Hi everyone. October is always a busy month for me. Work tends to take over my life, the university term starts and life in the bookshop turns the crazy bend. So try to bear with me as I fall bahind with everything else.

But here are some things I found during the last month and I’d liek to share with you. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

A Slight Case of Murder in the Silent Movies

I always enjoy Fritzy’s collection of themed films. This one is particularly interesting, in my opinion… but then you’ve probably noticed my inclination for mystery stories lately.

There’s a variety of films here, some darker, some more comic. As she always says, silent films are much for diverse than people normally credit them for.

Have a look and find your favourite!

 

Murder on the Orient Express official website

There’s already a lot of talking about this film and – as it always happens when a classic in adapted for the screen, it seems – there are those who are excited (like, say, me!) and other that foresee a tedious result in the best of cases and a terrible outcome in the worst.
I will keep an open mind, but on the whole, I’ll admit I have a good feeling about hot.

In the unlikely event you have no idea what the story is about, here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

“The murderer is with us – on the train now…”

Just after midnight, the famous Orient Express is stopped in its tracks by a snowdrift. By morning, the millionaire Samuel Ratchett lies dead in his compartment, stabbed a dozen times, his door locked from the inside. One of his fellow passengers must be the murderer.

Isolated by the storm and with a killer in their midst, detective Hercule Poirot must find the killer amongst a dozen of the dead man’s enemies, before the murderer decides to strike again…

 

 

Pigeons of War and their Double Decker Buses

I came across this one for bare chance and I don’t know why I was surprised by it. I just didn’t think pigeons were still use for communication at the beginning of the 1900s. But apparently tens of thousands of pigeons were used by the British army alone, released on the battlefield when telephone lines were cut.
Truly history is stranger than any fantasy author can imagine.

 

Ice Dealers in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s

What I find intersting about history – even recent history, like the XX century – is tat sometimes things are changed so much that we can’t even imagin how it was.

I never imagine what was behind the ice market in Harlem in the 1920s and 1930s. That was really a war. A fight to survive, with so many other different implications.

 

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

People move to New York looking for magic and nothing will convince them it isn’t there.

Charles Thomas Tester hustles to put food on the table, keep the roof over his father’s head, from Harlem to Flushing Meadows to Red Hook. He knows what magic a suit can cast, the invisibility a guitar case can provide, and the curse written on his skin that attracts the eye of wealthy white folks and their cops. But when he delivers an occult tome to a reclusive sorceress in the heart of Queens, Tom opens a door to a deeper realm of magic, and earns the attention of things best left sleeping.

A storm that might swallow the world is building in Brooklyn. Will Black Tom live to see it break?

 

 

Radioactive – Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix (Imagine Dragons Cover)

Stumbled upon this one on Facebook an dreally enjoyed it. It has a certain dieselpunk air to it and since it isn’t all that easy to stumble upon dieselpunk music, why not sher it?

 

Sarah Plagues Her Own Stuff

It was another really nice month for my stories. I have quite a few things to share.

Guest Post: Fantasy Authors – Why You’ll Believe Their Lies

I had a great time writing this guest post on fellow bloggers Lisa‘s, who’s a great reader and reviewer. I understand this is one of the first guest posts she hosts, so I’m particularly honoured abotu it.
As a fantasy writer, I often get the question, why do you bother to write this stuff, when you coudl write stories so much more realistic and involving?
Well, here’s my answer.

Why the Future of Publishing Belongs to the Hybrid Author

Well, this guest blog of author Dan Alatorre‘s site is maybe a bit more specific, but as an author of the XXI century, I do wonder what awaits me. It’s a messy place, the publishing industry of today, and it’s very difficult to see where these years are leading us. But this is what I think about it, based on my experience as an indie author and as employee of a publishing house.

 

#Review “Give in to the Feeling” by Sarah Zama

REceiving a review from a fellow author and reader is always the most thrilling of experiences. This is a lovely review by Felicia Denise and I really enjoyed it.

Give in to the Feeling by Sarah Zama

Not a review, just a spotlight by fellow author Renee Scattergood, but don’t you find it particularly lovely? I really like the informations you can find here, I’m nearly tempted to stole the layout of the page!
(No, Renee, jsut kidding)