Inside.

/rant incoming.

/rant over

Thank you Chef! It’s appreciated.

Put a layer of snail pellets on the base of the letterbox, then cover with a sheet of baking paper cut to size. Should stop any further snail invasions. And keep your mail nice and dry.

Fried/steamed dumplings please - any flavour - with a large kombucha to go with. I have a neeeeeeed for dumplings.

It’s a major plot point in Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. So it stuck in my little pink mind more than might otherwise have done. Stunning book that - self-delusion on steroids.

Guess what just appeared on the BOM website

heatwave warning

Completely. The latest instalment is still A Dance with Dragons - published in 2011. Still waiting for the next one … Two more projected - The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. As the bloke is now 76, we are all hoping he does not run out of life before finishing the series.

I think the entire reading public is cheesed off with GRRM for not finishing ASOIAF. Who knows? We might get the next instalment sometime in the next 20 years …

Jelly! That would have been fabulous! Tim has been one of my heroes for some time - glad to know Alex is up to his weight and then some.

Jelly!

Modesitt has one huuuuuge failing - all his tall dark and handsome heroes are pretty much identical. And the female characters are strong alright, but also smug and kinda offensive in how they interact with people. I do like how he puts emphasis on how magic comes at a price, and that price can be high. He got better as he got older - his recent ones are much more readable too. The Imager Portfolio is imo his best long work to date.
I used to love Anne McCaffrey too - the dragons are adorable, but she too did the same saleable story over and over. After a bit you could predict the end by the finish of the third chapter or so. If not earlier, and I got bored with that.
Tolkein I met as a reader when I was 8. The Hobbit was wunnderful at that age. LOTR came soon after and I loved it until I had to study it in year 12 high school. Which killed it for many years. I haven’t seen the films - don’t know that I want to as I’m not a film person for the most part.
For light sci-fi/fantasy, I still have a strong affection for Mercedes Lackey - simple stories, well told and believable. May include dragons/magic but not guaranteed. Perfect light reading. Along with T Kingfisher - The Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking was some of the best YA stuff I’ve read recently.
George RR Martin has been a favorite for years - once you get past his obsession with zombies and cartoon characters he tells a good yarn well. Along with Kim Stanley Robinson. The Tuf Voyaging collection is a standout for me. However, the Divine Lois and Connie Willis are my current fab fave authors. Because intelligent and self and socially aware and not in the slightest bit condescending. They make you work but it’s worth it.

The real problem imo is that the rich and shameless and/or powerful are stuck in an exploitative 19th century mindset, while the real world has moved on. Have you read Jared Diamond’s masterful depiction in Collapse - How Societies Choose to Survive or Choose to Fail? I found that book mindblowing. Also Tim Flannery’s The Future Eaters, which I regard as essential reading for anyone living in Australia rn. Some of the science is dated, but imo still valid in essence. And both authors are right on the money when it comes to how humans react to social stressors.

Tend to agree with all of that. I much prefer L E Modesitt Jr if I want stock characters with a predictable plotline. He’s a much better wordsmith than Feist.

Bah! I have to admit I am not a fan of Feist. I do however adore the Divine Lois. Check out anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. From rollicking space opera to deep psychological insight fantasy drama. Also very dry, deadpan funny. Good entry points - Memory, Diplomatic Immunity, The Curse of Chalion, Falling Free, The Sharing Knife - for a selection from her major universes. But she does perpetrate serieses, so enter at your own risk.

Welcome back!

Yep. Feels. Inserting vegetables into small kids is a thankless task. Thank god(s) for meatloaf - and a food processor for pureeing suspicious items into unidentifiable goo. I am eternally grateful that homemade tomato sauce also contains an adequate quantity of vegetables.

Both my boys went through a ‘vegetables are poisonous’ stage, which was mercifully brief but hoo boy it was hard to cope with at the time!

Staple of my childhood. Yum! Love it on a cold night. My mum put a bit of lemon zest in the pudding mix. Recommend this no matter what recipie you use.

I got given some advice by a really experienced performer when I was starting that served me well when I was doing open mics as a storyteller. Take their hand, lure them in, kick their arses and then pat them on the back, was the exact phrase.

Maybe not the opener. Do something cheerful (or more cheerful) for that. As a second song on a set it’ll be fine - shows off your range. Follow with something more upbeat.