Mountain Wordsmiths

Carroll Taylor will host Mountain Wordsmiths Thursday, April 22,  at 10:30 AM Eastern time.

Bob Grove, the author of over twenty books, will be featured. His short stories are usually humorous and sometimes touching. Everyone enjoys Bob's readings.

Writers are invited to join in with a poem or short prose piece for Open Mic. 

This event, sponsored by NCWN-West, is held on Zoom as are most of our writing events at this time. To join us, email Carroll Taylor

vibiaperpetua@gmail.com for an invitation before 10:00 AM Thursday.

Outlander has grabbed me. But so has David Joy's book, Where All Light Tends to Go/

I am always behind in reading the latest or watching the latest on TV, but a few weeks ago my friend, Carroll Taylor, told me about the book and TV series Outlander, and then she went to Scotland and showed me the photos she took.
I found the series on Netflix and decided to watch it. I had no idea the books had been around so long, and that I really knew nothing about them. But the series has grabbed me as it does anyone who watches it. The characters are interesting, flawed and beautiful, the costumes in this show are absolutely wonderful, and the acting is fabulous. As the author says, it is not a romance, although there is a romance in it, but it is large and historical and about people, their faults, their feelings, their growth and death.

I began watching two or three episodes each night and finished the first two seasons in a couple of weeks. I was disappointed that there were only two seasons, but have learned it will be picked up by Amazon Prime for the next season or two. I know it was first shown on Starz, but I don't subscribe to that.

I never knew much about the Scottish Highlanders, the clans, etc. but once I watched this show, I found myself researching clans, looking to see if any of my lineage came from those people. They were a violent bunch, always fighting among themselves, but make great characters for historical fiction.

Tonight I downloaded the first book from Audible. I want to see how the book and the television show differs. One of the actors says the book is all written from the point of view of the main character, Claire, but the series shows Jamie's point of view as well as Claire's. I like that.

I also listened to a book this week by David Joy, who lives in a neighboring county. He is an excellent writer and is highly acclaimed in the literary world although he has only published a few novels. Where All Light Tends To Go, is his first book. It, too, is violent and I don't like violence, but some of the characters are very dark. I found that I had such compassion for the young man who was the narrator. He was caught in a world where he could not get out and he knew it. The language was XX rated, but fit the life style of these people, who, I'm sure really spoke that way. David Joy has a way with words. Some of his prose sounds like poetry, similar to the writing of Ron Rash.

As you can tell, I have been enjoying Audible and Netflix. I am not watching news shows, nothing that will make me anxious or concerned. And, I am sleeping better. That is unless I stay up too late watching TV.

Hope your week has been good and that next week will be great. What are you reading or watching instead of News?