Plastic-free(ish) Living

15 Jan

I ran a Twitter poll to see what I should write my next post on, and of the two people who replied, half wanted a post about plastic-free living. That is clearly the undeniable will of the people, so let’s proceed.

Background

I’ve been trying to reduce my plastic use over the last year or so (yes, basically since Blue Planet II), and I’ve tried out a number of plastic-free alternatives and techniques – some successful, some less so. This is not based on exhaustive research (for that, try My Plastic-Free Life), just one woman’s dabbling. But it might give you some ideas, if you too were very sad about the baby whale.

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Robin Hood 2018 Review

22 Nov

This review is going to contain one or two spoilers, so if you’d prefer a quick summary, here it is: just plain daft.

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Looks cool. And…that’s about it.

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The Story of Robin Hood in Pictures

21 Nov

When I was preparing my new book, Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong for publication, I initially intended to have an accompanying image in each chapter. I ditched the idea, mostly because it would make the book to expensive (always thinking of you, my dear readers) but I thought you might like to see them anyway.

So in this blog you will see the pictures that would have been in the colour edition of the book, in order, along with their original captions. They may not make total sense out of context. To fill in the blanks, you will have to read my book – which is released tomorrow! (22nd November 2018, that is.)

(By the way, most of the images in this post are licensed for resuse, but not all. Check the caption for the origin if you plan to reuse them.)
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Robin Hood on the Other Side

20 Nov

I recently had a cross-timezone Skype chat with Mike Huberty, a rock musician who also runs a podcast called See You on the Other Side. The podcast deals with pop culture and the paranormal (fairly interesting, right?) and I was talking to him, naturally enough, about Robin Hood in connection with my new book, Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong.

If you want to listen into to our conversation, and find out my fun facts about Will Scarlett and the dodginess of medieval May Games, you can listen to the podcast on Mike’s site, or on Podbean, or iTunes.

Happy listening!

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Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong – book launch

14 Nov

After much to-ing and fro-ing, the book launch for Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong is set for Saturday 24th November at the Virgin Money Lounge in Glasgow, on the corner of Royal Exchange Square and Queen Street. (Here’s a handy map.)

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My Top Ten Films

13 Nov

I’m not much into vlogs, but one thing I do enjoy watching on YouTube is videos about films – best ofs, worst ofs, critiques, techniques. I watched the recent(ish) Mark Kermode documentary, Secrets of Cinema, too, and very much enjoyed it (apart from its obsession with Moonlight, which still doesn’t appeal to me at all).

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In short, I’m an armchair cinephile, which is great because an armchair is a very good place to watch films from. So I thought I’d share with you a list of my top ten favourite films (as they stand now), and what I like about them, and hope that it doesn’t reveal anything too disturbing about my personality.

There will be everything from rom-coms to cult classics to Cold-War-era sci fi; films everyone has seen, and probably some that you’ve never heard of. The oldest film on the list harks from the 1930s, the newest from 2010. This will be a long read, so grab a coffee, or alternatively a pair of sunglasses and half a packet of cigarettes, and let’s hit it.

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Robin Hood’s first review – and it’s a goodie!

6 Nov

The lovely Bob White, chairman of the World Wide Robin Hood Society (based, appropriately enough, in Sherwood, Nottingham) has just written a review of Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong.

You can read the whole review here, but (as is my prerogative as an author) I’ve quoted my favourite bits below.

Robin Hood silhouette transparentKaren Murdarasi’s new book pulls no punches and tells it like it is! The 90 informative pages are jam-packed with revealing facts and comparisons about the many discrepancies in the popular story and it’s all brightly written in a succinct and engaging style.

Robin Hood silhouette transparentIf your curiosity gets the better of you and you really want to delve into the murky world of Robin Hood’s authenticity, then Karen Murdarasi spells it all out in this enjoyable new book.

I’m sure your curiosity get the better of you, so you can pre-order the book now on Amazon or Waterstones (or your bookshop of choice). It will be on sale from 22nd November.

If you’re in or around Glasgow, look out for details of WEYKARHIW book events, which I will be posting soon.

Are you feeling lucky, punk?

31 Oct

Because if you are, you could enter my Twitter prize draw to win a copy of Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong before it’s released! And five runners-up will win an .epub copy. Enter by retweeting this tweet and following @kcmurdarasi. See the terms and conditions, if you’re having trouble sleeping.

On the other hand, if you’re not feeling so lucky, there’s a more certain way to get your hands on a copy. Everyone on my mailing list will receive an .epub copy when the book is released on 22nd November (or as soon after that as I manage).

But what if you don’t feel lucky and you still want a paperback copy? Then you can pre-order it, like everybody else, can’t you? Do I have to do everything for you? 😉

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The Beauty of Tunisa

24 Oct

A lovely photo post, and a good reason for posting it: at the start of the month I was visiting a friend in Tunisia – a new country for me, and a whole new continent, as I had never been to Africa.

I can’t say I fell for Tunisia the way I did for Albania and, to a lesser extent, Greece, but it was fun, and had some beautiful sights. And the Roman ruins! Oh my word! I’ve never seen such well-preserved Roman buildings. And there was even pre-Roman stuff! So from that point of view, I was in my element, even if my Arabic is a little less polished than my Latin 😉

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Robin Hood is in the shops! (kind of)

11 Oct

9781916490901I have been feverishly scanning the internet for signs of my forthcoming book, Why Everything You Know about Robin Hood Is Wrong, and it is now listed as available for pre-order on Amazon! It doesn’t show my uber-stylish cover yet, but that should follow in due course.

You will be able to get copies from me, of course, by dropping me a line using the contact form to the right, or by coming to a book event (more details to follow), but it you prefer the convenience of Amazon you can pre-order now. You can pre-order from your local bookshop, too, or ask your local library to stock it. Speak to them; people who work with books are generally nice. (Except the baddie in my current novel, but that’s another story – literally.)

creat-work-earn-front-coverMy other news is that Create Work Earn has just been published. This is a book about freelancing and creativity. It’s compiled by Vivienne K Neale, but I have a chapter on portfolio careers. What is a portfolio career? Read the book and find out! (Or you could just Google it; it’s not hard.)

Miss_rabbit

Miss Rabbit – the ultimate portfolio careerist

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