Speculation, Fact and Fiction

Well, having worked this week rather than taking half-term off as I had hoped, I am now pretty much where I should have been at the close of play last week. Which means I should still be wrapping up the first draft of Straws in the Wind this time next week. As originally planned. Phew.

Which is not bad going, given how busy the past six weeks have been. And leaves me with six weeks for rewrites and such before I had to hand the thing over. Doable.

Still, I am looking forward to starting the second volume after Xmas with rather more time in hand and thus flexibility in the schedule. And I shall be keeping strict limits on the diary in the run-up to the next deadline.

Mind you, one of the paradoxical plusses of the busy period has been the unavoidable chunks of downtime on planes and trains, in hotel rooms and airports and the like. When I've been catching up with some reading. I don't have time to write full reviews but here are a few recommendations, not in any order of merit, just as the books strike my eye in the study.

Mike Carey's Dead Men's Boots. ( more )

Charles Stross's The Jennifer Morgue. ( more )

Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. ( more )

Elizabeth Bear's Blood and Iron, and Whiskey and Water, both Novels of the Promethean Age. ( more )

C E Murphy's The Walker Papers, namely Urban Shaman, Thunderbird Falls and Coyote Dreams.( more )

Right, time to call it a day. Till tomorrow.