My, Elric! That's one heck of a compensation of a sword!... www.comicsbeat.com/exclusive-ti...

Today's 6.7 km run was grim: windy, rainy and cold. (Took the bus back to home, as the will had left me)

I sweated for weeks on the lyrics of my last song, and now I banged one out in a few hours. Even though it's a bit of: "But what does this mean, Rem?" "Well, what do YOU think it means?"

A couple of snaps from the Sunflower Bar Folk Club where pals Marty & Michael headlined.

It's Robert E. Howard's 120 birthday! Happy birthday, Bob!

Let the boom turn into a plop, and let it die with a whimper.

Anyway! Back to being off-line! Regard this as a digital joss stick to cleanse your timeline.

I got an invite to join a local poets' WhatsApp group. Its logo is AI generated. And I really want to say something, but the community is small and shoulders rub, so maybe not AITA this time. But I loathe that I even have to think about it.

The other day I saw Trump being Trump, and JD and Marco laughing. And it struck me, that they're not laughing with T, they're laughing at him. They're bros, basically, have a grift going, and he's now their useful idiot.

Being a music lover, not least of all a metal lover, pays off when it comes time to write. Some of the artists I listened to during the writing of "Fury": Slayer System of a Down Conan King Gizzard Paradise Lost Heilung

Not Jared Leto. Please tell me it's not Jared Leto! uk.yahoo.com/news/ozzy-os...

There on the right hand side you see #7, the Sword & Planet issue. It has Jay's excellent article on S&P, for which I did the illustrations - like this one, illustrating Leigh Brackett's S&P classic "Sword of Rhiannon".

Cold, windy and not quite dry today, and because I felt a bit cooped up, I went for a run anyway. I'm happy with the 6K I did - that too is self-care.

Yesterday's music and poetry... My friend Michael (on keyboard) is a goth in disguise, and absolutely killed it with his set - he made a song abt the Titanic blood curdling.

Completely surprised & absolutely delighted to see this lovely book review of Barren by Brigid O'Dea in The Irish Times on Saturday. Thank you! Wonderful to see them being open to reading books by independent authors. Progressive and brave! #bookreviews #indieauthor

Watching "La Reine Margot". First time I saw it was in Poland, trying to follow it with my very limited French and my Polish friends' very limited English - still finding it awesome. It's an absolutely *gorgeous* film to look at, and I'd love to see on the big screen!

This afternoon's running... Some nice sights at the docks, but as I was just hitting my stride, I didn't want to disrupt it by fumbling with phone camera.

I just saw a "scruffy author" meme. This is "scruffy musician". The stuff that happens before it's ripe for an audience. I'd just finished the song on paper, and many bum notes were hit searching my way round it. A reminder that when 'in the process' it doesn't yet have to be slick.

Why I’m posting about my scruffy fantasy author era: a story about a chaotic goose speaking in solidarity with any and all who feel the pressure to look immaculate. I hear you. My fantasy folklore books are wild, and so am I. I don’t want to pretend otherwise. Stay true to you. 🖤🌿

Lovely afternoon, with friends coming over "to play the winter away". Such a privilege to hear songs that few others had yet heard, and play them one that I'd not fully played yet.

For any who don't know, for most of the time I research prehistoric gold, especially Iron Age gold - looking at it from a craft perspective. My website (of free to read info, from the basics to the complex) can be found here: #Archaeology 🏺 #Gold #Torcs www.bigbookoftorcs.com

Meanwhile in the garden...

I was let go from my day job. So until I get a new income I'm a full time author. So if you want to support an author my novels are 0.99 or you can sign up for my newsletter and get books for free. Links in comments or bio. Until then my cat is enjoying my book from her box. #caturday #cats #sff

A couple of weeks ago, when we had snow and Brandy kept an eye on the street.

Dopey Don Station

*Rubs hands in anticipation* This cannot fail to be a GREAT movie!

A bBabylonian lullaby: creepy stuff. (I'll set it to music one day) www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/maga...

Watching "Warrior Queen" (1978) tonight, with Siân Phillips as Boudica. If you don't expect armies of thousands, it's pretty good!

Brandy, on the stairs earlier, feeling existential.

I was at the pet supplies store, to get supplies for Brandy, and also asked which cat beds they had. Girl: "This is a great one. It's much cheaper on Amazon." Me: "You're probably not supposed to tell me that."

Brandy wants to have her 2nd dinner *now* (5:45), and not at 7!

I greatly enjoyed this interview with our wonderful editor Jay; so much to say on how one goes about sword & sorcery & romance. Do catch up with the recording if any of that is your thing.

Spent some nice hours off-screen...

Was watching a film on TV... The commercial block comes, with an advert from the RSPCA showing abused animals, and I realise I've reached my limit of shit I can absorb. So I'm going to go back to my stack of books...

Holy moly! This song! (The lyrics too!) www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPd-...

delighted with this little thread on Bill's introduction to Goatskin; happy that the first little story I wrote for her, found in A Book of Blades II, is what made the character click for him.

Yes, this was excellent! Thoroughly inspiring - funny, with a crust of bitterness.

Wee Ian, the little matchstick cat from across the road, watching Brandy eat...

The Reitdiep at Zoutkamp, the very north of the Netherlands. Since half a century it's closed off from the sea, taking most of the fishing industry away. On the opposite shore lies the farm where the protagonist of my WIP grew up.

J.M. DeMatteis' "The Last One"

I'm watching Frankenstein Conquers the World... and this may be unkind, but Baragon looks like Erich von Däniken.

I'm really happy with how this illustration with "The Sword of Rhiannon" came out - it does give an idea of the timeless strangeness of the book. (And has big snake representation too!) I did another one of John Carter. Get ye to the shop to get this issue of New Edge!...

Maybe it's because I just watched Exorcist: Dominion, but as I am now listening to Black Tape's "This Lush Garden Within", it strikes me it'd make the perfect soundtrack for the sort of haunting (religion-themed?) film I'd like to see... www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1fc...

tune for song ✅-ish some admin ✅ 5k run ✅ wet & blustery chat with cute charity shop lady ✅ dishes ✅ I'll make some food in a bit, and then settle down for the night.

....The Maga tradwife's knuckle dusters...

Watching "The Exorcist: Believer". For the first hour, it's fine, building suspense. Then the scene with Chris McN meeting the possessed girl is sooo laughingly bad that it tanks the whole film. (to be honest, the original film works despite the possession scenes, not because of them.)

My office this morning was the IKEA - impromptu gathering of the writing group. I've finished the song lyrics I'd been working on. They'll likely change a lot still when fitting them to music.

Yesterday night... #Caturday

Alright, then!