Yesterday's Word Count = 663 HAWAII FIVE OH (1968) OK Let’s talk about the Americans… Starting with this…after me…Dum de dum dum DUM DUM… youtu.be/AepyGm9Me6w?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 984 Oh bugger I've run out of nostalgia - hmnnn. I must delve deeper and more greedily....

Yesterday's Word Count = 1.077 THE OWL SERVICE (1969) Buy a cottage in Wales and come home to an involuntary role in a retelling of the Mabinogion. youtu.be/bIUtvIfe6L8?... Come to think of it I wonder why nobody did an adaptation of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and the Moon of Gomrath.

Yesterday's Word Count = 1,049 EDGE OF DARKNESS (1985) "That's the problem with plutonium, Craven; it's limited in its application. It's not user-friendly. But as a vehicle for regaining one's self-respect, oh, it's got a lot going for it!" youtu.be/CtfP0KjW8S0?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 798 Finnemore & Pearse Oh nobody is merry On the fifth of February With Christmas Gone And Summer still as distant as can be. It is quite close to Valentines But we all know for ninety nine Percent of us that’s lonely, stressful Boring or all three. youtu.be/WJBrAIVrK-4?...

As part of my new things to procrastinate with campaign I have decided to compile my own newspeak vocabulary -- eg: yay and unyay, wicked and unwicked.

Yesterday's Word Count = 655 "It will take months to get my inner world peopled, and the people moving." Sylvia Plath, from her diary entry 4th of January 1958

Yesterday's Word Count = 659 MAID MARIAN AND HER MERRY MEN (1989) Baldrick AND the Cat – oh my. youtu.be/2sWmyblWqTg?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 791 The 87th Precinct novels were a major influence - not least because of the detailed world building that went into the imaginary city where the precinct is located.

Yesterday's Word Count = 872 ROBERT’S ROBOTS (1973) You wanna get obscure! Come on! Let’s get OBSCURE! youtu.be/OSAI7IUuaGg?...

Upcoming event alert, me, Mark Stay, the British Library - 30th of March! events.bl.uk/events/ben-a...

Yesterday's Word Count = 932 Today’s brain recovery read (recovery from my writing that is) is EDGE OF DARKNESS by VASEEM KHAN – this is book six of the series and I have been waiting impatiently for this one to come out.

I love the fact that half a century of writing has left me with the ability to correctly spell "exsanguinated" on the first try but I have to rely ion the spell checker for "amateur" every single bloody time.

Yesterday's Word Count = 577 RED DWARF (1988) Okay – so it’s not a title sequence. youtu.be/4jnTzBeQJag?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 945 RENTAGHOST (1976) A key influence on my later work. youtu.be/JYOnDjPh7rc?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 830 GRANGE HILL (1978) At my school we were all convinced that at least one of our teachers was writing for this. youtu.be/BE7gAEsI0XY?...

Totally forgot... Yesterday's Word Count = 858 Have a bonus fox...

QI: THE RHUBARB TRIANGLE Johnny Vegas improvises this on the spot. Did marzipan fighter planes go missing? Did they not pick anything up on the liquorice radar and suddenly start talking nonsense and gingerbread men, good men, who fought in the pudding wars - just vanish. youtu.be/fZFIzq73VHs?...

Austrian research - I need a name of for a professional medical specialist from Austria in his late thirties (born 1990ish). First and second name. Additional question - do clinical psychologists style themselves as Doctor?

THE GODDESS OF REGENT’S CANAL (Pongo pygmaeus excelsus) Some art I commissioned, via @lynneahardy.bsky.social for an upcoming project – the artist is Daniel Barker @arkat.bsky.social

Yesterday's Word Count = 824 NOAH’S CASTLE (1980) Just to prove that the collapse of civilisation is always in fashion. youtu.be/2zbhy2lIPA0?...

Carbide helmet lamps - it's been decades since I went caving with one - do they hiss when working - I seem to remember they did but I'm suspicious of the memory.

Here's a conspiracy theory - the people who have fraudulently overextended themselves re: the AI bubble have asked Trump to tank the global economy to hide that the next big recession is going to be their fault.

Yesterday's Word Count = 1,054 VISION ON GALLERY (1970s) You can reduce a certain generation of artistic British people to tears – just by playing this tune. youtu.be/-ZNkJXKV7_w?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 1,066 THE LION IN WINTER (1968) John Castle plays Geoffrey – the son nobody but the historians remember. Geoffrey: I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows, and Henry knows we know it. We're a knowledgeable family.

Here is a very positive review about my friend Andrew's play THE DRESSING GOWN. There's still a week of the run left, I went on Friday and it was just as funny as I remembered. bleedingcool.com/pop-culture/...

Refereeing & Reflection says In Liberty's Shadow, the US sourcebook for the Rivers of London roleplaying game "opens up a whole new landscape for players to enjoy".

Yesterday's Word Count = 1,011 And was brought to you by BURK - superior catering for Evil Masters since 1985. TRAP DOOR (1985) youtu.be/-9dbAQJIu1o?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 574 THE TOMORROW PEOPLE – 1973 This show, like Doctor Who, was so much more ambitious than its budget would ever allow. youtu.be/Ei7i7RFvrUM?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 541 MONKEY More dubbed goodness with a banging theme song. “The nature of Monkey was irrepressible!” youtu.be/88y4ttqaW6U?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 530 STINGRAY - 1964 Anything could happen in the next half hour! I could have substituted Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet or Joe 90 but this was my first. youtu.be/45NtEXv7DZs?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 520 THE PRODUCERS (2005) "Wait a minute, my name’s not Alvin. That’s not my life. Somebody else’s life is flashing before my eyes. What the hell is that about? I’m not a hillbilly I grew up in the Bronx. Leo’s taken everything – even my past!" youtu.be/4yYX3Ra9vbI?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 412 MAGPIE – 1968 Thames Televisions answer to BLUE PETER. I recently found myself thinking of something I learnt from this show while writing the latest book. Also note the totally late 60s early 70s opening sequence. youtu.be/tkd-1hBK9fI?...

I can't help wondering if, in the event of an American invasion of Greenland, the EU (and others) gets to sequestrate GOOGLE, Facebook, X and other US industries deeply imbedded in the Trump administration.

Yesterday's Word Count = 797 THE FLASHING BLADE During the 1960s and 70s there were a number of strange, dubbed children’s shows like this on British TV but none of them had an ear worm this well… ear-wormy. youtu.be/F5Sb9AoirSU?...

Yesterday's Word Count = 861 Today's quote asks one of the great and profound questions that has plagued humanity since we banged the rocks together... “Why do we even have that lever?” The Emperor’s New Groove

Yesterday's Word Count = 828 “There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Yesterday's Word Count = 518 “You fight like my sister!” “I’ve fought your sister – that’s a compliment.” THE ROAD TO EL DORADO (* I could have posted a million of these - including "It's not a prybar."

Yesterday's Word Count = 835 Today's quote - Driving into London Here it [history] seemed the very fabric of things, as if the city were a single growth of stone and brick, uncounted strata of message and meaning, age upon age... (1/2)

Oops - had the wrong webpage address on the poster. This is the correct one below. THE DRESSING GOWN - go see it it's funny and will cheer you up. I know it cheered me :) uniontheatre.biz/show/dressin...

Yesterday's Word Count = 798 I loved this book. Never got to play it but it seemed the perfect fusion of background and system. That also wraps it up for RPGs for now. I'm going to have to find something else to tart up my word counts.

My friend Andrew has a very hilarious play on at the Union Theatre. Just the thing to get over your New Year Blues. uniontheatre.biz/show/dressin... 19:30 - 7 January 2026 - 23 January 2026

Yesterday's Word Count = 1,158 The last Chaosium Moorcock adaptation. One last game to go and then I'm going to have come up with something new.

Does anyone know if Kent puts signposts on its bridle paths? I'm interested in the ones south of Herne Bay near Maypole and Hoath.

Yesterday's Word Count = 836 One of the most streamlined character creations ever invented...bish, bash, bosh...Starfleet Officer!

Yesterday's Word Count = 859 A beautiful magic system and appalling combat mechanics. Fantastically well executed historical fantasy background.

I swear the wild photography team that shot these foxes are total geniuses... BBC WILD LONDON Episode 1 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Yesterday's Word Count = 894 Now this was a very interesting concept and certainly fit the books it was based on. Never got to find out what it might be like to play.

Yesterday's Word Count = 518 Colonialism in Spaaaaaaace. I loved the consistency of style, world building and mechanics in this. Plus you could design Aetherships!

December's round-up: The complete #MarcDane MOSCOW RULES novella available now as a free eBook: jswallow.com/the-complete... The Horus Heresy Collection XVIII French edition is on sale: www.blacklibrary.com/french/featu... #StarTrek event next April: www.waterstones.com/events/james...