Haven’t been out with the camera, so no new snaps. Hence digging in the Mexico crates again; I may even have used this one in FPB before. Frankly I’m that tired that I don’t really give a damn. So: ruined columns at Chichen Itza, Mexico.

Lovely. If I was there now it would be warm. I would also not be living downstairs from a mentally unstable man who is currently (quite unintentionally) wrecking my bodyclock and making my life an unliveable catalogue of tension and misery. It’s been a long week; signs suggest it will be an even longer month.

Rant over.

Writing about music

The TDP slowdown is almost complete; I have a scant handful albums waiting to be reviewed, and most of those have January release dates. This is a good thing.

Album of the week

This week’s favourite wasn’t reviewed by me, but I took a copy of it before sending it off to Duncan, and I’m very glad I did. So, if you fancy a vaguely Anglicised tongue-in-cheek adaptation of late-career Kyuss with additional slide guitar and a vague obsession with amphibians, you’ll want to be checking out 2 by The Kings of Frog Island. Terrible name, great band.

Writing about books

No, not really; spare time in which I’ve had the ability to concentrate has not been forthcoming, thanks to the aforementioned environmental conditions. I have, however, been reading some books; this is progress of a sort.

Freelance

Lots of little jobs this week, various adjustments or additions or uploads for various client sites. Nothing very exciting, but hey – it’s all billable stuff.

The Pretty Big Project now awaits final aesthetics’n'features feedback before I add the final touches, but I’m hoping that’ll be done and dusted some time next week (all bar the inevitable and planned-for post-launch tweaks, natch).

Lack of time and mental coherence has prevented me from making as much progress on T’other Project this week, but I’m hopeful for good results from a lengthy work binge over the weekend.

Futurismic

Things are trundling on much as always over at Futurismic. The hot thread of the moment is probably Jonathan’s latest column about the successful marketing of sf-nal classics (or lack thereof), so feel free to pitch in if you’ve not already.

Books and magazines seen

The folks at Pyr have once again dispatched me an ARC over the waters; this time it’s Kay Kenyon’s City Without End:

Never read anything by Kenyon before (except a few short stories), but I’ve seen people speak highly of her work. Have to see when we can squeeze this one in… though it’s the third of a trilogy, so maybe not the best place to start.

Coda

Yeah, so, this week has been pretty rubbish, but that’s just how it goes sometimes. Statistically speaking, next week should be better; it is rare that I’m as hopeful of finding truth in statistics as I am right now.

But enough – the weekend is here, and I have things to do. First and foremost among those things is the purchase and consumption of The Friday Curry; I shouldn’t have one really, but I need something to cheer me up a bit. Here’s hoping everyone’s weekend is better than the preceding week – take care, ladies and gents.

Digging in the Flickr crates for photographs this week. Here’s part of the big war memorial on Velcro City Common; I may well have posted this image before, but it’s one for which I have a great lasting affection – it’s the wallpaper image on my mp3 player:

Normally I’d just grab the camera and get a photo of one of my plants or something. The main reason I didn’t is that my camera’s battery has completely exhausted itself, and I’d only just realised. Good job I didn’t have a gig to shoot, wot? Speaking of which …

Writing about music

A busy week, in that seven albums in my for-review stack are due out next week, so they all needed to be covered this week. Plus the live reviews from the Pilgrim Fathers show … phew!

Album of the Week [OMFG new FPB feature!1!!]

It’s a tough call on a strong week. Short Circular Walks In The Hope Valley by Pilgrim Fathers is excellent, but not quite as good as the live experience … I think it has to go to Body Language by Monotonix, which packs a lot of rock’n'roll fun into six short noisy songs.

Writing about books

No offence to my editors, but book reviewing has been relegated to a low echelon of priority this week. When things need to be put off, you put off the things that you can. In other words, the Wolfe essay remains unfinished.

In fact, now I come to think about it, I don’t think I’ve even read any fiction at all this week, except a brisk spool through a couple of potential slush survivors from the Futurismic stacks. That’s a simply horrifying thought.

Long-term readers will doubtless be unsurprised that I utterly missed the boat for the Baroque Cycle Challenge. I really quite fancied doing it, too, but life got in the way. Selah.

Futurismic

So, did you catch Jonathan’s first column at Futurismic about neuroaesthetics and book recommendations? Some interesting stuff there, all wrapped up in Jonathan’s inimitable curmudgeonly style.

Freelance

I managed to clear a huge lump of administrivia and filing over the weekend, which was probably the most daunting component of my newly-acquired portfolio of clients. I now have bookmarks and logins and passwords stored and backed up, and have a much better feel of the scope of things.

I’ve even done a few of my first jobs … mostly uploads of one sort or another, nothing major, but it feels good to be, y’know, working. Actually doing it. Yay!

Next on the agenda is to get deeper into the PS Publishing stuff. Watch this space!

Books and magazines seen

Nada, none, zilch, zero, zip. One of those weeks which, serendipitously, leaves me feeling less guilty about the looming height of my to-read pile, simply by merit of not making it grow any bigger.

Out and about

Hey, it’s the Arthur C Clarke Award ceremony next Wednesday … and yours truly has not only an invitation but a corresponding afternoon off from the day-job! w00t!

So, my scruffy self will be hob-nobbing with the sf-nal great’n'good, and (since the unblogged life is not worth living) Twittering live from the event, too*. Only one thing’s for certain … Brasyl is not going to win.

Do come and say hello if you’re there as well!

Coda

So, there you go – a week of catching up from a fortnight of complete bedlam. As is often the way, I find I can judge how stressed I was at a particular moment with the benefit of hindsight and a look through my notebooks … the last few weeks are not pretty ready, suffice to say!

Plus I now have a nice little cold sore developing. Damn things always appear once the stress is actually over and done with. Meh.

But enough of all this – I hunger. I hunger, in fact, in a manner that can only be satisfied by foodstuffs well-seasoned with cumin, chillies and cardamom. There is only one palliative for the hunger of the righteous – and that is The Friday Curry For Great Justice.

My friends, I bid you a good weekend. Hasta luego!

It’s always nice to share good news with people, on the occasions that I have some. Continue reading “Onward and upward”