Raven

Publication Day. Major spoiler in the video! (sorry, I didn't realise that when I originally posted the link!). A happy/sad kind of day. I think I may have to get this [in hardback] . . .

No, Daft Babbie. (you spelt Wullie wrong as well!).

It's broken, I just got my own name!

Well, I think that was a well judged lift into work this morning; the rain coming down outside is vertical ocean with slots in . . .

I'm looking forward to reading the blog entries, I have no idea how people pull books together and I think she will make it an interesting read.

For those in the UK, you might find this rain radar tracking site useful (or depressing, depending on your bent).

^ Interesting, I may have to spring for a Paperwhite next time around (although I would have expected this feature to be in the basic Kindle by now!).

It does tend to smack you around the head the first time you hear it, but I've actually warmed to it. Also, Bane impressions when you are down the pub are fun (even though they may not be entirely convincing . . .).

Yes, I did too, so I'm looking forward to this. William's has just got a deal to write another fantasy trilogy as well (different settings and characters) which I think she is going to blog about as she writes it. I got the book for 99p on my Kindle, but got fagged off scrolling up and down the page to read the footnotes, so I bought the dead tree version. I really like his description of marketing people in the intro . . .

Did anyone watch Big Blue Live last night? I thought it was quite good.

Picked up Ayoade on Ayoade by Richard Ayoade and The Iron Ghost by Jen Williams on Saturday. Not sure which one to read first . . .

The Dark Knight Rises Not as good as The Dark Knight, but better than I remembered. Bane's voice is still highly amusing . . .

It's a disappointing way for the series to end, but it was a brave move by Cook to put the Aussies in on Thursday. Some might say it was overconfidence, but if they had nicked a few quick wickets it could easily have been England that ended up on top. I'd still say the squad has a lot of work to do though . . .

So it's dark and as I sit here typing this I can hear the swish of cars driving past in the rain. Almost seems like autumn is on the way, a couple of months early.

New phone, on which I am typing this.

Lucy Certainly not what I was expecting... The basic story is quite good, and if it were played straight I think it would have been a good film, but Luc Besson's quirky direction is distracting (certainly when you aren't expecting all the inserts that take place in the first part of the film). Scarlett Johansson seems to be cementing a career as the new Milla Jovovich. Okay, but nothing I'd recommend going out of your way to see. The Monuments Men Drama about a group of men set the task of retrieving historical art treasures from the retreating Nazis at the end of WWII. Co-written and directed by George Clooney the film features a rather impressive cast (Bill Murray, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Bonneville as well as Clooney himself, to name a few). The story is interesting, but - again - the execution is flawed, with the main narrative being a bit disjoined and, oddly, a soundtrack that doesn’t seem to fit the mood of the film. Worth a watch if you are interested in WWII history, as it is based on a true story, but otherwise another one you can probably take or leave.

Wait 'til you get to Guards! Guards!

The best way to help a writer is to write a positive review and get it out there, even if it's just on Amazon. It will swing the other way at some point, I suspect Star Wars may give space based science fiction a bit of a kick later in the year.

I hope Rashid plays, if only to save us from another Boycott lecture on Ali.

. . . and now its raining . . . /astronomyfail

There are probably more than a few fantasy fans out there who are thinking "it's about time that worm turned!"

I've been following some of the Hugo controversy via different authors (mainly Paul Cornell's Twitter posts, but also George RR Martin's blog) and I think it is sadly just a sign of the times that the result of even a major award can be manipulated by a well organised minority. It's one thing when an online SFX magazine poll to find the best sci-fi film of all time is topped by Serenity, because of an organised fan campaign by the Browncoats*, but a major award really should look at their nomination and voting processes to try and eliminate this sort of manipulation, otherwise they risk losing all credibility (as has happened with the Hugo awards this year). When it comes to female authors, I personally think some commentators are showing remarkably short term memories. Yes, authors like George RR Martin are being pushed at the moment because their product is popular and bookshops need to sell books to stay in business, but it's not so long ago that it was Stephanie Meyer or JK Rowling who were hogging store displays and even today two of the most prominent SFF franchise - that are based on books - have been written by women (Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth), so it's not all bad. I think part of the driving force behind the debate about the lack of visibility/opportunities/availability of women authors in general is that there are suddenly a lot more women who are interested in purchasing SFF than there was, say, 20 years ago. The mainstream popularity of TV programs such as Buffy and Doctor Who; books series such as Harry Potter and Twilight and even superhero films such as Iron Man and The Dark Knight have brought a new female audience into a genre that was previously seen as a largely male only demographic and I think that some sections of the industry have been slow to grasp that (look at the on-going fuss about Black Widow in the latest Avengers film, that has now spilled over onto the DVD cover which only features Thor, Iron Man, Captain America and the Hulk. If Disney (who aren't exactly amateurs when it comes to marketing products for females) can screw things up, I guess some work is still required somewhere. I also think some of the points made above are very valid. I spend quite a bit of time in my local Waterstone's and my general perception is that people don't seem to spend a lot of time browsing books these days. A lot of people seem to go into book shops knowing what they want before they get there (because of a recommendation or they have researched it on the net) and they don't stop to look at other options outside of what they are after. Looking at the shelves in my local, there are a lot of SFF books by female authors, you just have to take the time to find them. I guess, in part, that if you want more books by women authors you need to find the good ones and then get out there and bang a drum for them. Personally, I think I can say hand-on-heart that with one exception** the sex, colour or orientation of the author has never been a factor in my book buying or reading; I've always chosen the story I like the sound of next. Having said that, looking at my book blog on here, since I joined in 2008 of the 152 books I've read in that time only 16 have been by female authors (and 7 of them were the Harry Potter books!). That may be changing, though, as I am now following some authors on Twitter which has led me to recently try novels by Jen Williams (SFF) and Robin Stevens (non-SFF). *They also manipulated and won the Film of the Year in the BBC's Film 2005 vote, but as the runner up was Revenge of the Sith I'm not complaining! **There was a period when I shied away from female fantasy authors after reading two rather twee/dull novels on the bounce. I've since found one that isn't either of those things, however.

Perseid meteors tonight, so of course it's 100% cloud cover . . .

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with the result, but I'm just not convinced this is the great resurgence of English cricket some of the media would have us believe. Neither Lyth or Bell have really shone this series, but we've had a great middle-order who have negated their poor form. Barring a sudden change in form I think both are on borrowed time, which is sad given Bell's performances down the years, but the team just can't keep carrying players that aren't performing. Exactly what I said on Twitter when we won!

Twas a good win, although part of me is still wondering whether we won it or Australia lost it, if you know what I mean. There's no doubt there have been some exceptional solo performances this series, but I still don't think England are there as a team just yet (especially some of the top order batting). South Africa, this winter, will be telling - one way or the other.