Helllooo! And welcome to 2020 already the news ensures that our dystopian future looks firmly still on course! On the bright side the decorations are down and boxed up and all the sweet foods now gone away no longer to tempt me.

A busier week catching up with people for New Year and a whole two days at work which was a DELIGHT!! (sadly overacting). Some good reading and some nice time to think about the year past and the year ahead,

What Have I been Watching?

Notting Hill – what a strange film!! Notting Hill appears to be set in an alternate universe where the place is nearly all white and very upper middle class where rich friends meet and love to say how terrible everyone else is. There is a bookshop of travel books which sadly has no SF sequence. Hugh Grant plays a nice man who meet a famous movie star who in this universe would be Julia Roberts. They fall in love despite having only spoken twice. There are a few jokes and it ends. Passes the time but not one I need to get back to soon

Doctor Who - My favourite tv show in the universe is back and I’ve just seen episode two. It’s looking confident; trying to use the past and there are some masterful performances. I am intrigued where they want to go this year.

What Have I Been Listening To?

Missed out this week though reading

What have I reviewed or read?

I used my time wisely to catch up on some reading and reviewing

Tentacle by Rita Indiana– an interesting but very grim piece of Caribbean SF

Ness by Robert Macfarlan & Stanley Donwood – a very weird semi-poetical tale of an abandoned military station and a battle between nature and technology to end or save the world

The Djinn Falls in Love edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin – review to come but this is a lovely collection of stories themed around djinn and fascinating how many established authors got into this collection in their early days

Mistletoe by Alison Littlewood – having been a fan of her short stories in various collections very much enjoying this seasonal ghost story

Doctor Who – The Day of the Doctor – it’s a fun target novelisation of an episode I’ve fond memories of but Moffat’s habit of making all characters sound like Moffat continues.

The Case of the Spellbound Child by Mercedes Lackey – This is out on Tuesday but is a very good way to introduce people to a series now on its fourteenth novel. Fun, cosy but with a tinge of darkness underneath. Another relaxing read!

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett – this kicks off the Discworld reread for the year. And contains possibly one of my favourite scenes in literature

Sky Light Rain by Judy Darley – Review to come but this is a very smart, beautifully written series of short fiction which captivated me over the weekend.

Ooh and as I has some free time I also blogged on my Best of 2019 my future 2020 Reading Goals and this includes The readalongs! and just for good measure did a Book Tag like the youtubers do with my 10 year Book Challenge

Sadly back to work so this level of blogging now goes back to normal!

What am I reading or coming soon?

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward – This is the book I’m most keen to now finish and review this week

Mutant Empire by Christopher Golden – Marvel prose again and so far so good

The Silver Wind by Nina Allan – an author I’ve wanted to read for some time

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett – next week’s discworld read is one of my least favourites but is the first one!

Daggerspell by Katherine Kerr – The Deverry sequence begins and so far this has been a delightful re-read

Fate of the Fallen by Kel Kade – I understand this book looks closely and messes with he Chosen One concept – I am intrigued!

And more to come!