 ** UPDATE**
Sadly, due to Storm Bert battering the UK, Sunday trading at @mapperton_estate was cancelled. Thank you to all the people who came and bought books from us! Watch this space for more news... I am thrilled to announce that Arcane Publishing will have a stall at the famous Mapperton Christmas Market at the enchanting @mapperton_estate in Dorset on the 23rd and 24th November 2024. I will bring a carefully curated selection of beautiful pre-loved, vintage and rare books to this special event (fashion, architecture, art, first/early editions and more ...), as well as copies of my first two novels, I Am a Muse and The Book of Thoth. This will be the only event for Arcane Publishing in 2024. I am now ending Arcane's hiatus. After an extremely challenging year, I am planning on finally working on developing Arcane Publishing further in 2025 and completing and publishing my third novel, The Right Place. I hope to do more quality markets next year and to launch an online shop to go with my websites and instagram. The Mapperton Christmas Market Mapperton Estate Mapperton Beaminster Dorset DT8 3NR Saturday 23rd November: open 10am to 6pm Sunday 24th November: open 10am to 4pm You will need to book your tickets on the Mapperton Estate website. 14/10/2024 Hiatus... Unfortunately, I've had to put all things Arcane Publishing on ice until November.
More news in November! Watch this space!  I will be helping Matt ArtPix on his stall at the fab Taunton's Vintage and Salvage Fair this Sunday 28th July.
I will bring some very cheap Arcane stock I'd like to get rid of - vintage and pre-loved books at very low prices! It's been quiet here on the book and writing side of things as real life has basically taken over. I hope to resume work on The Right Place this Autumn/Winter, but this will depend on my work schedule... Ah, if only writing paid the bills! More news to follow soon, watch this space! And do keep an eye on the Arcane Publishing Instagram page HERE!  "The movers move, The shakers shake, the winners write their history But from high on the high hills, it all looks like nothing. [...] All these things you fear so much depend on angles of vision From down in the maze of walls you can't see what's coming But from high on the high hills it all looks like nothing." @newmodelarmy - High, from the 2007 album "High" I always think about those lyrics when I walk on top of one of Dorset's ancient hills. They are even more relevant in times such as these. I feel incredibly privileged to be able to run to the hills if I want time out. It works every time! Yesterday, we had an amazing day on Hambledon Hill - a Neolithic ceremonial burial site, an Iron Age hill fort as well as the location of an English Civil War battle!  The churchyard of St Nicholas's church in the timeless village of Child Okeford is a true oasis of calm. Just sit on the bench and listen to the insects buzzing around you... Forget about the darkness in the world for a while...
There hasn't been any writing for a while here as real life has taken over, but it looks like I might be able to pick up my pen again (well, keyboard) and finally complete the first draft of The Right Place this winter. I will have some more news later in the summer, so watch this space! 2/6/2024 A little update... I have been quiet on here but not idle! The past few weeks have been incredibly busy here at Arcane/ArtPix towers... I have been working very hard indeed to secure the future of Arcane Publishing. If everything goes to plan, I should be able to go back to my third novel, The Right Place, by the autumn. I still dream of a 2025 pub date, but this might now not be possible. Let's see what happens! I have acquired quite a few new items for my stock of vintage and pre-loved books, but sadly I am not able to do many events this year. I am happy to say that I have booked a two-day event for late November though, a very, very exciting venue... More on this in due time! The picture which illustrates this post was taken a few weeks ago in our old playground, London (we were there on a secret mission...). We went to have a look at the newly refurbished Battersea Power Station... It's sadly becoming more and more apparent that our dear capital city is no longer for people like us... But you know what they say: Once a Londoner, always a Londoner! We hope to go back and explore some more later this year (and now that we have managed to find a ULEZ-complaint car, why not indulge ourselves?) I still try to post regularly on the Arcane Publishing Instagram - I have added a few of my new stock on there this week!  3/5/2024 Taking a break! I am taking a break from writing/editing/selling books for the foreseeable future.
The current economic climate and the past few years in general have been very challenging and I need to concentrate on more mundane issues for the next few months. I will keep my websites updated and I hope that I will be able to come back to writing and selling books soon!  D-Day 75 Garden Arromanches So I've had my first holiday in ... basically, years. I have decided that 2024 would be the year I actually keep some time to enjoy myself instead of always giving priority to money-earning activities (i.e teaching agency work, which I have temporarily paused since December 2022, and freelance editorial work, which sometimes can become all-consuming, with constantly changing deadlines and demands). I have decided to tread carefully whilst I consider my next move. Sadly, all this has meant that my third novel The Right Place has once again been placed on the back-burner and the pace of development of my bookselling venture has slown down drastically (although I keep finding more items to add to my stock, see below). So back to my fortnight away: It was truly thrilling to discover a completely new area for us: Normandy. I actually grew up in France but all our summer holidays were spent abroad, so I don't know France very well! We stayed in the most brilliant gite, Le Lieu Vaillant, in Blay (about 15mn drive from Bayeux) which I highly recommand (you book via Gites de France who offer a very swift an efficient service!): a quiet rural location, animals everywhere (goats, horses, a dog, a cat and so many birds!). There is a lovely little brocante shop full of treasures which you can reach on one of your little local walks (Rock'N'Broc). We might have bought quite a few items in there... ;-) We were there to visit the D-Day landing beaches: Omaha, Juno, Gold and Sword (the latter two being the ones where the British landed) and on the final day, Utah. I am surprised at how much it has affected me (but I am one half of a British/French couple, so it was bound to happen, I guess), and I have learnt a lot about the area and what happened there in 1944. I will follow the 80th anniversary evenst closely indeed... Now we know the landscape in which the Allies fought! We were able to do this in the best conditions, without the hordes of tourists (it is going to get busy in June, this year being the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings!). It was surprisingly quiet for the Easter holiday season, and one of the advantages of holidaying there is that 99% of the time, you can park for FREE anywhere you like, even along the most famous beaches! We are really being taken for a ride in the UK... :-(  Mulberry A harbour, Omaha Beach, St Laurent-sur-mer  Omaha Beach  Piper Bill Millin, Sword Beach  Coming over from England... One of the fabulous maps designed in the 1950s by Robert Foster, Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, Colleville-sur-Mer  Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
 Beautifully designed metal flags, The British Normandy Memorial, Ver-sur-Mer   Both pictures above: The British Normandy Memorial, Ver-sur-Mer. A stunning location. We visited late in the afternoon and therefore were on our own!  Bayeux graffiti We also went to see the absolutely fabulous BAYEUX TAPESTRY. It's so famous, it was actually surreal to actually see it for real! And it is SO INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL! A truly fascinating work of art and history! The upstairs exhibition about the tapestry, its origins and the hostorical context is also fascinating. Careful: the museum will close in September 2025 for two years as they develop a new home for the tapestry - hopefully they won't ruin the experience by making it too interactive! Just seeing it is enough... Bayeux is a very beautiful and incredibly prosperous town twinned with... Dorchester, which is up the road from us (how didn't I know this, I wonder?). I think Dorset County Council should actually take a trip to Bayeux to understand how to run a city properly. All the shops are occupied (and they have so many!) and the city knows how to show off its culture and heritage with pride (and they have thrown money at it too, and it shows). Oh, and once again, you can park anywhere for free.   Another favourite place was Arromanches, where the Mulberry B Winston Port is located - and is a pretty spectacular sight! You do have to be there to appreciate the scale of the endeavour... We visited La Galerie owned by artists Decaroline and Vanluc. Next door, you will find the beautiful La Brocante Chic (all well worth a visit!).  Utah Beach  Seafront, Hermanville-sur-Mer  La Horde
If, like us, you have a massive thing for houses and architecture, especially Art Nouveau and Belle Epoque, then do have a long stroll along the seafront at Hermanville-sur-Mer and Lion-sur-Mer. Houses such as La Horde, La Bluette and Villa Henri were designed by the famous architect Hector Guimard, who designed the instantly recognisable Art Nouveau Paris Metro entrances.
Tucked away rue George Lelong, just bnehind the seafront in Hermanville-sur-Mer, you can find this gorgeous house full of gargoyles, ceramic animals and poems. The owner is a poetry lover and has added Charles Baudelaire's poems himself to his house (poems from Baudelaire's infamous Les Fleurs du Mal collection of poems). At the top of the facade, you can admire a stunning sundial dominated by the ceramic skeleton, just my thing!  Above is the fascinating Villa Louis, Lion-sur-Mer. It's an artist's house and has four rooms you can stay in! It's also packed full of vintage treasures and curios... Go to their website to watch a little video which will give you a tour of the house!  And of course, there were books... We visited the super premises of Orep Editions, which specialise in books about Normandy. It is a real treasure trove for anyone interested in the history, heritage and culture of the region. All the books are published by them and their collaborators, including some English-language volumes. We did buy quite a few books - I purchased this great book about Maurice Leblanc, the creator of the illustrious 1900s "gentleman-thief" Arsène Lupin for myself! And, yes, I might have come back with a few books... You will read about these on the Arcane Publishing instagram page HERE over the next few weeks!
We'll be going back as soon as possible, because there is so much to see!  |
AuthorI think therefore I write. Archives
August 2024
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