Books, movies, music <- my life
This heading genuinely does actually describe my life. Oh, maybe throw in some food there too, just in case.
This Saturday past I met up with my good pall Sarah Bryars and we went off adventuring around town for our usual #bookchateating day. We started, for a change, over at Waterstones Piccadilly where I bought 2 titles:
Highway To Hell by Rosemary Clement Moore
Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey
If you’ve not read either of these authors, I urge you to do so. Rosemary Clement Moore writes some of the best contemporary urban fantasy going and also, they are deeply funny, dark and when it comes to her most recent title I’ve read: Texas Gothic, very sexy too. Richard Kadrey’s first novel I read: Sandman Slim - superlative noir urban fantasy - gritty, dark humor, gory. I loved it.
Then we popped over to Honest Burgers as recommended to us by a variety of good folks via twitter. It was delicious - defintely one of the best burgers I’ve ever had. Sarah and I devoured our helpings - the chips were delicious too. Also, you can request for your bun to be gluten free - which is a great bonus.
We strolled across to Foyles for our usual book touching and spent some time there and I bought a further 2 titles:
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M Danforth
Bitter End by Jennifer Brown
I’ve heard nothing but good things about TMoCP and I kept picking it up and putting it down again each time we visited Foyles. This time though I bit the bullet and bought it. Bitter End by Jennifer Brown is now out in paperback so it will match my copy of Hate List by the same author. Hate List is one of the most frightening and stunning books I’ve ever read and I’ve become a big fan of Ms. Brown’s, hence the purchase of Bitter End.
We met up with Mark who had gone off first thing to watch the new Dredd movie and after he had a quick bite to eat, we waved TTFN to Sarah and popped by Forbidden Planet where I indulged in purchasing a copy of Elizabeth Wein’s A Coalition of Lions which is TINY and perfect and the cover is divine.
Dredd & Anderson
Glutted with books Mark and I headed off to watch Dredd. Again for him, my first time. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the makers created the correct movie here - Urban as Dredd works well. Stuff gets blown up. People are killed in suitably dramatic and mad ways, also in slow motion. But what’s cool is that Dredd remains completely unscrutable for most of the movie and his development is revealed by one line only to Rookie Anderson: “Are you ready? You look ready.” And the movie is really about the young Anderson learning the ropes, coming to terms what it’s like out there in Real Life and you watch her react and grow. Loved it to utter bits. Dredd has to be one of my fave flicks after The Dark Knight Rises for this summer.
Sunday we spent the day not doing very much at all and it was luxurious and indulgent. We made roast pork and I created chipotle slaw which was fantastic to have with our roast pork. I read loads, I dozed in the sun and I also worked on a synopsis for Grimm2. And of course, hand in hand with any project is a playlist.
I’ve worked on this on and off for a few days, so here it is, my playlist for Grimm2 Playlist.
I’m not good with doing synopsis writing - not many writers are, but for the next book I definitely want to use more of a planning outline, that’s for sure. I’m basically using Rachel Aaron”s great advice here and here to see how Grimm2 will play out, or any other book I choose / am advised to write next.
Now that I’ve got Grimm2′s synopsis written down, I will be bending my mind to the contemp YA novel idea I’ve had kicking around for ages and see if I can make sense of it. The reason for the spare time is that I’m waiting to hear from Agent Dearest to see what her further comments are on the Behemoth Grimm1′s become. I suspect I will need a machete and scalpel.
This weekend is a SCBWI Masterclass with Sara Grant - and it’s more about revising! Needless to say I’m not scared. At all.*
Oh! Also, The Hunger Games DVD came and it is as good as I remember it in the theatre. And that’s all I have to say for now.
*I am very scared.
Mirrored from Liz De Jager.