I have been away from this again, as regular followers will have noticed. Moving house, and trouble at my new employment (now ex-employment) have kept me away; not least because all my books and files to do with Rosemary (Sutcliff) are in store as we sort out our new home. But I am now warming up again to both reading and writing. So here, somewhat randomly, not something specific to Rosemary (Sutcliff), but an excellent poem from Carol Ann Duffy published this weekend in The Guardian. They reported that “it (has taken) the pile-up of recent political controversies including the badger cull and the bedroom tax to lure her back into verse.” The inanities of political and managerial clichés too perhaps? And Rosemary was always counselling me when writing to avoid both unnecessary commas and clichés …
22 Reasons for the Bedroom Tax
Because the Badgers are moving the goalposts.
The Ferrets are bending the rules.
The Weasels are taking the hindmost.
The Otters are downing tools.
The Hedgehogs are changing the game-plan
The Grass-snakes are spitting tacks.
The Squirrels are playing the blame-game.
The Skunks are twisting the facts.
The Pole-cats are upping the ante.
The Foxes are jumping the gun.
The Voles are crashing the party.
The Stoats are dismantling the Sun.
The Rabbits are taking the biscuit.
The Hares are losing the plot.
The Eagles are kicking the bucket.
The Rats are joining the dots.
The Herons are throwing a curveball.
The Shrews are fanning the flames.
The Field mice are sinking the 8-ball.
The Swans are passing the blame.
And the Pheasants are draining the oil from the tank-
but only the Bustards have broken the bank.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 
Anthony …. thanks for the feedback. I would like to contact you personally, but I didn’t see an e-mail address listed on the page. Let me know. Thanks again! Dwayne
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Anthony, love your page and thank you for your work. I have a conundrum that you might be able to help me with.
Question: Do I have to read Mary Renault?
I hope to write a novel based during the height of the Roman Empire. But I want to see how other writers have incorporated research into their works. Just finished Augustus by John E. Williams, and will eventually start I, Claudius. (Tried Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourencar, but had trouble getting into that.) But these authors stick pretty close to the history books.
The above listed works seem to stick pretty close to the history books.
Sutcliff seems to take the research and create a wholly original story around it, which is something I’m interested in doing.
My novel will have gay characters. I love how Sutcliff works with male friendships and bonding. After seeing movie The Eagle, I checked out the book on Amazon, and was hooked by the writing style. Can’t say the same happened with Renault.
Now, I’ve been told to read Mary Renault. However, what I’ve read of “Last of the Wine,” is just terrible. It’s slow and downright boring.
But I feel like Renault is like eating my vegetables. Somehow I have to do it, and then I can enjoy Sutcliff.
What do you think? Would I be losing anything if I just skipped Renault?
Dwayne
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I will let others who read this blog offer their comments….I just note that Rosemary (Sutcliff) read all Mary Renault’s work I think.
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Glad to see you are back, and I hope you are doing well with all of the changes in your life of late.
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Thanks…I am doing OK again now!
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