Re-boot

What's that bump bump smack sound?

It's me coming back down to earth after an amazing weekend - and landing pretty heavily.

First of all, I went on a train trip to London, with my packed egg sarnie for breakfast, some orange and mango squash (my current lifesaver - stops me spending a fortune on Irn Bru), and some allotment raspberries and more sandwiches for lunch. Not spending your fancy London prices on mere food, no sirree! Some mutual outfit admiration occurred with some rainbow-bedecked youngsters off to the Pride March.

 Arriving with some time to kill, I went to one of my favourite places in London - the British Library, where I met up with friends for a chat in the open air terrace. Kings Cross looks rather like Hogwarts peeking out from behind, doesn't it?

I took this photo early on at my book launch in London, which was at The Star of Kings in Kings Cross. The room got pretty packed and people were still turning up after the event had finished to say hi and have a beer with us in the glorious sunshine. Such a lovely time. There was my Best of British Science Fiction 2016 and Elasticity: the Best of Elastic Press being launched.

Unfortunately, here I did spend some fancy London monies on cider. But it was hot! and I was there all day! That's my excuse, and I'm hiccing to it.

The train journey home was quite eventful, as one of my comedy heroes came and sat at the same table as me: Nish Kumar. And I bumped into him again at his gig, which was at a pub where I was meeting more friends to round off the day of loveliness. I promise I wasn't stalking him! I am a fellow comic, just occasionally I can't help a bit of fan squeedom, as I'm a geek and that's just the nerdy social awkwardness I'm made of. Plus he's really, really funny. I also saw other comics, but I know them, and therefore no need to name, but if they happen to be reading this, don't worry I think you're great too, okay? Sheesh!

Nish's Saturday night gig at my local was actually part of a comedy festival, for which weekend tickets had been made available. But as I was at a book launch all Saturday I'd only bought tickets for the Sunday.


And here is where I feel... awkward.

It was a great festival, I wanted to support it and the friends playing there, and I had a lovely time, and I got to see Ed Byrne, who I've wanted to go watch for 20 years (since 20 years ago, not for that longevity... that would be stalkerish). But there's something about being an old hand of the local scene who the new and extremely professional folks organizing this thing don't really know, and being in what I dub 'Puntersville' that made me feel... weirdly insubstantial. I didn't really know any of the crowd who'd bought tickets either, which was quite an alienating experience as there's normally folks to hang about with at comedy gigs I tend to go to. I kind of felt like a goldfish in a bag being introduced to the big pond, but instead of gently acclimatizing, actually starting to feel a bit short of oxygen and realizing I'm probably never going to get out of the bag. I'm going to die in this bag, and no one will notice...

Now if that doesn't sound like the plot of Finding Emo...

I'm sorry... I have had a really successful year in terms of publishing, and felt a bit of momentum happening in my performing too, but sometimes if I sit and think about it too long, it feels like everything crumbles and disappears. I don't know how to Houdini myself out of the bag...

Is that a bad example? Didn't Houdini have a sudden attack of appendicitis in a water tank and drown?

Ah well... I'm sure if I pull my socks up, I can get over it. And never ask anyone to punch me in the guts before going on stage.

Anyhoo... lovely weekend, but I'm looking at a strictly biznizz rest of the month, as I had  a horrible financial surprise, and then realised I've made a huge miscalculation in my budget and failed to make any headway on next year's transport. Not the end of the world, but I think I need to organize a re-boot.

The Best Things in Life and Other Pretty Wish Ponies

We all know that the best things in life are free.

Of course, if you get stuff for free (air/education/unconditional love), these tend to be the things that you vastly under-appreciate. It does take a moment of centring to properly reflect on just how lucky we are. I've got a lovely life, and though I do get sad at not being able to share my news with my mom, or incredibly frustrated at the crappy news on the telly, I'm still pretty jammy.

But let's keep all the philosophical rainbows for the end when you've stopped reading.

I want to tell you about all the good free stuff I've enjoyed this week. Stuff you could probably put a monetary value to. But if you are hoping I am going to start rubbishing free stuff that is beyond price, please do stick around for the philosophical rainbows. You need them.

First of all, I would like to recommend a listening thing to you: a rather wonderful podcast by the fantasy writer Emma Newman called Tea and Jeopardy in which she interviews different writers each week in her secret tea lair, offers them cake, and then puts them in a spot of mild peril while her slightly psychotic 'butler' makes amusing quips. With a rather busy and stressful week, I tell you this podcast has kept me sane. It's interesting and funny and well worth a listen.

Secondly, a thing to go and see...

You can go and see Richard III - A Facial Reconstruction at Northampton Museum and Art Gallery. It's there on loan until 5th January 2014. OH and I went to the private view, which had a grand unveiling and an introduction by Dr Phillip stone, Chairman of Richard III Society. There was free wine, which OH enjoyed (I had a lovely orange juice) and while we gathered downstairs, a lady played some Michael Nyman tunes on a baby grand. We bumped into current Bard of Northampton, Peter James Norman, who was telling us about his Northampton Castle film project, which sounds really exciting.

This was the crowd gathered about the unveiled head.

OH had a whale of a time discussing sword fighting and conspiracy theories. I was fascinated by how the head was made using a 3D printer, and by finding an angle to stand at for his eyes to look normal (you have to be below him; he's then looking down his nose at you, rather aptly).

On further examination, Richard III does not appear to be related to my husband.

My friend Tamsyn commented, "A sword up the backside, wasn't it?"

And it would have been a very frugal and free evening, but the night was young and the pubs were still open when we left the museum... damn!

To enjoy free, fun things going on does involve a bit of organisation. My Saturday was a brilliant day of pampering frugalness.

First of all, I headed to town to enjoy a wonderful Clarins Spa "Face and Eyes Refresher" facial. It was absolutely wonderful! I felt sooo chilled out at the end of it. It was a 45 minute session targeting "signs of tiredness and stress", and oh boy did it work. I won that session from a competition in a brochure at the centre that I completed earlier in the year (- it's well worth doing these competitions, so long as it doesn't cost you to enter. You have to be in it to win it! I was organised in that I made sure I didn't have to use any postage and handed my entry in at the centre office). The session would normally have cost £38, and now I know what it can do, I would say save up for a special treat for one of those as they are great. I also got a lot of free samples of the products used so I can replicate some of what they did at home. Yippee!

Then I had to undo a bit of the work by getting back on the bus and trying to find the Royal Mail depot in the back of beyond where they'd sent a parcel. I could have paid £1.50 to have it delivered more locally, but I'm glad I didn't as it was only my Cokezone Rewards gift (there was a football in the pack so it didn't fit through the letterbox). I'd have been annoyed at paying for something free to be delivered. The only thing was, I didn't realise the depot didn't sell postage, and I had a manuscript with me to send off. So that missed last post as I then had to travel back to Northampton. Grr!

Good thing then, that I had a voucher on me for a free Sprite from Subway - I jolly well needed it by then!

Good job, too, that I decided to replace my makeup that I broke while I was back in town, as I'd forgotten I'd arranged to go to a charity dinner in the evening. There I was in my walking boots and thick jumper, when OH said, "You'd better start getting ready, we're being picked up in ten minutes. Why am I wearing a suit? It's black tie!" Eeek!

But I have been going au naturel and wasn't bothered at all. I had just chosen then to replace my makeup to take advantage of a promotion to get extra makeup stuff that was on offer. So I got twice the makeup for my money, and didn't buy anything that I wouldn't have intended to. It's stuff that suits me, doesn't make my skin flare up, and is low-market price, so all good.

...and on the bus, I was reading my free book, Dream London by Tony Ballantyne. Jolly good it is too.

And as we are about to have another huge financial obligation (not a bad thing) impose on our budgetary  plans, it's going to be all the more important to enjoy ourselves and appreciate the time we have together, without reaching into our pockets too deeply to fund it. For example, tomorrow, we intend to see World War Z for 'free' at the Picturedrome. It will be necessary to buy a drink, but we don't have to go mad. Let's not do a Richard IV...

Of course, being frugal can mean different things to lots of people, but essentially it's about not being wasteful with resources, time, and especially money. I don't see anything wrong with 'supporting' local businesses, especially independent ones. They keep your local economy going. And it's worth investing time -  your bum on a seat - to keep the cool things you love happening in your town going. Sometimes, it's worth balancing what you can get for your buck, with the investment that buck is making into creating more stuff. and that's why I am not totally averse to spending money if I have it on things that I don't necessarily 'need'. Heck, a lot of the time, that's just not possible.

Books are a prime example. I have access to a lot of free books through my work, and through the library. I've been thinking more lately about how I support the creators when I do spend money on books. And I have been thinking about it more since my discussion with writer Juliet E. Mckenna on her blog. Because of that discussion, I have decided to remove my Amazon Associates widget from this blog. It doesn't seem right to have any click-throughs support a selling behemoth that is not really helping readers to discover the fantastic writers out there. However, I am hoping to do my bit to help with a 'bums on seats' initiative that I am thinking through at the moment, and will hopefully be able to shout about soon.

EDIT: the best things in life really are free though. Like the time to write this blog! I'm having such a chilled Sunday - it's wonderful! Going to spend some time with my hubby later watching films, eating roast chicken, maybe make some scones to be consumed with blackberry jam. What could be better than that?

Beautiful and Wonderful Things in the Post -BSFA magazines

I felt a huge surge of pride when I opened the post on Monday and saw I had received copies of Vector and Focus  - the magazines of the British Science Fiction Association, of which I have been Chair since June. 

Fantastic cover art by Kev Rooney

Of course, I've always thought the magazines were pretty ace; Vector is the association's critical journal and features some great articles and critical analysis concerning contemporary and classic science fiction - mainly in literature. I sometimes write reviews for it, but haven't got anything in this issue (in the next one I have). I'm particularly looking forward to reading the features on Adam Roberts' and Stephen Baxter's work... picture me later with my feet up and a pot of Lady Grey on the go and some Elizabeth Shaw mints to nibble (rescued from a party... nobody wanted them. Nobody wanted delicious minty chocolate!!! What is the world coming to?).

I've popped Focus foremost in the piccie though because I'm particularly proud to have had the chance to be involved with the editorial work. Guest editor this issue was the fantastic writer Kim Lakin-Smith (my Matron of Honour at my wedding this year!) and the cover features a plate illustration for a new edition of her gorgeous first novel Tourniquet. The artist, Kev Rooney, is from Northampton and is a creator of beautiful gothic artwork and stories. I quite honestly think it's one of the best writing magazines out there, and the current issue focuses on writing groups.



My byline! Mostly Kim's...

Kim, Kev, Shana, Alex, Steve, Clive and all the contributors to the magazines... awesome job!

In frugal news:

• I went to my brother and sister in law's house to deliver a birthday present and came home with two courgettes from their allotment and boxes of raspberry and chilli tea. OH and I are now fighting over who can grab the most tea. We love this tea! Thanks, bro!
• I made an amazing pie from the free apples I got from said same allotment the other day. I used a Good Housekeeping Dutch apple pie recipe, but used almond essence instead of vanilla as I'd run out of vanilla. Looked ugly as it exploded from the glut of apple filling, but was very yummy.
• Getting ready for Christmas... used my Cokezone points which were going to expire on 15th to grab a sporty present suitable for a young nephew. I had been going to get makeup, but they'd stopped the offers already. Too bad as I smashed my foundation and blusher on Saturday by accidentally dropping them. I endeavoured to rescue as much foundation as I could, only to realise I was smearing tiny little particles of glass onto my face. Not recommended. Best thing about the Cokezone points - they were mostly gained through picking up litter in my messy street. I am a litter-picking hero! You threw money away fools! Almost as good as  the time I saw a guy deliberately throw an unwanted receipt on the floor of a petrol station - only it wasn't a receipt, it was his tenner change! You didn't want it, I'm having it, foolish man!
• Number of homemade birthday cards made this week so far - two.
• After a discussion about blogs at the weekend, I promise never to waste time or resources on bunting. Sorry if you like bunting.
• Trigger warning! Also, apparently people can become enraged at the sight pictures of food, so sorry for the below, which is indeed of my lunch. But I made it myself out of very cheap ingredients: olive oil bread was made using Carrs breadmaker (I don't have a machine; I am my own breadmaker) brown bread flour - currently on offer in Sainsbury's at 80p for 2kg, which works out at around 15p for a 1lb loaf. Quite yummy too - just switch olive oil for your fat in a regular quick wholemeal bread recipe, and knead in oil instead of dry flour, and it picks up the lovely, rich olive oil flavour. That's served with carrots and a yummy mushroom and bean pate. This is using up beans left over from another recipe. I know brown sludgy stuff isn't everyone's idea of yummy, but I like it. It's basically half a tin of black-eyed peas, drained (currently on offer 4 for £1 at Sainsbury's), plus about 1/4 pack basic mushrooms, chopped in large chunks and cooked down in a pan (97p punnet), 28g of cheddar (offer 800g for £5.00), and salt, pepper, sage and parsley to taste. Whizz together in a food processor until slightly coarse. This makes 4 good portions for 35p. Whole lunch here cost around 16p!
  
  

Paper plates make lunchtime feel like a party - yay!



Ooh - and I may be able to do a bit of copywriting using Textbroker as I've been accepted as a 4* writer. Cool!

Edge-Lit and Everything After - Undoing the Damage...

The Science-Fiction fan readership of this blog may possibly have taken a look at my latest blog title, and gone, "Damage? What damage? Oh my life, what happened at Edge-Lit? What juicy tidbit could we possibly have missed?" Because, ah, fickle Interwebverse, it seems that barely a week goes by in the world of genre literature without someone writing about something that went horribly wrong, or something that someone else disagrees with. Because books can make people all hot and fiery. As hot and fiery as the crisps at the launch of Spacewitch and Fox Spirit's Noir Carnival... (they were jolly hot).

 I don't really want to get into the fish and chip paper, even if it irks me when I see the term 'victim-blaming' used by a well-intentioned (?) pro-feminist man against a female writer who has very recently bared her soul and come out as a survivor of abuse. Cons are great things to go to, and we can all as fans, as professionals, as influencers, as human beans, use our powers to 'pay it forward'. And by 'it', I mean that lovely, warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you've been somewhere nice and met lovely people you share common ground with and feel all included and happy and glad you went. I appreciate that's not how most of you experience hangovers, but I'm a jammy sod, and that's my privilege.

Anyhoo, the damage I refer to is twofold: yet again, I suffer this week as hayfever contends with the germs circulating round the air-conditioning, it is clear I lowered my defenses by imbibing some lots of pinot grigio. I'm fine, just I start sounding like the penguin from Toy Story if I go on for too long.

Secondly, even though I stayed in a grotty budget room (knocking shop?) by myself and used all my internet savvy to get there cheaply, and didn't drink until it was officially 'evening', and just came home with the free books, it was so hot in Derby town centre, that I probably bought shares in evil Coca Cola. At least the first bottle of the day had my OH's name on, so I could say, "He's here! I just got very thirsty..." Beware my powers!

So what did I get up to? Well, I did what I went to do, and met lots of writers and fellows (who need editors, of course), and met up with friends and colleagues, and nabbed potential event guests and article contributors. And I came back with even more to do...

There were panels I went to on crime fiction, as well as fantasy fiction, and even though it was very warm in the cinema rooms and I had to battle with what I realise is now probably a mild form of narcolepsy (not once in the last 6 months have I managed to stay awake for an entire cinema film, or bus journey of more than 20 minutes.Yes - be glad I don't drive!), they were all very enjoyable. (I kept coming to and seeing Conrad Williams on stage staring at me. Eek! Sorry...)

Going logo...

I went to the joint launch of Spacewitch website for independent publishers, and Noir Carnival by Fox Spirit Books (click the link to see videos of readings at Edge-Lit from their latest anthology - ooh, er, I'm in the audience!!!). They supplied wine, very hot crisps, olives and gorgeous cupcakes. Damien G Walter came up to chat to me while I was trying to get into the butter cream, so I had to hold back a bit to avoid looking like a right butter cream-loving pig... otherwise nom, nom, nom. Schlurp!

Lots of cool books by Fox Spirit.

Del Lakin-Smith launches Spacewitch. My eyes! These photos didn't look so blurry on my phone...

 

All in all, it was a great event, and I loved spending time with friends in publishing.

 

In the morning, I went for a tiny explore of Derby town centre, taking in the outside of the historic market hall, and the cathedral, which was just about to have a service, so I didn't go in. The cathedral has green men on the entrance! I didn't take any pics because my battery was going. See this picture from the Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project:

 

 

So, extreme frugaldom is called for, with an added twist: healthy eating. Unfortunately, all the week's budget has gone on the cats, whose little friends have developed immunity to Frontline, damn them. So, for us human beans, I'm using up stuff we have and have spent just £7.30 on the week's shop. Oh yes! Yellow sticker a-go-go.



 

Red Pesto Pollock with Fennel Rice and vegetables

First dinner of the week for 2 comes in for me at £2.71 - so that's £1.35 per portion, and is very yummy and nutritious. Apart from the free garlic, the ingredients were all sourced from shops at non-reduced prices, so most should be able to repeat for the same money. Go to the market at 3 to get more fruit and veg in your £1 bowls, but no later, as the stalls may close or sell out.

Ingredients:
Sainsburys's basic pollock fillets - £2.00
Sainsbury's basic stock cube, half - £0.005
Basic long grain rice (40p per kilo) - £0.04
Home Bargains red pesto, 49p per jar - £0.13
garlic - free from garden
a few fennel seeds - use them if you have them, they're nice!
1 x onion from market £0.10
2 x tomatoes from market £0.05
1/4 bag green beans from market £0.25
half a market pepper £0.13

Very basically, set your oven to 200 degrees for the fish. Meanwhile, chop and  saute your veg in a pot with some oil or a little water if you can get away without using any, and if you have the fennel seeds, add them at this point so they release more flavour. Measure out 50g rice per person and add them to the veg pot and top with cold water to about 2cm above the top. Crumble in the stock cube and simmer away until the rice has absorbed all the water, about 20 mins.

Make 2 foil parcels for your fish, and spoon the pesto on top. Fold the foil over, making a fold to allow for steam. In a preheated oven, they will take 20-25 mins.

Waste not, want not: when everything was done, I added the juices released by the cooked fish to the rice for extra flavour and stirred through. Serve!

 Dinner yesterday was light shepherds pie, made with basic peas, basic gravy, yellow sticker lean lamb mince, yellow sticker swede mash on top, and served with yellow sticker cabbage and a drizzle of mint sauce. Less than £1 a big portion.

I'm joining in SFT with her health kick, as I'm turning 40 next month, and need to be FAB. But until then, can I resist the cider...?