The Writing Week

A busy and relatively productive week, though not quite as good as I'd hoped.
The NaNoWriMo novel, An Unseen Avenger, continues well with the edit; up to Chapter 10 of the re-write now.
Another blog post completed and scheduled for a couple of week's time. This one on the dangers of distraction.
Managed to finish reading and to review three books this week. First was Tyler Brentmore's Dead Men's Fingers, a western novelette that's a good read. Second was Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well. And, finally, came Michael Frayne's Alphabetical Order, a humorous stage play script. All are reviewed below.
I started writing a short story, got to 2000 words, and realised it wasn't a short story at all, but something quite different. It gave me an idea for more regular posts on the blog. I intend to start this series next Saturday, so watch this space, and please feel free to comment, since I'm looking to start some serious and lively discussions with this item.
That was all this week. Had the final appointment with the dentist on Wednesday afternoon after work, so I'm now crowned and no longer have a gap in my teeth. Took a pleasant walk with Valerie on Thursday, when we visited the local canal at Pocklington; placed a few pics on my Facebook album, My Homeland. This series has attracted a lot of comment and many people have been inspired by the pics. Many are of the same county that inspired David Hockney's recent exhibition.
Felt a little under the weather Friday and Saturday (I have a long-standing condition that occasionally come up and bites me when I'm not looking. Tiring rather than seriously harming, but it makes concentration difficult).
This morning turned out so bright and clear that we decided on another walk, just our local saunter this time.
And, of course, Valerie's team was involved in the FA Cup competition, so I watched that with her.
Started reading Confucius, The Analects, which I suspect will take a little longer than a week to read, so probably no reviews for a little while. Still, I'm ahead of my reading target, so that's not bad.
I hope I find all of you well and active. Those who write, keep at it. Those who read, thank you and keep buying and reading those books, and reviewing them to encourage and inform others.

Dead Men's Fingers, by Tyler Brentmore, Reviewed.

As a teenager, when our first TV arrived, I loved to watch Westerns. But I've never read one, until Tyler Brentmore's Dead Men's Fingers came my way. I downloaded this book to Kindle for PC, reading from the screen in a way I generally avoid. That's how involving a story it was. Against all the odds, I felt compelled to read it.

The author has a great facility with words and molds language into sentences and paragraphs that drive the story forward at a gallop. But, at the same time, the characters are graphically drawn in a way that brings them alive. The action is superbly presented and grips the reader as each challenge increases the tension. The hero and his female counterpart are fully rounded, both possessing hidden qualities, and pasts, that are only vaguely hinted at until the story demands revelation.

That the writer has researched extensively is evident by the period detail and the way that the reader is not merely talked through the landscape but actually experiences it with all its fierce and wide-open qualities. You taste the dust, feel the burning sun, drown in the swollen river, cower in the darkness of a starless sky in the centre of a continent peopled mostly by enemies, and wonder at the vast spaces to be crossed by the wagon train.

This is more than merely a traditional western tale, though the book can easily be read on that level. Multi-layered, the story examines prejudice, the mind-set of the mob, courage, honesty, evil versus good, and even love.

I would have read this at one sitting, had circumstances allowed. As it was, I had to take a break and read it in two sessions. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and can happily recommend this to anyone who enjoys stories starring real heroes and heroines.