I hit 65 last month. Let's try interviewing me. How does it feel? Well, pretty much the same as when I was younger. You know, 64, 63... It happened to me while I was in the UK, so I could celebrate my birthday with my mother for the first time in too many years. She …
Category: Fun Stuff
Just bits and pieces that appeal to me
My, The Force Was Strong
What a wonderful month May was. Family The first big event was my eldest daughter's engagement party in sunny Romania. It was wonderful to see her take the next step in life, and to meet her friends and her fiance's family. She looked, as ever, so lovely. My middle daughter then announced her graduation grade: an …
Plot Sketch #4635
So Many Ideas, So Little Time... (I have too short a lifespan to produce a full story from every idea I get, so will occasionally throw up out a plot sketch so you can see what you are missing...) Plot Sketch #4635 Earth is the only planet in the galaxy where chocolate and coffee grow, due …
So Where Have I Been?
I took a long break between posts this year. I'm sure you noticed. So where have I been? Among other things, my acting hobby took over for a while with a sudden rush of auditions, resulting in a few days filming ("Toy Gun" and "A Storm In Their Stars"). Audition readings to prepare, lines to …
Mancunicon (Eastercon 2016)
I'm still recovering from a splendid few days at the annual British Science Fiction Convention, held at Easter and generically named Eastercons. 2016 was the turn of Manchester, England to host 1200 sci-fi and fantasy fans, and a fine job the organising team did. For four days the hours between 10 am and falling-over-with-exhaustion-time were filled …
So Many Whys
I recently re-watched "Prometheus", the movie. It was a "non-prequel" to the hit "Alien" movie franchise. Like many, (humourously here with adult language) I was left with more questions than answers. Sadly, some of those questions appear to concern plot-holes, or at least plot-weaknesses. However, I will suspend judgement until I see the sequel to the non-prequel and …
Writing in Groups
I kept reading about them in the blogosphere. Everyone recommends them: Writers' Groups! So how do you find one? Especially if you live in the small, non-English-speaking country of Luxembourg. So I filed it away as yet more writerly advice I couldn't take, like nationwide bookshop signings, getting into libraries... Perhaps I could find a critique …
Dysprosium : SciFi Convention
Dysprosium was the 66th annual UK SciFi Convention, held at Easter 2015. (Yes, I'm still playing "catch-up".) Overview Weird and wacky, thoughtful and intelligent, and a Real Ale bar permanently packed-out with hobbits. Well, not real hobbits, but hairy folk wearing homespun and sandals. (For my non-UK readers, Real Ales are traditional beers produced by smaller breweries with …
Summer Thoughts
The longest day of 2015 is already history to my dear readers in the Northern Hemisphere (21st June 2015 at 16:38 GMT, in case you missed it). Summer is starting to ebb away as the days grow shorter. Start buying your winter clothes. (Except in the Southern Hemisphere, where the days are growing longer - …
Popularity
Great news! According to the reputable Alexa ranking system today, my blog was the 814th most accessed site from Luxembourg. So out of the teemingly uncountable* domains on the planet, a few sites like Amazon and YouTube are more popular. (Okay, those two and 811 mega-corporations and a few porn sites.) So, villmols merci, Letzebuerg. My …
Andy McKell, Speculative Fiction Author 
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