Lunch with an old friend who I don’t see nearly enough.

A pint (or two) of some fine alcoholic beverage.

To Forbidden Planet for a comic box and any new issues of Green Lantern.

Back home to work on writing projects (most notably Desert Of Zin and a new JediMoose movie project, more on that later).

A flat cooling party with some old friends who I don’t see nearly enough.

Bed.

All the makings of a fine day.

Does it get any better?

Leia: “I love you.”

Han: “I know.”

Simple, beautiful, brilliant.

Brings a tear to a glass eye so it does.

Back when I had not much more money than I do now, but considerably less sense, I bought the Star Wars Fact File, one of those partworks that tend to go on and on and on…

Initially it was only to last 75 or so issues (apparently) and went on much longer than that.

Now I’m clearing stuff off my shelves and I’m afraid the fact file has a destiny that lies along a different path to mine.

So if anyone wants it (all 7 folders worth with only a few issues missing) then leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.

It’s good stuff covering the whole period covered in the computer games, books, comics and (of course) the films. It’s an incredible wealth of knowledge with a painstaking attention to detail.

And it could be all yours for the rock bottom price of… Absolutely nothing!

Another couple of hundred words in the last hour.

Ruthy has promised to crack the whip a bit more than she has been. Hopefully that will keep my mind on the game.

Often I’m disappointed in people’s reaction when they hear that I’m writing a Science Fiction novel.

“Oh, you’re writing a novel? That’s great! What is it about?”

And it’s here I make my mistake.

“It’s Science Fiction.”

“Oh, that’s nice.”

Well, it is actually. And I’m very happy about that.

My mistake is in saying that it’s science fiction rather than saying what it’s actually about.

The truth of it is that science fiction is just where it’s set. It’s a backdrop I use because I’m more comfortable with that genre than anything else.

But the story could be set anywhere.

The story itself is one of loss, betrayal, self-discovery and redemption.

Also it’s about the right that people have to be free. This is the freedom to live your life without fear. (But then that’s a rant for another time.)

So when asked about my novel, and what it’s about, I’ll say:

“It’s about the right to live a life without fear.”

You know you’re in desperate need of a full night of sleep when you start comparing a star drive capable of instantaneous travel between distant points in space to a baggy pair of pants.

Maybe the Baggy Pants Drive is best left for that incredibly humorous piece of nothing I’ll get round to doing half past never.

Cities in Flight - James Blish

“Shouting religions always strike me as essentially like pep-meetings among salesmen; their ceremonies and their manners are so aggressive because they don’t really believe the code themselves. Real faith is so much part of the world you live in that you seldom notice it, and it isn’t always religious in the formal sense.”