfax in the north sees Babbitt change his fortunes. After a short period of recovery in Essex Babbitt marries. He then…
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interviews

M J Logue – Author Interview

M J Logue is the subject of this week's interview. M J Logue is the author of several historical novels set in the 17th century. She's one of only two authors I know that write about Roundheads. English: Battle of Marston Moor, 1644 by John Barker (Photo credit: Wikipedia) M J Logue has been passionate about the English Civil War since writing her first novel over 20 years ago. After a brief flirtation with horror and dark fantasy, she returned to her first love, historical fiction, and now combines the two. She has a degree in English literature, trained as an archivist, and likes Jacobean theatre, loud music, and cheese. When not attempting to redeem the reputation of the Army of Parliament, she lives in Cornwall with her husband and son, three cats, and a toad under the back doorstep.…
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Strategy

The Secret of Success or Snake Oil?

Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment. Before 1920. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The Secret of Success is offered on many pages across the Internet.  They're almost all snake oil salesmen trying to part you from your money with the temptation of an easy win. The real secret of success is nothing of the sort. Secret of Success I think that there are four elements to being successful. Here is the secret of success as I see it. work hard learn from failures perseverance get lucky Why should you believe me? You've never heard of me as a big shot. Well that would be fair. In my chosen career, as a public servant, I'm moderately successful. I'm in the top 2% of UK civil servants.  Not big enough for you have heard of, but successful enough to have worked out how the system…
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reviews

Redshirts by John Scalzi [Book Review]

Redshirts by John Scalzi My rating: 3 of 5 stars Redshirts is a pastiche on the original Star Trek. As a premise it's interesting, and Scalzi executes it well. However it's not really enough for a full length book. I can see it working very well as a 90 minute movie though. Redshirts - Review All through Redshirts there are little chuckles and wry smiles. The plot is an observation of the sort of tricks series writers use to keep audience attention.  So it is a meta story more than it is its own story. Redshirts is full of Scalzi's trademark snarkiness and cleverness, which I happen to like. Scalzi said in a recent blog post that he wrote Redshirts in five weeks. That makes Redshirts the fastest book he's written, and it sort of shows. I did like it, but only just.…
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