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Sci Fi Weekender 6
Last weekend I went to the 6th Sci Fi weekender run by Chic at Hafan y Mor Haven Holiday park in Pwllheli. I’ve attended the last four of these events and I’ve always enjoyed myself. However, this year whilst I enjoyed the partying it felt somewhat flat. In the past the weekender has been buzzing with activities. Author panels and signings, great panels and much in the way of cabaret entertainment and parties. The first biggest difference was that this year the Sci fi weekender was sharing a site and facilities with the prog rock weekender. This essentially meant that the usual venue for all of the films was out…
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For Pterry
I was thirteen when I read my first Terry Pratchett novel. It was Good Omens with Neil Gaiman and I loved that book as only a teenager could. I obsessed over Crowley and Aziraphale and it has been a favourite of mine for a long time. After Good Omens came the Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic which were okay but the novel that got me hooked was Wyrd Sisters. As the cauldron bubbled an archaic voice shrieked: “When shall we three meet again?!!” There was a pause. Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: “Well I can do next Tuesday.” Wyrd Sisters Over the years I…
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Outside the Comfort Zone
I wanted to write about reading outside of my comfort zone and it has got a bit weird. Firstly I tried to define what my personal comfort zone is and I couldn’t. If I say fantasy I have to immediately re-qualify it with not all fantasy and I guess that is the thing. Its easier for me to say what I am unlikely to touch which feels negative. For the last few years I’ve binged mainly on Fantasy and SCience Fiction and all kinds of funky subgenres inside. I’ve dabbled with reading paranormal romance and enjoyed some of it but I struggle with some of the established tropes. I guess…
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Jane's Great Re-read: The Time Traveler's Wife – Review
*Wipes eyes and blows nose* Hello gang, well yes just finished the Time Traveler’s Wife again and I can report it still shreds me into tiny pieces. When I was 25 this book meant everything I was in a very volatile stage of my life and it gave me comfort and helped me come to terms with lots of life stuff and help me cry. I have not and will not see the film because I am not prepared to tarnish my vision of the novel. For those reasons it was a very important book and has been a permanent addition to my list of favourites. Coming back to it,…
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Jane's Great Re-Read: The Time Traveller's Wife
The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger is my next stop on the great Re-Read. For a while this book was everything to me. I had never read anything that was so beautiful and painful and perfect in my life. I discovered it in my mid twenties after coming out of a horrible relationship with a controlling person who was not good for me at all. I was seeing my current bloke and he was (still is for that matter) brilliant. We weren’t living together and only got to see each other depending on his shifts and what time we could scrape together.
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A Very Harry Potter Birthday
It was my birthday at the weekend and my present was a trip to the Harry Potter Studios. As you may have read I’ve been a huge Harry Potter fan and I’ve been revisiting all of the books it has been a lovely trot down memory lane I have felt as though I have needed to do for a while.
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Gatekeepers and why I'm not a fan
I have a problem with Gatekeepers in geekdom and fandom. Self-appointed guardians of what it means to be a fan. Those who have a personal credo and if you don’t know the answers to the questions or you weren’t there at the beginning then you can’t be a real fan. I’m quite a sensitive person, I’m a survivor of bullying and I hate us and them mentalities. I understand the need for folks to create their own communities where they create safe spaces and the desire to control that space by building walls around it and pulling up the drawbridge. I am someone who usually ends up outside the castle…
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Well hello insomnia
Funny thing going back to the day job after a glorious couple of weeks off is the rising tide of panic and belief that I can no longer do the job. Thanks brain you really are super special. My anxiety and its best pal the Fear were in tag team super force last night as I tried and failed to sleep seeing midnight, 1.00am, 2.00am and 3.00am before losing conciousness for the alarm to wake me at 6.30am. I could do without the insomnia but it has become a pattern that when I am due to go back to work it will kick in with a vengeance. This leaves me…
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2014 frustration in a nut shell
I really didn’t manage to get anywhere near as much writing as I wanted to. The reasons behind this are many and varied. My job is still quite demanding and has not settled into a pattern I can control yet. Coupled with extended periods of extremely brain busy times which leave me with no capacity to do more than the basics. This sucks but until the situation changes which I’m hoping it will soon then that is going to remain. I am also a creature with hobbies. Musical theatre, board gaming and knitting crochet all of which a necessary to my well being to stop me going completely off the rails.…
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Jane's Great Re-read
Look at the sexy logo. Do you like it? Designed by the fabulous @_BabydollNikki_ on twitter. Jane’s Great Re-read is happening. I am in the process of choosing a selection of books each month that I want to enjoy again. I’ve already picked which series I want to revisit first. I’ve been needing to re-read this like an ache in my side and it is the Harry Potter series. I’ve not touched the series since reading Deathly Hallows and I’ve missed the world and I want to go back to it. I need the familiarity of Hogwarts right now. Harry Potter books were a great comfort for me during the tumultuous…
