Author: Alice McVeigh
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On bombs, Austen, AI – and erotica
By Alice McVeigh #MariannebyMcVeigh #historicalfictionnovel My first experience of being bombed was on holiday in Israel, when very young, when the Six-Day War broke out, and the hotel just across the road from us got bombed. (My family flew out the next day.) My second bomb was in Belfast, in the 90s, during the “Troubles”…
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Tidbits from Austen-Land and Alice McVeigh
Hi friends in Austen-land!!!! Have had to learn – at my age! Am over sixty – a brand-new cello concerto written by a London composer, so I’m behind with everything. Luckily for me, Regina’s on the ball!!!! First, a brilliant offer: https://booksweeps.com/giveaway/historical-fiction-book-giveaway-sweepstakes/ Second, another brilliant offer, organised by our own Amanda Kai: https://authoramandakai.wixsite.com/home/post/ilovejaff2026 Third, check out my latest…
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The Use of Violence in JAFF
Today, I’d like to talk about tolerance. Specifically, about tolerance in Jane Austen’s works. Now, I belong to a number of Facebook Austen groups, which can be both funny and fun. (This was where I first encountered this great New Year meme: “I take no leave of you, 2025. I send no compliments to your…
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Marianne
#SenseAndSensibility #MrDarcy Hi friends, It’s been a toughish year, what with my husband’s – ultimately successful – operation for thymic mass cancer. (And no, you’ve prob. never heard of it. It accounts for fewer than 1% of cancers diagnosed in the UK, as a rule… but his surgeon has banished it.) Also on the bright…
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“Dear Author …”
“Dear author” – the latest scams mostly start– “your new novel, Mary-Ann: A Sense and Sensitivity Sequel, made me weep, cry, mourn and scream with laughter in equal measure. The sublimity of your gift is a blessing to the universe. Please send me the deeds to your second home by return of post and something…
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Orwell Nailed It
#PrideAndPerjury #JAFF #HistoricalFiction #SelfPublishing “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.” George Orwell First, please note what Orwell did not say. Writing is often intensely enjoyable – even non-fiction. It’s when your enjoyable project turns into a judgeable, sellable, editable book that the illness kicks in… My…
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Ghostwriting and Other Gory Tales
Ghostwriting, and other gory tales ‘Though I prefer first-rate fiction, for the last few years my reading seems to have been concentrated on letters and journals and biographies. It doesn’t bother me to read while I am writing… I mean, I don’t suddenly find another writer’s style seeping out of my pen. Though once, during…
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The Land May Vary More
The land may vary more;But wherever the truth may be—The water comes ashore,And the people look at the sea. They cannot look out far.They cannot look in deep.But when was that ever a barTo any watch they keep? (Robert Frost’s “Neither out far nor in deep”, end of) I’ve spent most of the last seven…
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An Austen Statue in Alton + Crete + an American PX
My husband heard it in the middle of the night. The stealth bombers, en route to Iraq, went right smack over us, here in Crete, biggest of all the Greek islands. In the morning he told me, “Stealth bombers! What a racket! Can’t believe you slept through it!” And nor could I believe it because…
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The End of the Road … For the Semi-Colon?!?!
#semi-colon #prideandperjury #historicalfiction Eek!!!!! Is this the end of the road for the semi-colon??? And, if it so, do we care? The Guardian newspaper (see below for link) was this week sounding its death-knell. In brief, usage in the UK has plummeted. (“Its usage in English books plummeting by almost half in two decades –…