getting ready for some EUROVISION

It’s been a quiet month so far. I’ve been working on edits of book five and on the first draft of book six, but there isn’t much I can say about that: the actual details of staring at the computer screen and whimpering are never that interesting to other people. At least the weather here in the UK has finally – finally – turned nice, and I’ve been enjoying sunshine for the last two days. (What is this strange yellow ball in the sky, say English people, and why is the sky blue all of a sudden.)

I’ve been reading a number of excellent books – including Catherynne Valente’s Space Opera, Melissa Caruso’s The Defiant Heir, Ruth Ball’s Rebellious Spirits, and Rebecca Kuang’s The Poppy War, among others. All of which are very good indeed. (And I need to find and reread my copy of The Investiture of the Gods before the sequel to The Poppy War comes out, just in case there are any clues in there… Even if it’s not a very good translation. I’ve never got over the use of the phrase “unholy bronze toaster”.)

Upcoming things include, yes, the Eurovision Song Contest! (See also Valente’s Space Opera, mentioned above. Eurovision in space!) Semifinals on Tuesday and Thursday this week, final on Saturday. I love Eurovision. It’s silly, it’s entertaining, it’s brilliant. And even if there is some political voting, the people who come at the top are usually emphatically the ones who deserved it. So yes, I’ll be sitting in front of the television, with my latest quilt in my lap so that I can work on the binding, and I’ll be enjoying myself. If you watch it, I hope you do too.