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Dead Silence by S A Barnes review

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  Dead Silence by S.A. Barnes A woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn't yet ended. A GHOST SHIP. A SALVAGE CREW. UNSPEAKABLE HORRORS. Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate. It was the blurb that drew me in, I have to admit. I'm a big fan of sci-fi books but not read much horror. This was a page turner that I read over the course of a week or two. It reminded me of Alien at the beginning (the lonely crew on the outskirts of known space discovering something strange), The Shining by Stephen King during the middle (when the weird stuff happens!) and Aliens towards the end (yes, there are mercs and one lone woman who saves the day!). The Aurora itself, the Titanic like vessel the crew stumble upon (yes, it is supposed to look like an old steam l...
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A Walk to Llyn Barfog (Bearded Lake)

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  A Walk to Llyn Barfog Around four miles from Aberdyfi, along the wonderful Panorama Walk, lies the hidden Llyn Barfog also known as Bearded Lake. Legend has it that the Afanc, a terrifying monster, lived within its depths and often descended upon the peaceful village to devour any villager unlucky enough to be out at the time. A call for help went out and good King Arthur came along and a mighty battle ensued that lasted hours (some say days). Finally Arthur slew the Afanc and peace returned to the village. He was good at doing stuff like that. The walk takes about two hours from Aberdyfi itself. Make your way up Copperhill Street, turn onto Mynydd Isaf and turn left at the crossroads. Follow the road and you'll see a sign pointing towards Bwlch Farm and Llyn Barfog. Follow this road (Panorama Walk) until you get to Bwlch Farm.  From here you have two choices - left or right. Each path will take you to the lake, but my preferred route is to take the right. Take the right pat...
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Slip to the Brit

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  Slip to the Brit We managed to catch sight of a few of the participants of the annual Slip to the Brit today. This is a fun run from Tywyn Slipway along the beach and finishing at The Britannia pub in Aberdyfi. Mer-King, Seahorse and Lobster There's always a dinosaur! Two nurses (there was a little girl off shot here doing her best to put jellyfish back into the sea!) I expected a pantomime horse...saw a ci selsig! Scooby Doo! It looked like everyone had a great time! I shall also be doing a walk down to Tywyn and back sometime this week along the beach. I think I'll leave the fancy dress at home though. Or maybe not!
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Sea Now by Eva Meijer - A Review

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  Sea  Now  by  Eva  Meijer:  A  Novel  of  Disaster  and  Identity This book is a novel about the consequences of climate change if we leave it unchecked (spoiler alert: we will!) Set in Netherlands, Sea Now tells the story of the country, notoriously flat and slightly below sea level, succumbing to the North Sea in a sudden rising of the tide in the near future. Told in two parts, the first detailing the quick flooding of the country and the second a journey based, I feel, on the Odyssey. The tale, at least the first part, is told in a quite nonchalant style, often witty as the inhabitants of Netherlands, along with their quite inept government, at first try to ignore the issue, then attempt to build dykes which seem to be as effective as King Canute. Finally, admitting defeat, the whole country leaves to make their way to other countries (an ironic reversal of the immigration "crisis" the Right Wing in Netherlands harp on about i...
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When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory - Book Review

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When We Were Real  by Daryl Gregory "When  We  Were  Real"  by  Daryl  Gregory  is  a  madcap  adventure  that  follows  two  friends  on  a  cross-country  bus  tour  through  the  mind-boggling  glitches  in  their  simulated  world. Earth as we know it has changed. It turns out that we're all in a simulation. This was announced to every human on the planet one day in 2017. Since that day strange anomalies, dubbed "Impossibles", have appeared all over the world. Simulation or not, there's money to be made so enterprising companies have started their own coach tour, for a tidy sum! JP, suffering with a brain tumour, is convinced by his best friend, Dulin, to take one of these coach trips across the USA to see the pick of the crop when it comes to America's Impossibles. Joining them are a couple of nuns, a rabbi, a heavily pregnant influencer, a con...
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Just Another Brick In The Wall

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  If You Want A Job Done in Aberdyfi, son... Give Old Man Mittsy a call! It's Bank Holiday here in the UK and I've started the repair work on my garden wall. Today I took out some of the bricks around the back gate, cleaned out the old mortar that had perished, reset the bricks and mortared them in. I have no idea what I'm doing, but it seems to be right! I should have all the wall (around 50ft!) done by the end of the year. A work colleague asked me if I had the necessary skills to do the work. Nope. But I will by the end of the job! Whenever I do a bit of DIY I think back to the wonderful Barney Bodger from Tickle on the Tum (an old children's show from my childhood). He was the village handy man - no job too small. He wasn't very good at anything he did, but he always had a smile on his face when working! Of course, I'm probably more Reg Prescott than Barney Bodger.
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Zen Garden

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  Mitts' Zen Garden Game The world is going to pot at the moment isn't it? There's a crazy man running America. Another nutcase running Israel, people denying Climate Change, prices rocketing. The list goes on and on. Sometimes you just want to scream! With all this in mind, I wrote a game to help people find a moment of calm in all the chaos. Based on Zen gardens, the game is simple enough: just rake patterns into the sand whilst you listen to music. A "Rake-em-up", if you will. Click on the link below to be taken directly to the game's itch.io page. Mitts' Zen Garden I hope it helps you to relax and enjoy a mindful moment. If you would like to see the code for it please  visit my OpenProcessing site
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