I forgot to post these and we’ve nearly reached April and the March ones.

I’ll use my star system – five for excellent, four for good with flaws, three for OK, two for not recommended, and one for dire.  I’ll post at greater length about my ratings another time.

February television: series and films:

A million ways to die in the west ***** Hilarious and thought provoking. I loved this, with its amusing yet gripping plotline and its subtle commentary on America past and present.

Elementary (pilot)*** Well, it was watchable and if it was on at a friend’s house I wouldn’t look away, but I was disappointed. I thought it tried so hard to make itself thoroughly ‘transformative’ that it lost sight of the original concept.

The world’s most extraordinary homes (4 episodes)**** I enjoyed this series but admit to having fallen asleep once or twice. I adored the house built into one of NZ’s protected forests and was fascinated by the underground homes. Some of the others worried me because I thought the architects had not considered what might happen if the owners were permanently or temporarily disabled – or their visitors or families were. There is perhaps something to be said for the EU rules on making all new buildings accessible to those in wheelchairs.

The great interior design challenge ***** I don’t often watch ‘reality’ TV but this series had me absolutely gripped. Interior design is something that really interests me and I got completely caught up in the designs and in the competition element. I knew only one person could win but I was slightly disappointed – I would have voted for the other finalist. An added bonus was the information about the various types of houses the competitors were assigned with some history of the areas.

Sherlock season 4*** I didn’t enjoy this at all. No criticism of the actors who did really well and were worth watching. I didn’t like the way it strayed so far from the original idea into fairly gruesome and unpleasant territory and into realms where I found it hard to suspend disbelief. Initially I disliked the emphasis on Mary’s past as a spy, then towards the end of the series I disliked the new discovery of the female Holmes. In so many crime shows recently (Whitechapel, Ripper Street, Hawaii 5.0) the focus has switched from the cases and the methods used to solve them and homed in on the lives of the main characters. The change of emphasis doesn’t appeal to me. That isn’t saying it’s either good or bad – just that it isn’t for me.

Books – I’ll comment properly on the four and five star ones. 17 this month if I ignore some I quickly abandoned because they just weren’t of interest to me. I haven’t included  abandoned titles in this list because it isn’t fair to authors who might be perfectly good if their stuff is what you’re looking for.

Five on Brexit Island/Bruno Vincent*** (humour) OK but not very funny.

Just Stay/Aria Grace*** (m/m romance) OK but I wouldn’t bother with any more by the author. The writing is fine, but the plot is ultimately forgettable.

So this is Christmas/Josh Lanyon**** (m/m romance/crime) A lovely addition to the Adrien English series, which all fans thought was over. But even after the guys get together, there are crimes to be solved. And some of them happen at Christmas. This one is a missing persons case. Adrien and Jake are an interesting couple and the extended family adds to the feeling that these are real people. Recommended if you already know the series.

The Secret History of Fantasy/ed Peter S. Beagle**** (anthology with extra essays) Mixed quality, as most anthologies are. The essays, by Peter Beagle, Ursula Le Guin and David G. Hartwell talk about modern fantasy, its genesis, history, etc. and there seems to be a small amount of snobbery directed at the kind of fantasy that involves any kind of fae, though why, when they all approve of Tolkien, I have no idea. One of my all time favourite twisted fairy tales is in the book: Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman, which turns Snow White on its head.

There are 19 stories altogether.

9 (incuding the Neil Gaiman) are good or excellent

7 are OK or interesting

3 were boring but well written

The Gaiman story was the only one I had seen before. Recommended if you’re interested in what I can only describe as alternative fantasy.

How it Works: The Dog/Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris ***** (humour) These Ladybird books for adults are hilarious and this one is no exception. The style and format are based on the Ladybird children’s books. Recommended for dog lovers.

The Complete Mary Berry Cookbook**** (cookery) I got this at a massively reduced price in Aldi and it was worth it. The recipes are good and so are the explanations about various techniques and ingredients. However, if I had paid full price I might have been annoyed. The editors (Dorling Kindersley) had made a lot of proofing errors, putting the wrong pictures with some recipes, and leaving out essential information for others. Nothing I can’t cope with but I’m a fairly experienced cook. I’m busy going through it again to note the recipes and tips I want to access quickly. Most of our good recipe books are in Portugal and it will be nice not to have to consult the laptop and then carry the info in my head to the kitchen!! Recommended for serious cooks but not for the beginners because the errors make some of it confusing. I should also perhaps say that yes, I read cookbooks cover to cover.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard/J.K.Rowling**** (fantasy) I’ve kept meaning to read this! It was very sweet though I like the commentaries on each tale, by Albus Dumbledore, better than the tales themselves. An interesting addition to the Potter pantheon and I was impressed that JKR could make me believe (whilst reading) that these were genuinely old tales. Recommended for HP fans.

I’m Watching You/Karen Rose**** (crime) I like Rose’s books – formulaic, yes, but gripping. The usual scenario – cop meets woman lawyer/teacher/etc in the course of a serial killer murder case and romance ensues. I found I’d read this before – the titles and blurbs tend to merge and my paperbacks are in Portugal. Last time, I see, I gave it five stars – perhaps it wasn’t quite as exciting second time around because whilst I was still enjoying the story, I remembered who the villain was. Recommended for anyone who enjoys crime/romance. However, I will only now be buying this author in second hand bookshops. The Kindle price, let alone the hard and paper back versions, is prohibitive. I have one more on my Kindle which I will probably read soon.

Faery Born/Donna Joy Usher**** (fantasy) A witch discovers she is half fae and that she’s good at fighting. She joins the border guards to protect both peoples from goblins. There is also a budding romance with a fairy prince. Well written and a fresh approach to both fae and witches, but although it’s the first in a trilogy I won’t be buying the others because there is too much fighting for me and I can do with slightly less gore in my escapist fiction – goblin brains over breakfast don’t altogether appeal. However, if bloody battles are your thing and you like feisty heroines and fantasy, I can recommend this.

Once upon a dream/Megan Derr**** (m/m fantasy/short stories)This is a collection of the author’s short twisted fairy tales written at various times in her career. Some are excellent and others are boring. Like JKR Derr has captured the ‘voice’ of old fairy stories and when the tales are good, they’re captivating. Recommended for readers who like to see fairy tales given a new look.

The Sinclair Selkie/Chris Quinton**** (m/m fantasy romance) Well, obviously, a story in which human meets selkie. There’s a mystery, too, and the whole plot is excellent. However, as with another friend’s selkie story, (Priddy’s Tale by Harper Fox). I was disappointed not to learn more about the kingdom under the sea. I shouldn’t really criticise either of them for that – these were the stories the authors wanted to tell – but for me personally, this lost a star for the omission. Recommended for anyone who likes the Scottish Isles and selkies.

Half Broke/AE Wasp**** (m/m romance) This is part of a series about military veterans and it explores issues of PTSD among those returning from war and those who have had trauma in their lives at home. Set on a ranch with some nice minor characters including some interesting children. Recommended but I’m not sure I’ll be following the series and indeed another story set in the same series was one I abandoned as being so impenetrably American that it was not really accessible for non US readers.

Next of Kin/Joanna Trollope**** (family story/modern fiction) I wasn’t going to read this but it was in the same hardback as the other book of hers I read last month. Again, the writing is beautiful – superb descriptions, well developed characters, interesting turns of phrase, etc. etc. But again, the plot just doesn’t exist. The characters react to a death in the family in various ways. That’s it. I don’t totally regard this as a novel because it has very little in the way of beginning, middle and end, it relies on flashbacks and some confusing changes of viewpoint, and is more of a portrait of a family than a story. I gave it four stars for the writing, but I’m not sure I should recommend it.

The Challenging Behaviours Pocketbook/Fintan O’Regan***** (psychology/education) This was a refreshing book. It spent very little time on the causes of challenging behaviour but actually described examples and suggested sensible ways to deal with it. I really feel it ought to be required reading for the staff at my grandson’s current school. Recommended.

Lessons in Love/Charlie Cochrane***** (m/m romance/crime/historical) I realised I hadn’t read any of Charlie’s books and in fact had mixed her up with another author. As she’s a friend on DW, WordPress and FB (and might be reading this) I thought I should rectify the matter. I adored this book. It’s set in Cambridge where two academics in the first years of the twentieth century get drawn into investigating crime, and into each other’s lives. The characters are wonderful, the mystery and conclusion are satisfying, and the historical element is interesting. The very best thing is that this is the start of a long series so I have lots more pleasure to come. Charlie was published by Samhain, who have just closed, but I managed to get the first eight books before they disappeared. Apparently they are to re-appear either with another publisher or self published. Highly recommended.

Wanted, A Gentleman/KJ Charles***** (m/m romance/historical) I loved this. The story is a regency romance that turns regency romances upside down with one of the main characters a freed slave and the other a disgraced writer. Apart from the characters, who are interesting and let the author explore concepts of how much we owe to other people and why, and the meaning of freedom, the story is a standard one of an eloping heiress and attempts to prevent her marriage at Gretna Green. One friend who is a reviewer on Goodreads thought it was too short but I enjoyed it very much. I like all KJ Charles’ writing because she invariably casts new light on the society her characters are inhabiting. Recommended for anyone who enjoys regency romance.

St Nacho’s/ZA Maxfield***** (m/m romance) A gorgeous romance which also manages to explore the psychology of addiction, of guilt, and of different kinds of love. I got it as a ‘freebie’ and wasn’t expecting too much but it was one of my favourite books of the month. Highly recommended.

Fanfic – a good haul of ‘keepers’ this month.

I’ve given a rough wordcount so that you know whether or not you’d have time to read them! They’re all on AO3. No ratings – I only tell you about five star fics. I’ve also given the URLs. Guests are welcome to read on the Archive though some authors have disabled guest comments. If you like the story you can still leave kudos.

The Last Shreds of Autumn/merripestin (Lord of the Rings) 16k Frodo/Sam. The story takes place in the ‘gaps’ of canon, starting in Rivendell. Beautifully told and very plausible.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/366658/chapters/595983

My Time/Pale Rider (The Professionals) 58k This is essentially a ‘prison fic’ exploring issues about prison. Doyle is in prison after his (canon) trial – he doesn’t escape a sentence. So we see the British prison system through his eyes. The slash is minimal and serves as a background rather than a main part of the story. Blink and you’ll miss it. Very well researched and extremely thought-provoking.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8878033

Oak and Mistletoe/HildyJ (The Hobbit) 55k An AU in which Smaug never took Erebor. Prince Thorin comes to Bilbo as a last resort. Bilbo is a healer or wiseman, and Thorin is seeking a cure for an inability to use his senses. A nicely told story, with a long build-up to romance. There are a couple of short sequels on AO3

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3674136/chapters/8123694

They Do That Sometimes/nagi_schwarz (Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG1) 8k John’s nieces are kidnapped and the team goes into action, helped by Daniel Jackson. Exciting and ‘different’. An m/m element is present but only as background and there is no explicit romance.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/8883298

Rich and Strange/hedda62 (Lewis) 18.5k A gripping case fic with a first time romance blossoming at the same time. The story is very loosely based on concepts in The Tempest, and there are lots of Shakespearean and other literary references to intrigue the reader.

http://archiveofourown.org/works/482648

Next month (which is approaching rapidly), I hope to be more organised and do reviews at the beginning, after which I hope I can keep it up all year!

Since I’ve been subjecting my social media friends on Dreamwidth and LiveJournal to reviews which have sparked interesting conversations, I thought I’d post them here too. Of course, I’m now running to catch up because the end of January and even the end of February are well behind us, but by the end of this month I’ll be in sync with my other blogs. Providing them with reviews was a commitment to a new year’s resolution.

Let’s see how long I can keep it up…

I’ll list the books I’ve read each month but will only review in depth the ones I either adored or think are important. I’ll include long fanfic that I think deserves to be read. I’ll also mention films, plays and TV series but only when they’re over, and again, only the things that mattered to me.

Reading first.

The excellent:

The Folklore of Discworld/Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson
A fantastic look at the Discworld myths, legends and superstitions, comparing them with their earth counterparts. Quite informative about earth and very funny about Discworld. The co-author is a folklore specialist. Lots of explanation as to where Pterry found some of his inspiration and a great deal of tongue-in-cheek research about cross-cultural fertilisation between here and there.

Hexbreaker/Jordan L.Hawk
I quite liked her Widdershins books and expected to be mildly entertained – and then was blown away. She creates an early twentieth century alternative New York with shape shifters and witches as ‘normal’ elements in the population and puts them in an m/m crime story. Lovely writing and I really hope that there’s going to be a series, which is her usual m.o. I desperately want to leave a review somewhere but know I didn’t buy it on Amazon. I can’t work out where I did get it but strongly suspect somewhere like All Romance which of course is now scattered to the winds. Any advice?

Brexit: What the hell happens now?/Ian Dunt
Useful book which doesn’t so much bemoan leaving as explore what could happen next. Pulls together all the threads we’ve been getting in the news and presents them along with credible alternative scenarios stretching years ahead. Frightening and serious but contains advice both for politicians and protesters.

Pwning Tomorrow/ed EFF
25 stories – speculative fiction based around modern technology and where it might lead. Like most anthologies, this is mixed but I think everyone would find at least some stories that would appeal. I got it as a freebie because I’m a member of Electronic Frontier Foundation but they ask people to spread the word so if you want to give it a try, donate at https://supporters.eff.org/donate/pwning-tomorrow

Monks and Wine/Desmond Seward
We got this very cheaply and it’s out of print but there are some sensible offers on Amazon. I would recommend it highly. The book traces the influence of monasteries on viticulture and along the way describes the various areas, buildings, etc. and gives the non-Catholic reader (like me) a useful amount of information about things like the differences between monks, friars, etc. and their history. It was published in 1979 so the final chapter: ‘Monks and wine today’ is perhaps less inspiring than the rest because obviously a lot will have happened since then!

My Lady Dis/ChibiMethos
Gorgeous fanfic (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1401862). The story is now in my head canon and bridges the gap between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Dain invites Dis to join the rest of the family (what’s left) in Erebor and on the way she has to pass through Mirkwood. Thranduil comes himself to escort her and brings Tauriel who had a baby by Kili (so film canon, not book) and therefore considers herself a widow. The women bond, the baby is wonderful, and Thranduil ends up in love with Dis. All perfectly believable and romantic without being over sweet. Beautifully written and a lovely long story (51,426) that unfolds slowly with lots of diversions and extras. I suppose it’s het romance, which doesn’t always appeal to me, but the culture clash of elves and dwarves made it instantly intriguing.

The reasonable:

The Modern Natural Dyer/Kristine Vejar
Interesting and useful.

Dead in L.A./Lou Harper
M/m crime. Quite well done and readable.

The Best of Friends/Joanna Trollope
I like her writing, her world building and her characterisation but deplore her plots.

Needing A Little Christmas/Silvia Violet
Pleasant and nicely written m/m Christmas romance.

Fractured Hymns/A.M.Arthur
Competent exploration of PTSD in an m/m romance context.

Neurocomic/Farinella and Ros
Beautifully drawn and produced ‘comic’ exploring the brain.

And two to avoid:

Incognito/L.A.Watson
Rather confusing and badly put together m/m crime story. I am still not sure who anybody worked for or what happened.

A Matter of Scale/Jonathon Burgess
The cover and blurb of this freebie were delightful – a wizard takes on a litter of baby dragons. Very short, badly formatted, and not terribly well written. Plus, he only really takes them on at the end.

So – 13 published books and about the same number of fanfics though only one is mentioned here.

Screen and stage.

We went to The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time.

The National Theatre production finally left London (well, no, it’s still in London till summer but the tour started) and came on tour, starting in Salford at The Lowry. Simon Stephens, who adapted Mark Haddon’s book for the stage, came from Stockport so is a ‘local lad’. The Lowry was a great venue to start the tour. Local/regional TV made the most of it! Bruce McGregor, one of the (new) touring cast, is a close friend and near neighbour of ours – he had been regaling us throughout rehearsal time (which was in London) with dire tales of ‘bootcamp’ and various injuries. The performance is amazing – lots of exciting sound and light to show us neurotypicals how Christopher experiences the world, and lots of strenuous work by the actors who literally throw and carry Christopher around. I had already watched a programme about the adaptation and staging and was fascinated by the end result.

Highly recommended if it comes to a theatre near you. The only downside was the cost. After paying for three of us (husband, daughter and me), plus car parking, plus programme, plus pre-show drinks (beer and ginger beer so nothing spectacular) we felt we might need to take out a mortgage. And we didn’t go for the expensive seats – Bruce had warned us that you actually get a better view of all the movement from high above.

Then we went to Alice In Wonderland at Hyde Festival Theatre.

This was adapted for the stage by a couple of local writers/producers/directors and performed by a cast drawn from a local amateur theatre group working with a local children’s drama academy. The adaptation was excellent. The show was full of music and clever lighting, with some stunning choreography, dance sequences and costumes. I just wish whoever taught the children to move so well had taken the time to train them to speak a little more slowly and facing the audience. One or two were ‘naturals’ but the majority were inaudible. However, the story was carried bravely by the adult actors and the whole evening was very enjoyable. The entire event, including a programme, only cost two of us the price of one seat at The Lowry (and parking was free).

We went with some friends, one of whom is a pianist who works closely with the local theatre group. His wife was, like me, a teacher, and remembers teaching one of the writers/producers at primary school. She said that in those days he was hopeless and nobody thought he’d ever amount to anything. How wrong can schools be??!!

I’ve already posted about my reactions to To Walk Invisible, the BBC film about the Brontë Sisters. It was one of my TV highlights for January.

The series that had me hooked all January was Class, the Doctor Who spin-off which was totally gripping. It was broadcast two hour-long episodes at a time, starting at 10.30 on a Monday night and given very little publicity. I have not seen it mentioned once online and am wondering if I was the only one to see it? (And adore it.) If it’s still on iPlayer or if it’s repeated and you get the chance… It’s all set in Coal Hill Academy where Clara taught, and a group of sixth formers have to battle aliens. One of them is, in fact, an alien and he is in love with another of the group, a Polish boy. One of the teachers is an alien, too and then there’s the new headmistress. The Doctor did try to rescue things at the start but then went off in his Tardis and left them to it. There is to be another season but it won’t make much sense unless you saw this one.

I watched The Real Marigold Hotel On Tour (in USA and Japan) and The Real Marigold Hotel (in India) and was fascinated both by the cultures they explored and by the celebrity pensioners themselves. They (and their needs and beliefs) seemed about as alien to me as the places they visited did to them. It was all worthwhile for the in depth look at ordinary life in Japan and India.

I’ll be posting my February reviews in a day or two.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!

Reviewing 2016 and resolving for 2017.

My favourite books of the year.

We’ll start with non-fiction:

A Slip of the Keyboard/Terry Pratchett – autobiography mixed with articles and speeches about writing.

The Establishment (And how they get away with it)/Owen Jones – a look at modern Britain and the problems in our politics, media, etc.

An anthropologist on Mars/Oliver Sacks – case studies of patients with interesting conditions such as visual problems and autism.

Thinking in Pictures/Temple Grandin – autobiography by the famous autistic writer/speaker/designer of animal handling facilities

The Road to Little Dribbling/Bill Bryson – more humour from the American who see Britain through fresh eyes.

Then fiction:

Gryphons/Alyx Jae Shaw – sprawling sci-fi with romance, coming of age, excitement, and social commentary (see more details at https://jaymountney.wordpress.com/2016/04/13/gryphons-a-review/)

Return on Investment/Risk Return/Aleksandr Voinov – really gripping novel and sequel set in the world of banking; I suppose it might be seen as an m/m romance but it’s so much more.

The Second Footman/Jasper Barry – fascinating story of a young bisexual man who seeks revenge for family disasters in nineteenth century France.

Have you seen her?/Karen Rose – I will try anything by Rose – formulaic thrillers with an undercurrent of romance, yes, but they invariable grip me.

I will also read anything by Kate Elliott (sci fi/fantasy) and Lindsey Davis (history/historical thrillers) but have not come across anything new recently (which is not to say there isn’t anything).

Series.

Closed series:

Temeraire/Naomi Novik. Dragons in the Napoleonic Wars.

Gay Amish Romance/Keira Andrews. Detailed and intriguing look at the US sect.

Nightrunners/Lynn Flewelling. Fantasy series with m/m elf/human partners as spies.

Fall of the Gaslit empire/Rod Duncan. Steam-punk politics and mystery for a woman who passes herself off as her (non-existent) brother to get work as a private investigator.

The Magpie Lord/KJ Charles. Witches, magic and mysteries plus m/m romance in an alternate regency England.

Open series (so I’m looking forward to more):

Rivers of London/Ben Aaronovitch. Magic and policing with a diverse cast set mostly in modern London.

October Daye/Seanan McGuire. Urban fantasy with a parallel fairyland accessed from San Francisco.

Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries/Ashley Gardner and Jennifer Ashley. Captain Lacey turns private investigator on his return from the Napoleonic wars with injuries that preclude further military service.

Dowser Series/Meghan Ciana Doidge. Fun magic and mystery in modern US.

Merrily Watkins series/Phil Rickman. A woman vicar in the Welsh Border country (English side) is persuaded to take on a second role as diocesan exorcist. Great mysteries, a scattering of supernatural hints, and some wonderful characters to ‘invest’ in. I don’t like the author’s one-off novels nearly as much and perhaps that’s why – I like following Merrily and her family and friends.

Seraphina/Rachel Hartman – fantasy, and a new ‘take’ on dragons.

What I’m currently reading: (and yes, I usually have more than one book ‘on the go’)

The Folklore of Discworld/Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson. A really good look at folklore in both our world and Terry’s Discworld, and how ideas spread, mutate, etc. (Paperback in the lounge.)

Pwning tomorrow – an anthology of short fiction from the Electronic Frontier. Like most anthologies the contents are mixed but there are some excellent stories building on current IT trends to posit a chilling future. The EFF want their book widely shared and you are encouraged to donate and download at: https://supporters.eff.org/donate/pwning-tomorrow (On my Kindle so available to take out.)

The Secret History of Fantasy ed Peter S Beagle. Another mixed collection with some gems and some interesting commentary by Beagle and Le Guin. It contains one of my all-time favourite stories by Gaiman: a new twist on Snow White. (Paperback upstairs for bedroom or bathroom reading.)

Monks and wine/Desmond Seward. Engrossing account of how, where, when and why monks contributed to the history of wine in Europe and elsewhere. (Hardback upstairs for bedroom or bathroom reading.)

Well now – non-fiction of all kinds and then huge helpings of fantasy, dragons, murder, and romance. Yes, that about sums up my reading tastes. I read 118 books in 2016, two of which were re-reads. That’s over two a week and I also read novel length fanfiction so I suppose it’s quite a lot!

My favourite films/shows/DVDs of the year:

2016 doesn’t seem to have been the year of the cinema for me and although I’ve watched quite a lot of films on DVD the only one that stands out is:

Pride. A fantastic (and true) story of how some LGBT people from London campaigned alongside the Welsh miners during the miners’ strike.

2016 seems to have been a desert in terms of my theatre going, too. though we have booked for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time at the Salford Lowry theatre later this month. (At least partly because we know one of the cast and there’s a party after the first night…)

I’ve been catching up on series:

Game of Thrones Season 4. Season 5 was in my Christmas presents so that’s sorted – and I’m not bothered by spoilers because I have read and love all the books so far and just wish he’d get the story finished. For anyone who doesn’t know it – politics, murder and mayhem in an alternate universe that is loosely based on the Wars of the Roses with added magic and monsters.

Lewis Season 8. Season 9 (the final one) was also among my gifts. Again, for the unaware, murder mysteries set in Oxford.

The West Wing Seasons 6 and 7. I had never watched the final seasons though I’ve owned them for years. This was a fascinating way to access American politics and their electoral process through a fictional but very real series and it truly helped me (a Brit) to set the US election in some kind of context.

Ripper Street Season 3. Victorian policing in the aftermath of Jack the Ripper. I loved the series and the acting but it has become very dark. Season 3 ended quite satisfactorily for me and I think I will give later seasons a miss.

I’m hoping to try Yuri on Ice (Japanese anime m/m romance) and Westworld (cowboys and robots series based on the film, which I liked) – both highly recommended by friends. I really wish there would be more Spiral (Parisian cop show), and am hoping for another season of The Bridge (Swedish/Danish cops this time).

Actors I would watch in anything:

Aidan Turner though I can’t say I particularly liked And then there were none (January 2016)

Johnny Depp

Ben Whishaw

Sean Bean

Richard Armitage

David Tenant

James Nesbitt

Lenora Crichlow

Helen Mirren

Judy Dench

Allison Janney

Billie Piper

Maggie Smith

Music

My classical favourites are unchanged: Mendelssohn and Bruch violin concertos followed closely by Rodrigo Concierto De Aranjuez. I’m always surprised by my choice because I would have said the piano is my favourite instrument, but there we are.

Current favourites in non-classical (i.e. things I play a lot) include Cohen’s Hallelujah, Jagger’s Streets of Berlin and Hozier’s Take Me To The Church. All musically interesting, angsty and hard to pin down.

My ongoing fandoms: (Why yes, I am a still, and probably for ever, a keen consumer and producer of fanworks.)

These are the ones I will always read in and sometimes write in:

Harry Potter – various pairings or none but I usually prefer it when the characters have left school.

Lewis – and my writing is a crossover with Harry Potter. I don’t usually read anything under 1000 words, but I do follow all the challenges, secret santas, etc. even when I don’t contribute.

The Hobbit/LotR – I can get lost in long Hobbit fanfic for days but my own writing tends more to the LotR end of the story.

I’ve read all the Professionals Big Bang fics this year and will still read novel length works but tend not to bother with anything under 1000 words. I haven’t written anything recently.

Stargate Atlantis. I have downloaded all the longer stories in the secret santa and am looking forward to luxuriating. I really ought to finish my own WIP…

Bandom – there’s a dearth of long AU fics – the kind I adore – since the bands started to disintegrate. I have never written in the fandom but some of my all-time favourite reading is there.

Hawaii 5.0 I love the longer fics but have lost interest in the show – too much stress on family problems and not enough on the tight team ensemble/casework that attracted me in the first place. I’ve written the guys into a spoof crossover but I find writing American characters difficult.

Star Trek. I like most of the characters and enjoy the sci fi component. I don’t write it myself because the combination of mostly US cast plus technical detail looks hard to manage.

My most popular works according to AO3 are still

The Paths of the Living (LotR and my first/only threesome/incest story)

First (Rome, and perhaps the story I’m most proud of.)

The Crying Game (Grimm, written for a challenge and unlikely to be followed – I wrote a ‘first time romance’ for them, including a case to solve, and that, says my brain, is that.)

I continue to be a bit of a fandom magpie. Working for AO3 as a staffer brings me into contact with a lot of fandoms I would not usually consider and I will try anything once! That and icon making (which I find relaxing) are my other main contributions to being a fan. I didn’t manage any conventions this year but did have meet-ups with fannish friends from various places – Portugal, Germany, England, and Finland (although she lives in UK and I saw her in Portugal). There was to be a meeting with a US friend who was visiting UK but when we saw the rail prices and timetables we gave up. One sad note was the loss of a Pros artist friend in Japan, in January 2016. It wasn’t just the rich and famous who disappeared from our lives.

Altogether a satisfying year in terms of reading, watching and listening, and I hope 2017 will be as interesting and full of mostly excellent surprises.

Resolutions.

I’ve decided that quality is better than quantity – and more likely to be achieved. So I thought long and hard about what I didn’t do in 2016 and what I want out of 2017. I ignored the ongoing things that we all promise ourselves every year like healthy eating or tidying the shelves. Here are my three resolutions, which I am calling the 3 Ps.

1. Publish, publish, publish. There are two novels and a novella languishing on my hard drive which are doing nobody any good at all. Last year I managed one novel, some poems on WordPress, some flash fics on WordPress and Dreamwidth and some fanfic on AO3. Must do better!

2. Post, post, post. I can hardly believe how few posts I managed in 2016. I must try harder, prepare stuff in advance, cross post to various social media, and regard it all as marketing myself as well as my work. I have very little idea of why it doesn’t happen but I am determined to make more effort!

3. Photograph (and photoshop). I love making e-cards, icons, banners, online jigsaws and my own book covers. I find it really relaxing and have the quite costly tools to do it properly. However, somehow it gets crowded out of my life and I don’t want that to happen!

I suppose I had better look back at this at the end of the year!

As a long-time subscriber to Jordan Castillo Price’s newsletter I was asked to review her new publication in return for a review copy. A bonus (from a writer’s point of view) is that she is doing her own research into how the number of reviews affects sales in the early days of a book’s life.

Psycops Briefs is a delightful addition to the Psycops series. At first I was dubious and thought it couldn’t stand alone, but am now persuaded it would actually act as a good introduction to the lives of Victor and Jacob, luring the reader into their world and getting them to buy the main novels.

Victor is a medium who works for the police and his lover is also a policeman. The chronicles of their experiences include m/m romance, straightforward policing, supernatural effects, some philosophising, and quite a lot of humour. Their world is like ours except that psychic abilities are recognised and employed. Although the characters live and work in Chicago, they seem, like the characters in all the best books, to be people the reader has actually met and liked. I feel quite sure that if I were ever to cross the Atlantic and visit their city I would expect, confidently, to see them at work and to visit them in their lovely converted home.

The short stories in this collection are not a sequel to the novels but are concurrent – glimpses of the lives of our ‘heroes’ outside the main narrative. There is a lot of variety. The point of view is sometimes Vic’s and sometimes Jacob’s. The stories are in turn sweet, mysterious, gruesome and gripping. Some are very brief and some are chaptered novellas. Few of them are mysteries in the sense that the main novels are, but they explore those other mysteries of character and motivation and give us more insight into the personalities and backgrounds of all the people involved.

I have loved the whole series from the start. The characters, including the minor characters, are so rounded, and the details are engrossing, whether we are reading about the ghosts Vic encounters, the meals the men eat, the trials of home decoration or the things their friend Crash stocks in his ‘magic’ shop. The writing is beautiful – the kind of writing that seems so effortless you absolutely know a great deal of work has gone into it. It is elegant, sophisticated, grammatical, well-structured, and well edited, and the plots draw you in from the first page. Not by any means always the case for the genres these books fall into! This applies to the shorts in Psycops Briefs as well as the longer novellas and novels. Moreover, Price always sets the scene carefully, making sure her readers are not worried or distracted by trying to think about who minor characters might be, or exactly what Vic’s abilities encompass.

There are particular favourites of mine in this collection: Stroke Of Midnight is the perfect New Year’s Eve story, the novella Everyone’s Afraid of Clowns is exciting enough for Halloween reading and also thought provoking at any time, and the final novella, Witness, gives a lot of information about both our heroes in a ‘show-don’t-tell’ fashion that could be used in a writing master class.

In short, I admire the whole series immensely and this is a very worthy addition. I see it is named Psycops Briefs I and I really hope this means there is at least another volume to come. Buy it if you already know Vic and Jacob. Buy it if you don’t, but would like to meet them. Buy it and enjoy!

Highly recommended.

AMAZON: http://amzn.to/2dLNZyv
BARNES&NOBLE: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/psycop-briefs-jordan-castillo-price/1124749167
ITUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1161581878
KOBO: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/psycop-briefs-volume-1
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And in other news, yes, I’ve been MIA – internet problems in Portugal caused a total breakdown of even my erratic posting habits. I’m back in UK and will try to do better!

I just finished the third book in Alex Beecroft’s Trowchester trilogy so thought I’d review them all at once. The books are modern m/m romance and are linked by the location, the fictional town of Trowchester which becomes very real to the reader over the course of the stories. The main characters of one book reappear as minor players in the others which is satisfying because we get to know that lives continue after each volume ends. Alex creates very three dimensional characters, with real lives, real problems and real adventures. I found myself caring very much what happened to them all.

In the first book, Trowchester Blues, Michael, who has anger management problems, has left the Metropolitan police in difficult circumstances and comes to his father’s house in Trowchester. He meets Finn, a man with a delightful bookshop and a shady past. Finn’s past catches up with him and his rescue needs Michael’s skills. We meet some of the cast of the later books through the book group Finn runs on a Friday evening and through the restaurant run by another member. This is a delightful story of two people from very different backgrounds meeting  and making it past their differences to find happiness. The bookshop itself is almost a character and is gorgeous.

Blue Eyed Stranger introduces another member of the book group, Billy, who is a Morris dancer and a musician. He also suffers from severe depression, a condition explored in the story. He meets Martin, a half-Sudanese teacher whose passion is Viking re-enactment, when their acts clash at a fair. Martin has his own problems, not least with his job where the head finds a possibly gay black teacher who tends to diverge from the narrow curriculum difficult to accept, and there are obstacles to be overcome before Martin and Billy can get together. Martin eventually moves to Trowchester where the book ends with strong indications of a happy future for both men. Along the way, the reader learns a lot about Morris dancing, Vikings and early music.

Blue Steel Chain brings us the story of James, an archaeologist who is curator of Trowchester Museum and a member of the book group. He is in the process of a difficult separation from his musician partner when he becomes involved with Aidan, who is trying to escape a seriously abusive relationship. Aidan is asexual; he falls in love with James but would prefer to avoid sex. The story explores this aspect of Aidan and affirms people who fall into this category, showing how they can have satisfactory and loving relationships. It is also perhaps the most exciting book of the trilogy because Aidan’s abuser turns out to be worse than anyone thought and James has to rescue Aidan twice. The first time, he does this with the help of Finn and Michael but the second time he is on his own. However, the gentle archaeologist finds himself victorious.

Altogether, the entwined stories of this group of people give us a rich exploration of a number of characters, problems, and hobbies or careers with realistic adventures to draw and maintain the reader’s interest. Plus an in-depth knowledge of Trowchester and a wish that it wasn’t fictional!

The books are published separately and as a collection by Riptide Publishing.

http://riptidepublishing.com//titles/collections/trowchester-blues-collection

Recommended – and they are better read as a trilogy! Alex has just been told that Blue Steel Chain is an All Romance Ebook bestseller – but if you haven’t read the first ones, start at the beginning! You won’t regret it!

I was lucky enough to read the first draft of this book and loved it then. I bought the ‘polished’ and extended version when it came out. The author, who has published with various Indie publishers, couldn’t find a home for this so published it on Lulu. As a result, the print version is quite expensive for a paperback but is worth every penny. I promised a review, and must state straight away that although I know the author online, I have paid full price for the paperback book and the review is completely impartial. However, I would recommend the e-book version for anyone who is either poor or not sure!

Gryphons is a difficult novel to categorise. It has moments of almost unbearable poignancy, a lot of humour, quite a bit of violence and some gripping plot arcs. I found myself skimming ahead to check whether some of the characters to whom I’d given my heart survived to the end. It was no good relying on the first version – the author changed quite a lot and I couldn’t be sure.

Some reviewers have called it a young adult book and some refer to it as a story of coming of age. It has those elements and much of the narrative is seen through the eyes of Dahlia, a teenager. This gives it a freshness that lets the reader look at the world from the perspective of one who is a native but not yet prepared to accept everything she is told.

On the other hand, it’s a story about a rock band, albeit one on another planet, formed in the aftermath of war: a story of love, friendship, prejudice, betrayal, loyalty and, above all, survival.

And on the third hand, it’s pure sci-fi, set on a brilliantly realised world and given the clever ‘frame’ of a visit from people (mostly musicians) from Earth for a festival.

The world of Sferkkaa is still suffering the ravages of invasion and brutal alien occupation. Somehow or other they have picked up radio signals that introduced them to Earth music and the idea of rock bands has taken off like wildfire, giving excitement and the cult of celebrities to a population that needs better housing, more food, and perhaps books but can’t get them any time soon. The focus of the book is on the most famous band, The Mortified Gryphons.

The five band members were all fighters with the resistance. They are typical, perhaps stereotypical celebrities but they are also world-weary ex-military. In the course of the story they meet and befriend teenagers, including a young musician, a visitor from Earth and a schoolgirl. They also experience sickness, worry, terror, love and hope. They compose, practise, play and listen: music fills the story. And despite the fact that they are rich, there is no more food for them to buy than there is for the rest of the population.

One of the parting shots of the defeated invaders was to distribute a poison that killed most of the women from babies to grandmothers. So all families, even non-combatant ones, have known loss. The few women and girls who survived are treated with great respect, unless, like Dahli, they manage to break the law. Once it is realised that children grown in vats suffer all kinds of problems there are scientific efforts to enable men to carry babies. However, carrying a baby to term places huge stresses on the males who choose to do it, and is not something to be undertaken lightly.

There are all kinds of interactions between Earth people and Sferkkaans that call into question our notions of what is alien. There are also other ‘aliens’, imported from yet other planets, giving rise to complex questions of prejudice and what it means to be ‘human’.

This is a long story (700 pages in the paperback version) with unforgettable people and a beautifully detailed world. The tapestry of Sferkkaa is woven slowly and seamlessly until by the end the reader feels they have visited the planet and know its landscapes, its cities, its flora and fauna and its various climates. The philosophical questions that underpin the story are deftly placed in the course of events, with the actions and reactions of the characters speaking louder than any argument. The characters are intensely real and the reader is invited to share their physical and mental suffering, hoping against hope that things will turn out well for at least some of them. Nothing, in this respect, can be taken for granted but the ending is satisfying, and we can leave Sferkkaa with hope for the future.

Altogether, this is science fiction at its best, showing us an alien world with a story line that helps us to set our own behaviour in context, with a focus on fascinating individuals against a backdrop of technical change and another planet. It is beautifully written. In a book this length I would expect some editing flaws and typos, but they are very few and far between; I have seen more in books edited and published by the big publishing houses. The style is assured, the plot structure is excellent and the descriptions of everything from scenery to emotions are amazing, engaging the reader in an intense experience of a year in the life of another world.

Go and buy it. Go and tell your friends about it. You won’t regret it!