Jessica Blair

Jelly Babies / Jessica Blair

Thu, 17 May 2012 14:26:29 +0000

I love chocolate, I really do. My home wouldn’t be a home without chocolate. It has to be savoured, lingered over, so I avoid it when I am at my computer working on my novel. But now I have discovered a new sweet passion for computer times! Not new, not discovered (should be re-discovered). I first learned of these sweets in my dim and distant childhood past. A drawer of my desk has an open packet and reserved packets …. ssssssssssssssssssssssssssss for when that is empty! JELLY BABIES. Who invented them? Whoever, he or she, has my lasting thanks.

Ah, well, back to the novel, but first a dip into that packet. Yum!

Lost Photograph

Mon, 14 May 2012 17:43:15 +0000

Sorry folks – photo disappeared off the last blog, don’t know why.

Here it is to complete the entry

Whitby looking to the East Cliff

Whitby / Jessica Blair

Mon, 14 May 2012 15:10:21 +0000

Crow's nest

An imitation crow’s nest, high on a mast at Whitby, North Yorkshire, commemorates Captain William Scoresby Snr, Whitby’s famous whaling captain of the 18th and 19th centuries who invented the crow’s nest as protection for the look-out It was his life that inspired me to write HARPOONED: A History of Whaling, by Bill Spence published in 1980. His life also gave me an idea for a novel THE RED SHAWL published in 1993 as by Jessica Blair. Since then there have been 20 more Jessica Blair novels and another will be coming next February. All are published by Piatkus, an imprint of the Little Brown Book Group

Whitby's piers

Whitby, looking to the East Cliff

Canyon Lands

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:25:59 +0000

Monument Valley

Canyon Country

I took this book from my Bookshelves a few minutes ago. It brought memories of my visit in the 1980s. I purchased it then and also took the two pictures you see here when I visited Monument Valley. Wonderful experience.

The Bridge

Mon, 14 May 2012 07:19:09 +0000

I have been watching ‘The Bridge’ on Saturday nights on BBC4. Though very dark at times, it is skilfully written and introduces a completely new type of leading character. As it is a Swedish/Danish production it has sub titles, which I know bothers some people, but I have loved these ‘Nordic Noirs’. ‘The Bridge’ is to end soon. I wonder if other viewers are like me and eagerly await the next production, hopefully in the Autumn.

Have You Read Books by Kenneth Roberts?

Fri, 11 May 2012 19:06:06 +0000

I’m enjoying reading Boon Island by Kenneth Roberts again after many years. I first came across this author in the late 1930s and early 40s. Arundel, Lydia Bailey, Oliver Wiswell, all novels with backgrounds of early America, but most famously Northwest Passage which was made into an exciting film starring Spencer Tracy.

Jessica Blair

Fri, 04 May 2012 14:50:26 +0000

I have had a break from writing, though ideas for the next book always persist. Visited Lincolnshire (happy hunting ground when flying with 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron during the war) and Southampton.

Refreshed so now to make the computer work overtime !

Birds

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:41:41 +0000

Interested in birds? See the book I have had today – BIRDSONG published by Quadrille. 150 British and Irish birds – wonderful colour photographs with well written facts on the opposite page.

But more than that — key in the bird number, press a button and you will hear the bird’s song !

Fascinating and delightful

James Bond

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:04:48 +0000

James Bond has left me for Sky; shame on him!

Shetland / The Road Beneath Me

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:10:37 +0000

The dramatic Shetland coast is the setting for part of Jessica Blair’s novel THE ROAD BENEATH ME.