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media has fallen by the wayside but if you re reading this now fantastic i don t celebrate christmas nor do i go way out to observe nye though this year i will be having low key gatherings with my closest friends and the few remaining family i have that still speak to me for me the more important date is today the summer solstice and this year i ve had the incredible privilege of being able to celebrate this in one of my favourite spaces the klein karoo we booked three nights in red stone hills at one of the cottages on the farm our little spot is a thatch roofed dwelling with thick walls a reed and clay ceiling and thatch roof that was built in 1876 despite the daytime temperatures that soar well past 30 c on the thermometer it s a comfortable 20 c inside which is perfect bird s nest cottage perches on the flanks of the iconic red hills oxidised conglomerate outcroppings that crust the khaki green veld studded with iconic aloe microstigma and cotyledon orbiculata a venerable giant peruvian pepper tree spreads its weeping branches out back providing welcome shade we face a verdant valley where almond orchards create a vivid splash of green and a willow and bamboo lined river flows admittedly it s been a very dry summer so the river has been reduced to a few puddles but the valley itself is still quite lush the bougainvillea planted in and around the houses here offer vivid splashes of magenta this is a birdwatchers paradise with everything from the shy neddicky karoo prinia and common chat making up the ranks of the lbjs to all three species of mousebirds assorted raptors like pale chanting goshawk which we were privileged to see malachite sunbirds blacksmith plovers laughing doves cape turtle doves and bats loads of bats at night we ve also been warned that there are leopard and we did see baboons up in the hills yesterday someone asked me on threads earlier this week why i would want to go to the karoo my answer is complex my dad was born in hanover and grew up in aberdeen descended from sheep farmers who operated in the area i spent many childhood holidays every year in september october at a farmstay in the cederberg and since then we ve also enjoyed visiting at the farm wolverfontein near plathuis in the ladismith area nieu bethesda near graaff reinet is another place that s very dear to me home of my beloved owl house so visiting the karoo little or groot in my blood i just naturally gravitate to these spaces i ve learnt to rise early before the heat and do my first walk then spend the rest of the day lurking indoors reading making art working a little then at 5pm when it s cooler walk again admire the stars at night love the wide open spaces where everyone stops to have a chat even if they re total strangers people drive past and give you a little nod and wave life is just different here i heartily recommend red stone hills cottages for a breakaway it s an easy five hour drive from cape town along the r62 with plenty of places for pitstops en route it s self catering but you can arrange for breakfast and braai packs at the farmhouse with petro potgieter the host horse back riding is offered by arrangement a large swimming pool is available for guests use at the reception area there are two hiking trails and bird watching enthusiasts will be in for a treat the cottages are well appointed if rustic which i like the air fryer was a nice touch and as a freelancer whose work follows her everywhere i was simply delighted with the fast wi fi although telly isn t our thing there is dstv for those who like to watch you re well situated here for day trips to various sights in the region that boasts wine tasting caving driving nature reserves and more an extra bonus red stone hills cottages is pet friendly our malinois maia has had an absolute jol here by contrast i live in cape town in a small village near simon s town that i feel has the same vibe as a karoo dorpie i get the best of both worlds there but every december the world and his wife descends upon my city the beaches and shops become a nightmare you must add at least half an hour to 3 4 of an hour to any travel plans i don t begrudge people their plans to holiday in my home town but i tend to either hunker down in my home during that time or strike out for the karoo with its versengende hitte i love the silence the screaming cicadas at midday the haunting call of the acacia pied barbet from the thorn thickets i love meeting the people who live and work here be they the farmer s wife or the labourer on his way home along the road i love the way afrikaans just rolls off my tongue there s a way my mother tongue is spoken here that s just different from the city i ve savoured every moment here have tried to strike a good balance between relaxing and taking pecks at some of my work i ve completed some qa for the publisher i freelance for in the uk and i ve also set aside much needed time to complete a short story for the sauúti collective something i simply haven t had time for because the last quarter of 2025 was just so batshit crazy having dedicated time to writing has been a treat and what a year it s been we sadly lost thomas s father in august after a short illness so we ve had that trauma to work through that has thankfully brought our little family closer we are supporting his mum now so that is an additional layer to our life i ve stepped into doing client work with my big corporate client in addition to design which although not something that i m unfamiliar with does add more responsibility to my plate but it s all right my clients at the company are wonderful and they re all women around my age so there s just a vibe there and the work is familiar and easy to me i m doing ebook qa audiobook pdf layout and alt text writing for a big publisher based in the uk the money is a godsend when those pounds roll over into rands and the pay is better than the minimum wage in the uk so there is that even better i enjoy the work immensely while it leans into all my skills sets work is going apace on the 10 book science fantasy series i m writing and project managing books 1 and 2 of the winter mage series are being published by mirari press on february 21 and i ve had the incredible privilege of collaborating with the very talented writer and editor catriona ross with daniël hugo illustrating the covers and the maps it s really a dream job and i m so excited to invite people to step into this world i m also gearing up to release book 1 of my five book scatterlings of fate series call the fire at time of writing this blog i ve been embroiled in revisions and i m really in the trenches i ve made inroads with book 2 though am nowhere near hitting my stride there in terms of short fiction i m seeing the release of the sauúti collective collection entitled terrors which has one of my stories in it we re still planning a launch early next year i m just waiting for the folks at flame tree to get back to me about availability of books here in south africa so watch this space i m also seeing the release of a short story in mirari press s next anthology utopia havoc which is super exciting which reminds me i still have a story on sub for an uber cool subs call i m waiting to hear about and while i d love to set aside more time i m still very much in the proofreading trenches for the second book in the the splintered fool series but we have cover art and i ve done the layouts it s just not going as fast as i d like it to i m going into the end of the year absolutely shattered after a very challenging last quarter i m hoping to have some rest before everyone goes back to the office during the second week of january which usually means i ll be working but not at the same frenetic pace i have usually there is another bit of good news still to be announced but i m under nda so i ll simply have to be vague about it if the stars align i ll have some funds set aside for a winter breakaway once my husband s current contract with a netflix production ends but yeah some highlights to look forward to are comic con cape town and franschhoek literary festival next year where i ll likely be showing face again other than that here is your reminder that my books are available for order from all good book shops as well as most online retailers like amazon etc do support your friendly neighbourhood sff author and if you ve read this far and would like to give the first book of my fantasy duology inkarna a spin let me know by dropping me an email at nerinedorman gmail com tell me you read this blog posted by nerinedorman at 1 21 am no comments labels blogging monday september 29 2025 southern african months their caterpillars if were also one of those kids who collected caterpillars and fed them until they formed a chrysalis purely for the joy of seeing them emerge as butterflies or kept silkworms or both then this is likely the book for you southern african moths their caterpillars by hermann staude mike picker and charles griffiths is one of the more useful guides for any lover of creepy crawlies or those irritating flutterers who end up in your wine glass on the stoep at night true story while a bunch of the previous field guides i ve reviewed have been somewhat on the small side this one s got it just right surely unless you re hiking in the bundus specifically to go moth hunting you re going to go to the trouble of carting this along and deal with the weight it s a big book but for your reference library it s perfect nice clear images of the moths appear on the right hand pages numbered so that they correspond with the text information on the left hand pages where we ve got distribution maps latin and english names a brief description biology habitat and description it s just enough to get by so you can tell your mates you fished the feather elegant out of your vino the night before where possible images of caterpillars have been included and dog knows i ve seen enough questions on my community whatsapp group about the same weird looking fuzzy caterpillars this book will help you id them with relative ease without having to rush off and have fights with experts on the inaturalist app something else i learned which i hadn t realised is the incredible diversity and beauty of moths in this region yes many are rather brown and drab but there are some real standout species with special mention of the emperor moths also i d had no idea that we found the death s head hawkmoth i first learnt about this watching the silence of the lambs here in south africa a particularly awesome discovery for me was the bietou tip concealer who comes up with these names that one ended up in my bath this hefty tome also includes a helpful introduction that will help you figure out how to go about identification and also give an idea of regional distribution patterns while also underscoring the important ecological niche these amazing little critters inhabit i whole heartedly recommend this one to all armchair conservationists posted by nerinedorman at 6 11 am no comments labels book reviews moths nature non fiction friday august 29 2025 stein on writing by sol stein it s not often a book on writing that i jam into my head sticks but stein on writing by sol stein is one of those that was so packed with actual useful advice that this is one of those almost biblical tomes on the craft that i keep recommending interestingly enough i find my own method of approaching layered writing already is pretty much in line with how stein teaches so it wasn t as if i got something completely new more like a refresher really and a reminder that i m on the right path which means i in all likelihood won t be the next booktok sensation stein peppers his advice with anecdotes and tongue in cheek humour and though he s clearly a beast from another era much of what he says is still relevant today except for the last chapter where he s busy plugging his writing software i don t hear people talking about that anymore therein lies a cautionary tale for anyone pinning their hopes on big tech things are changing so fast that any book on the craft of writing is going to have to tread carefully to remain relevant ah heck who m i kidding i don t use chatgpt so i m already irrelevant there s a part of me that feels that by and large the industry has shifted quite far from where stein was at as editor and it s also quite clear judging by his tone that he was and i ll say it quite gently full of himself i don t think i would have enjoyed having him as my editor then again i don t think he would have touched my writing with the soggy end of a barge pole considering what i write but that s not to say i can t learn from him and he does offer up some nuggets if you can put up with the dross and even reading the dross is entertaining as a cultural object this book definitely offers an interesting time capsule and the one method that he did give in this book that i thought was worth its weight in rhodium was what he terms his triage method of revising something i ve taken on board and teach to all my padawans you can ask me about it the next time i do a writers workshop anyhow this book is solid it s an entertaining how to that has some good points to make if you can put up with mr stein himself i suspect in real life his must have been insufferable but he s quite dead so i can say this without fear of reprisal posted by nerinedorman at 12 46 pm no comments labels book reviews writing sunday august 24 2025 the last shield by cameron johnston look cameron johnston is on my insta buy list but he already had me with a gender flipped die hard set in a mysterious castle so the last shield pretty much checked all my boxes as i read it first off our main character briar is not some young slip of a thing who s going to save the world while making goo goo eyes at some shadow daddy she s an older stubborn as heck warrior a commander of the elite shields whose task it is to protect the lord of sunweald and guard the stronghold a structure that s rather ancient and may well have a secret or three buried deep secrets that are in my opinion better left undisturbed but here s the rub briar s not young she s got a gamey knee and she s no longer at the peak of her physical fitness in fact she s pretty darned close to retirement and while she s had a pretty good track record keeping her charges safe she s well aware of her own shortcomings even if she will do her utmost not to admit this to anyone which at the start of where we meet her in the story we see is to her detriment i don t want to hie off into spoiler territory and the tagline of this book pretty much already tells you that shiz will be sailing south in a big way what i can tell you is that any of cameron s novels will have a plenty of humour b oodles of ultra violence c a cracking pace and d meticulous research it s the latter that i really do appreciate he knows his weapons and tactics he creates a believ...