Painting!

Weekends are the bane of my life, so they are. It’s that yawning, inviting gap of blank space that smiles so invitingly at you all week long. You make grand plans for filling it – in my case with The End Of The Novel – and then it’s gone in a frittering of interruptions and […]

Something Unexpected

Nova Scotia has been short listed for this year’s World Fantasy Award.I’m gobsmacked. If I hadn’t already made plans to go to World Fantasy in Austin, I’d be booking my tickets right now!

This Happens

I’m as guilty as the next person for taking things for granted. We all do it. When something provides us with consistent high quality we forget to be amazed, or even grateful. We just register that it happens, and we expect it to keep on happening. Take, for example, Interzone, Britain’s longest running professional SF […]

The Chap

I have never disguised my admiration for the esteemed gentlemen who perpetuate that organ of “proper” living: The Chap. I wonder if they also hold regional events like this. I know a number of gentlemen, and ladies too, in this fair city who would give the Martini Mixing event a serious go.

Ghosts

Lately, I’ve been thinking about ghosts. Two reasons. The first? Well, Mr Wilson and I are in discussions about a proposed editorial project that might well involve spooks, spectres and other supernatural occurrences. We both love the traditional ghost stories of MR James and his ilk, all dread and gaslight, lonely academics, cursed landscapes and […]

Told You It Wouldn’t Be Regular

So, I decided I was going to start blogging in January, created the template and a sort-of-trial-run-first-post in February, and now…it’s July. At least it’s still the same year.

A manifesto for an unremarkable blog:

This blog will cast thoughts onto the datasphere like bread for ducks. A few crumbs might get nibbled up, but most of it will go soggy and sink. This blog may voice opinions, but will not engage in blogospheric debates. They’re exhausting. This blog will not contain controversy. Probably. This blog may not be interesting […]