Scatterings and Smatterings for 26 June 2009

Win a Piers Gaveston Peacock Magnet!

Now you can win a handsome, high quality magnet featuring the above image, the proud peacock cover art of the novel The Confession of Piers Gaveston. The first three to correctly answer the following question will each win a magnet.

"In the novel, Gaveston says: 'Confess it, My Lord, I rattle you like the glass in a casement when it thunders.' To whom does he address this line, and under what circumstances?

To enter, email your answer to bkpbooks@yahoo.com, and please include your full mailing address in case you win. Contest ends July 3, 2009. Good luck to all! (Reprinted from Brandy Purdy's Book-a-Week.

By the way, I have one, and it's lovely!

Attention Playwrights!

Radio drama is not dead, not even in the U.S. A small troupe of radio thespians and technicians is keeping the tradition alive in Seattle, Washington. And... drum roll.. they are looking for scripts! According to American Radio Theater's Joy L. Jackson, they want to see twenty minute radio scripts for possible performance on one of their regular broadcasts. While they are not in a position to pay, this is a great opportunity for novelists to give folks a taste of a scene from their work.

For more information, contact Joy L. Jackson at JJLjackson@aol.com.

Tarot for Writers

Anne Gilbert of The Writer's Daily Grind told me recently about a book by Corinne Kenner titled Tarot for Writers. Interestingly, it's not really a divination book. It appeals to me no end primarily because it hearkens to the sort of literary and sociological archetypes of The hero's Journey. The book offers advice and exercises to help writers develop characters, plots and break through blocks. You don't have to be into magick to use it. It calls on the creative core you already possess with the symbols of seventy-odd major and minor arcana cards. I was delighted to learn that the Irish poet William Butler Yeats, one of the movement to revive Gaelic culture, was key in helping the makers of the Rider Waite tarot deck in their richly symbolic design.

I am interested in either joining or forming a group of authors who want to learn to use the stimulating imagery of the tarot with this book. If you know of one or are interested in being part of one, contact me at hawthorne@nanhawthorne.com .