Sunday Picture Post: One Year Past

Posted on March 29, 2020 by crispina kemp

I haven’t been able to get out to snap up fresh flowers… and it looks like I shan’t be able to for quite a few weeks. So I’m drawing upon my stores from previous years.

Celandine… the golden stars of spring: 28 March 2019

I have close up shots of this plant, and in massive flower. But I liked the way last year’s bracken forms a frame for this delicate specimen. And the distance adds a certain quality… I’ll leave you to name it.

Sycamore flowers: 28 March 2019

Nature has a real eye for colour. Who’d ever think of putting puce and lime together (except for my daughter when she was an art student? And aren’t those tightly folded leaves divine.

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Fleeced

Posted on March 28, 2020 by crispina kemp

When I saw this fantastic cap on a bollard close to the old Maddermarket in Norwich, I was intrigued.

Feature cap to bollard: 3rd March 2020

The Maddermarket used to sell… madder, the plant used to dye medieval woollen products various shades of red. Hence the sheep on the cap. Alas, not an old installation but one of several commisioned in recent years by Norwich City Council for various sites around the city.

Heritage, another title achieved in Maria’s Antonia’s #2020picoftheweek

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Interview with Lauren Willmore, Writer and Book Cover Designer — Sammi Cox

Posted on March 27, 2020 by crispina kemp

For the last three Fridays I have been posting instalments of an interview with author Crispina Kemp. This week, we get to chat with Lauren Willmore, writer and book cover designer. You will have already seen her beautiful work gracing the front covers of Crispina’s The Spinner’s Game series and I think we can all […]

via Interview with Lauren Willmore, Writer and Book Cover Designer — Sammi Cox

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CCC72: Who Pulled the Plug?

Posted on March 26, 2020 by crispina kemp

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #72

The water all has gone away
Glistening sand now fills the bay
What has happened, you may ask
(Though muffled behind your medical mask)
No mystery here, no invading bugs
Just the wretched giants have pulled the plugs!

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Crimson’s Creative Challenge #72

Posted on March 25, 2020 by crispina kemp

CCC#72

Welcome to my weekly challenge—open to all—just for FUN, FUN, FUN

And apologies for being late. I scheduled it to the wrong date. Oops!

Here’s how it works:

Every Wednesday I post a photo (this week it’s that one above.)
You respond with something CREATIVE

Here are some suggestions:

  • An answering photo
  • A cartoon
  • A joke
  • A caption
  • An anecdote
  • A short story (flash fiction)
  • A poem
  • A newly minted proverb, adage or saying
  • An essay
  • A song—the lyrics or the performance

You have plenty of scope and only two criteria:

  • Your creative offering is indeed yours
  • Your writing is kept to 150 words or less

If you post a link in the comments section of this post I’ll be able to find it
If you include Crimson’s Creative Challenge as a heading, WP Search will find it (theory)
by ‘Searching’ in the WP Reader (fingers crossed)

Here’s wishing you inspirational explosions. And FUN.

Posted in Crimson's Creative Challenge, Photos | Tagged , , | 89 Comments

Interview with Crispina Kemp, author of The Spinner’s Game – Part 3

Posted on March 24, 2020 by crispina kemp

Posted by Sammi last weekend… I swear, Sammi is my No 1 fan!

sammicoxwriter's avatarSammi Cox

You may have seen the interview with Crispina Kemp I shared a few weeks ago from my book review blog, Sammi Loves Books. Now I get to share with you an epic three-part interview with Crispina, as we talk about her soon-to-be released five book historical fantasy series, The Spinner’s Game.

In Part 1, Crispina answered questions on writing the series, the main character, Kerrid, and where the story is set. In Part 2, she answered questions on magic, mythology and society in her stories. The third and final part of the interview can be found below, where we turn our attention to language, characters and favourite things…

Part 3: Languages and Characters

The terminology you’ve created in the book is interesting. Farfoot, Wolfman, Zeflas…  How did you devise the words?  And what is the difference between Wise-One and a Breathman?

Some terms are logical –…

View original post 1,322 more words

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Viral infection

Posted on March 23, 2020 by crispina kemp

image by Gerd Altmann

Thoughts disjointed leaves me bemused… Decisions not possible. Why? Virus infecting the brain… mind thoroughly muddled

16 words written for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Muddle

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Sunday Fungi: A Touch of Rococo

Posted on March 22, 2020 by crispina kemp

Possibly a milkcap: November 2019

Or if you prefer, Late Baroque. And I believe this does conform to “Mushroom” on the majority of paintcharts.

And for your edification: Rococo on Wiki

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THE SPINNER… BREAKING NEWS!!!

Posted on March 21, 2020 by crispina kemp

Grab yourself an epic fantasy set in a time when the only invisible foe was a demon.

All five books of The Spinner’s Game are now available on Amazon as Kindle and Paperback. Buy it here.

The perfect companion for those lockdown days.

Opening words from The Spinner’s Child

Gut the fish, scrape the scales, shell the nuts, pound the seeds. And what else could her mother find to stop her from idling and making up tales? But she wasn’t lazy; she preferred to be busy. And neither were her stories fancies. They were truths, had direct from clansfolk’s heads. She ought to learn it was best to say nothing. She was different, others hadn’t her trick.

Her mother glanced across to the neighbouring floor and upjutted her chin. ‘Boy-Bytan’s wanting to play, if you want to go.’

Kerrid quirked a smile. It would serve her mother well if she ran away instead. Except, run to where? To her death?

Now you know you want to read more… Buy it here.

Posted in Fantasy Fiction, Mythic Fiction, The Spinner's Game | Tagged , , , , , | 28 Comments

The Very Image of Springtime

Posted on March 21, 2020 by crispina kemp

Primroses: 3rd March 2020

It’s Time, another title achieved in Maria’s Antonia’s #2020picoftheweek

Alas, in shadow and on an overcast day, yet their cheery faces still deliver the message. Spring truly is here.

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