Stoned in Carnac

(All photos by your humble
blogkeeper)

To paraphrase Barry Goldwater, extremism in the defense of buckwheat crepes filled with Merguez sausage, egg, onions, and salad is no vice. I spent four nights in Carnac and ate the above-named delicious local specialty for dinner the last three. A butter-and-sugar crepe with lemon and orange zest for dessert is no slouch, either.

Here's a last bit of Brittany, from before I got on the rocky road to Dublin, though the rocks were in France.

The first two photos below depict the celebrated Grand Menhir Brisé at Locmariaquer, one head-on, the other a lateral view. Want an idea of how big this 6,700-year-old megalith is — and of how imposing it must have been before its collapse thousands of years ago? Note the groundskeeper standing between two of the fragments in the second photo.

Bizet Breizh!

© Peter Rozovsky 2013

"We're not prudes, we're gynecologists": More palaver from Crimefest panels

Monument
to thousands
of Chouans
who landed
at Carnac
in 1795. 

Here are a few more thought-provoking remarks from panelists at last week's Crimefest in Bristol. Stick with me long enough, and I may tell you what thoughts they provoked.

• "He helped other writers also. He put out the Saint magazine."
Zoe Sharp on the literary philanthropy of Leslie Charteris, creator of The Saint.
• "In the cast of cities, bars are closing. The rents are too expensive. ... When streets get too expensive, the first things to close is bars, where people used to meet."
Antonin Varenne
• "The nice thing about writing about Laos is that they've had forty years of civil war, and they can still sit down at the end of the day and have drinks and make jokes."
Colin Cotterill
• "We're not prudes, we're gynecologists."
Lindsey Davis, quoting a regret-filled letter from two fans explaining the offense they took at sexual language in one of her novels.
• "In Glasgow everyone pretends to be working class. It's a kind of reverse snobbery."
Denise Mina on working-class chic in her city

© Peter Rozovsky 2013

Warships, megaliths, and why publishers should pay for authors' drinks

HMS Warrior, Portsmouth.
Photos by your humble
blogkeeper

Completed my first English Channel crossing this morning, though not on the vessel at left. The crossing was uneventful, the ferry comfortable, with all mod cons except WiFi, which, the ferry operator apparently having heard how much I enjoyed the occasional absence of phone and WiFi service at my hotel in Bristol, decided I could do without it on the water as well.

The crossing took me to Carnac in Brittany, which has the world's greatest concentration of Neolithic monuments. I began my explorations this afternoon and will continue them over the next few days, giving Detectives Beyond Borders readers the lowdown on my favorite megaliths.

But first a bit more about Crimefest 2013. Everyone who writes about crime fiction festivals will tell you that the socializing is at least as important as whatever business gets done there. But the two need not be mutually exclusive.

This year, for example, I chatted at the bar with an author named Adam Creed and his charming wife. Both are well-travelled, good conversationalists, with diverse and stimulating interests.  I had not heard of this author before, but I'm discussing him now and I may look into his books.

He probably thought he was passing a pleasant evening at the hotel bar, but he was really getting his name out before whatever forum Detectives Beyond Borders can provide. And that's why publishers should pay for their authors' drinks, and governments should make the expense tax-deductible. It makes good business sense, and it's the right thing to do.

Cheers!

© Peter Rozovsky 2013