End of year update

 As we approach the end of 2024 I'd like to send good wishes to all my readers and hope you have a relaxed and enjoyable conclusion to the year however you choose to celebrate it, and the very best of times in the New Year. I'd also like to give particular thanks to all those who supported me during my Cardiff Half Marathon challenge with Alzheimer's UK. Every pound was appreciated and it will all make a difference in the fight against this awful disease.

Looking on, I've registered for next year's event, where I will be attempting to raise funds for Cancer Research Wales. It's a bit early now but once we get into the year, I'll start sharing the fundraising page at semi-regular intervals, and aim to keep you abreast of my training, including the inevitable setbacks. According to my Garmin I ran 509 km this year, including a big dip over the summer where I was managing a foot injury. I hope to do somewhat better than that next year.

In terms of writing, 2024 was a mixed bag. I got off to a good start by writing a novella for the Eric Brown memorial anthology, entitled "The Scurlock Compendium" - a sort of MR James thing with ghosts and time-travel in post WW2 Suffolk. In mid-March I delivered my next novel, Halcyon Years, then (since it wasn't going to be read for a bit) resubmitted it a few weeks later with a few tweaks I felt it needed. With that off my desk I took a few weeks off, got unexpectedly involved with am-dram, and then turned my thoughts to the next book, which was going to be a standalone space opera. For various reasons that didn't quite get off the ground over the summer, and by the time I returned from the World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow over August, I felt that I needed to work on something else. The current contract had always included an intention to composite the Merlin stories into a single book, so I turned to that instead. Between dithering over those projects, I also wrote another novella, "The Dagger in Vichy", which I'm pleased with and which will now appear as a small book from Subterranean Press, ably edited by Jonathan Strahan. It's a science fiction story set in a dark, Medieval-tinged future Europe, about a travelling theatrical group (inspired by the am-dram stuff, of which more below). For various innocent external reasons there was a gap of about six months before edits returned to me on Halcyon Years, but I completed them in fairly swift order in November and the book is now off my desk again until the next round of queries, which I expect somewhere around January. Until that happens, I'll be working on the Merlin stuff pretty solidly, allowing for a bit of down-time over Christmas. I'm taking the opportunity to reframe and rework the stories so that they form a consistent novel-length narrative, as well as addressing certain aspects of the character development, worldbuilding and storytelling that I felt needed alteration. So, while I didn't start and finish a novel, and I'd have liked to have written a bit more short fiction, it was an OK year - certainly not the worst. Mustn't grumble, first world problems, could be worse etc.

I travelled a bit for work - not as much as in some years, but definitely more than during 2018-2022, when a combination of family illness and Covid pretty much saw me not leaving home at all - and attended enjoyable gatherings in Montpellier, France and the aforementioned Glasgow. And I was delighted to become honorary president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group, who have been friendly and kind to me since I first emerged as a novel-writer at the turn of the millennium. I didn't get up to Birmingham during 2024 but I did attend a few of their meetings over zoom, and I look forward to seeing all the Brum crew again next year. They really are a wonderfully supportive and enthusiastic bunch.

I've carried on my existential journey into the mystical realm of the guitar, taking weekly online lessons from a lovely gentleman who is helping me make massive strides with music theory and an understanding of the fretboard. I managed not to buy any guitars this year, although I did take two of mine in for a complete servicing, which was as good as getting two shiny new guitars.

The big "didn't have that on my bingo-card" thing for me in 2024 was the am-dram involvement, which came completely out of the blue following a chance encounter while out hillwalking. I bumped into a friend of mine from the local running community. I knew he had a theatre involvement, but that was as far as it went. Since I expected to have delivered a novel by April, I agreed to help with scenery shifting during an upcoming musical production. This then led to two (then three) speaking parts in the same show, which proved a success financially and got an enthusiastic response from the community. Still buzzing from that, I auditioned for our summer Shakespeare production and got the part of Dogberry in "Much Ado", which we performed in the round (and mostly outdoors) over three nights in July. I capped that by being an extra on a BBC shoot for a day later in the month, then took a step back from it all to concentrate on writing. However, my willpower not being great, I was soon back in the fold for our next musical production, "Guys and Dolls", which we'll be putting on April. I have a small but fun part in that. Throughout all this, although she doesn't like being thanked, I must mention the massive support provided by my wife who has patiently endured many hours of line-readings. And of course, she is my usual rock for getting me through another year of being a writer, with all that entails.

My reading throughout this year has been bitty, alas - not because of the books, but because of me not being in the right head-space to get on with much fiction. I need to remedy that in 2025, and also find time to get a few more short stories done. Whatever the year brings, I'm sure there will be surprises, but I hope for my readers there are more of the pleasant kind than the other, and we'll all be here again a year from now. Thank you all, and very best wishes.

Al

It ain't me, babe

 Thanks to my friends Paul and Malcolm for alerting me to a fake Bluesky social media account which is purporting to be me - it isn't. There is also at least one Stephen Baxter impersonator on Bluesky. 

For the record, I'm not on any social media platforms. I used to be able to at least monitor the content of Twitter and Facebook without logging in, but I can't even do that anymore.

White Foxes - Susanne Sundfør

I've gone completely ga-ga for this song and video. It's an old one but Susanne Sundfør wasn't on my radar at all until I heard a collaborative piece by her on the soundtrack to the new Day of the Jackal series. That led me to this piece, which I adore. It's always great to discover a brilliant artist.

The Saints!

 Nice article on the reformed Saints in The Guardian today:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/11/punk-pioneers-the-saints-im-stranded

Galactic Vinyl Memories #13

 I needed to cheer myself up on Wednesday morning, so - thanks to a pre-arranged visit to Cardiff - I did a bit of retail therapy in HMV.

I really like Michael Kiwanuka's music, although this is the first record of his I've bought. I was surprised by how much of it I've recognised on first play. He did a great set at Glastonbury in the summer, and has a new album out now as well.

This is a Khruangbin album. I love Khruangbin! I came to them via a live set that was shown on BBC Wales a couple of years ago after a performance in Cardiff. They're a Texan three-piece. I've no idea how to describe their music other than "groovy". Their wiki page says they blend soul, dub, rock and psychedelia, which sounds about as good a description as any. All three of them are amazing musicians. Two of them wear wigs. I've got a couple of CDs and one other vinyl record by them, but I think this might be a live album. Khruangbin! It means "aeroplane" in Thai.

Suzanne Vega has put out a quartet of records with re-recordings of her songs arranged thematically. I've got the first and third of the set on vinyl, and this is the second. I've been a fan since hearing "Small Blue Thing" on the radio in 1985, and that song still sends shivers down my spine. She's created a fantastic body of work over forty years.

Galactic Vinyl Memories #12

 A two-for-one this time! No connection to the previous record that I can think of, although they certainly stem from a similar period in my listening.

These two records, both of which I'd suggest are now considered "seminal", were bought from a small independent record shop called Rock City in St Andrews, Scotland in October 1989. "Sensual World" was Kate Bush's first significant new release since "Hounds of Love" four years earlier (quite a long time in them there days), while The Blue Nile's second album, "Hats", came five and half years after their debut. That wasn't just quite a long time, that was an eternity. No one took five years between albums back then, not even Tears for Fears.

The second track off "Hats", entitled The Downtown Lights, was, rather fantastically, namechecked by none other than Taylor Swift on her recent album. Apparently this caused such a rush of interest in the long-defunct Scottish band that they quickly sold out of vinyl copies of "Hats". The album itself is a magnificent record and fully the equal of its predecessor, "A Walk Across the Rooftops". I saw them live around the time of the release of their third album.

Kate Bush's album is one of her best, without question, and contains some wonderful songs. It's a smoother, more sumptuous recording than "Hounds..." and none of its moments match the sheer strangeness and newness of parts of that record ... but it's still an absolute banger.

Why are these two albums shown together, beyond the fact that I bought them at the same time? Because they were both released on the same day, October 16th 1989. Talk about an embarrassment of riches!

Galactic Vinyl Memories #11

 I've been having fun with these vinyl posts, so I thought I'd carry on with them for a bit. There's only the most tenuous of links between this record and the preceding one, though: they're both on the Geffen label! Beyond that, you'd be hard-pressed to find an LP that sounds less like Asia than this one.

I bought this album by The Chameleons on the strength of hearing a single on Radio 1 in the early summer of 1986. It was on one of those "juke-box jury" type programs. I don't think anyone liked it very much. I did! It had a great stop-start energy I'd never heard before. Before buying the LP, though, I got the 12" EP which contained the single, "Tears", and two other tracks on the B-side. It's a great EP and I've still got it. Somewhat oddly, none of the tracks feature on the subsequent album, "Strange Times", which was the third by the band, and the only one on Geffen. There is a version of "Tears" on the LP, but it's a completely different, much slower arrangement. I like them both very much. The record as a whole is melodic, guitar-driven indie-rock, with a bit of a goth-adjacent feel. It's got a very raw, live-sounding production by Dave Allen, who also worked with The Cure and Psychedelic Furs, two references which give a very rough indication of the sort of sound on the record. You could also say they sound a little like Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen, Magazine, Comsat Angels, The Passions, etc - while being entirely their own thing.

The two preceding albums, which came out in 1983 and 1985, are as equally good as the third. They've got a sort of high-tuned, echoing, wall-of-sound guitar texture which has been much imitated. On "Strange Times", there's less echo (to my ears) and the guitars sound grungier. I like them all. Unfortunately, the band were already dissolving as I got into them. They reformed for another album in 2001, which evolved their sound, but then broke apart again due to internal differences. It's a shame as the music is great, but perhaps it took a particular, combustible chemistry to make it happen. Sadly, the drummer John Lever (who is ferocious on all these recordings) passed away in 2017. I caught the band live on two occasions in the Netherlands and now that two of the remaining members are touring again, I would like to see them one more time.

My vinyl copy of "Strange Times" was bought in Newcastle in the autumn of 1986. I seem to recall that there was a choice of pink or blue covers (and possibly matt or non-matt treatments?). I went for the pink one, and it's still (mostly) in its shrink-wrapping. There are some coffee stains on the sleeve. The record is slightly warped but still plays fine and sounds absolutely epic right down to the last wail of feedback on the final track.

Cardiff Half-Marathon update

 The Cardiff Half-Marathon took place on Sunday, with an estimated 29,000 participants. My wife and I stayed overnight so as to make our morning as stress-free as possible, but even so, we were caught out by the crowds around the start area, and it was a bit of a struggle to get to the right position for my allocated start time. All came good in the end, though, and I was able to settle down and enjoy the extremely positive and welcoming atmosphere generated by the other runners and their supporters.

Here's me with Graham, who was running his fourth half-marathon, and also running in aid of Alzheimer's UK. Graham got a big shout-out over the loudspeaker, and I believe it mentioned that he was 70. Well done, Graham, and good luck with future runs.

Two nice ladies, one from the Midlands (in yellow) and the other from the Netherlands, so I got to practise my terrible rusty Dutch on the poor lady. She took it very well. Hope the run was a success, both.

With Lillie Mai, who chatted kindly to my wife while I was off dealing with some left property. Hope you had a great one, Lillie Mai!

Next to me, a couple of friendly runners from my neck of the woods in the Valleys. The one in white said he might be up for parkrun! Come on, you know you want to. Hope the run went well, both.

The Cardiff half-marathon course takes you on a nice tour of the bay and the city:

My wife was stationed at around the 7 mile mark so caught this photo of me as I passed our hotel:

By this point it was clear that the forecast rain was going to hold off so I gladly disposed of my cap for the rest of the run. I was feeling pretty good and managed to keep myself hydrated thanks to the water stations every 3 miles. There were also lots of people handing out sweets and drinks and so on along the route, so it was easy to keep your energy levels up. A big shout-out to all these kind people, including the members of the general public who just turned up with boxes of mars bars, etc.

I crossed the finish line just over 2 and a half hours after I started:

For which I was pretty pleased. I definitely found this run somewhat easier than the three unofficial halfs I did for myself during the year. I think that was a combination of a nice smooth running surface, not too many up and down bits, the ability to keep hydrated, and the great encouraging atmosphere of the other runners and supporters.

Here's me at the Alzheimer's UK stand at the completion of the event:

I felt very pleased and relieved that the whole thing had gone well. As we headed back to our car, the heavens opened, so we were rather fortunate that the rain had held off until then. The cool conditions, with just a light breeze, were pretty ideal for running. It would have been so much harder on a warm, sunny day.

Many of you have supported my run via the Alzheimer's UK fundraising page, for which I'm very grateful. I'll post a final link to the page now as it is still possible to tip some funds into it, should you so wish. Thank you all (and my wife for her amazing support, too).

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #10

 From Yes, with more than a little predictability, we pivot to reasonably unloved 80s supergroup Asia, featuring Yes's Steve Howe on guitar. Here's their second album, Alpha, which I bought in the heat of the moment in 1983.

I'm not going to claim this is any lost classic of 80s MOR, but it's perfectly pleasant and listenable within its own soft-rock microcosm and the Roger Dean cover art is lovely. My copy came from Bridgend and still looks near-mint and plays just fine. I'm fond of it because of the associations I have with that time in my life when I first played the record, rather than any intrinsic quality of the music itself.

We're edging super-close to 1500 pounds on my Justgiving page for Alzheimer's UK, which is brilliant. I'm grateful for the donations to date but want to keep pushing between now and the half-marathon:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #9

The trouble with Genesis is that they are/were always quite an insular band - other than Earth, Wind & Fire's horn section, you'd be hard-pressed to find any contributing musicians on any of the albums. There are the solo records, of course, and Collins and (especially) Gabriel have collaborated with many other artists. Gabriel's records easily link into post-punk and world music - Paul Weller is on his third album, for instance - but I thought I'd stick with Genesis for now, and make use of the fact that the brilliant drummer Bill Bruford plays on Seconds Out. I don't think he's on much of it - maybe just the live version of Cinema Show - but he was definitely part of the touring line-up before Chester Thompson took the main role of drummer.

From Bill Bruford we could go to King Crimson, but we've done them already (I'm not saying they won't come up again, though) so why not a bit of Yes, by way of their seminal 1972 album Close to the Edge:

Look, I've heard all the arguments. I know this stuff is supposed to be atrocious, self-indulgent crap. And maybe some of Yes's other stuff leaned somewhat in that direction. But this album is just the dog's bollocks. A friend of mine first played me part of it in 1982, then later made me a C90 tape. I bought my own vinyl copy, which I still play nearly every week, in 1983. There are three songs on it: one on side one, two on the other. I have never tired of listening to any single second of any of them. The record still fills me with joy and excitement. I love a lot of stuff by Yes but this is the one I'd grab if the house was on fire and I would set wizards on any man who stood in my way.

I'm wearing my Alzheimer's Uk running top in the photo. If you've not checked out my justgiving page for the Cardiff Half Marathon, here's the link. Sincere thanks to all of you who have contributed.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories # 8

 Just back from a jaunt to Sweden for the Gothenburg Book Fair, where I was looked after very well by both the fair and my friends from SF Bokhandlen, where I also stopped off in Stockholm to do a joint event with Peter Hamilton. Old pals Paul McAuley and Ken MacLeod also joined us in Gothenburg for many panels and discussion events, and a great time was had by all.

Here's Ken up on the impressive space-themed stage being interviewed by Glenn Petersen of the SF Bokhandeln. It was lovely to see Ken:

While in Stockholm I took an hour or so to visit to the ABBA museum:

Which I thoroughly enjoyed. I've got a few more pics but I'll save them for another post.

Back to my vinyl connections theme. I mentioned Weather Report last time, so now let's jump to Genesis and their 1977 double live album, Seconds Out:

I bought this in 1983. It was the second Genesis live album: there'd been one earlier one during the Peter Gabriel years, but this was the first double-live record. It's one of my favorites because it captures Genesis at an interesting point, between the departure of Gabriel and before the first of the mega hits. Unless you're a fan of the band, there won't be any hugely familiar tracks on this album except for the minor chart entry "I know what I like". Phil Collins had become the main singer by 1977 and so Chester Thompson (Weather Report, Frank Zappa) was brought in to play drums when the band were on the road. Chester Thompson was a great fit for the band and continued to play with them until at least the last time I saw Genesis, in 2007.

Despite already being considered obsolete prog-rock dinosaurs by this point, the core members of Genesis were no older than 27 when they made this record! Times have changed.

The opening song is Squonk, off their 1976 album "A Trick of the Tail".

I can only think of one other song that references the word "Squonk" and that is "Any Major Dude" by Steely Dan, which appeared on Pretzel Logic, already mentioned a few posts ago. 

How's that for circularity?

According to Wikipedia: "The squonk is a mythical creature that is reputed to live in the hemlock forests of northern Pennsylvania in the United States."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squonk

Both songs reference the tears of the Squonk.

Speaking of tears, it's now less than a week until my Cardiff Half-marathon run in aid of Alzheimer's UK. I've had many generous donations, but if you haven't donated yet and might want to, hop on over to my justgiving page. Every amount makes a difference, and will motivate me on the day come what may.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Ta,

Al

Galactic Vinyl Memories #7

 It's a short detour from Joni Mitchell to Weather Report, thanks to WR's Jaco Pastorius providing bass on Hejira! 

I bought this 1979 double live album (entitled 8:30) in 1985. Not sure why. I'd seen a TV documentary about Weather Report (the South Bank Show, 1984) and thought they might be up my street, but I was a bit confounded by the music when I actually listened to it properly. I'd obviously heard a bit of their music on the doco and knew it was "jazz/fusion" (whatever that is) but I think I was expecting something a bit more proggy/keyboardy than what I actually got. As weird as it sounds now, in those days it was normal to take a punt on a record even when you had no more than a vague idea of what it might sound like, or even just because you liked the artwork or the band name or song titles. There was no world-wide web and no reliable way of checking out records beforehand. (As an aside, when I moved to the Netherlands, I found out that many Dutch record shops still had listening booths where you could check out a CD prior to purchase but I don't remember this being an option in the UK, at least not with vinyl). I bought a ton of records this way and was rarely disappointed!

Despite my initial reservations, I did end up quite enjoying this record, and eventually acquired a few more Weather Report albums, although this remains my only vinyl purchase. It's in superb condition and still plays perfectly. I particularly like "A Remark You Made", which is a Zawinul composition, which is a really beautiful, slow, evocative jazz piece. The cover on this record is a gorgeous piece of artwork.

Hmm... where do we go from here? Well, a certain Chester Thompson played drums in Weather Report so perhaps there's a clue that we may be drifting back into the arena of prog.

Hope you're enjoying these posts, and please check out my fundraising page for the Cardiff Half-Marathon, in just over a week:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #6

 Keeping with the monochrome theme (why not), here's Joni Mitchell's magnificent 1976 album Hejira. This is a little different than the preceding records, in that my vinyl copy is a recent pressing. I only came to Joni Mitchell late in my listening, by way of budget box-set of her albums through the late 60s to the late 70s. Prior to that, I'd not given her a lot a of time, being only familiar with the big, early hits, which I could take or leave. Then, I heard a live recording of one of her tracks on the radio, and it blew me away. I can't even say what that song was now: it might have been "Help me", "Free Man in Paris" or possibly "Coyote", the opening track on Hejira. It doesn't matter, it was just the key that unlocked her music for me and turned me into an avid fan. I've now got a few of her records on vinyl, purely because, why not?

Mitchell had a run of amazing records from 1974 to 1976, beginning with Court and Spark, continuing with The Hissing of Summer Lawns, and ending with Hejira. Larry Carlton's jazzy playing is all over this trio, none more so than on Hejira which is PHENOMENAL. It's such a modern-sounding record that it's hard to grasp that it'll soon be 50 years old. I think my favorite song on it is probably the nearly 9-minute long "Song for Sharon" with its haunting, repeating bassline. Needless to say, the lyrics are the stuff of poetry and the playing and singing throughout the record is outstanding. How wonderful that Joni Mitchell is still performing now!

Here's a link to my Cardiff Half-marathon fundraiser for Alzheimer's UK:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #5

 With a certain inevitability we come to Steely Dan itself, via their 1974 third album, Pretzel Logic:

It's a monochrome album cover, so I went with a monochrome shot. There's nothing about this record I don't love. I bought it in Bridgend over Christmas 1985, along with The Royal Scam and The Nightfly. My journey down the Steely Dan rabbit hole had begun a few months earlier, when I bought a double cassette of their first album, Can't Buy a Thrill (1972), paired with their sixth, Aja (1977). It's a really weird pairing that ought not to work - the two records really don't sound that much alike - but perhaps it was that odd juxtaposition that worked for me. CBAT has a couple of familiar hits on it, but while the playing is great and the lyrics super-cynical, it's closer to a laid-back Eagles or Doobie Brothers kind of sound than the ice-cool jazz-rock of their late-70s records such as Aja. Pretzel Logic is somewhere in the middle, with the jazz stuff starting to peak through but not yet becoming the dominant sound. The title track is a monumental slow blues that might be about time travel (or something). Most SD albums had a nod to science fiction somewhere or other - Fagen & Becker were big SF-heads.

I love all their 70s records unreservedly. I think I skew a little bit toward liking the later albums - Royal Scam, Aja and Gaucho - very slightly more than their predecessors (it might have something to do with Larry Carlton's quicksilver guitar work figuring on those later records) but I would never want to be without any of the records. Through thick and thin, through deviations into prog, punk, post-punk, goth, grunge, metal and just about any sub-genre of rock you care to name, I've never stopped loving Steely Dan. You either got them or you didn't. The only problem was - as of the point I discovered them - their body of work was small, and you could burn through it in a morning. I was conscious of this as I worked through their back catalogue, and by the time I got to Gaucho (1980), which I delayed buying as long as possible, I knew there could be no more Steely Dan. Well, there was, eventually, but for me the two albums they did after 2000 stand apart from the great run of their first seven records.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #4

 We jaunt two years into the future and across the Atlantic now, to Glasgow. Love and Money's second album, Strange Kind of Love (1988) was another Gary Katz production, and in addition to the three band members, featured Steely Dan's Jeff Porcaro, Rick Derringer and an uncredited performance by Donald Fagen (although he does get an acknowledgement).

 

A lot of money was spent on this record, and it shows. It's got a really sumptuous production, and the gatefold sleeve gives off that "prestige" artist appeal. Big things were anticipated. The songs are really good, the playing is fabulous and the singer's got a fantastic voice. The title track, "Strange Kind of Love", got a lot of airplay toward the end of 1988 but it wasn't really a hit. "Halleluia Man" was also on the radio a lot but again only troubled the lower depths of the charts. The songs did a bit better elsewhere but there was no breakout hit, which must have been disappointing to Phonogram. The album's done decently enough over time, though, with 250,000 sales (according to Wikipedia). The follow-ups did less well, and I confess I haven't heard them.

The latter part of 1988 was when I moved to Scotland after completing my degree in Newcastle. I can't hear these tracks without thinking of dark nights, bitterly cold mornings, and the terrible events of Lockerbie at the end of that year. I don't think I managed to get hold of the album until early 1989. My copy still sounds great and the sleeve is in pretty good condition with just a bit of scuffing on the corners. Recommended for fans of Deacon Blue, the Blue Nile etc.

Galactic Vinyl Memories #3

Over on my justgiving page, thanks to many kind and generous people, we've just smashed the target of raising 1000 pounds for Alzheimer's UK. I'm really stoked by this and want to thank each and everyone who has chipped in, right from the start. In fact, in celebration of hitting the goal, I put in another practise half-marathon this afternoon. It was no easier than the last one in August, disappointingly, and I really struggled after 18km, but today was certainly warmer, which didn't help.

Anyway, back onto matters vinyl. From King Crimson, we slingshot in the vague direction of Steely Dan, by way of Rosie Vela's 1986 album Zazu. Look, it's me, it was always going to end up with Steely Dan, wasn't it?

OK, but what's the connection? Rosie Vela was a model, singer and songwriter and she wrote and played on all the tracks on this enjoyable slice of synth-driven West Coast jazz-rock. Backing her was, to all intents and purposes, the core of Steely Dan - Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, with Gary Katz producing. This was an INCREDIBLY big deal at the time, because, other than one solo album from Fagen (1982's The Nightfly, which is great) there had been no music from them since the Dan's final album of their first streak - Gaucho (1980). That was an eternity in music back then and the coming of the Rosie Vela album hinted at the possibilities of more recordings to come from SD - although it would another fourteen years before that actually happened. As for the record itself, it was the only recording Rosie Vela put out and perhaps that was enough for her. My copy was bought in 1986 and remains in near-pristine condition. It's an obscure record, but not rare in any way - you can easily score good vinyl copies right now for not much money.

Oh right, the connection - sorry. Tony Levin (King Crimson, etc) plays bass!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #2

 This might seem like something of an obvious choice, and indeed it is, but where do you go from Talking Heads? I could have gone with Brian Eno as a link into other artists, but I've misplaced my one Brian Eno vinyl album (indeed, I might have loaned it to someone). So it falls on Adrian Belew to link us into King Crimson, and I've plumped for my copy of their 1982 album Beat:

After disbanding in the mid-70s, KC reformed for a trilogy of three similar-sounding and similarly-packaged albums beginning with Discipline (1981), continuing with Beat, and concluding with Three of a Perfect Pair (1984). Their minimalist sleeves are respectively red, blue and yellow. Love these albums or loathe them (and they had plenty of detractors) they are what I'd call the nearest thing to a post-punk, New Wave, Talking Heads-ish kind of KC sound. All three records have some reasonably catchy and "normal" songs on them, but all three also have a more than ample share of experimental art-rock which at times only barely qualifies as music. Needless to say I am very fond of them. I bought them in reverse order, as it happens, and Beat was purchased from a Newcastle record shop in the Autumn of 1985. Adrian Belew's great weird squealing guitar sounds are all over this recording and his voice is very David Byrne-like. Bill Bruford plays drums. Tony Levin is on bass and Robert Fripp, of course, is also on guitar.

I didn't have a record player when I was away from home as a student, so my procedure after any vinyl purchase was to persuade someone else with a turntable to make me a tape which I could then listen to until I was back home. I remember that the usual candidate was a very big fan of both Madonna and Bauhaus and was not at all impressed by King Crimson, but he kindly put up with my requests. My vinyl copy is still in excellent nick and plays flawlessly.

KC went on a long hiatus after this trilogy of records and I must confess I've never quite connected in the same degree to the more recent stuff, although I did see the band perform in Cardiff a few years ago.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Galactic Vinyl Memories #1

 In order to drive some additional traffic to my Alzheimer's UK Justgiving page, in the build-up to the Cardiff Half-Marathon, I thought I'd try posting here a lot more frequently. The trouble is, in the day to day life of the jobbing SF writer, there isn't much to report. However, I can prattle on about music until the cows come home, so why not make that a feature, not a bug?

Hence Galactic Vinyl Memories #1, the first in a loose series where I dig through my vinyl connection, offer up a few recollections, and attempt to establish some tenuous connections between entries.

Our dear friend Carol (see previous post) liked Al Green, and we like Al Green too. In fact, one of my wife's dogs would be triggered into an ecstacy of howling by the sound of Al Green's voice. I don't have any Al Green lps, though, but I do have some Talking Heads, who covered Take Me To The River on their 1978 record More Songs About Buildings and Food.

I don't have that, either, but I do have Little Creatures, their 1985 album:

Which I bought pretty much the week, if not the day, it came out. I was a huge fan by then, but I'd come to them by a roundabout and belated route. After failing my "A" levels, I'd been put back a year in school. The drawback of this was seeing all my mates go off to more exciting things while I was stuck in Pencoed, but the surprising benefit was ending up with a whole year's worth of new friends, in the sixth form class I got bumped back down into. One of them was a nice chap who liked Talking Heads. Knowing I was "into" King Crimson, especially the early 80s stuff, he made me a couple of Talking Heads recordings to listen to, suggesting I'd find a lot of common ground. The albums were Remain in Light (1980) and Speaking in Tongues (1983), two scorchers that I'd consider absolutely essential parts of any TH collection. Remain in Light was the one with the hit on, Once in a Lifetime, and it's where they really started leaning into the afrobeat influences, with brilliant polyrhythms all over the place. I dug that stuff and the KC/TH crossover connection is easily made. Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew had already made contributions to TH, so there's 50% of the DNA there already.

Little Creatures is a very good album, but it represents the point where TH started to sound less interesting to me, because the sound is more traditionally pop-rock and the production is very emphatic, in that mid-80s way. I found their later records progressively less appealling, although I still liked them well enough. It's worth having, but I wouldn't put it above the Holy Trinity of Fear of Music (1979) and the aforementioned Remain in Light/Speaking in Tongues, which are ESSENTIAL.

My vinyl copy is 39 years old and still sounds fresh. The sleeve is mostly pristine except for some very light cockling on the rear. I bought it in Bridgend, either from WH Smith's or Our Price. The cover art is by Howard Finster, who also did REM's second album.

Here's a link to my Justgiving page, and many thanks for the donations to date:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Carol MacLeod

 We were devastated to hear that our wonderful friend Carol, lovely wife of Ken MacLeod, passed away shortly after attending the Glasgow Worldcon.

Carol was a delight and we considered ourselves very lucky to have Ken and Carol as friends, even as distance and circumstances meant that we hadn't seen as much of them in recent years. We had hit it off as friends since meeting properly for the first time at a convention in Sweden.

Carol's sparkle comes through beautifully in this photo of the four of us enjoying a well-earned beer, probably in Upsalla or maybe Stockholm. When our subsequent travels took us to Edinburgh, we always made sure to try and meet the MacLeods and our memories of Carol will remain with us. She loved music, especially Simpy Red and Oasis, although her tastes ran far and wide.

Carol's passing was unexpected, and our thoughts go out to Ken, Sharon, Michael and all of Carol's friends and family as this most difficult time. 

Thanks, Carol, for the light you brought, for your smile and your infectious love of life. 

Your friends, Al + J

Post-Worldcon, Cardiff Half-marathon update and a new novella.

 Just over a week ago I set off for Glasgow and the 2024 World Science Fiction Convention. This was only my second time in Glasgow - the other was for the 2005 Worldcon. It's a great, friendly city and my only regret was that I overcommitted myself with program events to the point where I didn't get to see any part of Glasgow besides the event venue and our hotel. My wife didn't have a con membership but we managed to catch up once or twice in the day in the "public" areas of the SEC, and then made time to have nice meals in the evening back near our hotel in the West End.

The convention seems to have been very well received by all concerned, especially after the difficulties of last year and the general culture-war vibe still hanging over Worldcons from the Puppy nonsense of a few years ago. Hopefully this is the way to go. The organisers of the 2024 event are to be praised for their transparency at all times.

I found time to catch up with a few old friends. Here's Peter F Hamilton and me in the hotel lobby, before heading out for food:

Where we met our writer pal, the wonderful and talented Justina Robson:

My wife and I also enjoyed hooking up with dear friends Gay and Joe Haldeman. I've been reading Joe's work since my mid-teens, when I first scored copies of Mindbridge and The Forever War, and the story notes he provided in his collections (such as "Infinite Dreams") went a long way to demystifying the whole business of "being a writer". Joe is the absolute antidote to those "don't meet your heroes" stories.

The con was very well-attended and this was reflected in generally full, or near-full, audiences for program items. Peter and I found this refreshing and commented to each other that we felt newly validated as writers. It can be a bit of a lonely, thankless profession at times, but walking into packed program rooms was the definite kick we both needed. Thanks to all who attended our events, and made them so enjoyable.

(The downside of this, unfortunately, is that Glasgow seems to have generated a bit of a Covid spike, but since I caught it back in July, I seem to have escaped unscathed.)

I also couldn't resist a picture of the Batman car:

I've no idea if this was THE Batman '66 car or just a replica, but it sure looked gorgeous, down to the classic Batman-style labelling on all the controls:

As hard as it might be to believe now, the original Batman TV series was amazingly exciting when it first appeared. Long after 1966 (probably more like 1976) my sister and I used to make sure we were home from school in time for the re-runs - or what, to us, felt like the original transmissions. I've a soft spot for the 1989 Keaton Batmobile (which I saw in the flesh at the Sydney motor show that year) but I still think the '66 version is pretty hard to beat. Remember: "Atomic batteries to power!" "Turbines to speed!". That's what we need more of now: cars with atomic batteries in them.

I didn't get any running done in Glasgow but I have been pushing on with my training for the Cardiff Half, for which I'm trying to raise a thousand pounds for Alzheimer's UK. You can read my latest update (I ran a dummy "half" yesterday) over on my Justgiving page. People have been very generous so far but with only 6 - 7 weeks to go, I want to keep pushing!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Just before heading off Glasgow I completed a new novella set in France in the distant future, entitled "The Dagger in Vichy", which I'm pleased to say has found a home and should be appearing next year. More news on that later. I know, what a tease! And now, back to novel work.

Ta,

Al R

Toumani Diabate (1965-2024)

 It's not been a good week or so, has it?

Together with a few friends, I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the master of the kora on the Africa Express tour a decade or so back.

ps - thanks for the latest donations to my fundraising effort, much appreciated.

The Chills

 Saddened to hear about the passing of Martin Phillips of The Chills, one of the really great guitar bands to come out of NZ, or indeed anywhere. I saw them only once, in the mid-90s (I'd hazard a guess at 1995) in either The Melkweg or The Paradiso in Amsterdam. Brilliant, as you'd expect. Wish I still had the t-shirt.

RIP, Martin.

Oh, and while I'm here, I'm still looking for donations for my half-marathon in support of Alzheimer's UK!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Extra, extra

 I've posted another modest update over on my Just Giving page for the Cardiff Half Marathon:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

All donations contributed so far have been very gratefully received, but I still hope to keep pushing.

An article in The Guardian this week talked about the positive consequences of "civic engagement", which can be as simple as joining a club.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jul/23/join-or-die-documentary-review

This got me thinking about the surprising benefits of parkrun, which is the closest I get to any sort of organised sporting activity. Thanks to friendships formed at parkrun, I got to know some of the people involved in one of our community theatre groups. After initially volunteering to help shift scenery, I was eventually bumped up to three speaking parts in a musical, then (as mentioned in the previous post) a relatively substantial part in our recent production of Much Ado About Nothing. Following on from that, five of us were then able to offer our services as background artists for a forthcoming BBC film, "Mr Burton", featuring Toby Jones and Leslie Manville, which should be out next year. And here we are dressed up as 1950s theatre-goers!

From left to right: Gareth and Ella (who are part of our parkrun family), Katie-May, Liam, and (you guessed) me. It was a fun, if occasionally repetitive day, and we'll have to wait and see how much of our presence ends up on the screen. Rather interestingly, although there were only about 30 extras in total, we'll be digitally duplicated to fill a 600 seat theatre! This involved a time-consuming process of moving us around in blocks to fill every seat, going through the same actions each time, and with different camera angles.

This is the second time I've done extra work. The first time was in 1999 when my wife and I, bizarrely enough, ended up playing elements of an angry urban mob for a hostage/siege scenario being depicted as part of a recruiting film for the Royal Navy. Since the film was only ever shown at the RN centre in Portsmouth, I've never seen it.

I have to take a step back from all this exciting stuff now, though, to concentrate on writing. Other than the current novel-in-progress, I've been working on a long short story which is now nearing completion. More on that at some point, I hope.

Al R

Much Ado About Nothing

I'm part of a community theatre group based in South Wales. We're putting on Much Ado About Nothing on the evenings of July 11, 12 and 13 up at the lovely Dare Valley country park. Come along and see our friendly production! Although not in the picture above (I was away when we did the photo-shoot) I'll be playing the incompetent Dogberry, alongside Liam (sitting on the ground on the right) as Dogberry's put-upon sidekick Verges. We've all put a lot of work into our parts (even going up to London to see the RCT's brilliant production of Much Ado at The Globe) so it will be lovely if people come along. We'll be performing in the round, and weather permitting, outdoors.

Tickets are 12 pounds plus a 94 pence booking fee from the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/showcasesioegerdd/?locale=en_GB

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/showcaseperformingarts

To the Stars and Back is out, and more

 Newcon Press's anthology in honour of Eric Brown, "To The Stars And Back", is out in the world and contains a very nice selection of stories. Here's an early review of the book:

https://ww.runalongtheshelves.net/blog/2024/6/1/to-the-stars-and-back-stories-in-honour-of-eric-brown-edited-by-ian-whates

All of the authors offered to waive their contributor fees, which I think indicates the high esteem Eric was held in by his friends and colleagues, and the desire to lend a little support to his wife and daughter.

Again, a link to Newcon Press:

http://newconpress.co.uk/

Another good cause, which I hope you won't mind me mentioning again, is my half-marathon run for Alzheimer's UK. I said I wouldn't go on about it too much, but we're in a new month now, and the donations so far have been very generous, so I feel it's worth pushing on with the fund drive. I mentioned my dear grandmother's affliction with Alzheimer's, and on that note I thought I'd reprint the introduction I wrote for Subterranean Press when they did my last anthology, Belladonna Nights, because it touches on my grandmother (Megan) and her link to my writing.

Introduction: Winter did come.

The early weeks of 1982 were significant in the UK, bringing some of the heaviest snows seen in a generation. People still talk about it, just as those with longer memories still talk about the winters of 1963 or 1947. Schools were closed and much of the country effectively paralysed. Through circumstances that I can’t now remember, my sister and I ended up marooned about twenty miles from home, staying with my maternal grandmother in the Welsh seaside town of Barry, my original birthplace. I was fifteen; my sister a year and a bit younger.

It wasn’t such a bad place to be marooned. Being off school was certainly no hardship. Despite the bitter cold, our grandmother’s house was always warm and cosy. Nanna plied us with tea and biscuits and kept us clean and well-fed. There were Reader’s Digest magazines to keep us occupied, and although there were only three channels on the television, there was usually something worth watching, even if it was only the snooker.

For me, importantly, there was a near limitless supply of lined paper and pens. Nanna had the most wonderful wooden bureau, stocked with stationery supplies – heaven for a quiet, bookish boy with a love of writing and drawing.

So I wrote a short story.

This wasn’t the first story I had written, because prior to then there had been any number of school exercises. But it was a different thing altogether to sit down and write a story that wasn’t written at someone else’s behest; a story that existed only because I felt the need to express something, and which could be as long and digressive – or as short and to the point - as it needed to be.

By that time, I was starting to have an inkling that I wanted to write science fiction at a professional level. And although I didn’t yet understand the mechanics of publication, I realised that for many writers, short stories were a part of the process.

Although the story I wrote was in no sense publishable, it was an important step on the road to taking my craft more seriously. By the end of the year I was teaching myself to type, and I had begun, in a very tentative way, to research the magazine market. Mostly that meant reading the story notes in paperback collections and learning that there were magazines with names like Analog and Asimov’s, which is where these stories had often appeared. Actually obtaining these magazines was going to take a bit more work – quite a bit more, as it happened -  but at least I knew that they existed.

Over the next three or four years I kept writing short stories, still in long-hand for the most part, because I was too slow to type efficiently, but gradually the latter winning out. By the mid eighties I still hadn’t seen a single copy of Analog or Asimov’s, or any of the American magazines I had been reading about. They were exotic creatures of far shores, never venturing into the bookstalls and libraries of South Wales. By lucky chance, though, I became aware of Interzone, which at the time was really the only British science fiction magazine of any standing. And so I concentrated my efforts on submitting my stories to that magazine, and really only that one.

Interzone took a chance on a story of mine in 1989, although it wasn’t published until the following year. My first piece was a near-future, Earth-bound story involving Inuit communities and strange messages sent across time. My second piece, published not long after, took place on a plague-ridden starship travelling between alien solar systems. My third piece for Interzone was another Earth-bound story, this time about sentient weapon systems in the aftermath of a nuclear war. I’d go onto publish one or two more Earth-centric stories before returning to a space-themed setting.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that early template of switching between the near and distant future, between the local and the distant, hasn’t served me too badly across the ensuing thirty years, as I hope this collection demonstrates. The bulk of the work here stems from the last decade, but my abiding concerns – and indeed my methods - are much the same as they were at the start of my career. You’ll find plenty of starships and far-off worlds in these pieces, as well as sentient machines and alien plagues. But there are also no small amount of stories set much closer to home, and one or two that inhabit in almost contemporaneous versions of the present day. Although my novels have tended to be set in remote or unrecognisably transformed solar systems, centuries or even millions of years from now, I can’t say that I prefer one mode over the other. What I’d chafe at would be forced into doing only one type of thing.

I’ve enjoyed revisiting these pieces – it’s surprising how quickly even a new-ish story stops being fresh in the mind – and I hope that readers will find something to enjoy as well. While the writing of novels, coming as it does with the necessary engagement with the commercial side of publishing, can at times bring stresses as well as joys, I’ve very rarely found writing short fiction to be anything other than a delight. Certainly, one gets a repeated buzz from finishing things, far more frequently than with novels. And the turnaround from completion to publication is often quicker, meaning that stories can feel like bulletins, rather than distant reports from one or two years ago. I have had great fortune to be able to sell these pieces, and I’m indebted to the editors and anthologists who took a chance on them. Even more so, though, I’m indebted to my Nanna and the cold winter of 1982.

Thank you for reading, and if you're encouraged to drop something into the pot, my fundraising page (along with updates on my running) is below:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

Cheers and best wishes,

Al

Brum Group and Cardiff Half Marathon fundraiser

 A couple of updates - I was extremely flattered to be asked to take on the role of Honorary President of the Birmingham SF Group, following the passing of Chris Priest. I've had a warm association with the Brum Group since my first time as a published novelist. A talk for the group was the first bit of public promotion I did for Revelation Space, back in early 2000, and although I was extremely nervous about the whole thing, I was made to feel very welcome. I'd done plenty of public speaking as a scientist, none of which fazed me, but to talk about myself, as a writer, felt like very unfamiliar territory. I've got a little more used to it since then, thanks in no small part to the other events I've done in and around Birmingham, not just in direct connection with the group, but including signings at Andromeda Books, attendance at various Novacons and last year's Fantasycon, where there was much overlap of friendly faces and the same relaxed, welcoming spirit that I felt for the first time in 2000. Of course one would much prefer that Chris Priest was still in the role of Honorary President (and it was kind of CP to listen in on zoom during my last visit to the group, back in 2023) but I will do my best to (partially) fill the great man's shoes.

In other news: although it's not until October, I thought I'd get the ball rolling on a fundraising initiative for Alzheimer's UK. I'm participating in the Cardiff Half Marathon and hoping to raise as much money as possible for this deserving cause. I know, of course, that many of you offered generous support when my wife and I did the Cardiff Memory Walk for the same charity. If anyone feels they can dig in again, no matter how small the amount, it will be greatly appreciated. If you can't - no worries!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/alastair-reynolds-1713971449990

I won't keep banging on about this, but I will post a small reminder about once a month between now and October. And if you feel like sharing a link to this blog or the fundraising page on whatever platform you use, that would be very kind.

Many thanks,

Al R

CP, Gollanczfest, Eric, new book etc

 Now that a month has gone by since Locus published a number of appreciations of Chris Priest, I think it's safe to offer up my own contribution. I could have said a great deal more, of course, but that would still only scratch the surface of the times I spent with Chris over almost a quarter of a century, on and off. His friendship meant a great deal and while our tastes in science fiction were not always aligned (but sometimes were) I took every chance to learn from him as a writer. I think his books and stories will endure and I encourage anyone who hasn't read them to take a deep dive into his work. All of it is worth anyone's time and the very best of it will leave the reader profoundly changed.

First newt of 2024

 I mean to say something about Chris Priest, but in the meantime, I did a bit of pond-dipping for the first time this year (it's remarkably mild and a friend turned up a frog yesterday) and found one of the resident newts doing well.

The Artwork Revisitation

 If you've been reading this blog for at least a couple of years you might remember this bit of acrylic art I put up early in 2022:

It was OK but something about it wasn't quite clicking with me. Then I read a recent article in The Guardian which included the brilliant Chris Foss talking about AI-generated imitations of his own style, and how they could never be mistaken for the real thing. 

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/21/we-need-to-come-together-british-artists-team-up-to-fight-ai-image-generating-software

I looked at the images in the link to Midjourney provided in the article and agreed that they only looked superficially Chris Foss-like - big bristly spaceships floating over alien landscapes etc - but the particular thing that the artist noted was that the images lacked depth, something undoubtedly characteristic of his pictures. He nonetheless noted that the AI-generated images might serve as useful prompts for composition and lighting, so he wasn't dismissing them entirely. 

It occurred to me then that one of the faults with the painting above is the absence of depth - there's some atmospheric misting to push the towers back a bit, but the spaceship is just floating there more or less side-on, with no real reference points to place it in the scene relative to the other elements. Sometimes I use one or two point perspective construction lies to give a sense of a spaceship emerging from a scene, but in this case, I just winged it and drew it without any reference to perspective, figuring it would come out all right. I'm still happy with the ship, but in light of the Foss article - and a bit of renewed mojo for breaking out the airbrush - I thought I'd take another look at the canvas. And, rather than show the finished result, I thought it might be more fun to illustrate the process, even if it all ends up going horribly wrong.

So here's where we are now:

I did a bit of additional masking and spraying on the ship itself, bringing out its forms a bit more clearly by defining shadows and highlights, but the main thing has been to start work on some foreground elements which project out into the scene and serve to push the ship back. In this case I picked a single perspective point and drew some lines projecting out to the vanishing point, which (when finished) will be walkways or landing pads of some kind. I could envisage some smaller spacecraft and/or figures in the nearer foreground.

I also added a touch of contrasting colour in the sky, but this came out much too heavily and will need to be pushed back a bit.

I still don't know whether this will end up being a piece of art that I'm satisfied with, but the journey is fun and these corrective steps and additions can be very educational, so even if this painting fails, the lessons learned will hopefully inform the next one, and the one after.

MACHINE VENDETTA out in UK and US

 My new novel is out - published on Tuesday in the States, and today in the UK. It's the third in the Prefect Dreyfus sub-series and also a book in the Revelation Space universe. It's likely to be the last word on the RS universe for a bit, not because I'm fed up with it, but because I want to concentrate on standalones from now on.

There have been a few early reviews. Publisher's Weekly called it "a touching and spectacularly intricate sequel that also functions well as a standalone", while Booklist said "Reynolds pulls out all the stops ...readers’ fingernails will be left ragged."

The Daily Mail called it "an immersive, compelling, slow-burn space mystery" while SFX called it "a brilliantly realised melding of police procedural and hard SF".

That's it for now. I've not so far had any promotional activities offered to me but we'll see what eventuates. I'll also put up information on signed editions as and when there's something concrete to report.

best, and thanks to all who have pre-ordered.

Al R