alwaysjbj | Reading

Yesterday's walk around London was fun. There were eleven of us in the group and the weather behaved itself (although the wind was cold, there was sunshine). Guy, our leader took us on a route which included the Inns of Court and other things both familiar and new including statues, a couple of churches, Templar knights and ancient gates.

I was meeting everyone at Temple Station, so I walked through the Victorian Embankment gardens on the way and stopped to admire this monument for Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) which is one of my favourite statues. More under the cut.

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It was a good walk and we ended up in a very small pub for lunch before saying our goodbyes. Guy refused to allow us to pay for the walking tour as he said he enjoyed our company. He has promised to schedule another walk in the summer which I'm already looking forward to!

ozma914

(Note: This is the OFFICIAL announcement. You can tell by the officious way I typed it. Ignore the previous mentions.)

As you've almost certainly already heard, we have a "new" book out, plus a really new book up for preorder. Considering what a crappy year it's been so far, I'd say that's reason to celebrate.

At least a little "yahoo!" and a chocolate cake.

After getting the rights back from the original publisher, we've been trying to independently publish The Notorious Ian Grant for ... well, the first thing that stopped it was COVID. No, that was late 2023 for Emily and me, wasn't it? I don't remember what the first thing was, but the theme continued: illness, injury, death--generally, the 2020s.

So when I got this preview copy in the mail, it felt like reaching the peak of Mount Everest:

Your thumb may vary.

Not quite the summit, because Emily had to make some corrections, then get it up and running as an e-book. It'll be on Kindle Direct Publishing for 90 days, then go into wider distribution for those of you who would like to get it elsewhere. The print version went up just a few days ago. But the old version is also still listed, so for our improved edition, go here:

https://www.amazon.com/Notorious-Grant-Storm-Chaser-Book-ebook/dp/B0F3KWHWK8

Meanwhile its "parent" book, Storm Chaser, is getting a price reduction in both ebook and print, as part of my cunning plan to get people hooked on the first book so they have to get the rest. You can find Storm Chaser here:

https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Chaser-Mark-R-Hunter-ebook/dp/B0C7MB95NH

And from there you can click on the author's name (me, I'm the author) for the related books in the Storm Chaser series, Storm Squalls and The No-Campfire Girls, and our other books.

Another meanwhile, a few weeks ago I was surfing the internet and stumbled across ...

Okay, fine, I was Googling myself. And no, I don't have a Wikipedia page. Anyway, I discovered Haunted Noble County, Indiana, which I talked about a lot last year, is up for preorder on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Other places, too. This being traditional publishing, the official cover isn't up yet, although last week I finally got a look at it.

A week after that I got an email from my publisher, letting us know Haunted Noble County, Indiana, would be officially published on August 12th of this year. They still haven't told us it's up for preorder. I mentioned it's traditionally published, right?

You can preorder it on our Amazon page, or here:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/haunted-noble-county-indiana-mark-r-hunter/1146986091

Haunted Noble County, Indiana - (Haunted America) by Mark R Hunter & Emily Jane Hunter (Paperback) : Target

Haunted Noble County, Indiana by Mark R. Hunter; Emily Jane Hunter

(Where the heck is Books a Million?)

https://bookshop.org/p/books/haunted-noble-county-indiana/cd5ef7fd35523035

I think it all boils down to Arcadia Publishing, which History Press is part of, having a very good distribution system.

More information--naturally--as the year goes on, assuming there are no illnesses, injuries, or accidents.

You can track down us or, more importantly, our books, here:

· Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

· Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

· Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

· Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

· Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

· Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

· Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

· Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

· Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

· Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

· Substack: https://substack.com/@markrhunter

· Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

· Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

· Audible: https://www.audible.com/search?searchAuthor=Mark+R.+Hunter&ref_pageloadid=4C1TS2KZGoOjloaJ&pf

Remember: You can't judge a book by its cover until it gets a cover.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: the bookstore
Current Music: Paperback Writer

kazzy_cee

I went to London today to catch up with two exhibitions at the National Gallery - the weather was cold (15C/59F and windy).

The first exhibition was José María Velasco: A View of Mexico which highlights his lovely landscapes of Mexico. Velasco was born in 1840 (and died in 1912) and this is the first exhibition about a Latin American artist to be held at the National Gallery. There were some lovely landscapes showing the area around the Valley of Mexico (where Mexico City now stands) in the last 19th century.

Some things that caught my eye under the cut - I particularly like how detailed all the paintings are (in some it would appear he used binoculars to see the detail in the distance), and his use of light.
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After a break for coffee and some sustenance, I went to see Siena: The Rise of Painting, 1300 ‒1350. The exhibition was large and was incredibly full of people (so it was hot in there!). I ended up seeing most of it briefly, but I think I shall try and go back to examine some of it again when it's less crowded. Under the cut for photos the exhibits that I thought were really interesting despite not being in the exhibition for very long.
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It was good to fit most of the two exhibitions in. I shall return at another time.

kazzy_cee

I've never been to the Guildhall Art Gallery before, so when I saw the U3A group had a guided tour you could book I decided to rectify that! I've been past the building many times.

There has been a gallery on the site since 1885, but that was destroyed in the Blitz during WWII, and the area remained undeveloped until 1985. The design compliments the historic Guildhall next door and it is set in a rather nice plaza (not my photo as I forgot to take one!):

While the foundations were being excavated, they discovered the remains of a Roman Amphitheatre, so the building had to be paused while they preserved it. Parts of the amphitheatre are preserved as an exhibition in the basement of the art gallery and I've actually visited that before, but never explored any more of the Gallery which was finished in 1999.

I'm so glad I went as it holds a vast collection of sculptures and paintings (over 4,000). The guide was excellent and we spent 90 minutes exploring some of the highlights before I went and explored the temporary exhibition of paintings by Evelyn De Morgan which is on at the moment in the exhibition space. Lots of photos under the cut!
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I then went to see the lovely paintings by Evelyn De Morgan many of these are under this cut...

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I shall definitely be going back to the Guildhall Gallery - especially as it's free and there's a lot more to see!

ozma914

I wrote this several years ago, so no, don't go looking for Fred.

Some of you may have seen a shoe perched majestically at the top of the hill in my front yard. If not, I’m enclosing a picture as an introduction. We named it Fred. Say hello to the people, Fred.

(He can't speak, even though he has a tongue.)

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “You named a shoe?” Well, why not? We always name the strays that end up hanging around our house. Last fall we named the mice that set up housekeeping there, even as I tracked them down and did a Dirty Harry on their rodent rears.

One day I got home and Fred was simply – there. I live on a main street, and lots of young people (read: litterers) go by, so a certain amount of trash is expected. My neighbors have been doing renovations, and whenever a stiff wind pops up some of their waiting to be disposed of debris will take up shop around my house. Just a few days ago I found the remains of a light bulb scattered across my porch. Who knows about that? Maybe somebody had an earth-shattering idea.

But a shoe?

I have a theory about how that shoe could have gotten blown into my yard.

That’s not an object easily blown around, especially to land at the top of an embankment. No, it had to have been thrown there. If so, it was an exceptionally artistic throw, as the shoe landed upright, proudly showing to passers-by that it was high-strung.

I’m generally annoyed at litter, but in this case I confess to being rather bemused. So bemused, in fact, that I left the footwear there, wondering if the owner might show up to claim it. Maybe it was tossed there by some clownish “friend” who thought it would be funny to see his buddy stumping around in one shoe. What a heel.

But no one claimed the poor little orphan, so I felt I had to name him, and picked Fred out of thin air. How do I know it’s a male shoe? How many girls do you know who would throw away a perfectly good shoe? I rest my case.

Some girls even pick shoes right off of dead people.

Later I told my daughter that Fred could stay until lawn mowing time, and she informed me in turn that I could simply mow around it. How, she asked, could I just boot Fred? I thought she was going to sock me. (Get it?) Her passion left me tongue-tied. (Get that one?) I appreciated her sole-searching, but couldn’t build Fred his own closet -- not on my shoestring budget. (Okay, that’s enough.)

For now, Fred stays. Maybe his other half will show up, and they’ll get off on the right foot with some other owner. Hm. Come to think of it, I wonder if they’re elevens?

Oh! I just made this connection. Brought to you by: Fred Toenges Footwear.*

Pay for my future footwear here: