Busy Thursday

Thursday was mad busy.

I picked up Alan Gandy from Santa Cruz at 8:15 and drove him to Barlovento to start his walk. then, since I was so close, I called in on my friends at Franceses. I couldn't stay all that long, though, because I had to be back in Los Cancajos at 12:30 and things to do on the way.

First, I called in at the Palma Romantica hotel in Barlovento, where they kindly agreed to put up a poster for my book. Then I called in at Iriarte printers in Los Sauces to collect my new business cards - some starlight guide cards, and my new cards for Dragon Tree Publishing (designed by Eco-geek.net, and classy as usual)

It's the first time I've used this printers, and I was a bit worried about finding the place, parking, and collecting the cards in the 20 minutes I could spare, but actually it only took five minutes, so I got to Los Cancajos a little early.

It was a doctor's appointment. The IAC (Canarian Astrophysics Institute) want all their tour guides to be checked out for working at altitude. It was irritating, but I can see their point. Luckily it didn't take too long, and the doctor pronounced me fit, although he recommended getting more exercise (which I sorta knew, but I suppose the prodding was needed.)

So I got home in time to cook lunch and take my son show shopping.  This is not simple because he has size 47 feet (size 13 in English money).  I also picked up hair dye, and made myself look professional in time for my first English class at El Alisio.  Since it was the first one, we gave the students tea, which meant that I had to sort out the tea, tea pot, cups, etc in good time.

I'm happy to say that the class went well. And as soon as we'd packed up, I went into Santa Cruz for the presentation of a book (they're still celebrating World Book Day) and a retelling of local legends by Antonio Gonzalez which was really good.

I got home again after 10 pm.

So it's not surprising that I was tired and unproductive all Friday.

Alan Gandy's charity walk

Alan Gandy is walking the length of all seven Canary Islands for charity, and he's currently on La Palma. Yesterday he walked from Santa Cruz to Fuencaliente, and today he's walking from Barlovento to Santa Cruz (the photo is of Alan leaving Barlovento). All procedes to two charities, Niños del Tercer Mundo – a charity based on the island which funds projects in the third world, and the Rose Road Association – based in the UK, who provide services to severely disabled children and their families. You can read more on Alan's blog  and Facebook page. If you're impressed, you can donate here.

Been There, Done That

Well, now I have my own publishing house, Dragon Tree Publishing.

Of course that sounds ridiculously grand. I had a fun conversation with my son where I said that calling Dragon Tree Publishing my own publishing house sounded ridiculously grand.  He suggested "publishing hut" and I suggested "publishing bedsit". We went through "publishing cave" and "publishing tent" before settling on "publishing shoe-box". And as any Monty Python fan will tell you, that makes me lucky. I wanted to mark the occasion. Electronic publishing - been there, done that and got the T shirt. The T shirts were designed by Eco-Geek.net and printed by LaPalmaGalpa

This is so nice.

El Alisio, the cultural magazine for La Palma has an article about my book  here and Hank Quense has one here.

Meanwhile Janice Clark gave my book five stars on Amazon.
"This collection has something for everyone and a story to fit every mood, from the poignant tale of the last dragon (The Dodo Dragon) to the zaniness of Jose's AI appliances (The Appliance of Science), who plunk him down in the middle of the sardines's funeral procession--a Canary Islands carnival tradition.

Crosby, a British expat living on the Canary Island of La Palma, also draws on local color for a unique alien contact story (Zuggy Zu and the Humans) which offers some insights as to what *really* goes on in the observatories.

There's plenty of drama in the time travel story, "Scream Quietly", as well as in "Breathing Space"--an asteroid mining disaster in which a desperate mother finds a new use for the freezer. I won't hint at the ending of "Infant Colic" but it might make you shudder. Sprinkled liberally in between are a delightful assortment of "Feghoots"--short-short stories featuring elaborate and atrocious puns."

I feel I'm off to a good start.

"The Dodo Dragon and Other Stories" is on sale

Nine quirky SF stories by Sheila Crosby to entertain you.

On sale April 23rd 2012, and available for Kindle, iPad, Mac and PCs.

Cover painting by Merche Martin Morillo

Layout by Eco-geek

This book currently has 4.5 stars on Amazon.com where it costs just $3.54, but it's slightly cheaper (2.59€) direct from Dragon Tree Publishing, which also offers other electronic formats.

If you have any problems with this book, please leave a comment. 

If you like it, please tell as many people as possible!

Loaded!

I've uploaded the files for "The Dodo Dragon and Other Stories" to Amazon. the book is now "in review" and should be on sale tomorrow. I hope. Of course I'll be shouting from the rooftops as soon as that happens. So here's a fun video to celebrate.

Coming on Monday

My SF anthology, "The Dodo Dragon and other stories" will be on sale as an eBook from Monday 23rd April - Shakespeare's birthday.

Nine quirky stories to entertain you from an off-beat imagination.

"If you like tongue in cheek retro sci-fi, often filled with bad puns, much in the vein of those 50s & 60s anthologies, with a twist of Ellison, Sheckley or Silverberg, then you'll find stuff in here you'll like...had me laughing out loud on several occasions." Matt Kelland




"Almost all the stories are witty and amusing. Many of them with surprise endings, a talent that Sheila often uses in her stories. Some of the stories are set in the Canary Islands where Sheila lives and provides with a setting that isn't seen in too many stories.
         Scream Quietly was my favorite story in the book. That story is told in
letters from an anguished mother who faces an unusual predicament, one of
the stories with a surprise twist at the end."  Hank Quense 



Full details at http://dragontree.sheilacrosby.com/blog/the-dodo-dragon-and-other-stories/

A little hat

My friend's baby only had two hats,one of which was far too big for him.  So I got my knitting needles out and made him another. I thought it was a nice, little hat. His mum thought it was a nice little hat.  But as you can see, Baby wasn't impressed.

Or maybe he was just tired. Because soon afterwards he fell fast asleep.

My friend's new baby

Yippee! I got permission to share these photos of my friend's new baby. Isn't he gorgeous?

Those were from the hospital. Here he is at home, one week old.

Free Kindle Anthology (with two of my stories in it)

"The amazing Escape Velocity: the anthology is currently free on Amazon (US and everywhere else). Limited time offer! Don't wait..."


Only the Kindle version is free.  You can get it at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004Z8L3SG/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_ask_qKyTD.1N6XXF0

And here's part of two of the Amazon reviews:

"Scream Quietly" by Sheila Crosby was one of my favorite stories. Told by way of letters from the perspective of a young woman in 1849 England. This story depicts the intricacies of alien contact and space/ time travel. It's a wonderfully heartwarming tale with a great twist at the end.

The second story, 'Zuggyzu and the Humans', is also worth a mention as it is cleverly written and it's good to know not all the aliens have it in for the Humans. You will cringe and smile at the actions of the humans.

(OK, so I'm biased about which bits I pick. But it's really nice to know that people enjoy my stories.)

Good Friday

We spent most of today getting good exercise by helping the friends in Franceses - mostly shifting earth for the next section in front of the house, with a bit of shifting gravel (ready for the following concrete) and some weeding of veggie patches. As usual, they were very grateful and gave us a lovely lunch. And as usual, it cleared away the brain fog too.

The photo is a Good Friday procession that stopped the traffic for ten minutes in Los Sauces.

Busy, busy again

National Geographic photo editors in Las Nieves church.

 Wow! Where did the last week go? Well, working at Fotonature got busier. On Friday I worked 12 hours and slept for 5. On Saturday I worked 18 (!) hours and slept for 3 (!!!). On Sunday I worked 6 hours and collapsed in a heap. I spent Monday and Tuesday alternately catnapping and doing light housework.

But Fotonature was great. I took the National Gepgraphic photo editors to see volcanoes, the back streets of Santa Cruz, Las Nieves church, astronomical viewpoints surrounded by laurel forest and volcanic ash, La Glorieta square, and the biggest telescope in the world. Everybody took photos of everybody else taking photos of everybody else taking photos. I got to hear two of the FotoNature talks, and I'm hoping to be able to hear a recording of the rest. Best of all, I got some personal advice on the photos for my upcoming book about the observatory. So wonderful - but still exhausting.

Sigui photographing Todd, who was photographing the telescope.

Since then, I've scrubbed the kitchen and bathrooms and caught up with laundry, and sort-of caught up with blogs. I've also been to the opening party of an art gallery /magazine offices in Los Cancajos, and an open day at the silk museum in El Paso.

 Best of all, my friend's baby arrived safe and sound. He is, of course, utterly gorgeous. I hope his Mummy will let me post some photos.