Easter, here and gone

This being the obligatory post-Eastercon post, although to be honest it all passed in more of a blur than usual. The convention was well run, with a lot of thought and work clearly going into filling Bradford’s Cedar Court hotel with as much to do as possible. I got to bang on about Delia Derbyshire […]

Songs in the Key of…Y

Nearly at the end now. Probably go back to random next week. Yawns – Frightened Rabbit Yeah Next – Mother And The Addicts You Are Could I? – King Creosote You Better Believe It – Small Faces You Don’t Know Me – Ben Folds You Made Me Like It – 1990s You’re Not My Friend […]

Songs in the Key of…T

I know, I know… but there were a lot of S’s! Take It All – Badfinger Take Me Home – Crystal Gayle and Tom Waits Talk To Strangers – Envy And Other Sins Teardrop – Jose Gonzalez The Audition – A Band Called Quinn The Bagman’s Gambit – The Decemberists The Bee Song – Arthur […]

BSFA Award – Getting Involved!

Really pleased to see that in the recent mailing, the BSFA have made serious attempts to enfranchise its membership towards voting in this year’s awards by thoughtfully providing a booklet dedicated to focusing minds on the task. Traditionally, there has been an issue of accessibility in garnering votes, especially for the short fiction and artwork […]

Would some pow’r the gift to gie us

Had an interesting experience this week of watching an “as live” review of The Ephemera taking shape as it was being read. The reviewer was the very kind and legendary DF Lewis, and the review appeared story-by-story over a four day period. When you assemble a collection of short stories there are many considerations that […]

Songs in the Key of…S

It’s that time of the week again and my MP3 player’s got to the S’s. Here’s what it’s been dishing up today: S.I.C.K.O. – Fangs Save Me – Joan As Police Woman Same Old Stuff – The Feeling Sad Professor – REM Scarecrow People – XTC Sea Diver – Mott The Hoople See You – […]

Being Human

So, yay for me. I managed to watch an entire series of one of those TV shows that everyone’s been talking about. Being Human. I’m a bit late to it, of course, because I waited til the series had ended before watching it all in two big greedy gulps, but hopefully that’s a useful way […]

Songs in the Key of…L

Think I might make this a regular Friday feature. Still going alphabetically through the MP3 library on my phone. We’re at L now. Here’s the last dozen: Leeds United – Amanda Palmer Leggy Blonde – Flight Of The Conchords Leslie – King Creosote Let Down – Radiohead Let’s Dance – David Bowie Lick A 99 […]

Blog etiquette

I’m wondering if there is some unwritten rule in blog etiquette that readers don’t point out really ridiculous typos to the author? Sort of like pointing out when your boss has tomato soup on his tie or the convention speaker’s flies are down. Everyone just gets a little bit embarrassed and looks the other way. […]

I love Paris in the Springtime…vicariously

After a long trip down and back to London yesterday, I was cheered up by my young paramour’s stories of her visit to Paris over the weekend. It wasn’t the same as being there, but she painted an exciting picture (including documentary proof). The consolation patisserie helped too.