Sticky post: My latest book

Back in, um, 2011, I wrote about using Scrivener to publish an ebook. And then in 2014, I wrote about the process of producing a paperback book with Createspace. Well. Since then, software has been updated, Amazon have absorbed Createspace into their Kindle self-publishing platform, and I've written another book. So I thought it would …

The illness and the illusion

I don’t think surprised is the right word, but one of the things that has been niggling at my brain during this pandemic is all the economic reporting. While it’s clear why hospitals and supermarkets need to remain open, and, yes, there needs to be some kind of childcare provision for those workers, it is …

8 Short posts about lockdown

I sat for several minutes looking at the blank space at the end of the title. I don't know what to call this. It's not really a lockdown. My wife just went out for a bike ride. I went for a walk in the wind yesterday. Some of my colleagues have been to work. But …

Tim Powers: Forced Perspectives — review

This new Tim Powers, a sequel to 2018’s Alternate Routes, couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment. We’re back in L.A., but no longer fleeing from the ghosts of the highway. Instead, we’re dealing with heiroglyphs and a supernatural cult that wants to raise a god – and needs Vickery and Castine (who have …

Social = Moral

One of the many things I learned from the Rev. Dougie Davies' Social Anthropology course at university is that our concept of morality is inextricably linked to our concept of the social. You don't need a religious framework to know that anti-social behaviour is immoral. What we think of as "anti-social" evolves alongside our society …

The Uncertainty Pandemic

It goes away… As we huddle, or not, in our homes, and wait it out, or not, it’s interesting to ponder the response of the UK government, and that of the US government, in comparison to all the others. Europe, we’re told, is now the epicentre, with Italy the epic entry point for a disease …

Nerds have bad taste

One thing I’ve noticed about many (or even most) of my podcast friends is that they have questionable taste in music. This should not be much of a surprise, since they also demonstrate questionable taste elsewhere. For example, many of them like comic books; others like Star Wars; others play Dungeons and Dragons. Needless to …

A few reviews

I’ve been reading Coin (the link is to the Amazon UK Kindle edition), by friend of the blog Ed Adams (who blogs over at Rashbre Central). It’s an espionage thriller set in the world of cryptocurrency and high finance, and might appeal to you if like me you enjoyed the BBC podcast series The Missing …