Richard Wright

Good grief, is it June? What the hell happened to May? Anybody? Anybody seen the month of May?

I was offline for a bit, while we switched out Internet provider and went wireless (we are now a two-laptop household), and somehow several weeks passed before trying to catch up here. Sorry about that. Lots of things to talk about, but here’s a potted history of the last few weeks.

- We went to Centerparcs in the Lake District for a week, as Eva’s first official holiday. I was expecting plastic looking trees and animatronic animals, all designed to strip the city dweller of tourist dollars. What I got was a secluded little chalet in a proper forest, with rabbits and peacocks wandering around the back door – very nice indeed, and utterly relaxing. Eva discovered pony trekking, boats, and water parks, all of which could become lifelong obsessions.

- As mentioned, we discovered wireless internet at home. This is a good thing, even if it is cooking our brains. Sometimes, you have to take the bad with the good.

- I went to Swansea, briefly. Not briefly enough, alas. Not a city that oozes charm…

- My car died a death by MOT (to make it roadworthy would have been disproportionate, given how much it was bought for). A new car has since been acquired, a six year old Punto which does the business. The poor state of the Polo even makes it feel like an upgrade. There are honest-to-goodness electric windows, and… hold your breath… a tape player (the Polo had a mere hole in the dashboard, where a tape player might once have been). Of course, I haven’t owned a cassette tape in six years, but Kirsty has a stash of ancient classics upstairs, and it has a radio too. I know, I know – but it makes me happy. The only thing I’m still trying to establish a point in is the “City Drive” function, which makes the power steering so sensitive that a paraplegic could probably navigate the car through an obstacle course with their teeth. Still, in the Polo the power steering was called ‘arms’, so having it at all is nice.

- At long last, my divorce from my previous partner is going through. A huge relief, about fifteen months overdue. I’ve never been divorced before, and have felt that I am somehow missing out. I wonder if there’s a badge? I’ll find out in about four weeks.

There have been writing things too, so you can prepare for a wealth of entries about that. It’s good to be back though. I’ve missed all of you – even you at the back, the one who’s a bit embarrassed to be here, because you’re sure that horror, science fiction, fantasy, and all the other things that I write, are somehow not for grown-ups. I’ll give you my thoughts on that soon, and tell you how I’m connected to the British Fantasy Awards, Black Death Books, and more.

Oh, and I know I probably owe at least half of you an email. I’m getting to it…

Stay tuned…