I realise that we have been approaching the Age of Science Fiction for a long time. In a world where technical development seems to be a constant drive and the next best gadget lurks over every horizon, it can only be a matter of time before we finally can wear silver space suits and travel…
For my part, I find science fiction equals comfort. I could easily sit down for a mammoth session of Star Trek or Doctor Who in the same way I might settle in with a big tub of ice cream or a bumber tube of Pringles. I find the experience somehow soothing. I disengage to a…
I enjoy a nice bit of classic sci-fi. I have been reading The Voyage of the Space Beagle, a fine tale of space exploration by A E Van Vogt. If you enjoy Star Trek, in any incarnation, I recommend you seek out this slim volume. In structure, the overall tale takes in more than one…
I spent part of yesterday evening hanging off a wall. My fingers ached, and my palms felt rough and sweaty. My thighs and calves complained in equal measure. By the end of an hour, my toes burned – and when I took my shoes off I found that I had split my left little toenail…
I had a chat with some of my roleplaying group the other day about storytelling games. We just finished a very tight and entertaining game of Fiasco – using Graham Walmsley‘s “Unaussprechlichen Kulten” playset – and had started to chat. The discussion concerned why certain storytelling games worked and others didn’t – or at least,…
This weekend my weight dipped down to 11 stone 13 lbs. Admittedly I weighed myself in the morning, after exercising and before breakfast. I almost definitely weighed more by the end of the morning. However, I have always weighed myself at this sort of point in the week/day, so I do aim for consistency. Having…
I impressed myself this year. I read 28 books. Yes, some were a little short, but some were quite long. I also abortively started some, like Will Self’s short stories, and only got halfway… that more than a 100 pages uncatalogued against my target. Time spent, time lost. With two days of 2011 to go…
‘Witch’ provides an improvised entertainment for a small group of people without any need for a gamemaster or referee. In practice, it might be useful for someone to be familiar with the content of this ‘Ashcan’-edition booklet, but by no means imperative as the content could be scanned through and imparted quite rapidly at the…
A year ago, I set about writing a Beggars Companion supplement for Maelstrom. Having struggled to write PARANOIA: The Underplex, a process that seemed to span a whole year and still turned out a product that felt a little wayward, I wanted to set myself a clear goal. At a minimum of 1,500 words a…
