tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70006583484819950412024-03-28T20:28:47.991-07:00CLOSE ENCOUNTERSBlog of author CATHERINE FOXCatherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.comBlogger256125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-42208969005328180242017-04-06T03:44:00.000-07:002017-04-07T02:15:09.096-07:00THE LEAVING OF LIVERPOOL<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Contrary to the old song, it <i>is</i> the leaving of Liverpool that grieves me. Five years is not long enough to get to the
end of what this city has to offer. But hold
onto your mitres, everyone: we’re off to across the Peaks, when the dean of Liverpool becomes the next bishop of Sheffield. I'll let other commentators navigate a path through this complex terrain. I need a whole novel for that kind of thing. Instead, I will sing a little love song to this mad city I currently live in. Five years is not long, but it's long enough to start feeling at
home. Long enough to put down
roots, and feel the twang as they are pulled up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Before we moved here, I’d never lived in the North West. I’ve spent a lot of my adult life in the North
East and then the West Midlands, and it took a while to get used to the constant
sense that the coast was on the wrong side of me. I arrived here completely ignorant, to be
honest. I’d only ever visited Liverpool once,
on one of those I-am-an-idiot trips to renew a passport at short notice. But I hadn’t lived here long before I
realised this was my kind of city. I’ve
probably gone native by now. If you’re interested
in seeing my avada kedavra stare, simply make a fatuous crack about Scousers, shell
suits and car theft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">In some ways, I discovered that I fitted in from the start. W</span><span style="font-size: 16px;">hile my sons were growing up </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I committed many maternal crimes, but chief among them were ‘talking to strangers in shops’
and ‘trying to be funny’.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Liverpool was an
emotional homecoming.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Talking in shops
is normal, and everyone’s a comedian.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Liverpool is also a wildly glamorous city. And here, again, (as someone who secretly
thinks you can’t have too many feather boas) I felt instantly I was in the right
place. In a humble way, of course. I have much to learn. Fortunately, there are always people on hand
to offer style advice in Liverpool.
Recently I ordered a pair of shoes online, and went to collect them from
Liverpool One. I believe every single
person in the store, staff and customers alike, told me they were fabulous and
a bargain and I should definitely buy them.
I sometimes wonder, though, if my fashion sense is now permanently
skewed. I can get on a train in Liverpool Lime St
feeling woefully underdressed, and arrive in London (where a black North Face anorak
is a flashy statement) looking like I’ve tried too hard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Liverpool’s friendliness is legendary, but the city also topped the Travelodge survey on random acts of kindness in the UK. Kindness. I prefer kindness to almost anything. Holding doors open, smiling at strangers,
letting people go ahead in supermarket queues.
These are all common pracitices round here. As
a runner and a pedestrian, I’ve often noticed the kindness of drivers waving me
across side roads, and anticipating my zebra crossing use. There is one quirk of Liverpool driving that
sometimes catches non-locals out at traffic lights. It’s
not quite as simple as blatantly driving through a red light, but there’s a
consensus that if you actually see it turn red as you approach, it doesn’t
count.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">So that’s been my Liverpool home for nearly five years. I've lost count of the number of times I've thought 'What on EARTH is going on here?' and been forced to shrug and conclude 'It's Liverpool.' Honestly, you’re a bit mad, you lot. But I love you. With your cathedral to spare, and your incredibly
bare statue on the old Lewis’s building.
The docks, China Town, the museums, libraries, galleries, theatres, shops, the Phil, the football stadia. I'll miss your quirky coffee shops and
fabulous restaurants, your banter, your high heels and Velcro rollers, your purple wheelie
bins, not forgetting the late lamented yellow duckmobile. I love your churches and community projects and foodbanks, your tireless fight for justice, and the way you look
out for people. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">I know I have it in me
to love other places. I’m looking
forward to adding Sheffield to the list of great cities I can call home. I've already caught myself wondering whether I should commission Pete a pectoral cross made from upcycled vintage cutlery. (Maybe not. He'd be forever getting it taken off him at airport security.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">All shall be well. Right now, there’s no denying: the
leaving of Liverpool is going to grieve me. But at the end of the long pilgrimage, I may find those things I've loved and lost have all been treasured up. I may reach the eternal city and find it has a Scouse Quarter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-77996169303083324462016-04-16T06:36:00.000-07:002016-04-16T06:36:32.425-07:00CHILDREN NEED BOOKS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large; line-height: 22px;">Common Purpose Challenge--Manchester and Bangalore</span></h2>
<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>"We are crowd sourcing ideas to make Bangalore and Manchester better places to live and work. We want real world solutions - big or small - that will improve areas of city life such as governance, environment, economy, technology, housing, sports or youth engagement."</b></i></span><div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When I read those words on the Common Purpose challenge website, I knew this was something I wanted to get involved in. As a creative writing lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University, I am involved both with the work of The Manchester Writing School and the Manchester Children's Book Festival. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here's the idea I came up with: 'Children Need Books'.</span><br />
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calibri; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">"In the Manchester Writing School, we passionately believe that creativity should be at the heart of every child’s education, and are committed to ensuring opportunities for reading, writing and storytelling for as many children and young people as possible.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 19.97333335876465px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calibri; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">We also believe in encouraging and equipping writers of children’s books—from<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Hungry Caterpillar </em>through to <em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Hunger Games</em>, stories can fire the imagination and change lives.</span></span></span></div>
<div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 1.5rem; padding: 0px 60px 0px 0px;">
<span style="color: #674ea7;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc;"> <strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 22.82666778564453px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Calibri; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Idea for 3-5yr Internship to promote Books for Children"</span></span></strong></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-size: 21px; line-height: 22.82666778564453px;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px;"><span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-size: 21px; line-height: 22.82666778564453px;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">(For more information: <a href="https://challenge.commonpurpose.org/">https://challenge.commonpurpose.org/</a> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f4cccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 21px; line-height: 22.82666778564453px;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Please do register and vote for my idea by Tuesday 19th April)</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Just before Easter - by one of those rather wonderful coincidences - I was offered the chance to go on a brief visit to Bangalore. It was just for a week, and could only ever be a quick taste of life in Manchester's Common Challenge partner city. <br /><br />Everyone told me that India would be an onslaught on all the senses--but nothing prepares you for the reality. It struck me as a chaos of colour and scent and traffic. (Just a few glimpses below.) It was wonderful meeting people and gaining some insights into life in Bangalore. I've just arrived home; but my head is still full of the sound Indian music and car horns; the scent of jasmine and eucalyptus and spice; and all those spectacular splashes of colour. </span></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7;">It was my first visit to India, but I hope that the Common Purpose Challenge means it won't be my last.</span></span></div>
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Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-18743692940410647092016-02-28T23:58:00.001-08:002016-02-28T23:58:47.434-08:00Update from Lindchester <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you are wondering how everyone is doing in the <i>fictional</i> diocese of Lindchester, you can catch up here. Chapter 9 of <i>Realms of Glory. </i><br />
http://realmsofglorylindchester.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/chapter-9.html </div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-82853282656499139862016-02-01T11:06:00.000-08:002016-02-01T11:06:14.347-08:00Latest from Lindchester. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's Chapter 5 of <i>Realms of Glory</i> for you. Featuring a ray of hope for Freddie May, and a glow in the dark banana guard. That's the C of E for you. http://realmsofglorylindchester.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/chapter-5.html </div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-32517518169181371312016-01-11T12:43:00.000-08:002016-01-11T12:43:23.592-08:00Second Instalment of Realms of Glory <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A spot of hard core Anglicanism with knitting and chainsaws. http://realmsofglorylindchester.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/chapter-2.html</div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-87651407094399509362016-01-03T14:57:00.000-08:002016-01-03T14:57:10.473-08:00Realms of Glory<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First episode of Vol 3 of the Lindchester Chronicles is ready. Realms of Glory.<br />
http://realmsofglorylindchester.blogspot.jp/</div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-79668774026187619752015-08-09T12:10:00.000-07:002015-08-09T12:20:58.096-07:00DO YOU BASE YOUR CHARACTERS ON REAL PEOPLE?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are some questions writers get asked all the time. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Should I have heard of you?' </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Where do you get your ideas from?' </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'Have you always wanted to be a writer?' </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tend to answer as follows: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(frostily) Yes. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I steal them. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No, there was a brief phase when I wanted to be a ballerina.*</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">* But mainly 'Yes' as this picture betrays:</span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MGxVi3mTq6s/VcemP0mlPrI/AAAAAAAAA50/BMeajcLp4kQ/s1600/FullSizeRendenr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MGxVi3mTq6s/VcemP0mlPrI/AAAAAAAAA50/BMeajcLp4kQ/s400/FullSizeRendenr.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Having dealt with those hardy perennials of the question-and-answer session, we will now approach the tricky one: Do you base your characters on real people? The answer to this one is 'No.' To which people generally reply, 'HA HA HA HA HA! Yeah, right.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Readers seriously underestimate how mad novelists are. I spend half my life in places that don't exist, in the company of people who aren't real. I don't <i>need </i>to base my characters on real people. My head teems with imaginary friends. To be honest, I have almost zero interest in writing about real people. If I had I'd be a journalist, or a biographer. That would be terrible, as I'd then have a responsibility to get the facts right. There's a sense in which you have to get the facts right in fiction, of course. It has to ring true, even though it's made up. It needs to feel real in its own terms.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the case of my early novels, the impression of reality is compounded by the fact that I set them in readily identifiable places. This lured people into reading them as a </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><i>roman à clef </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">and thinking that if they just knew a bit more about the circles I moved in, they'd be able to crack the code and work out who the characters were. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-align: left;">With my two recent novels, <i>Acts and Omissions</i> and <i>Unseen Things Above </i>the setting is fictional, as well as the characters. You'd think this would simplify things. But no, people just want to know which diocese Lindchester is based on. I feel I should do a Whistler here, and say it is based on 'a lifetime of experience.' A lifetime of lurking in churches and cathedrals, of observing people and nature, of brooding and daydreaming.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My method in these books is to identify situations, processes and predicaments in the current church, and to abstract them from their real life settings. I then experiment to see how they play out in my fiction laboratory (called The Diocese of Lindchester) through the medium of my fictional characters. There is a lot of waiting and listening involved. I am trying the whole time to take the temperature of the C of E, to read it correctly, and to resist the urge to impose on Lindchester my own views of how things should be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We live, as they say, in interesting times in the Anglican communion. I set out at the beginning of 2013 to blog a larky cathedral sit-com, but seem to have ended up chronicling the church in a period of upheaval and change. Now and then it feels as though I'm sailing close to the wind on some very dark seas indeed. Wish me <i>Bon Voyage</i>, as I mend my nets and swab the decks, ready to hoist sail and launch out again in January when I will start blogging <i>Realms of Glory</i>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A taster can be found here: http://realmsofglorylindchester.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/a-new-adventure.html </span></div>
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Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-11131073266487072452015-06-27T09:04:00.000-07:002015-06-27T09:04:35.047-07:00FICTION AND CLOSE-UP MAGIC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last night I was at the launch of the amazing Manchester Children's Book Festival 2015 (more info here: <a href="http://www.mcbf.org.uk/?from=mmu-homepage-banner">http://www.mcbf.org.uk/?from=mmu-homepage-banner</a>) The festival was declared open by the Creative Director of the Manchester Writing School at MMU, Dame Carol Ann Duffy.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWhHeruY9tW6qWrrgDhkPJZ0okO8Gi8h3M-cvprx10LshaMwp9OBcaWupCyNQKKuyEmaa547F9pgpeaxUCdFwlG7HBXsaMCxDOm16VP8kBWV1cdA2QjS_YgQ-Vo8UTRWaVy5vbPoZ5hLg/s1600/CAD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYWhHeruY9tW6qWrrgDhkPJZ0okO8Gi8h3M-cvprx10LshaMwp9OBcaWupCyNQKKuyEmaa547F9pgpeaxUCdFwlG7HBXsaMCxDOm16VP8kBWV1cdA2QjS_YgQ-Vo8UTRWaVy5vbPoZ5hLg/s400/CAD.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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It was one of those moments when I was overcome by astonished gratitude that I get paid to do what I'd probably do anyway, as a hobby; plus I get to do it in the same place as so many stellar colleagues. Admittedly, this feeling alternates with a sense of panic, when I look around at people my age and realise <i>Oh no, we are the ones in charge now!</i><br />
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Once we were officially declared open, it was wine and canapés and mingling. Or networking, which is like mingling, only you can put it on your CV. I was busy networking with my colleague Michael Symmons Roberts in a high-powered way, when our group was approached by a magician. <br />
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Well, we are a bunch of trained academics. Scepticism and careful interrogation in the pursuit of academic rigour is our motto at all times. We watched closely. We knew there was a trick. Sleights of hand. Distractions. We'd spot them. <br />
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The magician proceeded to astound us with impossible feats of close-up magic. A deck of cards that turned into a perspex block in my hand. A signed two of hearts that appeared in a sealed envelope. No! <i>No</i>! Impossible! If you have ever seen this type of magic performed, you will understand when I say that we simply laughed in delight and disbelief. Our considered academic conclusion was that he was using genuine magic. There was no other explanation. Furthermore, he would probably disappear through a portal into another dimension at the end of the evening.<br />
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'Now <i>that's </i>what fiction does,' I said to Michael Symmons Roberts. 'You <i>know </i>it's not real, and yet you believe it anyway.'<br />
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And he, being a poet, replied: 'Well, I'd rather watch magic than read a novel.' I can only assume he's suffering from a fiction overdose after adapting so much Trollope for Radio 4 (<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03sfyzp">http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03sfyzp</a>)<br />
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For more about The Manchester Writing School and our MAs in Creative Writing and English Studies, and a variety of CPDs, look here: <a href="http://www.manchesterwritingschool.co.uk/">http://www.manchesterwritingschool.co.uk/</a> </div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-18122931632355561652015-06-11T13:55:00.000-07:002015-06-11T13:55:03.964-07:00UNSEEN THINGS ABOVE--OUT NOW!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's arrived! Goodness, I feel as though I'm announcing a birth. After a long gestation and difficult delivery, both author and novel are doing well. Here it is:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdb8vor1VruOcvReGQyfTt9HxtguP5xTkVZLEcorqa6KMS0ilf2j4d408UJr3R-20yJG9AY0oEMySgxEqJ92k8macxTQ-dGamSjhiuZVpV9_9MqQxnsNkWo_UllJbEcIO5n5giWdK2WPLA/s1600/IMG_110UTA0.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdb8vor1VruOcvReGQyfTt9HxtguP5xTkVZLEcorqa6KMS0ilf2j4d408UJr3R-20yJG9AY0oEMySgxEqJ92k8macxTQ-dGamSjhiuZVpV9_9MqQxnsNkWo_UllJbEcIO5n5giWdK2WPLA/s400/IMG_110UTA0.JPG" width="260" /></a></div>
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The cover features another beautiful watercolour ('Masham from the Foot of the Bank') by Ian Scott Massie. You can see more of his work here: <a href="http://www.ianscottmassie.com/">http://www.ianscottmassie.com/</a> <br />
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I blogged this novel between Easter and Advent of 2014, and after shining it up a bit, sent the MS off to SPCK. It's published by their new fiction imprint Marylebone House. With a bit of luck, this will stop bookshops sticking my books in the mindfulness and bible commentary section, where no sane novel-reader will find them.<br />
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If you can't get to a bookshop, you can buy a copy here: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910674230">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910674230</a><br />
or from the lovely people at SPCK (if you're allergic to Amazon): <a href="http://www.spckpublishing.co.uk/shop/unseen-things-above/">http://www.spckpublishing.co.uk/shop/unseen-things-above/</a><br />
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I hope you enjoy it, and feel moved to write a positive review. Bear in mind that I am a judo black belt. If you write a bad review, I may have to hunt you down like a dog and forgive you. I will be particularly grumpy if I see any more 1 star reviews saying 'I liked the book, but the print is very small'. This is a 1 star review of the reader's eyesight, not of my novel. It is a review of their personal vanity in refusing to get reading glasses. In fact, if you look on Amazon it actually says 'Frequently bought together: Catherine Fox novel + reading glasses'. <br />
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Alternatively, get a Kindle. With Kindle you can <span style="font-size: x-small;">make the print</span><span style="font-size: large;"> as huge</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> as you LIKE</span>. But it is a sad irony that the sort of people who are old enough to need reading glasses are also the sort of people who like the feel and smell of a real book. They can't <i>read </i>a real book, but I suppose they can lie in bed sniffing it and riffling through the pages as they drift off to sleep.<br />
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To be honest, I need reading glasses; but I've opted instead to have my contact lens prescription adjusted to monovision. This means I can very nearly read my own books without glasses. I can also very nearly read cocktail menus in dimly lit cocktail bars. I have strategies for overcoming this without resorting to borrowing someone else's reading glasses. I take a picture of the menu on my phone, then enlarge it. Or else I call out to the cocktail waiter (in a Lady Bracknell voice) 'Young man! Would you kindly come here and read this for me?'<br />
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Oh, all right: I made that last bit up. Just as I made up the topless cocktail waiter in <i>Unseen Things Above</i>. He is not real. I'm sorry to break it to you. None of it is real. <br />
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That doesn't mean it's not <i>true</i>, though.<br />
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Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-67200906914743749812015-03-22T12:43:00.000-07:002015-03-22T12:43:47.460-07:00GETTING TOLD OFF IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On Thursday I was fortunate enough to be invited for tea in the House of Lords by my mate, the Baroness. I took along another friend (and fellow novelist), Richard Beard. He was in a suit and tie, because we'd been warned we wouldn't be allowed in the posh restaurant if he wasn't suitably dressed. I was briefed that provided I didn't wear hotpants, I'd be fine.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiboyfUMTdMZTPwqhewFbcMC_9WG7DoTqF-Ez4lq6JeW5ESkGYk2aH9yYHBXhzDQsZXeJ50grM__QgPDFRLPVkqo-_o0AOrGUOPOsAA1yDh9Hd9Uu_KEpuNJ4vHEf1wgi-BRxksC9h1qEaz/s1600/IMG_1900.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiboyfUMTdMZTPwqhewFbcMC_9WG7DoTqF-Ez4lq6JeW5ESkGYk2aH9yYHBXhzDQsZXeJ50grM__QgPDFRLPVkqo-_o0AOrGUOPOsAA1yDh9Hd9Uu_KEpuNJ4vHEf1wgi-BRxksC9h1qEaz/s1600/IMG_1900.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We arrived and went through security, and were asked to wait <i>in the waiting area</i> for my friend to collect us. I have added the italics there so that you, the reader, will grasp the importance of that instruction. Unfortunately, Beard and I didn't hear the italics, and wandered off to look at the peers' coat pegs to see how many names we recognised. There were one or two scruffy handwritten labels, just like there always were at primary school, for the kid who joined halfway through the term. An obliging peer showed us the former coat peg of Mrs Thatcher. I asked if she hung her handbag there as well. He said he didn't know, and looked at me a little strangely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then my friend appeared, with a security person bristling in pursuit. He was in a tailcoat and had the manner of a cathedral steward who has just caught you unhooking a red rope and going somewhere illegal. A cathedral steward who does not know that I am MRS DEAN, and I go where I please. This was a lesson in humility. I've clearly started believing my own hype. I may be Mrs Dean in Liverpool cathedral, but in the House of Lords, I'm <i>nobody</i>. I am not even a man in a suit and tie who looks as though he belongs. I imagine this is why I got stern dressing down for wandering off, while Beard didn't. I felt like pointing and saying '<i>He </i>wandered off too!' But nobody likes a sneak. On the bright side, it's nice to know that despite the ravages of the passing decades, I still retain the youthful look that people in authority always recommend I remove from my face. I haven't been told off so thoroughly since I cheeked Miss Dickenson after deliberately lobbing tennis balls onto the science block roof.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had a wonderful tour through Pugin's bonkers vision of medieval splendour. Never knowingly under-embellished was his motto. Red carpet for the Lords', green carpet for the Commons. This colour coding means that you don't get hopelessly and terminally lost. Unless you suffer from red-green colour blindness, of course. We had tea in the posh tearooms. Anchovy toast and House of Lords fruitcake (insert own joke here). I took a sneaky illegal shot of the table, with some blatant product placement by my tea companion, whose new novel, <i>Acts of the Assassins</i>,* was launched on that very day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's a bit blurry, because I was half-expecting some ex-Marine in a tight tailcoat to appear and bollock me for taking a photo. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After tea Beard and I went into the chamber to hear a bit of the debate. We were about to be admitted, when a man in a tailcoat stopped me. 'Are those denim jeans, madam? In that case, you will have to go up to the gallery. You can't go downstairs in denim jeans. The peers are very strict about that. They call it the Devil's Cloth.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So we followed him upstairs, with me muttering bitterly that my denim jeans were hideously expensive and probably cost more that Beard's suit. We were pushed for time, and only heard about five minutes of someone speaking about the importance of ensuring foreign science postgraduates didn't stay on and take low paid jobs, before it was time to leave. We waited outside the chamber for the baroness. Whereupon another ex military policeman in a tailcoat asked who I was was waiting for, and told me to <i>sit down on a bench</i> and wait. I couldn't even wait properly. Unlike Beard, who was all over that proper waiting thang. He was waiting in a suit, being a man. Or else he was invisible. Or hiding behind me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I did take one more illegal photo, by the way. In a broom cupboard. Here it is. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7126NYF-9tbCzVomtRfZqmx7_6FAOpkW1Z-LRml-69jZEZ4A2kEdvdLHGM2gS4GFuH-61CIQfiYJQhW0c2ZHWfw2VJT0c61nNecDZoz0WNW0-Oz9r1JoSAXpplwpRTJgot7YXcd9U5LG/s1600/IMG_1899.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy7126NYF-9tbCzVomtRfZqmx7_6FAOpkW1Z-LRml-69jZEZ4A2kEdvdLHGM2gS4GFuH-61CIQfiYJQhW0c2ZHWfw2VJT0c61nNecDZoz0WNW0-Oz9r1JoSAXpplwpRTJgot7YXcd9U5LG/s1600/IMG_1899.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can just see my reflection there. I feel I was part of that long subversive tradition of women being in the wrong. In the wrong place, in the wrong clothes, with the wrong expression on their face. Times have changed, of course. My friend can be an active member of the House of Lords, rather than a suffragette in a broom cupboard. I'd far rather be in the wrong as a woman in 2015 than in 1915. But get out there and vote in the General Election, people. There's still work to be done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">* excellent book, by the way. Buy it here: </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acts-Assassins-Richard-Beard/dp/1846558395">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acts-Assassins-Richard-Beard/dp/1846558395</a><br />
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Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-61072204369817766592015-03-08T12:12:00.001-07:002015-03-08T12:12:51.364-07:00UNSEEN THINGS ABOVE--THE PLAYLIST Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
While I was editing the blog of <i>Unseen Things Above</i> into something more closely resembling a real novel, I made a note of all the music I'd referred to in the text. I'm just getting ahead of the game, in case the book sells schmazillions of copies and gets turned into a film, like 50 Shades (only with more chasubles). Then the theme music is all sorted. <br />
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Here's Part 1 (of 3) of what would be on the CD. I just said CD! That's how old I am. I'll add YouTube links, just to prove I'm right there at the IT cutting edge, and nearly ready to learn how to embed video clips.<br />
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And because a blog post without pictures is like tea without biscuits, I will add some pious Victorian illustrations for your greater edification.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssgiRaaDBzgAQHTxtoGyhLACR0gk13PME9NR5D91J6ofFn_yNtjJL_RsfWS9gmHbyFxDRkllAN53adh9GFFEQAM3-nYrgyUmljt4fn3vALRTKM8C-jsHCJSOXAchYufKCda23SeCd53CU/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssgiRaaDBzgAQHTxtoGyhLACR0gk13PME9NR5D91J6ofFn_yNtjJL_RsfWS9gmHbyFxDRkllAN53adh9GFFEQAM3-nYrgyUmljt4fn3vALRTKM8C-jsHCJSOXAchYufKCda23SeCd53CU/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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1. 'Will you come and follow me', hymn. (aka 'The Summons') <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHEjyGfRO7s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHEjyGfRO7s</a><br />
2. 'I came to the garden alone'. Sung here by the fabulous Mahalia Jackson: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2eSfKqMRbA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2eSfKqMRbA</a><br />
3. 'I the Lord of sea and sky', hymn (lampooned by my sons in their youth, I'm afraid: 'I the Lord of sea and sky./This song's so old, I want to die./But the bishops think it's new, what can we do?') Sung here lustily by the National Youth Choir of Scotland: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcL9S5a3weU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcL9S5a3weU</a><br />
4. 'One more step along the world I go.' A trip down memory lane to Primary School assembly: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PXV3dwaeNU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PXV3dwaeNU</a><br />
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5. 'It's got to be perfect'. (Fairground Attraction.) The theme song of Neil Ferguson, who turned out to be one of my favourite characters: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gOh0wEgLg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gOh0wEgLg</a><br />
6.'The Sorcerer's Apprentice'. Never mess with grown up magic, boys and girls. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gOh0wEgLg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8gOh0wEgLg</a><br />
7. 'God is gone up' (anthem, Finzi) Sung here by Wells cathedral choir, because Lindchester doesn't actually exist: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrs5XR9Pd7k">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrs5XR9Pd7k</a><br />
8. 'Di quella pira' from Verdi's <i>Il Travatore</i>. Here's the divine Jonas Kaufmann, in the absence of the non-existent Freddie May: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBd87H8TGTk">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBd87H8TGTk</a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQlS785nk5CwbARGRccWrDca2aqIqQr6gZ5wNuP0oqmGkY3k1glH8iKKv4s6JSLtw_dtKvKiRUQuQVTCQ3MP3DSp_sR1lqFciFQXVKeGaUALOQrX59GDVp6JfTnkOgpJTZb80PkqomvCu/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFQlS785nk5CwbARGRccWrDca2aqIqQr6gZ5wNuP0oqmGkY3k1glH8iKKv4s6JSLtw_dtKvKiRUQuQVTCQ3MP3DSp_sR1lqFciFQXVKeGaUALOQrX59GDVp6JfTnkOgpJTZb80PkqomvCu/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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9. 'If ye love me' Tallis. The Cambridge Singers (in the absence of The Dorian Singers, who likewise don't exist): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqt005j1dB0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqt005j1dB0</a><br />
10. Bach. 'Kyrie Gott Heiliger Geist' A bit of organ loveliness. Try to imagine the cathedral acoustic: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqt005j1dB0">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqt005j1dB0</a><br />
11. Harry Potter theme (a naughty fictional organist wove it into her post-gospel improvisation, but only in my novel. Real organists don't do that kind of thing): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htaj3o3JD8I">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htaj3o3JD8I</a><br />
12. 'The lark in the clear air' (folk song). Sung here by 'Scotland's singing priest' Father Sydney MacEwan: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu12vcbjGHA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu12vcbjGHA</a><br />
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Part 2 coming up when I have a moment. Bless you all. Enjoy your Anglicanism responsibly.<br />
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Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-69436579150710965232014-12-07T13:46:00.002-08:002014-12-07T13:46:18.104-08:00Final instalment <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here you are: http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/chapter-31.html Enjoy! </div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-61630147777723781062014-11-30T13:22:00.000-08:002014-11-30T13:22:15.693-08:00Chapter 30<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Better late than never. Here's the penultimate chapter for you: <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-30.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-30.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-13070201773831355022014-11-23T11:31:00.000-08:002014-11-23T11:31:02.764-08:00THE END IS NIGH...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Only two more chapters to go after this, and the big themes of the book have come into focus for me. Judgment and mercy. Come to think of it, those are probably my <i>only </i>themes. This is the stretch of theological wall I seem to need to bang my head against. Sometimes I think that writers don't really get to choose. I also reflect upon wash day and housework in this chapter, however. Enjoy! <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-29.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-29.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-78861690106521022962014-11-16T12:19:00.002-08:002014-11-16T12:19:43.025-08:00Bonfire Night in the Diocese of Lindchster<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here we are. Chapter 28 for you. More trouble for Freddie, I'm afraid. <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-28.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-28.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-62035726615253092832014-11-11T12:55:00.003-08:002014-11-11T12:55:55.396-08:00CHAPTER 27<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Is that a happy ending I glimpse over there on the distant horizon? <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/delay.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/delay.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-27340743912671952072014-11-04T12:42:00.000-08:002014-11-04T12:42:45.534-08:00Advent Approaches<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Advent is at the end of this month, which means that I now have only 5 weeks left to tie up the loose ends. Or at any rate, to poke them through to the back of the tapestry, and hope nobody looks too closely. Here's the latest instalment, in which I'm sure the reader will discern the blogging equivalent of Jane Austen's 'tell-tale compression of the pages' that signifies we are all 'hastening together to perfect felicity': <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-26.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/chapter-26.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-75156453338668961102014-10-27T10:55:00.000-07:002014-10-27T10:55:26.581-07:00The Delayed Chapter 25...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
...has now arrived, bearing news from Lindchester. Apologies that this is a day late. I was away in Chichester for a family wedding, and could not persuade my iPad to upload the chapter without removing all the formatting. <br />
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Anyhow, here it is: <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-25.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-25.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-71456098695941501252014-10-19T11:22:00.001-07:002014-10-19T11:22:50.831-07:00ONLY SEVEN MORE INSTALMENTS LEFT<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The end is in sight! <i>Unseen Things Above</i> is due to finish on Advent Sunday. I think a few of my characters deserve a happy ending, so I will do my best to sort that out. In the meantime, here is Chapter 24, in which Neil explains himself at some length. I hope you will be patient with Neil. I have a soft spot for him, and my secret mission is to make you care for him as well.<br />
<a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-24.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-24.html</a> </div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-58786088314275040932014-10-12T11:31:00.000-07:002014-10-12T11:31:27.136-07:00The Latest from Lindchester<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's this week's instalment for you. Chapter 23 <i>Unseen Things Above</i> <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-23.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-23.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-72427868150058384422014-10-05T12:22:00.000-07:002014-10-05T12:22:09.224-07:00Who will be the next bishop?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
And here, in Chapter 22, we answer the question we raised in the first chapter: who will be the next bishop of Lindchester? Not everyone is happy with the result. Read about it here: <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-22.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/chapter-22.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-9568549091110627032014-09-23T00:52:00.000-07:002014-09-23T00:52:45.164-07:00Trouble at the Lindchester Mill<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Of course there's trouble. You can't write a novel without trouble in it. People occasionally chide me for not creating nice ordinary vicars etc, who are not constantly cocking things up. I could do that. But you'd all fall asleep reading about them. <br />
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Here's the latest cock-up round-up. Chapter 20 <i>Unseen Things Above</i>: <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/chapter-20.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/chapter-20.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-27583674582109991792014-09-02T03:12:00.001-07:002014-09-02T03:12:35.706-07:00Chapter 17<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Is ready and waiting for you, over on my other blog. Here it is: <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-17.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-17.html</a><br />
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It's a bit like herding tortoises at the moment. So many plot lines and characters, so little space. The trick is knowing what to leave out. </div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-88841213419579132982014-08-25T07:44:00.000-07:002014-08-25T07:44:20.424-07:00THE LATEST FROM LINDCHESTER<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We've now just about reached the halfway point in <i>Unseen Things Above</i>. Catch up with the latest developments here, <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-16.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/chapter-16.html</a> or wait for the whole novel!</div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000658348481995041.post-28580397206004407082014-07-20T11:05:00.000-07:002014-07-20T11:05:03.476-07:00A New Instalment...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Here's the latest from Lindchester for you. In which we see the bishop's chaplain in a slightly softer focus than usual. Please try to like Martin. He's doing his best: <a href="http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/chapter-13.html">http://unseenthingsabove.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/chapter-13.html</a></div>
Catherine Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13474915175193477553noreply@blogger.com0