I'm sitting at home twiddling my thumbs. I have entertainment of various kinds - I listened to a podcast episode of Breaking the Glass Slipper yesterday, and I'm in the middle of Francis Pryor's fascinating book about the excavations at Flag Fen - but I also want to be doing something creative with my time.
So I read the Mah Jongg oracle cards the other day, and they told me I should be doing more writing.
It occurred to me that I'd intended to write a sequel to the very first story I'd put up on Smashwords, way back in 2012, but then I moved on to other stories instead. Since I made the story (Raven's Heirs) free, more than 700 people have downloaded it, which is very gratifying.
I can't find the notes I made for the sequel now, but I have a rough idea of what I was planning, and today I sat down and immersed myself in that world again.
I'm feeling quite enthusiastic about getting back to work on it - and it'll keep me out of mischief for the duration.
Tuesday 31 March 2020
Tuesday 24 March 2020
Smashwords Sale
Because of all the people stuck at home at the moment, Smashwords decided to hold a special sale for a month. I decided to put all my stories in the sale for free - and more people have downloaded them in the last week than in the previous 5 years! Which is lovely, and I hope they enjoy reading them.
Monday 16 March 2020
Rain by Mary and Bryan Talbot
I've been collecting Bryan Talbot graphic novels for some time now - the Grandville series (Inspector Le Brock the badger), Alice in Sunderland, the Tale of One Bad Rat and The Adventures of Luther Arkwright.
I've also got two of the graphic novels that Bryan and Mary Talbot collaborated on - Sally Heathcote: Suffragette and Dotter of Her Father's Eyes (and Kate Charlesworth for Sally Heathcote: Suffragette).
So I was very pleased with my birthday present, Rain by Mary and Bryan Talbot - and my Young Man had got me a signed copy!
It's about a flood in a Yorkshire town, and the grouse moors above the town, and the clash between environmentalism and profit, as seen through the eyes of a young couple - one of whom lives in Yorkshire, and the other in London. It also brings in the Zone Rouge - battlefields of the First World War in France which are still dangerously contaminated - and the Bronte sisters, and fracking, and climate change protests.
It sets out the facts clearly, and shows the different points of view on the subject, and the story is bookended with scenes from Alexander von Humboldt's life. He's a scientist who should be better known, as he was the first person to look at human activity and its effect on the wider environment - around the year 1800. Even then it was evident how deforestation, irrigation and pollution were affecting the climate.
Highly recommended.
I've also got two of the graphic novels that Bryan and Mary Talbot collaborated on - Sally Heathcote: Suffragette and Dotter of Her Father's Eyes (and Kate Charlesworth for Sally Heathcote: Suffragette).
So I was very pleased with my birthday present, Rain by Mary and Bryan Talbot - and my Young Man had got me a signed copy!
It's about a flood in a Yorkshire town, and the grouse moors above the town, and the clash between environmentalism and profit, as seen through the eyes of a young couple - one of whom lives in Yorkshire, and the other in London. It also brings in the Zone Rouge - battlefields of the First World War in France which are still dangerously contaminated - and the Bronte sisters, and fracking, and climate change protests.
It sets out the facts clearly, and shows the different points of view on the subject, and the story is bookended with scenes from Alexander von Humboldt's life. He's a scientist who should be better known, as he was the first person to look at human activity and its effect on the wider environment - around the year 1800. Even then it was evident how deforestation, irrigation and pollution were affecting the climate.
Highly recommended.
Monday 9 March 2020
The Champions - The Bodysnatchers
I finally gave in to temptation and bought the boxed set of The Champions - I only had a few random episodes on video before. This is the 1960s series starring Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo and William Gaunt, secret agents with enhanced physical and mental powers.
I wanted to watch an episode I didn't remember first, just to see if I would really enjoy it, or if my enjoyment was influenced by my happy memories of watching it before.
So I chose the episode The Bodysnatchers. I didn't remember it, and as a bonus it was set in Wales, and written by Terry Nation.
There is only one Welshman in the entire episode - Talfryn Thomas, who plays a garage mechanic. Craig and Sharon needed some excuse to travel on a picturesque Welsh steam train, so their car breaks down. The stock footage is lovely, and I think includes Lake Bala. At one point Sharon wakes up from a doze at a station and asks "Where are we?"
Craig starts to answer, and then just points at the station sign. "There," he says.
Later, Sharon pronounces all the Welsh names perfectly. However, it was a great disappointment to see her standing around in the big fight scene while Craig and Richard were enthusiastically punching everybody in sight. At least she got to beat up one of the guards and take his machine gun from him earlier in the episode.
The villain of the piece was a very menacing Bernard Lee - M from James Bond! There's a journalist snooping around the place, and when Bernard Lee catches him, he takes great pleasure in killing him horribly (and fortunately off screen). He had kidnapped/bodysnatched a US General, hoping to cryogenically freeze him and then revive him to tell his military secrets.
The episode just about passes the Bechdel Test, as Sharon talks to the young Englishwoman who runs the Prince of Wales pub/hotel, where they're staying. The cryogenic scientist is also a young woman, giving Richard someone to charm and be kind to while trying to find out what's going on at the remote clinic.
So I had great fun watching the episode, and I'm looking forward to re-visiting some of my favourites now.
I wanted to watch an episode I didn't remember first, just to see if I would really enjoy it, or if my enjoyment was influenced by my happy memories of watching it before.
So I chose the episode The Bodysnatchers. I didn't remember it, and as a bonus it was set in Wales, and written by Terry Nation.
There is only one Welshman in the entire episode - Talfryn Thomas, who plays a garage mechanic. Craig and Sharon needed some excuse to travel on a picturesque Welsh steam train, so their car breaks down. The stock footage is lovely, and I think includes Lake Bala. At one point Sharon wakes up from a doze at a station and asks "Where are we?"
Craig starts to answer, and then just points at the station sign. "There," he says.
Later, Sharon pronounces all the Welsh names perfectly. However, it was a great disappointment to see her standing around in the big fight scene while Craig and Richard were enthusiastically punching everybody in sight. At least she got to beat up one of the guards and take his machine gun from him earlier in the episode.
The villain of the piece was a very menacing Bernard Lee - M from James Bond! There's a journalist snooping around the place, and when Bernard Lee catches him, he takes great pleasure in killing him horribly (and fortunately off screen). He had kidnapped/bodysnatched a US General, hoping to cryogenically freeze him and then revive him to tell his military secrets.
The episode just about passes the Bechdel Test, as Sharon talks to the young Englishwoman who runs the Prince of Wales pub/hotel, where they're staying. The cryogenic scientist is also a young woman, giving Richard someone to charm and be kind to while trying to find out what's going on at the remote clinic.
So I had great fun watching the episode, and I'm looking forward to re-visiting some of my favourites now.
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