Podcasts about Cormoran Strike

Join hosts Ev, Irvin, and Sophia, as well as special guests Dr. Louise Freeman and Nick Jeffrey, as they speculate on the latest death in the Cormoran Strike series. Please be warned that there will be spoilers for the Cormoran Strike books in this episode. Join the discussion: https://threebroomstickspod.com/episode-61-strike-crossover-the-hill-charlotte-dies-on/  In this episode:   No one wants to mess with Chapter 64! How convenient can a suicide be and still be believable? Surely THIS time, Strike's done with Charlotte? The inverse of Dumbledore's will Strike needs to be purified of women What is the overarching story of the Strike series? Is Charlotte the Snape?  The Merope?  The Dumbledore? Charlotte Campbell Strike, the bravest woman we ever knew Rowling's first locked room mystery Resources: The Strange Death of Charlotte Campbell by Nick Jeffrey Charlotte Campbell-Ross: A Psychological and Literary Look at her Life and Death by Louise Freeman Vote in our poll! For more from our guests: Louise Freeman: @lmf3b on Twitter The Farting Sofa Faculty Lounge The Harry Potter Academic Conference Queen City Magic Nick Jeffrey: @gbjeffen on Twitter Nick Jeffrey on Hogwarts Professor Nick Jeffrey on Substack Contact: Website: https://threebroomstickspod.com/ Email: 3broomstickspod@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/3broomsticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threebroomstickspod/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebroomstickspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/threebroompod YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@ThreeBroomsticksPodcast

It's the 250th episode of The Pulp Writer Show! To celebrate this occasion, this episode takes a look at the expectations people have of a full-time writer's life and contrasts them with the reality. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Talons of the Sorcerer, Book #6 in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills), at my Payhip store: TALONS50 The coupon code is valid through May 27, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 250 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May 2, 2025, and today we're looking at what it is really like to be a full-time writer. This is also the 250th episode of the podcast, so thank you all for listening to the podcast over these last six years. Before I started recording, I totaled up the total length of previous podcast episodes and came to about 78 hours, give or take. That's like three days of continuous talking, which sounds less impressive when you realize it was recorded over the last six years.   Thank you all for listening and here's hoping you can stick around with the next 250 episodes. Before we get to our main topic, which is the expectations versus reality of being a full-time writer, we are going to do Coupon of the Week, a progress update my current writing projects, and then Question of the Week. So let's kick off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Dragonskull: Talons of the Sorcerer, Book Six in the Dragonskull series (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills) at my Payhip store. That code is TALONS50. As always, you can get that coupon code and the links to my Payhip store in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through May 27th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for spring, we have got you covered.   Now an update on my current writing projects. I am 60,000 words into Ghost in the Corruption, which puts me on chapter 13 of 21, so I'm about two thirds of the way through. I think the rough draft will be between 90-100,000 words long, so hopefully I can have that out before the end of May, if all goes well. I also just finished Chapter One of Shield of Power, which will be the final book of the Shield War series and that'll be my main project once Ghost in the Corruption is finished. I'm also 87,000 words into Stealth and Spells Online: The Final Quest, and that will be my main project once Shield of Power comes out. I expect Final Quest should come out pretty soon after Shield of Power just because I've been chipping away at it for so long and I'm getting close to the end.   In audiobook news, recording is almost done for Ghost in the Assembly and that'll be narrated by Hollis McCarthy. Recording is totally done for Shield of Deception (as narrated by Brad Wills) and that is working its way through processing at the various audiobook platforms, so hopefully we'll not be too much longer before we can get that to you.   00:02:26 Question of the Week So that is where I'm at with my current writing projects. And now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is intended to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what is your favorite Jonathan Moeller book? The reason for this question is that this is the 250th podcast episode, so it seems like a good topic for that particular milestone. And as you might expect, we had an array of different opinions.   Joachim says: You are kidding us! By the end of the week? How long did you think about your own answer? Let me mirror you: for my own answer, the question is a bit difficult because I spent money on all your books, which meant I thought all of them a good buy. So let me split my answer into male and female protagonists. The best female book was Ghost Exile: Omnibus One because it prompted me to continue with Ghost Exile and fill in the Ghost series later. The Ghosts Omnibus One and Ghost Exile: Omnibus One were my first two books from you. The best male book was the one with Jack March where Thunderbolt said, “males are ogling breasts which never existed”, especially as such AI generated videos are now all over the place on YouTube.   I have to admit that I first came up with the character of Thunderbolt back in early 2021 when I was working on Silent Order: Rust Hand (that was before the AI boom really took off), so she turned out to be a very prescient character for the AI era in a number of ways.   Joe B. says: That is a tough question as there are many contenders. I'm going to go with one that is a little different, Sevenfold Sword Online: Creation, but now known as Stealth and Spells Online: Creation.   Justin says: I nominate Soul of Swords, an excellent end to an excellent series.   Perry says: There can only be one! Demonsouled. Paul says: For me, I think my favorite female protagonist  book is Cloak Games: Truth Chain. Such a dramatic change to Nadia, sets up the series in her struggles with self and enemies so well.   Brad Wills (who as you know narrated the Frostborn, Dragonskull, Malison, and Shield War series for me) says: Does a three book arc count?  Excalibur, The Dragon Knight, and The Shadow Prison made for a fantastic lead-up and finale of the Frostborn series.   Hollis McCarthy (who as you know, narrated the Ghosts and Cloak Mage audiobooks) says: Ghost in the Storm, when Caina and Kylon meet in the Battle for Marsis. Nonstop action, incredible chase scenes, and a great intro to their combative relationship.   Fred says: It's hard for me to say which book is my favorite. All your book series were all great.   Juana says: Frostborn: Excalibur with Ridmark. I happen to love stories about Excalibur, odd but true. Caina in Cloak and Ghost: Rebel Cell because Caina and Nadia are an incendiary team. So there! Randy says: Frostborn: The Dragon Knight. This whole series is great, but that is one of the high points.   Dennis says: I couldn't name my favorite as I enjoy everything you write. I probably enjoyed the Frostborn series best at the time, but having bought and read every one of your books it's now impossible.   Kevin says: There's no way on earth that I could put one book above another, so I would've to take the coward's way out and say Frostborn: The Gray Knight simply because it has a book that drew me to the worlds of Jonathan Moeller back in the spring of 2017, since which time I have bought 117 of his books, including a few omnibus editions, so a few more actual books, I suppose. I avidly read them all as they're published these days, except the Silent Order series (just doesn't grab me and pull me in like the others). Jesse says: Cloak Games: Sky Hammer. Damaged Nadia at her best, epic action the whole way. And yeah, the chapter The Last Death of Nadia Moran was viscerally cinematic and probably the biggest emotional payoff you've written in my opinion, tied her entire journey together. In my head, I cast Castle-era Stana Katic as Nadia, and it worked better than I expected it might.   Morgan says: I can't narrow it down to just one. So top three in no particular order, Sevenfold Swords: Swordbearer, Dragontiarna: Gates, and Stealth and Spells Online: Leveling. That being said, I think Niara might be my favorite character of all your books I have read.   Jonathan T says: I too am torn though only between two books, Frostborn: The Eightfold Knife and Frostborn: The Shadow Prison.   [Side note/addition from The Transcriptionist: My vote is for Half-Elven Thief!]   So thank you everyone for the kind words about all those books. For my own answer, the question is a bit difficult because I've written them all, which meant I thought all of them were good idea at the time. I suppose the glib answer would be the one that made me the most money, which was Frostborn: The Iron Tower, but it really depends on the category, like my favorite heist book, my favorite mystery book, my favorite dungeon crawl, my favorite first in series. So I think I'll go for the most basic level of categorization and split it up by male and female protagonists.   My favorite book of mine with a female protagonist would probably be Cloak Games: Rebel Fist, since it's such a turning point for Nadia and starts the trajectory of the rest of her character arc. It's the first time she really has to save the day instead of just trying to save herself and shows that her brother Russell can also handle himself, which as you know, comes up again later. My favorite book of mine with a male protagonist would probably be Dragontiarna: Defenders, since it has the Battle of Shadow Crown Hill, which was one of my favorite sequences to write. Four different characters have plans and they all crash into each other at the same time, which was a lot of fun to write and set up, which was a real highlight for me in 2020 because as we all know, 2020 was a fun year.   00:07:35 Main Topic of the Week: Writing Full Time: Expectations Versus Reality   So that is it for Question of the Week. Now let's move on to our main topic this week, writing full-time: expectations versus reality (admittedly from the perspective of a self-published author). If you spent any time around the writing community on the Internet at all, you know that many people dream of becoming a full-time writer, and sometimes people think that the only way to be successful as a writer is to write full-time. There are many expectations that people have about what it means to be a full-time writer. Now that I've been a full-time indie writer for nearly nine years at this point, I can provide some lived perspective. In this episode, I will talk about five of those expectations that people have about full-time writing and the way those expectations might be skewed.   So before we get to those, I should mention how I actually became a full-time writer. In 2016 (which seems like a really long time ago now), the Frostborn series was doing really well, and at the time I was also working full time and I realized that summer I was going to have to move for family reasons. I wasn't very enthusiastic about the idea of moving at first, but I decided to embrace the idea and try to make the best of it. This would involve moving a considerable distance to a different state and all the different problems that entails. So I thought about it and I thought I could look for a new job, but any job I would be qualified for in the area I was moving to would make less money than I was actually making from writing part-time. So I thought, why not try and make a go of full-time writing and see what happens?   Since that was nine years ago, I think I can safely say it's worked out pretty well. And I will say that it's been a pretty good experience and I am very fortunate and very grateful and very blessed to have been able to do this because not everyone has the opportunity to pursue a full-time creative job like I have been able to for these last nine years. That said, while it has been pretty great, it comes with a lot of flexibility and I've gotten to write a lot of great books that many people have enjoyed, it's not always all wine and roses, so to speak, which is part of the reason why I wanted to do this episode to let people more in what the reality of being a full-time writer for this long has been like. So with that introduction out of the way, let's move on to our five expectations versus reality.   Expectation #1: Full-time authors make a lot of money. The reality is that even full-time authors generally don't make that much money. A survey from The Author's Guild showed that the median amount that full-time authors make was just about $20,000, though full-time romance writers had a higher median income of about $37,000. Remember that this amount is before any health insurance costs, benefits, retirement contributions, and of course taxes that a traditional job might be able to provide or help with. In the United States, buying even fairly basic health insurance can easily be a thousand dollars per month for a family, and that doesn't include any costs related to deductibles, prescriptions, or additional dental or vision insurance. Authors are either on their own for healthcare in the US or have to rely on a spouse or partner's healthcare coverage. In other words, you either have to pony up a lot of money to buy your own health insurance or you have to rely on your spouse or partner's healthcare coverage.   And at least in the US, taxes are also much higher on the self-employed. Uncle Sam really does not like the self-employed. If you are self-employed, it is in your best interest to essentially form a small corporation and work for yourself (though for details on how to do that, you should consult with an accountant licensed to practice in your region). Now all these costs can add up pretty quickly, and they make the amount of money that you'll earn from writing much less than you think based on raw earnings before taxes and all the other expenses we were talking about. You also have business expenses like cover design, site hosting, editors, narrators, advertising, et cetera, that take even more pieces out of those earnings. You can duck some of those, but not all of them.   So it boils down to that you have to make a significant amount of money as an author to make an actual living after taxes, healthcare costs, and business expenses are taken out of your earnings, which is one of the reasons that writing part-time as you have a full-time job is not the worst idea in the world and can in fact be a very good idea.   Expectation #2: My next book will make as much or more than the last one did. The reality is that your next book or series might not make you as much money as the previous ones did. In fact, you can reliably predict that most book series will have a certain amount of reader drop off as a series goes on, which is why these days I tend to want to keep my series under nine to ten books or so. Budgeting based on your current income levels is not wise, especially with the current economic climate (which for a variety of reasons is very unpredictable) and with increased competition in the ebook market. Most authors have a peak at some point in their career. For example, Stephen King is still obviously making a great living as a writer putting out new books, but his new books don't sell nearly as well as the ones he put out in the ‘80s. J.K. Rowling's novels for adults (she writes as Robert Galbraith the Cormoran Strike series) don't sell anywhere near the number of copies as her Harry Potter series did at its peak.   For myself, my peak years in terms of writing income were 2016 and 2017, and I've never quite been able to recapture that level. In fact, in 2024, I only did about two thirds of what I did in 2017 (my peak year), which can be a little nerve wracking as you watch those numbers move up and down. That is why it is important for a writer (like many other creatives like actors) to anticipate that they might only have a limited window of peak success and to save aggressively rather than living large on the amount you're earning in that peak era. And I am pleased to report that I was fortunate enough and sensible enough to do that, so that even if my income has varied from year to year (2017 onward), it hasn't been a crippling loss and I haven't been out in the street or lost the house or anything like that.   Expectation #3: You will be happier if you write full-time. The reality is that is not true for everyone. Some people actually do better creatively and emotionally with the time restrictions placed on them by having a full-time job. Many famous writers, including Trollope and Kafka, kept their full-time jobs. Even Tolkien was never a full-time writer. He was a professor of philology until he retired. That was interesting to me because personally, I haven't had much in terms of emotional trouble being a full-time writer. I've always kind of had the ability to hyperfocus on a task, and I've been doing that for almost nine years now, and it's worked out well for me.   I've since realized that is not true for many people. One of the things that demonstrated it to me, believe it or not, was insurance actuarial tables. One thing that I tried to do after I became a full-time writer was try and get disability insurance in case I had an accident or severe illness and could not write anymore. I learned that it's extremely difficult for full-time writers to get disability insurance due to their high rates of substance abuse and mental illness. I was astonished by this because I've never had problems with substance abuse or mental illness myself, but given the number of writers and other creatives I've known who have had those issues, perhaps that's not that surprising, but I was still baffled to learn that.   For example, in my area there are a number of tree management companies (because it's a heavily wooded area) and it's a lot easier for an arborist who works with a chainsaw all day to get disability insurance than it is for a writer, which is somewhat crazy to think about because as a writer, I'm mostly sitting in a chair all day pressing buttons on a keyboard while an arborist is climbing a tree or in a crane with a chainsaw, which is a much more physically dangerous thing. But because of the rates of substance abuse and mental illness among full-time writers, apparently it is very difficult for full-time writers to get disability insurance. Some people struggle with the lack of structure and outward accountability that comes from being a full-time writer and find that actually decreases their productivity and leads them to fall into substance abuse or sink deeper into mental health problems. Very few people have the self-discipline and mental resilience required to be a full-time writer for years on end. And that's not me tooting my own horn so to speak, but apparently it is just the facts. Some writers even go back to full-time work just because they find it less stressful or better for their wellbeing. So I think this is an excellent example of having to know yourself and know what is best for you. For example, if you're a very extroverted person who enjoys talking to people at the office, becoming a full-time writer where you spend most of your time by yourself typing might not be the best for your long-term mental and physical health. Expectation #4: Writing full-time will make me more productive. The reality is having more time does not necessarily mean that you'll be more productive. Writers are notorious for falling prey to time wasters, such as social media scrolling, research spirals, and writing adjacent activities (of which there is a whole series about on this podcast already). It does take a lot of a self-discipline, focus, and determination to be a full-time writer. If you are a full-time writer, especially a full-time indie writer, you also have to balance writing time with various administrative tasks, marketing and ads, social media, fan correspondence, and the various tasks involved in the self-publishing process. Writing is not the only thing that writers actually do, and the other tasks often make finding time for writing more difficult than you might expect. Even traditionally published writers still have to carve out time for administrative work and assisting with marketing and social media work.   As your writing career scales up, so does the behind the scenes workload. This is true in my case. Up until 2023, I basically did everything myself, but I did have COVID pretty badly for a while in 2023 and it just knocked out my energy for a while and I realized that I can't keep trying to do everything by myself. I basically had a choice, either cut some tasks or get some help. So I have some people now, some contractors who help me with things like listening to audiobook proofs (I used to do that all myself), doing the podcast transcript, and Excel record keeping (which I used to do myself). While that is an expense, I don't regret it because it really has taken a lot off my plate and freed up more time for writing, which of course is the entire point.   Expectation #5: I admit this one made me laugh. I will have more free time as a full-time writer. I can attest firsthand that that is not true. What you have as a full-time writer is flexibility. The reality is, although there is flexibility on the job, the hours can be more than for a full-time job. There's a joke that full-time writers can work any 12 hours they want every day.   Most indie authors are putting out far more than one book a year in order to make a full-time income, and that requires a fairly demanding pace that most people don't have the self-discipline to maintain as a lifestyle for years and years on end. The majority of full-time writers right now are either romance or erotica writers who are putting out at least a book a month, sometimes even more. As I mentioned in an earlier point in the show, the administrative task can take far more time than most people would imagine. They could, depending on the circumstances, be easily 40 hours a week on their own before you have time to do a single word of writing on the page. I found you really have to guard your writing time well and find ways to keep administrative tasks, distractions, and necessary tasks such as home maintenance or childcare separate from writing.   Anyone who has ever worked from home is familiar with how difficult that can be because home comes with a wide set of distractions. Granted, that's often fewer distractions than the office, but home can have its own set of distractions. I've mentioned before that you need a bit of tunnel vision to produce the quantity of writing I do month after month. I do keep to a pretty rigid schedule. I have daily word count goals I always try to meet and I use the Pomodoro Method to make sure that I'm prioritizing my writing time.   If you are self-employed and working for yourself, that means there are no allocated vacation or sick days and no paid sick leave in the writing world. Taking a couple of weeks off usually means anticipating a loss in income, such as a month without a book being released. Sometimes, especially in the case of illness, family emergencies, and so forth, that just can't be helped. However, the long vacations people imagine writers being able to take mean either a loss of income or a couple of weeks beforehand of working extra hours to make up for it. For example, Brandon Sanderson, who is probably the most famous fantasy author right now, still works and writes on his vacations and does extra work before leaving for a vacation (such as pre-recording videos).   So as you can see, most of the expectations people have about what it's like to write full-time come from the hope that it will change their productivity or make it easier to write. In reality, if you manage your time well, you can often meet all your writing goals even while working another full-time job. Some people are even more productive under the time pressure of only having an hour or so available to write each day. You don't have to wait until you are a full-time writer for your writing career to start. I wrote for decades and published for years before I was a full-time writer.   Frankly, the idea that you need to be a full-time writer in order to be taken seriously or make money exists only in your own mind. Whether you are a full-time writer or not, what matters is having the discipline to shut out distractions and write with absolute consistency regardless of the circumstances. Even writing 250 to 300 words every single day can add up very quickly, even if you don't do it in 15 minute bursts like Anthony Trollope did.   Finally, I suppose this makes it sound like I'm painting a very bleak picture here, but I'm not. As I said before, I'm very fortunate to be able to do what I do, and I'm very grateful to all my readers that I'm able to write full-time and even hire on contractors for narration and behind the scenes work. I appreciate and am very grateful to all the readers who have supported me by continuing to buy my work and access it through subscription services like Kindle Unlimited or Kobo Plus or library options like Libby and Hoopla.   So that is it for this week. I hope it provided some insight into what it's like to be a full-time writer. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show and all 250 episodes. I hope you found the show and all 250 episodes useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

Esta semana Juan Luis Álvarez comenta las nuevas temporadas de tres de sus series favoritas: La Rueda del Tiempo, Cormoran Strike y Hacks, una fantástica, una detectivesca y una comedia. La rueda del tiempo (3 temporadas, 21 episodios, Prime Video) La rueda del tiempo es una fantasía épica que se basa en las novelas de Robert Jordan. Narra la historia de Moraine, miembro de las Aes Sedai, una poderosa organización de mujeres que pueden canalizar el Poder Único. Moraine junto a su Guardián, Lan, buscan a un grupo de cinco jóvenes aldeanos de la apartada región de Dos Ríos ante la creencia de que uno de ellos es el Dragón Renacido, que salvará el mundo. Lo mejor: Lo bien que se entrecruzan las aventuras de los diferentes grupos de personajes. El atractivo reparto. Lo peor: Que a alguien le preocupe su cercanía con "El señor de los Anillos" Tráiler Cormoran Strike (Max, 4 temporadas, 31 episodios) Cormoran Strike está basada en las novelas de detectives escritas por J. K. Rowling, bajo el seudónimo Robert Galbraith. La serie está protagonizada por Tom Burke como Cormoran Strike, un veterano de guerra que ha perdido una pierna, convertido en detective privado que opera desde una pequeña oficina y donde utiliza su visión única y sus antecedentes como investigador para resolver enrevesados casos. Lo mejor: La atmósfera londinense. La química entre Burke y su compañera (Holliday Grainger) Tráiler Hacks (Temporada 4, 31 episodios en Total Max) Deborah Vance es una diva legendaria de la comedia stand-up de Las Vegas, que intenta mantener su relevancia en el mundo del espectáculo como sea. Ava es una escritora de comedia de la Generación Z que no puede encontrar trabajo debido a que fue "cancelada" por un tuit polémico que publicó. Ambas se unen a regañadientes para refrescar el material de Vance... Lo mejor: La diva Jean Smart; increíble la fusión entre actriz y personaje. Lo peor: Algunas tramas parecen ligeramente alargadas. Tráiler

Comment un présentateur vedette de la télé, incarné par Hugh Bonneville (« Downton Abbey ») se retrouve-t-il dans la tourmente ? Quel incroyable imposture raconte le documentaire sur le Youtubeur Swagg Man ? Qui a écrit les enquêtes de Cormoran Strike, adaptées en série télé avec Tom Burke ? Les découvertes musicales : HAIM – Relationships Lizzo - Love in Real Life Miki - Motherlode Edouard van Praet - L'allumé Merci pour votre écoute La semaine des 5 Heures, c'est également en direct tous les jours de la semaine de 19h à 20h00 sur www.rtbf.be/lapremiere Retrouvez tous les épisodes de La semaine des 5 Heures avec les choix musicaux de Rudy dans leur intégralité sur notre plateforme Auvio.be : https://auvio.rtbf.be/emission/1451 Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement.

Min 5: LA AGENCIA (SKYSHOTIME) Adaptación americana de la aclamada serie francesa Le Bureau des Légendes, que explora las complejas misiones y vidas de agentes de inteligencia. La historia sigue a Martin (Michael Fassbender) un agente encubierto de la CIA, que regresa a Londres tras abandonar su identidad secreta. Golpe de mano de una de las plataformas que tienen que seguir luchando para ganar suscriptores. Raquel Hernández y Roberto Alncha ponen en valor unod e los títulos premium que encabezan el Filtro Rachel de esta semana. CALIFICACIÓN EDC: 4 estrellas Min 14: CORMORAN STRIKE: SORPRESA JK ROWLING EN MAX Después de perder su pierna por culpa de una mina terrestre en Afganistán, Cormoran Strike se encuentra sobreviviendo a duras penas como investigador privado. Además, acaba de romper con su novia de muchos años y está viviendo en su oficina. Esta magnética serie de Max, estrenada en 2022, adapta la saga literaria escrita por JK Rowlling, es una de ese series poco publicitadas que pasaron bajo nuestro radar y que ha querido recuperar Raquel Hernández copinciciendo con el último capítulo de su nueva temporada: "Un corazón tan negro" CALIFICACIÓN EDC: 4,5 ESTRELLAS Min 20: LA VIDA BREVE (MOVISTAR) Movistar rompe la baraja con una serie patria que bebe de la comedia ácida, satírica histórica y anti monárquica. Javier Gutiérrez y Leonor Watling encabezan el reparto de la atrevida "La vida breve". Miniserie de época de 6 episodios que recrea los sorprendentes acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar durante el reinado más corto de la historia de España con el monarca más desconocido: Luis I, hijo de Felipe V. Ante el manifiesto descoloque de Roberto Lancha tras ver el primer capítulo, Raquel Hernández pide paciencia y defiende las virtudes de una propuesta con mucha materia gris y un gram diseño de producción. CALIFICACIÓN EDC: 4 estrellas Min 26: FÍSICA Y QUÍMICA: NUEVA GENERACIÓN (ATRESMEDIA) Continuación, con nuevos alumnos, de la serie "Física o Química". El nuevo curso del Zurbarán arranca marcado por la pérdida de una alumna, lo que lleva a la cooperativa de padres que ahora dirige el centro a tomar una decisión: crear un grupo de apoyo para los estudiantes. El rotundo suspenso de la semana ya tiene nombre y apellidos. Nuestra Rachel saca colmillo para sentencir un regerso innecesario y fallido que intenta, sin éxito, rememorar el tono de la mítica "Élite" de Netflix. CALIFICACIÓN EDC: 1 ESTRELLA Min 32: ESPECIAL BSO CASSANDRA: suspense vintage en Netflix Nuestro experto Ángel Luque nos descubre esta semana un título de Netflix con sello y fiabilidad alemana. Un sleeper que ha ascendido como la espuma en su menú. Se titula Cassandra y es una turbadora mezcla de suspense, y terror. Una casa vintage gobernada por una inteligencia artificial que pone el vello tan de punta como la banda sonora compuesta por Mathieu Lamboley. La casa inteligente más antigua de Alemania despierta a su ayudante IA Cassandra después de décadas cuando una nueva familia se muda a ella. Cassandra, decidida a no volver a ser abandonada, manipula los acontecimientos utilizando los recursos de la casa para convertirse en parte de la familia.

Dr. John Granger and Nick Jeffery explore the theme of pregnancy traps and coercive love as a golden thread running through all the published works of J. K. Rowling. After detailing the number and importance of this plot point in everything from the Harry Potter series to the latest Cormoran Strike novel — even the Christmas Pig and The Ickabog! — John and Nick explore the possibilities of what this means for understanding Rowling's artistry and meaning from a ‘Lake and Shed' perspective.The seven Hogwarts Professor weblog posts that John and Nick reference in their conversation can be found here:Rowling Pregnancy Traps: Merope GauntRowling Pregnancy Traps: Casual Vacancy's Krystal Weedon, Kay BawdenRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Bellatrix Lestrange and the Cursed Child DelphiniRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Leda StrikeRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Four StrikesRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Last StrikesRowling's Pregnancy Traps: Fantastic Beasts, The Ickabog, The Christmas Pig Get full access to Hogwarts Professor at hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Happy New Year! Wishing our listeners and viewers best wishes in the new year. On our 360th episode, we chat about the things coming up this year including the new Superman movie, new music, the new Cormoran Strike novel, and more.

Join hosts Irvin and Sophia and special guests Dr. Beatrice Groves and Dr. Louise Freeman as they compare the main characters of the Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike series. Join the Discussion: https://threebroomstickspod.com/episode-49-strike-crossover-robin-is-a-free-elf/ In this episode: Robin and Hermione fighting for the underdog Whoever Strike doesn't sleep with is the murderer! The ins and outs of Hermione's dating life Higher test scores: the Ravenclaw's ultimate mic drop The protagonist's quest for fame Is Lucy the Snape of the series? A book series all about Mad-Eye Moody! Pat and Dumbledore are in a class all their own Midge is going to play for the Holyhead Harpies Contact: Website: https://threebroomstickspod.com/ Email: 3broomstickspod@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/3broomsticks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threebroomstickspod/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebroomstickspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/threebroompod YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@ThreeBroomsticksPodcast 

PRESENTACIÓN LIBROS 00:01:35 Booklovers. Amor entre libros (Emily Henry) 00:04:30 I don’t need therapy (Toni Lodge) 00:06:00 Mentirosas y encantadoras (Karen McManus) 00:07:55 Después de la caída. La guardiana de los dioses #1 (Tobi Ogundiran) 00:09:35 (Des)hacer las américas (Belén Montalvo)* 00:13:15 Cien años de Mendigram (Lorena Macías) 00:15:20 Un corazón tan negro. Cormoran Strike #6 (Roberth Galbraith) 00:19:10 Un cielo de sueños dorados (Laura Wood)* 00:21:25 Deberes: El ancho mundo. Los años gloriosos #1 (Pierre Lemaitre) PELÍCULAS 00:24:50 Las niñas 00:27:15 Libertad 00:29:10 El misterio de Salem’s Lot 00:32:05 Los hermanos Menéndez 00:35:50 Wolfs 00:37:40 Sweet Bobby: La pesadilla de una identidad falsa 00:39:40 Wild Robot 00:41:20 Stopping the steal 00:43:55 La habitación de al lado 00:47:35 It’s what’s inside 00:49:20 Deberes: Disco, Ibiza, Locomía SERIES 00:51:10 Paparazzi 00:52:40 El caso Laci Peterson 00:54:35 Luis Enrique: no tenéis ni pxxx idea 00:57:00 Engaño 00:58:45 Pachinko (T2) 01:00:20 The walking dead: Daryl Dixon (T2) 01:01:50 Industry (T1-T3) 01:05:05 American horror stories (T3B) 01:06:05 Pombo (T3) 01:09:25 Sólo asesinatos en el edificio (T4) 01:11:00 Love is blind (T7) 01:13:25 Deberes: Heartstoppers (T3) / Nadie quiere esto PODCASTS 01:17:30 Las amigas estupendas 01:19:30 Criminopatía 01:22:45 DESPEDIDA En este programa suenan: Radical Opinion (Archers) / Siesta (Jahzzar) / Place on Fire (Creo) / I saw you on TV (Jahzzar) / / Parisian/Kevin MacLeod) / Parisian/Kevin MacLeod) / Bicycle Waltz (Goobye Kumiko)

Cormoran Strike wordt benaderd door een bezorgde vader, wiens zoon Will zich heeft aangesloten bij een religieuze sekte op het platteland van Norfolk. Uitgegeven door Boekerij Spreker: Huub Dikstaal

Recorded Friday, November 1, 2024 Book talk begins at 19:20   Our 2024 Fall Sweater KAL is continuing.  You have until January 15, 2025 to complete an adult sweater and post a photo in our FOs thread.  It must have some type of sleeves - short sleeves are fine!  Check out our bundles of patterns for inspiration and join the discussion on our Sweater KAL Chatter thread!   Our Zoom group is continuing.  Please join us on Saturdays, 12 noon Pacific time.  All the info you need is in our Ravelry group!   EVENTS We will be at the New Years Fiber Retreat at the St Francis Retreat Center in San Juan Bautista, CA in January. Dates for NoCKRs will be April 10-13, 2025, and invitations will go out by Thanksgiving!    KNITTING Tracie finished: Rialto Baby Hat by Haley Waxberg in Universal Uptown DK in Aqua and Lavender Just Float by Stephanie Lotven (TellyBean Knits) in Apple Fiber Studio Sparkling Cider in Malachite and Life in the Long Grass Silk/Merino Sock in Autumn   Tracie continues to work on: Davis #5 by Pam Allen in Western Sky Knits Merino 17 Worsted- Nightfall colony Scraps Chaps by Barbara Prime #6 -“Chihuahua” in Encore Worsted …a hint of summer by Isabel Kraemer in Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Jen S. Green and JuniperMon Fibers Findley in Curacao Socks for Ryan in Marinated Yarns Practicality 75/25 in Melted Box of Crayons colorway   Barb is still working on: Yume by Isabel Kraemer, using Indigodragonfly R.O.U. Sport in the Is She all Green and Fuzzy and Mossy colorway   Barb has cast-on: Granito by Joji Locatelli, using Serendipidye Dyeworks 24 Carrot Fingering MCN in the Peppermint Julip colorway Two by Two beanie by Anne Gagnon using a mystery worsted yarn in a Heather gray colorway The Market Bag by Davina Choy, using a DK white cotton pima and a DK blue cotton pima   Barb has frogged:  Thundertwist hat by Knitting Daddy (Greg Cohoon) using a mystery worsted yarn in a Heather gray colorway Fibonacci Love by Hinterm Stein - wrong yarn for the pattern     BOOKS Tracie read: The Monk (DS Cross #5) by Tim Sullivan - 4 stars A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - 3.5 stars Re-Read the last two Cormoran Strike books - The Ink Black Heart  and The Running Grave.  Liked The Ink Black Heart better this time!  5 stars for both.  Can't wait for #8, The Hallmarked Man. Sunny Days: The Children's Television Revolution That Changed America by David Kamp - 4 stars   BOOKS Who Could Ever Love You by Mary L. Trump - 4 stars Mystery of L'Inconnu by Dan Grylles - 3 stars   Barb recommends Anatomy of Lies, a true crime limited series on Peacock

Librarians Desirae and Sarah discuss Kate Atkinson's Jackson Brodie mysteries, including the most recent, Death at the Sign of the Rook. They also chat about other character-driven mysteries and TV series. Works mentioned: Death at the Sign of the Rook; Case Histories; One Good Turn; When Will There Be Good News?; Started Early, Took My Dog; Big Sky and Life After Life by Kate Atkinson; the movie Knives Out; the TV series Case Histories and Downton Abbey; The Hunter by Tana French; the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith; the TV series Vera and books by Ann Cleeves; the TV series The Chelsea Detective, Professor T and Death in Paradise; and the TV series Dark Winds and books by Tony Hillerman. Check out books, TV shows and movies at countycat.mcfls.org, wplc.overdrive.com, hoopladigital.com and kanopy.com/en/westallis. For more about WAPL, visit westallislibrary.org. Music: Tim Moor via Pixabay

Capitulo 79, el primero de la décima temporada, en el que contamos con la excepcional visita de Juan, miembro fundador de este podcast ahora relegado al papel de Romano Invitado, faceta esta en la que nos hablará de un tema que nos apasiona a todos: el champán. Seguiremos después con las secciones habituales. Emilio hablará de las novelas de Cormoran Strike. Paco, con una mala leche que no le reconocemos, hablará de la alopecia masculina. José Miguel, como siempre al principio de cada temporada, hablará de los premios Ig Nobel. Finalizará Diego con la leyenda portuguesa de Pedro e Inés.Esperamos tus comentarios en Twitter @romanoslocos en Mastodon @romanoslocos@emilcar.social y en Discord emilcar.fm/discord.

Het zesde deel van de meeslepende, veelgeprezen en internationale bestsellerserie, waarin het onweerstaanbare detective duo Cormoran Strike en Robin Ellacott verstrikt raken een nieuwe zaak. Uitgegeven door Boekerij Spreker: Huub Dikstaal

Get a preview of the latest Harry Potter academic anthology, featuring a diverse array of essays on the series. We're joined by Dr. Lana Whited (Ferrum College), editor of The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter (University of Missouri Press, 2002), one of the first anthologies focused on the series, and now the second volume, The Ivory Tower, Harry Potter, and Beyond (University of Missouri Press, 2024). Quite a bit of Potter scholarship is contained in anthologies devoted entirely to the series, possibly due in part to the historical difficulty of getting Potter studies articles accepted by academic journals, but these anthologies have helped to develop a community around the subject. The first volume came out when there were only four books; by the time of the second, Lana was able to seek out chapters not only on the full series but also Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child as well as The Casual Vacancy, the Cormoran Strike books, and even The Ickabog. The new anthology, coming over 20 years after the first, offers something of a retrospective on how far Potter studies has come. While early scholarship was mostly written by literary scholars, the field has grown to include religious, psychological, political, and scientific perspectives. Podcasts have also contributed a great deal to discourse. Of course, the author's changing reputation has had a major impact. Emily, Katy, and Lana discuss their respective chapters, "Parenting Models in the Potter Saga and Cursed Child: Human and Divine," "Secrecy and Segregation in the Wizarding World's Hidden Histories," and "The Ickabog, Monsters, and Monstrosity," offering a sample of the range of topics covered.

Join hosts Irvin and Sophia and special guests Dr. Beatrice Groves and Dr. Louise Freeman as they discuss the parallels between the Harry Potter and the Cormoran Strike series: Books 5 and 7 edition Join the discussion: https://threebroomstickspod.com/episode-36-strike-crossover-strike-the-fatalistic-trapeze-artist/ In this episode: All the DH deaths were foretold! Charlotte always gets a “dun dun dun” Personal growth for Strike: bringing presents to nephews he doesn't like! Is Leda Strike the Snape of the series? Does Irvin like being dramatic? Was Charlotte Disarmed or Occluded against? Lots of mourning by the sea Books 5 and 7 are both very wet The killers we can trust! What's the interbook pattern? Wedding bands? Leap frogs? Sine waves? Resources: Book 5 as Prophecy for Book 7 by Sophia Jenkins Strike's Church Going by Beatrice Groves Robin Ellacott and the Running Hallows: Potter Echoes in the Most Recent Strike Novel by Louise Freeman The Double Wedding Band Model: a Possible New Model for a 10-Part Strike and Ellacott Series by Louise Freeman Rings, Double-bands, Stars and Asterisks: Which model works works for a ten-book Cormoran Strike series? by Louise Freeman Lethal Black and Leapfrogging: Connections between the Strike & Ellacott Books Four and Six by Louise Freeman For more from our guests: Beatrice Groves: @beatricegroves1 on Twitter Beatrice Groves on MuggleNet Beatrice Groves on Hogwarts Professor Potterversity Essays Exploring the World of Harry Potter Louise Freeman: @lmf3b on Twitter The Farting Sofa Faculty Lounge Contact: Website: https://threebroomstickspod.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threebroomstickspod/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebroomstickspodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@3broomstickspod  Twitter: https://twitter.com/threebroompod Email: 3broomstickspod@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/3broomsticks

I want to introduce you to Jann Weeratunga from South Africa who is our guest on this episode. Jann was born and grew up in Lundon. After working as a highway maintenance engineer for 10 years she moved to Sri Lanka where she married and lived for several years. Her husband passed away after they were married for four and a half years, but Jann continued to work and live there until she got the moving urge and ended up living in South Africa.   Jann has always had a deep interest in the para-Olympics. In 2012, while watching the closing ceremony of the London Paralympic Games, Jann was deeply moved by Sir Philip Craven's speech which included The tale of a young boy reading a book and recognizing a man with an eye patch, a hook for a hand, a parrot on his shoulder, and a wooden leg as an Olympian. This imagery sparked a transformative idea within her. Anyone recognize the man as a pirate? Jann did and began to write what is now a series of 10 children's books about Polly the Parrot or Pirate. Jann will tell us Polly's story and how this bird helped to create the Piralympics. This series is all about pirates, all of whom have disabilities and who compete in the “piralympics”.   To date, Jann has written over 40 books for children, some poetry and even books for adults. As she says, writing is a muscle that needs to be developed and exercised daily. This conversation to me is certainly quite inspirational and insightful for all. I hope you enjoy it.   About the Guest:   Jann Weeratunga is an author who firmly believes in the importance of representation and diversity, particularly for the 15% of the population who are often overlooked— the disabled community. In 2012, while watching the closing ceremony of the London Paralympic Games, Jann was deeply moved by Sir Philip Craven's speech. The tale of a young boy reading a book and recognizing a man with an eye patch, a hook for a hand, a parrot on his shoulder, and a wooden leg as an Olympian sparked a transformative idea within her. This powerful moment gave birth to the unique concept and content of the Polly's Piralympics Series (Paralympics for Pirates). Through these books, Jann tackles important themes like disabilities, bullying, and cheating.   However, plagued by self-doubt, Jann's journey faced a roadblock until 2016, when a friend who pushed her to take a leap of faith, reminding her that she would never know unless she published her work. This encouragement marked the beginning of her real journey as an author and Polly's Piralympics was launched in South Africa.   Jann's flagship series, Polly's Piralympics, has garnered tremendous success and continues to thrive, with the tenth book currently in the works. In March 2018, she established the Schools Reading Road Show, a non-profit organization aimed at enhancing literacy among primary school students in South Africa. Alongside her fellow authors, she embarked on a mission to visit schools in various regions, sharing inspiring stories, delivering motivational talks on important topics like "anti-bullying" and "it's okay to be different," and encouraging young learners to explore their own storytelling abilities.   Beyond her writing, Jann founded the Schools Reading Road Show, an organization that promotes literacy and encourages young learners to embrace diversity. She has visited schools, delivered motivational talks, and empowered children to tell their own stories.   Jann's impactful work extends to addressing conferences, conducting workshops, and participating in panels, all aimed at emphasizing the importance of representation and inclusivity. She continues to write Best Seller stories for children, while exploring different creative avenues for adults under her pen name, JE Gallery.   Her works have received several awards and nominations across Africa.   Recognized for her invaluable contributions to the literary landscape, Jann has spoken at the prestigious Embrace Head Teachers Conference in 2018 and 2019. She has also conducted workshops on the significance of reading for young adult pupils, participated in panels at esteemed events such as the JBBF (Jozi Books and Blogs Festival), South African Children's Book Fair, and Kingsmead Book Fair.   In 2020 on the eve of Lockdown, she organised and ran the Bennies Book Fayre for Children. The largest Children's Book fair for children in South Africa. To Date in 2023 she has attended the Zintzomi Storytelling Book Fair and The Johannesburg Festival of Women Writers.   Even amidst the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Jann found solace in her writing during the period of isolation. This time allowed her to focus on her craft, resulting in the release of her latest series, Patch's Pirate Pals. The first two books in the series, "Bluebird's New Ship" and "Redhair's Snot Cannonballs," achieved the remarkable feat of becoming Amazon Best Sellers in June and July 2022. ** ** Ways to connect with Jann:   https://www.facebook.com/JannWeeratunga    www.linkedin.com/in/jann-weeratunga-4aa852137   https://www.amazon.com/stores/Jann-Weeratunga/author/B07RPGCF61       About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi, thanks for listening here on unstoppable mindset. We're inclusion diversity in the unexpected meet. Today, we get to travel to South Africa to talk with Jann Weeratunga. I hope I pronounced that reasonably right. And absolutely perfectly. Oh, great. I like to I like to try. Jann is an author. She's created a series around what she calls the piralympics. And we're going to talk about that. But she has a lot of other things to bring into the discussion as well. So I think we're going to have a lot of fun today. So Jann, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here with us.   Jann Weeratunga ** 02:05 Thank you, Michael. We're really glad to join you.   Michael Hingson ** 02:07 Well, why don't we start at I love to do with kind of learning a little bit about the earlier Jann growing up and all that sort of stuff.   Jann Weeratunga ** 02:16 Okay. I was born in London. I grew up in London, schooled in London. I eventually got married and moved out to Sri Lanka, hence my very peculiar surname. And I was out there for about 10 years, my husband passed away. And from there, I moved into the Middle East. I taught for a year there and then came over to South Africa, and I've been here for 17 years now.   Michael Hingson ** 02:49 Wow. What? What made you decide to go to South Africa? Well,   Jann Weeratunga ** 02:55 I was hoping it seemed like a good idea at the time. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, it was after the tsunami I had. I'd spent two years working on the east coast of Sri Lanka, I set up my own NGO. And I met people from all over the world. And on one occasion, we'd actually been down the coast this way and driving back and the army stopped us and sort of said, Did you know that there's a tsunami warning? Why are you driving around and of course, where we had been, it had just been water and monkeys and us and that was about it. And in the car, there was myself, British, a friend who was from South Africa and another friend who was from Australia, and another friend who was from America. And it dawned on us, literally, as we were explaining who we were and where we were from, that we were four ladies from four different countries from four different continents. So yeah, it was it was a very different sort of thing. And from there I I made friends with them. And then one of them sort of said, Look, you know, would you like to come and visit South Africa? You know, I've I'm just finishing off here and my time is in Sri Lanka is finishing would you like to come visit? So I thought, Okay, why not? I've never been South Africa. And that's what brought me here.   Michael Hingson ** 04:28 Pretty, pretty interesting scenario all the way around on but you never thought that was going to happen. Did you   Jann Weeratunga ** 04:36 know I didn't. But, you know, life has a habit of sort of just taking you where it wants to. So yeah, it   Michael Hingson ** 04:44 was good. So we're in South Africa, are you?   Jann Weeratunga ** 04:48 I'm actually in Johannesburg. So yeah, so inland about 1000 kilometers from the in gold country as they call it. eaglet and So yeah, I live up in Johannesburg.   Michael Hingson ** 05:03 So you, you have definitely moved around in the world. Have you been to America before?   Jann Weeratunga ** 05:10 I actually haven't. I sort of came out of Britain and turned left instead of turning right. And I never got to the States or Canada is actually one country I would love to go to. It's on my bucket list, along with Iceland and a few others. But yeah, I sort of got as far as as far east as Sri Lanka and as far as South and South Africa. So you know, all the bits in between there?   Michael Hingson ** 05:39 Well, I hope you do get to come to America. It's a it's a large country. fairly large physically, but certainly a lot of different cultures and different kinds of ways of life, depending on what state you're in, and, and so on everything from relatively new in California, which became a state in 1850, compared to some of the other states like Massachusetts, in the other colonies much earlier. And I love to travel around America to see the various different kinds of pupils, the different cultures that have all assimilated into this one really great country, which is, which is a lot of fun to do. And it's really enjoyable to to see the different states and everyone's a little bit different.   Jann Weeratunga ** 06:25 Okay, okay. Yeah, no, it's very big. I sort of looked at Washington State and thought that was a place I'd really like to go to, because it looks very green, and lots and lots of trees. So, you know, I'd like to travel around America if I get the opportunity. So you never know, hey, hey,   Michael Hingson ** 06:42 you never know. Well, I'm actually going to be in Washington State next month. So it'll be it'll be kind of find I've been there before and love going up to Washington. I love California as well. But I've enjoyed going to all 50 states now and just found a lot of wonderful stuff to see and do in all of those various states. So I can't complain a bit. I find it to be rich and, and exciting. But I've been to a number of countries. I have not been to England, I've been to Ireland, and I've been to New Zealand. And of course, I've been to Canada, and to the Netherlands. And in Japan and Korea, but I haven't really been to South Africa. I'd love to come and speak there some time. If the opportunity ever arises. I think it would be fun to do. And I've been to Israel. I went to Israel in August because I was there to be with accessibly for a week. And so again, I love going to a variety of different countries and experiencing and getting the chance to be a part of other cultures. So it's great. Well, so you went to college in England?   Jann Weeratunga ** 07:57 I sort of Yeah, I was a bit of a dropout. Yeah, it some. I passed with straight A's. My first two years and then I just decided, I don't know, I don't know what I decided. But I got a job. And I moved up very, very quickly, and I got paid way too much money. So I just decided that I wasn't going to go back to college.   Michael Hingson ** 08:24 What was your job?   Jann Weeratunga ** 08:27 I was actually a highway maintenance engineer. I actually built roads.   Michael Hingson ** 08:31 Wow. That's an interesting and different job. No, you enjoyed it.   Jann Weeratunga ** 08:39 I did actually it was your same thing. Two days on the trot, which was lovely. And I like sort of variation. I don't like sort of being stuck in an office. That's not really me. So yeah, I really I actually did, I really enjoyed it. And I worked with a great bunch of people. All men, I was the only woman I was the first woman into the department. So that was a little challenging to begin with. But they got used to me and yeah, and then eventually I left there to get married and go out to Sri Lanka.   Michael Hingson ** 09:13 So how long did you have that job? 10 years. Wow. So you you obviously did enjoy it?   Jann Weeratunga ** 09:20 Yeah, no, it was good.   Michael Hingson ** 09:22 So what do you do as a highway maintenance engineer?   Jann Weeratunga ** 09:25 Well, you basically dig up the road and relay it in in sort of very much layman's terms. I actually was responsible for a section of the a 40 which is the sort of London to Oxford road. I was responsible for a section of that. And yeah, just making sure that everything on it was working well. It was supposed to it was kept clean. The lights were on. The Galley pots were cleaned out, there were no potholes. At one point we even managed to put a new footbridge across it which was They're different. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 10:02 that's definitely a different thing to do. But certainly I can understand why that would be part of your job. Yeah, yeah. Then what took you to Sri Lanka.   Jann Weeratunga ** 10:14 Um, my best friend from school was actually Sri Lankan. And we'd gone there when I was when I literally just finished my A levels. And we went out there for a trip. She came over to Ireland to see what Ireland was like. And I went over to Sri Lanka with her, you know, the parents thought it was good, sort of cultural exchanges for us. And I really liked the country. And then sort of 1010 odd years later, I hadn't taken any holiday, I still run a scout troop. So every weekend that I had free and my suppose it holidays, whereas he spent scouting. And I just I got to the point, I was very, very tired. And I needed a break. And her dad actually said, Well, why don't you go back to Sri Lanka? You know, lots of people out there still. You kept in touch go out there. And I did. And then I met my husband and six months of chewing and froing. And eventually, we he popped the question, and we got married, and I moved out there.   Michael Hingson ** 11:21 I'm assuming your parents were okay with that.   Jann Weeratunga ** 11:24 The Not really. She was the other side of the world as far as they were. Yeah. And it was way too far away. But he made sure that every year I actually went back to the UK for, you know, I actually chose your Christmas. Because that's a very family orientated time for us. And unfortunately, he passed away after we'd been married about four and a half years. But I continue to stay out there for another six. The tsunami hit during that time. I also worked as the club secretary for what was at the time, the only the third golf course in the country rated in the top 10 in Southeast Asia, which was the Victoria golf club sat on struggling. So for Duncan golf union, which is actually where I was in 911. Yeah, I was actually at a golf meeting. And somebody said, Excuse me, I think you should all come and see the television. And we watched the plane. The second plane hit. So yeah, it's for those ones. We know exactly where you were in what you were doing. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 12:41 most, most people do. Most people do remember that. And I've heard so many fascinating and interesting stories about where people were or why they ended up not being in the tower that day, although they were scheduled to be and even up on higher floors. It is one of those amazing things and there's so many different stories. And a lot of people have stories to tell about it, which is pretty interesting.   Jann Weeratunga ** 13:08 Yeah. So the world stop moments a little bit like, I suppose, the shooting of JFK and, and of course, COVID More recently, you know, I think everybody knows where they were and what they were doing during COVID. Yeah, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 13:26 we stayed home. My wife had rheumatoid arthritis. And so her immune system was suppressed and she took medication for it that helped the pain, but it did keep the immune system down. So we chose without any qualms at all to stay home, and basically locked down. We were blessed. We could could get things brought in through things like GrubHub and other things like that. And I did my shopping or an our shopping through a service called Instacart. That would bring things and it worked out really well. And we live very close to a country club here in Spring Valley lake in Victorville. And we joined a social members of the club. And although they didn't deliver food, they had food available that you could go down and get, but we were friends with the general manager. And he said, anytime you want food, just call him we'll bring it and they were. So we were we were blessed. That   Jann Weeratunga ** 14:21 sounds really, really good. It's actually something it changed shopping, and how we shop in South Africa. Prior to COVID, everybody used to just go to the supermarket or go to the shops. And we didn't have any delivery services. It didn't exist in South Africa. And it's actually created a whole industry of young men on motorbikes that deliver and I know in the UK, they had deliveries, but it sort of, after about a year it fizzled out and people got back to going shopping, you know, whereas here It is carried on, and people still get their shopping delivered from the local supermarket with these little guys. It's good dude outside your house. And there they are. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 15:11 we have their word delivery services prior to prior to COVID. But it certainly did pick up a lot in COVID. And after COVID. And you're right, it's changed a lot of things. And we can view that as a positive thing or not. But I think overall, people are starting to discover, even with working that there's no need to be in the office five days a week, eight or more hours a day that it's healthier, to let people do some work at home, and do some of their work outside of the office.   Jann Weeratunga ** 15:49 Absolutely, absolutely. But I must admit, I think I saw more dogs being walked around my blog than I had ever seen. People tend not to take the dogs out too much. Yeah. They were very, very big plots, and the dogs run around on those. But of course, that was the only excuse we had initially to actually be able to leave our properties. So all the dogs had their little walkies on a regular basis every day. So that was quite interesting as well.   Michael Hingson ** 16:18 I've been to places in Europe and also talk to to other people who live there. And I guess it was fairly common, even well before COVID, to walk dogs and even see dogs go into stores or restaurants and so on. And it was a common thing. But the difference between there and here and correct me if I'm wrong. But the difference is that most all of those dogs were well behaved and they were controlled by their people.   Michael Hingson ** 16:51 Generally, yes, generally. And   Michael Hingson ** 16:54 unfortunately, here, people just think they should be able to take their dogs, whether they're well behaved or not. And all too often, we see that dogs are not as well behaved as they should be. That creates a problem for those of us who use dogs like guide, like I use our my guide dog Alamo as a guide dog who's trained. And then they tried to put restrictions and has put some restrictions on us, because of those other people that they wouldn't really just deal with them appropriately. So it is it is a challenge. Yeah,   Jann Weeratunga ** 17:25 no, I know, from obviously the UK and Ireland, because my mum's from Ireland, that, you know, taking the dogs out for a walk is commonplace. I mean, dad would always take the dog for a walk around the block at night, just you know, before we went to bed. And it was my brother and my job to sort of walk the dog down to the park and give them a good run during the day. So I think you know, so walking dogs, it was it was it was good, actually, because it's a good form of exercise as well. And, you know, I mean, I would often sort of pop the dog into the car, drive up to the forest and go for a walk for two to three hours, you know, and then come back with a very tired dog. So yeah, well, that's   Michael Hingson ** 18:07 that's a good thing. Yeah. And sometimes attire, Jann, but but still, that's probably.   Jann Weeratunga ** 18:14 Yeah, I wasn't bad. In those days. It was bit younger. But the Yeah. Well, I   Michael Hingson ** 18:20 know one of the things about you is that you, you write you're an author, when did you start writing?   Jann Weeratunga ** 18:25 I think I've always had an interest in poetry, and sort of wrote little details here and that sort of thing. But it was more or less when I came to South Africa, we owned a restaurant down in Nisa, which is on the coast, in very beautiful part of the country is just above the sort of Jitsi, karma, forest area. And I actually lived in a wooden cabin in the forest, where I didn't spend much time there because I actually spent sort of like, six and a half days at the restaurant running it. But when I had spare time, I would actually just sort of sit on the deck. And just let my mind wander. And I started with the poetry. And then I started writing in seriously children's stories in 2012, which was the start of the Paralympics.   Michael Hingson ** 19:27 So love to hear more about that. What got you started doing that? And well, let me ask first, did you publish any of your poetry?   Jann Weeratunga ** 19:38 Would you believe I actually only published my poetry last year? And that was because some friends had basically seen some of the poems and sort of said, Why haven't you published the and I think it's the difference between being judged by your peers and being judged by children. So so most of them My writing is actually for children. But my poetry is obviously for adults. And funnily enough, I actually took a couple of books with me, I went back to the UK in May to see my family. And I took a couple of books, and gave them as gifts to friends. And they actually sort of said, well, would you read a couple of poems for us, and so I read a couple of them, and they were in tears. And I didn't think my poetry would have that much of an effect on people. So it was quite an eye opener for me. The other adult work I've done is I actually write adult short stories, dark stories, unfortunately. I know a couple of other authors that do the same. They write poetry, children's books, and dark, short stories. And I think it's a release from writing children's stuff all the time is to write sort of the dark adult stuff. But I've actually not that I'm not public, I've got two books ready to go. They've been sitting there for a couple of years. And, and yeah, and there's just a block there that the   Michael Hingson ** 21:10 public, are they going to be dark?   Jann Weeratunga ** 21:14 They are dark, all the short stories are very dark. And yes, but they're there. I mean, one of one of them is actually a monologue, for example of a character who has schizophrenia. And so they're obviously talking to themselves. And they're on a plane. They I say they because it was it's one person is on a plane, and the quieter voice of the two has actually arranged to be euthanized in Switzerland, which is legal. Without the other one, knowing what the other side of the venue knowing. And it's this, this monologue, and that's all it is, is this conversation the whole way through the story. And a few people that have read it have been, I think, quite shocked, because it's not the sort of usual happy clappy stuff that I wrote for kids. Yeah. And they were saying, Okay, well, when is it publishing? Have you got any more? And can we read it? So sorry about that thing? I can't stop that.   Michael Hingson ** 22:26 Look at JK Rowling. You know, she wrote the Harry Potter series, and now she's writing the Cormoran Strike series. And I don't know that I would say they're, they're darker, although I think the last Harry Potter book that she wrote was, was darker than the others. But she clearly throughout both series is a mystery writer. Because in one real sense, Harry Potter is all about mystery is being a mystery. Just the various things that go through it.   Jann Weeratunga ** 22:58 Yeah, I think the interesting thing with her work is the fact that it sort of it crossed genres. Yeah. And it was the first of all really strong, young adult series that came out really strong. And I think it defined it defined that that genre completely, you know, all those that don't know, young adult is basically stories that don't contain sex, or explicit violence as in blood, guts and gore type of thing. So So, and it's actually turned out to be a very popular genre, because a lot of people, they don't necessarily want that. But they want a good story, they will, you know, they don't want to read children's stories. They want to read adult stories, but they don't want that side of it. So it's quite interesting how it's developed.   Michael Hingson ** 23:58 Well, I will say any number of adults like them, too. I would love to, I would love to see more Harry Potter books. But there is a new series that's written by an American about one of his sons, James Potter, and five books have come out in that series, and they're pretty good. And again, there's some good mysteries in them. Well, so what got you started writing children's books and the pirate Olympics and so on. I'd love to hear that story.   Jann Weeratunga ** 24:30 Okay, I have always loved watching the Paralympics more than the Olympics. Right from a very young child. I was glued to the TV for the Paralympics. And 12 was the London Olympics, which I personally feel changed people's views towards disabilities in general. I think was a big leap forward for the disabled community at that particular point. But for me personally, it was, so Philip Craven, who's paraplegic himself was giving the closing speech. And he was chatting away and sort of saying, you know, there was this mother with her son, and they were reading a book. And in the book, there was a character and he had a patch over one eye, a hook for a hand, and a wooden leg. And the mother turned around and she said to the boy, my boy, who's this? And he said, Well, he's got one eye, one arm, one leg, he must be a Paralympian. And it was like one of those light bulb moments you get you know, you you don't think they exist. But it but actually it really did exist for me. And I suddenly thought, hang on a minute. Because he was talking about the pirates in Treasure Island. I thought pirates, Paralympics. Hang on a minute. There's something here. So I googled, and I Googled, and there was nothing, nobody had written anything. There was no parallel drawn between pirates and Paralympics. So I started. I spoke to a friend and they and I said, Well, there's nothing out there. Why is nobody written this story, you know? And they said, Well, why don't you write that story? So I did. And then I sat on it. Again, I think fear of failure as much as anything else fear of judgment. Being a bit dyslexic, it's sort of, I got really knocked by my English teacher at school. And so I lacked the confidence to actually pump in a publicize something. So or publish something. So I sat on it until 2016. And of course, the Olympics was round again. And the Paralympics were around again. And I found her and said, Come on your book. Enough now it's got to go out. And so I did I put the first one out and it was very well received and I had a couple of very very young readers that read it me young eight year old turned around to me and said, is Polly real? A Poly is a parrot that was born with one I stolen from her nest in Africa, ends up in Scotland where she's rescued by Captain hiker pirate and she learns to become a pirate. And and so I turned around, and it's a little bit like those sort of questions about you know, is Father Christmas or Santa Claus real. And you never burst a child's bubble. You never ever, in my, that's my rules. You never destroy childhood. You allow a child to be a child for as long as they need to be. And so I chatted to him and I said, How many parents are there in the world? And he said, Ah, auntie, there must be millions. I said yes, because over here they everyday call everybody Auntie's. If you go into a school, they'll call you and your listing they call your auntie, or uncle. And then I said, and do you think any of them are called Polly? He sat down for a moment, he said, I reckon there must be I said, Well, there you go. You've answered your own question, haven't you? So that was how Polly was created. And Polly creates the the Paralympics and they get up to all sorts of things, but they like made me realize Hang on. I mean, I need to actually do a little bit of a backstory here as to the story about Polly is the first one I wrote was just all about the sort of the actual games themselves you know, there's a master chef competition and there's a walk the plank and this time, the rigging gymnastics and what have you. And then I wrote the backstory, which was how they discovered the prosthetics. So my parents have blades and racing wheelchairs and prosthetic hands. And yeah, they they get up to all sorts of antics and lots of fun. So   Michael Hingson ** 29:26 you do you publish your own books, or do you have a publisher?   Jann Weeratunga ** 29:33 For these this set, I published my own books. I had a publisher for a book I wrote. I actually headed up during lockdown. I had it up nosology called locked down behind the mask. So I had a publisher that because for me, when everybody was wearing masks, it reminded me of when I lived in the Middle East and the burqa, and all you would see is the lady's eyes. So I had a publisher for that one. But otherwise I self published. So they all went up on Amazon. I'm on the 10th. One at the moment. The Halloween Paralympics is finished, but that won't be out until next year. So there'll be two others come out before that one, so, but there's seven on Amazon at the moment.   Michael Hingson ** 30:27 So you'll have a ghost pack, you'll have a ghost pirate.   Jann Weeratunga ** 30:31 There is a ghost pirates. Yes, they actually meet, they meet Captain Blackbeard and his ghostly crew. And they have to fight their way off his ship with the map, which is the map that takes them to the treasure, which, of course treasure is in the eye of the beholder. And that is their prosthetics.   Michael Hingson ** 30:50 That sounds like fun. Have you? Have you made sure that or have you done anything to make sure that the books are accessible? Like for blind people to be able to read? Are they? Are they put out in an accessible form like that at all? Do you know? At   Jann Weeratunga ** 31:09 the moment? No. I did have a gentleman that was with the Braille organization in Australia that wanted to actually have them, I suppose you call it translated it into Braille? And unfortunately, he never came back to me. So at the moment, no, I don't I don't have them on audio, audio is very expensive to do. And when I have so many books, because I'm actually up, I think I've been I've got over 40 children's books. So you know, when you're sort of producing a lot of books, it's sort of keeping up with them. And when you don't have a publisher, you have to do everything yourself. So you have to pay for the illustrations, you have to pay for the editing, you have to pay for the proofreading that cover everything that goes into a book, and it's quite costly. So the additional cost of an audiobook is not not something I've yet been able to manage. But I'm still hopeful. So yeah, I'll see what happens with that.   Michael Hingson ** 32:19 You might explore something like in this country, there's the National Library Service for   Michael Hingson ** 32:27 blinding and well print handicapped, essentially, Vegas, originally National Library Service of the blind, physically handicapped, but it goes beyond that. Anyway, they oftentimes will take books that they think people will read or that are popular, and they will produce them. And the reason they will do that is that they are protected under copyright law. So they are only available for people who have some sort of print disability. But still, that's a pretty good circulation. And what prompted me to ask the question was that I would think that people with disabilities could benefit from what you have to say as much as others do.   Jann Weeratunga ** 33:13 Yeah, I mean, for me, it's especially children. I went into a school here, recall, and they have, it's very, it's a mixed school. So they have children with physical disabilities. Unfortunately, not blind children simply because the layout of the school is too dangerous for the kids to be able to navigate. But juggle, there was one young girl, for example, had a prosthetic leg. And I remember going in, and I gave a number of books into the school, and I did a whole day chatting to the kids about disabilities. Because I believe very much about educating young people. And I think, I mean, chatting to you, for me is a real privilege. Because I think very often, by the time we're adults, we're too embarrassed or nervous to ask questions. And because we don't ask questions, we tend to avoid talking to somebody with a disability. And the children don't have that same barrier. You know, that they don't see color. They don't see disability. When I describe it a little bit like you know, being inside the box looking out as opposed to adults who are outside the box looking in. And I very much believe that if we can have young people able bodied as well as disabled reading books were characters have disabilities and I mean, as you my books are a complete flip in in many ways. So the norm because most of my characters have disabilities As Of course, they're pirates. So they've got something missing or they're blind, or they're deaf or whatever. So I've probably got about 80% of my characters that are actually disabled. Whereas most books may be, you might get 10% If you're lucky. So for me, it's important because young people, then able bodied and disabled can can read these books. And this particular young young lady I was talking to you about, I was invited back to the school about six weeks later. And she saw me across the car at the car park, and she came for flying over. And she flow her arms around me. And she said, auntie, auntie, thank you for writing that book for me. And I had this most enormous lump in my throat, that seems to be there for five minutes, I'm sure it was just only there for maybe five or 10 seconds before I could get, you know, regain my composure, because it had meant so much for her to be able to identify with other characters in the book, you know. So I think it's very important that these stories are available to young people, as I say, both able bodied and disabled, because I think it gives an understanding, I think it gives an empathy and an education to both.   Michael Hingson ** 36:29 You not only does it I absolutely agree it, it does. And that's again, one of the reasons I asked about audio or more another accessible version, I would, would think that   Michael Hingson ** 36:47 some people may shoot me for it. But with AI today, the so called artificial intelligence and the number of voices that are out there, that there ought to be some ways to convert the books relatively easily by comparison to even five years ago to audio, and then publish them. And   Jann Weeratunga ** 37:09 I did actually purchase a program that I can't remember the name of it now, because I'm not techie minded, but I was advised that that was the best fit at the time. But it's it sounds so mechanical. Yeah. It still didn't, it didn't flow and the emphasis wasn't on the words. Right, what I felt the emphasis should be if you know what I mean. So I do, I have actually recorded I'm very lucky, I do some work with a local school here, I actually scribe for for some of the boys. And they allow me to use their music rooms, which are all sort of, you know, soundproof. So I've actually recorded some myself, I've got one of the books is actually up on YouTube. That's the first of the poly books, and it's up in four sections. But the whole book is actually actually up there. And that's how Polly became a pirate. So I have actually sort of started this myself. And I've done it sort of through the YouTube roots. But yeah, there have   Michael Hingson ** 38:18 been so many great strides in voice technology. And so on that that even in six months, it might be a lot better. I don't know, I've seen some some discussions where I think there might be some some good voice, artificial voice things that are a lot better. But certainly if you can do it, that would make a lot more sense to do by any standard.   Jann Weeratunga ** 38:44 Yeah, yeah. Let's say and I quite enjoy reading my own stories as well to two kids. So it's, it's something I enjoy doing as well.   Michael Hingson ** 38:54 There are now some programs that can take your voice and create unlimited vocabulary speech. If it has enough of your voice to learn from how do we find your books? While you're one book on YouTube? Let me ask that.   Jann Weeratunga ** 39:14 Row. I think basically, you just go January Tonga, YouTube, and it will come up. Okay. How Polycom virus Yeah, I think I   Michael Hingson ** 39:23 look for it. I have to go look for it. I want to read about Polly   Jann Weeratunga ** 39:29 Okey doke. Good. So   Michael Hingson ** 39:31 is writing kind of full time job for you? Or do you have other work that you do to help income or what?   Jann Weeratunga ** 39:38 No writing is my full time job. That is what I do. I love writing for kids. It's a real I think it's a passion. You know, you either love it or you just don't go near it. And prior to COVID I used to be in schools two, three times a week. I was always is in a school somewhere up here. I even did a tour down on the Eastern Cape and took a couple of other authors with me. So, yeah, it's, it's become literally full time. And at the moment I'm putting out a book roughly one book a month? Well, I   Michael Hingson ** 40:19 think I think it's really important that your books, get out there and get visible. And so since it is your full time job, I'm assuming that you do write every day.   Jann Weeratunga ** 40:33 I pretty well write five days a week, I tried to just have a bit of time off at the weekends, sort of family time, but Monday to Friday. The house is quiet by six o'clock, everybody else's. So I actually sit then, and I write usually to that too. And then whatever sort of household bits and pieces need to be sorted out or shopping or whatever, whatever gets done in the afternoon, so but yeah, I put a good six hours in and it's a bit like people that do physical exercise, you know, you build up your muscles, and is a sort of, I believe it's like building up your mental muscles. You know, the more you write. I mean, I picked up, Polly, I haven't written Polly for quite a long time actually. I wrote a younger series, because a lot of people came to me and said, can't Can't you write a pirate series for younger children as well. So I had the patches pirate pals. And for a year, we literally put out a book a month, or 12 books out there on that series No, like on? Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 41:44 Are those books, oh,   Jann Weeratunga ** 41:46 they're all short little 32, page eight by 10 inches by 10. But those ones, I've actually left the illustrations to be colored in by the kids because I feel, especially with boys, they tend to be a bit more than sort of reluctant readers and you hear coloring in it sort of attaches them to the book, and they gain a bit more of an interest in the book. And from that you gain an interest in the words and the story, etc, etc. So that whole series was like that. I've just produced one from my niece. She's three in two weeks time. And she actually was my my illustrating editor, he saw the pictures and either like them or didn't, which was quite interesting. So my poor illustrator had to redo a couple. And I'd given her a toy dinosaur Bronwyn, the dinosaur. And my sister said to me at one point, you can't see anything except purple because Bronwyn eating the phone. And that was because I've sent the picture of Bronwyn, for my niece to approve. And so she was actually using the dinosaur to kiss the phone to those he liked it. So yeah. So but that one's a mixture of color, color and drawing. And so there is a color picture. And an opposite is the same picture just as an outline. And the kids can either use the same colors or their own imaginations. And I believe very much in that as well. I think it's very important that young people use their imaginations, you know, things have changed from from when we were children. You know, when we were kids, we would play outside, we would, you know, almost have fights with brothers or sisters or mock fights or, you know, we played cowboys and Indians or whatever it was we were doing, we do it. And we maybe would watch television for an hour in the evening, sort of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Weekends was always sports. So that was dad's time type of thing. But today, it's changed. And we didn't have computers, we didn't have smart telephones, we didn't have any of those things. You know, we used to sit there and do this huge Jigsaw which was four foot by four foot square, on our dining room table, you know, every evening was in pieces in type of thing. But today, it's changed. And I think young kids are in a way missing out and missing out on the opportunity to expand their imaginations because so much is spoon fed to them. So much as you know, Google is wonderful. I fall down the rabbit hole with Google all the time when I'm researching my books. And some of the stuff I come I find is just absolutely mind blowing. But it gives you everything. And I think with young people, if they're given too much, they don't use their imaginations that so that's one of the reasons why I like to. I've, I've created I've actually created two journals. which a guided journal is for very young children to start journaling, you know, so it sort of helps them guide them through. And that's actually part of the practice part ELS series, which is really aimed at sort of four to seven year olds, they're very young ones, maybe up to nine, depending on, you know, ability levels. But it's getting them to use their imagination, to write their story, their poem, draw their drawing, or coloring with the colors that they want to use. And if they want to give somebody green hair, that's fine. They know what color hair is. But let them use their imagination. Let them be creative.   Michael Hingson ** 45:42 We don't do nearly enough of that. And I absolutely agree with you. The the problem with so much television is that everything is just for store, everything is there, there's no imagination. It didn't used to be that way. Even in television, of course, early in televisions era, there was, it was an issue where you had both television and radio. And so people were were used to helping individuals use their imagination. But the longer television has gone on, the more we just put everything out there and there's nothing left for a person's imagination. I collect old radio shows as a hobby, and I love listening to old shows, because they still make you use your imagination. And even now, there are new series. And again, people have to use their imagination and fill in a lot of blanks that are deliberately left and can't be there because there are no pictures to look at. So you've got to do it. And I think television should do more of that.   Jann Weeratunga ** 46:52 Yeah. And books as well. I mean, I think books are wonderful. You know, when I go into in schools, and I open the book, and I say to the children, right, what am I doing? And I'm literally I'm standing there and I'm opening a book, okay? And they say you're opening a book? And I say, Yes, but what else am I doing? And they look puzzled. And I said, I'm opening up the pages to your imagination. And then what is imagination? What is it? And I remember one youngster gave a wonderful definition that it's like dreaming, but your eyes are open. But the story is in your head, and you can see it like a film, attitude. And I thought that is exactly it. Because I know, when I write my books, when I'm writing about Polly, especially Polly, Polly has a very she's very special. Polly and my parents are very special. They, that's my comfortable place. Whenever I go back to Holly. And I can see her, I can hear she's almost talking in my ear. When I'm writing her. It's a weird sort of relationship that I think a writer has with their characters. But she's so real for me. It's almost like she's speaking. And I'm just using my hands to write the words if that makes any sense. Yeah. So it's, it's wonderful. From my point of view, because I can just let my imagination go all over the place, you know. And then when you actually are reading the story, and you watch the kids faces, it is so special. Because you can see, they can see it in their heads. They can take their imagination, they can see the pictures, like a little film, you know? Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 49:05 Well and and that's the way imagination should be now, here's a question does skip and where Polly ended up does Polly have a Scottish accent? Sort of   Jann Weeratunga ** 49:17 weird actually. And he definitely has a Scottish accent. And all of his crew do. He has a cruiser quite there's nine crews and they each have quite definitive accent so the the Caribbean Jamaican crew has very Caribbean the turbaned Indians very much the cowboy Americans very much with an American lil. So each each crew I've actually given their own voice, which is important because it also brings diversity for the kids to understand the world is quite a big place that we live in. So we've got tattooed Maori And we've got Scandinavians, we've got Scots, we've got Zulus, we've got Greek goddesses, we, you know, we've got the the Japanese ninjas, you know, there's all these different crews that are very different. But they all belong to the fellowship of pirates, right?   Michael Hingson ** 50:21 That's really the issue, isn't it?   Jann Weeratunga ** 50:24 Yeah. Yeah. You know, what am I realize we're actually all the same, we all want the same things.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 One of the things that I talked about, on the podcast, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it today, because people hear it enough. But you talked about able bodied and disabled people, I work to try to get people to understand that disability doesn't mean and I know you're saying somewhat the same thing. disability does not mean a lack of ability. Disability is a characteristic. And I would submit that everyone has a disability, everyone in the world. And for most of you, as I tell people, it's like dependents, you know, when the lights go out, and you don't have an iPhone, or a smartphone of any sort, or a flashlight nearby, you're in a world of hurt, because you can't see what you're doing. So I submit that we need to get away from making a distinction between so called Able bodied and persons with disabilities, because everyone has one. And what we really need to do is to recognize that disability is a characteristic, and it manifests itself in different ways. Yeah,   Jann Weeratunga ** 51:32 yeah. 100% 100%. I mean, it's even down to one, you might disagree with me on this. But if all you've ever wanted to do is ride a bicycle, and you have no sense of balance, and you cannot ride a bicycle, you are effectively disabled. You are disabled from being able to ride a bicycle. Now, people argument they know that that's not really a proper disability. Sure,   Michael Hingson ** 52:03 it is. It's a it's a characteristic.   Jann Weeratunga ** 52:06 Exactly. Exactly. And I think that's, I think you and I are very much on the same page for this. And I know we had a little chat for a few months about that back end. Back   Michael Hingson ** 52:17 in the day. Yeah, it's been a while.   Jann Weeratunga ** 52:21 Yeah, we touched on it. But But But I agree 100% I think we all have a disability. But one of the things I do say is disability does not mean inability, correct.   Michael Hingson ** 52:33 It does not mean a lack of ability, it just means you have something.   Jann Weeratunga ** 52:39 Yes. And I think each each gift is different. And it makes us see the world in a different way. So for example, because I have dyslexia, I have to work a little bit harder. With my writing. There's nothing wrong with my grammar, there's nothing wrong with the my my word order, or the words I use, until I try and type them and then very often they can come out backwards, or I mean to this day, if I type the word, the, I can guarantee guarantee 90% of the time, it comes out HTTP II. Okay, and that's, and my fingers know what they should be doing. To this date, they know what they should be doing. But   Michael Hingson ** 53:29 they know what you want them to do, but they have their mind of their own.   Jann Weeratunga ** 53:33 They do return. So bit of what I'm trying to say there is that, you know, disability, if you if you look at the figures as such, they say that between 20 and 25% of the world is disabled. Those are the disabilities that can be measured. The other 75% they also have disabilities, they just don't admit to it. Right, exactly right. And now the stigmas that are attached to disability. And again, that's why inside the box looking out outside the box looking in, which starts for me with children, because if you are a child inside the box with others use you just as I said earlier, kids don't see disability, they're just friends, right? They all get on with each other. And if somebody can't do something, they'll help them or if they won't help them, they'll believe them or whatever. But the kids will learn to stand up for themselves. And they will get through that   Michael Hingson ** 54:30 until adults until adults get in the way.   Jann Weeratunga ** 54:33 And so the adults get in the way Exactly. But But what I'm saying is when that group of children become adults, and that's where we haven't got that that's why I believe we haven't got to yet. We're getting there but it's not got there yet. When that group of children become adults, because they've grown up with a whole range of people, different races, different colors, different abilities. It's just normal, it's what's around them. Whereas at the moment, we're having to constantly play catch up. And we're having to put into companies and businesses, the the structures for people with disabilities to be able to go to work.   Michael Hingson ** 55:23 As long as those,   Jann Weeratunga ** 55:25 it will just automatically be there. Because those are going to be the new bosses,   Michael Hingson ** 55:30 as long as they don't forget. As long as they don't forget.   Jann Weeratunga ** 55:35 But that's if we don't interfere. Right.   Michael Hingson ** 55:41 So when is Polly going to be in a movie?   Jann Weeratunga ** 55:46 Oh, my goodness, the big question. Yes, I've actually finally sorted out my pitch. And that's taken a long time. And I've actually a gentleman called Steve Longley. He has been my fairy godfather. He produced Hacksaw Ridge, which is a slightly different type of movie to what we're probably going to be. But he's been a real mentor. And that's why I'm giving you a little bit of a shout out to him, because he doesn't have to help me. He doesn't know me from a bar. So I introduced myself on LinkedIn to him one day, which is, of course, how I met met Sheldon and through Sheldon, you. And he, he's given me so much confidence. So my pictures ready. I'm helping a friend launch their book tomorrow, which has taken up most of the last two weeks. And once that's done, I'm actually going to be going out to producers and directors to see if I will hook somebody that will actually produce it. Because to me, it's important. And I think whether it becomes a TV series or a movie, I don't mind, it probably lends itself more to animation, simply because so many of the characters have disabilities. And I think the insurance for that, in real life would would go through the roof on a movie set? I don't know, but I think so. But it leads me on also to something again, that we touched on before. And that was basically when we were talking about actors, disabled actors. And at the moment most most actors sort of literally have a wheel on reel off for a walk on walk off part. There are no real central characters based around disability or very, very few very emerge now. There's one or two sort of characters that are, you know, building up or what have you. But one of the things I've been advocating for is, why can't disabled actors do voiceovers and dubbing there's nothing stopping them to do those doing those things. We need   Michael Hingson ** 57:56 to we need to talk offline about some of that because there's an organization called Radio enthusiast of Puget Sound and a whole group of people who are blind. And the president of that organization also is the lead in a radio Well, internet radio stations called yesterday usa.net. And there's a red network in a blue network, like there is on a piece on NBC in the golden days of radio. And there actually is some work being done to try to create some programs to encourage blind people to go into doing more audio type stuff. So we should talk about that offline.   Jann Weeratunga ** 58:39 I think so. I think so. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 58:43 Speaking of Washington, that's what we're going to do next month is go up and do for radio show recreations. And I and some other blind people and non blind people are all going to be parts of the show. Now   Jann Weeratunga ** 58:54 that's so cool. It's so cool. I've got a friend here, Lois. And she's just done an art exhibition. And I found it. It was a concept that I found quite difficult to get my mind around, obviously. You know, how can somebody who's blind do an art exhibition, but she's actually working with a group of people down in Cape Town, a group of blind students found in Cape Town, and some have maybe 10% site up to they have just a little bit but not very much, you know, and they're doing amazing, amazing work and I and I think just bringing more of this it needs to be funded, it needs to be supported. I mean, South Africa there's no funding for anything. We don't have electricity most of the time internet sometimes and water when they feel like it. But, but but, you know, in Western countries where there is a little bit more money, I think these things need to be fun. Need more supported a lot more than they are? And I suppose, unless we started up and start shouting, it won't happen. And so that's one of the reasons why I want to see my pirates and poly made into either a film or set of films or a TV series. Again, because it's something that everybody can enjoy. Maybe   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:23 well, Todd, what can I do? Sorry? Maybe we also want to explore making it into an audio series. Hmm,   Jann Weeratunga ** 1:00:34 I think so. I think so. Yeah, definitely.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:37 How do we increase the conversation around disabilities and get people? I know, you've talked about one way as children grow up, but what else can we do as adults to break through some of those barriers and get the conversation? more a part of the mainstream?   Jann Weeratunga ** 1:00:59 Oh, gosh. Well, I think number one, we have to identify the problems. And I think the main problems are and I'm going to talk about disability disabled and able bodied, if you will, just sort of entertain me on that. The more able bodied, shall we say? folk out there feel awkward talking to people with disabilities, they will shun away from speaking to somebody with a disability, they will avoid going to help somebody with a disability. And I think it's just such a stigma. And it's not the disabled person. I don't think it's the individual. It's just the whole sphere of disabilities. And I, I've watched LinkedIn recently, and there's a lot more out there and a lot more stories coming out. And I think I think that's a really good thing. And I think things like I know, the Paralympics does focus on the physical, and the Disabilities is a lot more than that. I mean, people in wheelchairs are only 8% of those with disabilities. Yeah, what is the symbol that we use for the disabled? It's, it's a word character in a wheelchair. Right. Yeah. You know, so. And I know there is a movement towards possibly changing that. I don't know how why is that is, in the sense that I understand why, but at least is recognized as a symbol for disabled. You know, there's pros and cons around everything. Yeah. And I think I think we just have to talk more, I think there needs to be, I think, all right, I think people are frightened. It's like when I first spoke with Lois, because I think she was the first blind person I spoke with. And I said, Louis, can I ask you a question? Should you ask me anything? But I thought I had actually say, may I ask you the question? Because I felt awkward. I didn't want to cause offence. I didn't want to be rude. I didn't want to say something that will upset. And I think that's part of it. With a lot of people. And we have to get over it. We have and I think that's what Sheldon did that for me. Actually, he was wonderful. We had an hour long chit chat. And I was chatting to him about how to use some of the analytics in LinkedIn and stuff as well, you know, stuff he had, and been able to do, and what have you. And it was so nice, because I felt so much more comfortable at the end of the conversation than obviously, I had at the start of the conversation. And I think just the more able bodied people, a person is, they just need to get over it. They just need to start talking to people. But it's our and it's hard. And that's why I go back to kids because I think, you know, to a degree we have to start with young people and educate them and bring them through the system. But then what do we do with all of us old is sitting at the top end.   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:20 But the awkwardness is more of a learned behavior than anything else. We we don't like to think that just because someone is different than us. They're necessarily at the same level we are. And we we grow up learning that which is in part why I said I hoped that children today don't forget as they grow up, because it's a learned behavior. And you're right. It's great to start with children, and the more children get to be involved in the conversation and carry on the conversation. and don't have the fear, the better it is, oh,   Jann Weeratunga ** 1:05:03 well, I'll give you an example on something. My niece, as I mentioned earlier is going to be three. One of the things my sister did with her, when for about six months on, she taught her how to sign. Now my niece isn't there. But there's a movement in the UK to teach babies to sign. Because they can sign I'm hungry, I'm full. I would like more. And, you know, I mean, there's obviously a lot more signs than those, I've just taken three, the very basic ones, they can do that six to eight months before they can speak up. So they can communicate on a level to express themselves, which also reduces frustration, and anger. And I'm actually trying to learn there's a guy called the Deaf chef on Instagram, and I'm following him. And every day, he comes out with a new sign. And I've been trying to learn some of those number one, so I can keep up with my knees and get better at styling than I am. But also, sign language actually just became 12 official language in South Africa. And I went to a restaurant one day, and there was a lady there. And I asked her a question, and then she sort of put her hand to it yet and said, you know, yeah, basically, you know, was was telling me she was deaf. So I wrote it down, because I couldn't sign. But the only thing I had looked say was, thank you. So at the end of the conversation, I actually just gave the sign of Thank you. And her face just lit up. It was the only thing I knew how to do. But have it made her day. You know? And and I just think that we we need to all make more of an effort, I suppose. And I think things like, Why can't say why can't we have sign language in schools? You know, over here, we have 11 languages, and they're all taught in school. So why can't we have some language taught and useful? The more we communicate, the more we talk to each other. The more I think barriers will come down. And we've got to get over this stigma of disability. And again, it's that word, isn't it? disability?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:25 And only YouTube anytime we need to learn it doesn't mean Yeah, because it's not a lack of ability.   Jann Weeratunga ** 1:07:30 Exactly.   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:33 If people want to reach out to you and learn more about you, how do they do that?   Jann Weeratunga ** 1:07:38 Okay, so they can they can email me. And I've actually, I think I've given you some of my links. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:48 we'll go ahead and spell out email if you want to or whatever. Go ahead and say it here as well, please. Okay,   Jann Weeratunga ** 1:07:54 what is quite a complicated kind of fortunately, but it's, it's, well, I'll give you my easy one. I've got one which is Jann Weeratunga, which is? No, maybe that's not the easier one. I think they'll probably is. It's J a n S Jans, Pics P i C S. SA for South africa@gmail.com. Jan's pics SA for South Africa,   Michael Hingson ** 1:08:21 at Gmail. com. That's pretty easy. Great. Well, I want to thank you for being here. And we will be putting the book covers and all the other things up in the cover notes. And I hope people will reach out this has clearly been fun and fascinating. And I want to continue our discussions later offline. We got to do some

V nejnovějším díle podcastu Audinovinky prožijete drama s tenistkou, naučíte se zdolávat své ego i být lepším rodičem. Pomůžeme vám být šťastnější, aktivně žít do vysokého věku, ale taky se pobavíte, budete vyšetřovat a možná přijde řada i na duchy! Carrie Soto se vrací - Taylor Jenkins Reid Ego je nepřítel - Ryan Holiday Tátou každý den - Ryan Holiday Hormóny lásky - Emilia Vuorisalmi Přežít - Peter Attia Přežít a závodit - Guenther Steiner Vyměnit vodu květinám - Valérie Perrinová Prach, popel a dým - Jarmila Pospíšilová Pozvaní - Jennifer McMahon Fosilie - Michal Kašpárek Dům na samotě (Josef Bergman #3) - Michaela Klevisová Černočerné srdce (Cormoran Strike #6) - Robert Galbraith A tudy se dostanete k youtube videu.

(00:00) Rojst Millenium (08:50) Gry usługi - sprostowanie (15:22) Last Epoch I Nightingale (19:38) Polityka wydawnicza Xbox (24:21) Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (27:43) Rock i Borys TikTok i Figata (30:10) Fujifilm X100VI vs Ricoh GR4 (35:24) Cormoran Strike i True Detective sezon 4 (40:06) Polska potęgą na Steamie Is It Really That Bad? - Bellular News https://youtu.be/1RftEFjfYhM?si=wYJcZ3PfyedKFUUg Czy LAST EPOCH jest DLA CIEBIE? Piotr Maciejczak https://youtu.be/1A7xiBAoxR4?si=6UDdRHbCyIjbm1vH Skill Up https://www.youtube.com/ @SkillUp Which games hit big in Steam's February Next Fest? https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/p/which-games-hit-big-in-steams-february Which countries played PC and console games... recently? https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/p/which-countries-played-pc-and-console Grupa Rock i Borys na FB - https://www.facebook.com/groups/805231679816756/ Podcast Remigiusz "Pojęcia Nie Mam" Maciaszek https://tinyurl.com/yfx4s5zz Podcast metaKINO - Borys Nieśpielak i Wiktor Obrok https://youtu.be/jMxVfgf_OQc Serwer Discord podcastu Rock i Borys! https://discord.com/invite/AMUHt4JEvd Słuchaj nas na Lectonie: https://lectonapp.com/p/rckbrs Słuchaj nas na Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2WxzUqj Słuchaj nas na iTunes: https://apple.co/2Jz7MPS Program LIVE w niedzielę od osiemnastej - https://jarock.pl/live/rock Rock i Borys to program o grach, technologii i życiu

Join hosts Ev, Sam, and Sophia and guest Nica as they discuss pigs in the Wizarding World as well as other J.K. Rowling books like The Running Grave and The Christmas Pig. Join the Discussion: https://threebroomstickspod.com/episode-23-pigs-harry-the-misfit-pig/ In this episode: Pigs! More Pigs Pigs at Hogwarts Is Harry a Pig? We be eating Pigs Christmas Pigs Pigs represent much Toy Story vs. Christmas Pig - the fight of our generation Dark Piggy Story Listen to the Pub's Jukebox Resources: Why Pigs are the Secret Protectors of the wizarding world by Sophia  Alivening HP through the Christmas Pig by Irvin Contact: Website: https://threebroomstickspod.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threebroomstickspod/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebroomstickspodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@3broomstickspod  Twitter: https://twitter.com/threebroompod Email: 3broomstickspod@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/3broomsticks

Don't have time for terrible

We are fans of the Cormoran Strike series and were excited to read the latest book.

AlTonya FINALLY returns with her latest episode. She's got lots to share including info on the upcoming Red Herring Book Club and ebook releases coming exclusively to the Als Readers Site. As usual, she's sharing all the details on what she's reading (the latest Cormoran Strike novel) and watching (Season 3 of Lupin is AMAZING)! https://alsreaders.weebly.com/

Thanks for listening to Season 4, Episode 3 of Dialogue Alley! In this episode, Erik, and Melanie talk about:News: Juniper Books has some new covers!Cormoran Strike's new book, The Running Grave by Jo's pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, out now.Main Topic: Sean joins us to discuss the Cursed Child book and the translations that have been printed. Translation of the Show: Cursed ChildDialogue Alley is part of the MuggleNet podcast familyCarly @alltheprettybooks on InstagramErik @knockturnerik on InstagramMelanie @theharrypottercollection on InstagramThanks to our special guest, Sean! @mcallister_alaskagrownThanks to our Editor: TommyImages of books that are discussed on this episode will be available on Instagram @dialogueallypodcast, as well as alltheprettybooks.net and theharrypottercollection.comJOIN US ON PATREON!! You can get access to our Discord, ad-free episodes, and our BONUS EPISODES! patreon.com/dialoguealleySend Questions and Listener Mail to: Dialoguealleypodcast@gmail.comVisit our site dialoguealley.com We would love to hear from you!Music:The Magic Shoes

Join hosts Irvin and Sophia and special guests Dr. Beatrice Groves, Nick Jeffery, and Louise Freeman as they discuss the upcoming seventh book in the Cormoran Strike series: The Running Grave Join the discussion: https://threebroomstickspod.com/episode-17-strike-7-the-strike-agency-camping-trip/ In this episode: Robin's green dress is very convincing! Linda has big Molly Weasley energy Strike will get the Elder Wand of Prosthetic Legs Strike is the Teddy Lupin of the series How many deaths are we expecting in the book? In a world of disgruntled siblings, who has the goat connection? We're all agreed on the kissing. It's happening   Resources: For all our resources for this episode, please visit our website. There are simply too many for the show notes.   The Pub's Jukebox: “We Just Want to Know” from Experience Marianas by Rob Rokicki & Sarah Beth Pfeifer   Contact: Website: https://threebroomstickspod.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/threebroomstickspod/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebroomstickspodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@3broomstickspod  Twitter: https://twitter.com/threebroompod Email: 3broomstickspod@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/3broomsticks

Return with us to the realm of refreshment in the wizarding world! Following up on Episode 29, Katy and Emily continue our conversation about the food foundations of Harry's magical universe, joined by guests Louise Freeman and Emma Nicholson. Australian Emma shares her different interpretation of wizarding foods based on her cultural heritage, including her expectations about butterbeer (why so sweet, America?). We ponder whether wizard butterbeer might have alcoholic content and consider the role of alcoholic beverages in the series, including firewhiskey and (perhaps) Felix Felicis. On the subject of beverages, we explore the cultural and symbolic significance of tea, tea shops, and tea leaf reading, as well as pumpkin juice. Emma also shares with us her thoughts on foods associated with Norse mythology, like mead, and how this opens up associations between characters and specific Norse gods (Dumbledore and Odin, Hagrid and Thor). She points out connections between food abundance and Norse myths, and we wonder, where do house-elves shop for food? Sweets not only seem to provide an entrée into wizarding society (“Happee Birthdae Harry”), but also signal rebellion in the series (“Have a biscuit, Potter”). Potter fans make a lot of wizard food, and Emily asks, “Why do we want to eat these books?” Louise points out that the theme of food is central to the Potterverse, and also the Cormoran Strike series and The Ickabog. We Muggles have attempted to replicate the drinks, sweets, and staple foods of the wizarding world, and you'll hear about ones we've tried and how we rate them. Food has an immersive quality that engages all the senses and allows us to feel more a part of this magical realm, but the characters' reactions, and the foods' dangerous and edgy qualities, also make us want to join in the fun. In our special segment we visit the Hogwarts kitchens to share Emma's recipe for Cockroach Clusters (revolting and delicious!) and Louise's experiment in competing butterbeers. Give these a try and let us know what you think!

In this week's episode, we discuss writing dialogue in fiction, and share eight tips & tricks for writing better dialogue. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction, Writing Updates, and a Reader Question Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 162 of the Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is July the 26th, 2023. And today we're going to discuss some tips and tricks about how to write dialogue. You may notice that I'm recording this a few days earlier than usual. There's some things coming up in the next few days I want to get a jump on, so I'm getting the episode recorded early so I can still get it out. First up, some updates on my current writing projects.  I am now 72,000 words into Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods, which puts me at Chapter 16 of 20 of the book, so I am past the 75% mark and I'm hoping to wrap up the rough draft soon, possibly the week this episode will come out. After that I will write the bonus short story that I will give away for free to my newsletter subscribers. I think it's going to be called The Final Shield this time, and if all goes well, Dragonskull: Curse of the Orcs, no, Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods will be out sometime in August. Dragonskull: Curse of the Orcs is the audiobook that I am currently proof-listening to and that should hopefully be out towards the end of August or possibly September. Once Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods is out and published, the next project will be Silent Order: Pulse Hand, the final book in the Silent Order science fiction series. So it'll be exciting to get to that to finish the Dragonskull and the Silent Order series back-to-back. You might remember, on last's week show that I had a 10,000 word day, while writing Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods, and I'm pleased to report that I've had a second 10,000 word day while writing Dragonskull: Crown of the Gods, which makes sure makes my second 10K word day of 2023. Since I had only one of those in 2022, this is very gratifying. If I remember right, I had nine in 2021 and 22 of them in 2020. Well, there wasn't much else to do in 2020 except write, which I'm sure we can all recall it quite well. Before we get to our main topic of writing dialogue, we have a question from reader Judy, who asks: Are you finished with Caina? And the answer to that is no. After I write Silent Order: Pulse Hand, the next book I'm planning to write will be Ghost in the Serpent, the first book of the Ghost Armor series and hopefully that will be out sometime this fall, if all goes well. 00:02:19 Introduction to Main Topic: Writing Dialogue Now on to our main topic of the week: writing dialogue. The thing about writing dialogue is that it's often tricky because the way people talk is frequently very, very different from clear and lucid prose. Conversations are often rambling and incoherent, even to the participants. The tricky part when writing fiction is that 1: you're writing a story, and you need to move things along and 2: you want the dialogue to be comprehensible so people don't abandon reading your story. However, you don't want your dialogue to sound like two computers exchanging precisely written and grammatically accurate factoids. How to strike a balance between these points? Here are some tips and tricks for writing interesting dialogue: 00:03:02 Tip #1 Speech Should Reflect the Character Who is Speaking Number One: Remember that speech shouldn't sound like prose, and it should reflect the character who is speaking. Consider the following sentence: Maura parked her car at the gas station on the corner of 48th and Truman. Now if she needed to convey that information in dialogue, you just repeat that like this: “I parked my car at the gas station on the corner of 48th and Truman”, said Maura. However, unless the character tends to speak very precisely, most people will not talk that way. It will probably sound more like this: “Yeah. Parked over at the gas station on 48th”, said Maura. “You know, the one across from the dry cleaner.” Or depending on Maura's personality, it might be more like this: “You know that gas station where Jenkins threw up in the aisle?” said Maura. “Parked the car there. Yeah. I didn't go inside. Places is a dump. They may not have cleaned up the puke yet.” Dialogue as we know is often a reflection of personality. If Maura was a law enforcement officer setting a trap for a bank robber, she might say like this: “Parked at the gas station on 48th and Truman”, said Maura, “Ready and in position. No sign of the suspect.” But if she was a criminal who had left stolen merchandise in the car for her contact pickup, you might say like this: “Car's at the gas station across from the dry cleaners”, said Maura. “The one where Jenkins threw up after the 5th vodka martini, you remember. Stuff's in the trunk.” Dialogue will generally be less precise than clear prose and should reflect the character's personality whenever possible. 00:04:29 Tip #2: Avoid Info Dumping Number Two: avoid info dumping. One common technique is to use dialogue to convey information about the story to the reader. This can be done well, or it can be done clumsily. Science fiction and fantasy writers, alas tend to fall into this trap all too often because we have exotic concepts to explain to the audience, but you can see the problem very easily when it's done badly. Let's use a modern day example. Jenkins and Maura are about to fly on a plane departing from an American airport, and Maura has never flown before, so Jenkins needs to explain how a TSA security check works. In real life, the conversation would probably go like this: “So what am I supposed to do here?” said Maura Jennings sighed. “Didn't you read the PDF I sent you?” She rolled her eyes. “Fine”, said Jenkins. “Look, you put your stuff in these plastic tubs and then you take off your shoes and go through the scanner. Since you're wearing a tank top and TSA guys are usually pervs, you're going to get the enhanced pat down.” He feigned groping his own chest. “Don't be a jerk.” Now a writer succumbing to info dumping would probably have the conversation go like this: “So what am I supposed to do here?” said Maura. Jenkins turned to her. “As you know, Maura, in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the United States Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which created the Transportation Security Administration, which henceforth would have authority over civilian airport security on United States soil. Initially part of the Transportation Department, the TSA was moved under the authority of Homeland Security when that department was created in March of 2003….” You see the problem? No one actually talks that way in real life. The problem comes in when writers use infodumping and dialogue as a shortcut to worldbuilding. Fantasy and science fiction writers succumb to that temptation a lot, but we're not the only ones. Thriller writers, mystery writers, and romance writers whose protagonists have a lot of back story tend to fall into the shortcut as well. The better way to deal with this is with just enough information in the dialogue for the conversation to make sense, but to leave out enough that the reader is interested in finding out what is going to happen. Humans are innately curious. This is why when someone mentions something interesting that you've never heard before (like for example, your new boss is recently divorced and now engaged to the departmental secretary), the conversation immediately moves in that direction. But if two fictional characters mention something the reader hasn't heard before, they aren't obliged to explain it to the reader immediately, which will help hold their interest. For example, let's go back to Jenkins and Maura: “You've seriously never been on a plane before,” said Jenkins as Maura collected her stuff from the TSA's plastic tubs. “Nope”, said Maura, her frown edging towards a scowl. “Why not?” “Tyler was always going to take me to LA”, said Maura. “Where are we going next?” Her expression said further questions would not receive any answers, so they continued to the gate. In the story, if this is the first mention of Tyler, it adds a bit of mystery. Who is Tyler and why is Maura mad at him? If this is a romance, Tyler could be her ex. If this is a mystery or a thriller novel, Tyler could be a fellow criminal or another law enforcement officer. Not only is this closer to the way that real people actually talk, it provides a bit of a minor hook to keep the reader interested in the book and to keep the reader reading on. 00:07:40 Tip #3: Subtext Number Three: One of the most incredibly annoying things about human conversation is that people rarely say what they actually mean, and the surface topic of the conversation is often unconnected with the real meaning of the conversation. This is called subtext. One of the most common examples is Sherlock Holmes and his archnemesis Professor Moriarty playing chess. Holmes and Moriarity are discussing the game, but that's just the surface conversation. They're really talking about their rivalry. Or a Mafia thug walks into a shop and tells the owner that these rickety old buildings really need to have fire insurance. The Mafia guy isn't talking about the fire code or actually selling insurance. He's giving the subtle warning to the owner that he needs to pay protection money or his business is going to start suffering “accidents.” This can take place in less fraught circumstances. Like for example, a woman is angry than a man has been promoted over her at work. Rather than address the issue, she might start complaining about the contents of the vending machines, or insisting that every new project is doomed to failure. The contents of the vending machine or the scope of the project are irrelevant. The subtext to her complaints is that she's not happy she wasn't promoted. Communication breakdown can occur when the person speaking thinks their subtext is obvious and clear, but the person listening (listening, that's hard to say), but the person listening misses it entirely. Let's have some examples. Say Maura and Jenkins both worked for MegaCorp and Maura thinks the current district manager is incompetent and wants the job for herself. “Profits are down, production is down, and turnover is way up,” said Mora. “This can't keep going on.” “Uh-huh”, said Jenkins. “And I suppose you have a great idea about how to fix it?” Maura put her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Well, what if I do? Someone needs to step up and fix things.” In this conversation, Maura isn't flat out saying “I want to be the district manager.” She's just saying that things aren't going well and they need to be fixed. Indeed, she doesn't mention the district manager job at all. But it's immediately obvious to Jenkins (and hopefully to the reader), that Maura wants the job. If Jenkins misses the subtext, it might cause a conflict with Maura: “Profits are down, production is down, and turnover is way up,” said Maura. “This can't keep going on.” Jenkins shrugged. “The economy is bad. Inflation's up. Can't do much about that.” Maura folded her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Maybe we need some new leadership.” Jenkins groaned. “From where? We would need another search committee.” “An internal hire would be a better choice.” Jenkins laughed. “The people who already work here are idiots. If we did an internal search for a district manager, we'd probably end up with one even dumber than the one we already have.” Maura scoffed, shook her head, and stalked off. Jenkins watched her go, wondering what had annoyed her so much. Maybe those high heels were pinching her toes. So subtext can be a way to make dialogue more interesting to the reader, which leads us to the opposite of this technique: 00:10:40 Tip #4: The Character is Imagining a Subtext That Doesn't Exist Number Four: the character is imagining a subtext that doesn't actually exist. This happens all the time in real life, where people impute meanings to your speech that you didn't actually intend. Examples are myriad and you can no doubt think of several you have personally experienced from off the top of your head. For example, say someone invites you to a movie and you declined to go, saying that you don't feel up to it, maybe your stomach is upset. You have a headache, your knees hurt, or you're simply exhausted or broke and don't feel like going, but if you felt better or had more money, you would go to the movie. Except the person who invited you takes it as a personal insult, even though that wasn't your intent and not the subtext at all. The person who invited you imagined a subtext to your answer that did not exist.  This also happens a lot on social media, where a lot of the visual and auditory cues that usually accompany conversation are absent. No doubt you like me, you can think of many examples. A great example from fiction is from J.R.R. Tolkien's Unfinished Tales, which is a collection of side writings and alternate drafts from when Tolkien was working on Lord of the Rings. In one section, Gandalf the Grey is speaking with Saruman the White, and they're discussing the problem of the One Ring. As they talk, Gandalf is smoking a pipe and blowing smoke rings. And Saruman (who by this time has fallen to Evil and is seeking the ring for himself) thinks that Gandalf is taunting him with the smoke rings, but Gandalf is doing no such thing. He still thinks of Saruman as a friend and trustworthy ally, and he just wants to smoke a pipe as they discuss the problem. The smoke rings are just to tease Saruman a little since Saruman has been giving Gandalf a hard time about smoking. At this point, Gandalf doesn't even know that Bilbo Baggins' magic ring is actually the One Ring. In his pride and paranoia, Saruman is imagining a subtext to the conversation that doesn't actually exist. Imaginary subtext often occurs when one character knows something that the other does not, but is unaware that the other character doesn't have this information. Let's have an example. In this version of Maura and Jenkins, Maura has arranged for the district manager of MegaCorp to get fired so she can get the job, but feels guilty about it. Jenkins is unaware of her machinations. “So, we're getting a new district manager?” said Jenkins. “Well, security just escorted the old one out the door, so yeah,” said Maura. “I wonder who the new one will be.” “An absolute moron,” said Jenkins. She glared at him, but he didn't notice. “Only a complete idiot would take over that job. Someone with more ambition than brain cells.” “Oh, very clever,” said Maura. “You've just been waiting to say that. Why don't you let me know how you really feel?” “What?” said Jenkins, surprised at your irritation. “What did I say?” As we can see in that example, Maura felt insulted, but Jenkins' intent wasn't to insult her, merely to observe that anyone stepping into the thankless job of district manager would regret it. But Maura thought Jenkins was talking about her and took it personally. 00:13:33 Tip #5: Profanity is Overrated. Number Five: profanity is overrated and everyone swears all the time in modern fiction, but it happens so often that profanity has become stale and overhead. It's like garlic salt or maybe cayenne peppers: a little bit goes a long way, and it's usually less than you think. Like, profanity might have been shocking 40 or 50 years ago, but most people swear constantly now, and writers tend to use profanity as a crutch, so it's best to go against the current and dial back the profanity. If you use a lot of profanity in your books, you're not being shocking or subversive, you're just being boring like everyone else. A good example might be The Avengers: Endgame movie. In the movie at a climatic moment, Tony Stark says, “And I am Iron Man.” However, in the original script, the line was apparently “F you Thanos.” Wouldn't that have been so much more boring? It sounds like something someone would say in a minor traffic accident or an argument about the building's shared dumpster: “Stop putting your ****** recycling in the trash can, Thanos!” But apparently one of the producers thought up the line at the absolute last minute, convinced the directors and the actor, and they shot it as a reshoot. It was a good decision, in my opinion, because the line is so much better. It perfectly fits how Stark's character always needs to have the last word and is an excellent callback to the first Iron Man movie from 2008. So it's best to be intentional with the use of profanity and not to use it as a crutch. An otherwise straightlaced character swearing in a moment of crisis could demonstrate the seriousness of the situation. Alternatively, you could have a character who swears a lot, except when he gets really angry, when he calms down and stops swearing entirely-it's the people who calm down and get calm and focused when they get angry you really have to watch out for. An observation after 12 years of self-publishing: no matter the level of profanity you have in your books, someone will be annoyed at you. If you have no profanity at all, people will complain that's unrealistic, especially if you're writing about soldiers and workmen and other people who traditionally curse a lot. Alternatively, if you have any level of profanity, people will complain about this as well. Like I recently got an email from a reader expressing gentle disappointment that Nadia swears so much in my book, Cloak of Dragonfire. But here's the thing: I tone it way down for the book. In my head, Nadia swears like an angry drill sergeant, or maybe a roofer who just accidentally shot himself in the foot with his nail gun, especially when she gets angry. But for the reasons I listed above, I don't like to overdo it, so that's a good reminder that no matter what you write, someone will be annoyed, so you might as well write as you think best. But overusing profanity is, in my opinion, just lazy. 00:16:14 #6: People Very Often Don't Answer Direct Questions Number six: people very often don't answer direct questions. If you listen carefully to real life conversations, you will notice that people rarely answer questions directly and often go off on tangents unconnected to the question. There's a quote from Lord of the Rings that illustrates the point perfectly, and short enough that I'll just read it here. The quote comes from pages 611-612 of the single-volume THE LORD OF THE RINGS hardback edition published in 1991 by Houghton Mifflin: ”Are we riding far tonight?” Gandalf asked Merry after a while. “I don't know how you feel with the small rag-tag dangling behind you but the rag-tag is tired and will be glad to stop dangling and lie down.” “So you heard that?” said Gandalf. “Don't let it rankle! Be thankful no longer words were aimed at you. He had his eyes on you. If it is any comfort to your pride, I should say that, at the moment, you and Pippin are more in his thoughts than the rest of us. Who you are; how you came here, and why; what you know; whether you were captured, and if so, how you escaped when all the orcs perished—it is with those little riddles that the great mind of Saruman is troubled. A sneer from him, Meriadoc, is a compliment, if you feel honoured by his concern.”  “Thank you!” said Merry. “But it is a greater honour to dangle at your tail, Gandalf. For one thing, in that position one has a chance of putting a question a second time. Are we riding far tonight?”  Gandalf laughed. “A most unquenchable hobbit! All wizards should have a hobbit or two in their care—to teach them the meaning of the word, and to correct them.” This quote is almost a perfect example of what I was talking about. In this conversation, Merry wanted to know how much farther they were riding tonight. Gandalf, his mind still occupied by the recent defeat of Saruman at Orthanc, ends up talking about that, which Mary mentioned as a joke. But Merry points out that Gandalf failed to answer the question, and Gandalf laughs and concedes the point. Here's another example with Maura and Jenkins. In this example, Maura has just become the new district manager of Megacorp and is very pleased with herself. Jenkin needs her to sign off on the Busywork Reports for the month, but Maura is still too happy with her new job and is going off on tangents. “Since you're district manager now, mind just signing off on those Busywork Reports?” said Jenkins, dropping the sheaf of papers on Maura's desk, which was entirely too large and expensive, he thought, given that it held only a laptop computer and Maura's new nameplate. “Assuming you're not too busy rewriting the dress code.” “Oh, that's just the start,” said Maura. She rose to her feet and paced to her windows. They looked impressive, but they faced the western parking lot, and Jenkins knew for a fact he got unpleasantly hot here during the afternoon. “There are going to be big changes around here, big changes. First thing, we're getting rid of all the deadwood. No more two hour lunches. No more days off so people can have a mental health day with their dogs or whatever.” “That's great,” said Jenkins. “But can you do that after you sign the Busy Work Reports?” Maura gave him an irritated glance. Now you can use this technique in a couple of different ways. It could show what someone is intending to do, as Maura's example indicates. You can also use it to show if someone doesn't actually want to answer the question, since the person being asked will keep locking onto new tangents and changing the topic to avoid the question. 00:19:06 Tip #7: Avoid Phonetic Dialects #7: avoid phonetic dialects. This might be a personal preference, but I strongly dislike when writers use phonetic dialects in dialogue. This is when the reader mutilates spelling to create an illusion of a dialect or an accent. For example, let's say Jenkins was about to say this: “Well, I reckon it's my it's time that my dog is hankering for his dinner,” said Jenkins. “Well, Ayuh reckin it's a-time fer me dahg to be hankerin' fer his dinnuh,” said Jenkins, his voice covered with the accent of a writer attempting to create an illusion of a dialect and failing miserably.  Really, I find that very annoying and I'm not the only one. It's lazy writing. It borders on indulging in stereotyping, which is another kind of lazy writing. Since a stereotype is just a symbol used to represent a person so you since you don't have to do so, you don't have to do the hard work of describing that person. Phonetic dialect is also really hard to read, since your brain has to interpret the odd spellings. HP Lovecraft had a bad habit of doing this, and perhaps the single worst example I've ever read is at The Color at the End of Space, an otherwise excellent story. When the farmer attempts to explain the sinister alien force that invaded his farm and Lovecraft does his best attempt at a rural New England farmer accent and fails miserably. JK Rowling writes the excellent Cormoran Strike private investigator novels, but she occasionally uses phonetic dialect to represent the various different regional UK accents and it's just annoying. If you want to represent a regional accent, in my opinion it's better to do with patterns of speech, vocabulary and perhaps regional slang than with phonetic spellings. 00:20:42 Tip #8: One More Thing #8: One more thing. One curious feature of human conversations at the main point doesn't often arrive until the conversation is nearly over. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals notice this a lot. During an interaction with the patient, the main point, the actual reason for the visit, often won't come until the end of the conversation, usually presaged with “oh, one more thing.” This is usually true if the ailment in question is sensitive or somehow embarrassing. You see this in police procedurals and mystery novels quite a bit. The detective will be talking with the suspect or witness about something else entirely, getting them into a conversational rhythm and then drop the main question- when was the last time you saw Maura and Jenkins talking together, for example. And what were they doing? Let's have an example. In this example, newly promoted district manager Maura is asking Jenkins about Megacorp's most important account, which the company is in danger of losing: “So,” said Maura, fiddling with the paper clip holder on her oversized desk. “How are things in your department?” Jenkins shrugged. “About the same? No one really misses the old manager. Though people are just loving all the new dress code memos.” “Right, right,” said Maura, still sorting through the paper clips. “It's important that we represent a professional appearance. No more showing up to work in jeans or cargo shorts.” Jenkins smirked. “Yes, that will increase profits, won't it? Good to know that we are prioritizing the important things.” The sarcasm went right over her head. “Look, um, said Maura, and she stopped playing with the paper clips and folded her hands on the desk. “The government account. We need to talk about that.” “Ah”, said Jenkins. “I suppose you didn't call me in here to talk about the dress code after all.” In this example, Maura is worried about the big account, but can't bring herself to ask Jenkins about it right away. You can use this technique frequently or occasionally to indicate if a character is nervous or what the main thing they're worried about is, since they won't bring it up till the end of the conversion. So hopefully, those eight tips and tricks will help you write more realistic and entertaining dialogue for your readers. So that's it for this week. Thanks for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Esta semana venimos salvajes Empezamos en Atresplayer, primero hablando de un grupo de amigas que deciden liberarse de los tabúes y autodenominarse “Zorras”, sin movernos de la plataforma de Antena 3 nos acercamos a un pedazo de la historia española con “Las Noches de Tefía” y para terminar nos reencontramos con Raylan Givens en la secuela de “Justified” titulada ahora Ciudad Salvaje. Todo ello, como siempre sin spoilers. Además hablamos de más series incluidas Kids in Crime, Cormoran Strike, el documental de Sinnead O'Connor, Afterparty, And just like that y el Grand Prix del verano. Todo ello sin spoilers 00:00 - 10:05 — Introducción y comentarios de los oyentes 10:05 - 15:50 — Sandra Valero Eurovision Junior y el BenidormFest 2024 15:50 - 31:35 — Qué hemos visto esta semana 31:35 - 43:20 — Zorras (A3 Player Premium) 43:20 - 1:00:10 —Las Noches de Tefía (A3 Player Premium) 1:00:10 - 1:12:23— Justified: Ciudad Salvaje Únete a nuestro grupo de Telegram: https://t.me/PodcastEnSerio Y estamos en Twitter: https://twitter.com/PodcastEnSerio ⌨️Correo: ivodelgadorivero@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticoenserio/?hl=en-gb

This week Tim sits down with Stewart Lynch to talk about his video teaching Swift coding. Steve has had a long career teaching computers in education, professional software applications and now in his own video series. Special Guest: Stewart Lynch.

Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith AKA J.K Rowling is the fifth installment of the Cormoran Strike series of novels. It's a well written mystery novel that is just a little too long.

Un podcast especial para los amantes de los libros. El 23 de abril conmemoramos el día internacional del libro. Lo dedicamos a un sello muy especial, Salamandra. Hablamos un poco de su historia y como nace la editorial. Y por supuesto les recomendaremos los libros y autores que no deben dejar de leer como: Robert Galbraith, que para los que no lo saben es el seudónimo de J.K. Rowling para su saga Cormoran Strike. Margaret Atwood, Camilleri, Hosseini, Pierre Lemaitre entre otros. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Der bereits 6. Fall für Cormoran Strike und Robin Ellacott führt die beiden in die Tiefen des Internets, der Chats und eines Onlinespiels, das mit der Animationsserie „Das tiefschwarze Herz“ in Zusammenhang steht. Denn „Anomie“, einer der Benutzer, bedroht Edie Ledwell, eine der Schöpferinnen der Serie. Und Edie ist kurze Zeit später tot. Cormoran und … „2232: Robert Galbraith – Das tiefschwarze Herz“ weiterlesen

Today's motivation is about living your best life. Audio Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYPGkcwa6Tw More about JK: Joanne Rowling, also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith. Quote of the Day: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” ― J.K. Rowling Leave a review on Apple Podcasts Support via Patreon Check out my Personal Finance/Investing Podcast Join the Upcoming Newsletter Let's Stay Motivated On Discord --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/motiv8/support

For the second part of our discussion about the 2022 Harry Potter Academic Conference, we discuss current themes in Potter scholarship, including the special section on the transgender community. Katy and Emily continue their conversation with conference presenters and attendees Laurie Beckoff, Lauren Camacci, Louise Freeman, and Lana Whited. After talking about favorite presentations in the first half, we turn to overall themes we noticed throughout the conference. Lana sees difference and reaction to it as a major topic, reflected in the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, which included political, sociological, and psychological approaches. Social justice and critical reading have been at the forefront of Potter studies in recent years, featured in Christine Schott's talk on house-elves and Julye Bidmead and Emma Brandel's presentation on creating a critical engagement guide to reading the series. Lana has observed a lack of attention paid to J.K. Rowling's works for both adults (Cormoran Strike) and children (The Christmas Pig, The Ickabog) outside the wizarding world. We debate what might account for the relatively low scholarly interest, including Rowling's controversial comments, genre, quality, generational appeal, and overall popularity. Rowling's remarks about transgender people have been a major point of discussion at the last few conferences, to the point that the organizers decided that the topic called for a special section. Our guests discuss Louise's scientific approach to transgender identity, using the “transabled” characters who wish to amputate healthy limbs in the Strike books as a point of reference to view it as a neurological phenomenon. Other subjects included trans “spite fic,” or Harry Potter fanfiction focused on transgender characters to spite Rowling (Ben Cromwell); “half-blood fans,” or queer fans who face judgment from their fellows for remaining in the fandom (Brent Satterly); and how to read the scene in which the boggart that takes Snape's form is forced into a woman's clothing (Lorrie Kim). This rich discourse is part of why we all keep returning to Chestnut Hill, and we look forward to more excellent conferences.

Don't have time for terrible

Obwohl Cormoran Strike und Robin Ellacott gerade zwei große Fälle erfolgreich gelöst haben, ist nicht alles in Ordnung. Zwar läuft es für Cormoran, der neuerdings mit der glamourösen Elin zusammen ist, ganz gut, aber Robins Beziehung zu ihrem Verlobten Matthew war noch nie so schlecht wie jetzt – sie streiten sich fast jeden Tag über Robins Job und ihre (rein platonische, was auch immer Matthew denken mag!) Beziehung zu Strike. Natürlich werden die Dinge noch viel chaotischer, als Robin ein abgetrenntes Bein mit der Post erhält. Musik von Kevin MacLeod. Folge direkt herunterladen

Unter dem Pseudonym Robert Galbraith schreibt Harry-Potter-Erfinderin J.K. Rowling Krimis, der neueste heißt „Das tiefschwarze Herz“. Dieses Mal muss sich das Ermittlerduo Robin Ellacott und Cormoran Strike mit der Online-Welt auseinandersetzen.Elena Gorgis im Gespräch mit Frank Meyerwww.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, LesartDirekter Link zur Audiodatei

My thoughts on the 6th Cormoran Strike novel by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). (Normal, programming resumes tomorrow.) Get deeper into Stories Mean Business: • https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/storybusiness/ • https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/podcast

Im ersten Roman folgten wir Cormoran und seiner neuen Sekretärin Robin Ellacott, wie sie den mysteriösen Tod des Models Lula Landry aufklärten. Strike litt noch unter der Trennung von seiner verlobten Charlotte und sein Detektivgeschäft ging gerade den Bach runter. Im "Seidenspinner" geht es aufwärts: Das Geschäft boomt, es gibt jede Menge Kunden, und Cormoran kann es sich sogar leisten, nicht mehr in seinem Büro wohnen zu müssen. Musik von Kevin MacLeod.

Als "Der Ruf des Kuckucks" im April 2013 erschien, wurden nur 1500 Exemplare verkauft, was für einen völlig unbekannten Autor dennoch gar kein so schlechtes Ergebnis ist. Als die Sunday Times im Juli des Jahres jedoch verlauten ließ, dass es Hinweise darauf gebe, dass hinter dem neuen Namen Robert Galbraith J. K. Rowling ihr Krimidebüt gegeben hatte, geriet die Welt in einen Kaufrausch und das Buch kletterte ohne Umschweife auf Platz 1 der Amazon-Bestsellerliste. Musik: Kevin MacLeod

Joanne Rowling CH OBE HonFRSE FRCPE FRSL (/ˈroʊlɪŋ/ ROH-ling; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote a seven-volume children's fantasy series, Harry Potter, published from 1997 to 2007. The series has been enormously successful: it has sold over 500 million copies, been translated into at least 70 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, as Robert Galbraith.Born in Yate, Rowling graduated with a degree in French from the University of Exeter in 1987 and began working temp jobs as a bilingual secretary. In 1990, the idea for the characters of Harry Potter came to her while she waited on a delayed train; later that year, her mother died of multiple sclerosis. In the seven years before publication of the first Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997), Rowling moved to Portugal, married, had a daughter, relocated to Scotland when her marriage failed, divorced, and earned a teaching certificate. She wrote while living on state assistance as a single parent, deeply affected by her mother's death. By 2008, Forbes had named her the world's highest-paid author.Rowling concluded the Harry Potter series with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). The novels follow a boy named Harry Potter as he attends Hogwarts, a school for wizards, and battles Lord Voldemort. Death and the divide between good and evil are the central themes of the series. Its influences include the Bildungsroman (coming-of-age story), school stories, fairy tales, and Christian allegory. The series revived fantasy as a genre in the children's market, spawned a host of imitators, and inspired an active fandom. Critical reception has been more mixed. Many reviewers see Rowling's writing as conventional; some regard her portrayal of gender and social division as regressive. There were also religious debates over Harry Potter.Rowling has won many accolades for her work. She was named to the Order of the British Empire and was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature and philanthropy. Harry Potter brought her wealth and recognition that she has used to advance philanthropic endeavours and political causes. She co-founded the charity Lumos and established the Volant Charitable Trust, named after her mother. Rowling's charitable giving centres on medical causes and supporting at-risk women and children. In politics, she has donated to Britain's Labour Party and opposed Scottish independence and Brexit. Since late 2019, she has publicly expressed her opinions on transgender people and related civil rights. These have been criticised as transphobic by LGBT rights organisations and some feminists, but have received support from other feminists and individuals.

Joanne Rowling, known as JK Rowling, is known globally for writing one of the best selling book series in history. Harry Potter and his classmates now have their firm place in the collective imagination of a generation of readers. She also writes crime fiction under the pen name Robert Galbraith. In the shed, Jo Rowling discusses the joys and the pains of writing with fellow author Simon Armitage, explaining how she picked up a pen to start again after the huge success of her first series. She discusses myths and the truths that have grown up around the books, including the idea that she conceived the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a delayed train from Manchester to London. Jo brings a very special 'show and tell' into the shed when she gives Simon the chance to dip into her very first notebooks, never before shown publicly, which she used to collect early ideas that might end up in a first Potter book, including the names of the pupils in Harry's class. The seven-year period that followed saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband, and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997. There were six further books in the series, of which the last was released in 2007. Since then, Jo has written several books for adult readers: The Casual Vacancy (2012) and - under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith - the crime-fiction Cormoran Strike series. She has lived a "rags to riches" life in which she progressed from living on benefits to being one of the best- selling writers of all time, giving away much of her earnings to charity. Produced by Susan Roberts

Menù del giorno: - ATLAS OBSCURA - LUCA (con Simone Soranna) 1' 18'' - THEM (con Antiniska Pozzi) 12' 08'' - CHUMBAWAMBA (con Mattia Giovanni Bassani) 24' 55'' - CORMORAN STRIKE (con Marco Signorelli) 38' 16'' ATTENZIONE: contiene anche paragoni con altri film Pixar, una citazione del Doc Manatthan e a fine episodio la nostra lista dell'attesa con le cose che aspettiamo nel futuro.

In this talking shop episode, we discuss two of the writing tools that have been helpful to us in our writing. This month, Ashley's choice was Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon, and Sarah attempted to unravel some of the many benefits of reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. For their leisure reading this month, Sarah has been catching up with Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike novels, finishing the fourth in the series, Lethal White, and beginning the fifth, Troubled Blood. Ashley got a great recommendation from a friend and has started a book called Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh.

Hi everyone, and thanks for listening to the Strike and Ellacott Files, an unofficial Cormoran Strike podcast and StrikeFans.com affiliate. In a special introductory episode, Kenz and Lindsay answer a few questions about their love of the Strike series and outline what their plans are for the rest of the season.

An introductory look at the male protagonist of the Strike series.

Cormoran Strike author, Robert Galbraith, on fame, leaks and politics. Plus Grill Graham

We have Marnie Riches and Reavis Wortham on the show today. Marine Riches: "The Girl Who Wouldn't Die": The Girl Who Wouldn't Die will have readers' pulses pounding from start to finish as one of the most kickass and refreshing heroines in crime-fiction journeys to the dark heart of trans-national trafficking. Winner of a Dead Good Reader Award in the UK for best location, George McKenzie's heart-stopping first adventure flits between the European cities of Amsterdam, London and Cambridge, making it a must-read for all fans of Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy and Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole books. Those who love Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series will love it too! And watch out for that killer twist. Reavis Wortham: "Gold Dust": As the 1960s draw to a close, the rural northeast Texas community of Center Springs is visited by two nondescript government men in dark suits and shades. They say their assignment is to test weather currents and patterns, but that's a lie. Their delivery of a mysterious microscopic payload called Gold Dust from a hired crop duster coincides with fourteen-year-old Pepper Parker's discovery of an ancient gold coin in her dad's possession. Her adolescent trick played on a greedy adult results in the only gold rush in north Texas history. Add in modern-day cattle-rustlers and murderers, and Center Springs is once again the bull's-eye in a deadly target.

Featured ContentThe flipped classroom is an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment by delivering instructional content, often online, outside of the classroom. It moves activities, including those that may have traditionally been considered homework, into the classroom.Co-host AJ has been using flipped strategies for a few years and he and Stacey had a great discussion where Stacey finally had the opportunity to learn more about this instructional model.Resources: Here is what AJ uses to Flip his Classroom. These are simply suggestions! Take time to find what works best for you and your students!Flipped Tools: EdPuzzleNewsELACommonLitA Web WhiteboardPixiclipScreencastifyInsertLearningPadletFlipGridBooks:Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools by Michael HornBlended Learning in Action by Catlin Tucker, Tiffany Wycoff, and Jason T. GreenTwitter Chats:#FlipClass#BLinAction#BlendedLearning#FlippedClassroom#FlippedLearningWhat We're Listening ToAJ:The Future Focused Podcast hosted by Kelly CroyAudioBook: Your Best Year Ever by Michael HyattStacey:By the BookAudioBook series: Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the sixth episode of The Bookcast Club where Alice and Jenny discuss current and recent reads and their favourite books from 2017.Send any future questions or topics you would like us to cover to @bookcastclub on Twitter or email thebookcastclub@outlook.comBooks mentioned - Call Me By Your Name, Folk, How to Breathe Underwater, A Possible Life, Fates and Furies, The Monsters of Templeton, Three Things About Elsie, The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, The Light Between Oceans, Eric, The Red Tree, The Essex Serpent, The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, Notes on a Scandal, Idaho, Between the World and Me, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, How Not To Be a Boy, The Cormoran Strike series, Happy.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/bookcastclub)