An invitation: suggest a topic
Right I may regret this but I have decided to invite you, my readers, to suggest topics for me to cover on this blog.
Written by Alistair Duncan
Buy my books here
I've been trying to
get some variety on here and began with a request for guest blogs. This resulted
in two diverse and interesting guest posts but there have not been further
offers.
 |
| I'm waiting...... |
Therefore the next approach is for me to offer to give my
thoughts on topics that interest you. I run the risk of getting requests I’m
not comfortable with or qualified on but that goes with the territory. I don’t
guarantee to write a post on every suggestion but I will do so where I feel I
have something to offer.
So suggest away……
Written by Alistair Duncan
Holmes retirement.
ReplyDeletePlease elaborate....when he retired? What he did? etc?
ReplyDeleteKind of all the above, but mostly about how you think he spent his time.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were there a while ago, we tried to hunt down where he may have retired. Your opinions on that would be good.
And of course you could not go wrong with the 'great hiatus'.
I would like to see someone doing serious reviews for Holmes pastiches or related stories. With that I mean give a considered an honest opinion about the story itself, writing style etc.
ReplyDeleteAt first I have bought so many books which were reviewed enthusiastically by some Sherlockian outlet just to find they were absolute clunkers. I get that the Sherlockian world is relatively small and people don't want to say bad things about other Sherlockians they could possibly meet at some event or other. Nonetheless it's a disservice to readers everywhere to rave about a book just because it was written by someone who happens to share your hobby.
I have reviewed books before. My problem is that most books labelled as pastiche are nothing of the kind. At best they are homages. Leaving this aside I actually find that over 90% are not to my taste. That doesn't mean that they are rubbish simply that they don't conform to what I want. I loathe cross-overs or stories that bring Holmes into the world of magic. Too many stories today go down one (or both) of these routes and I won't spend my time on them - it's time I don't have. I'd be willing to publish reviews by others in accordance with my desire for guest posts....
DeleteI would offer to do them, but you would probably not like to publish them as I'm rather outspoken about my opinions. *lol*
ReplyDeleteHere's a link to some amazon reviews I've done. I could probably find more to say about those books, taking the amazon reviews as a skeleton to build upon, but, well, that might be a tad uncomfortable for you....
I didn't post the link you gave me as I don't publish links but I did have a look and I think you are, shall we say, robust in your views. If you were prepared to tone your reviews down a little or be willing to accept an editor's blue pencil occasionally (with consultation) I would be happy to look at posting your book reviews.
DeleteOkay, deal. :-) Will come back as soon as I've done the first and we'll see how it turns out from there.
DeleteI'm bracing myself
DeleteYour a brazer man than I Gunga Din.
Delete