Derfel Cadarn

It appears to be about Andrew Neil asking the girls if they think making covid rules will just make things worse as people will deliberately do the opposite of what they’re told. The girl who does most of the talking points out there was opposition to making seatbelts compulsory; it eent ahead, it saves lives, and almost 40 years later it’s ingrained.

Andrew Neil getting owned by a couple of kids despite trying to mansplain ‘compulsory’ to them.

Daughter tested. We were the only ones at the drive-through centre at the airport; hoping for a quick turnaround so (all going well) we can put her back in nursery.

Yeah. This’ll be her third test. stupid that you have to isolate for 2 weeks with no symptoms but because you were in contact. If the government were competent there would be ample testing capacity. In Glasgow at least, there were plenty of free tests at the airport this morning. Not just lie and pretend you’ve all got coughs to grt tested?

Daughter (2 years old) developed a cough so going to grt her tested today pretty sure its a cold as her nose has been runny for days but need to check

I’d signed up to r/fantasy after Werthead mentioned it some weeks ago in another thread as sonewhere fantasy is discussed a lot. It does warn new membersto establish themselves before self-promoting (or promoting others), so the past week I’ve been posting occasionally on threads that interest me. I’ll wait before promoting my works, though seen little small press or self-pub mentions; it seems to be mostly Sanderson.

Also, in my wife’s dept (neurological ie brain surgery etc) they now need almost double the nurses for every op - to minimise risks of bringing thr virus into theatre, they have extra nurses outside the theatre to fetch stuff, so the ones in theatre dont have to leave.

Plus staff burnout. They can have all the beds in the world, but the NHS is understaffed. Many stafff are on thr verge of burn-out after a busy spring and summer. Now they’re coming into an autumn and winter potentially worse than spring, all the while even more stretched as staff fall sick with covid.

Catching up on thr Arrowverse. Legends of Tomorrow has really lightened up. A shapeshifter pretends to be the UK Queen in 1977 to go crowd surfing at a punk concert, Ray has to steal one of the royal corgis, and John Constantine (yes, that Constantine) tries to erase himself from the timeline by kicking his dad in the balls (“back alley vasectomy) only to fail due to the “ball kicking paradox” (he can’t kick his dad in thr balls as it would prevent his conception). Dodn’t think they could go wierder than animating/enlarging a Bebo toy to cuddle the demon Mallus to death in the previous season. Or Grod thr gorilla trying to kill a young Barack Obama (and Sarah Lance/White Canary telling him to hang on to his birth certificate). Or parallel universe Snart using a Professor Stein puppet to try and help thr crew deal with Stein’s death at the hands of parallel universe Nazi invasion.

My copy arrives tomorrow. Just finished the previous book. Not as good as the Arthurian books, definitely feel a bit phoned in in the later books. Interesting to see he’s doing more Sharpe novels

After living in my flat alone for 14 years, I knew it would be a difficult transition when my now-wife moved in. I liked having my own time and even now cherish when can get some alone time (more difficult now we’ve a child). It does help I’ve been working from home since March. It’s trying tonfind a balance

Shielding still not been renewed for those particularly vulnerable. Trchnically I’m still in that category even though I stopped the inmune suppressants in March per GP guidance (and my consultant agreed with my suggestion to stay off them indefinitely to see if my condition was manageable without). If it flares up, I’ll need to go back on them, not that it makes much difference as I’ll be working from home until march next year (unless covid’s still a big problem).

An apparent reinfection case in thr US https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-54512034 Worrying. I caught chicken pox twice as a kid; thr first was mild, only a few spots. The second was a hellish two weeks.

The mad beach getherings and pub reopenings don’t seem to have causes the 2nd wave; that seems to be due to schools reopening. But they’ve no plan to deal with that, they can’t just shut schools indefinitely, and so it seems they hope shutting pubs will help. I don’t see it having much impact. And this time it’s sparked protests. If the businesses just open anyway, all or most of them, what eill the government do? They can talk about rules but no one’s forgotten Dominic Cummings’ little road trip and how the government defended it as good parenting. If the only way to give their kids food and a roof over their heads is to keep their business open, is that not good parenting too and so justifiable? This was thr government thet only weeks ago was telling people to stop workong from home.

Thanks! My local library has a copy of Resurrection Men (I donated a copy, and would have donated a copy of my other two books had Covid not interrupted. One thing I've learned is that it's a marathon, not a sprint. I've sold roughly 150 copies so far of Resurrection Men in the two years since it was published, but it is still selling. On checking Amazon, in the past several days I've sold another copy in the UK judging by the sales ranking. Also at least one copy of Lord of the Hunt on the Australian Amazon, judging by a drop in sales rank there. Promoting on Facebook book and fantasy pages has kept sales ticking over, small but at least something. This spring and summer I intended to promote the paperback in bookshops, trying to arrange signings and readings, albeit again Covid got in the way. All the same. I managed to sell 4 copies of my first two books just before lockdown to a small Edinburgh bookshop. I was in the process of trying to arrange a reading/signing in one of my local Waterstones, but I'll need to wait until restrictions ease. While sales are low so far, it's still experience in the industry. Unlike most small presses, Elsewhen pay a small three-figure advance, so with three books sold I've breached the four figure mark. True, I'll need to earn that back (which will take time!) before I'm eligible for royalties. Had I self-published, I'd have had to pay for editing and formatting and a cover, and that would be just for an ebook version. If I wanted a physical edition, that would be even more money. Instead, by going traditional route even if with a small press rather than a Big 5. I've got three books out there digital and paperback, been paid for all three, received 5 free copies (plus a couple of promotional copies), attended the launch of the first two books at conventions (the third was supposed to launch at Satellite 7 in Glasgow in the spring). I was lucky enough to get Waterstones to stock a couple of copies of Resurrection Men, and it was a small thrill to see them on a bookshelf, next to the Expanse novels. When I'm ready to query agents again, I've at least got writing credits to add to the query letter.