Monday, October 4, 2010

Road trip……

Wanda Warmheart is out and about today practicing her King's English.

Wanda Warmheart's Witchy Ways, Avast my heart, Hardboiled and Alien in my tea are the titles of four of my flash fiction pieces enjoying an opportunity to be read in authentic English accents this month. From October 2-10th a group of dedicated individuals headed up by Damien G. Walter will be whipping up enthusiasm for the pleasure of reading by gathering people together in and around Leicester, England at a myriad of events to celebrate the written word.

A literacy event called Everybody's Reading kicked off this weekend with author Bali Rai reading a story at half time to twenty thousand people at the Leicester vs. Scunthorpe football match.

Thanks to my lovely friend Hagelrat, an avid reader and a highly respected book reviewer, three of my pieces were featured at Un:Bound on Saturday and the fourth was featured yesterday at the main site of Everybody's Reading.

My hope is that I'll get to see film of somebody reading Wanda Warmheart's Witchy Ways to a bunch of school age kids in a cool English accent. It doesn't have to be anybody famous…..but hey wouldn't it be cool if Neil Gaiman turned up?

*gets out her genie lamp and rubs it frantically*


Click here for a full schedule of events from the Leicester City Council and the Leicester Library System

14 comments:

Rachel Blackbirdsong said...

Wow congratulations Karen! I have to say there is nothing more wonderful as an American writer to hear your work read by a Brit. I had a Brit friend do that once and it made my writing sound much better than when I read it in my New Yawka accent.

Karen from Mentor said...

I agree wholeheartedly with that Rachel. I'm a sucker for accents in general, but there's just something about Britspeak that goes right to my mushy chocolate center.

AND they have the best swear words....

Rachel Blackbirdsong said...

OMG, swearing is an art form across the pond. Just the variations on the word "cock." I am awestruck.

Karen from Mentor said...

I just hurt myself laughing at that Rachel...

Gonna take this opportunity to say to those of you so inclined...yes, I'm looking at you Sam...that we do not require and have not just INVITED a list of the variations on the word "willie" here at Miscellaneous Yammering...oh man..still laughing...

So you smarty pants British wankers just go on about your business. Nothing to see here....

Still laughing...

*goes off to get a drink of water to replace the drink that got spewed during the earlier spit take when I read Rachel's comment*

Laurita said...

That is so cool. I agree that anything read by a Brit is classy, even if it has the word wanker. Or squash. Or both.

Karen from Mentor said...

Putting squash and wanker into a sentence together even made me cringe and go knock kneed Laurita.

Maybe we should put a disclaimer on this conversation thread...lol...For those of you tuning in to Miscellaneous Yammering for the first time...we're not usually like this... honest.

Usually we discuss highfalutin concepts like world peace and solving poverty.

Alan W. Davidson said...

He, he, he...hilarious comment thread started here. My Scottish father used to use the word 'tolie' once in a while. I won't tell you what that means...I don't think the Brit accent would make that sound nice. Unless, of course, it was read by John Cleese...

Karen from Mentor said...

Terry Pratchett uses many a fine scottish phrase when writing dialog for the Wee Free Men. Through him, I know lots of scottish and scottish sounding words that I can pepper my conversation with when the need arises.

Even if I hadn't already heard your word, it's not like I couldn't look it up on this newfangled interweb thingy....

Oh and John Cleese would be a lovely reader of one of my tales.

I asked Damien if Neil Gaimen was attending the literacy event and he said no, but LOTS of Neil's books are being read during the week.

The lovely thing? @Neilhimself follows 628 people and has 1,495,346 followers.

Neil follows Damien, and my name got linked to both of them a couple of times today on twitter.

*basks in that pretty second hand glory for a bit, then gets slapped by Cher and snaps out of it*

Thanks for stopping in Mr. He, he, he...
*big smile*

Kris said...

Too cool! And I can't even get my stuff read by someone with an American accent!

Congratulations! And Cheerie-Oh!

Karen from Mentor said...

Thanks Kris, [BIG smile]

And a jolly pip pip to you.

I always read the hilarious stories you tell out loud to anybody in the room who's paying attention at the time. The flying monkeys especially get a kick out of the exploits of your youngest son. And just fyi? They like it when I use Arnold Schwarzenneger's voice for the punch lines.

Anonymous said...

Congrats again honey, I'm so happy for you!
Huge squishy hugs!

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

LOVE this! Congratulations!

Karen from Mentor said...

It was tickled to be asked Kaye. I just wish I could be there in the flesh to partake of the frenzied fiction fueled festivities.

Karen from Mentor said...

Thank you my lovely Estrella,
Squishy hugs are tied with Bear Hugs as my favorite type of hugs. Since you're a little will-o-the-wisp thing I doubt you'd have the upper body strength to administer a proper bear hug...they tend to come from a more barrel chested sort of individual... laughing.

I will now take a Tuesday Moment to revel in your joy for me and your squishy hug while counting myself lucky to have someone who's always so supportive of my endeavors.

*happy sigh*