08 March 15 2015 The Versatile Blogger
Antoine Vanner, author of historical, naval fiction whose best-selling books about Nicholas Dawlish, a British Naval Officer of the late Victorian era, are set in the heyday of empire, has nominated me as a versatile blogger. I have a lot to live up to as Antoine’s own blog – Dawlish Chronicles: Duty and Daring in the heyday of Empire – is one of the most informative and well-researched out there. So in my capacity as a versatile blogger, I shall list the rules and endeavour to obey them accordingly.
1. Display The Versatile Blogger logo. DONE
2. Write a post and link it back to the blogger who nominated me. Thank you, Antoine. http://dawlishchronicles.blogspot.co.uk/ DONE
3. Post seven interesting things about myself (but will others think I am as interesting). Done. See below.
4. Nominate up to fifteen other bloggers with a comment on why they’ve been nominated. DONE
5.Inform them of their nomination. Done
I began to read on a regular basis when I was at art college. There were the usual classics, Dostoevsky, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and so on, but then I discovered the Beat Generation of Writers: Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and later Kurt Vonnegut Jnr. Like American art, I think it suited my free spirit – confusion, outspokenness and reckless abandon. Now its a case of “how long is a piece of string”, there are so many wonderful books out there spanning all eras and every genre.
I studied textile design at art college in England, specializing in carpet design.. During that period, I was fortunate enough to spend several weeks designing carpets in Northern Ireland (at the time the problems started), Denmark and Holland.
After college, I worked as a designer for a company in Vienna. I was there for a year, had very little money after paying the rent (wages were extremely low), yet it was one of the most culturally stimulating periods of my life. All my spare time was spent devouring the arts; visiting palaces, museums, Secessionist architecture, art galleries such as The Albertina, and the Prater of “The Third Man”. The factory was situated on the outskirts of Vienna in what had part of the Russian sector after the war. I think it was during this time that I developed an interest in politics.
I lived and worked in Athens for six years, eventually mastering the language, although I do have to make a concerted effort to brush up on the grammar these days. My apartment was within walking distance of the National Archaeological Museum, which in turn was opposite the apartment where Maria Callas lived for a while. It was also next to the Polytechnic – the site of much bloodshed when the students rose up against the dictatorship of Papadopoulos in the seventies. Even now, Greece is still my spiritual home.
I have an insatiable desire for travel , history and art, and along with my other love- food and cooking, I can never get enough of them.
If I have any spare time, which is rare these days, I make glass jewelry either in the kiln or flame-worked.
I love the translucency of glass and the way colours interact with each other.
In a previous blog, I mentioned that I would like to travel to Samarkand and also experience the nomadic life of living in a ger (yurt) in Mongolia. I might also add that at the other end of the scale, I would love to travel on The Orient Express; the full experience – Paris – Istanbul. Champagne in hand, I dream on.
Other Versatile Blogs that I admire are;
Margaret Muir: Author of Nautical and English historical fiction. http://margaretmuirauthor.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-challenges-confronting-writers-of.html
Libi Astair: Author of Jewish Regency mystery series. Ramblings in Jewish Historical Fiction Writing. http://libiastaire.weebly.com/
Eleanor Parker Sapia: Author of “A Decent Woman” and fellow lover of Provence and Greece. http://www.thewritinglifeeparker.wordpress.com
Mark Patton: Writer and archaeologist. http://mark-patton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-history-of-world-in-50-novels-23-john.html.
Nik Morton: Author of “The Prague Papers” and “The Tehran Text”, to name just two of his many books. http://nik-writealot.blogspot.com.es/2015/03/saturday-story-codename-gaby.html
Paul Collard: Author of “The Scarlet Thief” and “The Maharajah’s General”. http://writinghistoricalnovels.com/2015/03/01/why-i-write-about-british-redcoat-soldiers-by-paul-fraser-collard/
Julian Stockwin: Whose novels, “Pasha” and “The Silk Tree” are set in a time and place that I am fascinated with. http://writinghistoricalnovels.com/2015/03/14/writing-novels-set-in-different-historical-times-and-places-by-julian-stockwin/
Lindsay Powell: Author of epic novels about Roman politics and war. https://l.facebook.com/l/LAQFZcQLGAQEXEDjWnzf-p1Xl_QdhtwXy19a5TGuiupJMfQ/https%3A%2F%2Fathenabooks.wordpress.com%2F2015%2F03%2F09%2Funcovering-the-enigma-of-marcus-agrippa-right-hand-man-of-caesar-augustus%2F
Darius Stransky: Author of “The King’s Jew,” A novel about the rise of anti-Semitism in medieval England and because I hail from Leicester he touches on Simon de Montfort in his new blog https://dariusstransky.wordpress.com/…/simon-de-montforts-…/
Yvonne Payne: Who writes about Crete. Her novel, “Kritsopoula:Girl of Kritsa”, is set in ottoman Crete. www.kritsayvonne.com,
Linda Bennett Pennell. https://historyimagined.wordpress.com/…/pro-union-in-a-con…/For Readers, Writers, and Lovers of Historical Fiction. A great new site that I have only just discovered.
Dave McCall (David Ebsworth): Because he loves strong women as much as I do.
Intrepid Women on the Battlefield – and what drove them there! – David Ebsworth
It frightens me to think that I first read Stendhal’s The Charterhouse of Parma almost fifty years a…
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Paris Breakfast: for all things Parisian including fashion and food. PARISBREAKFASTS.BLOGSPOT.COM
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