Who Was Bishop of Winchester in 990?

Ælfheah (also spelled Alphage oe Alfege) became Bishop of Winchester in 984 only leaving this position to be consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 1006. He was largely responsible for development of a cult of St. Dunstan, and due to his own deep sanctity and his martyrdom in 1012 was canonized in 1075 by Pope Gregory VII. It was he to whom Thomas á Becket was praying when he was murdered by four of Henry II's barons.

He was born in Somerset to a noble family in 954. He became a monk and later an anchorite (a type of hermit) but was elected abbot of Bath Abbey. As Bishop of Winchester he helped initiate the building of an organ so large that it could be heard more than a mile away. He built and stregthened churches in the city. In 994 when Vikings raided the area, he met with the famous Leader Olaf Tryggveson and persuaded him not only to agree to a truce and to convert to Christianity.

Ælfheah's holiness was so well known that it was inevitable that he would be chosen to be the Archbishop of Canterbury. His accomplishments as Archbishop include a journey to Rome, on which he was robbed, the writing of a life of St. Dunstan, a change in the Church liturgy, and he brought St. Swithin's head to Canterbury as a relic. He was a strong proponent of education, establishing the monastic school at Cerne Abbey. Ælfheah was present at the council of May 1008 where Wulfstan II, Archbishop of York preached his sermon Sermo Lupi ad Anglos or The Sermon of the Wolf to the English, which castigated the English for their moral failings and blamed those failings for the tribulations that were afflicting the country.

In 1011 Danes invaded England again and laid siege to Canterbury. They captured Ælfheah and on April 19, 1012, killed him. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle describes his death as follows:

. . . for there was wine brought them from the south. Then took they the bishop . . . on the eve of the Sunday after Easter . . . They overwhelmed him with bones and horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God.

As a result, his feast day is April 19, and he is the patron saint of kidnap victims.

The image above is a painted carving of the death of Ælfheah and can be found at Canterbury Cathedral.

"You Expect Me to Pay $27.99 For Your Book?"

Um, yeah... or rather, my publisher does. Think of it this way. Would you spend thirty bucks to go out to dinner? Well, An Involuntary King will please you for a considerably longer time and stay with you much longer than whatever you eat. And it has no calories!

What I really wanted to say here is that my novel, reviews of which you can see at the links I provide at the right under the picture of my book cover, is available for a variety of prices from a number of different sources. I even have autographed copies available under the "new and used" links on the Amazon.com page, for $19.

King County Library System now has five copies and these will be available via Interlibrary Loan when their database is updated.

It may be a difficult economy, but whether I am talking about my own novel or not, a book is an investment well made.

Read my novel. It's long, it's a great story, its characters are vivid and compelling.. and you will be making me very happy.

An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England
By Nan Hawthorne
See where you can get it.
ISBN 1-4196-5669-4

For every copy sold, I will donate one unclipped silver penny to Veterans of the Battle of Hastings! (I jokes.)

An Excellent Mystery, by Ellis Peters

An Excellent Mystery: The Eleventh Chronicle of Brother Cadfael
By Ellis Peters

If I have been feeling the surfeit of Cadfaels lately, this wonderful if somewhat obscure example dispelled that neatly. An Excellent Mystery, with its seemingly prosaic title, just moved into first place as my favorite of the Brother Cadfael mysteries. It is such a warm and loving story, with characters even more vivid and compelling than the many others, I can't but recommend it with all my heart.

During the period when Empress Maud is trapped in Winchester by King Stephen's queen's armies, two monks whose abbey there has been burned to the ground arrive seeking shelter at Shrewsbury. One is a former crusader, Brother Humilus, who has entered the cloister as a result of a devastating wound, and a mute companion, Brother Fidelis, young and devoted. The title, An Excellent Mystery, refers to a line in The Book of Common Prayer refers to marriage, and it is the "marriage" of Humilus and Fidelis that the story dramatizes so gently and with such eloquence. Though homosexuality is a theme of this novel, it is one of several which blend into a remarkably complex bit of poetry.

Humilus has been betrothed to a young woman named Julian since before he left for the Holy Land. She was only six years old when the betrothal was made, and now that he is, as they say, only a shadow of man due to his injuries, he has freed her and told her and her family of his decision to enter a monastery. Julian chooses to enter a convent herself, but when the Crusader's squire, Nicholas, smitten by her, goes to make sure she is well and truly dedicated to her vows, he discovers she never made it to the nunnery. The mystery begins, to discover what happened to her. Hugh Beringar, Cadfael and Nicholas all fear that one of her attendants on the journey robbed and killed her, and the evidence stacks up to support this fear. In the meantime, Humilus grows more and more ill. Cadfaael is impressed with Brother Fidelis's devotion to the older man. Another monk, who has forsworn the life of the body because of a painful betrayal buy a woman, finds his passions coming out for a couple of the young brothers, in particular Fidelis, and he threatens to reveal a secret if the young monk if he does not comply with his advances..

I figured out the mystery of what happened to Julian about halfway through the book, and I will not spoil it for you in this review. But I will say it only enhanced my pleasure in the reading knowing the truth. More than one marriage lends it goldenness, not only the one mentioned above, but Hugh Beringar's, Nicholas's longed-for with the missing Julian, and even the sad one that torments the blackmailing monk. The secret behind Fidelis's faithful devotion is what makes this book so moving however. I don't think I have ever read a sweeter love story. You will just have to read it to see what I mean. It is, indeed, an excellent mystery.

Why I Am Not Nuts About Ursula BlaNchard Mysteries

I currently find only a half dozen or so little green boxes on my bookshelf. Those boxes contain audio cassettes from the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library. Though not my only means of reading novels, it is my main one. A dozen or so books may not seem few, but looking at them this morning, having finished a Brother Cadfael just yesterday -- see That's All She Read -- I found myself generously supplied with more Brother Cadfaels and a couple Ursula Blanchards and nothing else. I don't have any text files of books ready to read as mp3s so the choice is these. The choice between an old Welsh ex-Crusader monk and an Elizabethan lady of the presence chamber who has just learned to pick locks.

The trouble is, I just don't grok with Ursula. No offense, Fiona Buckley, you are a lovely writer. but I just can't get into a heroine who spends her time describing her and other women's clothing. It's not that I want wanton masculinity .. well, I do, but not in this context -- as the fact that I prefer Cadfael should prove. I just don't enjoy girliness. I really don't care what color silk embroidery the amber velvet sports or what style of lace ruff the woman is wearing. I don't even care if the man who just caught Ursula's eye is in a splendid doublet of brocade.

I am sure there are plenty of women and men who enjoy this sort of thing, but I am not one of them. Maybe that is one reason I like the early Saxon era.. they seem more practical. There was silk then, and other fancy fabrics, but good old homespun linen and wool was good enough for Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians. Maybe this is also one of the reasons I prefer -- despite appearances -- to write about and read about less-than-royal characters.

Unfortunately WTBBL keeps sending me Cadfaels and Blanchards. I may have to take both Fiona Buckley and Ellis Peters off my preferred authors list. I love them, but then I also love licorice, and even with licorice, there is such a thing as a surfeit. King John died of a surfeit of cold water and peaches, while my fate may involve a surfeit of peach silk with fawn embroidery -- and girliness.

Elerde of Brittany Gloats

I can see him there, the king, that hulking fellow, perplexed,. annoyed, uncertain what he can do about it. I smile my supercilious smile and drive him that much further to madness. It seems the reviewers like me, the villain, more than he. Were I a kind man I would reassure him. Villains, especially sexy ones, are almost always the favorites. But I am not kind. That is part of my charm.

Look at him, standing there in his Aragornian splendour. For all that, one reviewer judges him dull. I cannot keep a chuckle from erupting from my lips. The lady, my heart's desire, was promised him by her father. She did not choose him. He thinks she will choose him now and forever. If that is true it is because she likes how safe he is. That other, the Ulsterman, the bard that plays at being a catamite, is safe but mayhap too much so. Under her chill exterior there beats a heart full of lust, of longing for the dangerous, for a fierce Breton mercenary who will fulfill her every submerged fantasy. Just you wait and see.

You may think the rivalry is at an end, your grace, but you may be mistaken. I am not so easily dismissed. Unlike you, my liege, who must remain tethered to your land, I am free to wander the round world, and thus may I turn my steps back to your land, your fortress, your lady. Be aware, my king, that everything in life is but held by a silken thread. She will become tired of you, sirrah. It will take far less than my sword to sever that tie between you.

Why do they find you boring when your doting creatrix did not design you so? You are too human. You are strong but your feet threaten to become clay. You are impulsive and make mistakes. You are, I suppose glad of it, not the melodramatic oaf of the Old Stories, banishing yourself for killing my predecessor/twin, or lying foolishly on your sword and wounding yourself, or being enchanted by that sorceress and killing her in your delusion. Mayhap the reviewers would have liked you better thus. The creatrix made you less puerile but even your badness leaves then cold. You tried to kill me, I tried to kil you, but I have all the points on my side. You are too good, too kind, too just, and make them weary and wish to turn vack to me. How long will it be before like them, your lady, your queen, does the same?

It seems that I am capable of no end of perfidy yet I am absolved. I court a woman who is wed to the king I serve. I betray my position and help a wicked friend elude the very law I am charged with maintaining. I join with him and the most iniquitous of men to despoil the very homeland of the woman I love. I take arms against her kin. I join with a blackguard to destroy your lord and do not move to protect your brother until it is almost too late. I send my servant to murder your husband in cold blood. I put your children through a hell of fear and misery. Yet not only do the reviewers love me, you, you my Josephina, allow me to take you away where your larhe Saxon husband with his big cow eyes shall never find you. If that does not prove I am the better man, then what shall?

So go on puzzling, O Great and Oafish King, for your creatrix may care for you, but few others do. Do not bother to try to think of a way to be more interesting. You haven't the imagination.

Cretrix's Note: Don't forget, Elerde. I get the last word... literally.

Eloquence Unmet

Listening, as most of us did, to today's Presidential inauguration and the many, many observations leading up to it, I was struck by a contrast in eloquence. Here we have a new president who is well-spoken, intelligent, and about as unlikely to say "nucular" or "strategery" as anyone could be, but few, if any,. able to boice what is so significant about today. I am used to the news media tripping over their own tongues as they are more taken with their own boices than with what they say. I will mention a glaring instance of this below. But thanks to telebision we have documented in the sound of cheering and chanting what I just am not hearing articulated more clearly: what we are all so astounded by and grateful for.

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning one of the repoorters interviewed a woman from Sweden who reported that with the election of Barack Obama she has decided to become an American citizen. She said she had not found any reason to before. I was on the edge of my seat when she answered the question why Obama had changed her mind. At last, I thought, someone will say it. But she did not. She stumbled around sentiments about change and respect overseas and my heart bled for her. She was no more articulate than I had heard before. And it was clear from the anchor's and reporter's questions that they did not get it either.

It is my conviction that what knocks us all off our feet on a day like today is that our country actually did something we truly did not think it could or would. We not only elected an African American president, but a man whose middle name is Hussein. 9/11 is only seven and a half years ago. Does this reveal a nation more tolerant, more inclusive, more discerning than I thought it was? I find myself thinking, with jubilation, "We did it! We actually acted on our best qualities! I am impressed not only by what we did, but that we did it at all.

The new president's speech was excellent, I thought. I was impressed that when he listed all the religious views in our culture, he actually mentioned non-believers! If that ain't enlightened, I don't know what is.

The one down moment of the coverage this morning came when, obsercving that former VP Dick Cheney had had an accident and had to use a wheelchair to attend the festivities, Brian Williams said Cheney probably regretted looking like Dr. Strangelove. To be honest, I thought "Mr. Potter" but beyond that, the new president's call for inclusion was blasted by this comment. If you don't understand why, imagine if Williams had compared YoYo Ma to Charlie Chan or Itzhask Perlman to Fagin It meant that someone who used a wheelchair could only be compared to the negative, forgetting that long before an African American stood up there on the steps of the CVapitol, a disabled man did. If the wicked alluysion is the best we can do in 2009. maybe it is just as well Franklin Roosevelt hid his disability. He might still have to. How much more approopriate if Cheney had called to Williams' mind that famous wheelchair user.

So I see this country as having taken a leap forward in maturity, but nothing worthwhile is ever without a need for improvement. Our new president calls on us all to embody the values of reaching for the common good. How about we start with media shallowness.

The End of the House of Niccolo

I am taking today off. No one who has just finished reading Dorothy Dunnett's House of Niccolo eight volume series should be expected to have any brain cells no less any heart to do anything else creative right away.

You can read my comments on the last volume, Gemini, and the whole series at That's All She Read.

The Mad Book Marketer

Mirella Patzer always comments on my range of marketing for my book, An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England. I thought I'd enumerate the ones I can think of in one sitting.

I started marketing my novel a year and half before it came out by starting my old blog, The Blue Lady Tavern. It was a fictional blog with stories about the characters in the book. I remember running a whole series of stories about my Irish bard, Shannon O'Neill, that got some fan letters. The idea clearly was to get people inters ted well before the book came out.

I am doing the standard stuff:

Bookmarks
Asking for reviews and interviews
My own web site
Am working on a flyer
Book giveaways on my blog(s)
Am working on a video book trailer too with shield wall action scenes

Some of the perhaps less typical things I have done, though I don't claim any are original:

Volunteered to moderate an Internet book club
Putting copies of my book on library for-sale shelves
Starting an Internet radio station to play music I love and is likely to attract folks who like the genre I write in
I took a few copies to a used book store that buys books

On top of that a friend who sells books on eBay is putting one of my bookmarks in all the books she sells. Thanks, Brandy!

I make a point of being active on blogs other than my own but of interest to the same people, leaving comments, offering link exchanges. This is all part of "networking", a concept I learned a lot about when I was writing employment articles for eSight Careers Network. It gives me lots of places to put my book title in front of people already primed for its general topic, and it builds a relationship with other writers and readers.

You will notice that many of the ideas bring in no money and in fact cost me more than I would get from selling one book. The point is, as the marketing types say, to create buzz. As an example, someone might notice the book, which has a striking cover, at the bookstore,not buy it that time, but remember it and decide to go ahead and buy it on Amazon.

I haven't gotten much done on it yet, but I also have a site with further stories about the characters in An Involuntary King, including what you might call some unauthorized ones. There is one where my Saxon king is in what looks like an episode of COPS!

When I was working as a volunteer resources manager for a nonprofit, I applied a tried and true marketing concept called "you are always marketing". In that case I said "you are always recruiting volunteers". The concept as I applied it was to strike up conversations at the supermarket and anywhere I was where I mentioned the organization I worked for. Most people want to volunteer but aren't sure how and where, so they would always ask me questions. I have taken the marketing concept back and now make a point of bringing up my book.. not in an annoying way, but just in passing, and never to the same person twice! Having a t-shirt with my book cover on it helps spark the conversation.

Another thing I learned early was to do favors. If you naturally like to help others and do what you can for them, you are bound to find your favors returned. I would do them anyway. I just like to be a resource. But it is, as they say, gravy when someone therefore well disposed to me then do me one back, like recommending my book.

The second I click on "Publish Post" I will think of several other things I do. But that is all for now.

The Writer's Life: Is Anybody Out There?

One thing I have learned since my novel came out this fall is just how loud the silence can be. Unlike performers, like singers and actors, whose praise or scorn is immediate, the author is isolated from her audience. We are more like painters and sculptors I suppose, wondering what those who stand in front of our work are thinking? Though I also suppose those graphic artists can go to the gallery or stand in the park and eavesdrop on people commenting. At least the author has a theoretically unlimited potential audience, while the single painting or sculpture may wind up in some one's home and thus hidden from view.

Do other authors yearn for the response I do? Today I took a couple of copies of my book to Half Price Books and sold them. I only got five bucks each -- they cost me about nine dollars. With this particular book, An Involuntary King, I just want the most possible people to read it. Future books will be more for the few dollars I can get. I think what happened at the store was well worth the loss. I got attention, affirmation. The man, a true book lover, admired my cover, saying it was a really great one. Both he and his assistant were intrigued by title. I was in hog heaven.

I imagine myself sometimes sitting in a tall tower with my computer, looking out over a deserted landscape as far as the eye can see. A small chime sounds and I rush to the desk to see the email that just came in. Writer's Digest want s me to take one of their webinars.. or maybe someone wants to sell me some prescription drugs. Back to the window I go to wait for the next email... which just might be someone who read my book, maybe. Could happen. It will. I promise. Surely.

Introducing Radio Dé Danaan

Radio Dé Danaan

Yesterday, 15 January, marked the first broadcast of Radio Dé Danaan on Live365.co9m. Some of you may recall that for about ten months I had the pleasure of hosting an hour-long program of Celtic music on Phoenix Internet Radio, a college station in Arizona. Since that idyllic sojourn came to an end in June, I have longed to find a way to share my somewhat eclectic tastes in Celtic music via the Internet.

That darling man, Jim, to whom I am married, bought me Live365.com Internet radio station for the combination of our anniversary, Christmas and my birthday, which all happen in the space of a couple weeks! I have named it Radio De Danaan and launched it first three hour repreating shuffle of music last evening.

You can visit Radio Dé Danaan from the link at http://radiodedanaan.blogspot.com.

It is on day and night. When I say my tastes in Celtic music are eclectic, what I mean is that I look for music from the pan-Celtic world -- that is, not only Ireland, Scotland and Wales, but also Cornwall, the Isle of man, Brittany, the Celtic music of Asturias and Galicia in Spain, and Cape Breton in Canada, as well as Celtic music played by musicians in other areas, such as India's Chimaya Celtic ragas and Afro-Celtic Sound System. I also look for other music styles playing traditional Celtic music, such as Fathom's rock version of Foggy Dew, as well as the opposite, Celtic versions of well known songs from other styles, like the album, The Celtic Tribute to led Zeppelin. The plan for Radio De Danaan is as well to offer air time to local bands like Akron's The Mickeys and Seattle's Piper's Creek.

Why Dé Danaan? The Tuatha dé Danaan were part of Irish mythological tradition. You can read about them at Shee-Eire.

"The Tuatha Dé Danann (which means the people of Danu) arrived in Ireland bearing with them their stone of destiny called the Lia Fail which they placed on the mound of Tara and ever after the rightful kings of Ireland were chosen when it called out. They also brought the spear of Lugh which ensured victory to whoever wielded it, The Sword of Nuada from whom none could escape and the Cauldron of the Dagda from which none would go unsatisfied.

"There is a story that they came to Ireland in flying ships but could not land as the Fomorians had set up a great energy field that they could not penetrate. So they had to circle Ireland nine times before finding a breach in the energy field and setting down on Sliabh an Iarainn (The Iron Mountains) in Co. Leitrim."

(You can read a stirring scene where the Lia Fail cries aloud when Brian Boru steps upon it to be crowned King of All Ireland in Morgan llewelyn's Lion of Ireland.)

For now the station plays a shuffle of about three hours or so of music. I plan to do produced pieces as well. I want to include authors' readings of their own work, so get in touch if you would like to participate. My ultimate goal is to make Radio Dé Danaan a place to listen not only to the breadth of Celtic music, but medieval and Renaissance as well, and spoken word programs about books.

Please tune in and let me know what you think. If you sign up on Live365.com for a VIP membership you will be spared the ads for jobs at the CIA. I will be putting ads of a sort on my station, but not charging for them in most cases.. if you have an mp3 ad for your book, I will add it to the shuffle.

Enjoy!

Patrick McGoohan Dies

While the rest of the world calls to mind The Prisoner television phenomenon upon hearing of the death of actor Patrick McGoohan, there will be many of us who remember other roles. I think first of Longshanks, King Edward I, in Braveheart, and while the movie drives me bonkers, McGoohan is not the problem. He made a fine Edward I. While the role was not written to be a very complex or subtle one, neither was Edward himself.

I remember also an earlier role, as James Stuart in Mary, Queen of Scots. The first time I saw it, when the scene came up where John Knox challenges Mary about her religious views, and she responds, "I support the Church in Rome," Stuart's "Ride on" elicited a lot of "Right on!@" from the audience. The second time I saw it I looked forward to the audience's similar reaction but was disappointed.

Of course McGoohan was in a lot of other movies and television shows. My favorite was his role as Andrew MacDhui in Disney's The Three Lives of Thomasina. That should not be surprising as not only is one of the characters in my novel named for him, Roddy MacDhui, the lieutenant and lover of Finn O'Donnell, one of the conspirators in the war in Affynshire, but so is one of our cats. I remember hearing said of Susan Hampshire, who plays McGoohan's love interest in Thomasina and is my all-time favorite, that though he thought little of young actresses, he was impressed with how hard and seriously Hampshire worked on her craft.

I always liked the intensity of the roles McGoohan played, refined, condensed and encapsulated in the opening of The Prisoner as he stomps into headquarters and slams his fist on a desk. He is also, at his death, one of those reminders of my own aging, as I realize I am now going to hear of the passing of many of the singers and actors I loved as a young woman. I feel his loss more than most. I just wish he had been in more historical movies than just Braveheart, Mary, Queen of Scots, The Three Lives of Thomasina, and as Fouquet in The Man in the Iron Mask.

I wish I had found a clip of McGoohan as James Stuart, Earl of Murray.

What Would They Do If...?

I invite all of you to take a turn at this little exercise. Ask someone to give you a situation to consider. Then take your own books' characters or characters/figures from history. Write about what they would do in that situation. I hope you will share at least some of what you came up with.

The situation we had here at my house was that my husband, Jim, completely rearranged his home office. This is a real Augean Stables situation since he has dozens of shortwave radios and much furniture. I told him I did not offer to help because I figured I would just get in the way. For some reason we got talking about what my An Involuntary King characters would do if they saw the mayhem, in his office. Here is what we decided.

Lawrence, though king, would offer help, probably calling for servants to do it.

Josephine, though queen, would pitch in quietly and efficiently.

Elerde would raise an eyebrow then turn and leave.

Rory would definitely pitch in cheerfully and offer a song to make the work lighter.

Shannon would take one look at the chaos and whislte. "God be praised, I need a drink. Shall I be bringin' ye one as well, Jimmy me boy?"

Gadfrid would, of course, come into the office and start kicking the pile of books on the floor in all directions.

Sort of Balzacian, no? It's actually a great character development trick. While I was writing AIK I would stop when I was stuck in the plot and write up a character panel to discuss the situation. If lawrence and Elerde would have just knocked off the snide remark exchange, the panels would have been even more effective and useful.

Shall I offer you a situation to apply your characters or historical figures to? How about this:

Your character/historical figure received a box wrapped up in linen with a seal s/he does not recognize. Upon opening the box, s/he finds it empty. S/he turns it upside down and shakes it, and a small bit of vellum falls out. On the vellum are written the words, "Do not turn box upside down."
Go for it.

Ancient Monuments

Put the ancient monuments in order of when they were built. The authority used for the answer is Wikipedia.

Stonehenge


Egyptian puyramids


Mexican pyrramids


Easter Island stone heads


See first comment on this blog for answer.

Into the Web.. Some Creepy Crawlies Will Fall

Did you happen to see the episode of "The West Wing" where Josh finds out there is an online forum dedicated to him, and Donna has to teach him how not to interact with them? The memorable line, after Josh's disagreement with the moderator's take on something he did and he becomes her target rather than her hero, is "The women who run these things are mumu wearing chain-smoking harpies" -- I think she said "harpies" -- who live to attack. These moderators come in all gender, size and tonsorial types, but the essence is true. There are a lot of Internet tyrants out there.

My rant for today is these discussion group despots who make it their personal quest to destroy communication for everyone. Now let me tell you, I have run llists since 1994, at least some years before many of these control freaks could reach a keyboard. There is a reason that I have been as successful as I have, and that is my light touch. I have one group that just had its fourteenth birthday. Another even older one I sold to new owners for $2,500. I made another grand switching two more to a new host. My groups do well, are almost always productive and civil. Why? Because I have a firm policy of "Censor the reading, not the writing."

Too many moderators think the world needs more mommies and daddies to take care of and protect them. These self-appointed guardians seem to forget that the point of online communications is.. well, communication. The "Com- in "communication" signifies something assayed together. Now I can see reasons to set up rules on groups, though the posts usually meant to eliminate are made by those who have no intention of following them. The usual rules, like no spam, no flaming, fall into the "well, duh" category. Other rules are there primarily to allow moderators to punish you. The groups I am on that are the most congenial and useful tend to be the ones that if they have rules, they are mostly guidelines and rarely enforced.

You know, my friends, that most of the groups we are on are made up of adults who are perfectly capable of deciding which emails they wish to read and which members' posts they want to avoid. Thus, "censor the redimg, not the writing". You don't have to protect your members. It is far more respectful to allow them to decide what they want to read.

One issue I have had with control freak moderators is that they often confuse enthusiasm and helpfulness with aggression on their territory. I can name a particular craft swap group that interpreted such heinous actions on my part as creating mailing labels and then sharing them with the rest of the participants as my trying to make people think I ran the group. The other problem I have is that since I have so many resources I like to share, I get accused of being on lists only to promote myself. I have even been characterized as spamming.. oh I see, when I ask members of a group for titles for my medieval-novels.com site, I am as awful as anyone trying to sell their list members fake Viagara... Well, villains get all the best lines, so I should probably call it good. Most of the time though the issue is just that I post what I am thinking or doing and that gets under their skin for no reason I can fathom. Do the moderators ask the members if they mind my posts? No way. That would give away their control.

Yes, I know there are lots of legit reasons to guide discussions on a group. Relevance, a safe environment, etc. But most of the time it's far more judicious to allow your members/subscribers to make their own choices. The result will not be chaos, not in my experience. The result will be a vibrant, healthy online community.

Now, c'mon! Look at that sweet smiling face? Do I really look like I am interested in challenging your control? Do I look like a rapacious pouncer-on? Don't you just want to sit me down on your softest chair cushion and offer me a hot cup of jasmine tea and your purring-est cat to hold? If she doesn't bite, I won't.

Here's Lookin' at You, Varleet!

Asturian Pipes - Busindre Reel - Hevia

Video from The Lord of the Rings

How To Get a Book Recorded by the national Library Service

I am sharing this information for the benefit of two slightly overlapping groups:

• People with print impairments who have specific books they would like to listen to but are not currently available through the libraries for the blind; and


• Authors who would like to see their books included in this service which reaches many thousands of avid bibliophiles.

The overlap is at least me.. probably many, many more blind authors.

It is a rather Byzantine path and no guarantees, but here's the skinny.

An interested NLS reader should contact his/her regional library and provide that library with title, author, and ISBN number. The Regional library will then refer it to their state's reporting group. That group meets and shares the info on all the recommended books. From that group, final recommendations are then made to NLS with no guarantee that their recommendation will be accepted.*

For authors, the hardest part may be finding patrons of their state's library for the blind... but you already know one patron though probably not in your state, and that is me. You can also make a point of contacting or joining book discussion groups for blind and other print impaired persons, starting, perhaps, with this Google search. You can become part of my Let's Read Historical Novels book club at Accessible World. There is an active group on Yahoogroups for blind book lovers in the UK, nlbbooktalk, which I myself just joined. The information above is for the USA but I will find a good book discussion email group and add it here soon. In the meantime, you can also become a volunteer yourself, either with a local services for the blind or library for the blind or with BookShare.org.

Speaking of BookShare.org, recording -- and Braille transcription for that matter -- is not the only way blind or otherwise print impaired people get books to read. As several earlier posts on this blog will attest, straight text files readable by the audio software on a person's computer work too. You could be so generous as to donate your book to Bookshare.org or even accept requests for the files from anyone you want to give them to, whether or not blind.

If you read this blog regularly you know I have issues with the selection of books made accessible to print impaired people. The federal program is funded by taxpayers, which includes an awful lot of people who have disabilities, and it bothers me that some paternal group of gatekeepers gets to decide what I read. The criteria can be quite outdated. Years ago when asking why there was a dearth of science fiction, I was told that most blind people are old and old people like westerns and romances. Further, there is the lingering librarian bias against independently published books, which just passes the buck to the profit motivated corporate publishing industry. I am a stout believer in letting the consumer decide what s/he wants to read, and as a person with a print impairment, I don't care to be left out of that loop.

* Thanks to Pat Price of Accessible World for this information.

Would You Like to Talk About Historical Novels?

The only thing better than reading a terrific book is sharing it. I have posted about "Let's Read Historical Novels", a new online book club here before. It's first session is tomorrow, January 6, and you can find times in the latest announcement below., We are starting with a little discussion about the genre and a little about my own novel, An Involuntary King, in this first session, so if you wanted to attend and talk about the book, you have a little more time to read it. We will spend the whole session on February 3 just on this book. The March session will cover Celia Hayes' The Gathering, which takes place in 1840s Germany and Texas.

One thing I want t o emphasize about this group. Though the group that is sponsoring it is called Accessible World, it is not aimed at only people with disabilities. The ideal of access is "Universal Design" meaning that if something is made accessible to everyone, everyone can share it. This book club is for anyone, and it happens to be usable by print impaired people as well.

So I hope you will join us. Here are the details. Note that we would love some feedback from you about your interests in hisotircal fiction.
The Accessible World News Wire

Which Era Of Historical Novels Most Interests You? Cast Your Vote NOW!

Excitement is mounting as author Nan Hawthorne prepares to greet all you
lovers of historical literature. Remember, it will take place on Tuesday,
January 6, 2009 in the Accessible World Auditorium at 6:00 p.m. PDT - 9:00
P.M. EDT. See directions below.

In the meantime, Nan would like to know which of the following eras most
interest you. Check all that you like and return the list by email right
away to:

hawthorne@nanhawthorne.com

The information will help her plan future reading suggestions.

Ancient Egypt
Ancient Greece
Biblical Middle East
The Roman Empire
The "Dark Ages"
Middle Ages
The Renaissance
Early America
The 1600s and 1700s
The 19th century
Early 20th Century
Other -Please specify.

OK, that's it. Don't hesitate. If you like them all, check all of them. Nan
will be watching for your vote and suggestions.

Here's the info you need to join others online from your home, office, or
wherever you and your computer, an Internet connection, a sound card
speakers and a microphone happen to be at the time of the event. Everyone
worldwide is welcome. NO PASSWORD IS REQUIRED AND the entire event is FREE!

Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2009.

Time: 5:00 p.m. PST, 6:00 p.m. MST, 7:00 p.m. CST,
8:00 p.m. EST and elsewhere in the world Wednesday 1:00 GMT.

Where: The Accessible World Auditorium at:
http://conference321.com/masteradmin/room.asp?id=rs5affc3cfa191

Or, alternatively, select the Accessible World Auditorium at
http://www.accessibleworld.org.

If you are a first-time user of the Talking Communities online conferencing
software, there is a small, safe software program that you need to download
and then run. A link to the software is available on every entry screen to
the Accessible World rooms.

Media Contacts:

Robert Acosta, Chair, Planning Committee
818-998-0044
Email: boacosta@pacbell.net
Web: http://www.helpinghands4theblind.com

Pat Price, Founder and Events Coordinator
The Accessible World Symposiums
Vision Worldwide, Inc.
317-254-1185
Email: pat@patprice.org
Web: http://www.accessibleworld.org


The Accessible World, a division of Vision Worldwide, Inc. a 501(c)(3)
not-for-profit organization, seeks to educate the general public, the
disabled community and the professionals who serve them by providing highly
relevant information about new products, services, and training
opportunities designed specifically to eliminate geographic and access
barriers that adversely affect them.

Creatrix Day in Críslicland

Blog taking the weekend off for Críslicland national holiday, Creatrix Day, honoring our author's birthday on January 3 by order of King Lawrence! Will resume on Monday, January 5.