Edmund Lester

Today I had the opportunity to pop into Chesters, a second hand book shop in Polesworth (just outside Tamworth). It's a real old school used book store. I've not been there for quite some time which is a real pity (and comes with no small amount of shame). The shop is on two levels, both filled with rabbit warrens of shelves all packed with thousand upon thousand of books on all subjects imaginable. I did buy three books while I was there Gerard Klein - The Day before Tomorrow Bob Shaw - Ground Zero Man Bob Shaw - The Two-Timers Strangely the first of these shares its title with the second novel I wrote (one of the two I have deemed should never see light of day - not without considerable rewriting anyway). I can't remember ever having heard of this title but I can't say for definite I hadn't ever. Maybe it just sat at the back of my subconscious until a suggestion for a book title was needed. Thankfully the story is nothing like mine so I can't berate ...

It's been a while since I had any real success out on the collecting trail so today has come as a welcome change to the norm. I went into Ashby and then Derby and have a few to boast about - some of which are just my kind of thing. Anyway here is the list of the new additions to the collection. (All are A format paperbacks unless noted) Shaun Hutson - Shadows Ian Graham - Monument Karen Miller - Innocent Mage Brian Aldiss - The Primal Urge Philip K, Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep HC Jean Jules-Verne - Jules Verne: a Biography HC John Farris - The Uninvited  HC Gardner Dozois - Strangers Hal Clement - Cycle of Fire Barry Malzberg - Overlay Norman Spinrad - The Men in the Jungle A. E. van Vogt - The Changeling Eando Binder - Menace of the Saucers Jack Bertin - The Pyramids from Space Hilbert Schenck - A Rose for Armageddon Lindsay Gutterridge - Killer Pine Edmond Hamilton - What's It Like out there? Frederik Pohl - The Gold at the Starbow's End...

My wife is out every night this week. She is a musician and plays in the band for a local musical theatre group. And this is show week. So in theory I have lots and lots of time to get huge amounts of writing done. Problem is it hasn't quite gone like that. For one thing I finished my last novel at the weekend just gone. So I went into the week of much time without a current project and no real idea of which story I should tell next. Well that last part is now behind me. I spent three days not writing to clear out all the places, characters and plot points of The Stairs Lead Down. This involved watching an awful lot of comedy clips on YouTube. I have a fondness for the Scenes We'd Like to See segment of BBC comedy panel show Mock the Week as well as for George Carlin. Head cleared and decision made I started in on chapter one of a new novel - a science fiction novel set in a future Africa on a very changed world. I'm calling it the Church. Of what I'm not going t...

It's no secret to anyone who knows me or reads this blog that I collect books; mainly science fiction, fantasy and horror books. I've been doing so for nearly four decades and do not intend to stop any time soon, Well I've not done much of it in recent weeks. Weekends have seen me doing other things - lots of writing for instance. Yesterday though I had to go into Derby with my wife do I made the most of it. While she was safely ensconced in a coffee shop reading her latest book I headed around all the charity shops Central Derby has to offer. And I came away with ten new books for the collection David Weber & Steve White - Insurrection ppb James Tiptree, Jr. - Ten Thousands Light-Years form Home ppb Juliet E. McKenna - Northern Storm ppb Richard Laymon - The Midnight Hour ppb David Gemmell - Bloodstone ppb Robert E. Howard - The Conan Chronicles Vol 1 (part of Fantasy Masterworks series - book 8) B format Michael Marshall Smith - What You Make It B fo...

I have a few issues when it comes to confidence; at least as regards my writing. I'm pretty good in my day job. In the office I can make decisions quickly and with great belief in my abilities. It doesn't translate to my writing. In this endeavour I feel a lot more exposed and a lot less sure of myself. It's why this week has mostly been a washout writing wise. I did write a scene on Tuesday evening but when I came to the document today I reread it, highlighted the lot and hit the delete key. It just wasn't any good. The reason for it is an email I received for a submission of my alternate Earth science fiction novel Against the Fall of Empire. I submitted it to a number of agencies last year and received a number of rejections, mostly pro forma style. I chalked these up to par for the course for a wannabe writer and carried on. Then the miracle happened and I received an email that was different. Admittedly it was still a rejection but it contained a personal re...

I have a bad back at the moment. It came on about two weeks ago. It's not too bad so I am not going to spend a lot of time bemoaning my fate and I'm certainly not looking for sympathy. As a result I have been limiting my time at the keyboard a little as just sitting upright to type is uncomfortable and I do have to maintain this position for my day job after all. I've cut down on my writing over the last two weeks so it can have a chance to recover and stayed away from blogging almost completely. I've tweeted a little but as I can do that from my phone while lying down it doesn't count. So why am I blogging now you might ask. Well it's just so I can explain myself. I'd been a regular blogger and now nothing for quite some time. It's only right I make a kind of statement on it. Golly, that last sentence made me sound very pretentious. I can assure I'm not; or at least not too much. My wife will probably disagree although she'd probably opt ...

I have been a Star Trek fan as long as I can remember. I started watching the show back in the 70s when it used to be shown on BBC at about 7pm. This was back in the days of just three channels in the UK, not the hundreds you get now. In this vastly under-populated media world there were a few gems - Doctor Who, Blake's 7 and Survivors spring to mind. But for me Star Trek was always at the top of the pile. So as you can imagine the news, when it came a while back, that there was going to be another Star Trek series in 2017 I was overjoyed, although just a little nervous. After a 12 year gap I am worried they are going to mess it up and put an end to everything Trek wise for good. Hearing about the new show started me wondering just how long it was since I last watched an episode of Star Trek. I'm not counting the new films - I cannot say I've particularly liked the reboot movies. So I headed for my DVD shelves and flicked through the Trek series and for some odd reas...