I’ve said many times over that I plan to get better at regular updates here, and have yet to manage it. So, having seen the wonderful monthly reviews from the very talented K.M. Alan I’ve decided to try my hand at something similar. I have been working on a few projects lately that I’d love to update you all on, and I’m going to also start sharing short reviews of the books I read in the month too.

So without further ado, welcome to a look back on my February!

I’ve had something of a writing slump through the back end of 2024, with a large focus being on my work over on Medium. I’ve continued to write drabbles every day over there. In December, I decided to write as many festive-themed ones as I could. I loved it as a challenge so, along with a selection of other Christmas short stories, these will be collected into an anthology called Stocking Stuffers. I’ll be polishing this throughout the year ready for release late 2025.

I’ve also been working on another, as yet unnamed, anthology of short stories. These are all steampunk tales set in the world of my Chronicle of the Crows novels. They’ll contain a range of stories – some that feature Edison Crow, Selah and other faces, along with a selection of tales with new, never seen before characters.

And my big project is Hush. This is in the planning and plotting stage. I know, me – plotting a book! It’s a psychological thriller involving four distant friends and a hidden secret that threatens to resurface and tear their worlds apart. What’s really challenging me about this project is that I will be writing the entire story through text messages. No world-building or exposition that does not naturally exist within the messages sent between the characters and their antagonist.

In the meantime, A Murder of Crows and The Twelve Days of Christmas are lapsed projects, but still on the slate. As my drive to write returns to me, I can feel the ideas returning for these, too!

Watchmen by Alan Moore

What a fantastic, dark read Watchmen is. I’ve been looking to get into more graphic novels and comic books, and this was a fantastic early read. The art style is dark, and the writing is incredible. It tells the tale of a group of superheroes in Cold War America trying to stay relevant while the world teeters on the brink of nuclear war.

The heroes are flawed, with many demons and vices, in their own ways mirroring the fractious state of the geopolitical situation the story takes place within. It’s by no means a light read, but it’s immense in its depth and storytelling.

River God by Wilbur Smith

This represents another new author for me. It follows Egyptian slave Taita as he navigates life indentured to the Grand Vizier to the Pharaoh. Through his own intellect and political machinations, he works to improve his lot, along with that of his charge, the daughter of the Vizier. River God follows his story over around thirty years and the many ups and downs he and those closest to him experience.

Despite the scale of time it covers, it manages to be fast-paced, and even if the history is heavily fictionalised, it serves to be plausible enough to make for a highly entertaining read filled with action, intrigue and plenty of plotting.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol. 1) by Alan Moore

A second entry into the worlds of Alan Moore for the month, and my third for the year, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen looks set to become a new favourite for me. It’s steampunk at its core with Captain Nemo and his incredible Nautilus, and a raft of airships. And it’s filled with Victoriana to the gunwales. With references to icons of the time, both real and fictitious, such as Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, Moriarty, Jekyl and Hyde and more, it really hooked me early.

In this outing, we see a bunch of misfits recruited for skills not immediately obvious, but in their own ways pertinent to a mission. The team are set the challenge of unearthing a mysterious villain bent on destroying Britain and it’s their task to prevent it. A fantastic, fast-paced, if twisted, story that I loved.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Having seen the film many times over, I was excited to read the original book by Michael Crichton. What I hadn’t expected was how many small differences there were that do make things different from the films. The core of the story is ultimately the same, but certain characters and events are different. And it makes sense – cinema requires brevity that a book isn’t constrained by, but some of the changes have greater impacts.

Overall, I found the book and its characters to be considerably darker than even the film. And for that I loved it. It was a brilliant book, with enough plausible science thrown in to make some things glossed over in the film actually make sense. My opinion of some of those well-known and beloved characters is changed now, but it made for one of my favourite reads in a long time.

The Greatest Showman

Recent musical films have for the most part been really very good. From Hamilton to Rocket Man, and the animated efforts of Encanto, we’ve been pretty lucky in this space. From spectacular scenes and set pieces to impressive choreography and catchy songs makes for an entertaining way to spend a few hours.

And The Greatest Showman holds up in this regard. Though it certainly takes liberties with the historical facts, the story it tells is fun. The scenes are vibrant and engaging and it has some undeniably catchy songs. It’s definitely a film I’d watch again.

The Menu

In stark contrast to The Greatest Showman, my next film was something altogether much darker. The Menu sticks a finger up at the pretentious nature of fine dining in this darkly comic horror. With a stellar cast of Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult, I had high hopes for this.

Hoult is pretentious and arrogant to the point he is loathsome. Fiennes is charming and yet unsettling all at once. And Taylor-Joy is fantastic, with dark secrets hidden from the light. The film plays with its characters, tormenting them physically and psychologically making for a darkly entertaining hour and half or so. I love a dark film, and this is right up there.

That’s everything for this month! If you enjoyed this new-look month-in-review post, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear what else you want to see in future posts!

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