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Doing stuff
We are living in some interesting times. I’m not sure how to feel at the moment, I’m not sure that anyone is. All I know for sure is that friends of mine are sick and there’s not a lot practically I can do to help them. Its putting me and us all into this ridiculous limbo. I’m working from home but I feel untethered and uneasy. I’ve been trying to work out what I can do to be of use. With Eastercon cancelling and having a podcast one thing I did think about was if you are an author who has had a launch scuppered by the pandemic please contact…
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Review: This is How to Lose the Time War by Amal Al-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
I feel like everyone else that I know has already read this and loved it but I have just absorbed it and I have feelings that I simply must share. Gosh I loved this novella. Its poetic and epic and visceral and it really got to me in a way that I didn’t expect. Red is an operative of the agency she is aware that there is an enemy operative who is trailing her and she feels that she has finally met her match. One encounter Red finds a letter from her opponent, reads it and then decides to continue the correspondance at great risk to both of them.…
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Review: To be Taught if Fortunate by Becky Chambers
This novella is a long slow punch to the gut. I adore Becky Chambers writing I have loved her Wayfarers sequence and whilst this is not part of that universe it shares enough DNA that it feels similar. Ariadne, Chikondi, Elena and Jack are crew members on a mission from Earth to travel to four different envrionments on moons and planets for science! As ever with Chambers work there is a quiet humanity to her work where hope and doing things for the joy of them are celebrated and the work that four people undertake as well as how they interact and manage to get on. The emotional is…
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I could go on singing
Last week I went to The South Bank Centre to experience F K Alexander’s performance art I could go on singing. I’ve not seen that much performance art so I wasn’t sure what to expect but having read the description, I knew it was something I wanted to attend. F K Alexander Sings along to the final recording of Judy Garland singing somewhere over the rainbow against a backdrop of noise music. Its very intense but it is also incredibly beautiful. Self selected members of the audience step up and give their ticket to her and she then performs the song holding your hand and maintaining eye contact. I have…
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Review: Last Smile in Sunder City by Luke Arnold
Damned this is a good book. Luke Arnold has a gift for storytelling. Last Smile is the first in the new Fetch Philips series and it this opening story is anything to go by readers will be in for a treat. Fetch is a man for hire in a world where the magic has broken and the once mighty magical races now dwell in reduced circumstances because something the humans did and there is a lot of friction between humans and magicals because of this. Fetch has been involved in both sides and we see his back story shown through flashbacks which genuinely add depth to his…
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Review: The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H. G. Parry
Charley and Rob are brothers with an awkward past. Charley a former child prodigy with the very unique ability that he can read characters out of books and have them appear in ort world. This concept I found utterly delightful, not least the opportunity to meet some of your favourite characters in the flesh. However, for Rob its something of an embarrassment, his brother is deliberately ruining his life and always has done. Especially as Rob is a Solicitor and has a serious life that he has built with his partner Lydia. The brothers are not close and Charley feels like the kind of vague professor who is so much…
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Ep 15
Luke talks about his new novel, his writing process and the similarities and differences between creating a character for the page and creating one for the stage. He reads from Last Smile in Sunder City and answers the usual barage of questions.
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Subjective Chaos Nominations 2020
Subjective Chaos has started and these are the works that have been nomintated by the group. I’m really excited because I’m going to be reading outside my comfort zone and I’ll be reading some shorter fiction when I tend to read for novels for preference. Come with me on this journey for I shall not be sleeping as look at what we have nominated…. Best Short Fiction This Book Will Find You by Sam Beckbessinger, Lauren Beukes & Dale Halvorsen (The Outcast Hours edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin) Doll Seed by Michele Tracy Berger (Fiyah Magazine Issue 11) The Migration Suite: A Study in C Sharp Minor by…
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Subjective Chaos 2020
I am very behind on my blogging this year, I blame starting a new job but here’s the news. I have been asked to be part of the Subjective Chaos Awards this year and if you want to know more about us and what we are up to please read on. The rules/aims/guidelines/best intentions – We will embrace chaos – We will have fun – All discussion will be good-humoured – We do not shout and disturb the other readers The Categories – Best Fantasy Novel – Best SF Novel – Best Blurred Boundaries – Best Novella – Best Complete Series (final instalment published in 2019) – And now a…
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Ep 14
Jane talks to Caroline @liwella and Matt @runalongwomble about their genre pics for 2019
