January Cartoon and more bad art

So it's January, and though I'm working up a post about non-human characters, it isn't ready yet, so here's some art. Firstly, a cartoon to kick the year off. A bit of Harry Potter in fact.  I have gone one further than that, and recently acquired a drawing tablet, because drawing by hand and then scanning in is quite a faff. I've tried […]

And so this is Christmas, and what have you done…?

About to sign off for the festivities, and I wish everyone a splendid holiday in good company. There are a few things I particularly want to note my thankfulness for. Thank you to pretty much everyone I'm in contact with on social media for not in any way spoiling The Force Awakens. I am similarly not going to spoil it, but […]

In Defence of the Prequels

In celebration of a certain film, and because this is a time of year to be POSITIVE damnit, I am going to push my goodwill and seasonal cheer to the limit and set out TEN THINGS I liked about the Star Wars prequels. There will be spoilers for the prequels, but it's not like that didn't happen the moment […]

2015: A Year In Books

This is going to be immeasurably easier than last year because of the large number of bookish posts I've done over the year. So firstly let's just get with the Christmas spirit of internet list articles and just rehash those: Here is the shortlist for the Clarke Award in which I show myself absolutely off the mark […]

2015: A Year in (the very few) Film(s I actually got to see).

The dread condition known as "being a parent and having two jobs" continues to cramp my film watching style. Although there weren't that many films I desperately wanted to see that I didn't get a chance to. Perhaps "The Lobster". Although I I may have misunderstood what it's about. Certainly the scene with the giant lobster destroying Chicago didn't seem […]

December Cartoon

Just a little fun for December, which otherwise is looking bleak.

Repeating the Mistakes of History

I was going to go with "Never Learn Anything from History" but then remembered that was actually the first Kate Beaton collection title, so that would have been rude of me. If you don't know Beaton's "Hark! A Vagrant" webcomic, then you really should. Another podcasty episode. On that subject, Tea and Jeopardy. my favourite, has […]

Casting Call: Guns of the Dawn

So the paperback edition of Guns of the Dawn is now out, and to celebrate I thought I'd mock up an entirely spurious casting of the film that Hollywood is surely clamouring to make (1). I had fun when I did this for the 10-film epic of Shadows of the Apt (2). For the sake of because I like […]

The New Face of the Insect Kinden

Tor UK has now released brand new e‑book editions of Shadows of the Apt! These are currently the new ‑e‑book covers, although they make such a beautiful set that I'd love to see them on a paper copy some day. I love the details on these — both foreground and background. Cover design here is by Neil Lang.

State of the Nation — 2015

It's been an eventful year. It' s only November, admittedly, so I guess it's been an eventful 9 months, but seriously I feel as though I've burned the midnight oil twice as brightly at both ends this year.(1) I have done a lot of conventions, for a start. This year and last year have been overly crazy in that regard. 2015 […]