Aliens and Knickers

After the recent horrific heat, now we have charcoal skies, strong breezes and monsoon rain. All hail the English summer…!

So who’s been watching Torchwood? The longer story format works well, I think; better than the one story per episode format, as the plot is much more rounded. I prefer Torchwood to Dr Who--not that with our resident Dr Who fan I don’t end up watching both. Usually, anyway.

I’ve been reading Laurell K Hamilton’s Skin Trade (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter) and there’s only one thing wrong with it--I’ve got stacks of work to do and I keep thinking about what’s happening in that instead. No, seriously, it’s an excellent detective story. The prose is tight and the plot fast-paced, and so far (¾ through the novel) Anita’s kept her knickers on. No doubt they’ll fly off at some point. However, the emphasis of this novel is firmly on hunting down the bad guys. A great read.

I was chatting with someone recently--no names to be mentioned--and she was complaining about the amount of fan art which her novels have inspired. In her shoes, I’d be thrilled to bits! If my characters inspired anyone to create drawings or paintings, I’d be so flattered…!

Soooo…. Now it’s the countdown to Parallel Dimensions, which takes place this coming Saturday (July 11th, 2.30pm, West Kirby Library, Wirral). A couple of trusty volunteers have been plastering MySpace(s) with the poster. So if your page there has been swamped with ‘em, this will be why--*evil chuckles*!!! They’ve also been sending out press releases to every fantasy and sci-fi mag Google can summon, plus local press, TV and radio stations. Thanks go to Taliesin and Kate for their hard work.

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