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The Jorvik Viking Festival 2015 set to be a good one for authors

January 23, 2015 by Andrew 1 Comment

The Jorvik Viking Festival is taking place in York this year from 14th February to the 22nd. The festival is always a good one, I’ve been, a chance to experience history in a way that you don’t often get to.

This year there is no shortage of good news for storytelling, books and authors. Event organisers Danielle Daglan has announced a range of great events.

jorvik-viking-festival

Vincent Atherton kicks off the action with an event on Monday the 16th at 2pm at York Mansion House. Tickets cost £3 or £4 and pre-booking is strongly advised. Atherton is part of the festival to discuss his book “Viking Voices: The Sword of Amleth” and the effort needed to keep fact and fiction apart. The book follows Ragnald, a man who became both king of Dublin and York.

The following day, at the same location, Matthew Townend of the University of York, will be sharing fascinating insight into his new book “Viking Age Yorkshire”. This is the first ever full-length study of Yorkshire’s Vikings.

Children’s author Jeremy Strong is likely to sell out. Tickets are currently available from £7.50 per person (which includes a free child’s ticket to the Jorvik Viking Centre). Strong is at the merchant Adventurers’ Hall on Wednesday the 18th. Visitors will be able to meet the man and get books signed.

On Friday the 18th, bestselling historical novelist Giles Kristain will be talking about his book “God of Vengeance”, a prequel to his Raven trilogy, that follows Sigurd, son of Jarl Harald.

Each day there will be living storytelling taking place at 11am, 1pm and 3pm at the Vikings central camp on Parliament Street. Visitors will be able to see a Viking longship ready for war, learn about Norse weapons and warfare as well as discovering some secrets to Viking health and healing.

This year the Jorvik Viking Festival has the conclusion of the third Bloodaxe Book Challenge. The Festival organisers, York Archaelogical Trust, run this with Explore York Library Service, with the aim of getting children to read over the winter holidays. More information about the Bloodaxe Book Challenge can be found online.

In Pure Spirit

Have you ever been to the Jorvik Viking Festival? Tell us what it was like in the comments below. If not; is this the sort of history-meets-entertainment-meets-education festival you would go to if you could?

A look at The Secret Lives of Married Women

December 13, 2013 by Meridian Leave a Comment

I’ll be honest. I didn’t fully appreciate the scope and depth of this novel until I was partway through.

The Secret Lives of Married Women

And that is not at all because the panty dropping forays increased in intensity at that point.

Once into the meatier half of Elissa Wald’s book, I found myself drawing entirely new and startling conclusions about the protagonists, having been presented with familiar sensations in incredibly polarized situations. Even though I didn’t see myself as any of the characters, I saw myself in those pages. A massive achievement on the authors part.

The first half of the novel follows a woman named Leda and her… somewhat strained relationship with her husband Stas. I found this half – though delicious, somewhat difficult to assimilate. As if I were trapped somewhere between measuring the conflicts relative to Leda’s narrative, yet struggling to compartmentalize what she was feeling with how I thought she should be feeling, and reacting accordingly (a trap for the pragmatic, omnipresent reader).

The story evolves however, whether the reader is ready for it or not. An equally enticing and revealing look at Leda’s twin and opposite Lillian, and a woman named Nan quickly dispels the hazardously negotiated feelings of control and expectation the reader has garnered thus far.

I am loath to give away any details of the plot for fear of shattering the illusion cast upon the reader while gorging on this story, for the pinnacle of the writers success here is not only in the suspense, but the emphatic array of conflicting emotions that bleed through every page. The biggest surprise of all, being that you have soaked them yourself, regardless if you agree or disagree with the conclusions wrought by the characters.

Despite my subconscious attempts at distancing myself from the stories to discern their likely outcomes, or at least to anticipate the value of the problems they encounter, the very nature of the conflicts faced by Leda, Lillian and Nan elicits an intensive introspection that is not limited to an empathetic understanding of the direct problems faced, but encourages an unapologetic consideration of any situation in which your heart and your mind are at odds.

The meaningful and realistic way the author deals with the characters in the story is enchanting, and, truly, it did feel as if a spell had been broken when I closed the book and put it down. A part of me felt bereft. As short as the book is (and I believe it is best that way) there was a sense of loss – a directionless appeal for the clarity and comfort that the author manages to conceal between the lines.

I would be remiss in classifying this book as an erotic thriller, for that fails to encapsulate the entirety of what Elissa Wald has done. She has laid bare the most basic instincts of our psyche in a stark and haunting exposure, such that it at once offends, confounds, and exults in the personal struggles we all face with our deepest, darkest secrets.

In Pure Spirit

Did you explore a deeper meaning in Wald’s novel?

Would you consider the book based on its psychological implications, the naughty bits, or both?

Disclosure: My copy of the book was provided for review. The Secret Lives of Married Women by Elissa Wald. Titan Books

Competition: Win Wallace and Gromit – the Complete Newspaper Strips (volume 1)

December 1, 2013 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Are you a Wallace & Gromit fan? Yeah? Have you read all their newspaper strips? This hardback (RRP £10) from Titan Books has all 52 weeks, 52 stories and 312 individual stories. Expect chaos, madness and silly fun. You might also expect encounters with out-of-control electronic scarecrows as this is the Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Newspaper Strips you’ve been looking for.

How do you win? Just log into the widget below (so the winner can be contacted) and click the buttons to reveal missions. You can do as many or as few missions as you like.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Will the book get to you before Christmas? Can’t promise but can try. The winner will be emailed as soon as the competition is over. As soon as we’ve agreed a shipping address the book will be taken straight to the Post Office and sent first class. Not in the UK? You can still enter; but the chances of the prize getting to you before Christmas Day are reduced.

In Pure Spirit

What’s your favourite Wallace & Gromit scene? Share your memories in the comments below.

Prize via Titan Books, Wallace & Gromit, RRP £9.99, 136pp.

Competition: Adventure Time comic book bundle!

November 16, 2013 by Andrew Leave a Comment

At the start of the year In Pure Spirit gave a way a copy of Adventure Time v1 in an easy to enter competition. Now you have a chance to win Adventure big Time!

There are three prizes up for grabs and they’ll go to one lucky winner.

First up there’s Adventure Time (Vol.2) (RRP £8.99), then there’s Marceline and the Scream Queens (RRP £9.99) and the hardback Adventure Time – Mathematical Edition (Vol.1) (RRP £14.99). That’s a total prize fund of about £34.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In Pure Spirit

Are you lucky? Have you ever managed to win a competition online? Let us know your experiences in the comments below.

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