Midlist Writer: libraries

Showing posts with label libraries. Show all posts

Friday, 29 April 2011

Photo friday: The Bodleian Library

Welcome to Photo Friday! I've been in Oxford for the past week and when I haven't been playing in the park with my kid or sampling real ale in Oxford's many fine pubs (including my local) I've been doing research in the Bodleian Library. The oldest parts of this library date from medieval times and there's some splendid architecture.

The photo shows the Tower of the Five Orders, finished 1619, and is the main street entrance. Its name comes from the five orders of columns on its facade: Doric, Tuscan, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. I like having a nice place to work, but the views can be a bit distracting so I tend to sit away from the windows!

Friday, 3 December 2010

Photo Friday: Library After Air Raid, London, 1940

What can I say that any sensitive viewer can't already feel? As a lover of books I love this photo. Trust the English to calmly browse the shelves of a bombed-out library. Chin up and stiff upper lip and all that. No wonder they won the war (with a bit of help).

I've always been impressed with how books and writing endure. During the Lebanese civil war a literary magazine was regularly published in Beirut on the border between two warring factions. During the economic collapse in Venezuela, some publishers took to printing their books on recycled cardboard. You can't stop writers from writing, or readers from reading!

[Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

Friday, 19 November 2010

Photo Friday: Ethiopian Orthodox painting from Lake Tana

Welcome to Photo Friday, a new series I'm starting here at Midlist Author. I have so many photos from my various travels I've decided to share them with you every Friday. I'll also be rummaging through sources such as the Library of Congress for more interesting pics.

This is from a mural in a medieval monastery on Lake Tana, Ethiopia. The Virgin Mary has her own book in the Ethiopian Bible. In fact the Ethiopian Bible includes not only the Apocrypha, which were removed from the European Bibles centuries ago, but also books that were lost in the West, like the books of Enoch and Jubilees. The Ethiopian Orthodox monasteries on the islands of Lake Tana are famous for their ancient libraries. You gotta like a culture that likes books!

This image is typical of Ethiopian churches, which adorn their walls with brightly painted Biblical scenes on cloth glued to the surface.

Wednesday, 3 November 2010

Another reason people buy books

I overheard an interesting conversation the other day. Two women were talking about Nora Roberts' new release.

One said to the other, "I tried to reserve it at the library but there were seventeen people on the list. It would take months to get it so I just went out and bought it."

"I don't usually buy books but I would in that case," the other replied.

A waiting list for popular books is nothing new at a local library, and the standard practice is to buy more than one copy of popular titles in order to reduce the wait. What I didn't realize, however, is that some frustrated readers won't wait to read it for free and will go out and buy a bestseller so they can have instant gratification!

Nothing succeeds like success. . .

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The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

The Last Hotel Room

He came to Tangier to die, but life isn’t done with him yet. Tom Miller has lost his job, his wife, and his dreams. Broke and alone, he ends up in a flophouse in Morocco, ready to end it all. But soon he finds himself tangled in a web of danger and duty as he’s pulled into scamming tourists for a crooked cop while trying to help a Syrian refugee boy survive life on the streets. Can a lifelong loser do something good for a change? A portion of my royalties will go to a charity for Syrian refugees.

Warpath into Sonora

Arizona 1846: Nantan, a young Apache warrior, is building a name for himself by leading raids against Mexican ranches to impress his war chief, and the chief’s lovely daughter. But there is one thing he and all other Apaches fear—a ruthless band of Mexican scalp hunters who slaughter entire villages. Nantan and his friends have sworn to fight back, but they are inexperienced, and led by a war chief driven mad with a thirst for revenge. Can they track their tribe’s worst enemy into unknown territory and defeat them?

Radio Hope

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . . A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son. A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command. One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

When you only have one shot, you better aim true. In a ravaged world, civilization’s last outpost is reeling after fighting off the fanatical warriors of the Righteous Horde. Sheriff Annette Cruz becomes New City’s long arm of vengeance as she sets off across the wildlands to take out the cult’s leader. All she has is a sniper’s rifle with one bullet and a former cultist with his own agenda. Meanwhile, one of the cult’s escaped slaves makes a discovery that could tear New City apart. . . Refugees from the Righteous Horde continues the Toxic World series started in Radio Hope, an ongoing narrative of humanity’s struggle to rebuild the world it ruined.

The Scavenger

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times. The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive. Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.

Trench Raiders

September 1914: The British Expeditionary Force has the Germans on the run, or so they think. After a month of bitter fighting, the British are battered, exhausted, and down to half their strength, yet they’ve helped save Paris and are pushing toward Berlin. Then the retreating Germans decide to make a stand. Holding a steep slope beside the River Aisne, the entrenched Germans mow down the advancing British with machine gun fire. Soon the British dig in too, and it looks like the war might grind down into deadly stalemate. Searching through No-Man’s Land in the darkness, Private Timothy Crawford of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry finds a chink in the German armor. But can this lowly private, who spends as much time in the battalion guardhouse as he does on the parade ground, convince his commanding officer to risk everything for a chance to break through?

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