And it's already February!

Where has January gone, that's what I'd like to know. There was much barking at the front door this morning with Jaz getting highly stressed. When I went to look out there was a bunch of kids in school uniform and on bikes. You know what this means, don't you? School has gone back. School Has Started Again! Do you wonder why I wonder where January went? Scary, that's what it is - especially as not very much seems to have happened during the month.

Well some things have, I guess. Some of it good, some bad. As the bad is connected to the global economy I can hardly do anything about it. The good on the other hand is a series of small joys - a bundle of books bought with my Christmas and birthday money. It's taken years but I've finally convinced most of my family that book vouchers or money are the way to go for me. That gives maximum pleasure in the browsing, the choosing and the reading - and, of course, is where much of my time has gone, it being too hot to be outside.

This year the list is (plus some supplementary purchases that I am not convinced Pisces believes were essential):

Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. What can I say? Wow!

The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller. Another Wow!

The New Space Opera ed by Gardiner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. Thoroughly enjoyed it

The Awakening by Bevan McGuiness. I'll be interested to see the rest of this series.

The Aware by Glenda Larke. The first book in the trilogy The Isles of Glory. I missed it when it first came out and so came back to read it after I had enjoyed the following two books. I'm glad I did.

Dreaming Again ed. Jack Dann. A collection of speculative fiction stories well worth reading including several by some of my Clarion South mates - Ben Francisco, Chris Lynch, Christopher Green, Jason Fischer and Peter M. Ball.

On the still to read pile are:

The Daughters of Moab by Kim Westwood

Cosmic Logos by Traci Harding

Royal Exile by Fiona McIntosh

A Forest of Stars by Kevin J. Anderson

The Accidental Sorcerer by K. E. Mills

And just to show I do read other than speculative fiction sometimes:

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson