Notes on Summer…
Yes, this is how I keep cool in summer…
Summer is here and I’ve been doing a lot of gaming; including re-re-re-rolling Elden Ring (I am so hoping the DLC will let you rego at bosses without NG+). There’s been work stuff and life stuff and academic prep, you name it. I picked up a shiny new iPad Air for work, as well as a Mac Mini which means I can use my TV as a 55” script-adapting monster. Also Stray looks awesome on it! As does Sandman! And Incantation!
I’ve been doing scripts too though, even if I can’t talk about them yet. I hit my sixtieth adaption (since August 2018), which just so happened to be my current Grail series, which, oddly, I never actually thought I’d get to work on! I’ve uploaded some new covers and, as a general rule, once I start a series I see it through so you can probably guess some of the volumes that have passed my desk.
But not all of them. More on those later…
I’ve been planning my Japan trip, which will get a separate post, and—essentially—the second the border opens for non-package tour tourists, I’m booking my tickets for March. At this point, I have the itinerary planned out and am pretty much sticking to Honshū. There would be other trips and I would totally love, at a later point, to do the Shikoku Pilgrimage (yes, random I know).
Me, over summer.
I’ve spent much of August finishing up Hexagon, it’s not finished yet but it’s oh-so-much closer. I’m plotting and worldbuilding a short something called Where Bones Sleep (best described as if the Lovecraftian Mythos had a child with Alien and Returnal—with a dash of mahō shojō just for good measure). It’s in the worldbuilding stage but a lot of the ground is there. I just need to work on the story as, right now, it’s pretty much an elevator pitch summed up as
What if magic users from a mix of Earth cultures went on the first space mission to find a new world. Ancestors of the protagonist caused a multiversal Collapse which is slowly making Earth and our reality uninhabitable, so it only seems right that she be on the frontline to find a new home.
Except the star, Eleusis, this particular ship has traveled to, the solar system, the planet, and its people were also affected and their ghosts are not happy, especially when the instigators of their deaths, arrive…
The world of Asphodel might appear empty but it’s definately not quiet…
My plan for the autumn term is to take my final module and audit everything else. I also want to make the most of my last year doing a Master’s, especially if I can sort this PhD out (which means applications and all that stuff). I want to join the archery club and was also thinking about an evening class (like Chinese). Something to help me get through the part of the year I struggle with (Go away, SAD!).
I’m going to have a very busy year so I’m making a point of enjoying the quiet while it lasts, hugging my cats and smelling autumn in the air. But this is going to be my best academic and personal year yet!
