Me at the beginning of the week: I *will* finish this damned chapter The universe: Hahahaha. Fuck no. How about barely any sleep to make you absolutely useless? Me: *not impressed*

My pick this week for #MusicMonday is Too Much Blood by The Gaslight Anthem. Since I never picked this song before, of course I had to kick the year off with my song of the year. Duh.

I swear to hell that this week I've been working more on blog stuff than I would have done at my actual job, if I wasn't on holiday. Which means I got shit all done in other areas such as writing or reading... At least I'll be able to put things out in a timely fashion in the next twoish weeks.

Entries for SPFBO XI are now open! Are you a self-published fantasy author with a novel? Enter it into this year's Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off! Visit the official website to check eligibility and sign up! Entries only open for today: mark---lawrence.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-...

Introduce yourself as what almost killed you: Ji, I'm a truck reversed by an idiot on a one way street. I was VERY lucky I only had a couple of fractured bones in my skull/face and a concussion. And so. Many. Bruises. And scars. It was a fun day and a fun summer.

What's a 2026 release you're excited for? Authors, what are you releasing in 2026?

How come that after 5 years of running Sound of Madness, I STILL underestimate how much time it takes to set the post up?! Fucking hell. I'm only halfway through, and I want to be done with it already😅

Can your book join the #SPFBO champions? Entry to the 11th annual contest opens tomorrow! It's free... 🙂

Happy new year! Tis the season for retrospectives: I’m kicking off by laughing at my reading challenge progress in 2025. Given I read fewer books in 2025 than I have done in years, this was an even bigger challenge than usual…

The good news is, I pretty much nailed down the 25 new Sound of Madness prompts. The bad news is that I still need to prepare the whole post 😭 And I expect changing at least one prompt somewhere down the line as it tends to happen, lol.

I...had to look this word up and...this does not bobe well 😬

Damn. The blog was 75 views short of my dream goal of views for a year. YOU ALL FAILED ME!!! Given that I'm planning to put the blog in the backseat for a while I don't think we'll ever reach that goal. Unless I have another list post that goes viral like my 15 historical books one did... LOL *sigh*

Also a fun fact: I have a tattoo that says "Handwritten Story". It has a few meanings for me, but it's also a mesh up of two song titles, one of which is Handwritten by this band. My first thought was that it might be a sign to get my second tattoo done at last.

Run, don't walk. GO AND GET IT, DAMMIT!

I don't do resolutions nor do I have any rituals or anything. Except for one thing - on New Year's Eve, after midnight I let my player pick a random song from my playlist and that's my song of the year. My song for 2026 is Too Much Blood by The Gaslight Anthem. I'm happy. youtu.be/k_nPwY6dKl8?...

It's time for the very last 2025 post of the year, which also happens to be my favorite! The #MyLifeInBooks book tag! Liis and I tweaked the prompts again #SorryNotSorry and I had a surprisingly easy time picking... Come and check it out! I hope you all had an amazing bookish year :)

The #SPFBO contest will open to new entries at 11am GMT on January 3rd. It will remain open to entries for 24 hours. After which 300 novels will be randomly selected to go forward into the contest.

My last 2025 review is for ARCTIC PANDA'S SECRET MATE, the first book in Elva Birch's shifter romance series, Alaska Mountain Chalet Shifters. "It has snow, found family, romance with a bit of spice, and cute animals."

Speaking of newsletters. It's your monthly reminder that 1) it exists and 2) it's not too late to sign up. December edition goes out on the 31st!

An open letter about the craft of writing and A.I. and yes, I talk a little about the other open letter, but mostly I talk about creativity and how machines can't do it: www.tfrohock.com/blog/2025/12...

2025 was a good reading year! If you're curious which of the 153 books I liked best, see link 😉 Some authors manage to be on it more than once, apparently extra recommended... @stephanieburgis.bsky.social @robjhayes.bsky.social @stevemchugh.bsky.social @tkingfisher.com @fantasticphil.bsky.social

Today I updated some of my spreadsheets, wrote a review, wrote 3/4th of my newsletter (going out on the 31st!), and started prepping another post (also out on the 31st). This is the most blogging-related work I've done in a good while. I deserve a medal or something.

@bjornlarssen.com's pick for the last #MusicMonday of 2025 is Like a Motorway by Saint Etienne. queensbookasylum.com/2025/12/29/m...

Your internet gunkle is here to bring you gay tidings for the holidays. My gift to you: the ebook or audiobook of Jack of Thorns, completely free for Christmas. Merry Christmas. I love you. You're doing your best and it IS enough ❤️ Repost to spread joy. shop.ravenswordpress.com/products/jac...

Not a bad haul this year presents-wise. I got myself some good stuff and my mom managed to surprise me by buying me a pair of PURPLE panda hand warmers I once showed her and decided not to buy. Anyway. It's super cute. Goes well with my new purple winter coat. And the purple lights on my tree 😁💜

All of my Cruel Gods books are currently on sale for 0.99 each! Yes, even the big one that's thick enough to kill a man! mybook.to/TheCruelGods The Cruel Gods trilogy is an adult gaslamp fantasy featuring magical portals, gothic cosmic deities, quaint Britishisms, and steampunk vibes.

Hey wonderful fantasy indie authors. I've been doing cover illustrations for awhile now for some great writers and have a couple of spots free for January. Check out my work and give me a shout if you'd like to work together on something: www.theillustrationshack.com

Today I review THE VENETIAN HERETIC, a historical fiction novel by Christian Cameron. "The Venetian Heretic transports the reader into a tumultuous period in Venice's history, full of intrigue, crime, culture, and war." #BookReview #HistoricalFiction

It's that time of the year when I start to think about what to do on my upcoming birthday (in February). And like clockwork, my mind wanders over to that tiny locked box somewhere deep in the dark where I keep the idea of finally getting my second tattoo done. Who knows, maybe this will be the year.

It's that time of the year when I need to start stalk...er...I mean, checking on some of my favorite authors to see if anyone has a new book announced for 2026 to add to my shortened TBR.

My pick this week for Music Monday is So Cold by Breaking Benjamin. This week I'm celebrating Breaking Benjamin coming to Budapest next year with one of my favorite songs from them.

It's that time of the year when I need to start stalk...er...I mean, checking on some of my favorite authors to see if anyone has a new book announced for 2026 to add to my shortened TBR.

I’m up to 21 #TheHollowFlame stories. The first four are on my ko-fi and Patreon. Including audio versions. I’m still allergic to my voice, but I’ve been told they’re good. ko-fi.com/bjornlarssen www.patreon.com/cw/BjornLars... Thanks so much to all my supporters ♥️

*incoherent screaming* BREAKING BENJAMIN IS COMING TO BUDAPEST NEXT JUNE!!!! And what's better is that they are not coming to a festival but to a smaller venue. I saw them some years ago on Sziget, and this will be so much better. I CAN'T WAIT.

Note to self: choose better friends. I was literally bullied into buying, reading AND reviewing a book. And I can only blame myself because I made the mistake of showing them the cover 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

With our 10th review out in the wild, it's time to say goodbye to SPFBO. The Champions' League was fun, and I can't wait for the results! Until then, you can find our final list and every review we posted in the past few months on this page: queensbookasylum.com/2025/05/30/s... 1/4

Team Asylum reviews our tenth and last #SPFBO Champion, THE LOST WAR by Justin Lee Anderson. Reviews are from Arina, Drew, and Timy. #SPFBOreviews #SPFBOCL #TeamAsylum

@bjornlarssen.com's pick this week for #MusicMonday is Being Number One by Black Box Recorder. queensbookasylum.com/2025/12/08/m...

Me in November: I'll be smart and figure out the lettering for my bullet journal well ahead of time. Me now: Maybe that was a mistake, because I'm on the third set of letters & I'm still not happy and shall keep tweaking it until the end of time - or the end of the year. Whichever happens first.

I already got this one for myself (I have yet to read it). Also, I'm totally an F!

Today I have literally the last paragraph I wrote in the WIP two days ago, lol. #WIPSnips #Inkfeather

December appears to be the month of Urban Fantasy. The new Self Published Fantasy Release list has just gone live and it is a BIG month both in quantity and some of the names putting out books. Check it out! robjhayes.co.uk/self-publish...

The first three days of my Countdown to 2026: 1: The Austen Christmas Murders lynns-books.com/2025/12/01/c... 2: Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward (a book I'm highly anticipating lynns-books.com/2025/12/02/c... 3: The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig lynns-books.com/2025/12/03/c...

For a change, my Spotify wrap is more or less accurate. #SpotifyWrapped

I'm holding the first copy of my new book in my hand, and it feels pretty good. :D It's been four years coming, but it's finally done. On to the next one. Hopefully it'll be a bit quicker. Get your own copy here: mybook.to/GoneHome1

Down to 83 at the first initial whetting. This is the easy part. Choosing one song/band will be a bit harder and then the real pain begins as I start making the hard decisions...

So, today I refreshed my list of potential Sound of Madness prompts - we are currently sitting at 212. By the end of the month, I need to cut that down to 25. I'm sure it'll be fine.

Yikes. The added bonus of going through the list of songs I added to my Spotify playlist this year is that I can weed out all the AI shit now that I know the signs. I'm sad to say a few got past me, but I'm rectifying that. There are a couple I'm mad about because I genuinely liked them 😒

Look, I decidedly was shit about updating this thread. I also know 2025 isn't over yet, but I'm too excited to get started on the prompt list for the 2026 Sound of Madness Reading Challenge, so today I'm refreshing the list of song titles I can work with. Btw, it's not too late to join this year!

Blog post and newsletter are now live! Miserere has been picked for Kobo's Best of the Year BOGO sale and the details are here: www.tfrohock.com/blog/2025/11...