Tag Archives: reading

Milford Writers’ Retreat, May 2024

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Jacey Bedford

I’m starting to write this on Saturday 18th May 2024. I’ve just returned from the Milford Retreat Week at Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden, North Wales. I’m still giddy with excitement. It was such a great week, spent in the company … Continue reading →

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Scene Analysis – Winterwood

Posted on March 10, 2024 by Jacey Bedford

This was first written for Tiffani Angus’ blog when she was teaching creative writing and publishing. Story interspersed with my comments in bold italic. This first scene pretty much sprang into my mind fully formed. When I started to write … Continue reading →

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My 2023 reading

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Jacey Bedford

A fair amount of my reading this year was via Audible audiobooks. I like to read myself to sleep at night but my other half is disturbed by light, even kindle-light when it’s switched on to white text on a … Continue reading →

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Retreating

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Jacey Bedford

I’m at the Milford Writers’ Retreat in North Wales again. This will be the fourth retreat that Milford has run and I look forward to it each year. It’s a week of tranquility with no domestic duties or distractions. We’re … Continue reading →

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Retreating to Gladstone’s Library

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Jacey Bedford

During the first weekend in March, I went on a weekend writing retreat run by Shona Kinsella of the British Fantasy Society. The venue was Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden, North Wales. Yes, THAT Gladstone – William Ewart Gladstone, politician and … Continue reading →

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Happy Valentines

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Jacey Bedford

I don’t write romances, but all my books have an element of romance because – hey – humans are human and that means there’s going to be some attraction. In Empire of Dust, the first volume in my Psi-Tech space-opera … Continue reading →

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Hello 2023

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Jacey Bedford

Family plans were interrupted when our grandkids came down with a tummy bug and were unable to travel so 2023 didn’t start out so well for either us or them, but on 6th January my mum, Joan Lockyer, celebrated her … Continue reading →

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My 2022 Reading

Posted on December 31, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

I’ve blogged all my reading (and listening) over on my other blog at Dreamwidth https://jacey.dreamwidth.org/ so if you want detailed reviews, please go check it out. Several of these books were absorbed via Audible, especially the Lois McMaster Bujolds, Terry … Continue reading →

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Apocalypse Winter

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

Have you got a BOB? What’s in your Black Out Box? Are you prepped? This winter is already looking like another Winter of Discontent This was the first one. On February 15, 1972, the Central Electricity Generating Board announced that … Continue reading →

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Critiquing and Milford

Posted on August 29, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

Milford is coming up in September, a week-long workshopping and critiquing week for fifteen published writers of speculative fiction, which covers science fiction, fantasy and horror. Those of us who are going are already sending out our pieces for critique. … Continue reading →

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Saying the Unsayable

Posted on August 18, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

This is a blog post full of questions. I don’t have any answers. If you do, then I’m sure you’ll be right. Everyone is right from their own point of view, just like everyone is the hero of their own … Continue reading →

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Best-of Lists

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

Over on Goodreads there’s a fantasy and sci-fi celebration, each genre list contains 72 books that have ‘ruled’ the field in the last three years. I’m always wary of best-of lists. What good do they do? Sure, they promote a … Continue reading →

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What I did on my (not quite) holiday

Posted on May 24, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

In May I took a week off from real life and went to the Milford Writing Retreat in North Wales. It’s held at Trigonos, a centre for conferences, courses and retreats on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park. We … Continue reading →

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Behind the scenes – or – Why I did not write two new books during lockdown.

Posted on May 18, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

During lockdown I had the time/opportunity to write two novels. Did I do it? Of course not. Why not? I guess the reason is multi-layered and complex culminating in writerly inactivity. I didn’t exactly stop writing, but I ceased to … Continue reading →

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Happy Endings or Not?

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

Do stories really have happy endings? They do if we choose to stop the tale at the point where the prince slips a golden ring on Cinderella’s finger, or where Beauty kisses the beast, or the princess kisses the frog … Continue reading →

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What I’m reading (March 2022)

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

You absolutely can’t write science fiction and fantasy without knowing what’s being published. It’s always better not to reinvent the wheel unless you can make your wheel very different. Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education begins a new trilogy about the … Continue reading →

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Viewpoint

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

I’m in a Facebook writers’ group for writers of all levels. Someone asked what the POV (point of view) limit was on a traditionally published debut novel. The answer, of course is: there isn’t one. Sometimes you find prescriptive pieces … Continue reading →

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Does it Need a Map?

Posted on January 30, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

I should have asked this question earlier in the process of publishing, but I left it until the last minute. The answer from the office was, ‘No. If Sheila had thought it needed a map she would have said so.’ … Continue reading →

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The Amber Crown is published today – 11th January 2022

Posted on January 11, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

After what seems like an age, the Amber Crown is out today. I’d already written a first draft before I sold my first book to DAW in 2013. That sale led to six books (two trilogies), so I didn’t have … Continue reading →

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Countdown to The Amber Crown – One Week to Go

Posted on January 4, 2022 by Jacey Bedford

Only one week to go to publication of The Amber Crown, and there’s still so much to do. I’ve been writing blog posts for John Scalzi’s Big Idea, and Chuck Wendig’s blog, plus a piece for Jean Book Nerd, Paul … Continue reading →

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Books Read in 2021

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

With the year drawing to a close, here’s my list of books read in 2021. There are 73 in total, including re-reading a couple of my own. I’d like to give a quick shout-out to T Kingfisher/Ursula Vernon, particularly for … Continue reading →

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Countdown to The Amber Crown – (less than) 2 Weeks to Go

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

Happy New Year to all. This is my last post for 2021 and the penultimate post leading up to The Amber Crown. If you already have it on pre-order, thank you very much. If not, you can pre-order it now … Continue reading →

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David Barnett: Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl – for your reading pleasure

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

Gideon Smith, son of a Whitby fisherman from Sandsend is an aficionado of the true adventures of Captain Lucian Trigger, Hero of the British Empire, so when his father’s fishing boat is found floating, abandoned, with all the crew lost, … Continue reading →

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First Person Narrative – a guest post by Juliet E McKenna

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

Thoughts on writing a first person narrative when that person isn’t you. Early reviews for The Green Man’s Challenge are coming in, and readers are commenting favourably on the way Dan Mackmain’s character comes vividly off the page. This isn’t … Continue reading →

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The Subtle (and Unsubtle) Art of Critiquing

Posted on September 7, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

At the end of August I did a post about the run up to Milford. It starts next Saturday so I’m deep into reading and critiquing the 23 pieces submitted by the fifteen attendees. I’m obviously not going to comment … Continue reading →

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Genevieve Cogman: The Invisible Library – For your reading pleasure

Posted on August 10, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

This is the first in an ongoing series, and a terrific starting point. As an ex librarian I have a fondness for anything library-oriented so I wanted to like this a lot – and I did. Genevieve Cogman’s debut novel … Continue reading →

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How to Write a Speculative Fiction Book

Posted on August 3, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

I’m not going to be able to teach you how to write a book in the twelve hundred or so words in this blog post – even presuming I have the skills. Yes I’ve written books, seven published so far … Continue reading →

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C.E Murphy: Heart of Stone – Negotiator Trilogy/Old Races Universe #1 – For your reading pleasure

Posted on July 27, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

Loved this.Margrit Knight, a lawyer and negotiator in New York City gets involved with a world she never knew existed when she meets Alban – a gargoyle and one of the Old Races. Someone is killing women in Central Park … Continue reading →

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Terry Pratchett: Dodger – For Your Reading Pleasure

Posted on May 18, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

I’m a big fan of Pratchett’s discworld and although this book is set in London in the early years of Victoria’s reign, the feeling is very Ankh-Morporkian, or maybe that should be that Ankh Morpork is very much based on … Continue reading →

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Sherwood Smith – Rondo Allegro – For Your Reading Pleasure

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

I’ve always enjoyed reading Sherwood Smith’s fantasies, in particular the Inda sequence, and I just realised there are more books in her bibliography that I misse4d, so I can see I’m going to have to spend some time catching up. … Continue reading →

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Patricia Briggs: Steal the Dragon – For your reading pleasure

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Jacey Bedford

There are no dragons in this book – well there is one, but not a significant one and it only appears on the page once, in a dream.  So having got that out of the way, this is early Briggs … Continue reading →

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Ann Aguirre: Grimspace – for your reading pleasure

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

I really liked this one. Telepathy, space travel, adventure, a damaged heroine and tormented telepathic hero. What’s not to like? Sirantha Jax carries the J-gene that enables her to jump ships across space. It’s a talent that’s likely to kill … Continue reading →

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In My Other Life

Posted on December 15, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

I have two blogs, this one and a book blog at https://jacey.dreamwidth.org/ where I blog every book I read and every movie I see in the cinema – that one’s a bit thin on movies this year, but rich on … Continue reading →

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Books etc. for Christmas

Posted on November 17, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

2020 has not been the year it was supposed to be. (Not fit for purpose. Can I get a refund?) I didn’t get anywhere as much writing done as I could have, but I read, and re-read an awful lot. … Continue reading →

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Liz Williams: The Snake Agent – for your reading pleasure

Posted on October 27, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

Any book which opens with the main protagonist swinging by his heels in Hell has got my attention from page one. This grabbed me and never let me go. Det. Insp. Chen is the cop whose responsibilities include the underworld … Continue reading →

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Georgette Heyer: The Toll Gate for your reading pleasure

Posted on October 13, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

Everyone has their favourite Heyer. This is one of mine. When Crazy Jack Staple, lately of Wellington’s army returns to civilian life after the defeat of Napoleon, he finds that there’s not much to satisfy the adrenaline junkie he’s become, … Continue reading →

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Boy Wizards on the Lam. Three series beginnings – for your reading pleasure

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

This is the first of my new alternate Tuesday reading posts, so I thought I’d dip back in time to tell you about three books that are each the first in their own well-loved series. They all owe something to … Continue reading →

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Reading Writing and Rewriting

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Jacey Bedford

I was a voracious reader as a child, working my way steadily through the stock of my local public library children’s department. My literature of choice was anything with horses or ponies in it. Some of the books in my … Continue reading →

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Book Browsing

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Jacey Bedford

This is a revamp of a post from 2013, updated The tor.com blog had a feature on book browsing back in September 2013 and it prompted this original post, reminding me that I so very rarely got to browse real … Continue reading →

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What I Like to Read, and Why

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Jacey Bedford

Though I have a large collection of paper books, some of them from my childhood, I mostly read fiction on Kindle these days. It’s not that I prefer electronic to dead tree books, but books are books and it’s the … Continue reading →

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Updated Blog Archive: 2013 to 2018

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Jacey Bedford

2013 Bated Breath Seven Short Men and a Waif Preparing for Milford Jumping in at the Shallow End Serendipitous Book Browsing Four days to go Three Book Deal Milford Writers Publishers Marketplace Announcement Editor Talk New Book Log on LJ: Karen Traviss: Star … Continue reading →

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It’s never too late to talk about a book

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Jacey Bedford

Unless you are lucky enough to live in a city which has good bookshops, or even better, specialist science fiction and fantasy bookshops, your browsing of new SFF titles may be limited. My little local bookshop sadly closed last year, … Continue reading →

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My 2018 Reading

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Jacey Bedford

It’s getting towards the end of the year and this is the time I usually post a summary of my reading. I’ve kept a booklog since 2009, and oh, how I wish I’d started decades ago. I post my booklog … Continue reading →

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Dropping a Pebble in the Pond

Posted on July 31, 2018 by Jacey Bedford

I used to think that if I could only get one book published by a major publisher I would be able to die happy (though I did not necessarily plan that particular event soon). Now I have five books published … Continue reading →

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The Reading Conundrum

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Jacey Bedford

When I got my first publishing deal back in 2013 I found that when I was writing to a deadline it was difficult to keep up with my reading. This reading conundrum is something many writers suffer from… When I’m … Continue reading →

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The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Posted on April 12, 2018 by Jacey Bedford

My first book, Empire of Dust, launched on 4th November 2014 from DAW and, boy, was I excited. I’d waited a long time for that moment. When I got the first review , from Publishers’ Weekly, no less, I read … Continue reading →

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My best books of 2017 – A personal overview of my reading year

Posted on December 13, 2017 by Jacey Bedford

There are inevitably lists of ‘Best SF Books of…’ such as this one from Barnes and Noble  but with the amount of books on offer from this year and from previous years, it’s almost impossible for any one person to … Continue reading →

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Corwen Silverwolf Speaks

Posted on July 11, 2017 by Jacey Bedford

Denby Hall, September 1801 I don’t usually get the opportunity to say much. It’s not that I’m henpecked, you understand, but—well—my author is female and she lets my beloved, Rossalinde, tell the story. So it’s nice, for once, to be … Continue reading →

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Goodreads Starry Update

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Jacey Bedford

Five stars to Goodreads for their customer service. Yesterday I queried the ‘unstarred reviews equals zero stars reviews problem’ and today got this email. “We did recently migrate our database to bigger servers, and that change did cause some unexpected … Continue reading →

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Stars in your Reviews – The Goodreads Conundrum

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Jacey Bedford

Authors appreciate your honest reviews. They appreciate you talking about their book, recommending it to others, tweeting about it, blogging about it, sharing on Facebook, signing up to mailing lists and groups, including it in lists. In fact, if you … Continue reading →

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