Member: sirfurboy

I happend on your review of The Treasure Seekers. I'd give you a "high five"...my sentiments exactly.

posted by carterchristian1 at 2:32 pm (EST) on Aug 5, 2011

I'm an adult and I like children's literature too. I like your reviews and I agree with them.
Cristina

posted by panbiot at 5:02 am (EST) on May 14, 2011

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

posted by StormRaven at 9:12 am (EST) on Aug 25, 2010

The two most accessible books on behavioral economics that I have found are Predictably Irrational and The Upside of irrationality, both by Dan Ariely.

posted by StormRaven at 8:58 am (EST) on Aug 25, 2010

Hi again. There's been a question asked on this thread about the difference in treatment of Taliesin as a character in my books and in Lawhead's, and you're the person I know who's best qualified to answer it.

posted by gwernin at 10:01 am (EST) on Jul 2, 2010

Hi Stephen, are you going to the National Eisteddfod this summer by any chance? I will be there one or two days, and will be in Caerdydd the week before taking a Welsh language course.

-GRG

posted by gwernin at 8:30 pm (EST) on May 7, 2010

Thank you very much for your review. I really appreciate the time you have taken to read the book and write the detailed review.

Book cost in UK is higher than US. However, I do not want book cost stop someone from reading the book. I have reduced the UK price of the book by 8% starting in Oct.

Thanks Again,

Shervin

posted by shervinhojat at 12:42 pm (EST) on Sep 13, 2009

Noticed you liked Clockwork Orange, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in reviewing my new novel and posting your comments here as well as a few other book-related sites. Thought you might like my book since it's also about a group of violent kids (and also a bit dark). I could e-mail you the novel in an e-book format if you'd like (I'm out of physical copies at the moment). Let me know if you're interested. Here's a link to a summary (and a sample chapter) in case you'd like to read more about the book before you commit:

http://christophertusa.com/

Thanks,

Chris

posted by cmtusa at 10:40 am (EST) on Sep 9, 2009

Shall we say 12ish on Friday by the entrance to the museum? Somewhere to shelter from the rain!

posted by calm at 7:01 am (EST) on Sep 2, 2009

Thank you for your review on my book, "Parallel Mind, The Art of Creativity." Would you mind if I posted it on my blog?

http://parallelmind.wordpress.com

This blog is also a free newsletter, which you are welcome to join. Whatever I post to the blog goes that night into the newsletter which goes to the subscribers via email. Let me know if you approve and if you want any links in your signature.

posted by AliyahMarr at 6:05 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2009

Hello, you are right the summer has slipped by. I do still have the Jennings books. Arranging where to give them to you is slightly more difficult, I live slightly "off the beaten track" a couple of miles from Llanrhystud so it would probably be easier to arrange to meet in some public place in town. I am able to be there any day this week up to and including Saturday or Tuesday of next week. Then things get more complicated. If you name a time and place I will see you there.
Calm.

posted by calm at 12:36 pm (EST) on Sep 1, 2009

Diolch, Stephen, am eich ateb, a mae'n drwg gen i am yr arhosiad hir. Fydda i'n dechrau yng Nghymraeg am yr ymarfer ;-) Dw i'n "blogio" ambell waith yn dwyieithol (yma).

Dw i wedi anfon y PDF i chi fel diolch am y adolygiad. Dw i'n gwerthu y dau lyfr cyntaf fel e-books ar Lulu.com, ond dydw i ddim wedi eu hysbysbu nhw yn lawer. Diolch am brynu Storyteller - mae pob gwerthiannau yn dderbyniol.

Nol i Saesneg nawr, er mwyn ysgrifennu yn gyflymach. ;-) I will have to look into fictionwise - I'm not familiar with them. My first goal was to get the first three books out - now I can look into other markets while reseaching the next one.

I wasn't worried about your mentioning self-publising in the review; however, thanks for the additional clarifying sentence. I tend to be suspicious of self-published books myself, having seen some appalling efforts. As far as the lack of conflict in the first part of the book, I was feeling my way (like Gwernin), and didn't initially realize I was writing a novel. When I did, I rewrote the first two or three chapters somewhat, but didn't want to change the overall structure: one reason I decided to self-publish.

I've never read Lawhead's books, though I did look at his "Taliesin" once or twice in a bookstore before I started writing my own stories. Did he not know about Bedd Taliesin? I spent a couple of days at Tre Taliesin not long before I started my stories, looking around the area, and visited that spot. It's still clear in my memory.

Now, getting down to details, which I enjoy -

1. Caer Dydd. Yes, I took the modern name. Thanks to you (and Owen & Morgan's Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales, which I recently acquired) I now know better ;-) I assumed there was probably something there in the 6th century based on the Roman remains. I also used Leslie Alcock's work for Dinas Powys, which seems to be the right period.

2. I was vaguely aware of Llanwit Major but avoided it (in the story). And you're right, I had no clue as to what was at Aberystwyth, although it seemed to me there might be something at the river mouth. I will have to look into Dinas Maelor and Llanbadarn Fawr for future reference.

3. Modern names / older names: guilty as charged. I mostly used modern ones when I couldn't find information on older ones. However, Maxen / Macsen is a proofreading error I should fix if / when I go to another edition - thanks!

4. Caer Fyrddin / Caer Myrddin - yes, I wanted the name to be recognizable in English. As you say, it's a mixed bag, and indeed the mutations weren't always written. Generally I try to use them unless there's a good reason not to.

5. "ll" - I haven't so far run across a good explanation that makes sense to Americans. I think you have to hear it. ;-)

Rabbits: no, no rabbits. There were certainly hares in the Roman period (H.E.M. Cool's Eating and Drinking in Roman Britain is good on this sort of thing, among others.). The rabbit thing has annoyed me in a lot of books set in this period, most notably Francis Thomas' The Blindfold Track. I think I'm on fairly firm ground at this point about what people were probably eating, if not always sure how they cooked it. What worries me more sometimes is questions about what fruits were in season, or what birds you would see in certain environments and times of year. I am a little compulsive about details, so I have enjoyed your comments very much!

Anyway, don't search too hard for errors, but please let me know about any more you notice. And thanks again for the review.

-GRG

posted by gwernin at 12:15 am (EST) on Jun 24, 2009

I don't work in town but I can probably arrange to meet you at a convenient time for you. As I say in my profile I'm about 10 miles away and I don't have a car, so maybe some lunchtime wherever is easiest for you.

posted by calm at 12:06 pm (EST) on Jun 17, 2009

Just to say that I just had a quick look at you favourite books and noticed that you like the Jennings books. Would you be interested in having any of the ones that you haven't listed? I've got copies of Especially Jennings (hardback with dust cover); Leave it to Jennings (hardback no dust cover) and a battered but readable copy of Jennings as Usual (paperback).
As I'm still adding books they aren't on LT yet and they are part of the collection that will be called does anybody want this or to be weeded (I haven't decided yet

posted by calm at 1:25 pm (EST) on Jun 16, 2009

Hello, just to say that I was looking at members with your books and your name came up and when I saw you were in Aberystwyth I thought I would say hello. It is good to know that there are LTers close by.
Calm

posted by calm at 5:10 am (EST) on Jun 10, 2009