Monthly Archives: December 2020

Squintlepiece

The Turkey City Lexicon is a document from the SF Writers of America that offers advice to would-be authors of science fiction, pointing out the pitfalls that snare the unwary novice. A problem peculiar to SF is striking a balance … Continue reading

Posted in Apparitions, Science Fiction, Writing & Reading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

AdHederance

Over the festive period I’ve been ploughing through a volume of some vastness entitled 65 Great Tales of the Supernatural (ed. Mary Danby). I bought this grimoire secondhand a long time ago. It contains many well-anthologised old chestnuts such as … Continue reading

Posted in Domesticrox, Writing & Reading | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on AdHederance

Litreview

Yes, it’s that time again, when I list the books in the year just passed that I have most enjoyed. I’ve been doing this since 2014. That’s when I started noting authors and titles of books I’d read in a … Continue reading

Posted in Writing & Reading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Litreview

Naturistical

Thirty-three years ago today Sgt Pepper taught the band to play I started work at Nature. I joined as a junior news reporter on a three-month contract. It’s the longest three-month contract anyone has ever had. Because I am a … Continue reading

Posted in Writing & Reading | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Misterious

Yesterday I drove Mrs Gee, a student nurse at the University of East Anglia, to UEA where she had to do some necessary admin that couldn’t be done remotely. While she was doing that, Posy the Golden Retriever took me … Continue reading

Posted in Apparitions, Science Is Vital | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Misterious

Dreamages

Oh, these dreams. I don’t know whether it’s the present situation, or the drugs, but I do have the most vivid dreams these days. Sometimes they are photo-realistic … except that the reality is not as one might expect. Some … Continue reading

Posted in Dreaming, Science Fiction, Silliness | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Differetail

News has reached Cromer that the Pfizer vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, has been approved for use in the UK. This information followed the news yesterday that Debenhams, a department store founded well over a century ago, … Continue reading

Posted in Commutatis Maledictis | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Differetail