Alastair Reynolds's Blog, page 12

This can't be twenty years old...

 

I liked the album this is off very much when it came out, but it's only since putting it on my running MP3 (at my pace, it's just right for a 5k) that it's really revealed its secrets to me. This song contains the late Edwin Morgan's wonderful recital of his poem "Scottish Fiction", worth - as they say - the price of admission.

Boosterism

 With the Omicron variant spreading rapidly, there's an understandable push to press on with the booster jab program. I've been waiting for my call-up for weeks, so I was relieved to get a text advising me that slots were available at my local vaccination clinic. I called the number and was arranged a time and date to get my booster. When I arrived, however, they had no record of my booking. Apparently this wasn't the first time that day that the third-party call centre handling the bookings had...

Belladonna Nights and a story sale

 Copies of "Belladonna Nights And Other Stories" have reached me, and it's a beautiful-looking item. Aside from the cover, which takes its inspiration from the title piece, Marc Simonetti has also done a lovely illustration for the end papers, inspired by the story "Night Passage". It's a privilege to have my stories collected so handsomely, and of course always a pleasure to continue my association with Subterranean Press.

I talked about the book a bit more back in May:

http://approachingpavonis....

Legend.

 (Photo via the Guardian, credited to Xavi Bonilla/LiveMedia/Shutterstock)

Remembering Great Uncle Alfred Leyshon

 

Pictures taken at Thiepval, 2006.

Eversion progress

 Last week I completed the first set of revisions on Eversion, and the novel (now around 85,000 words) has now gone back to my editor. If all goes smoothly, there will be one more round of edits then the book will go into production for 2022. A few weeks before that, I also finished a novelette which I've submitted to the marketplace.

Unavoidable production delays have pushed back the Belladonna Nights collection a little, but it should be with us soon. It's a difficult time in publishing with su...

Talking Dune on R4

 I was on Radio 4's Today program earlier this morning talking about Dune, both the book and its various adaptations. You can catch me just after 8.20 (2 hrs 20 into the program):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010ptv

It may be necessary to register for the BBC website.

Stock signing

 If you're still after a signed first edition of Inhibitor Phase, keep an eye on Goldsboro Books. Here I am signing copies which will shortly go back to them.

https://www.goldsborobooks.com/

Time for a re-read.

 It must be about forty years since I last read Dune. At the time it was by far the longest book I'd ever read. I'm about 50 pages in and enjoying the return.

Shuttlecraft Galileo

 It's Star Trek Day apparently, so by way of minor celebration, here's a nearly completed model of Galileo, from The Original Series.

The shuttlecraft was one of my favorite SF designs, standing out even though it featured in relatively few episodes. I like the utilitarian, non-aggressive look and the way it echoes some of the design features of the larger Enterprise, suggesting a common technology.

The first model kit of any type that I owned was the AMT Enterprise, largely built by my dad and la...