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Category: Colin Rowland

The challenge of historical fiction

The challenge of historical fiction

Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay As an author, my genre is Historical Romantic Fiction, specifically Pride & Prejudice variations. As I’ve said in previous posts, I went through a steep learning curve, which is only now levelling off, to a certain degree. I confess to suffering some envy regarding my brother Jann’s apparent ease when it comes to crafting stories. Of course, he’s been writing professionally for more than a decade, while I six years under my belt. Unfortunately, cancer and…

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Welcome to The Dead South

Welcome to The Dead South

Image from https://www.inyourpocket.com/krakow/the-dead-south_24759e Meet The Dead South, a folk-bluegrass band from my hometown. My son sent me the link to this song without telling me about the band, but the majority of  video was obviously shot in and around Regina, Saskatchewan. That got me curious, so I had to find out what was going on. They formed in 2012 and have been together, for the most part, since then. Take a listen to this, it is well worth a few…

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Thoughts on Marriage

Thoughts on Marriage

Today is the forty-eight anniversary of my marriage. My wife and I are at the stage of our union where we are both retired and satisfied with our lives. I am, at least, and I believe she is also. That’s not to say that we’re content to sit on our duffs and let the world go by. We still have hopes and dreams that won’t come to pass by themselves. She’s given me four beautiful children, who have graced us with…

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And now for something different

And now for something different

*The Babylon Bee logo is copied from and owned by the Babylon Bee I love the Babylon Bee. For those unfamiliar with this company, Wikipedia describes them as “a conservative Christian news satire website that publishes satirical articles on topics including religion, politics, current events, and public figures,” which is a fairly accurate description. Others accuse them of being far-right, conspiracy theorists, bigots, white supremacists, etc. which, in my humble opinion, is a great, steaming, pile of crap. Babylon Bee…

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Miscellaneous Monday— What am I doing?

Miscellaneous Monday— What am I doing?

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Of all the specific themes we have for the Glimmer of Gold blog, I find Miscellaneous Monday the most difficult to create. Tuesday Tunes are easy, because my love of music is not limited to a few specific genres. I appreciate the power and majesty of Handel’s Messiah, pretty much all of Beethoven’s symphonies, Clair de Lune, and many others. I enjoy a few operas and ballets, Swan Lake especially. Fifties and sixties country is a particular favorite,…

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A love song for a train?

A love song for a train?

Photo by Kaja Kadlecova on Unsplash I’ve had a tune running through me head and I wanted to share it with you. It’s a delightful, happy song that my mother listened to on occasion. As her favorite music was classical, with a smattering of opera, I had assumed  this was an aira from something like The Barber of Seville. Hearing this song brings back memories of Bugs Bunny’s “Rabbit of Seville” episode. Imagine my surprise when I discovered was composed in conjunction with the …

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What’s up Wednesday? Not enough

What’s up Wednesday? Not enough

Feature Photo by JJ Jordan on Unsplash A little over two months ago, I announced that my next work would be a new version of “Hidden Desires”, a novel I published early in my writing career.  I made the announcement under the mistaken belief that I could tweak and adjust in short order, intending to reissue the improved version in  the first week of the new year (in my younger, formative years, I was judged immature and naive, traits that still seem…

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A bit of Regency Trivia to delight and astound.

A bit of Regency Trivia to delight and astound.

Featured image found at http://www.regencyhistory.net/2012/09/when-is-regency-era.html As I get back to my writing, I thought it might be fun to do a bit of trivia searching about the Regency era. To that end, here are five surprising facts about life in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century England. The majority of this information, plus a whole lot more, can be found at https://www.thevintagenews.com/2022/06/30/regency-era-facts/. When I write about Darcy, or Mr. Bennet, or any of my story participants traveling overnight, I have…

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The Most Incredible Adventure The Screen Has Ever Created!

The Most Incredible Adventure The Screen Has Ever Created!

Above image copied from http://waichingsthoughts81.blogspot.com/2017/04/weekend-tv-movie-review-airplane-1980.html In case you ‘re confused, I want to talk about the movie Airplane!, one of  funniest and most irreverent movies ever made in my humble opinion. The trailer is just a taste of the sheer zaniness of this flick. It was written and directed by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker. This trio also gave us such gems as The Kentucky Fried Movie and, my all time favorite television series, Police Squad, which spawned the Naked Gun…

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As promised, an excerpt

As promised, an excerpt

I’m finally making progress on my Hidden Desires rewrite. The process is slow and a bit painful, as my source material has more than a few shortcomings. To confess, when I wrote the novel I suffered from an excess of hubris and actually thought my story was well constructed. For those who read that first edition, I apologize and offer the completed, although unedited, first chapter. Although fairly long, it provides the setting and sets the mood for the remainder of…

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