As the subject of this post indicates, I’ve spent this last week in the south-west of England, Bristol to be precise, hoping that the change of scenery would do me some good in terms of breaking open Mechanicum, and also just because I could. I brought the laptop down, thinking that I’d be able to hook up to Bristol’s much vaunted free, city-wide wifi network, only to find that most of the places you’d actually want to sit and do some work are all dominated by networks that charge exorbitant rates to log on. As it turns out, it’s the smaller, non-chain pubs that offer the best coverage – something that, after reading No Logo by Naomi Klein, I’m very pleased with. So I’m sitting in the King’s Head pub, just down from Kingswood as I’m typing this and enjoying a pint of the Black Gold (sorry, just read Irvine Welsh’s ‘If you loved school, you’ll love work’ and the novella ‘The Kingdom of Fife’ has once again turned me into (more of) a foul-mouthed, patois-spouting Scotsman).

Over the last few months, I’ve had occasion to visit the south-west more than a few times and, never having had reason to do so before, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much I like it. The folk here are friendly and the city of Bristol itself is attractive, with a vibrant city-centre and some really nice surroundings. I’m not quite ready to move out of Nottingham just yet, but I think I could get to like the south-west in time. I’ll need to see if BL can get me down for a signing in a Bristol GW…I hear there’s one in Cribbs Causeway…

In other work news, I’m now finished the comic strip for Boom! and they seem mighty pleased with it, so I’m looking forward to seeing how that looks – and perhaps doing more work for them. Having said that, I’ve a few things I know are going to be snapping at my heels soon, work-wise, but the giant elephant in the room that is Mechanicum is looming over me like a dirty great looming thing. Next week…oh yes, next week the great white hunter is going to put that lurking pachyderm down with a silver bullet between the eyes, conservation be damned!

In signing news, I’m appearing in a couple of places on Black Library Day, which, if you haven’t seen the announcements on the BL site, is this Saturday…the 17th of May. I’ll be in Warhammer World between 12 noon and 1pm, then I’ll be motoring down to GW Nottingham in Friar Lane to sign books and chat between 1:30pm and 2:30pm (alongside the great Andy Hoare, I believe…). Hope to see you there.

On the reading stand: I’ve just finished ‘If you liked school, you’ll love work,’ a collection of short works by Irvine Welsh, which were typically skewed tales, which often led you to think you were being led to a very dark place, but then veered away at the last moment. Which was kind of odd, given Irvine Welsh’s previous books, but it was a change, so reason enough to do it I suppose. I’ve also just finished Eric Brown’s, ‘Kethani’, which was, as Mal Green described it to me, ‘a science-fiction novel about going down the pub.’ An interesting read about humankind’s first contact with aliens and the ‘gift’ they bring. Enjoyable and easy reading, though not a lot really happens that would be considered sci-fi as such…which I guess is kind of the point. Good stuff and I’d heartily recommend it.

Anyway, I’m off to cook dinner now, so talk to you soon.

Graham