Catching up ...

Well, the new antibiotics, which I've been instructed to take as well as the previous prescription, seem to be working: I'm feeling (and apparently looking) much healthier than I have for a while. I suspect the infection has been taking its toll for some weeks, the recent gum infection being merely another development in a series that's included lack of energy, recurring headaches and a mild mood-slump.

So! I'm catching up with myself this week: reviews, mundanities, maybe even some writing. Also plenty of sitting in the sunshine. If you're waiting for something from me, your wait may be nearing its end ... Does not constitute any binding legal agreement

Miscellanea:

* Times Online article concerning Estonia Property Farce: I'm informed that the police investigation has been scaled up and there is less chance of conflict of interest there.

* free glass of Prosecco at well-known pizza restaurant

* Arthur C Clarke Award shortlist announced: shall be reading all six (three down, three to go) as I'm on the Not the Clarkes panel at Eastercon, wherein (traditionally) the panelists discuss just how wrong the Clarke jury has been, and fail to predict the winner of the Award.

2009/20: Martin Martin's On the Other Side -- Mark Wernham

Martin Martin's On the Other Side -- Mark Wernham

We're all like ... eels in the mud at the bottom of the river, all burrowing away in our little tubes, eating the fucking mud and thinking that there's nothing else going on -- just our little tunnel and our mud and our wriggling. But that's not how it is. There's totally, like, a fucking whole lot more to it. Like, eels, yeah, they're just in the mud at the bottom of the river, They think that's all there is. Until they get grabbed by a hungry trampy, then they discover that there is air and blue sky and the whole world above the river. Then they get stabbed in the head and have their skin stripped off and then they get eaten. (p. 180)
( my slightly-spoilery review )