I’m currently rebuilding the website as the old one got totally messed up when i was playing around with things (no idea what happened).
So i thought that while it was a total clusterfuck mess of SQL, i would take the opportunity to give it a whole new life and everything.
So if you go clicking on things you might find that very strange things happen. Don’t moan, i know a lot of things are broken, i’m working on it, it takes time.
I’ve got tons of old posts and pages from three websites that i’m working through and will be gradually posting all the stuff i want to keep on here while fixing all the broken things as i go through, one post, one page, at a time.
On top of doing all that, i will, of course, be continuing to add more new content and my latest posts will always appear directly below.
Or, if you prefer, you can also follow me on Twitter and Pinterest where i put a link to all new posts.
Enjoy
Jug
Materials: Conté black ‘B’ crayon and blanc 630 pencil. Paper is Strathmore Toned Gray — yes, i know, i’m off to buy a new light bulb when the shop opens today.
Thoughts: first time playing with Conté crayon, ever, and i really like it. Going to buy lots of them and see what may happen.
Learned: Conté crayon is super fun. I remember as a child really enjoying playing with crayons, so imagine my surprise and joy when i recently discovered that Conté make crayons for grown ups. Awesome!
#5t4n5 #art #drawing
Bottle
Materials: Started with a Derwent Graphic for initial sketch then played around with Conté; Pierre Noire 2B, blanc 630, sanguine, and pastel blue. Paper is Strathmore Toned Gray.
Thoughts: i need to sort my light bulb out as the paper is the Toned Gray and looks like Toned Tan in the photo. Also not sure how i feel about the rough edges from the paper with the Pierre Noire, but i do love the depth of the black in this pencil — Johnny Nice Painter would love ’em.
Learned: Pierre Noire didn’t sit on the graphite under-drawing, so in future i’ll try a harder Pierre Noir to do the initial sketch and see how that goes.
#5t4n5 #art #drawing
Halfax — Joseph R. Lallo
Another addition to The Book of Deacon series.
This novella takes up the story after the events of Jade when Myn has gotten a little older, and i admit that i did have hopes that we may have found some of the answers to the questions that Jade had left festering in my mind: alas it was not to be. 
Answers aside though, it’s a well written novella set in one of my favourite series, so i’m not complaining too much about being kept in the dark. I’m sure Joseph will get around to filling in all the blanks for us in some future books.
Joseph’s Page
#fantasy #josephrlallo
It Does Not Follow — Joseph R. Lallo
A short story that is a conversation between a scientist and an AI — with an interesting twist in the tail.
For those who have read Joseph’s Big Sigma series, you’ll know how good he is writing AI’s into his books.
Originally only available to Joseph’s Patreon subscribers but now also in the collection Paradoxes and Dragons.
Joseph’s Page
#scifi #josephrlallo
Obsidian Worlds — Jason Werbeloff
I only recently discovered Jason’s writing and i have to say that i’m really enjoying it.
Obsidian Worlds is a whole book full of short stories about random sci-fi things which i chose to read as inbetweenies between chapters of How Emotions Are Made. It worked out really well giving nice little breaks to allow Lisa’s cutting edge science to percolate through my synapses, although, unfortunately, there aren’t enough shorts in this collection to cover all the chapters in Lisa’s book. Ho hum, i’ll just have to find some other shorts to read.
So yeah, Jason has a Phd in philosophy and i think that kinda adds a certain flavour to Jason’s sci-fi, and i do like philosophers who chose to write stories instead of academic papers — much more fun for all of us.
Other philosophers who write stories that i recommend would be Aldous Huxley and Pascal Mercier.
Your Averaged Joe
The Cryo Killer
Falling for Q46F
Visiting Grandpa’s Brain
The Photons in the Cheese Are Lost
The Time-Traveling Chicken Sexer
The Man with Two Legs
F**king Through the Apocalypse
Bleed Me Silicone
Dinner with Flexi
The Experience Machine
Jason’s Page
#scifi #cyberpunk #jasonwerbeloff
Gubbins and the ‘Munculus — Gaie Sebold
A freebie over at the Fox Spirit website and a nice little taster of Gaie’s writing.
A really good twist on the sorcerer’s apprentice kind of theme, where instead of an apprentice we find that Gubbins is a slave.
“What’s a ‘Munculus?” you ask.
“Read it and find out,” i answer.
And then go and read Babylon Steel and Dangerous Gifts, coz Gaie is a damn good fantasy writer.
Gaie’s Page
#fantasy #gaiesebold
The Burning Wheel — Aldous Huxley
Aldous started out writing as a poet and this is his first ever book.
While there were a couple of poems in this that i could get my head around, for the most part it was all a bit too much above my 21st century head: mostly not my kind of poetry. I would class Aldous’ early poetry as very much ringing the death knell of the Victorian upper classes.
For those of us who have been enamoured by Aldous’ later writing, it’s quite interesting to come back to the very beginning and do Aldous chronologically.
Final thoughts: not my cup of tea but you might enjoy it if you’re into pretentious poetry with lots of words that you have to look up.
Aldous’ Page
#poetry #aldoushuxley
The Camille — Colby R. Rice
This novella is titled as ‘Til Dolls Do Us Part on Colby’s website and Colby says it is the first episode in what i hope will be a rather long series.
Set in 2054 when nano technology and AI has taken over most things and even the nano technology is intelligent.
As this is a novella don’t expect too much, but it’s certainly a great taster for what may be coming from Colby in the future. That being said, it can also be read as a stand alone if you’re just wanting something quick to read.
Colby is a great writer and really keeps your attention once you start reading. Do check out her other books.
Also available in the 2054 anthology.
Colby’s Page
#scifi #cyberpunk #colbyrrice
The Writer and the Witch — Robin Sloan
A wonderful, fairy tale style, short story that you can read for free by simply popping in to Robin’s website while you’re passing.
And don’t forget to give all of Robin’s books a read: they’re really good as well.
Bye for now.
Robin’s Page
#fantasy #robinsloan
Shadow of the Colossus — Nicole Grotepas
I had hopes that this final book in the series would redeem the waste of my time reading the previous three, but sadly, it didn’t.
The fight scene on Paradise: five gangsters who are supposed to be killing Holly and her crew turn up with just one pistol between them, and then the one with the gun decides to engage in an infantile name-calling match instead of shooting people while Odeon simply walks up to him and knocks him out with a stick. The realism is woeful.
Utterly abysmal ending: Holly’s at a party at the club, dancing, and then suddenly she wakes up having been flown to a different moon after being mysteriously kidnapped from the club in front of all the guests and the rest of the gang. Really? And then, enter her kidnapper: Oh, so you’re the Heart? Yes, you want to join me? No, i’ll never join you. Ok, bye then. Finish. The end. WTF?
We get no explanation as to how Holly was kidnapped and appears the next day on a different moon. Nicole just leaves a huge gap because it’s just so utterly implausible you couldn’t write anything remotely believable.
Pathetic.
We start these four books being lead to believe that the Shadow Coalition were the most fearful organised crime gang in the solar system, yet every time we encounter them they show themselves to be the most stupid, inept, idiots in the solar system.
The worse thing about all this is that the story and Holly’s crew had such potential to become something really good, but instead it all just petered off, book by book, until we’re left with an ending in this book that amounts to nothing but a writer demonstrating that they just couldn’t be bothered.
And, just to add insult to all the injury, there hasn’t been any steampunk whatsoever. Why is Nicole advertising this as a steampunk space thing when there’s no steampunk?
I won’t be reading any more of Nicole’s books.
Nicole’s Page
#scifi #nicolegrotepas
Fiction
. . .me thinks it’s a good time to re-read Asimov.
Nonfiction
Nonfiction
