Clear Away The Clutter Read-a-Thon

I've joined the Clear Away the Clutter Read-a-Thon hosted by The Neverending Shelf. I'm excited because it is my first read-a-thon and my first challenge really. I read about these challenges on other people's blogs and think "I'd love to do that!" but for some reason I've never actually committed to taking part. Still, the important thing is I'm here now, ready to join in.

The read-a-thon begins 7am April 5 and ends 11pm April 11. I'm guessing those aren't my local times, but near enough is good enough. Thankfully this is one of the weeks I have a break from work so I fully intend to read, read, read without pesty work getting in the way.

Here is my list of books to be read (so far):

The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer (I'm halfway through and have stalled)
Swan by Frances Hayes (Again, I'm halfway through and have stalled)
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (I own all of the James Bond books and haven't read any)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (read about a quarter of this a while back but couldn't get into it)
Fallen by Lauren Kate (really excited about this one)
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mean (a re-read to get up to date for the three following books in the series that I own but haven't read)
The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman (bought on impulse a few weeks ago)

I have no idea if this is too many books or not enough. I'll be happy with any progress though and I know I can power through books easily when I focus. I've taken the advice of The Neverending Shelf and chosen a combination of longer books with a few shorter ones thrown in.

Can't wait to get started!

Where my best impulses have taken me

My Mondo Beyondo lesson for the day asks me where my best impulses have taken me.

My best impulses have taken me around the world. I have inhabited strange cities, built a life myself in a foreign country, met people who invite me to places like Jamaica to finish writing my book and actually mean it, walked under the Italian sun, found constellations in the roof of a cave, walked the path of the samurai, felt insignificant next to several of the wonders of the world and knitted my own self into the fabric of manyplaces and many different people.

My best impulses saw me sign up for a writing and yoga retreat in Guatemala. I was so sorry after I had paid for the retreat. If I could have canceled I would have. I was overwhelmed with strangeness, with change. I didn't think I could fly to Guatemala and find my way to the retreat. I did, and it was one of those decisions that just made sense. It led me to my writing self, which led me to October.

My best impulses (with help from a friend's sage advice) saw me refuse yet another corporate, soul draining job and accept a position much less secure which has supported me extremely well as I write. I remember wishing fervently that I could find a job that paid me enough to earn the sort of money I earned in a full time job but only work part time. I thought it was an impossible dream, but it is my reality now.

My best impulses put me on a plane headed for someone who is a very dear friend now. I trusted when there was no promise of anything, and though it took some years, I see how grace caught me. I see her hands on me. I see her guiding me.

It's more than I've believed in for a very long time. And my best impulses say it is enough.

Mondo Beyondo Energizers

I'm working through the Mondo Beyondo e-course with Jen Lemen and Andrea Scher.

Today it is time to list my natural energizers, the things that I always enjoy doing and the things that give me a lift in my day and a spring in my step. I decided to create a photo post for this one, and all of the images except the photos of Hopie and Mollie are taken from Google Images.

1. Dancing


2. Cleaning up


3. Writing


4. Reading


5. Yoga


6. Art and craft


7. Singing


8. Hopie and Mollie




9. The beach

Preparing for NaNoWriMo

November means one thing and one thing only...it's NaNoWriMo time!

For the uninitiated NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Held every November, writers from all over the world pledge to write 50,000 words in one month. The idea is to write a complete novel from start to finish. At an average of 1666 words a day, it's more about quantity than quality but it is a LOT of fun.

Last year I was a bit naughty and continued on with my in progress novel and it got a huge shot in the arm, even if probably only 20,000 of those words made it to the novel (which is in the drafting and editing stage right now). This year I'm starting something knew which I have tentatively entitled Gods and Jukeboxes. Yeah, I know, pretty random title. I only have the briefest of ideas and I really just want to see what bats fly out of my attic. Could be something, could be nothing.

I'm joining Andrea's NaNoWriMo group at her blog A Cat of Impossible Colour as well as linking in with Perth based NaNo groups for write ins and general companionship in the writing process which can be a bit solitary.

So here's to you November 2009 - at your end I hope I have 50,000 words of something!

I am so glad that work no longer makes me feel like this

Sadly I can't find the author of this cartoon

I used to feel this way about work. It was soul destroying and miserable for me to get up five days a week and go to a job I didn't enjoy. I was always planning for the next job, the next holiday. Anything to get me out of the daily grind.

I had a choice to make about 3 or so months back. I was offered a full time permanent job with a government agency (which makes it seriously permanent) or casual work as a Lecturer. I was very tempted to take the full time job. It had Security. It had a guaranteed income. And as I'd been happily out of work for 6 months that sounded mighty attractive. What if I took the casual job and it didn't last? What if the hours weren't enough? It was a dilemma.

The easy choice would have been the full time job. I know what it is to live that life - making good money, hating my job, dreading Sunday night because it precedes Monday, planning holidays I can't afford to pay for up front, thus resulting in work not being an option, but a necessity to pay credit card bills.

I made the other choice. I chose the casual yet uncertain work. And I have seriously never been happier with my work situation. The job teaching is fine - it isn't boring and there are parts of it I really like. The money is good enough that I make only slightly less working 12 hours a week than I did working 38. There is lots of time for me to write and several days off where I can do my thing.

It is probably the best decision I've made in a long time and it has made a lot of difference to my quality of life. It took some bravery to get there, but I am glad I took that leap.

The Joy Diet: Truth in Dance

I have had my moments of stillness this week.

Several times I sat quietly and tried to distance myself from my thoughts, to let them roll over me like wave after wave of rushing, noisy water. It was hard, very hard. I was gentle with myself about this. I am not experienced at meditation and to expect 15 minutes of perfect stillness straight away is not realistic for me.

I also tried other forms of stillness - one was dancing. Now technically dancing doesn't sound like stillness, but while my body is dancing my mind has no room to think. I'm with the music, I'm with my body, I'm in that moment. And that is the essence of stillness I think.

After dancing I wrote down the follow words in response to the truth question:

What do I feel?

• Unbound
• Passionate
• Buzzy
• Brave
• Able to do anything
• Fluid
• Happy

I love to dance but I simply don't do it anymore. I'm heavier than I was in highschool when I'd come home to an empty house, put on my dancing clothes, turn up the CD player (it was new technology then. Ha!) and dance, dance, dance. I just loved the way it made me feel.

Then I grew up a bit more, went to university and I stopped making time to dance. Now, 15 years later, I almost never dance. Part of it is that I can ignore the heaviness of my body if I don't move it a lot. Those extra 30 pounds or so are barely noticeable if I hide from my body. That's sad, isn't it?

What hurts?
No longer dancing.

What is the painful story I'm telling?
I no longer dance because I'm too fat and too frightened to feel that.

Can I be sure my painful story is true?
It isn't. My dancing today proved that. I can still enjoy dancing.

Is my painful story working?
Well, it was. :) Now, not so much.

Can I think of another story that might work better?
I can dance whenever I like, whenever I want to feel free and fluid and passionate. There is nothing holding me back.

I really enjoyed Truth this week. I'm going to keep telling myself these truths and keep trying to get to the bottom of the stories I'm telling myself, which ones are working and which ones are holding me back.

I also want to consider this question more often:

Of the options open to me, which one brings the most love into the world?

Excuse me, I'm going to dance right now!

I also wrote an additional post this week entitled The Joy Diet: Truth in Failure

The Joy Diet: Truth in Failure

After my almost 15 minutes of stillness - this time lying down and trying to empty my mind - I ask the question Martha Beck poses - what am I feeling? The answer is failure.

Not so much failure at stillness (although I still find it to be very difficult to empty my mind and this has been the reason why meditation has never "stuck" as a practice for me) but just a sense of not being good enough, not knowing enough, not offering enough.

What hurts?
My heart, my losses and disappointments.

What is the painful story I am telling?
I am not good enough, nor will I ever be good enough. I have failed to complete tasks, failed to undertake tasks. My body has failed me, and I have failed it. I have disappointed people. There is no compassion for me, I am undeserving of that which I extend to others.

Can I be sure my painful story is true?
My painful story is equal parts truth and lie. I am not perfect (of course I'm not!) but I'm not a scumbag either. I have made mistakes, but they have mostly turned out for the best. What I see as failure is probably equal parts failure and success. All these so called failures have led me to this point, this moment and I am not unhappy with my life or my choices.

Is my painful story working?
Well, it is preventing me from embracing things that have happened to me in the past. It is restricting my vision of events with the sole heading of FAILURE. So no, I don't think I'm doing myself any favours.

Can I think of another story that might work better?
Oh yes. I am good enough and I have always been good enough. I have had many successes in life and I hold few regrets. The box labeled FAIL is not where I want to put events of my past, present or future. It restricts them - and me - and offers only the ugly sad side of things instead of the complex journey, the good parts of the bad parts, the learning and the understanding. I offer compassion to those ugly bits and I want to look harder and pick out the good stuff.

Here and Now

I am watching Firefly and appreciating its unique vision and compelling story.

I am reading Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. I've only just started, but I love stories about the dark world of faery.

I am eating cupcakes with pink icing. I made them for the dinner my Mum and I had last night for my Aunt and Uncle. Yum!

I am wishing I was in Japan. It seems to be everywhere at the moment - in books, newspapers, on television, in my memories.

I am writing and it is going well. October's story is starting to take a definite shape and I know her world as well as I do my own.

I can't wait for the world to meet her.

Art in Progress

I don't pretend to be a great artist.

I do not think I am gifted at art, or have any particular aptitude for painting or drawing.

I'm an imperfect artist, because my art comes from me, from who I am, from my imperfect self. I paint because I enjoy it. I like putting the paint on the canvas and swirling it about. I like mixing media and trying things out. I like art journaling and paper cutting and creating little wooden dolls. I like clay and glue and stickers.

Creating brings me joy, and the end result of whatever I create is less important than what it took to get there. It took me a long time to understand that. I'm a brave artist, perhaps because I don't have natural talent or ability. I have nothing to prove. And all the joy in the world to discover and hold close to my heart.

This is the wrong way up, but I don't know how to flip photos on blogger. It is based on a dream I had about golden bees chasing me through a gate. It's a work in progress, no where near finished. The bees were tricky and I'm not sure I'm completely sold on them, but whatever. I know they're bees, right? *wink*

Oh, I love this page. This is a page in the Moleskin watercolour journal I'm creating for my cousin for her 30th birthday. I love the cherry blossoms here - they're cotton wool!

This is the first page I did in the Moleskin watercolour journal and my first time playing with watercolours. I love it. She's standing in front of a well. I created this after I read that if you are at the bottom of a well and you look up you will always be able to see the stars, no matter what time of day it is.

The Joy Diet: Nothing

Firstly, here is my vision card for nothing:


My favourite parts are the Japanese writing and the purple elephant. I'm not sure why all of these things evoke the feeling of nothing for me, but I figure that isn't something I need to examine too closely.

I have only just finished the Nothing chapter, so I've really only tried the process of doing "nothing" once, which was today. I haven't had the greatest of luck with previous still meditation so I chose the busy activity, which was cutting out hearts for an art project. It was very steadying, very peaceful just to be in that moment, with those hearts and just let the thoughts come and go. I will definitely be trying more nothing this coming week.

I have the week off from work (yay!) so I'll combine Truth and Nothing and see how it goes. I think I'll be doing a lot of art work this week so we'll see how the themes play out.

Happy Truth week everyone!

Beginning The Joy Diet at Another Chapter

It is time for a new book at The Next Chapter with Jamie Ridler!

This time around the book is The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life by Martha Beck. Jamie chooses such good books. The first time I got a lot out of Soul Coaching, the second time it was Wreck This Journal, which I enjoyed but didn't really participate in the blogging side of things. I was lucky enough to pick up The Joy Diet from my local library, which is always exciting. I live in Western Australia and I have to say, my state has one of the greatest library systems ever. Every time I want a book (and I want a LOT books from a lot of different interest areas) nine times out of ten it is somewhere in the state and they are happy to loan it out via my library that is 5 minutes down the road. So exciting for bookworm like me!

I'm hoping I'll be able to keep up with The Joy Diet. It's a busy time for me with lecturing, keeping up with my reading and assignments for two external university units (I'm really kicking myself that I signed up for them now...studying always sounds great, but the reality of it leaves something to be desired). But here's hoping!

I look forward to undertaking some projects (the vision cards sound fun!) and getting to know my fellow journeyers. Yay!

Mixed Media Painting: Journey

I went to a Mixed Media Painting workshop today. It was taught by Emily and I enjoyed learning some mixed media techniques and messing about with paint, glue and stencils.

I used backgrounds from my trip to Japan - maps of Kyoto, pictures of koi, a postcard. I wasn't sure about my choice to involve purple in amongst the oranges and browns, but I like the result. It was more browns and oranges in my head. I'm going to try some of these techniques in my art journaling, and when I can find someone who has Modge Podge in stock, I'll add that to my supplies.

BlissChick Poster

Just spreading the word from BlissChick. Isn't this poster beautiful?

Sunday Scribblings: New Voice

San Antonio, Texas through the castle window

I have been thinking about voice lately. I read a number of blogs on a semi-regular basis and it seems like few of them are having troubles finding their voice lately. Or perhaps I hear their cries as my ears are attuned to these struggles. One blogger wrote openly of her problems finding something to write about. It must be hard to find something to appease the hordes of people who turn up to her blog, their mouths open like hungry baby birds, waiting for her to feed them something, anything.

I must admit that I find that blogger to be an average writer at best. That comment says more about me than it does about her. I don't like her writing style - it feels almost desperate to me, she tries too hard to grab me, her jokes are over worked and her topics bland and out of my experience, borrowed from the numerous tragedies around her. I feel nothing of her voice in her writing. If the words I read on these rare occasions are truly her voice, it seems whiny and petulant and best forgotten.

Another blogger I visit on the same rare basis has always irritated me which is, again, more about me than her. She of the pretty melancholy, the perfect husband, the desperate yearning for a baby and the tragic fertility journey.

So I wonder - are we voiceless without our struggles? Are they really who we are? Or is there something of us that lives and breathes and speaks outside of this journey to find meaning in our lives? I would like to think so. My voice is not my lovely dogs, my struggle with maintaining a healthy weight, the loss of family members, my education or my friends and family. My voice exists outside of all of that, sitting on a wooden stool in a small corner of my soul dressed in a white cotton dress, its hair loose and damp. It smiles sometimes, and cries sometimes. It simply is. It doesn't care about the window dressing of my life, no matter how meaningful or dull or painful it is to me. My voice is my voice and she waits for me to be silent for long enough to hear her speak.

I've been listening a great deal lately. Her voice has been my voice, has helped me discover the main character's voice in my novel. As I painstakingly build a world for my protagonist to live in, I can hear my own voice whisper and giggle and share herself with me. If I write from that part of me - the part that is always new, always fresh and always authentic - I can't imagine how I could ever go wrong.

Squashing Self Doubt

Takayama, Japan

It's amazing to me how despite our self-doubts, we keep putting ourselves out there. And I want to simply encourage you to keep taking those risks, big and small, in your life and in your art. Taking risks helps squash those pesky self-doubts in a powerful way. Your risks may be trying out a new color, learning a new style, reaching out to a fellow artist, submitting your work to a show, posting your work online, or opening up a shop. Not all our risks will have the results we want, but every risk gives us the inner knowing that we are capable of more than we realize.

- Wisdom from Leah at Creative Every Day

Waking up

I feel like I am waking up to who I truly am.

The picture above is the completed first draft of my novel.

185 pages and almost 85,000 words.

I still have a long way to go, but at least I am moving.

Creative Therapy - What do I put off doing?

This is my first time participating in a Creative Therapy prompt. I've been following the blog for a while, but I've let myself be intimidated by the artists that take part. Who am I to take part? I'm not an artist! So go the voices in my head.

This week's prompt is Tell us about something that you always put off doing. Why?


I always put off cleaning up. Always. Certain rooms in my house are in a permanently messy state. I think part of the problem is that I have too much stuff for such a small space. Even when I do put it away, the storage isn't adequate so it bursts out again and I can't be bothered with putting it away and I just give up. I guess the answer to my ongoing battle is to either get more storage or throw out more stuff. Both are good ideas!

Art details: This is my little art journal I got from McCabe at The Dancing Mermaid. I stuck double sided tape on each page and dotted on confetti. I cut the lettering out of gold cardboard and distressed it slightly with sandpaper. I've started using a lot more double sided tape in my journal because glue (and acrylic paint) makes the paper scrunch up.

Compared to the wonderful efforts over at Creative Therapy I know mine isn't much, but I'm proud of myself for just taking part!

Book Review: Pen on Fire by Barbara DeMarco Barrett

Pen on Fire
Barbara DeMarco Barrett

This book has changed my life. I purchased it in November 2006 when I was living in San Antonio, Texas and it was one of my first purchases in the genre of “writing inspiration.” I started reading and enjoyed the prompts that followed each short chapter and only required 15 minutes spare time. This was my first taste of writing to prompts and I found it useful and productive. Barbara's easy and friendly writing style is relaxed, but well informed and I liked the way she discussed writing concepts and ideas and made suggestions, while mixing in quotes from other authors.

The life changing part came about when I realised that the author of this book hosts a radio show out of the University of California Irvine called “Writers on Writing”. When I returned to Australia I looked up the show on itunes and started downloading. I listen to the podcasts at night when I can’t sleep, when I'm travelling and feeling anxious, and in the car. I’ve read about a dozen books written by authors whose interviews I've listened to on Writers on Writing. Some of them have been WAY out of the genres I usually read in, and I’ve really enjoyed expanding my horizons. More importantly, I feel like I have a greater insight into a book after hearing the author speak about it on the show. I have a list of about another 30 books to read, all recommendations from the show, and I’m looking forward to more. Barbara and her co-host Marie Stone, ask the authors appearing on the show interesting, well informed questions which are both kind and insightful. I have no doubt that both Barbara and Marie have read the books in question and, most importantly, are excited to talk about them with the author.

Occasionally the show focuses on agents and “the business of writing” and thanks to these shows I have a pretty good idea on how to approach an agent and write a query letter, when the time is right and my “fictional novel” (just kidding! This is apparently a mistake made in a lot of query letters to agents) is finished.

I only just finished off this book today, having picked it up off and on for a few years. I have not completed all the exercises and look forward to returning to my favourite pages, picking up my ink, quill and journal and going for it. I doubt Barbara DeMarco Barrett will read this review, but just in case - thanks for changing my writing and reading life Barbara!

Sunday Salon: The Sharper the Knife the Less You Cry, Tithe, How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead

The Sharper the Knife the Less You Cry: love, laughter and tears at the world’s most famous cooking school
Kathleen Flinn

I wasn’t sure how I was going to go with this memoir of a journalist who spends a year at the “world’s most famous cooking school” Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, but I was surprised at what a quick read it was. Kat’s adventures both in cooking and life through basic, intermediate and superior cuisine and the smattering of French life was compelling enough that I ran through the book in only a couple of sittings. Flinn is a good writer, but I found some of the metaphors between the food she was cooking and her life a bit contrived and trite (love is like a quiche, it has to be cooked at the right temperature and savoured with consideration – these are not Flinn’s words, but she offered up similar cringe worthy metaphors) and I really did get sick of how hearing about how wonderful her husband is. Flinn includes a lot of recipes in the book, but I have to say that French haute cuisine is not for me and I wasn’t tempted to try any of them. However, I did enjoy the book and I loved how Kat took a bad situation where she was retrenched from her job and turned it into the experience of a lifetime, the fulfilment of a long held dream and a completely new pathway in life. Leap and the net will appear!

Ironside
Holly Black

Ironside is the sequal to “Tithe” and unlike Black’s well known “Spiderwick Chronicles” (which I haven’t read) series, Tithe and Ironside are very much for young adult readers and contain adult themes and fairly strong language. I re-read Tithe last week to prepare myself for Ironside and I’m very glad I did. Kaye and Roiben’s world is detailed and involved and I needed the refresher.

After the events of Tithe, Kaye, who is coming to terms with being a pixie and not the ordinary 16 year old girl she thought she was and Roiben, who is (do not read on if you haven’t read Tithe as it is a SPOILER!) now King of the Unseelie Court, are trying to work out their relationship. Kaye makes a rash declaration and must undertake what appears to be a hopeless quest in order to be seen by the court as fit to be Roiben’s consort. Interwoven with this quest is Kaye forming a new identity and coming to terms with how the new Kaye fits into an old life that was never really hers to begin with.

In between Tithe and Ironside Holly Black wrote “Valiant” which is set in the same universe but shares the same characters in only the briefest of ways. Some of the characters from Valiant (one in particular) play a big role in Ironside and I enjoyed the overlap.

The biggest bummer for me with Ironside was that Roiben and Kaye were kept apart for almost the entire book, so there was no real progression with their relationship. I think Black is finished with the “modern faerie” books for now, so I guess that’s one story that just isn’t meant to be told.

How To Become A Famous Writer Before You’re Dead
Ariel Gore

I got this book in my Amazon haul last Christmas. I selected it because it seemed like it would be different from the usual books on writing, but it has taken me a few months to get to reading it. Ariel Gore is a bit famous for her first book “Hip Mama” which discussed her teen pregnancy and her journey into single parenthood. Gore is a breath of fresh air as far as I’m concerned. She has a no bullshit attitude that I relate to and she gets to the bones of things quickly, as opposed to waxing poetic about the writer’s life. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the poetry of people like Gail Sher and Natalie Goldberg when it comes to writing guidebooks, but I like the direct approach as well. Gore comes up with some gems in this “how to” book and while I don’t necessarily want to sell myself as hard as she says you have to, it was a good read. I was a bit bored with the section on how to start your own zine (never heard of this word before this book, and I certainly don’t know of any zines, have never read one and don’t know where to get one) but that’s a minor complaint in an otherwise enjoyable book.

Lots of reading this week, and next week is looking good with a re-visit to the first Aurora Teagarden mystery Real Murders (Charlaine Harris), the finish of BITE (a collection of short stories by authors in the vampire genre including Laurell K Hamilton and Charlaine Harris) and who knows what else.

Happy Sunday reading!

Sunday Salon: Chalice and Feeding the Hungry Heart

Maybe now I can read when I sleep, hmmmm?

This week I read Chalice by Robin McKinley and Feeding the Hungry Heart: The Experience of Emotional Eating by Geneen Roth.

Chalice, a young adult novel by noted fantasy author Robin McKinley, is my first experience with this author and sounded promising. Marisol is a young woodskeeper and beekeeper who lives alone on the parcel of land that was allocated to her family many generations ago, making honey and tending her goats. Her life changes when she is chosen to be "Chalice", an important part of the hierarchy of her county and intrinsically tied to the earthlines of the land. Her county is in trouble - the last Master and his Chalice died in a fire and the new Master is coming back from being an elemental priest and has almost forgotten what it is to be human. If the storyline sounds confusing, that's because it is. It's actually a wonderful idea and I really resonate with the storyline. However, McKinley fails her beautiful story in its telling. For some reason she starts the novel not at the beginning of the story where young Marisol discovers she is Chalice, but instead tells that portion of the story through a series of confusing flashbacks. The language in this book is cumbersome and confusing. The sentences are tangled and there is so much exposition that I almost gave up 80 pages in. I wanted to shout "Show don't tell!!!!" constantly as I felt the first third of the novel was all back story. When you have that much back story you should restructure the book. I recently found the same thing with my novel and I had to admit that I needed to tell the story from the beginning and not try and tell it through flashbacks. Annoying? Yes. But ultimately I hope my book is stronger for it.

I wouldn't recommend this book, despite the lovely storyline and those incredible bees! I read some reviews on Amazon and a lot of people seem to indicate that McKinley's early books are far superior to her later efforts, but for now I think I'll let my experience of this author rest with Chalice.

Feeding the Hungry Heart: The Experience of Emotional Eating is a book I've wanted to read for some time. I'm an emotional eater and I was interested to read what Roth, a noted "expert" on overeating and emotional eating had to say. This book is 25 years old, and focused on a lot of case stories (mostly women married to uncaring men!). I found a lot to resonate with, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was reading the "left overs" of another better book, and I probably was as I've since discovered this was about the third book Roth had written on the topic. I plan on hunting down her first book as I have a feeling it will have more of the information I'm looking for about emotional eating and less of the stories from women who have the problem.

That's it for this week. I've read a few books in the past weeks - Unwind by Neal Shusterman (amazing) and Tithe by Holly Black (a re-read for me as I wanted to re-acquaint myself with Kaye and Robien's world before beginning it's sequel Ironside).

Happy reading!