When I read Philip Pullman’s new novel, La Belle Sauvage last fall, I noted with a little puzzlement that he has the hero, Malcolm, explain the name of his canoe by saying that an uncle owns a pub called La Belle Sauvage downriver. Read More
Picturing a World
Publish with CreateSpace?
February 28, 2018
Blog post alert: Well-meaning acquaintances sometimes ask (once) why I don’t consider self-publishing. My answer, delivered ruefully or with a scowl depending on how well I know the person, is “editing, promotion, distribution.” For those curious about the possibilities and limitations of one platform, James Gurney has posted a long, informative interview with Marc Taro Holmes, an artist-author who feels he has the experience and skills to make one kind of publication work on CreateSpace. Along the way, he makes observations relevant to other forms of self-publication. Check it out. Read More
Lost murals found
February 26, 2018
Blog tip: Cecil Osbourne’s Lost Murals Rediscovered at Spitalfields Life tells the story of how murals depicting life in London neighborhoods wound up being rescued. Images of the full murals (which can be enlarged) are posted. To me, it Read More
Walk on the Wyld side
February 23, 2018
On my living room wall, I have a framed poster of the 1879 John Singer Sargent painting that inspired me to send Jeanette and Edward to the Luxembourg Garden. Earlier this week , a friend who worked in the movie business for years came over. When I explained what the poster meant to me, she said, “I knew that designers for historical movies went to museums to study how things looked, but I’d never thought about fiction writers doing the same thing.”
Then this morning I came across this painting of Saint Mark’s Square by William Wyld at Charley Parker’s Lines and Colors. Parker writes: Read More
Women in the East End, Londo
February 21, 2018
Blog tip: Check out two photographic blog posts at Spitalsfield Life. Together they offer countless visual details and suggest scores of stories. Women of the Old East End publishes carte-de-visites of women from the 1860’s to 1940. I’ve chosen this girl with her Read More
Abide
February 17, 2018
Writer’s tip: This month, my library book club is reading George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo. (And, yes, it deserved to win the Man Booker Award!) To prepare for our meeting, I went poking on the internet and found a profoundly interesting interview with Saunders, which among many other insights, offers a gem to writers: Read More
Female comic book illustrators
February 16, 2018
Website alert: Golly, a whole new dimension for Mattie Palmer’s world of publishing (and suffagism): Women Who Conquered the Comics World. Via Two Nerdy History Girls.
Heart-shaped books
February 14, 2018
This image from the heart-shaped songbook, Chansonnier cordiforme de Montchenu in the Bibliothèque nationale, in Paris delighted me when I came across it. Story, story, story! There must be a story to go with the illustration, but just as much fun to make one up. Perhaps a love story with Cupid, Read More
Top hats at the garden party
February 9, 2018
I spent happy hours visualizing Cornelia Renick’s garden party, with very clear ideas of what Jeanette, Effie, and Emily were wearing. But although I dressed the men in black, I forgot their top hats (except Robbie’s)! Now, thanks to this image, when I reread my own chapter, I’ll have to Read More
London working-class suffragists
February 7, 2018
Blog alert:The Spitalsfield Life post for February 7, 2017, Celebrating East End Suffragettes focuses on working class women in London during the fight for the vote. Great maps! Read More