Charlotte Frankel Rides Again
May. 12th, 2017 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scfranklesMy publisher (^___^) JayHenge Publishing has just announced that their latest anthology of short stories is now available. It's called 'Unearthly Sleuths' and I have a story in there, 'Noir Comedy', under the name Charlotte Frankel. You can see the UK paperback here and the UK Kindle edition here, and the US paperback version here and the US Kindle edition here.
As with the previous anthology I was involved in, I'm so pleased by how well-designed the collection is. I'm rather tickled by the fact that any 'a's in the authors' names are replaced by a little magnifying glass, and each story gets its own image as well. Mine is of a woman in a mask - as my story is a crossover between Commedia dell'arte and Detective Noir. (Someone else's prompt from Flash Fiction Month on DA, but I like to think I did it justice...) And it's a great cover as well. Haven't actually read the collection yet - but there are several authors in there I know and admire. I'm very happy to have been involved, and in fact I'm already planning on submitting stuff for another anthology.
Talking of little magnifying glasses... I'm in my *cough*late-40s*cough* but my near sight is still in pretty good shape for most situations. However, I am noticing the onward march of time - I have to hold my wristwatch a little further away, I can't comfortably thread a needle any more, I need plenty of light to read the small print on the back of a packet. And most pertinently, at work customers sometimes thrust items at me, point to tiny, tiny print on the label and ask, "What does that say?" And I either can't read it at all, or can't read it with confidence.
And so, in the spirit of keeping the ageing process as fun as possible, I have bought... my very own golden pince-nez! It's so cute. The frame is metal and a pale golden colour, with a little loop if I wish to attach a chain, and the lenses are oval. The whole thing is surprisingly small - about the width of a credit card. And I hadn't realised that pince-nez are worn so far down the nose - at the soft bit, rather than on the bridge. This makes it very easy to look over the pince-nez as well as through it, switching from near to far sight. Mine does pince the nez slightly more than I was hoping, but I can't expect a perfect fit from something off the shelf - and I don't need to wear them a lot.
I will go and have a proper eye test eventually though. It has only been 30 years or so... ^^"
As with the previous anthology I was involved in, I'm so pleased by how well-designed the collection is. I'm rather tickled by the fact that any 'a's in the authors' names are replaced by a little magnifying glass, and each story gets its own image as well. Mine is of a woman in a mask - as my story is a crossover between Commedia dell'arte and Detective Noir. (Someone else's prompt from Flash Fiction Month on DA, but I like to think I did it justice...) And it's a great cover as well. Haven't actually read the collection yet - but there are several authors in there I know and admire. I'm very happy to have been involved, and in fact I'm already planning on submitting stuff for another anthology.
Talking of little magnifying glasses... I'm in my *cough*late-40s*cough* but my near sight is still in pretty good shape for most situations. However, I am noticing the onward march of time - I have to hold my wristwatch a little further away, I can't comfortably thread a needle any more, I need plenty of light to read the small print on the back of a packet. And most pertinently, at work customers sometimes thrust items at me, point to tiny, tiny print on the label and ask, "What does that say?" And I either can't read it at all, or can't read it with confidence.
And so, in the spirit of keeping the ageing process as fun as possible, I have bought... my very own golden pince-nez! It's so cute. The frame is metal and a pale golden colour, with a little loop if I wish to attach a chain, and the lenses are oval. The whole thing is surprisingly small - about the width of a credit card. And I hadn't realised that pince-nez are worn so far down the nose - at the soft bit, rather than on the bridge. This makes it very easy to look over the pince-nez as well as through it, switching from near to far sight. Mine does pince the nez slightly more than I was hoping, but I can't expect a perfect fit from something off the shelf - and I don't need to wear them a lot.
I will go and have a proper eye test eventually though. It has only been 30 years or so... ^^"
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Date: 2017-05-13 03:21 am (UTC)We were in Laramie, Wyoming, yesterday -- a town that is very proud of its Frontier West heritage -- and there was an optometrist's shop that puts prescription lenses in antique frames. They had quite the selection of antique pince-nez, including a gold-toned one whose chain seemed to end in... a hairpin? I'm not sure. But I did stand there thinking that you would know (would you were there), because you are very clearly The Person Who Knows All Things 1890s.
ALSO, congrats on the new publication!
:: ...my story is a crossover between Commedia dell'arte and Detective Noir. (Someone else's prompt from Flash Fiction Month on DA, but I like to think I did it justice...) ::
Oo, that's an intriguing combination. And I find it very easy to believe that you did it justice. :-)
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Date: 2017-05-13 12:30 am (UTC)Edited to add I'm glad you're able to see better, too.
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Date: 2017-05-13 12:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2017-05-13 08:10 am (UTC)Congratulations on being published again. I shall be sure to get a copy - maybe add it to my birthday list - it's ideal for my mother when she asks what I want. Strangely I looked for it on one of the booksellers I use and found several books on sloths!
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Date: 2017-05-13 03:56 pm (UTC)And yes, age with style...are we to expect an ear trumpet and a Victorian Bath chair in several decades' time?
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Date: 2017-05-14 08:34 pm (UTC)Maybe I should look into how to submit one of these days...The design sounds very cute, too! :)
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Date: 2017-05-15 10:48 pm (UTC)I always thought pince-nez glasses were worn up on the nose, about like regular glasses. Woodrow Wilson wore them, as I recall, so you're in good company.
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