AUGUST 2025 This month’s “missive” essentially writes itself. Even so, I would probably have started by going on about the summer weather, the beach, my new implement for securing the bottom of the umbrella in the sand, and my lingering doubts about yellow as a colour for ankle socks, but having a son in Australia …
Agatha Christie in space or just Death En Route to Neptune?💉🗡️💣 Read More »
JULY 2025 I’ve recently started taking swimming lessons. I’m going to have a total of eight one-on-one sessions. It’s expensive (a very generous gift from my wife!) but only about the same price as taking four people out to dinner in a decent restaurant, or slightly less than a meal for one in the kind …
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master … 🏊 🏊 🏊 Read More »
MAY 2025 So, I was going to apologise for sticking the new novel in another Bookfunnel promo, but I’ve been studying the dark arts of book marketing for “indies” recently, and the received logic seems to be that I should offer discounts and deals on early books in the series and sell the new one …
A Martian Ending launched at last (and FREE until Monday!) 🌎🚀🪐 Read More »
MAY 2025 Book news at last! A Martian Ending is (WAS!) now available as an “Advance Review Copy”. I know I’m always saying how much I want reviews, so you’d think I’d be encouraging you to go and grab one. But next month the damn thing will be free on Amazon for a few days …
APRIL 2025 A few weeks ago, we were out for lunch with my wife’s sister and her brother-in-law. She’s retired, but he’s a lawyer and shows little sign of slowing down. He also teaches at the university in the fine Spanish city where they live, and for some reason we got talking about taboo subjects …
MARCH 2025 Okay, we’re back on track. So, if you’re in need of a bit of escapism, how about a journey to Neptune to brighten up the fickle month of March? At nearly 60,000 words, what was originally intended to be a short story to take advantage of a free couple of months while I …
FEBRUARY 2025 It’s all too easy to get overtaken by events. There I was around January 16 thinking about comparing myself to Jeff Bezos as he waited to finally get his New Glenn rocket off the ground after any number of frustrating setbacks and delays over the last few years. There are a few differences …
JANUARY 2025 First of all, Happy New Year! If you spend any time on social media, you’ll already know that 2025 is a “perfect square year” and the only one you’ll ever see (the last was 1936 and the next will be 2116). In other words, 2025 is equal to 45 x 45, as well …
DECEMBER 2024 This month, inspired by two fairly recent TV shows, I find myself drawn back to a favourite topic. The first show is Spanish and is called Machos Alfa, which doesn’t need a translation, does it? It’s a comedy and improves as the writers get to know their characters and become bolder with their …
Reflections on gender, book news and a sneak peek at the next cover! Read More »
NOVEMBER 2024 My original idea for this month was to comment on October’s astonishing scenes as Space X managed to catch the Super Heavy booster right there on the launch pad with those crazy “chopsticks”, but that all seems to have been eclipsed by Elon Musk’s slightly disturbing contribution to the re-election of his presidential …
Catching rockets, winning elections and more Kindle deals Read More »
