Robert Rankin is one of the masters of weird fiction, he was weird fictioning before anyone had heard of China Mieville and introduced them to the sub-genre. Rankin’s stuff doesn’t come much weirder than this, a novel mostly of tall tales that purport to be a biography of the family Rankin. Continue reading “Book Review: Sprout Mask Replica by Robert Rankin”
Author: MG Mason
Book Review: Operation Mincemeat by Ben McIntyre
April 1943: The corpse of a high-ranking British navy pilot is discovered within touching distance of the Spanish shore. On his body are top secret plans outlining a detailed strategic attack by the allied powers. Was this the biggest disaster in military history? Were the allies about to be scuppered in the bold attempt to begin the liberation of Europe? Would they now have to hastily redraw battle plans in light of the accident? No, they were happy the body and plans were found, and here is why. Continue reading “Book Review: Operation Mincemeat by Ben McIntyre”
Coming Up With Ideas For High-Volume Clients
If you’re lucky enough to have long-term clients on Upwork who want content from you every week (in some cases 2-3 articles per week), you will sometimes run out of ideas. Your client will come back with answers like “I already have a lot of content on that topic” or “not really part of my remit”. This is what happens when you write every week; you can’t always come up with brilliant ideas. So what to do? Continue reading “Coming Up With Ideas For High-Volume Clients”
What Am I Thankful For Today?
Though I am not American and don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, events of the recent past have made me consider what it could mean to Europeans and even more importantly, to Anglo-French relations in the 21st century. I didn’t change my Facbook picture to the French flag as it achieved and will achieve nothing. Instead, I decided to wait until today to have my say. Continue reading “What Am I Thankful For Today?”
Book Review: The Zombie Survival Guide By Max Brooks
Who would ever have thought that a “self help” book based on a fictional situation could ever been so, well, helpful? Max Brooks, author of World War Z sets out to do just that in the Zombie Survival Guide. I bought it for Kindle a little while back, thinking it would be an amusing and quirky curiosity. It is, but it is so much more with it at the same time. Continue reading “Book Review: The Zombie Survival Guide By Max Brooks”
Book Review: Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
This is another first for me. My first time reading a novel by David Mitchell, author of Cloud Atlas (no not him of Peep Show and Mitchell and Webb, a different one). He has a reputation for the cerebral yet human story and this, nine seemingly unrelated stores in one, is one of his most celebrated works.
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Here’s Some West Country Regional Slang My Lover!
There’s something really wonderful about the English language’s history of regional slang. It came from this tiny island and has been affected by Romans, Saxons, Vikings, Normans (and I am still putting together my latest in this series so I won’t delve into this aspect too much). What is had done though, is brought rise to some wonderful regional dictions and colloquialisms.
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Open Thread: Face The Raven
Episode 10 of the new series of Doctor Who and the return of Maisie Williams’ character Ashildr, also the return of Rigsy and a whole load of alien refugees hiding in hidden streets in London. Continue reading “Open Thread: Face The Raven”
Where & When Next For Assassin’s Creed?
I treated myself to AC: Syndicate last week and though I am far from finishing it, I have already found myself speculating about where it might go next. For those who don’t know what Assassin’s Creed is, it’s a series of video games with a central premise of a secret war between semi-religious orders called Assassins and their mortal enemies The Templars. Continue reading “Where & When Next For Assassin’s Creed?”
EU VAT Changes to Upwork – What You Need to Know
Like many users on Upwork, I was not surprised to see that the Upwork fee will, from 1st December 2015, be included as part of the service fee. This follows on from changes made on 1st January 2015 to include automatic VAT to digital services. That has now been rolled out to embrace more services and Upwork now comes under that umbrella. Continue reading “EU VAT Changes to Upwork – What You Need to Know”