Monthly Archives: February 2009

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My Blog of The Week 23/2/09

booksrow

 My blog of the Week is : Bookslut Http://www.bookslut.com

The Believer Book Awards shortlist is out, and fresh flowers and kisses go to whoever wrote the copy for sounding so damn enthusiastic about these titles. Read it here.

The list in total:

Black Flies by Shannon Burke

Tampico by Toby Olson

Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins

Girl Factory by Jim Krusoe

Souls of Wind by John Olson

The Most of It by Mary Ruefle

All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well by Tod Wodicka

The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

Features

Re-Reading Richard Yates

Dead Books, Dead Bodies: Reading Edmond Jabès and The Book of Dead Philosophers

Biology of the Animal-Human Bond: Overdosing on Oxytocin

An Interview with Jesse Ball

An Interview with Brian Michael Bendis

An Interview with Benjamin Parzybok

Archives:

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Bookseller Daily news

Bookseller Daily news available online @ http://www.bookseller.com

Latest Headlines
Last updated 18.02.09
See all news »
Harrison wins Waterstone’s prize
Former Waterstone’s bookseller Michelle Harrison has won this year’s Waterstone’s Children’s Book Award for her debut…

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Horowitz seeks Dubai explanation Children’s writer Anthony Horowitz has joined a growing chorus of outrage at the…
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Indies fail to see the Sunnyside A number of independent booksellers have threatened a boycott of the paperback edition of…
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OFT to investigate HMV Zavvi deal The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is investigating whether HMV’s acquisition of Zavvi…
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BA reschedules annual conference The Booksellers Association’s annual conference has been put back two weeks and moved to…
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http://www.annettedunlea.com
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A short story by Annette Dunlea

Abstract: In a hospice Seamus refused to die until he confessed his sin. As a young man he had secretly killed his girlfriend Finola Dineen.

Regret

                As he lay in the hospice bed in Cork Seamus cried as he said his last confession to the hospice priest. He had just received his last rites but he could not die without confessing his dark sin. He wept as he whispered shamefully to Fr. O’Connor: “It has been forty years since my last confession. This is a difficult truth to speak but I cannot die without confessing my sin and receiving absolution. I am afraid to die as I harbor a dark sin from my past. I once killed my ex-girlfriend and it has haunted me all my life”. Fr. O’Connor had thought he had heard everything until now but he was shocked but he kept his composure perfect. He strained to listen carefully intrigued hanging on to every word and looked as this frail little man dying of cancer, a devoted husband and father of two who was a successful and celebrated surgeon and his mind could not reconcile what he was hearing with the man he had become friends with over the last year in the hospice.

Fr. O’Connor gently asked him to say his confession in his own time. The priest listened in silence mouth open and alert. Seamus began: I  loved yachting as a hobby and soon became so skilled I began to enter competitions. As a medical student I worked hard so I played hard. I was young and in my prime nothing could go wrong, bad assumption. Yachting became addictive to me like a drug, I sailed fast with the wind in my face and oxygen poured down my throat, pushing the yacht to go faster and faster. I have always been competitive at college and work but with yachting it had assimilated into my private life without me noticing it. While yachting I felt alive and free something I rarely felt these days.

                I have been yachting all my life. That is why what happened in Crosshaven  during the races tore me up inside all my life. I killed Finola. I am a murderer. He sobbed hysterically and wiped the tears from his eyes. The priest offered to allow him stop  and pray to God for mercy but no Seamus cried I want to no I need to say it out loud unpurge the agony from my soul. He took a sip of water and wiped his eyes. He continued when I was only 23 years old when I attended the Cork yachting week for the International yachting competition. It lasted a whole week and was called Cork Week. It started as a holiday adventure that was to change my life forever. I entertained my yachting colleagues at the Crosshaven Yacht Club. This was the dream holiday I had planned. Good company, good sailing and good weather I could ask for nothing more.

In Crosser as we called it I met an Irish girl called Finola who was part of my professional yachting team I had recruited online. There was an instant chemistry and meeting of minds with Finola Dineen and myself. Finola was a model with a leading Cork modeling agency and worked part-time in a top Cork boutique. She was clever, funny, sexy and pretty everything I liked in a woman but she was married to a dentist Frank. She was not mine to love but another man’s. No matter how often I said this my brain and heart couldn’t reconcile it as I loved her and obsessed about her all day every day. I asked her out but she always refused. I decided to work on a good friendship and then seduce her. I wined and dined her. She had long brown hair, brown eyes and a sexy figure. She wore very skimpy clothes while yachting. Often she sunbathed topless on deck. It both excited and tormented me all at once.

It took me all of two months and many dates before Finola gradually warmed to me. She began to sit up close to me, buy me pints and stare into my eyes hanging on my every word and touching my knee. One night she asked me for a spin home and she kissed passionately that was the point of no return. We decided to turn the car and go back to my house in Currabinny and spend the night together. We grew closer and soon we were inseparable as if we were husband and wife for years. We could talk about anything. She cooked for me. She laughed at my bad jokes. She contacted a solicitor for a legal sepration she was prepared to walk away from her husband and home for me. It had to be love. She admitted she had been teasing me all along and wanted me to see if I was worth risking her marriage for, I was as it turned out.

 One night when courting Finola we went out to sea on our own for a private party. We were celebrating we had just decided that this was not a holiday romance but the real deal and we were going to move in together. We danced on deck drinking and making love. We were in love and together and no body and nothing were going to steal us of our chance of happiness. We drank at least three bottles of wine and partied, partied, partied. I passed out drunk on deck. She was lying on my chest asleep. She must have risen at some time during the night to go down to the cabin and the winds turned the boat suddenly and she fell overboard. She was naked with no lifejacket and very drunk; she had no hope of surviving. I was asleep I did not hear her screaming. I was in a drunken stupor. Don’t you see Father I was the captain was in charge of the boat and my crew but I acted irresponsibly and got drunk and inadvertently killed my lover. I also tried to break a holy marriage contract. I was inviting my own downfall. I woke with a hangover and no Finola at my side. I called her but no reply came. I ran through the yacht to find her. There was only one conclusion Finola had fallen over board. I got on my radio and called for the coast guards to come and help search for her. I turned the boat and went back as I came hoping to find her clung onto a rock or floating at sea but it did not happen. She was officially lost at sea. For three days and three nights we searched the Atlantic Ocean and finally she was washed onto Garryvoe  beach naked and dead. She was found by a local man taking his dog for a walk. That was it that was the day that part of my life died never to return. I blame myself for her death and I always will but I am glad I have repented for my secret sin. Fr .O’Connor recited his Latin prayers and granted his much wanted absolution to Seamus. He reached across and held his hand and began to speak to him when he noticed he was dead.

 

                                                THE END

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Annette J Dunlea’s Irish Author’s Official Website

 Annette J Dunlea Author Website:  Http://www.annettedunlea.com

Annette J Dunlea

Annette Julia Dunlea is a Professional Irish Writer. She has written an anthology of poetry and two novels. Her novels are The Honey Trap and Always and Forever. She is currently writing her third book Cry of the Quiet, a coming of age tale about a girl’s life in an Irish orphanage. She maintains two literary blogs http://www.ajd8.wordpress.com and http://www.annettedunlea.blogspot.com. She updates these lit blogs daily with book recommendations and books in the media. She also maintains an authors website at http://www.annettedunlea.com.

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/annettedunlea
Twitter : http://twitter.com/adunlea  ( all my sites are feeded to Twitter)
Facebook : http://en-gb.facebook.com/adunlea
Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Annette-J-Dunlea-Irish-Author/197471056144
Ning: http://bookmarket.ning.com/profile/AnnetteDunlea
Bebo: http://www.bebo.com/c/profile?TUUID=6c2a30a2-5fd5-48ec-90c7-9863b2a04a0d&MemberId=8392715182
Bookblogs: http://bookblogs.ning.com/profile/AnnetteJDunleaIrishAuthor
FReado: http://www.freado.com/users/781/Annette-Dunlea
RedRoom: http://www.redroom.com/member/ajdunlea
Authors Den: http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=102260
 
WorldCat: http://www.worldcat.org/profiles/AnnetteDunlea
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2928688.Annette_J_Dunlea_Irish_Author
Librarything: http://www.librarything.com/author/annettejdunlea
Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/annettejuliadunlea
Internet Book Database: http://www.ibdof.com/IBDOF-author-booklist.php?author=5590
 
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/annettejdunlea/
IWWW: http://www.iwwg.com ( member)
Second Light: http://www.secondlightlive.co.uk/members/annettejuliadunlea.shtml (member and webpage)
Ballea Writer: http://www.balleawriters.com/ballea/publications/Annette_Dunlea/GoodBye1_A.Dunlea.pdf
 
Author Website: http://www.annettedunlea.com
Literary Blogs
Http://www.ajd8.wordpress.com
http://www.annettedunlea.blogspot.com
 
Book Websites and Blogs:
Always and Forever: http://alwaysroseoftralee.synthasite.com/
The Honey Trap: http://honeytrap.weebly.com/

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One of My Short Stories Looking In

Abstract: A vagrant witnessed a robbery but he was invisible to the world. He learned there was a €50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the thieves. He reflected on how he had hit rock bottom. Will he get himself out of the gutter?
Looking In
As he lay in the alley on a dark November evening Joe Walsh slept soundly under the sky covered in war card board boxes. Bang, crash, screams and shots woke Joe suddenly. He sat up half asleep and tried to figure out what had happened. Guns were fired and people were running with bags of money in their hands. It suddenly dawned on him there was a bank robbery. Coming up to Christmas was always the time for robberies but they usually weren’t so dramatic. Suddenly one of thieves was looking directly at him with a gun in his hand. He looked right through him. Joe had witnessed the robbers shed their masks and he could identify them. He even memorized the registration plate of the sliver BMW get away car. Joe laughed wryly he was invisible to the world but that was what he wanted all those years ago when he moved from Cork to Dublin. He was escaping his past life and mistakes but this hurt. The world looked at him and rejected him. His failed marriage and drinking was tough but not as tough as living on the streets. If only he had his old life back how he would do things differently, he thought. He would appreciate his own bed, home, wife and kids. His problem was he had an addictive personality, he drank too much he womanized too much.
Others did not want to see a drunk lying homeless in the gutter. He remembered how good the bankers had been allowing him sleep in their alley and in their doorway at night. He felt a moral duty to help them apprehend their robbers. He waited and waited to be interviewed by the police when they arrived but he was repeatedly ignored by all. He walked up to an officer and reported in a drunken slur that he witnessed the robbery and enquired was there a reward. He told him in a patronising tone to get lost. He was unsuitable for the job. It was official he was not good witness material. Suddenly the moral duty to help catch the thieves abandoned him. Dejected he walked away taking a large slug from his wine bottle and whispered obscenities under his breath.
Joe did not sleep well that night. The shooter with the strange tattoo on his hand haunted him in his nightmares. He rose from his cardboard bed and retrieved from the rubbish bin The Times newspaper. He read on the front page that the bank clerk had died of his gun shot wounds and The Bank of Dublin was offering a reward. He liked Sean he often gave him a few coins on his way to work for a hot drink or for a meal in the soup kitchen. He was a young lad with a newly married wife and young family. He was angry the poor guy never hurt anyone he did not deserve to die. The bile rose in Joe’s throat. The bank’s side alley was full of police forensically examining the place. Joe watched with interest in internal conflict wondering should he could he help the police. Would his testimony be rejected yet again? He took a Mc Donald’s napkin from his pocket and read it no he did not dream it he had recorded the car registration of the get away car and a picture of the shooter and the strange Medusa tattoo on his hand. Could he do this and earn a handsome reward and turn his life around? The reward would buy him a home, clothes, friends and all the privileges and security that came from money.
Once again he was on the outside looking in. He sat and reflected on his past womanizing and alcoholism that got him kicked out of home and fired from teaching. There were no answers at the bottom of a glass yet it held a horrible allure for him. His drinking was bigger than him. He broke his wife and kids hearts. He lost his job from turning up drunk to class. His parents disowned him. With no job he could get no address and so that prohibited from getting welfare and he ended up on the streets. He slept in door ways and when he was lucky he got a bed in a hostel. The streets were rough and he fought for survival and to retain his own patch and he had the scars to prove it. Over the years he lost contact with all friends and family. Last piece of news he heard was his wife had remarried. Still part of him loved the anonymity of the streets with no commitments. His marriage was rough but not as rough as living on the streets. He begged for money, drank wine and ate from rubbish bins. He lived in alleys in cardboard boxes. He washed in public toilets with cold water and soap. He owned only the clothes on his back. He looked a lot older than his fifty years. He knew it he had hit rock bottom he was a homeless man unloved and unwanted. He knew he had it all and he lost it all and ruined everything he touched but still he wept his addiction was bigger than him.
Could this be a blessing in surprise if he got the reward could he turn his life around and in doing so help poor dead Sean as well? But he was a failure he knew it and he did not want to embarrass his family he had lost touch with. The pain of his past life stung and he drank to forget it. No more tears he promised and made his decision and walked to the nearest police officer to record his statement. He was driven back to police head quarters and signed his formal written statement and lodged his claim to his €50,000 reward.
The thieves he identified through mug shots and the shooter with the Medusa tattoo on his hand. He placed the ringleader at the scene of the crime. He did give evidence in court and helped secured their convictions. With time he got his € 50,000 reward. He was a generous drunk and bought everybody drinks. He decided to rent a flat but he could not sleep on the bed it was too soft. He slept on the floor. He could not stop drinking and he paid no bills. All money was reserved for his drinking and his new found friends in the pub. Within 12 months he was sleeping on the streets again and penniless.
He travelled the streets with his Tesco trolley drinking happily until he collapsed one day at the soup kitchen. His soup was poisoned with rat poison. The Sullivan gang who he had helped put away for the bank robbery had put a hit on him from prison. Ironically there was so much poison in his soup that his body vomited and this saved his life. In the hospital he was put in detox and for the first time he had hope of getting well. The hospital chaplain helped secure him a bed in rehab. While in rehab his kids read his story and got in touch with him through the Salvation Army. They had to give him the 20 cent piece to ring his kids. He could not do it for himself but for the love of his kids he was determined to stay dry. After rehab he went to live with his adult kids. Although a poor man on welfare he had a home and family and fought alcoholism one day at a time. He was the happiest he ever remembered in his life.
The End

http://www.annettedunlea.com
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Tips For Searching The Internet

When one is trying to locate information on the Internet one types in the address or URL of a search engine and this retrieves the information you need.
Tip: pick the most unusual words leave out small commonly used words like the, and , a of etc
e.g A history of Ireland
begin by typing in the url of a search engine like Google
type in the address : http: http://www.google.ie
a search box appears and then type in the most unusual words == history and Ireland
you always leave a space after each word and words are linked by using words: and , or, not

My Favourite Search Engines:
Google: http://www.google.ie
Yahoo: http://cm.my.yahoo.com/p/1.html
Dogpile: http: http://www.dogpile.com

result : click one blue link that seems most relevant to your search

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland

http://www.annettedunlea.com
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Blog of The Week 16//2/09

Love Is In The Air

http://www.simply-romantic-ideas.com/free-romantic-ideas-blog.html

 

hugs

The Free Romantic Ideas Blog is extremely handy because it:

– Lets you know whenever a new webpage is added to simply-romantic-ideas.com, telling you about great new tips and ideas.

– Keeps you up to date with the latest recipes, gifts, and all the latest finds.

– Shows you some of our past ideas that you might otherwise have missed

 

To subscribe to the Free Romantic Ideas Blog, (no email necessary) right click on the orange RSS buttons on the bottom left, and paste the URL into your RSS reader.

 

Or you can click on the My Yahoo! button or My MSN or Add To Google button if you keep a personalized home page there.

Free Romantic Blogs @ http://www.simply-romantic-ideas.com/free-romantic-ideas-blog.html

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Website of the Week 16/2/09


Romance is alive and well!

My website of the week is: Romantic Circles: http://www.rc.umd.edu/hpfiles/index1.html Romance…LOVE….LITERATURE…..

Main Sections: About RC
Electronic Editions
Pedagogies
Praxis Series RC Blog
RC MOO
Reviews
Scholarly Resources

About RC
Advisory Board
Index of Contributors
History Page
Archives
Editorial Policy
Conditions of Use Statement
Romantic Circles Electronic Editions
Contributor’s Guidelines
New Letters from Charles Brown to Joseph Severn (1821-42)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey, The Fall of Robespierre (1794)
Thomas Lovell Beddoes, The Brides’ Tragedy (1822)
Erasmus Darwin, The Temple of Nature (1803)
Poets on Poets.

http://www.annettedunlea.com
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Website of the Week 9/2/09

My Website of The Week is : Irish Literature Guide
http://www.searcs-web.com/writers.html

Modern Irish Writing
17th Century
18th Century
19th Century
20th Century
21st Century

Theatre Resources in Ireland

Irish Writers’ Resources
Irish Writing by Philip Casey

The Dublin Writers’ Workshop
This Site contains information on and works by Dublin’s longest running writers’ group with useful resources and a free online publication entitled *Electric Acorn*.

Stinging Fly
New Irish and international writing, poetry and short stories.

Irish Writers Centre, Dublin

Salmon Poetry
Salmon publish Irish & international poetry including the work of Rita Ann Higgins, John O’Donohue, Theo Dorgan, Mary O’Donnell, Adrienne Rich, Carol Ann Duffy, Pat Boran, among many others. The Writers’ Place (also based at the Salmon premises) offers regular creative writing workshops and writing residencies.

Writers’ Stories Read and Submit Short Stories

Irish writers union

Ask About Writing Resources for Writers

Searc’s Web Guide to Irish Bibliographies

Old Irish Bibliography
This is an excellent Bibliography for the serious student and newcomer alike to Old Irish and Celtic civilisation.

A Preliminary Bibliography of Moden Gaelic Literature in Translation
This is an extensive work in progress which aims to bring to the non-Irish speaking world the corpus of modern Irish literature in translation, including poetry; the short story, novels and drama as well as critiques of the general corpus of modern Irish literature which have been written in any language rather than Irish. An excellent introduction to modern Irish language Literature and its authors.

Irish Antropology Bibliography (only online during college term time)
The most comprehensive and extensive bibliography of Irish anthropology texts from the late 20th century on the Internet.

Southern Illinois University – The Morris Library (only online during college term time)
This collection is particularly good for the 20th century and contains large collections of original manuscripts by and material on James Joyce; Mary Lavin; Samuel Beckett; Liam O’Flaherty; Lady Gregory; George Moore; Brian O’Nolan; William Trevor; Padraic Colum;Sean O’Casey and Austin Clarke.

Boole Library, University College, Cork /Special Collections
This Collection is especially good for Irish Historical Studies in the period 1600-1900, including Early Surveys and Censuses.

Library Ireland
Comprehensive collection of out-of-print Irish books, articles and other material. Irish historical and cultural literary resource useful to reader and researcher alike.

McMaster University, Canada/ Special Collections
This Division of the Mills Memorial Library at McMaster has an almost complete collection of editions and translations of the works of Samuel Beckett.

The Princess Grace Irish Library of Monoco
This is an index of the 15,000 volumes in this collection, including more than 2,000 sheets of Irish music printed largely in the United States as well the Professor A. Norman Jeffares Collection and that of Professor Ann Saddlemyer which is devoted to the playwright John Millington Synge.

Phillip McManus’ Bibliography of Ulster related books
Comprehensive bibliography of books and printed matter, largely offline, relating to the Census, church records, genealogy and history of the Province of Ulster.

http://www.annettedunlea.com
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Blog Of The Week 9/2/09

My Blog Of The Week is Writing4Success @ http://www.writing4success.com/blog/?page_id=24

 

writing

Why Not Join the Thousands of Happy Writers
Who Read Our Tipsheet Every Week?

There’s a very good reason that writers all over the world eagerly await each issue of the Writing4Success Tipsheet.

They know that they’ll open it up to find the latest tips on:

~ creating dynamic characters

~ building page-turning plots

~ honing their technique

~ building their career

~ creating a writer’s blog or website

… and a whole lot more.

I could write pages telling you why you should subscribe – or what

others say about the Tipsheet. But really, the best thing

is to let it speak for itself. Sign up (you can unsubscribe at any time!)

Read a few issues… and you’ll see just how the

tipsheet can help you (as it has helped thousands of others) to take your writing to a new level.

 

 
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Valentine and Love

Romantic Poetry: http://www.poetseers.org/the_romantics
Love Poetry: http://www.lovepoetry.com/

Free Ecards for Valentines@ http://www.123greetings.com/events/valentines_day/

http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/home%7c10001%7c10051%7c-1

http://www.bluemountain.com/

http://www.valentinesdaycards.net/

“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. “Love is the beauty of the soul.” –St. Augustine

http://www.annettedunlea.com
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Love Quotes

VALENTINE AND LOVE

“Within you I lose myself. Without you I find myself wanting to become lost again.”
–Unknown

“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.”
–George Sand

 ”A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous.”
–Ingrid Bergmen

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
–Aristotle

“Come live with me and be my love, and we will some new pleasures prove, of golden sands, and crystal beaches, with silken lines and silver hooks…”
–John Dunne
“But to see her was to love her, love but her, and love her forever.”
–Robert Burns

“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. “Love is the beauty of the soul.” –St. Augustine

“She walks in Beauty, like the night
Of cloudness climes and starry skies,
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes…”
–Lord Byron

“I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you.”
–Roy Croft

Love quotes for Valentines Day :http://festivals.iloveindia.com/valentines-day/valentines-quotes.html

Love Quotes: http://www.1-love-quotes.com/index.htm