dog-days

That one's next on my list. I've had my eye on it since it first came up on his Amazon profile page.

Vanilla would be a great addition. Makes me think about getting a little genuine vanilla and heating it in the milk...

Almond butter gives me ideas, mostly related to cashew butter which I'd better stay away from. I could easily eat a jar of the stuff in one sitting. But almond butter is a bit safer! Nice but not manna-from-heaven nice. Haven't tried chopped dried peach before BFC, I'll give it a go.

Breakfast suggestions. I have a bowl of supermarket saver's muesli every morning with hot soy milk, a chopped banana and large amounts of cinnamon. Despite having it every day for *cough* three years, I still really like it. But I'm thinking I could experiment a bit more with the flavours. I'd swap out the cinnamon for cardamom, but UK supermarkets rarely sell ground cardamom, just the pods. And though I'm devoted to the cult of breakfast to the point that I shudder with horror when people tell me they skip it, I'm not going to stand in a freezing kitchen every morning grinding cardamom pods into powder. Ideas about what else I could try while still sticking with the muesli + hot alt milk base? And yes, this post is peak Guardian lifestyle pages.

Shame. I'd been planning to catch up on the first half whenever it became available cheaply in the UK, but I don't think I'll bother now. If the writing quality isn't there, the rest is no good, despite the Claudia Black.

Sad, yet at the same time ginger beer is undeniably delicious, though maybe not so much when you're ill. Aged 25, I once treated the flu by reading Graham Greene (The Power and the Glory plus The Heart of the Matter) and drinking grappa. I survived. I was a tough cookie in them days.

I could say that the stupidity and (at least in the UK) corruption astounds me, but I've run out of bestoundability.

Didn't realise the German government had been afflicted by the same stupidity as ours with David "get rid of that Green crap" Cameron.

The clearing of Lüzerath Sounds like something from the eighties. (The eighties in the UK, to give my frame of reference). Is this happening because: 1) Merkel shut down the nuclear power stations and 2) Russian gas ?

Also quite psyched for Witch King. Just checked and haven't seen anything about a new book from Arkady Martine this year. Don't think she has an account on the board, so I can't try the Westeros summon author superpower.(Though, Arkady, if you are reading this, please write more in the Teixcalaan series.)

Thanks for the list! Definitely looking forward to Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman, which will be kicking off her new series. Also to Blade of Dream by Daniel Abraham. I liked Age of Ash, but was intrigued by it rather than loving it. Still, happy to see where he takes the next book. I'd rather Samantha Shannon finished her Bone Season series than wrote prequels to Priory of the Orange Tree, which I don't feel I need, but whatever. It might be good. And The Winds of Winter is definitely going to be released this year! I have faith. Not on the list, but Philip Pullman has said that the conclusion of his Book of Dust trilogy will be ready by September. I'm not sure what 'ready' means (drafted on napkins? undergoing copyediting? published and on the shelves?) but am happy it's progressing. The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix should be fun, and will be out in March, shortly after my birthday. And the unstoppable Adrian Tchaikovsky also has a fantasy novel release on the following day, And Put Away Childish Things. Turns out there are things to look forward to in 2023. It won't just be me praying nightly for the destruction of Putin, the Tory party and Rupert Murdoch.

I might watch that! At its best, it's great fun. I've just spent five minutes trying to dig up an old trailer where one of the Barnabies and their sergeant stood under a 'Welcome to Midsomer. Population: 30 000' sign. As the trailer went on, the population figure accelerated down to zero.

It's the season for leeks in the UK. I was just remembering Leek And Potato Soups I Have Enjoyed on the way to work this morning. Yes, I am deeply middle-aged. (And always have been). It's hard to beat a well-made leek and potato soup in winter. Especially with fresh chives and fresh-ground pepper.

Hope it's the first of many more bans. Horrible stuff.

Yes. My Dad read bits of Pyramids aloud to me when I was around nine years old, and a year or so later I read Hogfather. Afterwards Wyrd Sisters, Reaper Man and Feet of Clay. And onwards, until I soon had to wait for Terry to release a new book... A lot of people have suggested that Guards, Guards! the first City Watch book could be a good starting point.

I read it yesterday; it was a really good article. Loved the description of the writing of Good Omens.

I'm sorry that Elder Race didn't win Best Novella. I didn't read the other contenders in the category and so didn't vote, but I enjoyed its particular combination of science fiction and fantasy a lot.

By the name of [fantasy god moniker of choice], how does he do it? Is he really identical triplets? Also, is my local library service going to buy it?

My forearms got eaten by horseflies as I walked along an overgrown path between two fields on Saturday. I look as if I've got the plague, and the bites are bloody itchy. No suggestions - just sympathy.

Don't think so - sounds as if he's still working on it.

I remember being very disappointed by Thief of Time when it came out. Hogfather was the book that got me into the series, so the prospect of another Susan Sto Helit instalment had made me quite excited. That said, I reread it a couple of years ago, since to date it is the only Discworld novel to have been translated into Welsh (why this one in particular I have no idea) and found the character of Myria/Unity (the Auditor who commits death by chocolate) more interesting/affecting than I'd thought. The Nanny Ogg cameos were great, and I'm generally easy to amuse with digs at organised mysticism.

Thanks for the extract, Zorral. A George-and-the-dragon reference makes it as good a time as any to link to Not My Best Side by UA Fanthorpe.

Yes - the setting and story itself might not be ground-breaking, but I did feel that what it did, in terms of pacing, atmosphere, and characterisation, it did really really well.

My favourite of his is Guns of the Dawn - I also liked Dogs of War a lot. I've still got a lot of his back catalogue to catch up on. Really, I should write 'catch up on his future output' since he writes faster than I can read.

I'm fond of Jingo too, even if is a bit messy compared to Feet of Clay/Nightwatch. Loved the interspersing of references to General Tacticus, and Vimes's personal organiser. I still sometimes catch myself chuckling at odd moments, no doubt alarming passing pedestrians, when I remember Tacticus's advice regarding What to Do When One Army Occupies a Well-Fortified Fortress on Superior Ground and the Other Does Not - "Endeavour to be the one inside." ETA: I'd meant my 1000th post to be in the Second Quarter Reading thread, but then I started thinking about my favourite moments in Pratchett and forgot the plan...