I'm a huge fan of the Sopranos. Loved everything about it. The characters, their quirks, the dark humour, broken personalities, drama, violence, tenderness and never ever knowing what was going to happen next. So I was really looking forward to The Many Saints of Newark, a film that promised a young Tony in the making. Now, I'd heard some troubling, unsupportive reviews but I remained openminded, excited. Last night I watched it. And I am conflicted. Really! Conflicted. For

Okay. I admit it. I'm one of those people who often shirks watching a hit series or film simply because it's popular. I don't know why. Stupid really. I did exactly that with Peaky Blinders. More fool I. It's brilliant. To be fair, I had tried watching it once before but wasn't in the mood for a period piece. I watched less than an episode then. But six weeks ago I'd exhausted my watch list - having just finished watching Stranger Things (for exactly the same foolish reasons

My brain is rubbish. After three breakdowns and a variety of mental illnesses diagnosed, it doesn't work at all well. My memory is shot and because I write (my escape, my healing) I stopped one of my favourite hobbies of reading. There have been a couple of pieces read, but nothing like how I used to read. Now I'd like to change that. Exercise my brain. Read! And keep it going. With this in mind I figured the best place to start were short stories. I should be able to rememb

Having taken an unintended writing break (bar writing short stories and dramatic whimsey) after completing Life of Maggot, I find I am again needing to play with words, so as to be ready when the Muse does eventually dance. Hence two blog posts in a week. This post, though, will be around one of my other main passions - watching film and TV - and today my thoughts on watching the film 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'. As a once prolific reader - child and adult - whose ability

I used to read ravenously. All the time. Now, since my brain went weird and I had a few mental breakdowns, I think I'm up there as one of the slowest readers in the world. A proper tortoise. I suppose it's why I've never read any of my own work. Anyway, that aside, I started reading FIELDS OF GRACE by Wendy Waters a while back and I finished it this week. I absolutely loved it. Now I try never to give much of anything away in my 'Book Reviews of Sorts' and that will stay the

Having just finished LIFE OF MAGGOT, and having not decided what to work on next, I'm going to take a wee bit of time out. One of the things I'm going to get back to is reading. I love reading, always have, but with my mental illness my brain has in effect been rewired to find it very difficult - impossible even, when I'm writing. It's a thing I want to stretch myself on, so that I can do both. Surely that's not a step too far? Anyways, I started a read whilst proofing Maggo

I might have mentioned I’m beginning a Masters in Celtic Studies at the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David. I’m very excited; nervous too given the strange state of my brain and mental health since whenever. It’ll be a challenge, quite different to what it might have been before the breakdowns, but one I hope to enjoy. Already it’s got me doing things. Talking on the phone Sorting out online enrolment and IT access Taking mug shots of myself (for the ID Card you unde

Well this was a strange one for me. At times it dropped to a 2 star, then rose up to a 4 star and then ended overall as a 3 star for me. How to explain? At the beginning there was a bit too much 'tell' and not enough 'show'. This made the book difficult to read for me. It was kind of like being preached to by a preacher who desperately wants to be believed, but who isn't always convincing. But the writing was good, if bloody dark. Then when the 'show' took over it improved im

The next few weeks my blog will be about the books I've read. Recently, of course. It follows on from my thoughts on reading Jean Teule's 'The Poisoning Angel' last week, and will include the likes of 'Norse Mythology' by Neil Gaiman, 'Folk' by Zoe Gilbert, and some shorts by Daphne Du Maurier. However this week my thoughts are with 'Rusticles' by Rebecca Gransden. I chose to read 'Rusticles' because (like me) Rebecca is a new, up and coming author without the backing and m

I enjoyed one of those wonderful events recently; you know the one, when you pick up a random book in the library and it turns out to be truly amazing. The book in question was 'The Poisoning Angel' by Jean Teulé; a donated book, and the library was in Sandy. It was a risky move on my part; a translated foreign work. Always a worry because they so often don't translate. There have been so many I tried and did not finish. Feeling brave, adventurous at picking it up, I opened t