Edmund Lester

Nossa Morte will be featuring two of my reviews in their next issue - for John Everson's the 13th and the film Cabin Fever 2. Unfortunately this email came along with some really bad news - Nossa Morte is to close. Darn, I've enjoyed being featured in every single issue of this ezine and it's galling to know there won't be another issue. It's a great zine - you should go along and read it - http://nossamorte.com/

Ok, the first episode of the third season of Ashes to Ashes. Well, to be honest not much happens. It's not the best start of a season I've seen. I guess it had to set up some of the stuff that's going to happen later in the season and I suppose my desire to see a really good episode was high but it just didnt quite get there for me. Mind you I am being hypercritical. And it did have some of the most wonderful one-liners I've heard in a long time - well since the second season ended.

I woke up this morning fully intending to do some writing. It was going to be a good day. Problem was I made a mistake. I thought that whilst I sort out my emails etc I'd pop in the first of the season 3 DVDs of House. I should've known better. I really should. I know I am a complete addict of this show - even if I didn't notice its existence for over five years. I've never yet managed to watch just one episode - well except when I first saw an episode on TV when I only had one to watch. Since I went out and bought the box sets I've not settled for just one. It's just totally wonderful. And I'm hooked. But I'm determined. I'm only going to watch one more and then I will do some writing - honestly!

UK sf/horror magazine Murky Depths has picked up another couple of book reviews from me for their twelfth issue. These are for Mike Resnick's Shaka II and Gord Rollo's Strange Magic. It's a good feeling - Murky Depths is a great magazine and it's great to see my name in there. Go check out their website http://www.murkydepths.com/

We're heading for a general election in the UK. We'll all have to go to the polls and put our mark against one name or another. It's a responsibility for everyone who lives in a democracy. The problem is I'm not sure just how many people here in the UK would want to vote for any of them. Okay, this is being unfair. There are nearly 650 members of parliament in the UK and only a handful of them have been in the news for the wrong reasons. But there's been so much in the news in the last few months. Expenses scandals; MPs accused of using their position to earn outside money and so on and so on. I guess in some ways it's a matter of timing. If it wasn't for the small matter of the economy being royally screwed we might think that they were able to do their jobs. So when they're no good and filling their own pockets... I'm talking perspective here not the total truth. The economy is screwed. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs through t...

I read this guy's stuff a few years back- Practical Demonkeeping to be exact. I liked it. I remember liking it a lot.But I've not read anything of his since. I've bought a few, but never actually read them. Don't know why, just never got round to it. This week though that changed. I picked up a book called Fool. I'm glad I did. The idea of this book is simply briliant. It's such a complete switch about. Fool retells Shakespeare's King Lear, in my opinion the best of his tragedy plays, as a bawdy romp - complete with large amounts of shagging and single-entendres (why go to all the trouble of a double when you can just be opaque about things). I'd never have believed it would be possible to retell Lear in this kind of way but it works brilliantly. You just have to read this book.

I like episodic television. Okay most of it tends to be science fiction in nature but I do occasionally venture outside sf. I followed ER pretty regularly. I watch CSI and Bones. Okay looking at those alternates I guess they are fairly science based. So it might not be that much of a remove. And I've found another series that's hooked me - House. Again not much of a departure I guess as it's heavy on the medical science. But evidence that I might not be up to date with things. After all House has been running for five years before I happened upon it. Never said I was the most observant of people. Still at least it does mean I have quite a number of episodes to catch up on - thanks be to the people who first thought of selling episodes of TV shows on tape or disk.