Canterbury and Chaucers The Canterbury Tales Review

First we visited the Cathederal and learnt about Thomas Beckett's murder and his Martyrdom and  the reason why there were so many pilgrims heading to Canterbury in Medieval times. Although I studied History at school this was something we never covered and I'd heard of Thomas Beckett, Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales, but I didn't actually know the details... Now I do.

Parts of the Cathederal were like Hogwarts in the Harry Potter, so I got all excited.

We went for a punt along the river whilst being told stories of the history of Canterbury, which was very pleasant, despite it being late September and we're meant to be in Autumn, the weather has been extremely kind so far.




We then went to an interactive museum called The Canterbury Tales and learned why Geoffrey Chaucer was making a pilgrimage to Canterbury from London and why there were many other pilgrims on the expedition with him or why they all decided to tell stories in the first place. I found this fascinating part of our Great British history. I was so impressed I bought my very own copy of The Canterbury Tales and I've just finished it, well the modernised English version, but still I understand what it's all about now!




I have to say I really enjoyed reading it and Chaucers' description of his fellow pilgrims did do justice to me being able to picture them all sat on their horses travelling along treacherous country roads to Canterbury during medieval times and the sense of humour of the age is also very transparent in his writing. 

Some of the stories were a tad - dated - shall we say and I felt a bit 'hey ho' when I read them, especially about the love of a Princess and a chivalrus knight or two, I mean some of the stories the man falls in love as they stare at a woman they never speak to and end up working for them and following them around like love sick puppies, unable to speak of their love, but would kill anyone who tried to love said Princess instead... Today that would be classed as stalking!

However, I did like the moral tales from the Wife of Bath about the Knight learning his lesson about what women desire from a haggard old witch and the Pardoners Tale about three terrible young men with murder in mind plotting to meet Death, only to have Death meet them when their greed became too much.

All in all it was fun to read some old famous English literature, I feel a little more cultured and have a better understanding of some of my own countries earlier history... It may come in handy when writing about one of my older immortal characters in The Beyond!! You never know. 

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Promotional Work For The Beyond

So everyone thinks you can just write a book, because everyone's got a book in them, (apparently)!
But then you have to find an agent and publisher or if you're impatient you self publish. Which ever route to publication you choose, the writer now has to do their own promotional work too, (unless of course you're JK Rowling or Stephen King in which case you could write a sick note and you'd sell a trillion copies!).

So this year my husband and I decided to invest in a large motor-home and travel the UK for a whole year to see our great country and what it has to offer. Obviously we decided that we could use this time for me to write more, but also to promote my books (as I'm a modest gal who struggles to push herself forward, I was the shy kid sat at the back corner of the classroom at school, that sort of thing), which I'm not the best at.

So my wonderful hubby came up with this...

We are going to be doing book signings and scifi/fantasy convention along the way so I will be announcing these on facebook, twitter and here on my blog about our journey. I also have a Travelling Blog I write for the charities we are raising funds for as we journey around the country as well.

First confirmed date is  Em-Con 15th March 2015 and we will be in Whitby for Halloween (venue to be confirmed.

More promo piccy's to follow... Don't want to spoil you all at once, do I?
Oh if you want a signed copy of any of my books please go to My Website click on Contact Alison and we arrange for that to be sent to you.

If you see our van on the road, give us a wave or we'll see you at one f the many venues we'll be at this year.

Super Sports Car Driving Experience

This had to be one of my great experiences and something ticked off my bucket list. My wonderful friends chipped in and bought me a three car driving experience day for my birthday. got to drive an Aston Martin DB9, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

About to drive the DB9, this was the first super car and it was such a shame because it turned out to be the nicest of the three and as I wasn't sure of the track or the fact that I hadn't driven something so fast before I was a little bit cautious. And you only get to go around the track twice. If I'd have gone around more than that I probably would've got past 6o miles an hour!!!

A Stig looky likey, for those wanting a photo opportunity!

The Lamborghini. I was looking forward to the most, after seeing those two gorgeous women drive one in "The Cannonball Run" when I was a kid, I'd always dreamed of owing one! But I was actually really disappointed, it wasn't smooth or sleek and I certainly didn't feel like the hot totty from the film. Maybe I'd built it up in my mind to be more than I thought it would be.

The Ferrari was actually a pleasing surprise. The oldest of all the cars I drove, and I thought this was very rickerty with a few cracks in the leather seats and I was like "god I'll have to get towed round by a horse!" But pleasantly it was the fastest and I actually got past 80mph on some parts of the track. (I know it prabably doesn't sound fast, but when you're driving a super car around tight bends it's pretty scary! Anyway the instructor said I was a natural and very good, so there.

Next dare devil experience, either flying a light aircarft or a glider!! Watch this space.

Vampire Sorceress - A Paperback Book - Finally

The Third Book in The Beyond Series - Vampire Sorceress is out on sale in all good bookshops and on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. If you want a signed copy please contact me on Facebook @Alison Kershaw or through The Beyond Series website. 

Bath - The City of Pampering Spas and Ghost Tours

I have always wanted to see Bath, I love things old and historical, so when I got the opportunity to go to this amazing city I jumped at the chance.

The Roman Baths were just incredible, so well preserved and presented to the public, I love it when they show old ruins as they would have looked in their heyday and they certainly did that, especially when you walk through the courtyard and the museum shows digital video of people walking through the entrance and to the temple. Brilliant. The tour guide was excellent too, explaining even how the pumping system worked! It's not cheap, but if you want to everything about Roman life then this is the place to go. 

The town was revived in Georgian times when Queen Anne began to go there for therapeutic purposes and so this is why the architecture in Bath is so typically Georgian. The Pump Room is where you can overlook the main spring that used to service the Roman Baths and is now a beautiful tea room complete with pianist playing all the way through lunch. You can understand why Georgians and Victorians enjoyed the social occasion of High Tea. Very lovely.

The cathedral was amazing too. There was even a reading from the priest whilst I was just sat in a pew enjoying the peace and quiet, I was actually quite moved and uplifted by the sermon.

Now whenever I go to an old city, whether in the UK or in Europe, I always manage to find a ghost tour. I have even done one in New Orleans. It's so atmospheric and this was no exception. We started off at this alley next to the most haunted pub in Bath and the Bath Theatre. Looks creepy, yet cosy to me too!

We heard of Lovers throwing them selves from Theatre roof tops after a duel in the pub next door. A man that walked down a lane behind The Crescent, a battle on the field opposite The Crescent and Lone Ghost Butterfly that appears during a play at the old theatre, which is apparently a good luck charm!

Haunted Tree! Couldn't see any Orbs though.
My friend and I also spent a morning in Thermae Spa. Oh Wow! What a wonderful pamper day and THE BEST spa experience I've ever had. First you go in a Tepidarium type pool that has a current so you can just float around as you gossip with your friends. Then you go into the aromatherapy steam rooms (four massive glass rooms) until you can stand the heat no more, then move up to the roof terrace pool, which you cannot swim in, because its too busy full of women mainly nattering away very loudly, but also because there are jacuzzis in the corner of a steaming hot pool! Amazing, finished all too quickly.

Me at the Baths in Bath!
As you may know I love all things haunted, creepy and supernatural. So it's no wonder that I also like to write my own supernatural stories. Vampire Sorceress is the third instalment of  The Beyond Series of books The paperback version can be purchased from Completely Novel now or you can upload on Amazon Kindle today.

Plays that make you go Hmmm!!

The Changling A Jacobean Epic at The Lowry

I read a review in my local paper about a Jacobean Revenge drama written in 1622 by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. It is sexually explicit as well as violent and mixes the two with tragic effect.

Set in Roman Catholic Spain, the play centres around a love triangle. The aristocratic Beatrice-Joanna is in Love with Alsemero, but her controlling father wishes her to marry well to Alsono de Piracquo. DeFlores (the deflowerer) is in love with his Masters daughter who is reviled by his scars and deformity.

Hardly surprising then that this love sick man servant will do anything to help out Beatrice and murders her future husband. She tries to pay him in gold and rid him from the court, but DeFlores decides he will take his payment in kind. 

Initially she finds her predicament intolerable, until Deflores murders again for her and she realises this man is the love of her life, because he will do anything to protect her and their secret. Needless to say her newly wedded hubby Alsemero grows suspicious and challenges them both with quite horrific consequences.... I was sat near the front of the stage and I thought I was to be sprayed with blood when Beatrice gave her dramatic dying speech before flopping dead onto the boards!

I won't give everything away as I think it should be something that every discerning theatre boff should see at some point in their lives. I can see why critics hail it as the greatest tragedy in English Theatre since Shakespeare. Personally I just wanted to see how how explicit the sex scenes were!!!

Someone Who Will Watch Over Me - Manchester Library Theatre

This was an incredibly thought provoking play about three men, one English, one Irish and an American who had been kidnapped and held captive in Beirut by terrorists. The stage set was nothing but a cell and all three were chained to the walls and sat on nothing but a grubby mat as they attempted to come to terms with their predicament.

At first the Irish character tried to deal with the situation through humour, whilst the American found solace in the bible and the most recently captured hostage, the Englishman, lived in denial that there had been a huge mistake and they had the wrong man!

I sat in the audience, with an uncomfortable feeling of laughing at some of the jokes in such awkward and difficult circumstances and I'm sure I wasn't the only person there thinking "How would I cope in such a situation?" I asked myself that question so often afterwards that I finally wrote a book searching for a protaganist who could deal with abduction, hostage and rehabilitation of of such horrifying experiences. The Betrayal will be published soon...

The play however did have it's surreal moments as the three men embarked on an imaginary journey flying through the air, free as bird, chitty chitty bang bang kinda moment... Twas odd! But the final part was very difficult to deal with, as one is executed, another freed and the third left all alone in the cell wondering what will happen to him. Despite the seriousness of the play I have to say it is still one of the best I have ever seen.

Some Of The Best Festivals EVER! - Part Two - Glastonbury

Festival season is upon us and I thought I'd look up my old blog and remember with fond memories the summer I attended Glastonbury. As it was such an amazing festival I felt it deserved a full blog all of it's own.

What a blast! I can now tick off another ambition acheived off my "before I turn 40 list"! The festival of all festivals. We arrived Thursday afternoon and we were very fortunate to have friends who had already pitched up our tent on Pennard Hill Camp, which was the best field (personal opinion) for camping, because as the heavens opened our tents remained mud free due to us camping on a slant.

Although we did have trouble finding our tent the first night there. 




Too many lagers whilst still getting your bearings in 900 acres of farmland and sharing this space with 137,000 other revellers is not congenial to finding a Orangy/brown two man tent. I had visions of propping myself up on a hedgerow all night, like the poor bastard dressed in just his boxers and green wellies who had clearly over done it on the pear cider, uppers and downers all in one sitting. Boy I bet he had a hangover the next day. (Enjoying a beer, thats toilet paper wrapped around my head, because I had left my bandana back at the tent.)We went to see The Beat in the Leftfield tent that night, as there wasn't much else on, but I did begin to get my reggae type stomp down to a tea by the end of the show.


I also faced my worse fears after four cans of lager. The dreaded portaloos. Now I have spent the last few years at concerts and festivals, working my way up to the biggy. And my affiliation with the portaloo has grown up with me. I went to Reading Festival and refused to go on anything except a porcelain flushing pot. Then at V Festival last year I had no choice but to use the plastic cabin loos. I could cope with this as they did keep them well stocked with toilet roll and sanitary hand cleaners and you couldn't see what anyone else had disposed of. I thought I was doing really well until I saw The Green Glastonbury Crappers. 

Dear Lord! Now I know when I said to the gang, I was going to Christen the toilet for my first Glastonbury pee, everyone shouted back, "What ever you do don't look down!" Of course I couldn't resist. Well! I have never seen anything like it. Some abnormal creature had left a dump the size of an elephant shit. No human could possibly pass such solid without abnormal bowel movements and a serious dose of piles to boot.

Saturday: My Festival Buddy, suggested we go off shopping on our own to find suitable Saturday Glastonbury attire for one another. So with my £10 in hand I went off in search of a fantastic outfit, unique. We met up a few hours later and decided to sink a few beers in the Queens Head Marquee whilst singing along to the "Sony Kareoke machine doo dah thingy majig!" Oh I don't know what it was called. Lots of drunk people got up and sang songs!!

Then we headed back to camp to prepare ourselves for the gift swap and dressing up in really mad clothes just for one night only!
This is what Rich bought me.

I think I look pretty spiffing as a Boho Hippy Glasto Chick!

This was my masterpiece! I even did his makeup. I have decided that as a creative person, I may diversify into the world of Live Human Art. This Creation I am going to call ""THE HIDDEN MAN""
Someone actually complimented me on the look citing it to be Soooo Avant Garde!!! Likkle old me!
We also decided to do a spot Freelance advertising for my debut novel Didikai Witch. I mean how often do you get a bloke in a glittery boob tube and Cerise Pink feather eyelashes wandering around. Everyone was staring at him, it was a great marketing move.


I know I look like Marilyn Manson had just snogged my face off, but I was meant to look like that. I had always wanted to walk around in public with really smudged lipstick all over my face and not worry. One woman approched me and was about to inform me of my makeup up faux pas then realised the irony on my face and made a quick exit into the crowd. Hee hee! That was whilst I was watching Iggy Pop and the stooges. What a showman, he encouraged about two hundred members of the audience to get up on stage with him and called them The Glastonbury Dancers. Someone in the Crowd on stage had a banner he was waving about that said "Bring Back Wispa Chocolate!" Brilliant!

Another lovely lady said I looked stunning and ready for a wild night out painting the festival red! And I did! Fantastic Day.

Anyway back to the story of Glastonbury. 

I was still awake at 6am because I hadn't yet gone to bed. Myself, Rich and a couple of the others from the gang. We had stayed up all night so we could watch the Solstice sun rise between the stones in the stone circle field (and yes they really have been there for thousands of years.) What a fantastic place! Now as I am a practising Reiki Master, I do work with energy now and then, but when I stood in the centre of the stone circle and watched the dawn break over the horizon, I could feel the ripple through my feet. I must have been stood on a ley line. Anyway it was amazing and an experience I won't forget in a hurry. I can still see and hear Jim and Rick sat on top of the stones playing their bongo drums.

It absolutely bucketed it down. I am now convinced that Glastonbury is a three dimensional portal to Hell, Englands very own Hell Mouth, because it was sunny everywhere else except Glasto. Honestly, as you drove into the village the heavens opened and as you drove out again the sun came out. Twilight Zone or what?

Anyway, to shelter from the worst of the torrential downpours we sat in the Cabaret Marquee quite a bit, which was great for resting tired tootsies. Watched a fantastic show by Big Beats. They drummed on all sorts of items from shopping trolleys to kitchen sinks. A bit like the show Stomp, but without all the stomping!

We then watched Amy Winehouse who was surprisingly sober, but it was only 3pm. Apparently someone said she had the twitches by the time they saw her on the Jazz Stage later that night. This was us sort of watching Amy. As you can see my wellies were never quite the same. Poor wellies. They sit forlornly in my kitchen still caked in mud.

But I managed to get to the Pyramid stage just in time to see Kasabian. Great to see them again, but why oh why do they have to insist on calling their fans f****rs? A girl could start to get a complex.

I finally ended up at the Avalon Tent watching the Waterboys. Fantastic! Highlight of the day. The energy from the band and the crowd was electric. Tried taking a photo of them pogo hopping about the stage, but a very friendly hippy stood next to me pointed out that the lights on the stage were too bright. And he was quite right. Amazing! I thought hippies shunned anything remotely Techno? I didn't worry too much though, I just had another 7% proof Pear Cider and the world seemed a much better place.

Sunday... This is where the whole mud and shit really started to get to me. I woke up to the sounds of people retching, farting and pissing around the tent and I lay there in extreme discomfort (despite having an airbed) listening to the rain beating down on the tent and waiting for us to be washed away in a tidal wave of farmers crap. I thought to myself, "Christ Ali, you are a thirty four year old woman pretending you are still Eighteen. You should be curled up in your super duper extra comfy bed at home with the heating on and a steaming hot cuppa tea."

I understand now why so many people take drugs at these events... It's to forget just how uncomfortable it all is. The music and experience was fantastic, but the hostelry amenities SUCKED!
Enough of my moans and groans, although I do think I now have a permanent crick in my neck. Any volunteers to massage it out for me?Sunday was just as much fun though. After a hearty breakfast of Sweet and Sour Chicken and Egg Fried Rice!!! I know! It was the only place where you could sit down and eat...And I am NOT known for my virtuous Patience when it comes to having to queue for ANYTHING... Even sneeked into the Men's Pigs Troughs and hovered over the urinal, when I was really desperate, as The She Pee Tent was always full!! Even Men queued up for it... Hello! What part of "SHE and PEE" do you not understand? I think some pervs just wanted to watch women defy laws of nature and stand up to piss for a change!


Not Sure why there were Dodgem cars here, but I posed for the camera anyway.Then we went to see some more comedy acts because, yes you guessed it, it poured down again. So we ended up in the disco area listening to Pendulum and dancing wildly about. I did actually like this band, mainly for the rocking drumming over dance music, but I forgot to get my glow sticks, so I felt all empty and hollow and a deep sense of loss at not looking like a tit for a change!

We went to the Lost Vagueness area, where you could get married to your pet parrot if you wanted to, but this place was wholly depressing. It was a mud strip, with just the odd party animal still dancing in the make shift American Diner, probably staggered there the night before looking for a Tipi and got completely Lost... They did seem a bit Vague too.

The Horrors were awesome and completely bonkers. Fantastic Punk Rock Bond. I think they had to be the highlight of the day for me. The lead singer reminded me of a young Iggy Pop, The guitarist, a young Slash, but with lots of blond streaks, The keyboard player and young Fester Adams (with hair) and the drummer a Young Ringo Star!

By the end of the day I was giddier than a giddy kipper, and threw some mud at Rich. Of course this ended up in a full blown mud fight. So I decided to rub my entire face in mud before Rich did it for me. Hmmmm I think I got a few strange looks at this point, because I forgot I had nothing to wash it off with and within an hour it had dried harder than and Avon Cosmetics Mud Pack. It was cracking and crumbling all over my face and I think I pulled a few hairs out whilst trying to peel the concrete off. On a postitive note though I did wake up the next morning with lovely soft skin.

Monday was dismal, not only did we have to trek miles back to the car in mud, but it poured with rain. Then, when we got in the car we had to sit in a traffic jam for ages.... This part of the weekend is far too traumatic to relive. 

This day was serious fun.
Bearing in mind I didn't get to bed until 6 am and got up again at 10am when the music started on The Park and The Pyramid Stage roadies began testing the mikes and drums, "One. Two..Twoo Twoo..." Bless they can't count passed Two.

First of all we went into the Hara Krishna tent, just for the atmosphere of peace and tranquility and some possible free breakfast... Until I saw the gray 'papia mache' slop they were serving up and decided to fork out £5 for some kind of reconstituted meat based product from the other food stalls!
I tried to sing along to the Hara Krishna songs, but alas they were far too difficult for me to remember all the words!!
I think it went something like..."Hare Hare, Rama Rama, Krishna Krishna, Mung Beans and Lentils!" Well that was what I was singing anyway!

Sorry for the remenising blog, but it is festival season after all and I feel I'm too old for all that stuff now. I'm quite happy travelling Europe in my luxury motorhome promoting my books. www.thebeyondseries.com

Vampire Sorceress is now on sale on Kindle and the paperbacks are due out next week! Fingers Crossed.