It’s that time of week again where you get to read another newsletter of interest and opinion, and I get to pontificate and opine as if the musings of a man who writes make-believe for a living, carry any reasonable weight!

Firstly, book progress; Bad Medicine continues to sell well. Court of Fey was launched and currently has three five-star reviews, as well as a really good editorial review. Common comments I’ve received are that the Rules of Magic series deserves to be up there with the best in the genre, and that is exceptionally satisfying to hear! To all of you who have recognized my work and supported it, thank you!

Secondly, TV Future has come out and also received a five-star review, and the second Jim Holloway novella is (slowly) underway, as my focus is solidly on finishing off the third installment of Rules of Magic – this is sitting at 63 000 words, so I am approaching the Trilogy finale now and expecting a 75 000 to 80 000-word finished product, putting it firmly in the 350-page region. It’s quite an exciting landmark, because it’s the first trilogy – The Colorado Sequence – down. Then it’s onto book 4, the first book in trilogy two of the series – The Northern sagas – which takes our intrepid Family to the United Kingdom, Germany and the Arctic wastes, as they combat evil and further unfurl insidious plots against mankind in general.

I will say that Book 3 (Curse of the goddess) is a no-holds-barred, punch-you-in-the-face kind of read, with interesting character arcs, new challenges and evils, plot reveals, and of course, action scenes that leave you breathless. I really hope that all of our main characters survive, but I’m not the kind of guy to drop spoilers, so you’ll just have to wait until it comes out!

In the spirit of acknowledging good stories, wherever they may be, you need to watch the Fallout series on Amazon prime. Season 1 is only 8 episodes long, but it is exceptionally well put together with an interesting cast of characters, and is thoroughly entertaining. I’m not much of a gamer (it requires a particular type of co-ordination that I seem to be unable to develop in any meaningful way, despite years of effort), but the Fallout series is a great tribute to the genre and makes me wish that more screen media based on games could be as good. So much incredible heart and effort goes into the creation of these games, it’s nice when the production of the screen adaption shows a similar care. Ella Purnell – watch her for future performances! She already has a good resume for such a young actress, and holds down a main role in Fallout season 1 really well. Also, Walton Goggins! That guy! I’m already a big fan after seeing him in Justified some years ago, but he owns the screen every time his character steps up to it. In a nutshell, watch Fallout, it’s really good!

I also finished the Shogun mini-series. My oh my. Hiryoku Sanada and Anna Sawai NEED Grammys for this. Performances that are simply amazing, along with a support cast of other impeccable performances, an amazing set, great script and ultimately a wonderful perspective on a good story. I may have mentioned this before, but it needs mention often – Shogun is fantastic! If you haven’t watched it, you must.

Next on my watchlist is The Gentlemen, the Guy Ritchie production on Netflix – I’m a bit of a fan, and have heard some positive things… that’s if I can squeeze out some time from the writing schedule! Until next week then…

Keep well, keep reading!