What a smashing start to the month it has been. The Locus Magazine Awards have been announced, and though we didn’t make the finals, I’m very appreciative of those who recommended me and the series for nomination and inclusion on the 2023 recommended reading list. What a great set of finalists it is. All the best to all my pals on there!
We do, however, have a frisson of excitement out there for our new ToC for Best of British Science Fiction 2023, announced earlier this week. Look at those splendid names on the cover! This will launch in July and I’d like to do something a bit special for it… watch this space. In the meantime, pre-orders are available!
In other book news, I went to the launch of The Periwinkle Perspective: The Brotherhood of Man – the fifth book in the series by the fabulous Paul Eccentric, which included fizz, cake, and a wonderful performance by The Antipoet. Five books now, can you believe it? And the sixth is coming out in November. I have some reading to catch up on!
We have celebrated a few things this month, including mine and Neil’s anniversary and Neil’s birthday. For our anniversary, Neil and I went to Leicester’s Cocoa Amore to do a chocolate workshop, which was brilliant fun and very educational to boot.
Did you know that cocoa fruits get mostly just thrown away, and yet they’re delicious? Isn’t that an absolute crime? Cocoa Amore sells the juice as Cacao Quench, and it’s gorgeous and refreshing.
Did you know that “natural flavouring” could mean the vanilla in your chocolate comes from a beaver’s anal glands? By the way, it absolutely or at least most probably will not. There’s only a very small percentage of beaver butt chocolate in the world and I don’t think it’s even a Nestle policy to use it. I mean, the amount of chocolate we consume in this country, we’re quite happy to accept a company employing kids in the supply chain, and exploiting the poor farmers and all that, but for God’s sake, leave the beaver butts alone! Still, someone must still be doing it somewhere in the world. I mean who even thought, ooh I wonder what the secretions from a milked beaver’s anal glands taste like? Oh hang on, that’s absolutely delicious! Now get that image out of your heads while I segue to…
Rushden! Where we have just learned that beavers are about to be re-introduced back into the wild around the lakes. This is very exciting news. For God’s sake don’t go rushing to Rushden to taste their butts, this is not why I am imparting this news to you. A walk from Rushden to Irthlingborough was just the ticket yesterday as we tried to clock up some fitness Brownie (not Beaver) points ahead of birthday celebrations. We saw highland cattle, numerous ducks and geese, a flying egret, and heard the distinct call of a cuckoo. No beavers just yet, except for on the poster announcing their imminent arrival, but we did see a naked (well in a thong, but only a thong) lady, sunbathing on a distant lake shore. If this was you, naked woman of Rushden, no, you’re not actually practically invisible from that distance. First bit of sun, some Northamptonians go bonkers, I tell you.
Speaking of celestial bodies (the Sun, not the near naked lady), I hope you managed to catch Friday night’s aurora borealis display, which was particularly strong across the UK, enabling me to see the phenomenon for the first time ever in my life. Check my back garden photos!
Other things to note, as I eat the last slice of birthday cake for breakfast, it’s time to refresh my efforts towards health. From my body shape, I think my liver needs a bit of a break from alcohol and sugar. It’s another 3 months to my next blood test, which should give me some time to turn things around. I’ve got some great plans for my future so I don’t want to bugger them up by keeling over. The brain needs kindness too. I feel bad for my Noom coach who has worked so hard with me, but I think my psychology is best fitted to positive reinforcement through reward-doubling, which I have absolutely learned through Noom, but I just don’t want to be constantly told to eat and log. Fewer gigs and more editing has led to more sitting down too, so I know I need to kick my own butt here too.
And with that, I’m headed to the shops….
“For God’s sake don’t go rushing to Rushden to taste their butts,” !! Love it, Donna! Your posts are always interesting and funny. So glad that May has been good for you so far. And all the best with re-focussing on your health – I always remember Christopher Priest saying in a post somewhere that the traditional publishing world moves so slow it’s important for writers to live long. So that’s my excuse for spending money on fancy health food and exercise!