Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Catching up on my reading

I just finished a fun little crime novel set in Belfast -- The Point -- that's been taking cues on how to write from Guy Ritchie's films. Move it. Faster. Don't stop till you drop. Ignore the boring bits of life. The speech patois was fascinating and the characters fun if a bit over the top, but Raymond Chandler was considered over the top in his day, so...

Next up is "The Cold Cold Ground" by Adrian McKinty, a murder mystery set during the time of the hunger strikes, back in the Spring of 1981. It's bigger and weightier, looks like.

I'm also going to be seeking work. My office is shutting down during the month of August till just after Labor Day, and I don't have anything in the way of backup to pay my bills that month...short of getting cash advances at extortionate rates off my credit cards. I'm getting my taxes done, next week; that will determine how much I have to come up with. If I can claim my little brother as a dependent, since I am pretty much supporting him, it might not be so bad. We'll see.

I'm spending this weekend planning out a strategy and seeing what I can do. Where I can go. Who I can bug. Of course, I'm also considering just not paying taxes, this year, and using the money I have saved for them to live on. But then I think of the penalties and the problems that'd cause...and still sort of wonder if I could get away with it.

Naw, I'm not larcenous enough.

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