Stuff and Things

Mes Amis

"Just what have you been up to apart from quizzes?" asks some smarmy fucker via email.

The answer's long and convoluted. This last week I have been commuting to Perth for my day job. Its been great fun. Perth people are all very polite. Except when the sun goes down and then its every man for himself...

I have also been gotten drunk by a woman and taken advantage of... not in the good way, of course... rather this woman has forced wine down my big gob and managed to get me to agree do some terrible thing more news of which will be forthcoming later in the year... suffice to say it involves the Badger speaking in public which, as those who turned up at the short story panel I did at the Big Bad Bouchercon this year will know is always a nerve wracking experience.

Stuart has asked whether he is noir. I promised I would tell him a long time ago and then forgot. This I shall answer over the weekend. As it may involve a long post and frankly my brain has been fried by all this commuting and the fact that my train home was delayed for forty minutes this evening. Perth Station is freezin cold in the winter. I mean even more cold than outside the station. Its like a reverse central heating system.

I have also been panicking over a short story submission I did a while ago. I really hoped the editor liked it but his silence is getting very scary. I took a chance on this story by doing some things that were a little different to my usual style so now I'm beginning to wonder whether it paid off. The badger is a little pannicky over this.

Went to see The Constant Gardener which is excellent even if all the moralising feels a little obvious. Its going to be up for Oscars though and I think they will be well deserved. Its good to see a move where, despite the high stakes, everything is played really subtly and only adds to the sense of danger. Makes me think maybe I should Mr Dagger of Daggers Le Carre, whose work I just never bothered getting round to.

Speaking of writers: I'm re-reading Ellroy'sLA Quartet. Absolutely amazing. Except its gonna drag me down into the sewers of depression, I know, reading it all at once (He's not exactly a cheery fellow in his world view). However, I maintain that if you haven't read at least one Ellroy, you haven't lived. Depressing, yes. Bleak, of course. But vital, gripping and important, God yes!

I am also catching up on review deadlines for someone who I know I haven't been in touch with. I have been lax of late and feel bad.

So there you go, Mr Smarmy Fucker. Its not just quizzes. Although they are a great distraction. And I'm sure when Amazing Agent Jane and Smiley Emma the Editor say, "Why are these rewrites delayed?" they will understand when I blame the quiz pimps at other blogs for setting up so many things to disract me.

Au revoir

Russel