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On Sunday, April 14, 2024, the literary community lost one of its guiding lights when Janet Reid passed away. A New York literary agent for more than twenty years, Janet was possibly even better known for her writings about the publishing industry, especially her advice columns for aspiring authors. Janet Reid was born in Seattle, Washington, the oldest of four sisters. Her sister Cynthia described her as a constant source …

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This is not a ghost story, at least not in any normal sense of that term. Nor is it much of a history. It answers no important questions. Nor does it make a satisfying progress from A to C, stopping smartly upon arrival, with B folded neatly into the middle. Instead, what follows is an attempt to know something about a woman who bore the name Martha Moore. She was …

Fool: In Search of Henry VIII’s Closest Manby Peter K. AnderssonPrinceton University Press, 2023 The posthumous image of him has been entangled with the real individual, and no one has really fully tried to disentangle them. But achieving that would provide us with a unique window into both the life of the court and fundamental conceptions of humour, humanity, and deviance in the Reneissance. … Fool: In Search of Henry …

And now for something completely non clam-related…a speculative essay about LOTR as an environmental allegory, drawing on my posts to social media last week that clearly struck a nerve. I’m the first to admit that Sauron’s rule of Mordor was highly problematic. But frankly, I think those concerns, focusing largely on his foreign policy, have been discussed ad nauseam, and not enough attention has been paid to his legacy as …

2024 sees Peter Richardson on a cinema tour. Picturehouse cinema celebrates the history of The Comic Strip Presents, featuring Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Nigel Planer, Ade Edmondson and Peter Richardson. This richly illustrated event will feature clip reels of some of the best loved Comic Strip moments interspersed with conversation and surprise guests.… Continue reading The Comic Strip Presents… Cinema Tour 2024

submitted by Chris Van HovenRiding hot on the heels of its hugely successful Ridge Travel Collection, Ridge further expands its line of functional, durable, and stylish travel gear to offer even more options when planning your next trip. The new additions include the Ridge Check-In Luggage, Ridge Weekender Duffel, and, by popular demand, the Ridge Personalized Logo Plates. Let’s check each out to see how they fit into the collection.Ridge …

Zilog have announced the impending end of supply for Z80 8-bit microprocessor chips, 48 years after they were first introduced. As a teenager in the late 70’s who started an electronic engineering degree in 1979, amongst my nerd contemporaries there was a clear division between the Z80 fans and the 6502-ers, and obviously each camp thought the processor they preferred was better. The course at University of Bristol based its …

I’ve had an email from a setup called Feedspot which says that Great War Fiction is ranked second among military book blogs. Which is very flattering, though a bit bothering. I’ve neglected the blog horribly over the past year, and it’s not what it was. Does that mean that other military book blogs are in an even worse state? If so, that’s a pity. Over the years, my attention has …

I have made an exploratory prototype of a new game called Pieces for New York Times Games.

Denn die Todten reiten schnell A few days ago I was looking for a font similar to an inktrap typeface I saw on a TV Literary show on TV Brasil. I found it. So I wanted to share with you some beautiful and bold fonts from the Google library I found while I was in my quest. The TV show name is Trilha de Letras (Trilha recebe o historiador, escritor …

Falco Riot, creator of Octyl Fora perfume, described the effect of his fragrant creation with a stale, twentieth century trope, “with Octyl Fora you're transformed into a living philter.” When questioned about the ingredients used in the AI-generated fragrance, Riot exhaled an aloof sigh, detaching himself from the question with another query in an attempt to appear avant-garde. “We're

Despite growing up as a third culture kid used to travel, and having spent almost 20 years visiting various places around Japan, this spring brought a new experience: taking my kid on their first international holiday. I’ve written this post for friends considering a Japan trip, as well as for future me to look back on. We went primarily as a special trip with my Mum, so stuck to loads …

I’m generally against nostalgia, since I think it’s obvious charms can insidiously blot out our ability to live in the moment. But I’ll confess to being overwhelmed with sadness upon learning a few minutes ago that Sports Illustrated has essentially been swept into the dustbin of history. As I’ve discussed on this here site several times, my SI subscription made me fall in love with writing as a young’un, and …