800th blog post!

Welcome to my 800th blog post, a target I didn't anticipate achieving when I set this up back in 2009.  Carrying on the regular posting schedule (every Monday other than Bank Holidays), I've once again thoroughly enjoyed working on the posts and, as always, I'm surprised at how much I've managed to fit in since the last catch-up!

Since the 700th post (back in August 2017), I've had three short stories published, two novellas (Polly, was published by Stormblade Productions while Drive was republished by Near To The Knuckle following the sad demise of Pendragon Press), an e-chapbook (The Goblin Glass) and written two thriller novels.  I went to Sledge-Lit 3, Edge-Lit 7, FantasyCon in Chester and Sledge-Lit 4, had fun with The Crusty Exterior in Leicester in 2018 and in Nottingham in 2019, celebrated my creative year (for 2017 and 2018), been on the radio with Sue Moorcroft and took part in a sell-out Meet The Authors Q&A with Sue, Louise Jensen and Darren O'Sullivan in Corby,

On the blog, I've written some book reviews, some behind-the-scenes essays (on movie miniatures and matte paintings) and had great fun researching some retrospectives (on Return Of The Jedi, Octopussy, Live & Let Die, The A-Team, Pet Sematary, the Indiana Jones sequels and Moonraker at 40).  I covered INXS' 30th anniversary of the Need You Tonight single and the KICK album and wrote an appreciation of Michael Hutchence on the 20th anniversary of his passing.  Similarly, I covered the 40th anniversary of Blondie singles Denis and Heart Of Glass, their Parallel Lines album and wrote an appreciation of Debbie Harry.  I also presented two sets of the Westies (for 2017 and 2018), curated two mixtapes (Stephen King and 70s/80s horror) and celebrated James Bond at 55, the joy of reading and the glory of Pocketeers.  I wrote an appreciation of Caroline Munro, took part in the Seven Books meme (with David Roberts), started the Ten Favourite Covers thread with Childhood Terrors and carried out some interviews.

I've written some Nostalgic pieces (the joy of Christmas Annuals in 2017 and 2018, Starlord comic, Summer Specials, The A-Team, The Black Hand Gang, Starburst magazine, Bullet comic, The Crunch comic, Tornado comic and ads from my childhood), highlighted some Halloween VHS treasures, looked at another Old School Horror paperback and celebrated The Art Of... (Robert McGinnis and Tom Chantrell).   I caught up with some Three Investigators book reviews, shared a love of novelisations (with The Professionals and Vegas$), enjoyed some Look-In cover art (in 2017 and 2018) as well as some 70s British comics cover art (in 2017 and 2018).

The Star Wars At 40 thread continued apace and I wrote about ILM (a brief history), the novelisation, Behind The Scenes pics, the UK TV premiere, Poster Art, Music & Sound, a Look-In feature, the 1978 annual, Ralph McQuarrie and attended a Star Wars toy exhibition in Leicester.

I also celebrated my entry to the Half-Century Club (and my friend Nick's too!), joined the Vinyl revival, found an 80s cinema listing and remembered Destination Docklands, the 1988 Jean-Michel Jarre concert I was lucky enough to attend (with Nick).

I've had a good time over the past 22 months and thoroughly enjoyed myself, both creatively and in general life.  Fingers crossed there's a lot more to come so roll on post 900!