The Militiverse

 Good evening my friends, come in, have a seat and some refreshment. Lady Cora Cat and Mouse are on a mission, somewhere in the Scriptorium there is of great importance, a purple fish covered in catnip.  This evening we have a very interesting and sometimes uncomfortable topic: Forbidden Books. What do forbidden books mean to you? Do you think of banned books? Or do you think of books that are morally corrupting? Too disturbing to be placed in respectable libraries. Well, sit back and let’s discuss this over a glass of something cold. The Library Door Is Open I am always fascinated by grand old houses and their libraries. Particularly very old houses, sitting on estates that were isolated near the sea, or hidden away beside a forest. I always wonder what books those libraries have. In my own library, I have many books that would raise a well shaped eyebrow or two. As a dark academia gothic writer, I love writing topics that send shivers down the spine, so when I am plotting a ...

  Hello my lovelies. How are you all this evening? Oh what a busy weekend it has been I have been working on the outline of a new book and then my printer decided that it was time it went into retirement. Though I can hardly complain, it has served me well. I began to do some organising of the sitting room and I found a box, a shoe box I had decorated with some lovely wrapping paper. Inside were some DVDs, old black and whites from movies of the 1940s. When I was a girl, I used to watch old B&W movies with my mother and as I grew up my love for film noir stayed with me. One actress in particular who walked onto the screen, and you forgot that she was acting. Her voice was husky and she exuded panache, beauty, and fear. She was the true gothic heroine without ever trying. Her name, Miss Barbara Stanwyck. When I lived in Sweden during the summer months, I would drive from Ireland across Europe, various stops in different places had me visit different vintage shops and recor...

 Good evening lovely friends, do come in and sit by the fire. Can I offer you a cup of tea? You arrived just as we averted an incident between Mouse and Lady Cora, over who sleeps on the chaise longue. The Tempus Militibus were almost called. Thankfully all tranquillity is restored, and Lady Cora has her bed back.  Let me ask you my friends, do you like the sound of bells? Organs? I adore the sound of bells, and particularly on a foggy night when the rain has ceased for five minutes and the sound carries further than usual. Tonight, I want to talk about lore and an entry at the end of a record. Sit back relax and let’s chat.  The bells were heard before they were seen A stranger was walking the roads on a damp and misty night. His overcoat was frayed at the elbows, and the top button was missing. He walked briskly to keep the damp from entering his chest, if it did, it would play up his bronchitis.  Earlier he had asked directions from a skittish group of youths to t...