Tuesday Tunes @ Spring Harvest

I'm going to have a slightly self-indulgent YouTube moment here. And I'm not going to make a habit of posting worship songs here, because, like fantasy novels, I can see they have a place in the world, but they don't do anything for me, despite what anyone else might tell me.

Actually, that might be overstating it a little, I like music of most sorts, just don't ask me to sing. For all our sakes. I did like Vicky Beeching at Spring Harvest a couple of weeks ago. She has this whole self-deprecating humour thing that we Brits often do so well (although I'm not very good at it myself), especially when it came to her first attempt at writing a kids worship song. I would have posted a few of her other Springy songs here too, but I couldn't find The Wonder of the Cross or Yesterday, Today and Forever among the YouTube snippets. So here you go, enjoy Jesus is my Best Friend...

All I can say is that that song was all Her Babyship wanted to sing on the way home from Minehead. Job done I'd say, Vicky.

Excuses for not blogging #37: My face is the wrong shape

I’m not terrified of dentists or anything, but it must be universally recognised that there are more pleasant ways to spend an hour. It all starts off innocently enough, with the happy receptionist and the cute dental nurses showing their perfect smiles and clamouring to be your best friend, but as soon as you’re pinned in that chair and the almighty needle looms in front of your face, it’s pretty clear that anything resembling friendliness or even mere civility is left outside with the collectible issues of Take a Break.

The fact that the anaesthetic only kicked in about an hour after I needed it, and once it had worn off my mouth took a while to settle into its revised shape, left me somewhat discombobulated for a few days last week.

Thankfully I only needed the replacement of an errant filling which resigned its post just before Easter, and things have settled down now. I haven’t spat any metal filings for a few days or anything. Even so, I can’t help thinking: it’s a good job the dental nurses are cute.

Planet of the Dead

OK, so, as a nod towards science fiction, there's just time tonight for a quick look back at the Easter Doctor Who special, Planet of the Dead.

It's gonna be quick, because, well, it wasn't particularly deep. There won't be any big life issues commented on or spiritual truths dug out of this one. Not by me, at least.

That's not to say it wasn't good, because, well, ok, maybe I'm just a bit biased because it's Doctor Who, but it was a fun stuck-on-a-distant-planet-with-the-monster-of-the-week romp. It had Lee Evans as a UNIT scientist with a Doctor Who fetish (although the whole Unit-as-simpering-fanboys thing does run the risk of wearing thin if they overdo it). It had Michelle Ryan playing a sidekick who seemed vaguely familiar. It even had a London bus stuck on the far side of the galaxy, where the good Doctor borrowed a deus ex machina from some giant flies and flew the whole thing through a wormhole. I know, it all just sounds too mad to work, and I don't suppose it would outside of Doctor Who.

And that, simply, is why Doctor Who is the best thing on TV, ever. Well, it is today anyway.

Tuesday Tunes vs CSFF Blog Tour: Blaggard's Top Ten Moon Tunes

Eagle-eyed readers will already have noted that the CSFF blog tour is this month featuring Blaggard's Moon, a pirate fantasy novel by George Bryan Polivka. And as is customary at this point in the tour, it's time for a Top Ten; a pirate top ten would no doubt be fun, I couldn't resist the excuse to do a lunar top ten (as opposed to the usual looney top ten).

So here it is, the Top Ten Moon Tunes, as selected by a hardy crew of musically inclined pirates:

10. Belinda Carlisle - La Luna
Inoffensive pop music, provided you're not the sort of person who finds 80s power pop offensive.

9. The Blue Aeroplanes - Bad Moon Rising
Obscure cover version ahoy! This one is featured on the obscure cover version compilation Ruby Trax, which, frankly, everyone should own.

8. Jean Michel Jarre - Moon Machine
This is not Jarre at his best, and features R2-D2 on guest vocals. True.

7. The Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon
I spoke about wings; you just flew! Edinburgh folk rock rules, ok?

6. R.E.M. - Man on the Moon
Automatic for the People. Brilliant album. Odd songs about how the Apollo moon landings were faked...

5. Thin Lizzy - Dancin' in the Moonlight (It's Caught Me In Its Spotlight)
Nothing to do with Toploader or Jamie Oliver.

4. The Kinks - Full Moon
Sleepwalker. Also a brilliant album. Odd songs about madness and loss of identity.

3. Brian Eno - anything from the Apollo: Atmospheres & Soundtracks album
Which, if anyone didn't know, was written as a soundtrack to Al Reinert's film of the Apollo moon missions, and is complete genius.

2. Porcupine Tree - The Moon Touches Your Shoulder
Epic Porcupines track, starts out like a quiet little acoustic number, but then someone plugs the amp in and they completely lose control... so awesome, it almost made number one.

1. The B-52s - There's a Moon in the Sky (Called The Moon)
There's a thin line between genius and insanity, and the B-52s eponymous debut album definitely had one foot either side. A mad, crazy genius tune from a mad, crazy genius band.

So now you have your soundtrack sorted, the blog tour awaits, with something more relevant to the subject... the treasure map is on the last post.

CSFF Blog Tour: Blaggard's Moon

Much as I would like to tell you how good the new Doctor Who and Red Dwarf eps were, my return from the Easter hols coincides nicely with a CSFF Blog Tour, so instead I have to write something about pirates, of all things. Somebody really ought to write some good Biblical science fiction, then maybe I can get the good ship Old Testament Space Opera sailing in the right direction again. Pirates, honestly, what do I know about pirates? (Rough, tough, little girl pirates excluded, at least.)

Oh well... this month the blog tour is featuring the adult pirate fantasy Blaggard’s Moon, by George Bryan Polivka.

That's all I've got on the subject... not even any of my trademark bonkers Brit humour on the subject... shall I just walk the plank now?

Well, while I do that, you all just set sail for these blogs. Matey.

Brandon Barr
Jennifer Bogart
Keanan Brand
Melissa Carswell
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespack
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

I look like a dog with a caramel toffee

Yes, I am feeling ambivalent about the imminent return of Red Dwarf. Yes, I'm excited; I mean, this is Red Dwarf we're talking about, and we haven't seen a new episode for 10 years, as hard as that is for me to believe. Lister, Kryten and the Cat are back; Rimmer has an 'H' on his head, and Kochanski is nowhere to be seen. All would seem to be good in the Dwarfiverse. Well, except for the absence of Holly, but we'll get along without him (or her), I'm sure.

At the same time though, I live in fear that sombody is going to ruin my fond memories. I mean, this is Red Dwarf we're talking about here. I remember rushing home the night it debuted, just to see if it was any good (comedy sf up to that time pretty much consisted of Hitchhiker's and Spaceballs, as I recall). That was a couple of weeks before I turned 14; the last season aired the year I got married, so Red Dwarf covers a pretty important and character defining part of my life. (That's not to say Dave Lister is any more important than Mrs UKSteve, oh, no!)

But messing with important stuff like that is bad. It's like reinventing a motoring icon and turning it into a ridiculous overweight parody of the original. Please, Dave, don't let that happen to the Dwarf!

And returning to Earth - this is a departure from everything the series was meant to be - one man, stuck at the far side of the galaxy with a senile computer and a hologram of his dead bunkmate...

On the other hand, Series 8 was about as far removed from that as it's possible to get, what with the entire crew coming back, Rimmer not being a hologram, and Holly still having the same IQ as 6000 PE teachers... it can't get much worse than that, surely?

And of course, Doctor Who turned out alright, didn't it? Even (especially?) after the all new Doc quit after one season. And if Red Dwarf goes pear-shaped, at least I know the good Doctor will be waiting on a desert planet with nothing but the Bionic Woman and a London bus for company.

Who knew Easter would turn out to be about sci-fi?

CSFF Blog Tour and the Secret of the Shadow...

I mentioned in passing the other day that you can read the whole of Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow at codebearers.com, should you feel that way inclined.

Since I don't own a copy, I spent a few minutes having a little mooch around the first few pages, and it certainly seems like a fun read.

But what's caught my attention, and deserves a little more exploration than I have time for right now, is the... myth? legend?... of the Author, the 'mysterious, unseen writer of worlds'. I probably didn't need to say that, there's enough writers on the tour that know exactly how cool it is that someone has actually put that into words (and simultaneously, how annoying it is that it wasn't them... sigh). But maybe I'll explore that later.

For now, I just have time to say, go and take a look at the book on the Miller Brothers website. What have you got to lose? And if you're unsure, go visit some fellow tourists (links in the previous post) and see what they think.

CSFF Blog Tour: Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow

Crumbs, doesn't time fly? It seems like only a couple of posts since the February tour...

Oh, right. My bad. Anyway, I made it back to reality in time to tell you all about this month's featured book, Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow, by the Miller Brothers.

Unfortunately I didn't make it back to reality in time to read the book (surprise surprise), but that's ok, because instead I've spent most of today mooching around the brothers' expansive website, www.codebearers.com.

And now that I know what an author's website should look like - riddled with video trailers and images and forums and 3d animated live chats with the authors - you can expect another lengthy absence from blogging while I go away and learn all the skills I'll need to add those to my own website. Which, please don't visit after going to codebearers.com.

Oh, and not only can you buy an autographed copy from the website, which comes with a 'Good Read Guarantee', but you can actually read the entire thing in a rather nifty looking book-shaped interface.

In fact, forget learning to code, I'm just going to learn hacking and hijack their site for my own nefarious purposes...

And while I'm busy doing that, you should all hack into - er, I mean, visit, these nice blogs:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Melissa Carswell
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Marcus Goodyear
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Mike Lynch
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

About that hiatus...

I had intended to recommence bloggery three weeks ago, but my PC came down with something nasty and it's taken until now to have a fully functional and internet ready computer again, and to have cleared the backlog of stuff that needed to be done while I was between computers...

That does also mean that work on Project Seven has taken a bit of a slide, but hopefully I'll pick that up as well soon.

On the subject of Project Seven, it did hit a wall earlier on, at which point I reinvented it as 'Douglas Coupland wrote A Christmas Carol about my characters', which got the creative juices flowing and the original version took off again.

Over the last couple of weeks, while Project Seven has lain unloved on a flash drive somewhere, I've taken Coupland's Christmas Carol and started to fashion it into a short story... if I can finish it to something approaching my satisfaction, it may even see the light of day, if only in these here cyberpages.

Anyway, the upshot of all this is: there might be some more regular posting going on here now.

Or I might change my mind again....

Tuesday Tunes vs CSFF Blog Tour: Cyndere's Top Ten Midnight Songs

If I had a little more time, I'd have found the Top Ten Cyndere Songs, but there are surprisingly few in my CD collection, so you'll have to make do with the hastily compiled Top Ten Midnight Songs:

10. Amy Winehouse - Round Midnight
I could quite happily live without the Winehouse, but I was stretching for ten as it was...

9. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen
A wedding disco staple for over 25 years.... but you could have any of their other songs. If you know any.

8. Abba - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
You've probably heard of Abba. There was a film about them, or something...

7. Billy Joel - River of Dreams

That's the one that goes 'In the middle of the night / I go walking in my sleep...' I told you I was stretching...

6. Marc Bolan & T-Rex - Midnight
Hooray! A welcome return to Tuesday Tunes for Marc and the boys!

5. Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Midnight
Off the By The Way album. I liked them around that period.

4. Linkin park – Minutes to Midnight
While we're in the alt-rock ball park (or should that be skate park? I don't know, I'm not even going to pretend to be down with the kids...)

3. Brand New Heavies - Midnight at the Oasis
A song about an all-night party at a leisure centre in Swindon. True.

2. The Psychedelic Furs – Midnight to Midnight
Who doesn't love a bit of post-punk Brit rock, eh? On the subject of which:

1. The Jam - Down in the Tube Station at Midnight
I've been in a tube station at midnight. It's only marginally less scary than a Swindon leisure centre.

This week's Top Ten was brought to you by Cyndere's Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet. To find out more about the book, follow the CSFF Blog Tour, participants listed on yesterday's post.

CSFF Blog Tour: Cyndere's Midnight

I guess posting here has been a little lacking so far this year, but I guess a blog tour is as good a time as any to put that straight.

This week, my tourmates and I will be taking a look at Cyndere's Midnight by Jeffrey Overstreet. This is the second novel in the Auralia Thread, the first of which, Auralia's Colours, was toured in January 2008.

It's got a bloodthirsty beastman, a grieving heiress, and a mysterious well. It sounds, from a quick look at the reviews and publishers blurbs, a bit like Beauty and the Beast on steroids. And I can say that because, although I haven't read the book myself - it being fantasy and all - the author admits to 'hearing echoes from Beauty and the Beast' while he was writing it.

I'm not sure exactly where this fits on the spectrum of Christian fiction, so I'll be browsing a few of these blogs over the next couple of days to (possibly) find out:

Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Katie Hart
Timothy Hicks
Jason Isbell
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Wade Ogletree
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Alice M. Roelke
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Robert Treskillard
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Jill Williamson

On Demons...

Take a teenager who unexpectedly turns out to be the last in a long line of vampire hunters. Give them an eccentric foreign mentor called Rupert, who has access to a vast library of occult reference material, a vampire-turned-demon-hunter who the hero might take a fancy to, and a best friend who apparently has nowhere else to be. Then send them out to battle not only vampires, but all manner of demons and other nastiness.

The problem with any TV series about vampire hunters – and especially one about teenage vampire hunters – is that it’s going to be compared to the TV show about vampire hunters.

And you have to have something pretty special in order to stand up to that… hijacking the Van Helsing mythos and giving Gene Hunt a pointless American accent is not really going to cut it.

So Demons, ITV1’s latest attempt to tap into the Doctor Who fanbase has left me about as underwhelmed as Primeval did. It’s a decent enough way to waste an hour in front of the telly, and being a 6-parter, it doesn’t threaten to take over too much of life…

On the other hand, the series is nearly over and I’ve only just mentioned it because I’ve ended up stacking episodes up on my Sky+ box, just not caring enough to watch them.

Screw down my diodes and call me Frank...

....look who's coming back!

Yep, it's true... Red Dwarf is returning to Earth for two brand new specials on the improbably named digital channel, Dave, which has been showing re-runs for some time.

Rimmer, Lister, Kryten and the Cat have all signed up, Doug Naylor is writing and directing, and we get to see the finished article, along with a couple of new behind the scenes shows, this Easter. No mention of which, if any, version of Holly will be along for the ride yet though...

Am I excited? Well... hopeful, let's say. The last couple of seasons - first with the departure of Rimmer, and then with the resurrection of everyone else - kind of lost the plot, and while I have slight reservations about the Dwarf returning to Earth, nothing is as it seems in the Dwarfiverse (and anyway, Lister has already been back to Earth in the official novels)...

On the plus side, the only photo so far released by Dave is of Lister is his trademark leather jacket, so hopefully no more of that canaries nonsense.

But just in case, I'll close with these wise words from Holly:

He's dead, Dave. Everybody's dead. Everybody is dead, Dave!

Tuesday Tunes: Radio 1's Live Lounge Volume 3

It’s January, so it must be time for Tuesday Tunes to do the annual* Live Lounge CD review. Obviously everyone else did it in about November when it came out, but I was kinda busy that month.

Anyone who cares should already know the formula: 40 tracks of exclusive live performances (the clue is in the title), consisting in roughly equal parts of one-off cover versions and recent hits.

This is the third CD of Live Lounge sets from Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show, and I'd like to say the standard keeps getting higher, but unfortunately I think the reverse is true. Although that could be because I've not had the chance to listen to Jo Whiley much lately, so a lot of the acts on the latest compilation may as well be strange new life forms.

That said, it is still worth... well, whatever it's going for on amazon right now, and the mix of artists is as ecelctic as ever. In the 'songs you know' category, we have Duffy (Mercy), Adele (Chasing Pavements), Scouting for Girls (Elvis Ain’t Dead), The Streets (Blinded by the Lights), and Athlete's Wires, quite possibly the best song ever.

The cover versions are always more interesting, and this time round, among others, you can hear:

Dizzee Rascal’s reworking of The Ting Tings' That’s Not My Name;
REM doing Munich;
The Script doing Eninem's Lose Yourself;
Kate Nash doing an Arctic Monkeys cover, which rocks mainly because its Kate Nash;

Goldfrapp’s laid back version of It’s Not Over Yet;
and Bat for Lashes (no, me neither) throwing some 80s into the mix with a cover of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams.

*Volume 2 was reviewed in April 2008. Volume 1 wasn't reviewed.

CSFF Blog Tour: Post Script

I intended to post yesterday, on the final day of the tour proper, but got a bit caught up in filing my tax return online, a pointless task which involves me paying a chunk of extra tax which will returned to me at some later stage when the powers that be realise they've already taken account of it in my PAYE coding. By the time I had rooted out all the necessary paperwork and logged onto the website about 3 three times I was fresh out of time for blogging. Ho hum.

So here, a day late, but here nonetheless, is something possibly meaningful.

On the 'about the author' page of D Barkley Briggs' website, the story is told of how The Legends of Karac Tor came about, as a tale his four sons could relate to as they dealt with the loss of their mother. The Legends of Karac Tor tells the tale of four brothers who, 'while struggling to adjust to life without mom, become enmeshed in the crisis of another world. Along the way they must find their courage, face their pain, and never quit searching for home.'

The thing that struck me when I read that was how the author used his talent to help his kids, and by extension, others in the same situation - thus bringing something good out of a bad situation.

I've been following the Daily Audio Bible podcast almost on time this year, and this week we've been following the story of Joseph, he of the posh jacket, and the extreme example of God working all things together for good. And this all kind of comes together for me because, although you may not get it from this blog, I've been to some pretty dark places in life over the last 3 or 4 years, and my latest WIP, Project Seven is a kind of therapeutic attempt to work that out, and if at the same time I can help someone else out of the same situation - or stop someone getting into it - then that will have made it all... maybe not worthwhile, but it will make sense of it.

I think I've forgotten where I was going with this now, except that The Book of Names is an excellent example of how we as writers - even writers of speculative fiction - can make a difference.

Tuesday Tunes vs CSFF Blog Tour: The Songs of Names

This isn't going to be as much fun without the mixtape, but, well, if you feel that way inclined you could hunt these down and make your own Top Ten Songs of Names:

10. Abba - The Name of the Game
What better way to kick off that with a slice of 70s cheese pop?

9. Terence Trent D'Arby - Sign Your Name
And what better way to follow that with some 80s cheese pop?

8. Destiny's Child - Say My Name
And 90s cheese pop? Anybody sensing a theme?

7. De La Soul - Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
OK, bear with me here, because this is verging on the tenuous: Ring Ring Ring borrows quite heavily from 80s popsters Curiosity Killed the Cat's Name and Number, and somehow manages to make it cool.

6. The Kinks - You Don't Know My Name
Written by Dave Davies, who is a guitar genius but doesn't write songs as well has his bro. Sorry, Dave.

5. Eminem - My Name Is
What? Who? Slim Shady! Warning: Contains swears

4. Rage Against The Machine - Killing in the Name
While we're in 'Parental Advisory' territory, here's a teen anthem to rival that Nirvana song, largely on account of all that screaming (and swearing) 'I won't do what you tell me!'

3. Petra - What's in a NameAnd in true mixtape style, we segue easily from sweary shout-rock to (slightly cheesy) Christian Rock.

2. The Beautiful South - Song For Whoever
You remember the one.... Jennifer, Alison, Phillipa, Sue... etc.

1. The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name
Probably not an indie rock response to Song for Whoever... They call me 'Stacey'/They call me 'her'/They call me 'Jane'/That's not my name...

Yeah, it's not really up to the standard of the vampire top ten a couple of tours ago, but it's the best list I could cobble together on the tube this morning. I'll try harder next time.

In the meantime, come back tomorrow and join me in the quest for a relevant and potentially interesting tour contribution on this blog. It will be a long and difficult journey, fraught with danger and mythical beings.

Bother, should have done a mythical beings top ten...

CSFF Blog Tour: The Book of Names by D Barkley Briggs

This week, the blog tour features The Book of Names by Biggs Darklighter, who I always thought was Red Three, but according to his website, he's some kind of author.

Which seems pretty obvious, since I just said the tour is about his new book. Am I rambling? Ok.

But seriously, The Book of Names is the first volume of the Legends of Karac Tor, and is so called because it's about names getting stolen. No, it doesn't make any sense to me either, but I haven't read it, as usual.

His website's pretty neat though (although, I'm not sure about the section about the Dark Side... have you turned, Biggs?), there's a section of links about myth & lore in our world, which is the kind of weird stuff that I find really interesting.

So, for meaningful comment on this month's featureed book, your quest leads into the Hidden Lands of these mythical beings:
Sally Apokedak
Brandon Barr
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Valerie Comer
Frank Creed
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Shane Deal
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Andrea Graham
Todd Michael Greene
Timothy Hicks
Joleen Howell
Jason Isbell
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Carol Keen
Magma
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Mirtika
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Alice M. Roelke
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Jason Waguespac
Phyllis Wheeler
Timothy Wise

Be seeing you...

A couple of days ago I had it in mind to post something about the imminent remake of The Prisoner, the original series of which I have been slowly making my way through on DVD since visiting the village a couple of summers ago.

I had in mind to wonder whether it would be the same without Portmeirion and Mini Mokes, or whether its themes of freedom and individuality are all the more relevant in today's society.

But that all seems a little pointless given yesterday's news, that Patrick McGoohan, creator and star of the 1967 series, died on January 13th after a short illness.

He did so much more, but The Prisoner - whether you think it is profound or a load of utter nonsense - is what McGoohan will be remembered for. I don't know whether McGoohan got fed up of being remembered as Number Six; I wouldn't blame him if he did, but Number Six is a man of principles, unafraid to go against the flow and stand up for his rights, and the rights of any individual, whatever the cost to himself.

A pretty good legacy, if you ask me.

The belated New Year post....

Well, I guess it's about time to call an end to the extended holiday hiatus and dust off the old blog, eh?

It is traditional at (or more ususally about two weeks before) this time to set completely unrealistic goals for the year ahead. So, I might as well join in, eh? Well, I have a couple:

• Sort out a daily devotional time. Not always easy when my work takes me out on the road, but along with that I plan to stay up to date with the Daily Audio Bible, which always comes out in my car with me.
• Find a cell group. I kind of lost regular connection with fellow Christians shortly after Her Babyship arrived, and for various reasons have finally decided this is a good time to pick that up again.
• Advance my professional development. An issue which has been slightly forced by the loss of more qualified people where I work, and certain professional organisations noticing how quiet I have been on the CPD front. Ooops!
• Write! I don't know whether this is really my last priority, but having discovered how much I can get written if I put my mind to it (and use WriteOrDie) during NaNo, there is really no excuse. I think the time is right for Project Seven; all I have to do is get my head down and write the bloomin' thing. Specific target for Project Seven: a 90k first draft by the end of September. That gives me a nice 10k per month target, and then leaves October to prepare for NaNo '09...

No bloggy promises this year, although I will make an effort not to miss another CSFF Blog Tour (apologies to the Lost Genre Guild, which sounds like the sort of thing I would sign up for except Project Seven isn't speculative).

Project Seven wordcount so far, incidentally, is 2530. Hmmm....

I wasn't going to do this...

...but I feel obliged to start the year with a Doctor Who post. Because what's a blog for if not for inflicted one's ill-informed opinions on the world?

And my ill-informed opinion at the moment is... well, it could go either way. My heart did drop somewhat when I saw the 11th Doc, and I kind of mentally went 'What? What?! WHAAT?!'

But the new team, and Russel T Davros, seemed quite upbeat about him, and Steven Moffatt has been responsible for some of the better Who so far, so... I'm willing to give him a go. I guess being a young whippersnapper he might have plenty of Dalek fighting years in him. As long as it doesn't become a total kids show.

I guess you know you're getting old when the Doctors start looking younger...