Edmund Lester

I like music - a great deal. I like live music a great deal and over the years I have been to a number of concerts. More recently though the regularity has diminished somewhat. Most of the bands I like either no longer exist, are dead or just far below their best. Recently though the chance to see a couple of concerts did come up - although for bands that are more my wife's taste than mine, so... Last week we went to see Whitesnake / Def Leppard at the Birmingham N.E.C. Arena, and last night was Bon Jovi at Coventry's Ricoh Arena. (I can't complain, I have dragged her to see Dream Theater and Yes over the years. And although she doesn't mind either band I believe her opinion of them is akin to mine of the bands we have seen in the last week.) Well they were good, enjoyable even for a non-fan. Whitesnake are not the same band they were once. Literally! Only Coverdale remains from the classic line-ups of the 1980s. But they were pretty good, even superb on "Here I Go...

Oddlands magazine has accepted my review of Rhys Hughes's novella Crystal Cosmos, The Drabblecast rejected a sf short story. Ah well, the story got a tweak and is out there again at another market. Fingers crossed. Now back to writing...

I can't believe two months have passed since I last visited this blog. It's unbelievable. I can only blame it on work pressures. Sorry! I've been coming home from the office late a lot this year. Hopefully not for too much longer though. And in having less time, and less energy, what I have had I have dedicated to writing pieces for sale. Well, on that front I've not been doing too bad. I've had a bunch more reviews accepted at Shroud Magazine, and a puzzle and article in each of the first three issues. I am hoping to get enough time tomorrow to finish the article I want to submit for issue 4 - hope the editor likes it. I've had reviews in Andromeda Spaceways (print) and nossa morte (web), and the biggest fun for me - a flash fiction tale accepted by Necrotic Tissue - should be in their July issue. I've had a fair few rejections too I'm afraid, but I guess that's part of the game. Anyway - hopefully the next blog post will not be too far off.