Richard’s Comments (group member since Sep 03, 2011)

Richard’s comments from the Q&A with Steve Morris group.

Steve wrote: "When I was a kid, I remember him as a prominent politician in the Thatcher government, then he was sent to prison for perjury or something. I never knew he was a fiction author. He must have had pl..."

Maybe he spent a lot of time practicing archery.

Nicolle wrote: "Oh, those are good ones! Though I don't know who Jeffrey Archer is, I'm sure it's a compliment."

http://www.jeffreyarcher.co.uk/site/

Steve wrote: "I will do although I don't like listening to myself!"

I dislike the sound of my own voice as well. I'm told that most people do, though.

Steve wrote: "She's the one! My favourite role for her was Flora Finchling.

She also made a good documentary about Dickens' tours of America. She is quite an enthusiast.


I look forward to seeing In the Wings ..."

I saw Margolies in one of the added features of a Dickens miniseries I watched on DVD recently. I think it was Our Mutual Friend.

To do italics put "i" and "/i" in two sets of < > at the beginning and end of your text.

I am quite excited and nervous about the debut of the anthology. I've been assured that it will be made available as an e-book as well as a print version. (view spoiler)[If you would like a print copy autographed in pencil (we talked about that earlier), please make sure to send me a mailing address in a private message. (hide spoiler)]

Hope you enjoy what's left of the summer.

Steve, Thanks for your interest. In the Wings is set to be published in early September, which is quite soon!

I have not seen "Dickens' Women" or that production of Little Dorrit. But, when I looked it up, I saw that Ms. Margolies (is she a Dame, like Judi Dench?) plays Flora Finching, the simpering spinster who is, ahem, past her prime. This looks like a fabulous comic role for Margolies. I know her from her roles in Blackadder and the Harry Potter films. She's done a fair bit of voice work in some other films too.

What he said, Nicolle! :)

Years ago, I bought it for my mother for her birthday. This was before the days of DVDs, so it was a bulky box set of 6 VHS tapes, The birthday wasn't for a while yet, and I was away at university. So I brought it to my room in residence. Well, there was one student in the residence who had finished her studies and was due to go back to the USA the next day. When she heard that I had the videos, she asked if I could bring them down to the common room and watch a tape or two as a nice entertainment before she left. At the student's insistence, we ended up watching the whole miniseries (5 hours), popping in each new tape as needed without even taking the time to rewind the previous tapes. We stayed up until 4:00 a.m.; it was THAT good. Needless to say, I had find something else to give to my mother for her birthday.

Please treat yourself to watching this. You won't regret it.

Steve wrote: "One of my younger students is insisting on reading the whole of The Lord of the Rings before he sees the film. What a star!

Using LOTR as an example, I sometimes think that when my age group read ..."

Maybe it doesn't hamper the imagination, but it makes it more likely that younger readers will be imprinted with images or actors from the film adaptations. Which I think is what you meant.

Whenever I hear about Yorkshire, I think about the James Herriot books, and his dour Dalesmen with their eccentric ways and hearts of gold.

Good news, Steve! Not long to wait now...

Steve wrote: "Excellent. I bet you felt a lot better after you ironed out the kink in the story. I alway notice glaring errors after having seen the finished product come off the press!

I look forward to readin..."

I do feel better. I hope that once I'm done with the story there will be no major errors, but for a perfectionist like me, every error is glaring! September is the date we're hoping for, but we have yet to find out for sure. Even so, after four years of long waits followed by polite rejections, things are suddenly moving so fast! :)

I wasn't going to mention it, because I didn't want to steal your thunder. But since you brought it up anyway... :)

I recently ironed out one of the biggest kinks in the story, which had worried me quite a bit (and it was all thanks to a new Goodreads friend!). I'm about to put in the final changes before it goes to the publisher.

Our editor recently threw a pre-publication party. Most of the contributors were there and got a chance to discuss their piece or read excerpts from it. We haven't heard from the publisher yet about the launch date, but we have good hopes it will be out in September 2012.

Steve wrote: "Cheers Richard. I certainly will, but I'll wait for it all to be "done and dusted" first. You know what life is like...."

Indeed I do Steve!

That's amazing, Steve! If there's a way to access the interview online, do post the link. I'll be listening if at all possible.

That's so kind Steve! Cheers! (as in "Thank you" and "I salute your success!")

Nice catchy title Steve.

Steve wrote: "That is a very clever idea. Thanks Richard."

It was meant as a joke, Steve. It might mean having to tell more about the novel than you care to do at the moment--I really don't know. But if you can make it work...

Anyhow, we as your friends shared in your chuffedness.

Hey that's marvelous news Steve! Congratulations! Maybe your loyal fanbase can help you come up with a title. Perhaps you could have a contest and offer the person who comes up with the winning suggestion a free signed copy. :)

We had a bit of snow blowing around yesterday, and it's been cold today. But earlier in the month it rained a lot and was unseasonably warm.

One of your short stories about the general changes in climate already seems to be coming true. Today's SF is tomorrow's reality!

A bit off topic, but here goes. The library at my workplace had a book giveaway today, and as I find free books almost impossible to resist (all right, scratch "almost"), I found myself looking through the offerings. I picked up an H.G. Wells novel I'd never heard of:Kipps (mine's a different edition). Apparently it's not SF but social satire. I was intrigued because there's some pretty savage social satire in the works I have read. Wells is one of your literary heroes, Steve, so I wondered if you (or any other member of the group) had any thoughts about this one.