New Year -- Reading // Resolutions // Writing Plans

Jan 01, 2021 2:39 am

Hello from London,

Happy New Year.

Yes, 2020 was a lesson in humility, and the lesson is only two-thirds finished.

We're living in our own little version of a dystopian future, where everyone has to wear masks and your neighbours fall sick with the plague. Where our ordinary luxuries are suddenly out of reach and the fragility of our economies and our way of life is cast in unforgiving light. It's hard to understate how lucky we are that this virus doesn't have a longer incubation period, a higher fatality rate or a higher rate of transmission. To be blunt: we got off lightly.

And thank whichever god(s) or fate you believe in for that, because we as a society are clearly not ready to face a real threat of this nature. Let's hope by the next time a virus like this comes along (and, sooner or later, it will), our governing bodies are more prepared.

Let's put a line under that...

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There. Now about 2021.

We have several more months of this before the light at the end of the tunnel gets any closer. I intend to use that time constructively. It's too easy to fall into a reactive frame of mind and so I'm setting myself a few challenges for January.

One of those is to get to the end of book five of the Emily Voss series before the end of the month. I can then work on book six in February/March and be ready to publish the second set around the beginning of May.

If you haven't bought the first set, it's available by clicking right here.

I've lots of other plans for January, which aren't related to my writing. I've chosen to step into 2021 with a certain conscious aggressiveness in regard to my personal motivation and mindset.

How are you dealing with the annual transition in this benighted moment of history?

Book Review: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

I looked up some recommendations for the best science fiction of 2020 to read over Christmas week, and came across the winner of the Goodreads Choice Awards for Science Fiction.

You may already know Christopher Paolini from his fantasy work, but this is his first foray into science fiction.

I very much enjoyed this futuristic encounter with alien species and technologies. A relentless adventure that has the pacing of Dan Brown, and a setting set into the far future of our little corner of the galaxy.

It doesn't have the introspection of what I consider to be the great works of science fiction, but that's not what it's reaching for. This is an almost military sci-fi adventure with a female protagonist and a page-turner feel to it. It's also 900 pages long so you won't finish it in a heartbeat.

There's a full review on my website.

Read my Full Review

Check out the Book on Amazon

From Other Authors

Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar

Epic fantasy fiction with rave reviews on Amazon, please check out Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar to see if it's something you might enjoy. There's a free preview available on Amazon by clicking on the book cover there.

Game of Thrones meets Arabian Nights in this blood-soaked fantasy epic inspired by the crusades, featuring Lovecraftian gods, mischievous djinns, and astral magic!

They took his daughter, so Micah comes to take their kingdom. Fifty thousand gun-toting paladins march behind him, all baptized in angel blood, thirsty to burn unbelievers.

Only the janissaries can stand against them. Their living legend, Kevah, once beheaded a magus amid a hail of ice daggers. But ever since his wife disappeared, he spends his days in a haze of hashish and poetry.

To save the kingdom, Kevah must conquer his grief and become the legend he once was. But Micah writes his own legend in blood, and his righteous conquest will stop at nothing.