I had cheese, and it is gone. Certain I was that I did not finish my deliciously mouldy wedge of cheese. The delightful little strips of prosciutto, for sure. The small brick of fancy French Brie? But of course!
But hand on my heart and strike me dead for a liar, I would swear when I left the room that not only was there a solid wedge of stinky blue Roquefort awaiting my return, but an elegant sufficiency of tiny baguette rounds on which to spread it.
I was asked by Publishers Weekly to do up a list of authors and books that are rewriting the rules of science fiction. Or maybe it was space opera? Who can remember anything these days? It was before… all of this. (JB frantically waves his hands around. Again).
Anyway, below is the list, in case you were interested. Dan Moren’s Galactic Cold War Series was also on it, but I’ve written about that separately. So these guys are all that remain…
I wrote in my first newsletter that I was missing breakfast out. It really is my favourite meal to have out of home. I recall reading an interview with Tom Clancy many years ago where he described his daily writing routine as being based around the reward of a big sit down breakfast at his favourite cafe. I was insanely jealous.
So, I have been quiet, but I"ve been busy. Partly writing books and a new subscription column to make up for a pretty dire collapse in my other income. Thanks Rona! But also, partly building a new blog, or rather a new version of The Burger.
I was having real trouble finding the time to post here because I was so busy everywhere else. It was really getting me down.
I"d also been struggling with what to do about my mailing list/bookclub.
And then I thought.
I"ve been on deadline for a couple of weeks now, hammering away at the keys, croaking into the dictation rig, all aimed at finishing THE SHATTERED SKIES, the second book in the Cruel Stars series, before I get on a flight to Rome on Monday.
No way am I finishing that book.
But that"s okay. I knew there was no chance I would ever finish it in time, because...
NARRATOR VOICE: The deadline was coming from inside his head!
Cue Wilhelm Scream.
I've written before about the inevitability of losing fitness when on deadline. It seems unavoidable. Extra hours at the desk. Fewer hours at gym. More snack food.
I'm on a self imposed deadline at the moment. One I'll miss, for sure. I set myself the goal of finishing a first draft of the sequel to The Cruel Stars by next Monday, because on Monday night Jane and I catch a flight to Rome.
I won't get to see this one big screen because of my deadline, but I had been looking forward to Jason's take. His review, like the film, does not disappoint.
I totally invented their projected keyboard on a cafe table in Weapons of Choice.
The New York Post reporters:
In the realm of traditional technology, CES 2020 continues to deliver gadgets both revolutionary and bizarre.
Not that I want to change the Burger into the Climate Change Blog, but I do have this piece running at The New Daily which compares the strange disconnect between the Right's rhetoric on military preparedness, with the same people's rhetoric on a more immediate existential threat.
