About
71 is the number of an apartment where we stay regularly in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. We like it there.
‘We’ are Anna French and Dan Hartland. Anna has a PhD in Sixteenth Century History and is currently working on a range of publications and as a lecturer in Early Modern History; Dan is a self-employed writer and musician with a particular specialism in the interweb and alt.country.
‘The Story and the Truth’ is an inadequate catch-all term for what we do here, which is mostly talk about whatever interests us. That usually includes literature, history, music, film, politics and ethical living. We try to arrange content by day, but it doesn’t always work out. As a rule of thumb, though, Mondays see life updates, Tuesday music writing, Thursday covers history topics and Saturday politics. On Wednesday Dan read last year read all the Sherlock Holmes stories and still blogs about the Master on and off; on Fridays one of us often writes about a random subject that’s been of interest that week. Sunday often sees Anna write about gardening, vegetarianism and related issues.
For more, take a look here.
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71 is the number of an apartment we return to regularly in Whinfell Forest, Cumbria. We like it there.
‘We’ are Anna French and Dan Hartland. The Story and the Truth is a sort of inadequate catch-all term for what goes on here: we tend to talk about novels, history, food and fashion, politics and music, but there may also be photographs of soft toys and musicians. Stick around and see.
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Words We Like
The Weird, ed. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
An astounding work of collecting-as-art, this compendium of 800,000 weird words is easily one of the most consistent genre anthologies I have read. Heterodox yet focused, it is fated to be the canonical text of weird fiction studies for some time to come - and deservedly so. The first-rank stories here - and there are many, not a few - are not excellent weird fiction. They are simply some of the best 20th century writing available in any mode. Not without its faults - but that is, ahem, the nature of the beast. Essential.
Sounds We Like
Sonik Kicks, by Paul Weller
I haven't paid much attention to Weller - an artist who hangs heavy in my musical tutelage - since 2000's Heliocentric, an album of diverse interests which felt like a shot of crisp elegance in that year of Steps and 'N Sync. The records that followed it - particularly Illumination - were enough, however, to make those achievements a distant memory. There have been rumblings of a renaissance - 22 Dreams got great reviews - but only the sounds of Sonik Kicks have brought me back. Energetic, fierce and, best of all, creative, this sounds like a record from a much younger man. Weller has a lesson or two in him yet.
Dan's Latest Flickr Photo
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December 25, 2009 at 7:25 am
Dear Dan and Anna:
First let me say that I have enjoyed rolling through your blog; it is beautifully put together, and covers a lot of ground that I myself am deeply interested in. There are not that many blogs on which one can take in gardening, music writing, and vegetarianiam (I am not a vegetarian, but my sister is and my mother is thinking about it, so I’ve learned to cook and eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan food) and Sherlock Holmes at one glance.
But, let me come to the point: Might I suggest an addendum to the Wednesday reading? I am an author of a growing anthology of new Sherlock Holmes stories, an anthology springing out of a clue taken in my youth from a little exchange between the two Holmes brothers in ‘The Greek Interpreter.” Now it may be that fans of the new movie may indeed end up discovering my work, but I would much more value the opinion of thoughtful Sherlockians such as yourselves. You may find the introduction to the anthology at http://www.squidoo.com/sherlockholmesfamily, and from there you may both download a free copy of the first story — “Prelude — The Orphans of Pall Mall” and enjoy the web experience of “Prelude” with music and pictures. Thank you for your consideration, and have a Merry Christmas.
Very truly yours,
Deeann D. Mathews