Introductory postscript

Hi!

If you're reading this, welcome to the now-concluded Magpie Moth blog (2010-2019). I'm leaving it online as an archive of nine years of writing, journaling, art and photos.

Going forward, future writing can be found at www.magpiemoth.com.  

Why the change? Partly the chance to upgrade my online presence, partly the chance to create a more focussed home for my writing rather than the 'anything goes' fanzine approach here.

While I decided in the end not to compile a 'best of the blog' I'll be moving the odd piece over to the new site from time to time if it fits. 

So, do have a look around, see if anything takes your fancy. :)

Reading recommendations round-up

Now updated to cover the end of the year

William S Burroughs - Junky
Becky Chambers - Record Of A Spaceborn Few
Martin Fitzgerald - Ruth And Martin's Album Club 
Viktor Frankl - Man's Search For Meaning
Stuart Jefferies - Grand Hotel Abyss 
T Kingfisher - Swordheart 
T Kingfisher - Minor Mage
Mary Robinette Kowal - The Calculating Stars 
Ann Leckie - Provenance
Yoon Ha Lee - Revenant Gun
Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones And The Six
Seanan McGuire - One Salt Sea 
Seanan McGuire - A Red Rose Chain
Sylvia Patterson - I'm Not With The Band
John Scalzi - Head On

As ever, bold font of greatness indicates a five-star rating - only awarded once this year (possibly a sign of too much comfort reading?).

Genre-wise, we've got

SF - 5
Fantasy - 4
Autobiography - 3
Biography - 1
Music - 1
Contemporary fiction - 1

Update

Yes, I'm still here.

While I'm still going to add things as and when I have a sense that this blog may have run its course in its present incarnation.

At the moment, my main priority rather than writing any new material is to compile a 'best of' as suggested last year and cap off eight years of the blog.

Longer term it's a choice between either 

- going back through and sorting some HTML formatting issues in older posts to make the blog fit for purpose and then continuing to use it for whatever purposes I see fit. 

- or making a new start on a new platform because the thought of wrestling with HMTL makes my teeth hurt. Maybe doing something different or a little more focussed.

I suspect the act of compiling the A-Z of Magpie Moth or whatever it ends up being will perhaps make my mind up for me.

Anyhow, for now, I'm still here.

Reading recommendations round-up

Coming off hiatus to record another 8 months of reading recommendations. Once and future classics in bold

Ben Aaronovitch - The Furthest Station
Edgar Cantero - Meddling Kids
Ruthanna Emrys - Deep Roots
E M Forster - Two Cheers For Democracy 
Neil Gaiman - Norse Mythology
Mike Gayle - The To-Do List
Matt Haig - Reasons To Stay Alive
Dave Hutchinson - Europe At Dawn
Gail Honeyman - Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Lindsey Kelk - One In A Million 
Victor Lavalle - The Ballad Of Black Tom
Michael Lewis - The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine
Mhairi McFarlane - Don't You Forget About Me
Seanan McGuire - An Artificial Night
Simon Sebag Montefiore - The Romanovs
Robert M Pirsig - Zen & The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Elizabeth Sandifer - Neoreaction: A Basilisk
Tara Westover - Educated 
Catherynne M Valente - Space Opera
Roger Zelazny - Isle Of The Dead

plus an honourable re-read mention for Edward Said's Orientalism - still an excellent book.

By sub-category:

SFF - 8 
Romantic fiction - 2
Autobiography - 3
Mainstream fiction - 1
Experimental fiction - 1 
Economics - 1
Essays - 1 
History - 1
Mythology - 1
Politics - 1