Book Review: Unfinished Empire by John Darwin

The territories that were at one time or anoth...

The territories that were at one time or another part of the British Empire. The British Overseas Territories are underlined in red. Русский: Территории, когда-либо бывшие частью Британской империи. Названия Британских заморских территорий подчеркнуты красным. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unfinished Empire, The Global Expansion of Britain by John Darwin is 478 pages long.  I’m only on page 100; and I’m really looking forward to finishing this book.

Hello hello hello, my brother and sister readers and writers from all over the world!  And here’s a special shut-out to my fans in the UK.

The Old Soldier was at the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh (the public library) a couple of days ago and he picked up this book by John Darwin.

All I can tell you is that if you enjoy well researched history written in tight prose that is easy for the general public to enjoy, this is the book for you.

Of course, when I read anything, I read to see what I can learn and use as a blogger, an editor, a publisher and as a writer.

The Old Soldier can tell you he is going to learn a great many useful things from this book.

*****

This flash fiction blog is published near the University of Pittsburgh.

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Behind The Scenes (26 February 2013)

Interior view, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh,...

Interior view, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, 4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s an overcast, rainy afternoon in Pittsburgh.  The high will be around 40 degrees.  The Old Soldier is feeling lazy.

I did do my breathing and stretching exercises this morning in preparation for karaoke at Del’s in Bloomfield (Little Italy) this coming Friday night.

And I did fill out the form to get my rent rebate for 2012 from the IRS.  I’m eligible become I’m a low-income senior who is at least 65 years old and lives in Pennsylvania.

But outside of those two accomplishments, the Old Soldier has been stretched out on the sofa on his back with two fat pillows under his weary head as he reads the books he checked out from the public library, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which is right next to the main campus of the University of Pittsburgh here in his neighborhood of Oakland.

English: An elderly at stretching exercises in gym

English: An elderly at stretching exercises in gym (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Classical music plays low on the radio and a whole chicken slow-cooks in the crock pot.  I have energy drinks to sip on.

*****

Writer’s Block

The words elude me
Rain drips down the window panes
I wait for my muse

*****

I’m going to publish a new erotic flash fiction story, “One Hot Night”, by Heather Kinnane some time this week.  Be sure to watch out for it; and yes, the female protagonist is very orgasmic.  We wouldn’t expect anything less from this talented writer from Australia.

*****

The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is a blog for writers.  This is the Old Soldier reporting from Pittsburgh.

Celebrating The Public Library

newsweek-cover-blog

Image by FunnyBiz via Flickr

I wrote this post in my notebook in the main branch of the Carnegie Library which is in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.  I sit at a long wooden table in the Browsing Journals Room on the second floor.  It’s around 1:00 in the afternoon on a cloudy day of rain drizzle in Pittsburgh and the high will be only around 40 degrees.

I just got finished reading several articles in a Newsweek Magazine.

It’s nice and quiet here.  The lighting is good for reading.  The people in the library, the public and staff, speak in low voices when they do speak.

The Old Soldier has just reintroduced himself to the public library.  It’s a great place to hangout.

*****

The Submissions tab for flash fiction is at the top of the page.

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