A part of me wants to ask where the hell you find this stuff.
Another perhaps more sensible part says no for godsake don’t ask

Stupid war criminal advertises the fact he’s a stupid war criminal

Don’t ever expect loyalty from a dictator. You may not have worked it out when you put them there but they regard everyone beneath them as inferior and expendable.

But you didn’t write a novel using AI. If you’re using AI you’re not writing a novel. Just in the way I don’t climb a mountain if I go up in a cable car.

Fifa raises ticket prices to ridiculous levels

They'll all go to Trump's rich business and tech sycophants I guess. Desperate to make it look like a success.

She's a great cartoonist

It’s Paperback Publication Day!

“The Magus of Sicily”, now available from all good bookshops!

Ortigia, Siracusa, Sicily

Ortigia, Siracusa, Sicily, September 2017. Can’t believe I haven’t found the time to get back since then.

And yet they joined

Not here it isn’t.

For anyone who hasn’t heard…. NATO is a mutual defence pact. Not a private overseas military force the incumbent of the White House can call on when he wants to start a war in the Middle East. A part of the world NATO isn’t there to cover. (North Atlantic…. There’s a clue in the name)

The Lone Star Cafe was the best country-music venue in New York. In my novel "A Song for Katy Shayne," Katy worked there - not as a musician, but as a waitress. More important to the story, she died nearby. Police say suicide, but after hearing her music decades later, a music critic has his doubts.

Lace tradition in Venice and Burano - SeeVenice Lace tradition in Venice: in the history of this iconic female art invented in Venice, lace makers have been exploited and little recognized

Lace makers in Venice and Burano: a story of women exploited and exploiting more women as well as true craft in search for recognition. My new blogpost is online: www.seevenice.it/en/lace-trad...

Got to credit Trump with two positives.
1 More people are abandoning oil and gas for solar, batteries, evs and heat pumps.
2 Farage is left speechless by the obvious public hatred for his criminal mentor in the White House.
Both the opposite of what Trump wants. 🤣
What a loser.

King Charles’s state visit to US will be ‘humiliation’ amid Iran war Visit with Camilla to go ahead in late April despite calls for delay over conflict and Trump-Starmer tensions

Despicable, embarrassing grovelling to a fascist.

Starmer says he will push for ‘closer partnership’ with EU after Iran war highlights global volatility – UK politics live Prime minister says UK will host meeting later this week with other nations on the reopening of the strait of Hormuz

Why can’t he say the obvious. Brexit was a huge mistake and we need to be moving to rejoin. All the polls suggest the overwhelming majority of UK voters think that way already. And Trump makes it more important than ever.

www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Lucky pooch

Pesce d'aprile: April Fool's Day in Italy Italy, like many countries around the world, marks 1 April with harmless pranks for April Fools' Day, or Pesce d'aprile, which translates as April's Fish.

Pesce d'aprile: Exploring the origins of April Fool's Day in Italy.

Molly the border collie rescued after a week waiting for injured owner in New Zealand’s remote backcountry A rescue mission involving volunteer helicopter crew and public donations ended in joy after Molly was located and brought home

What a lovely story. And you have to watch the video. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Edward VIII meeting Hitler

If the King goes on a state visit to the USA while Trump is still President, we’re in this kind of territory.

I’m amazed any fans would take the risk.

Do you think they read?

I don’t understand why we’re sending the king to America where the war criminal in the White House will regard his presence as vindication for his bloody war.

JD Vance says aliens are ‘demons’ and details obsession with UFOs Vice-president promises ‘to get to the bottom of’ reports of US government files about unidentified flying objects

'Every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there.'
JD Vance ain't kidding. Don't have far to look either.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

It's interesting how book lengths have changed over the years. When I started out in this crazy business in the mid 90s we were all writing 125k to 150k stories. Glad it's shorter now.

First draft of next year's book done. Now to go back to the beginning and go over it all again. Suspect it will hit that 98k target in the end.

Spain closes airspace to US planes involved in Iran war, defence minister says Spain has closed its airspace to U.S. planes involved ​in attacks on Iran, a step beyond its ‌previous denial of use of jointly-operated military bases, Defence Minister Margarita Robles said on Monda...

Spain closes airspace to US planes involved in Iran war, defence minister says

Yet to see that one!

As a fellow Norwegian this story came up a while back on my insta feed and it’s even worse than I’d remembered. Trump’s ICE barbarism never ends, she should sue the pants off these guys

Good grief.