With a wild flurry of activity in recent months to complete Stocking Stuffers, and entering the busiest period of the year for me at work, writing has been on the back burner. The plan is to review my in progress pieces and set myself a plan for the next project. This aside, I’ve been enjoying the build towards the festive period, and will be enjoying all it has to offer!

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I’ve taken a break from writing this last month or so, and likely will through December too. With the mad rush to get Stocking Stuffers completed and over the line, my mind has been consumed with this. Now that I have the books in hand, and the launch rapidly approaches on December 1st, I can’t wait for it to release.

I still have a few works in progress to return to, so hopefully a bit of time away from the keyboard will allow the voices to return and I can settle on where to start next.

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Ripples by Richard Dee

I was fortunate enough to read this new sci-fi tale from my good friend Richard Dee recently. It follows Carlos Daynes, a down-on-his-luck homeless man who discovers a corpse amongst some trash in a backstreet. A corpse, as it turns out, that looks uncannily like himself. Deciding to assume the dead man’s identity, Carlos spirals into a life filled with intrigue and conspiracy beyond his wildest imagination. It made for a fantastic sci-fi read without labouring on a future world. Dark and twisty, I loved it.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

I’ve been a long time fan of Stephen King, and having had this book on my Kindle for a while now, it seemed time to try it out. And it did not disappoint. It was filled with wonderfully realised worlds, grim characters and a constant, unsettling undercurrent. It’s filled with otherworldly roads only travelled by a special few and a creepy villain abducting children and murdering parents, spiriting them away to “Christmasland”. It caught me from the start, and I loved it.

The Christmas Jigsaw Murders by Alexandra Benedict

When retiree Edie starts receiving mystery jigsaw pieces from an unknown sender and bodies soon follow, she cannot help but be drawn in to solving this mystery. As the bodies continue to appear and the clues begin to point towards Edie’s past. She decides to cut the police – and her great nephew/son – out of her investigation as she races against the clock to catch a killer before they take the most precious thing she has left. It’s a dark yet festive tale that makes for a fun, pre-Christmas read.

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All Her Fault

Another fantastic series that my wife and I watched in quick succession. When the son of a wealthy family disappears, and it seems the nanny of another family is involved, the race is on to find the boy alive. The series is gritty, with plenty of pace and lots of twists to keep you guessing. And despite the name, it serves up a few possible “hers” to apportion the blame to. It ended with a satisfying conclusion after a dark, entertaining build.

The Iris Affair

I’ll throw this one out there now – this was one of the best things I’ve watched on TV in a long time. It had conspiracy, intrigue, corruption and science fiction all rolled into an action-packed thriller. It felt apt given its questions about giving artificial intelligence unchecked freedoms, and the possible pitfalls should that occur. It was filled with a cast of characters whose arcs ebbed and flowed across the series, leaving you loving and hating characters at different moments. Brilliant TV.

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Anno 117: Pax Romana

This is the latest instalment in a series I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Set in the Roman Empire, you are tasked with governing a fledgling settlement from nothing to a bustling metropolis. You’ll find yourself managing policy, finances, resources, war status and the needs of your people while ensuring there are all the right facilities. The game tasks you with building your towns in the Mediterranean and in Britain, with each offering different challenges and a cast of characters to work with or against. It’s a fun game that’s easy to lose hours to!

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With such fantastic progress in the last month, I might just take things slower next month. A chance to rest, review my various works in progress and potential future projects, and consider what to work on next!

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