Happy Easter / Pasg Hapus

With a week to go, I’m wishing you all a Happy Easter in advance, or Pasg Hapus to any Welsh speakers.

But, now that Easter is here, it means we are a quarter of the way through 2026 already. How did that happen? Yet, here we are. The kids are off school for the Easter holidays and now we’ve got to figure out ways to (1) keep them entertained (2) stop them killing each other (3) how to avoid getting pushed over the cliff edge into the abyss of insanity. It’s always easier to achieve all three things when it’s sunny, so let’s hope the sun shines for the next two weeks of holidays 🤞🏻

If all else fails, we can feed them Easter eggs to keep them busy 😆

Earlier this month I shared the exciting news that I’m a finalist in the Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award. At the time of posting this newsletter, I have not heard anything further. It’s a nervous wait but I feel like it’ll be over soon, for better or worse. Either way, I’m proud to be a finalist and I will keep you updated on the outcome.

In January I let you know my Writers of the Future winning story, “The Stench of Freedom”, was nominated for the BSFA Award. Unfortunately, it did not make the final five in the shortlist for the BSFA Award for Best Shorter Fiction. While I’m a little bit disappointed (we all dream of winning awards, right?), my expectations were appropriately managed and I thought it very unlikely that I would make the final shortlist. The field was stacked with really strong stories from many well-known writers and just to be among the nominees was fantastic, and not something I was expecting. It was a really nice surprise and a boost to my confidence.

To anyone who voted for me, or nominated me, thank you. It really did mean a lot.

This month I wrote nothing on my novel. Oh dear.

HOWEVER, I did write and submit a new short story for a call for a Welsh-themed anthology before the deadline this month. That means I have written three new stories this year and finished one I started last year. That’s not too bad.

I think I work better with deadlines. And the tighter the better for getting me to focus. With a month to go, I am getting toward the end of the my first draft for the Baen Fantasy Adventure Award, which means (if I can finish it, revise it, and submit it before 30 April) I’ll have achieved three out of my five writing goals for this year.

Maybe after that I’ll focus on my novel (goal 4).

Maybe.

What would you do if you were stranded on Mars on your own? Most certainly die. But if you read The Martian before you left, then you’ll have a pretty epic how-to-guide that might just increase your chances of survival a teeny-tiny bit.

Normally, I am not a reader of hard science fiction (my brain hurts trying to understand complex scientific principles) but I could not put this down. It is absolutely brilliant and so well written that even I understood what was going on! The film adaptation starring Matt Damon is excellent too. But, as always, READ THE BOOK FIRST!

Disclosure: To cover some of my running costs, I have incorporated affiliate links from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops. If you buy books linked to my site or newsletter, I may earn a commission.

What I’ve been reading: I read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman this month. It was our book club choice (suggested by me) and I really enjoyed it. It’s an anti-war novel published in 1972 and written, I believe, by a Vietnam veteran. The story is ab out a solider forcible enlisted into a United Earth army that is sent through collapsars (collapsed stars that might form a blackhole) that function as wormholes allowing humanity to travel across the galaxy to fight an alien race. However, due to time dilation (basically, if you travel at like 90% of the speed of light away from Earth then, subjectively, you are aging just one year on the spaceship but on Earth 25 years might have passed), the main character ends up going from the 1990s to the year 3100AD. The story shows how much humanity changes, how that effects the main character who feels increasingly isolated in this new world and, ultimately, it still carries a very potent anti-war message that is sadly still relevant today.

I also finally finished the Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I mentioned in a previous issue I was reading this but, for various reasons, I put it to one side a bout 100 pages in. To recap, it’s a bout an historian sent back in time to a small medieval village in 1320 from Oxford around 2044. However, she is accidentally sent back to the start of the Black Death in 1348 and a mysterious virus is sweeping through modern-day Oxford, which threatens her support team’s ability to bring her back to the present day. It’s a slow burner, though excellently written (it won a Hugo and Nebula, and Connie Willis has won like 7 Hugos, I think, and I can see why). The research into day-to-day medieval life, their language and customs, was amazing. It really transported me back in time and the last 200 pages or so I just devoured. It’s a great book and I definitely recommend it. This was a gift from my wife, who also bought me the sequel, Blackout (set in WWII Blitz London),a dn I’m looking forward to reading that too.

What I’ve been watching: I watched Dirty Business on Channel 4, which is a three-part drama inspired by true stories of water pollution. Essentially, two retired neighbours (one a former police detective, the other a Professor of machine learning or something) notice that the Windrush River, which flows between their houses, has become heavily polluted and the fish population is almost gone. They start digging into this and use their respective skills to identify shockingly high numbers of pollution incidents that the water company fails to report, and which is not investigated by the regulator due to their policy of “operator self-regulating” (water companies ‘have’ to tell the regulator they have polluted and, surprise surprise, they don’t). It is set against two personal stories of the impact of water pollution on humans, including the tragic death of a young girl after contracting e-coli from sewage dumped on a beach. It’s a hard watch at times (due to the content, no criticism at all on the acting and production, which is excellent) but I highly recommend it.

With three kids (6 yo, 4 yo and a baby), it’s a little manic in our house to say the least. And sometimes (often!), our eldest two have a habit of peppering me with requests for stuff / to do stuff (Daddy, can I have a breadstick? Daddy, can you get me my cuddlies? Daddy, can we play sumo?), which I love. But sometimes, especially off the back of a long day, when I’m worn down and exhausted, it feels a bit like this…

But I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Eagle-eyed readers spotted spelling mistakes in the Memetime section of the last issue of my newsletter, with references to “giant leaks” pinned to Welsh boys’ chests during St. Davids’ Day celebrations in school rather than “giant leeks”… 🫠

I blame my editor… 😆

Until next time, keep dreaming.

Joel