The Week In Womble aka We All Need a Hug

Helloooooo!

It’s not been a great week globally and personally. In the UK we have entered a third national lockdown and the level of infections and deaths appears once again out of control while our incompetent government bumbles along. Later in the week I was horrified as many of you were seeing the scenes of violence in the Capitol and let’s not forget more repression in Hong Kong. The world is in a bit of a mess.

All of which plus new year blues had settled in and I was not very motivated but then on Friday I got some personal bad news my parent’s young and very cute dog passed away suddenly while on a walk. It has been an upsetting week. Thanks very much for kind messages much appreciated. I have had my head down and taken it easy. Let’s hope things are better next week.

Things I listened to

A few podcasts to shout out about

The Coode Street Podcast – carrying on my catch up on their ten minutes with various authors.

What I’ve Been Watching

Chef – Geeks may be more familiar with Jon Favreau as the director of Iron Man but this is a small scale film about a chef who has lost their way in life and discovers through a food truck a better way to live. Its charming, makes you hungry and was a good couple of hours fun in a bad week.

What Have I been Reading?

Ok my new approach to scheduling appears to be working well for release dates and also made some good progress driving down the stack of novellas and anthologies sitting around

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes – a promising start to a new SF series but I liked one side of it more than the other.

Call of The Bone Ships by RJ Barker – excellent next instalment in this naval fantasy series.

A River Called Time by Courttia Newland – a strange alternative history of the UK where colonisation did not happen but sadly so many annoying habits such as female characters, chosen ones and slow plot movement.

The Fictional Man by Al Ewing – another disappointment because there is a fascinating idea and world to explore sacrificed for an annoying man’s mid life crisis.

Yet To Review

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo - a fantastic tale within a tale novella of rebellions and loss. Soooo good

Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky – an unexpected tale set in the Dogs of War universe. Review soon but reading it this week was disconcerting and yet very suitable for this week.

Neon Horror - An Anthology of Terrors By Creators from the LGBTQIA+ Community edited by Jonas Holt and Jessica F Holt – this looked a lot of fun but not many stories in a short collection and sadly very few grabbed me. Not sure I will review this one.

A Tiding of Magpies by Peter Sutton – a delightful collection of short stories and flash fiction – a dash of horror, weirdness and fantasy made this an engrossing read.

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water by Zen Cho – a wonderful; tale of bandits, a strange nun and magic (and so much more!) excellent tale.

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora – An unusual tale of a former slave plantation pre and after the Civil War. It is trying to do a lot but not sure it managed to do all of the themes justice.

Where We Live by Tim Cooke – a small collection of tales mixing horror and weird fantasy together in a compelling mix.

What am in Going to Read?

Made To Order – Robots and Revolutions edited by Jonathan Strahan – with stories from Brooke Bolander, Ken Liu, Sarah Pinsker and more looking at our artificial intelligent friends. One of my long standing TBR to clear

All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace – magic, sea, mermaids and much more

Riot Baby by Tchi Onyebuchi – a powerful story of racism in America and a child with immense power

Last Stand in Lychford by Paul Cornell – very interested to see the end of this very British fantasy tale that I think shows the true face of this mixed up country.

And so much more!! Good luck for the future – we will get there. See you in a week!