Eastercon Happened!

Dear readers, apologies for my absence. There has been a lot going on in Frugal Wenchdom - lots of doing fun stuff for very little, a  lot of saving.. and a bit of spaving and spending too.

One of the major things that happened was going to Eastercon in Glasgow. I had meant to write about this on my website but the software keeps rejecting my photos, which is very annoying. It would make more sense to write there as it has more to do with my writing/creative life - this blog looks at all that stuff too, but through a certain lens. So please bear with me while I attempt to convey both aspects of a lovely science fictional weekend...

I traveled to Glasgow by train on Thursday with OH. It is unusual for me to get to a con early, as I normally have my frugal head on and compromise being organized and unflustered for a night less hotel expenditure, but with several birthdays to celebrate Thursday was the best night to do this - and I'm so glad I went as this was a fantastic night. We had curry in a great value restaurant, and it was very nice indeed, and then popped next door to a proper whiskey bar. They had the world's oldest whiskey on sale at £900 a dram. Fortunately, the cider was pretty cheap! I took homemade cards for the birthday peeps. One of the pressies was a telescope bought from the antiques market. I accidentally broke the glass top of the box, so we had fixed it with genuine Northampton recycled shoe leather, and it looked pretty good.

First up con-wise, on the Friday was a book launch. This included several titles by Newcon Press and PS Publishing, including two PS collections of Ian Watson's work and also a poetry collection by him which he can be seen brandishing here.

Newcon Press was also launching Neil Williamson's novel, The Moon King (which I have read and it's awesome), an Imaginings novella by Eric Brown, and two anthologies - Femme and Noir, the latter featuring a story by me!

On Saturday, I had my first panel: Future Representation. "The panel explores SF literature in the context of what stories actually are, or are not, being told. Who gets to be in the future; what happens to everyone else; and who gets to decide?" This was moderated by Fran Dowd and included myself and novelists Ian Whates, Laura Lam and Stephanie Saulter. It was a great discussion!

 Saturday night, the entertainment was a swing band at the Space Admiral's Ball. I did my best Lindy hopping, which is not very good at all, but still managed to wear myself out completely.

Later, I noticed that one of the musicians was masquerading as author Juliet E. McKenna. I think it might have been the trumpet player.

I had a panel on Sunday, too: Poetic License - Does poetry allow exploration of challenging issues concerning gender, race and identity in ways that prose cannot? The panel was moderated by Ian Hunter and included Susan Bartholomew and Amal El-Mohtar as well as myself. Jo Fletcher was also due to have taken part, but she had a very sore throat and was unable to speak, which was a shame. Nonetheless it was a really fun panel, though an impromptu request to perform one of my poems had the old adrenalin going a bit.

In the evening it was the BSFA Award Ceremony. I got to present the James White Award.
This is an annual short story competition open to non-professional writers and the winner is chosen by a panel of judges made up of professional authors and editors. The James White Award was instituted to honour the memory of one of Ireland’s most successful science fiction authors, James White. The winner of the £200 first prize was “Beside the Dammed River” by DJ Cockburn, his story will be published in a future issue of Interzone. The judges also awarded a special recommendation to Vina Jin-Mae Prasad for her story “Flesh and Bone.” Neither of them were there to make a speech, so it was on with the ceremony for the BSFA Awards.

These lovely awards were made by Dan Brodie and Lauren Hubbard of Northampton's Skulls and Robots.The ray-gun shaped awards apparently caused one of the winners a bit of hassle at airport security... but all worth it, I hope!

The ceremony was hosted by Alice Lawson and Steve Lawson with guest presenters Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Jim Burns, Andrew J. Wilson and Stephanie Saulter. And these were the winners...

Best Non-Fiction: Wonderbook by Jeff Vandermeer.
Best Art: cover of Tony Ballantyne’s Dream London by Joey Hi-Fi.
Best Short Fiction: Spin by Nina Allan
Best Novel: ties between Gareth L. Powell for Ack Ack Macaque and Ann Leckie for Ancillary Justice.

M'friend Gareth L. Powell with his award, some champers and his stick. Aw!

Thanks to the wonderful crew at Satellite4, administrator Farah Mendelsohn, Claire Briarley, who helped with the awards, and John Meaney who lent us his laptop and saved our bacon!

After that we went to the disco and danced like frickin' demons.

I have to say this was one of the best conventions I have been to. It had interesting panels and things to do, it was well organized, friendly, and lovely Glasgow was within easy walking access. And yes, I do mean lovely. It's a great city. I was with wonderful friends and my husband - it couldn't have been better. A lot of the time I was stuck behind the BSFA desk, but that can give you a different perspective and a chance to chill. And knit...

One thing I really learned that weekend is that I need to be kinder to myself. I have been beyond tired lately, and it really caught up with me at the weekend. I wish I'd been more able to put this knowledge into practice recently, mind...

Frugalwise, here are my tips for keeping the spending down at cons:

Graffiti by the Clyde

1. Shop around for the best deals on hotels. Staying at the convention hotel is the most convenient option, but we chose to stay at the hotel next door. We had stayed at the other next door hotel before which was £30 a night cheaper this time round. The hotel we stayed at this time was only £10 cheaper per night than the main hotel, but we knew it would be comfy and have the all-important good breakfast included in the price. Oh, and there were special convention rates too! I checked to see if I could do better elsewhere, and no... it was a good deal.
2. Check facilities in advance. I checked and found there was a gym we could use, so we brought exercise clothes with us. I also found there was a mini-fridge in the room, so we bought things for sandwiches and made our own lunches.
3. Book transport early. We missed out on cheap flights and had to get the train. We used the Two Together card and Quidco to maximize what we could get for the money, but if we'd just been a bit earlier, maybe we could have reserved seats on what was a very crowded train.
4. Don't be lazy. £1.50 for a can of pop? Or walk out of the door to the shop and not spend half that? Of course, not advocating drinking that in the bar, where you should buy the drinks you consume. Bar spend is a crucial factor for conventions. We do our best...
5. Lovely free fresh air. A walk into the city centre was free. We saw great architecture, listened to music and enjoyed the riverside. Glasgow is full of graffiti art ahead of the Commonwealth games. It's like a big, open art gallery.
6.  The Best Things in Life: we limited our book spend budget to £30, which went in one book and a couple of comics. But then on the last day, the freeby tables had some awesome free books on them. My favourite freeby - a beautiful fabric-bound edition of Terry Pratchett's Men at Arms.
7. Launch parties: great places to bag those fast-selling limited edition books, nab authors for signatures, and grab a free wine.

We also took along vouchers for restaurants and pubs just in case. We didn't use them, but they were nice to have.

Make the most of your conventions.  There's always something new to try, somewhere new to go.

Giant Steps Are What You Take

Frugal fun

I am still chockablock with work,  and have only a few minutes to get my words down while on the bus. But I did take a break to do a couple of nice things in the last week.

The Moon Field

Last Thursday I went to a lovely free book reading for the launch of local author Judith Allnat's new book The Moon Field.
We learned about how family stories had inspired this tale of two working class lads who ended up volunteering to fight in the First World War. It is set against the picturesque and tranquil surroundings of Keswick, contrasted with the horror and destruction of Flanders. Can't wait to read it. There was wine and nibbles too.

Why not subscribe to your local library blog to see what interesting things they are putting on?

Not Now,  Chewie

It being the Chinese New Year (horse!), of course I spent a little bit of time with my family for story readings with my nephew and munching of new year cake (yum,  thanks,  Annie! )

However,  on Friday I went to a New Year party at my friend Zoe's house.  Her boyfriend is Mexican but lives in China so it seemed appropriate to celebrate... with a science fiction theme??? Yes. So OH and I dressed as rough interpretations of the Tom Baker Doctor Who and Bennie Summerfield (using our actual clothes) and joined Fliss, a couple of Neos, stormtroopers,  dragons, Alien, Predator, a Dalek, Arthur Dent a character from City of Bones,  Poison Ivy and Jon Pertwee. We played pass the parcel and Death Star piñata. They made that. Isn't it brilliant!

Scratting

Last week's 'found money' 10p. Diminishing returns methinks...

Things that make you go grr

Other bloggers have mentioned stuff that's not terribly helpful for those looking for the frugal way. I cite the BBC's Food and Drink.  Their 'budget' show had a great piece by Arabella Weir on how families might well choose biscuits over apples if down to their last 30p, but lovely Tom Kerridge and lovely Michel Roux junior were just a tad out of touch. Tom's recipe for lamb with mash and salsa  verde might well have costed down to £2 per portion but I suspect that capers, anchovies and fresh herbs are not store cupboard staples for the majority.  And where can you buy just 2 shallots? MRJ's recipe for souffle was even more badly thought out than that... costing a pudding at £2 per head hardly makes it budget.  And he used  vanilla pod... pod!

Yummy food for sure,  but could have done better.  I mean,  if you can buy a frozen gateau for £2, why spend hours making a pudding for £8?

Still love the show.  And OH tickled me by saying,  "I married Tom Kerridge.  Only the smaller version." Yeah,  never mind that he's also bald and a man. There's a compliment in there somewhere.

Oh, and I got quoted in The Guardian last week announcing the BSFA Award nominations.  Which was nice.

The Long Haul

Apologies...

Apologies, dear reader, for my absence. Life suddenly got very hectic. I have been doing so much work in the evenings I've not had time for my blog. Neither have I had a lot of heart as some of our financial plans were thwarted by unforeseen circumstances. Dur du-duuur! I see this blog as being about positivity, and need to be in a chipper frame of mind to write that way, hence I didn't write. However, plans are adjusted following our disappointment, so the mood lighting of this scene is a tad warmer and accompanied by some soft jazz. Chill... everything's gonna work out just fine...

Hello, hello?

 

Hello new follower, Bruce! Welcome.  I promise it's not always this chaotic round here. 

I am a Horror Writer. Welcome to my Darkplace...

Author... Dreamweaver...

What a couple of weeks I have had!  Over in writer/editor/science fiction land I have been working like crazy. A short  story has been finished and sent to my editor for publication a little later this year,  and I have been busy with BSFA Award stuff too. They will be announced next week. Editorial work has been taking up most of my time, though. I'm currently working on a memoir for a private commission at the moment which is very intensive, but the old East End character of the writer's voice shines through, so I'm thrilled to be helping with what will be a lovely and unique family heirloom. 

Over on the Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group blog, co-Chairman Ian Whates has summarised everything we've been up to in 2013. It already looks like this year is going to be even busier. Except I'm not getting married again. Apart from that, really, really busy.

One thing OH and I are getting up to this year is script-writing with comedian Tom Young, the purposes of which I will keep shush for now. Very excited about this project though. A clue... it's pretty geeky.

If Your Name's Not on the List, You Might Still Be Able to Get In, I'll Just Check...

I have also been bouncing again.  This time for Robin Ince, who this time came to NN with Jo Neary (who I performed with in the old Fishmarket a couple of years back),  George Egg and Grace Petrie. What a marvellous night! Robin was doing his Dirty Book Club - like the Bad Book Club, only more sexah.  My verdict: very, very funny - all of them. I  love Grace Petrie's songs, too; I have been listening to her for a while.  Also, I got to try maple bacon as cooked by George Egg. Egg does bacon pancakes very well. This might sound like I was so impressed with the acts I ended up staying for breakfast,  oo-er, but it was an act thing and I don't want to describe it in detail,  as you may very well go and see him do it,  which you should. 

Robin Ince: dressing like he means it.

I've Seen Bigger...

I have also been complaining. I'd like to say my complaints were always as successful as this one. You know about Mars' recent health-drive to save us calories? Well, they've improved the recipe and downsized their chocolate bars. Very worthy, and I can't argue with that. But I did take exception to paying for a load of air.

But I got an apology from them - their cutting machines had cut my bar too short they reckoned. And a sweet £2 voucher. Get in!

Scratting About

I also gained 25p in 'Found money' this week for my Sealed Pot Challenge. I put a quid's leftover change in 20p pieces into OH's much depleted Doctor Who DVD collection, and earned my first Quidco cashback. 69p. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

  

I Appear to Have Gone Bananas

 So, I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger.  What did I do with the rest of the bananas? 

Well,  I made chutney.  So you can breathe now.  Right after you've stopped spluttering.  Banana chutney? Yes indeed.  Very lush it is too. 

 

*Imagine here a picture of the actual chutney I haven't taken yet*

We're talking 8s and 9s here

 I used: 5 overripe bananas

1 wrinkly Golden Delicious

8 pitted chopped dates

1 red chilli (this was a yellow sticker buy)

3 really small onions from a  savers bag - one medium one would be equivalent

pinch salt

250ml white wine vinegar

100g soft brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Really was as simple as frying the onions and spices, adding the fruit and vinegar, then the sugar, bubbling it away for a bit, then storing it in jars as you would jam. I sterilised my jars first, and added a greaseproof disc to the top of the chutney. This stops the metal tainting the chutney. Then, to properly seal, I boiled the closed jars in some water for a few minutes. A great way of using up fruit that's no good for eating as fruit anymore.

Adventures in Time and Bacon

As I write I'm feeling a tad ropey - a bit of lurg has debilitated me. Nonetheless, I've not managed to finish this blog in a fortnight, so I'm taking the time to round this post off.

Being pretty short of spondoolicks, it was most opportune to be continuing MFJ's tiny budget shopping challenge. To stretch the money out a bit, this entailed eating a lot of bacon.
 
We all know Forrest Gump's simile about life was flawed. The chocolate names are all printed on the lid. So we do know what we're going to get.

Instead I propose we change it to "Life is like a pack of cooking bacon."

True, it's neither sweet, nor succinct. It doesn't have the same heartwarming, fuzzy quality. Well, the photo is fuzzy. And so might your arteries be  if you eat bacon too regularly. But you know what I mean.

You can see the bacon. You can squidge the packet about a bit. But you can't tell until you've opened it exactly what you've got. Do you have streaky, lean, back, smoky, pancetta - or a mix of the lot? Is it in familiar bacon-like thin slivers, or do you have bits with one thin end and one thick end? Or - as we once got - do you have two lovely, thick bacon slice-shaped gammon steaks?

So, what can you do with all those bits of pig?

Meal 1: Following on from discussions with Frugal Living UK I first went for a slightly skinny carbonara. To a Good Housekeeping recipe circa 1980, I removed mention of tomato (???), Parmesan (didn't have any) and cream, and added onion and skinny white sauce made of cornflour slaked in milk. I made the sauce around the fried bacon and onion, then added a mix of one egg and one egg yolk, cheese and parsley. End result was lush. We had an egg white left over though, so meal 2...

Meal 2: Breakfast sandwich. Basically weld bits of fried bacon and mushroom into sandwichable fillings using the egg white. Put in sandwich. Add brown sauce. Voila!

Meal 3: A bit similar to meal 1, but having run out of eggs added white sauce with mixed herbs to fried mushrooms and bacon, served with pasta, topped with cheese. Monica Galetti would have a special scowl reserved for my level of invention.

Meals 4, 5 and 6: Magic Bacon Soup in a Jar. A home-assembled foodie gift we got last Christmas was a jar with dried pasta, lentils, barley, stock and herbs, topped with dried peas. As per the instructions, the peas were soaked overnight, then boiled up with the rest of the contents of the jar, water and a tin of chopped tomatoes. The instructions suggested ground beef could be added to the soup. Instead we added bacon! the result was very tasty.

Cheap and nutritious, but we now need a bit of a break from bacon. Shame because I found this from the Co-Op's  Bake Your Cake and Eat it!, circa 1973.

Pensioners casserole. "A nourishing and helpful dish" Serves 2... for a bit. Then serves one. Twice.

You've got to love the 70s! All the recipes were submitted by a gazillion housewives and one man. Any hope of Delia Smith-type fame following publication is avoided by referring to all the contributors by their initials. Every other recipe contains bacon, which would make you think they're probably really nice... alas no.

There are all manner of horrible recipes in this book, from "Giblet Pie" to "Kipper Flan". The "Horseshoe Surprise" contains no actual horseshoes, which must be the surprise. And what do you think might be the principle ingredient of "Banana Doolittle"? That's right... chipolata sausages.

So it perhaps not surprising that to shift copies of this book, they needed endorsement from Gallifrey's finest. Well, he likes fish fingers and custard after all...

In his third regeneration, the Doctor found himself stuck in the UK in the 1970s and it clearly affected him as he shouted about food until he got given an enormous ham, a kugelhopf and a garibaldi biscuit. And what's going on with his eyes? But this isn't the real Doctor... oh no. This is just a drawing of Jon Pertwee. Hence the enormous kipper tie which is hardly in keeping with the Doctor's 'dandy' image. That's how you get round the image rights, is it, Co-Op? I see.

Fancy saving 2p off your next purchase of Scotchoc? How about off 15 and a half ounces of rice milk pudding? Well, all the coupons in this book are intact! Just pop in your TARDIS and use them before 30th June 1974.

Anyhoo.... Jon Pertwee isn't my Doctor. I have always loved the scary mad-eyed Tom Baker (oh what fun we had when he used to do BT's text-voice service. I sent OH a voice text by accident and he near peed himself when Tom Baker read out all the kisses as, "Ex, ex, ex, ex, ex..."). But I'm afraid there is a new Doctor in my heart... and so this Saturday on the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, I declared it (un)official David Tennant Day.

First, I went to see the encore of a live screening of Richard II. This had been recorded on November 13th at RSC in Stratford upon Avon. What an opportunity though to experience one of our best actors in my all-time favourite Shakespeare play. I love the character's vulnerability, and it's really tricky to get someone who can portray all that kingly entitlement at the beginning and his state at the end, do the whole "buckets in a well", er, well. He's also a wee bit dreamy...

David Tennant as Richard II. Oh yes.

And when I got to the theatre, the Doctor's enemies were lurking. I disabled the egg whisk on this one...

I really loved the play. Gregory Doran's production is superb, the setting both spare and rich. The whole cast do a great job. And the music is amazing too, the singers' voices absolutely gorgeous.

And then they advertised a live screening of Coriolanus with Tom Hiddleston. Swoon!

After watching the play in the very comfy seats in the Errol Flynn theatre, we were kicking ourselves that the Day of the Doctor online booking had been so patchy, as we missed out on going to see the Doctor Who film there. Instead, we made our way over to Vue, where we joined a mainly teenaged audience, many of whom were resplendent in Tom Baker scarves, Matt Smith Fezzes and black marker pen tallies. They were all full of squee, as was I...

I want that one.

Yes, we could have seen it for free on the telly, but it was absolutely fantastic watching it at the cinema in the company of an appreciative crowd. I am used to watching Doctor Who at Eastercons with 500+ attendees who appreciate it a lot, and the atmosphere was almost the same, except that a lot of the jokes seemingly went a bit unnoticed by the majority. Okay, so they forgot that David Tennant's Doctor's sonic screwdriver had been fried and some of the jokes, though very funny, were a bit meta, I don't care. I really enjoyed it.

I also bumped into m'friend and fellow comedian Jon Williams  at the cinema, which was nice.

Make the most of your Doctor Who free and lovely things... I got a free audio book from a newspaper promotion on Saturday, and have watched many of the tributes available on Youtube, like How it Should Have Ended. This week on iPlayer, make sure you watch Peter Davison's brilliant The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. It's very funny. And if you haven't seen it yet, make sure you watch Mark Gatiss's Adventures in Time and Space, a sweet, heartbreaking story of how the show started.

And yes, I am skint now after making sure we could celebrate David Tennant Day properly... but it was well worth the bacon diet. And I still have jelly babies left over. Joy!

Can You be Sociable and Frugal?

I imagine a lot of people must take a look at my blog and wonder how the heck I can call mine a "frugal" lifestyle... I am jetting off to all sorts of places, going to things, doing sport, seeing friends... surely frugality is about paring your lifestyle  down to the basics?

A busy social life in the usual sense can be problematic. The truth is, if you have a financial goal or need to save money for any reason, or if you have no money spare at all, sometimes you really do have to say "no" to things you would rather say "yes" to. You just can't do everything.

A case in point, this weekend, there is something happening that I would love to go to and because I can't afford to get there, I feel like I am letting people down. I know OH feels the same.

 

But we can console ourselves that we have done lots of things lately, been as sociable as we could be, and are saving up for an important event at the end of the month - World Fantasycon - where we shall be very sociable indeed. (Hey, SFT - Joanne Harris is going to be there - squee!)

And of course we can still be a bit sociable before then! I am going volunteering at Parkrun again tomorrow, and will enjoy doing lots of cycling and visiting family over the weekend - and that won't cost anything.

Later in the month, I will be attending a talk about the Facial Reconstruction of King Richard III as well... again, for free! I am absolutely fascinated by 'The Cousins' War' and the story of how his body was found - so that should be very interesting indeed. There will also be an exhibition following that at Northampton Museum.

I will probably also be going to the Shakespeare exhibition at Abington before it finishes, and the Susan Macwilliam installation at NN gallery. If anyone wants to join me, let me know!

I am currently doing the Go Sober campaign, which will make attending the odd birthday celebration very cheap (sponsor me, someone, please!)  - and it's high time I had people round for tea and cake (I'll get baking...).

But whatever we do decide to do with our free time,  all our bills are taken care of for the month already. All our train tickets and hotel rooms are paid for in advance. Birthday gifts are covered... and I'm very into my homemade cards, of course. We've done a 'stockpile' order this month to take advantage of a bumper load of vouchers and free delivery options (and due to an inadvertent error by Sainsbury's, I now have even more money-off vouchers to compensate - yay!), so apart from a few fresh things we should cope pretty well.

What the advance shopping has also bought us plenty of is time... and with my extra time this weekend, I fully intend to do some de-cluttering, handicrafts, and a bit of gardening and getting out in the fresh air! I also have a book report to write, and I have time to do this, too.

So, although I'm sad about not being able to do something that would have been really nice, life is good. It really is.


UPDATE: Most people know this already, but OH completed his first triathlon in a very respectable 1 hour, 13 minutes.

I am immensely proud of him!

He didn't want a load of the many photos I took to be uploaded for the world to see without a thorough vetting, but I don't think he'd mind just this one, which happens to show him overtaking another competitor on the second lap of the cycling stage.

Pride and Injury

I was doing well on Parkrun this week until....


OOOOOWWWWWW!!!!

Something went wrong with my knee. It seems I've done something to a tendon inside my knee so it only hurts when there is downward pressure applied - i.e. when running.  I limped the last third home and still did it in 30 minutes, 30 seconds. I may have ruined my legs and not be able to run anymore, but I'm faster, dammit! Er...

Hopefully some exercises will sort it.

I was also advised to go cycling, so I took my bike over to my brother's and went to help him with his allotment. I say help... I stood and caught some apples he threw down from the tree. And thanks to his generosity, now I have some cooking apples! Pie or chutney...? Chutney or pie??? Mmm...

This weekend, OH also did some cycling for cheridee. 50 miles, in fact, in aid of Cynthia Sylvia Hospice. And to get to the start point, he had to cycle 7 miles too. So, well over 60 miles in total. I am so proud!

Brave, selfless, sweaty...

And in fame, fame, fatal fame corner, I've done an interview for the Northampton Science Fiction Writers Group website, so head over there to read about how I became I writer, and stay to read about the other folks in our happy band. Also, if anyone knows the story I'm on about, please let me know.

In other frugal news, I made some bread. Looks okay, haven't tried it yet.

All Excited About Doctor Who

This Sunday, I'm going to have to change my desktop wallpaper, as a new Doctor Who is announced.

Right now, though, it's Friday night... which means a quiet house to myself to get on with some work. Not much time for internet tomfoolery. But I did write this, speculating on who I think is going to be the new Who.

Head over to the BSFA site and argue with me.

Poetical Performances, and Stuff on the Web.

Next weekend, I will be performing at The Bardic Picnic. It's a free festival of music and spoken word, and it's held in the grounds of the beautiful Delapre Abbey. It's also where the annual competition is held to find a new Bard of Northampton - I was the very first one back in 2009. It's run entirely by volunteers; if anyone would like to help out, do get in touch with the Bardic Chair, they'd be very glad of the help.

It's always great fun... there are vegetarian food stalls, beer, crafts - and this year a fancy dress competition to find the best Green Man or Woman!

I am especially excited as this week, the headline act has been announced, and it's a lady whose work I have admired for years - Joolz Denby!

I've previously been to see Joolz perform at a couple of places, including with Red Sky Coven a few years ago, and I think she's brill.

I am not performing very often now, as my freelance work keeps me too busy, but I love this festival, so I'm really happy to have been invited to perform here.

Here's the flyer for it.

Science Fiction-wise, I've done a write up to advertise the forthcoming Andromeda One convention on the BSFA blog, with quotes about the Edge-Lit con that took place earlier this month, so that you can get a flavour of just how good one day conventions can be.

Also, there's been a lot of activity over on the Northampton Science FictionWriters Group website recently, as my talented friends are getting their work out there. I had a little piece earlier this month about my single publishing success this year. I really need to find more time to write, but I think a lot of freelancers must be on holiday or something as I'm pretty busy. Too busy to pen anything myself apart from the odd blog post. Boo.

Frugal Brownie points this week go to my OH, who made a lot of pea and bacon soup for us for pennies. I know, it's a bit hot for it, but still. My frugal win was getting train tickets cheaper by comparing across different websites and buying singles instead of a return ticket. My frugal fail was cider in a beer garden on Friday night. I am going to be FAT at 40... boo.

It's the End of the World As We Know IT, But I Feel Fine. And Full of M&Ms.

This Sunday, I went to see a film I've been looking forward to for chuffing ages: The World's End.



This is the last film in the Wright/Pegg/Frost Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, and if you are fans of the Rom Zom Com Shaun of the Dead or the cop bromance Hot Fuzz, then there's plenty of intertextual humour in this film to make you go squee. Whilst it lacks the nuts/icecream/strawberry sauce combo level of humour of the first two films, it's certainly got the lump of chocolate at the end of the cone to wrap the trilogy up nicely. See how I go about using metaphor to avoid spoilers in the first paragraph? Ah, like the cold confection itself, that's not going to last. I'm not revealing any twists, though.  

So, how was this in any way, shape or form frugal? Well, my friends, do you know about Sweet Sundays? Get a free cinema ticket by buying packs of M&Ms, or Milky Way Stars etc. Now, that's great if you were planning on buying the chocolate anyway, which I was - I got 1 ticket by buying 4 snack packs to sneak into watching the last Superman film (which I got to see thanks to a wedding gift card). These snacks were sourced at Home Bargains, which at £1 a bag was pretty much half price to the same in Sainsbury's etc. and way cheaper than the cinema foyer. The second ticket was sourced from buying just 3 bags, which I decanted into little bags and snuck into the cinema for this trip (because I needed the codes at the bottom of the bag).

Why only 3 this time?

Because my street is full of litter. Oh yes... I got one code from picking up a bag I found blowing around just outside my house. Get in!

That's nothing... I've picked up 8 empty bottles of Coke this weekend alone. I am grabbing the points and putting them to recycle. Green karma a-go-go.

Litterbugs of Northampton, you are quite literally throwing your money away. Thank you very much.

Unfortunately, you can ony claim 2 tickets per household for Sweet Sunday, so it had to be this film. I've been looking forward to it for years. And I got ready for it by watching the first two on DVD again in the morning. What a great way to spend a Sunday!

In June 1990, Gary King (Pegg) experienced the best day of his life. He and his mates from school all went on the ultimate pub crawl, the Golden Mile, in their hometown of Newton Haven. Their goal - a pint in each of the 12 pubs, ending up in The World's End. They never made it. Since that time, Gary's life has gone downhill, and he and his friends have grown apart. To Gary, though, the key to resolving all his woes is that pub crawl. He is determined to get the gang back together and finish the job. There's only one snag: they all think he's a cock. And the town is not the same anymore either.

 Pegg's character in Shaun in Shaun of the Dead was being kept back by his irresponsible friend, Ed (Frost), while the rest of his friends were beginning to grow up. In this film, childhood is definitely over for all but Gary King, and his buffoonery is a mask for a tragic life. Hence with this film there is scope for a lot more pathos.

I'm not going to talk about any of the jokes, except to say rather a lot of them are callbacks to the other films and intertextual references to other films that you might expect (Terminator, Mad Max, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, Enter the Dragon, Stepford Wives). There are even a few scenes that recall Spaced... and videos by Fields of the Nephilim. Not quite as funny as the other films, there's still plenty to laugh at in there, and it's a very enjoyable film to watch. I loved it. And being rather distracted at times by the most excellent soundtrack, I daresay if I watch it again, I'd pick up on little things I'd missed here and there, because they always pack little treats in.

There's a bit more social commentary in this film too... Newton Haven is a freakishly white town. Not to give too much away, but the end of the film makes you think about this, and what it says about our attitudes to 'others', now and not so long ago in our history, as well as saying something about 'clone towns', and the bleakness of trying to blend in and grow up.

It's pointed out how shabbily the boys treated girls when they were young, and though there's some karmic revenge, it's still a bit of a 'for the dads' moment. Rosamund Pike is not just a 'love interest', but could be in the film a bit more... but they gave me Paddy Considine, and I'm made up with that.

The Intrepid Fox is not a pub in the film. But it is a rather cool rock pub...

 On the way home, we were reminded of how much better the music was circa '87-92, which was the time period from which all the non-score music in the film was gleaned.







New boy band member hides the only good tattoos in the band.

Shit tattoo boy band mock my shortness. Rude!

... and then en route home, who should we bump into but one of the extras. Aw!

Thanks for reading... that's what you typically get with this blog: passion for geek stuff; genuinely useful tips for enjoying more of what you love for less; pictures of hedgehogs. This blog is a love letter to life, love, friends and the whole world. I've no room for misery or hate, and I'm hopeful that if you follow me or read this it's because you love 'stuff' too. I hope you enjoy, and that you feel included. Even One Direction fans. I'm only saying I know plenty of really good tattooists round here, and they could have helped.

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...?

When To-Read Stacks of Many, Many Books Attack!!!

I really do count my blessings, living the life I do.

I've said before that books are my life. I've read lots of them. Hopefully, as I approach my impending middly bit, I'll get to enjoy at least a thousand more. I'm super lucky in that with the career I have chosen as an editor, I get to read some fabulous books before anyone else... and correct the spellings!

I also read lots of books for review. Some reviewers, writing for your bigger publications, get paid for that, but for the publications I review for, I just get to keep the book. What's great about that is that sometimes you'll be asked to work on something that might not have grabbed your fancy if you'd just been browsing for something nice to read.

Also, you often get free books at events like conventions and festivals, usually in a goody bag, or at author readings, sometimes. Usually, though, publishers and booksellers have also brought some along to sell, and maybe they'll offer a glass of wine to potential buyers, as well as much, much cheaper prices on the books than you'd be able to buy them for in the shops or from Amazon.

And lo, I did come back from the FUTURA science fiction convention in Wolverhampton last week with just a few more (mostly free) books for my pile, which is in danger of doing me in.

And for all the immaculate new books I have sitting on (rammed into all the gaps of) my shelves, I know I've got vouchers and points for more books, and of course my lovely library card, which I use (abuse) regularly.

And now temptation comes my way once more, as my friends have launched a new indie-publishing marketplace called Spacewitch - a site where you can discover writing by well and lesser-known genre writers, buy their stuff, and feel happy knowing that they and their publishers get the money, not some corporate behemoth charging all sorts of fees for the pleasure of letting them make all the money instead.

Well, all addicts need a programme, and I think I've come up with one.

1 - Read more books. Okay, so I'm a functioning addict.Well, I have plenty, so I shall start ploughing through. I did a 50 book challenge a couple of years ago.... can I top that? I'll start next month and see.

2. Share nicely. A friend wants us to book swap before moving our books on. I think this is a good idea.

3. Try to keep them saleable. I can then use We Buy Books to clear up some space and make a bit of money into the bargain. Maybe then, the pile of books won't land on my head and kill me.

I have my phone back!

It's been a week of positives and negatives.  I've been feeling down as news from friends has been sad. I've missed my mom, but I have been able to spend time with my family and friends and that has been lovely.

This weekend I went to a science fiction convention in my native Wolverhampton and also celebrated Father's Day and my sister's birthday with my family.

This is what I made my sister.  It's a jewellery box made from upcycled cardboard and decorated with sixties fashion icon decoupage.  The lid has been plasticoated and the upper tier fitted with a ring holder in funky purple disco fabric.

Really busy with work at the moment so going to carry on with that.