Aspects of Me

Tag: newsletter

  • March 2025

    Another month, another wrap-up! Still being written essentially one-handed as my left arm is still in a cast so, again, apologies for any typos you might find! In good (?) news, I had my wrist surgery and although it apparently presented the surgery team with some difficulties, everything is holding in the right position. If all goes well, I should be out of the cast by mid-April and then it’ll be time to start building up that book holding strength again.

    This month I joined in with the Keymark March Mavericks 5-book readathon and was on Andy Peloquin‘s team: Tome Slayers. This was good fun and provided a perfect distraction to my wrist situation. Everyone involved was lovely and encouraging – I probably wouldn’t have read as many books as I did without the readathon.

    Graphic showing 5 book covers over a background with a fire breathing dragon. Title at the top reads March Mavericks 5-book readathon. The five book covers are of: From Cold Ashes Risen The Ice Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon Star Forge Long Live the Emperor
    My five reads for March Mavericks 2025

    Reading

    This month’s reads were:

    As you will have seen above, all except Future’s Edge contributed to my March Mavericks reads. Technically, I started Future’s Edge in February so it couldn’t count. Here are the prompts I fulfilled with my reads (in order):

    • Maverick – an independently published book
    • Disruptor – a weapon on the cover (includes dragons & spaceships)
    • Chaos – includes magic as part of the story
    • Shadow – includes and animal companion
    • Renegades – includes a motley crew

    Writing

    As you might imagine, March hasn’t been the most productive of months for writing thought I’ve had plenty of ideas to explore once my arm heals up. In the meantime, I had one review go up on GdM in March.

    Upcoming

    While, strictly speaking, a couple of things have already gone out via GdM’s site and in issue #42 of the magazine proper, they also fall in April as they released 01/04/2025. Nevertheless, turn your eyeballs their way to find more reviews from me and an essay entitled ‘Ellen Ripley, Action Hero’, which I am super chuffed about.

    To come will be further reviews of The Bound and the Broken series by Ryan Cahill, and I’ll be diving into book four, Of Empires and Dust, shortly. I’ve got quite a few exciting books to catch up on so watch this space.

    That’s it for now! I hope you’ve found some enjoyment from my little update. I’m over on Bluesky (@magpiepages.bsky.social) and have dusted off my Ko-fi page as well.

    Take care, and see you next month!

  • February 2025

    When I decided to put out a newsletter at the end of each month, I completely forgot I was away on holiday at the end of February. What I wasn’t expecting to compound the delay was an altercation with some Belgian pavement to result in multiple fractures in my wrist and a slow wait for surgery to screw it back together again (still waiting at time of writing). So, as I’m typing one-handed, please bear with me and my apologies for any typos or mistakes!

    Besides breaking my wrist, Gent (in Belgium) was an absolutely lovely city and I would really like to go back to see more of it. We arrived just in time to see the start of the Women’s Elite for Omloop (a single-day cycling race), which was a great bonus and quite the spectacle. We spent a few hours wandering around S.M.A.K. – the city’s modern art gallery – that I thoroughly enjoyed. Food was brill, cycling infrastructure is off the charts, lots of greenery, history and culture. Thoroughly recommend it, and if you’re in the UK the Eurostar is a good option. It took us about the same time to get from Birmingham to Brussels as it takes to get from Brum to Edinburgh… and Belgium was cheaper to get to.

    On to the bookishness!

    Reading

    February’s reading was a little slower than January, but here’s what it included.

    Writing

    I had five reviews go up on GdM this month:

    I also published an article over on Medium about Dis-, Mis- and Malicious Information. 

    Upcoming

    Apologies for skipping Recommendations this month but the one-handedness isn’t leaving me a lot of headspace for it.

    Instead, I hope to still be able to write reviews and I’m currently reading Future’s Edge by Gareth L Powell. There’s a few others up my sleeve for GdM, so keep an eye out.

    I’m also happy to say an essay pitch to Speculative Insight was accepted, which will be publishing 2026, so I will be working on that too.

    That’s it for now! I hope you’ve found some enjoyment from my little update. I’m over on Bluesky (@magpiepages.bsky.social) and have dusted off my Ko-fi page as well.

    Take care, and see you next month!

  • January 2025

    Welcome to my first newsletter-style monthly wrap-up! It’s been a while since I updated this site and it’s time to try something new. Each month, I’ll be pulling together some updates on what I’ve been up to, what I’ve read and written, and bring you a recommendation (or two).

    With the new year, that brings a new reading goal. I’m starting off with a modest, calm, target of twelve (12) books for the year. 2024 was a bit of a slow one for me, most of it spent in a slump, so I’m starting low this year to avoid any pressure. I’ve come to realise, if I feel like I have to read something, my mind balks at the idea of being assigned a task in my leisure time. I also have a tendency, if I’m stuck on a book, I won’t move on because it’s not finished. So, my additional aim for the year is to be more chill. If I’m not vibing with a book, forgive myself, DNF it and move on to something I do enjoy.

    In a similar vein, I’m trying to experiment with a few different reading apps so see if there’s any significant rivals to Goodreads. Since 1st Jan, I’ve been testing out Fable, Storygraph and Hardcover. I’m running them alongside GR as it remains a staple of the bookish community (for now), which has meant four different places to update my progress. My oh-so-simple plan is to see what falls away and the last one standing should, in theory, be the least irritating to use.
    Lastly, fans of The Offline Gamer will be pleased to hear I am back for the 2024 wrap-up episode! It was great fun recording with Matt and Karen again, and talking about board games together. You may even hear my dulcet tones again in the near future, as the 100th episode approaches!

    Reading

    This month I’ve made my way through three novels, a novelette and three short stories (available online), all of which I have enjoyed – bonus! 

    Writing

    Two reviews of mine have gone live on Grimdark Magazine this month.

    Of Fire and Blood by Ryan Cahill: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-of-blood-and-fire-by-ryan-cahill/ 

    Symbiote by Michael Nayak: https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/review-symbiote-by-michael-nayak/ 

    I’ve also started trying to build my writing habit back up by jotting down as many ideas as I can (before I forget them) and joining in with some writing sprints hosted by the British Fantasy Society. I’m working on a short story on the theme of patterns, which is a sci-fi offering, and a fantasy short that could veer into a sort of alt-history with witches. Well, at least one, verifiable, witch.

    Recommendations

    If nothing else, I hope to use this section to suggest a shorter fiction for you to read that’s available online. This month I’d like to recommend you to go and find something by R.S.A. Garcia to read, and to get you started I thoroughly enjoyed Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200. 

    Originally published in Uncanny Magazine #53, you can find it online here: https://www.uncannymagazine.com/article/tantie-merle-and-the-farmhand-4200/ 

    It’s written in Trinbagonian creole, which I absolutely loved, and takes a look at how AI reflects what we show it to a brilliant, hopeful, ending. Even better, if you enjoy it, R.S.A. Garcia has confirmed a sequel story has been commissioned! Plus, Garcia is a true joy to interact with so go follow her on Bluesky.

    For a bonus recommendation, Tantie Merle reminded me of Sarah Gailey’s short story Drones to Ploughshares, which turns five years old on 4th Feb.

    Originally written for Vice, it is available online here:

    https://www.vice.com/en/article/drones-to-ploughshares/ 

    (though I hope you have a robust ad-blocker)

    You can also find an audio version of the story on the podcast LeVar Burton Reads, in the December 2021 episode.

    Upcoming

    I’ll be reviewing The Sword of Kaigen for GdM, as well as working through reviews for more of The Bound and the Broken series. There are some new releases coming in February I’m quite excited for; Future’s Edge by Gareth L Powell and But Not Too Bold by Hache Pueyo to name a couple.

    Lastly, I’m finishing up an article about dis-, mis- and malicious information that I hope to publish soon (maybe over on Medium).

    That’s it for now! I hope you’ve found some enjoyment from my little update. I’m over on Bluesky (@magpiepages.bsky.social) and have dusted off my Ko-fi page as well.

    Take care, and see you next month!