New and Notable
Featured
Heading up to Dublin on the local commuter train…
The interior of The Counter, Sussex Street, Dublin.
Once upon a time, a couple / few decades ago, this was an Italian restaurant called Tosca. One night @petermorwood, Ronald D. Moore and I dodged in here out of a rainstorm. I was okay because I had a hat. The boys… not so much. They had to head downstairs and dry their hair (quite a lot of it, in Ron’s case…) under the hand dryer in the men’s room.
It was a great dinner, though. Ah, memories…. 🙂
Here is the Duckie of Light. He lives on our broadband connector. He channels the sunbeam that falls on him through the nearby Venetian blinds at certain times of year.
We do not touch the Duckie. We leave him exactly where he is, so that (when the time is ripe) he can conduct the Light.
…There’s almost certainly a moral here somewhere, but I haven’t had my tea yet.
Our #NewYears dinner: Oxtail in #Guinness. …Happy New Year, everybody!
It’s now officially Meteorological #Summer in #Ireland… so it’s time to break out the new BBQ/smoker at last! #homelife
It seems for the past few years that every time the beginning of June rolls around, I find myself updating this image with better tech or newer sets or more nicely-made clothes or different hair or whatever. Maybe it’s just sentiment.
If it is, it’s one I embrace. These two characters are where my professional writing career started: the tall dark thoughtful rural lordling and amateur strategist, part-time sorcerer and stubborn seeker after the true Power without which he’ll die young, never learning what he was for: and the short blond bookish Prince-in-exile, hot-tempered and impulsive even when outlawed and on the run, and ever so good at screwing things up…but equally good at (eventually) doing whatever it takes to put them right afterwards, no matter how much it hurts. The plot of the book that introduced them and their world blindsided me over the course of several days in late 1978. It promptly plunged me into two months’ worth of nearly nonstop writing, sold within days to the first editorial team who saw it, and changed the course of my life.
That the culture in which the story took place was both pansexual and polyamorous apparently caused astonishment for a lot of people in 1979. But right then, that wasn’t the main issue for me. I was more focused on the fact that (like other works of mine since) The Door Into Fire was simply a present for a friend; someone who I wanted to have understand—borrowing another fictional character’s line—that being gay, or whatever else they might be along those lines, was absolutely “fine: it’s all fine”.
…And so it has been, and remains. So here they are again, this pair of incorrigible troublemakers: Herewiss (or Dusty, as his friends and spouses think of him, due to a longstanding tendency in his youth to be found “touching grass,” or indeed dirt, as often as possible), and Freelorn (a.k.a Lorn, a.k.a. “Oh Goddess what has he done now??”). And if they carry a message with them, it’s this: If you’re going to marry a prince (or a Ruler-to-be), marry one who looks at you the way these two look at each other. 😊
Status report, Chilies To The Fore dep’t: Peter (on Twitter, @p_morwood) brings his custom toasted chili oil down to our Baltinglass local (horans.ie) to test on the local plain bread. The pizza chef (from Malawi) says “It’s not that hot.” Yeah, well. 🙂
Status report: Handling the Civic Duties end of things… 😄
First run at the Irish batch loaf recipe from #GastroGays. Not bad at all! (And toasts superbly.) …Must try again with a slightly smaller pan so that the dough’s encouraged to rise a little higher…
A harpy doorhandle in the Dom in Köln
January 8, 2015: one of numerous floral tiles in McDaid’s pub, Harry Street, Dublin
Peter’s homemade #udon. (With #chicken and #chili oil…)
Out now in #paperback (and #Kindle #ebook) at #Amazon: the first two new #MiddleKingdomsSeries works for more than twenty years, TALES OF THE FIVE, VOLUME 1. Details here: https://bit.ly/TalesOfTheFiveV1 #dianeduane #fantasy #LGBTQ #lgbtqbooks
Storing this here for later use… 😆
Today’s reminder… 🙂
…I love the endpapers on these #Everyman editions…
What Does Not Work: Squeezing the carton from both sides to crack the top, as recommended. What Does Work: Stabbing the fecking thing *many times* with a *very sharp knife.* STABBITY STABBITY STAB STAB STAB. #icecream
#frustration
...That really was an *awfully*good (#birthday) burger. #Irish prime #steak mince, cafe-de-Paris butter (spice mix via Schuhbecks of #Munich), homemade “ballpark” relish (cornichons, #Dijon mustard, Guindiulla chiles), parsley, brioche bun. And a nice little Côtes de Gascogne on the side... 😋
The first rule for visitors to the famous Stuck Pig dive bar in Darthis: no matter how many kinds of #magic you’ve got, never take your eye off your #chicken. #Herewiss #MiddleKingdoms #epicfantasy #epicfantasyart #fantasyart #fantasyartwork #LGBTQ #swordandsorcery #dianeduane #nofilter
The new coffee machine is very clever. 😊
Elsewhere...
Memorable
A year ago today, we were sat waiting for the world premiere of @GoodOmensPrime to start.
— Discworld Monthly (@dwmoook) May 28, 2020
A tear was brought to our eyes when we realised we were in the front row with Terry …. @terryandrob @neilhimself @michaelsheen #ThrowbackThursdays pic.twitter.com/iW2RaJA9v2
At Twitter
At Tumblr
Secondary to the art for the DDCom website front page: the outtakes. (Inevitably.)
DD: …We need to get you something else to hold.
HIS NOBLE GRACE THE PRINCE-ELECT OF THE BRIGHTWOOD, HEREWISS STAREILN HEARN STAI-EÁLORSTI KYN-ÉARNËSTI: You’re not fooling me, madam. Get your own damn coffee.