Authors Electric

Dudley Castle, Wikimedia, Trevman99 "The Devil stood on Dudley's keep And far about Him gazed, And said, 'I never more shall feel At Hell's fierce flames amazed." If I look across the valley from my house, I can see Dudley Castle on the opposite hill. A former owner, John Dudley, was executed for trying to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne and as a child I used to be told that it was 'one of the ruins that Cromwell knocked about a bit.' Parliament's guns were set up where the present day Castlegate roundabout is, just by the 24-hour Tesco's. (It's a long way from the castle and gives you an idea of just how big a castle's outer baileys were.) But the rhyme above refers to the period when industry came to the Black Country, the period from, roughly, 1760 to 1860: the Industrial Revolution. My Scottish partner has just told me, flatly, that 'nobody knows where the "Black Country" is.' So I'...

On Sunday September 16 th , I took part in a short talk on e-books at the Society of Authors’ Children’s Writers’ and Illustrators’ Group (CWIG) at their conference in Reading. (And Dennis – it was good to see you in the audience!)           Arriving after a two hour drive, I made immediately for the Ladies’. While I was shut in my cubicle, some other Ladies arrived, chatting together. It was very full on, they said, but very interesting. ‘I enjoyed that talk about websites,’ said one. ‘I shall have to look them up. The one I liked was ‘Dreaming Authors…?  Electrical Authors?’           I shouted out, “That’s us!  Authors Electric! Do Authors Dream of Electric Books! ”           Laughter from the sinks. I adjusted my clothing and emerged issuing business cards with the blog’s address.        ...