Author Archives: Henry Gee

About Henry Gee

Henry Gee is an author, editor and recovering palaeontologist, who lives in Cromer, Norfolk, England, with his family and numerous pets, inasmuch as which the contents of this blog and any comments therein do not reflect the opinions of anyone but myself, as they don't know where they've been.

Camp Catastrophic

Posted on 27 October 2022 by Henry Gee

Back in the early days of the present unpleasantness I was engaged to take part in a literary festival in Hay-on-Wye (no, not that one, a different one). Cognisant that Offspring2 is a keen bibliophile, I thought I could take … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, automobile association, camper van, Hay-on-Wye, How The Light Gets In, travel | Comments Off on Camp Catastrophic

The Rings of Power: Impressions of the First Series

Posted on 17 October 2022 by Henry Gee

You’ll both be aware that I offered a few impressions of the first two episodes of The Rings of Power, the multi-squillion-dollar televisual emission from Amazon Prime. Now that all eight episodes of the first series (or ‘season’, as we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in amazon prime, durin, elrond, galadriel, gandalf, gil-galad, halbrand, john garth, Monty Python's Life of Brian, sauroin, Science-fiction, the lord of the rings, the rings of power, the science of middle earth, tolkien | Comments Off on The Rings of Power: Impressions of the First Series

The Rings of Power: Impressions of the First Series

Posted on 17 October 2022 by Henry Gee

You’ll both be aware that I offered a few impressions of the first two episodes of The Rings of Power, the multi-squillion-dollar televisual emission from Amazon Prime. Now that all eight episodes of the first series (or ‘season’, as we … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in amazon prime, durin, elrond, galadriel, gandalf, gil-galad, halbrand, john garth, Monty Python's Life of Brian, sauroin, Science-fiction, the lord of the rings, the rings of power, the science of middle earth, tolkien | Comments Off on The Rings of Power: Impressions of the First Series

What I Read In September

Posted on 1 October 2022 by Henry Gee

Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume 4 (Folio Society Edition). We arrive at last at the Fifth Century and the agonising collapse of the Western Roman Empire. Assailed by barbarians on all sides (The century … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in accordion crimes, Annie Proulx, Barkskins, Belisarius, Brokeback Mountain, David hereby, edward gibbon, interstellar, J R R Tolkien, Justinian, Lost Realms, mark twain, Max Adams, Procopius, sleepers of Ephesus, the decline and fall of the roman empire, The First Kingdom, the Shipping News, the time machine, Theodora, Thomas Williams, Us and Them, woody Allen, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on What I Read In September

Shortlisted

Posted on 27 September 2022 by Henry Gee

I am ecstatic to announce that my latest tome, A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, has been shortlisted for the 2022 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize. A popular-science equivalent of the Booker Prize, the Royal Society … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in age proof, anjana ahuja, Apparitions, different, frans de waal, hot air, Isaac Asimov, Jeremy farrar, nick davidson, Peter Stott, rose Anne Kenny, Royal Society, royal society insight investment science book prize, Science Is Vital, spike, the early Asimov, the greywacke, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Shortlisted

Queuowulf

Posted on 18 September 2022 by Henry Gee

As I expect you both have, I’ve been wondering why I have felt so moved at the passing of the Queen, someone I never knew or even met. It is a feeling that many people seem to share, so much … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, Beowulf, J R R Tolkien, Jorgmungandr, Maria Dahvana Headley, Politicrox, Queen Elizabeth II, queues, Seamus Heaney, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Queuowulf

What It Must Have Been Like To Be The Queen

Posted on 9 September 2022 by Henry Gee

Many years ago when the world was young I was one of the four Vice Presidents of the Linnean Society of London. Each year the society would have a ‘conversazione’ — basically a drinks party — in some nice location, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Domesticrox, Linnean Society of London, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen | Comments Off on What It Must Have Been Like To Be The Queen

Of the Rings of Power

Posted on 3 September 2022 by Henry Gee

By now you’ll both have gathered that I have a passing interest in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, so I hope you won’t mind that I attempt a review of the first two episodes of The Rings of … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in bear mccreary, celebrimbor, Cinema, feanor, finrod, galadriel, gericault, gil-galad, goblins, harry potter, howard shore, j k rowling, lenny henry, leonard cohen, middle earth, morgoth, numenoreans, orcs, outlander, peter jackson, Sauron, Science-fiction, the hobbit, the lord of the rings, the raft of the medusa, the rings of power, the silimarillion, tolkien, valinor, Writing & Reading, xena warrior princess | Comments Off on Of the Rings of Power

The Cromer Chainsaw Massacre

Posted on 2 September 2022 by Henry Gee

Cast your mind back more than a decade, to 2011, when the Gees were thinking of doing some serious remodelling to the Maison des Girrafes. Around that time, a local DIY store was having a closing-down sale, so we went … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Buddleia, chainsaw, Domesticrox, Gardening, triffid | Comments Off on The Cromer Chainsaw Massacre

What I Read In August

Posted on 26 August 2022 by Henry Gee

Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (vol 2) (Folio Society Edition) I bought a handsome 8-volume set of Gibbon’s classic history cheaply on eBay. Attentive readers will note that I reviewed volume 1 last month, so … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in 64 charing cross road, alastair reynolds, annie barrows, arian heresy, athanasian creed, battle of hadrianople, century rain, council of nicaea, dan simmons, darrell bricker, dracula, drood, edward gibbon, empty planet, flashback, john ibbitson, les liaisons dangereuses, lovedeath, mary ann shaffer, miriam margolyes, paul ehrlich, paul morland, rebecca, the decline and fall of the roman empire, the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society, the population bomb, the terror, this much is true, tomorrows people, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on What I Read In August