What's Up Wednesdays #003.

[misslj_author]

More about What's Up Wednesdays here.

WHAT I'M READING.

Nearly half way through The Genome by Sergey Lukyanenko, finally! I had books from the library so I kept putting this back until those were read. Anyhoo, I think Lukyanenko is the bees knees when it comes to urban fantasy/paranormal, his Night Watch series are up there in my top ten all time favourite books. So when I got a notif from Amazon that there was now an English translation of The Genome, that was the one I bought with a gift certificate at Christmas.

I only have one problem with this one: the translation isn't as good as it is for the NW books. But having said that, this is terrific book. It's hard sci-fi but doesn't have so much sci-fi!science that my brain wants to melt; in fact, I actually understand what's going on, so I count that as a big win. For another thing, it's very obvious that Lukyanenko likes to poke the bear that is the Russian government (he's Kazak and lives/writes in Russia/Russian.), so his main characters in this book are a black woman who is a doctor, an executioner and a linguist; a gay man who is the best at what he does in the sector; a teenage girl who has been genetically altered to be an assassin; a Frenchman who has an uncanny ability with weaponary; and the captain, also genetically altered to be a specialist pilot. The captain, the teenage girl and the co-pilot are all Russian. There are issues of prejudice between the crew and their new passengers, while the crew themselves meld together into a tight knit unit akin to a family. Who just happen to be on board a discus shaped space ship with high tech weapons and internals.

It's fast paced, it's interesting, it's got me gripped. The characters are all awesome, especially Janet, the black woman, who is a tough, strong, no-nonsense character who also is the most empathic, alongside Alex, the captain. Actually, I like all the characters so far, but I bet that'll change! In short, another fantastic book from Lukyanenko, and I hope there's more English translations of his work done soon.

WHAT I'M WRITING (+ A WRITING GOAL).

Promo things for my new release, A Shot in the Dark, which is available in eBook and paperback.

I've done a bit more on the paranormal, but that's going slowly right now as suddenly, things have happened, much earlier than I expected and I'm suddenly running around like a chook with its head chopped off. (Read: VERY busy). Also have made a start of fixing up and synopsising the sci-fi, but that's also slow going because of aforementioned running around.

WHAT WORKS FOR ME.

Sleep. Ye gods and little fishes, sleep is so marvellous and wonderful and my bed is awesome and it must never leave me. Also, reading helps jiggle the old brainmeats, which is why we should do it. And because we enjoy it. And I'm so gripped and confused and impressed with the TV series Fortitude, which is confounding, wonderful, horrifying and brilliant. If I could write something that intense and maintain the suspense, not giving anything away, I would be delighted.

WHAT ELSE IS NEW.

More bullet points!

Epilepsy diagnosed. That's okay, I'd expected that, but laws regarding driving mean that getting my license has been set back by a few years, so that's annoyed me greatly. Oh well. C'est la vie.

My niece's wedding is in 6 weeks and I am so not ready!!

Planning a trip to the gorgeous Flinders Ranges for the near future sometime with mum, because she's never been and I'm of the opinion that everyone should visit at least once in their lives. This'll be my fourth trip up there.

Fortitude. I cannot get enough of this brilliant show. Stanley Tucci is amazing. The rest of the cast are too.

The music of Ólafur Arnalds (he does the soundtrack for Broadchurch) is perfect to write to.

The new poster for the next James Bond movie, Spectre, is out and sweet mercy me. Daniel Craig. 'Nuff said.

Mum's had a few more falls, which is worrying, but her GP is on the case and I'm hopeful that the new plan will be a good one.

L-R: The Spectre poster; our first spring onions, fresh from the garden. They smelled amazing; my new release, A Shot in the Dark; the cat hiding under a stool in the bath... as they do; some of the cast of Fortitude.