Friday 9 February 2024

Harlan Coben has the right formula for us

Thank you once more Netflix... After Nine Perfect Strangers and other short series based on novels we have discovered the those based on the novels by American writer Harlan Coben. Safe caught our attention first, so interesting and so engaging. We then moved on to The Stranger, and its twists and turns it did not disappoint. With so many books published by this author it seems there will be just as many more mini series for us to watch as there seem to be murders in Midsomer... Thank you Harlan and thank you Netflix...

Wednesday 24 January 2024

Magic Abounds as the Summer Holidays Draw to an End

We have farewelled 2023 and said with great relief a warm and hopeful "Hello" to 2024. Christmas was a delayed afair for this Law household, and the New Year celebrations were fun, but far from previously more lavish affairs. Thank you to the wonderful Crook family for again joining us and teaching us the fun that can be had with a box of matches and what seemed like a thousand sparklers. Nothing burned down, and nobody got injured (I think) so 2024 has started off well. On the writing front I have had a few pieces already accepted, some online publications scheduled for as late as September 2024, and a few stories/poems accepted in 2023 will be appearing in 2024 anthologies. On the family front we now have two learner drivers in the house, hoping that one will very soon be on P plates. Two kids are schooling while our eldest takes a gap year to work and travel (not both at the same time though like I did... Shhhhhh...) Workwise we are coming to the end of one of our busiest times for families, the Summer holidays, and we have ended our holiday programme with a roaring success. Firstly my Wonderland themed escape room proved quite challenging and popular (for most of the groups anyway... As usual my family (Laws and Crooks with some added helpers) creamed the competition taking almost half the time of every other group to escape), but the true star was our magician Dane Certificate (https://danecertificatemagic.com.au/) an absolute wizard who blew all of us away with his wonderful show. Dane even had the Library Team (myself included) bamboozled with how he did some of his tricks. We cannot recommend him highly enough. Finally I just wanted to mention a great show my wife and I have been watching with Miss Nen our daughter, a great little piece of aussie TV we found on Netflix called "Boy Swallows Universe". I have seen this book borrowed a lot, and have heard it is a great read so it did not surprise me it has been turned into a movie or television series. Having not heard much about the story it did surprise me though what it was actually about... Dark... Real dark... Occasionally a comedy... Very aussie and very eighties... I, like a few people I've spoken to, enjoyed the first half compared with the last few episodes. It has me very curious about the book now... So, please excuse me while I just go and pop Boy Swallows Universe on reserve from my local library...

Sunday 31 December 2023

Farewell 2023

Well, what a year 2023 turned out to be. Work-wise, our local library has returned to our normal program of authors, workshops, entertainment for young families, and of course the book/magazine/movie/music/toy lending that is our bread and butter. A new trainee has given us a pleasant surprise, and thanks to COVID and other things we have been busily juggling behind the scenes so everything looks like it is running smoothly. On the home front we were blown away by our son's efforts this year, traveling to Japan as part of a school trip, and acing his final year of secondary schooling. The world truly is his oyster and we could not be prouder. Our two girls are also on the path to wonderful success with our eldest daughter Nen impressing a local childcare centre, and our youngest daughter proving to be quite the entrepreneur (she cannot wait for her next birthday when she can finally get out into the workforce earning her own money). I have had a successful year of writing with a number of my stories and poems being accepted for publication on websites such as Black Hare Press, Academy of the Heart and Mind, The World of Myth Magazine, and many more. Looking back on 2023 it actually surprised me to see how successful it has been. Speaking of The World of Myth and publications, Dark Myth and their kids press subsidy published my children's novel The Neighbor and my youth novella Murdle Notton's Guide to World Domination. I hope to have another youth fantasy published by them this year on top of the sequel to The Neighbor, The Teacher. I have also enjoyed recording the weekly podcast for this company, The World of Mythbits, having almost recorded 70 episodes. I really enjoy each month the opportunity to read and review the magazine they publish, with the other episodes themed on writing, and general musings from my mind and life. Now that we have a fresh new year to look forward to I am hoping that I will be posting more. Fingers crossed I will have loads of good news to share. Until then, I hope that you are all safe, happy, and well, wherever life finds you. Ciao for now, and happy 2024!! Tim

Tuesday 26 December 2023

The Laws go to the Movies... Again... Review of Wonka

Oh my gosh, my poor blog... Six months must be a new record for me, and NOT a good one. To say I have been busy is no excuse, but I can say I have been doing A LOT of writing (just not blogging). Two books published this year (The Neighbor reccomended for kids aged 7 to 12 years, and Murdle Notton's Guide to World Domination recommended for 16 plus, both available from Mythmart), a number of short stories and poetry, and I have been working on a fantasy novel (Paechra's Tale), teen fiction, and the sequel to The Neighbor. In between all of that there has been so much going on at my local library (wonderful author events, holiday activities, workshops, information sessions) with so much more instore for 2024. On the family front we now officially have a home full of teenagers, and have recently brought our number of cats back up to four. I am now Opa to a kitten of chaos, and have discovered how much fun that can be. With so many teens it is becoming tougher to discover something that the whole family is happy to do together. Luckily for us in the time between Chrimstmas and New Year our local cinema (shout out to the Cameo) is currenly showing the new Wonka film, the origin tale of the magically mad chocolatier... And so, without futher delay let us briefly examine this film from the point of view of two 40+ adults and, a 17, 16, and 13 year year old teen... The 17 and 13 year olds were the most difficult ones to convince to come along. Our 17 year old son is getting more and more picky about where and when he will hang out with us. And our 13 year old daughter bombarded us with warnings of child torture, waterboarding, and other horrors, we informing her that a film rated Parental Guidance would not leave her scarred. Our 16 year old has always been a fan of the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) film. Thankfully Wonka is the prequel to this film, as we are not such big fans of the later remake with a certain Depp in the main role. It was great to see a fair few locals support the Cameo Cinema, unfortunately we did have a large and chaotic family sit in front of us which was a distraction, but that more affected my wife and kids. I was caught up in the magic happening on screen from the very first note... Did anyone else forget that Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was a musical? I had, but was quickly reminded as Wonka began, and I do not normally mind these types of films so went along with it easily. It great testiment to the tunes is that our 17 year old did not mind them either. The challenge for me with this film was distiguishing between what was imagined and what was Wonka-ed reality. Dreams became truths, and then trouble. As a writer I could follow the arc, character developing challenges, our hero helped from unlikely places, the ultimate decision, and then the final moment when the overarching arc is resolved... But even with this knowledge Wonka proved a joy to experience. It gladdens my childish sentiment that this new film has modernized the best of the original, fifty or so years on, giving us some wonderful excuses to skip down Memory Lane, mixing in a cast of new strange characters to keep every generation entertained. But, does this venture into pure escapism deserve the ultimate score? In my opinion the answer is YES... Five delicious chocolates out of five must be given to a film that has the whole family leave with smiles on their faces... Bravo Mr. Wonka, bravo...

Saturday 22 July 2023

Inspired to Write

To all, once again it has been a little while between posts, my poor blog must feel constantly ignored, and you in turn perhaps feel the same my readers... I have been inspired by another blogger, Scarlett of Scarlett's Reality Tunnel (find her latest post here https://scarlettsbpdcorner.wordpress.com/) who is celebrating 1,500 followers... What I love most about Scarlett's posts is that she shares honestly, and that she is so grateful for everything and everyone. On the family front I took the crew (all five of us, including Master 17) to our local zoo to enjoy the Leamer Experience, and although it was a cool, winter's morning, those critters were as active as ever. So much fun!! A great way to end my four week holiday and celebrate turning 44!! My writing is going well, those holidays certainly helped. I now have a new facebook platform where I will be sharing all my successes and stumbles... If you are keen to know what I am up to with that please like and follow https://www.facebook.com/timlawauthor All is quiet in the house right now, so I will finish up here and get on to finishing a dragon story... Keep an eye out for my promo post for this House of Loki anthology... I never considered myself a children's author, but life has a funny way of simply making things happen... Ciao for now... Tim

Friday 12 May 2023

Another leap in the Right Direction

It's out! It's here! A dream has finally come true... My children's novel The Neighbor from M-Kids Pres has turned from a few short stories into a real life book... I am so grateful to David K Montoya and Stephanie J Bardy, the team at Dark Myth Publishing, for loving my writing and working so hard with me to help produce such a beautiful book. I am so grateful also to my family, to Heidi and the kids, as well as extended family, the love, support, and encouragement has helped me so much to push on, to overcome any doubts and hurdles, and to achieve what seemed impossible. For anyone interested here is the link to where you can purchase a copy... (https://www.mythmart.com/) And a hearty thank you must go out to the amazing Alan Johnson who has not only already bought a copy of my book, but also produced this wonderful video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmIVDwQW3nA Hioefully this is just the beginning...

Saturday 22 April 2023

The Man! The Hair! The Boots! The Style! - Markus Hamence visits the Murray Bridge Library

It is always a thrill when we get a celebrity visit The Murray Bridge Library, and it is made especially fun when that celebrity so happens to be the wonderful Markus Hamence whom I am a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGEEEEE fan of. Markus is so passionate about indoor plants, oozes style, and is truly living his best life. We had this great man visit the Murray Bridge community as part of our April school holiday program. The kids who came along had so much fun designing mini tereriums. All the way through Markus was so encouraging and so supportive. We have a new generation of green thumbs, all inspired by Markus' passion for plants. I cannot wait to see what happens the next time that The Botanic Designer visits The Bridge.