Those few warm days from earlier this year seem pleasant now. I’ve just been on holiday in North Wales for a little over a week. The first half was pleasant, with lots of walking and mid-20s temperatures. Then the second half arrived with low to mid-30s. That might not be hot for some countries, but given properties in the UK are generally built to hold heat and don’t have air conditioning, it’s tough when you add in high humidity! It was a lovely holiday, but these temperatures that are closing out June for us are something else!
I’m intentionally maintaining my casual approach to this project, but I can confirm I’ve actually completed the first draft of story one! I’m pleased with it, and look forward to sharing more soon! I might need to do a lot of refinement to maintain the narrative thread as each new story develops, but you have to complete the first drafts before you can polish!
The Stand by Stephen King
The Stand represents another Stephen King book that I’ve read many times over the years, and will read many more times in the future, I’m sure. It’s a hefty tome, clocking in at over 1,300 pages, and every one of them keeps this tale moving forward. Following an accidental outbreak of a mysterious, lab-made virus, the entire continental United States succumbs. As the survivors coalesce around one of two figureheads – Mother Abigail, representing all that is good, and Randall Flagg, a man of many names representing evil and fear. What ensues is a showdown between these two sides vying to prevent further death and division than has already taken place. It’s a dark read, and lengthy, but it highlights the scale of the journey ahead for everyone. A wonderful, epic novel that never fails to hook me in every time.
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
In between other reads, I’ve been enjoying a revisit to the incredible Discworld series by the imperious Sir Terry Pratchett. While the first two books in the series are often considered inferior, and by the author’s own admission, he wasn’t sure where the series was going at the time, Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy bring it to life. It continues the beautiful introduction to Rincewind and Twoflower while bringing in more of the wizards’ lore and the wider Disc through iconic characters such as Cohen the Barbarian. It’s a fun romp around the Disc building out the world and the characters we met in The Colour of Magic.
The Flesh Will Be Silent by Rebecca A. Noble
I received an advanced reader copy of this novel, and I’m glad I took the chance to read this one. It’s a very dark psychological horror. It follows 6-year-old Sadie, who suffers a horrific car accident that claims the lives of her mother and father. She spends the next few days trapped in the overturned car. Her older sister, Amara, returns from a nursing post in Japan to build a new home and take care of her. But things start appearing to Sadie once the move in. Troubling visions of a demonic entity torment her night after night. As Sadie suffers from the psychological battering, the line of reality blurs. This is a tight, tense and twisty novel that keeps the shocks coming. It’s a fantastic book, if not a happy read!
The Lost Boys
This month, my wife and I settled down to watch yet another classic film I’ve somehow missed. This campy, cheesy vampire romp is fronted by a youthful Kiefer Sutherland as the head vampire, David. It’s filled with classic 80’s tropes, so much so that it feels a lot like other firm favourite films, not least The Goonies. Sutherland plays his part as both charming and menacing at once, and a supporting cast that includes other icons of the time, including Cory Feldman and Alex Winter, made for an entertaining weekend watch.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
A new instalment in the long-running LEGO gaming franchise is always something I will look forward to. And this one is no exception. It’s filled with everything I enjoy in a LEGO game – humour, good story, fun side quests and plenty of collectables to find in a vast, open-world map. If I had to call out a gripe or two with this game, it’s missing the huge selection of characters to be collected, which is a real shame, as that was always one of my favourite elements. The other is the sheer joy of collecting the studs within a level and trying to earn enough for the True Survivor/True Jedi/True Wizard accolade along the way!
007: First Light
What a fantastic game this one is! I’m not normally a fan of linear narrative games, but the way 007: First Light handles it is brilliant. It’s a complete rewrite, taking Bond back to before he even became 007. Actor Patrick Gibson plays a young Bond so well that he could do the job on screen, in my opinion. He has all the charm and cheek you’d expect, but with a more modern, gritty side to him. The fighting can be both nuanced and stealthy and brutal and raw at times, making it really rewarding. The gadgets are exactly what you’d expect, and the entire story actually feels and flows like a Bond movie. And the icing on the cake is that it features an iconic Bond theme song after the initial act, in this case sung by Lana Del Rey, that really hammers home the Bond vibe!
Next month will be about planning and drafting the next story in the new short story collection. Here’s hoping for some slightly cooler but no less pleasant weather, which would be lovely!
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Steven Smith 