God I miss Wales. I miss it so much...

#NowPlaying Nico, "Desertshore". Nico's third studio album and the second produced/arranged by John Cale. A little more accessible than "The Marble Index", which is not to say this is easy listening. The opening "Janitor of Lunacy" sets the tone...

Can I just say again,*I did not write this book*…

#NowPlaying It's bright and sunny outside, but inside it's the dark chilly embrace of the tomb with Nico and "The Marble Index". Icily beautiful music.

@househammerpod.bsky.social are on their way back to 1967 in the company of the not-at-all-exploitative-sounding "Slave Girls of the White Rhino". Martine Beswick, at least, was having one hell of a good time. But did we? Fire up the White Rhino, as we travel back to prehistoric times...

Scammers usually at least manage to get the names of my books right, but this was a new one on me. Then it turns out there's another author with a similar name. Hope he doesn't fall for it...

Ooh, "Four Flies on Grey Velvet" back in cinemas!

Happy Birthday, Italy. You've been very good to us.

Post a poster you used to have on your wall (or ceiling).

It's the first of the month which means it's Cracking Deals time and this month we have not one but TWO as the ebooks of The Angels of Venice and The Magus of Sicily are both 99p from Amazon UK; with "Magus" also available for 99c in the US!

A good piece on scams targeting writers here...and it's always nice to hear @ramseycampbell.bsky.social .

It's been a moules - frites evening (Thai green curry style) followed by a Hammer double bill. That counts as a win!

Pride 1 Reform 0 These bastards can and will be beaten.

Mimi enjoying quality balcony time #Caturday

Thanks, Maureen.

Of course, the catch here is that they will inevitably lose.

Good skies tonight #Venice

I haven’t drunk sparkling red since Swansea won the Autoglass trophy back in 1994. But tonight I’m enjoying a nice Petalo Rosso.

John Carpenter and Claudio Simonetti (Claudio’s photo)

Happy birthday, lads!

Yep, we’ve reached red wine in fridge season.

Happy birthday Peter, wherever you may be!

Legend. Absolute legend. RIP Sonny Rollins.

Pick a Bond villain from the pictures you already have on your phone.

It's not a debate because they're all on the same side. Also, ten years on...should be obvious it can't be done.

WHAT a poster!

Name 10 MOVIES you’ve seen on the big screen (original or re-release): Original : Jaws Star Wars Close Encounters of the Third Kind Man With the Golden Gun Return of the Pink Panther Rerelease Nosferatu Psycho The Shining Andrei Rublev Ivan the Terrible

Part 2 and...damn...I'm enjoying this so much!

#NowEating In a Sicilian kinda mood, with a swordfish steak and caponata.

Lunch is a Battlefield

Slogan for mayoral candidate in Venice keeps reminding me of the opening of "Uno Sguardo Verso Cielo" by Le Orme. (Venetian band, so maybe he's a fan?)

“Remember, they have genuine needs and concerns; and we shouldn’t call them Nazis…”

#NowEating Spaghetti alle vongole. Bought too many vongole, but we didn't care. I added some chilli to mine, coz I think that works nicely, @caroline-venezia.bsky.social declined.

'tis a lovely sunny Venetian day (I give maybe two weeks before I start complaining about the heat, and perhaps another two before I ditch the jacket). #Venice

Lovely review of The Devil in Dorsoduro in The Times this morning.

My box of author copies was way too shallow to comfortably accommodate Mimi. But that's okay, she's happy just sitting on top of it. Cats and Boxes will always find a way. #Caturday.

Good article. Fingers crossed!

#NowPlaying Iron Maiden, "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son". Maiden flex their prog-metal muscles and introduce proper keyboards for the first time, following the guitar synths on "Somewhere in Time." It's all thrilling stuff. Definitely a headphones album, according to my wife.

Paperbacks of "The Magus of Sicily" arrived in Italy the other day. Many thanks, as ever, to Libreria Studium.

@househammerpod.bsky.social reaches 1968, and "The Vengeance of She", the sequel that nobody knew they wanted. Elsewhere I give it the full Shatner, Cev tells you everything you need to know about the Land Rover, and Smokey stiffens his upper lip as be bids a fond farewell to Andre Morell.

Ah, this is sad news. Michael Keating was the only actor to be in every episode of Blake's 7. Wonderful as Vila, and a brilliant foil to Paul Darrow. I wanted to be Avon, but in my heart of hearts I knew I was really Vila!

@gregorydowling.bsky.social , @davidhewson.com and I have been scouting out locations for Venice Noir, and we happened upon a dress rehearsal for "Carmen"!

Here's the asparagus carbonara recipe I used yesterday (well, mostly - I added pancetta as well, and chucked the asparagus tips in with the pasta with five minutes to go). It's in Italian but kind of self explanatory and there's a video as well.

In a nutshell.... BlueSky : Wow, the Welsh Cabinet is entirely Cymraeg-speaking, how brilliant is that! Twitter : EXCLUSIONARY, NOBODY SPEAKS IT, WHY DO YOU HATE THE ENGLISH SO MUCH????

Asparagus carbonara (and yes, it’s a thing)

This is terrific - a look back at Bela's greatest (and perhaps not quite so great) moments. Essential for the Bela fan!

And we're done. Can't remember exactly how many dentist appointments I've had over the past few months but - despite being much lighter of pocket - I have a functioning set of gnashers again. Don't be like me - get them checked up!

Who indeed 😀

Another scam email today. This one supposedly from a senior editor at Penguin. Read like AI, and the email address was a give away, but I can also imagine people being taken in. Always worth checking these things out. Also, for what it's worth, I'm very happy where I am anyway.