Archive's Blogroll Roung up

I've not done one of these posts for awhile, (the last was all the way back HERE)  but since my last such post I've discovered many more blogs that I read regularly. Here are some my current favorites and all can be depended on to provide entertaining, interesting and useful information.

I've been on a Sherlock Holmes kick lately and Buddy2Blogger is always on hand with knowledgeable criticism and opinion of Doyle's great creation. And sticking with literature, one of my favorite book blogs at the moment is Books on the Nightstand - this particular blog regularly tops best of lists and has been featured in most of the blog roundups featured in major newspapers. The Game's Afoot is also a great crime fiction centric blog that shows real passion for its subject. And crossing genres we have the western, a favourite of mine, and Black Horse Express is an essential stop for news relating to British publisher, (my own publisher you know) Robert Hale's popular Black Horse imprint, and if you visit the Express then you'll soon be pointed over to Western Fiction Review which is one of the best western fiction websites in the entire wild west web. And sticking with the west a moment is Buddies in the Saddle which under Ron Scheer's guidance has become another most read. Of course my old faves are still out there Pulp Serenade is always excellent, as is Pattinease which is run by mum of bestselling and no doubt future mega selling noir writer Megan Abbott. And now from the hardboiled to the cosy we have The Agatha Christie Reading Challenge which given that I am currently collecting the Agatha Christie facsimile editions I find very interesting but any Christie fan will find this website entertaining those little gray cells.

Now straying from book blog I often find myself reading tech blogs and if you only read only one tech blog then it should be AllthingsD, which is right on the button with the world of tech. Deadline Hollywood is an essential stop for film news and that's it for this blog roundup and now sit back as the Archive goes back into top gear. Yep after a quiet few weeks we are back to our prolific ways and there lots coming up during the weeks ahead.

Be Here

I blog and therefore I am

My previous post and the comments have started me thinking - what exactly is a blog? What is a blog for?

The WIKI explains that a blog is a contraction of, weblog and is a series of postings on various subjects. It then goes onto to inform that there are over 12 million blogs out there. A lot of them no doubt about cats.

That's not really helpful. It does not address the big question - why do we blog?

I've started several blogs over the years and allowed them to fall into disuse, to sit there unloved, not visited and ultimately they moulder like binary hermits in the vastness of cyberspace.

But not The Tainted Archive - it continued to thrive and it's not about cats.

Now I'm a writer, bit-part actor, sometime cab driver and full time dreamer so I guess any blog I write will contain a mixture of these roles that go into making the person. I think of it as an online magazine rather than a blog - I want to entertain and often inform and of course I want to sell some books - Obviously I write because I have to, need to, love to but I want as many people as possible to read and hopefully enjoy my work. So yeah I'll always pimp my stuff, put it all on offer (hey I want to be popular and loved - who doesn't) but the blog is far more than simply an online promotional tool.

I suppose if I was an underwarter girder welder with an interest in stamp collecting I'd philatersise about penny blacks while wearing a wet suit. By the way I think I've invented a word there. If I was a 1970's girle mag fanatic...well, it would be difficult to type with blistered palms.

I'm not though (well apart from owning the odd girlie mag) and so I'll continue to do what I have been doing - writing about books, films, making spelling mistakes, mistyping names, pushing my books, posting random pictures of me as James Bond, doing interviews, some name dropping and all without a blister in sight.

And no Cats!!!!!!!!!