tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40102252024-03-05T11:18:21.587+00:00JOHN MEANEYJohn Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.comBlogger328125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-59369074463202877262023-11-21T18:55:00.001+00:002023-11-21T18:59:39.399+00:00HOLIDAY BARGAIN!<p>Based in North America or the UK and haven't read the Tristopolis Continuation books? Tristopolis Requiem will be available for 99c on amazon.com and 99p on amazon.co.uk (the Kindle edition) for a limited period.</p><p>Offer starts on Thursday 23rd November 2023 (from 08:00 PST on amazon.com, 08:00 GMT on amazon.co.uk), and ends at 08:00 on 30th November 2023. Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvVq_XpTCdsIYu_YfOiY54zWB0g2HLESNsfhi3jSlerCj_YqE0FoEg-VA_Aj1OGPixfBcprnwO-qVw7mbIwB6Ir6RSfOaGwWrA9SbIPW_2Bb5C25zdR1pMxGDK62GQlYe8ogrWwzJRvLbGRYKRm51CrENItxX3b_PfZn1J3_k2AwWtMjs_BcO/s4961/tristopolis-requiem-cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyvVq_XpTCdsIYu_YfOiY54zWB0g2HLESNsfhi3jSlerCj_YqE0FoEg-VA_Aj1OGPixfBcprnwO-qVw7mbIwB6Ir6RSfOaGwWrA9SbIPW_2Bb5C25zdR1pMxGDK62GQlYe8ogrWwzJRvLbGRYKRm51CrENItxX3b_PfZn1J3_k2AwWtMjs_BcO/s320/tristopolis-requiem-cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">The cop: Donal Riordan, undead,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>imprisoned in a coffin below ground. The
city: Tristopolis, gothamesque and baroque, its unchanging sky deep purple, its
elevators propelled by indentured wraiths, and its power produced by necroflux
reactors, fuelled by the bones of the dead.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">When powerful conspiracies threaten Tristopolis
from the far side of the world, can a freed Donal find a way to stop them, and
in the process find a reason to carry on existing?</span></p>
<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDX5cPtklbOR1nNbVr73Zo-I_ETH_tuCNVOMs9uKbw3gRS1CK0WUs6bmCcd9GI7iZt_N8osloKEAost5p7B6Wg-2dSi4_egQa1AORJTf-nDUISJGTPrfuhU511XhvQswe6Thh7fxx9Cg8YsKD8Yf3sLgNdo0sJ0gjGKQeE_RK-l3VFO3U8_Tx4/s1081/John_Arizona_gym.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1081" data-original-width="998" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDX5cPtklbOR1nNbVr73Zo-I_ETH_tuCNVOMs9uKbw3gRS1CK0WUs6bmCcd9GI7iZt_N8osloKEAost5p7B6Wg-2dSi4_egQa1AORJTf-nDUISJGTPrfuhU511XhvQswe6Thh7fxx9Cg8YsKD8Yf3sLgNdo0sJ0gjGKQeE_RK-l3VFO3U8_Tx4/s320/John_Arizona_gym.jpg" width="295" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p><p>I did in fact get back to the US earlier this year, in May. First flight anywhere for several years. Normally when travelling my workout area is just my hotel room (or the great outdoors), and when I'm at home I train in my study/office (where I have a kettlebell and resistance bands), on a recumbent bike in another room, or actually where I should train, which is my dojo in the garden, or in the garden itself.</p><p>Working out in a hotel gym in Arizona was therefore my first time lifting weights in a public gym for absolutely ages... I'm not really much for the whole selfie thing, but there ya go.</p><p>Not a sightseeing trip, but here are hot-air balloons rising over the desert in the morning...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPdup1r4fQ1evWvLo626ODUkfhNpKsNtfKmtu5PPAyPjvEdNKQb5fzExHaXfjg9wywFH20EzvxI4d86M8U-f0BjbuUCueBqb8O6STmtRjl9-eIvnVHqBFAQ_1b2-bMAVJZZUpO31jMMoMsinNDt2LzjZgw_hQtuj_JH6Zog4TziP933HfzAOq/s4032/balloons.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPdup1r4fQ1evWvLo626ODUkfhNpKsNtfKmtu5PPAyPjvEdNKQb5fzExHaXfjg9wywFH20EzvxI4d86M8U-f0BjbuUCueBqb8O6STmtRjl9-eIvnVHqBFAQ_1b2-bMAVJZZUpO31jMMoMsinNDt2LzjZgw_hQtuj_JH6Zog4TziP933HfzAOq/s320/balloons.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I spent the actual summer months (here in the UK) teaching software engineering to some wonderfully energetic, bright people, which was my absolute privilege and honour. Good luck to everyone!</p><p>In this country, every day is Bloomin' Ungrateful Day... but if you're US-based, then Happy Thanksgiving for Thursday! Take care, all.</p><br />John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-61461940615871064192023-06-02T12:37:00.000+00:002023-06-02T12:37:08.311+00:00FOR WRITERS: CRAFT & BUSINESS<p>I'm not going to start offering writing/publishing advice in any kind of depth, unless I go through a major change of heart at some point.</p><p>But I'm more than happy to share resources.</p><p>The indie publishing world can be confusing, and my contemporaries among traditionally published writers are likely to offer advice based on the 1990s model, which was entirely correct at the time and no longer applies at all.</p><p>So if you're in need of good information, I'm going to recommend 2 must-follow blogs:</p><p>Dean Wesley Smith at <a href="https://deanwesleysmith.com">https://deanwesleysmith.com</a></p><p>Kristine Kathryn Rusch at <a href="https://kriswrites.com">https://kriswrites.com</a><br /></p><p>Kris writes a weekly post regarding the business (sometimes a "process" piece describing her own process, other times a deep look at some highly relevant aspect of publishing), along with some other posts (including a free short story every Monday).</p><p>Dean posts every day (!) and has done for years, so some posts are fillers; but whenever he goes into depth regarding craft or business, it's worth reading.</p><p>Tell 'em I sent you!<br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-1957715430918517592023-05-31T15:52:00.001+00:002023-05-31T15:54:58.852+00:00New hard-SF action adventure: THREADSLINGER'S CODE<p> A new novella launches today. It's called <b>Threadslinger's Code</b>...<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzG6XIl6H_mAccRMkhDyg-PnwXnoy6h5hlrdxyo_dR-EXWOThLa8-WlLq3Ov0GY4icrdjVBvR3GHytgGkdZ74y05Fg6-cj-KtEPATPXivjrBbR0H4M42KkQfZpxtcGHml36KLp0Sw7DgJeYPvMPCONKUhTDGlabBMOtRR3ONH7bGyAbgcMfw/s2976/threadslingers-code%20V2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2976" data-original-width="1984" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzG6XIl6H_mAccRMkhDyg-PnwXnoy6h5hlrdxyo_dR-EXWOThLa8-WlLq3Ov0GY4icrdjVBvR3GHytgGkdZ74y05Fg6-cj-KtEPATPXivjrBbR0H4M42KkQfZpxtcGHml36KLp0Sw7DgJeYPvMPCONKUhTDGlabBMOtRR3ONH7bGyAbgcMfw/s320/threadslingers-code%20V2.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p><br /><br />Jack Tolliver is trying to retrieve a stolen book, but he isn't the library police, and he's more than a spy: he's a threadslinger. When dark forces strike from another universe, it's time to up his game... or leave the entire world at risk.</p><p></p><p>Multiverse shenanigans, spy craft and skullduggery, even some AI stuff that no one's thinking about right now... What more could you possibly want?</p><p>(Rhetorical question... If anyone asked me what I wanted, I could probably come up with something. 😊)</p><p>It was fun to write, for sure.<br /><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-45739709863295870542023-05-06T19:52:00.001+00:002023-05-06T19:52:41.617+00:00NEW HARD SF NOVELLA<p> </p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">When
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years later, it’s time to question his ideas about reality… and fight for his
survival.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsFRoA0sUZ6PrgkJK3G_BDXhFQiNJVhk6O1mRVTiZearmbps52f_6MfvA1Jh6xQuioeffbwfp6cv33YLMsykqPigL5uLPfiXEHistYuM-Vi86gWjfKcnyeQpzwil3QOvl0-KWdapKb1h6mxLWfP6YDdQ9VR7_c0OUm5lbjBUMDknpp-4gGUA/s2481/the-filament-solution.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2481" data-original-width="1654" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsFRoA0sUZ6PrgkJK3G_BDXhFQiNJVhk6O1mRVTiZearmbps52f_6MfvA1Jh6xQuioeffbwfp6cv33YLMsykqPigL5uLPfiXEHistYuM-Vi86gWjfKcnyeQpzwil3QOvl0-KWdapKb1h6mxLWfP6YDdQ9VR7_c0OUm5lbjBUMDknpp-4gGUA/s320/the-filament-solution.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">Now available from Amazon... Enjoy!</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">And more short fiction to come from me this year, as well as another novel.</span><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-64845107731958116952023-02-24T12:00:00.000+00:002023-02-24T12:00:04.309+00:00NEW SHORT STORY FROM TRISTOPOLIS<p>From the city where the skies are eternally deep purple, where elevators are powered by indentured wraiths, and power comes from reactors fueled by the bones of the dead... comes a new short mystery.</p><p>Not a Donal Riordan tale, but featuring his sometime friend and colleague Adam Obsidian.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dwmW5MY7vx-_FWnWC_zosc1GIJR-sev0mQigUcBnGks7zzvHkvBJJHbAiDCeH0ztGq7NtgDpgsZ-_iwei_jEgbSdzWw2lQZRqyu53RHUAe_O4yOlkF_JsCA_gkRksrAk-oIZcuhIboo-oIGr-dqHJcERDBQS2afqsb1kd9UXdNhRfN50cg/s3604/dragnet-in-tristopolis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3604" data-original-width="2403" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3dwmW5MY7vx-_FWnWC_zosc1GIJR-sev0mQigUcBnGks7zzvHkvBJJHbAiDCeH0ztGq7NtgDpgsZ-_iwei_jEgbSdzWw2lQZRqyu53RHUAe_O4yOlkF_JsCA_gkRksrAk-oIZcuhIboo-oIGr-dqHJcERDBQS2afqsb1kd9UXdNhRfN50cg/s320/dragnet-in-tristopolis.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p>When detective Adam Obsidian finds the Gambuccini brothers murdered, he isn't shedding tears. The dead men were villains, through and through. The problem? Adam Obsidian is the only suspect.<br /><br />Pursued by Tristopolis PD, can he solve the mystery before someone ends him too?</p><p>...Find it on Amazon today!<br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-59616195294356766122022-12-31T17:05:00.000+00:002022-12-31T17:05:20.808+00:00DECADES... WRAPPING UP 2022<p>There's nothing sacred about base 10 arithmetic, of course: the base just happens to match the number of fingers plus toes that most of us are born with. And the Earth's orbital period is a parochial peculiarity, as far as the greater universe is concerned. So decades aren't significant cosmically, but hey, I'm only human...</p><p>For me, the year 2022 marked:</p><p>50 years in martial arts</p><p>40 years married to Yvonne</p><p>30 years as a published writer</p><p>20 books published</p><p>Somewhat incredible, really. Tempus fugit!</p><p>Have a wonderful 2023, okay?<br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-3821245594912297422022-11-01T22:10:00.001+00:002022-11-01T22:10:41.543+00:00TWO NEW TITLES TODAY!<p>Does it break some fundamental rule of marketing to publish two new books on the same day? Most likely...</p><p>First, a new Case & Kat thriller: <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DVXgn4MA5f3kDf5twZXjUZf2sYU-LB7hUpNzr-1hY3PJmg93DhaFYB6YgbOrrv77xgiXjlw3cQIG8Ytl2j1hMXyWz116_ydIqlkTDgljaLdbhvQHMzBheqXI5q1RiBcPj-ygfnaAFtVArHkhu7t3T0ppZIZJv5ACUf4MLUx5MYMD6NTzow/s2400/CONCURRENT%20EXECUTION%20EBOOK%20COMPLETE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3DVXgn4MA5f3kDf5twZXjUZf2sYU-LB7hUpNzr-1hY3PJmg93DhaFYB6YgbOrrv77xgiXjlw3cQIG8Ytl2j1hMXyWz116_ydIqlkTDgljaLdbhvQHMzBheqXI5q1RiBcPj-ygfnaAFtVArHkhu7t3T0ppZIZJv5ACUf4MLUx5MYMD6NTzow/s320/CONCURRENT%20EXECUTION%20EBOOK%20COMPLETE.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p>From award-winning author John Meaney comes another exciting thriller set in the interzone between physical and cyber action.<br /><br />Case and Kat work the deadliest missions for IACS. But when Case becomes a target and his own agency's systems are compromised, how can he and Kat prevent a deadly series of attacks? Preferably without dying in the process.</p><p></p><p>And a short thriller, technically a novella:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3Yil11iogFkCZBXiP90hMXm4yjC0v-5BhLmPT7u97bSxusmTrXVy3gve1Np-krrEmKjKzNPAJhuhkiirrbrjp1-RsyskYHpg0QgKGk9984_u2uWCoDsbK1e-hAuQhgYm4HMrh_aG0xBNR_JPEWFlxVq4v6yLOSa3BqxshhMnsMQ4pwikAg/s4961/breakpoint-insertion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4961" data-original-width="3307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3Yil11iogFkCZBXiP90hMXm4yjC0v-5BhLmPT7u97bSxusmTrXVy3gve1Np-krrEmKjKzNPAJhuhkiirrbrjp1-RsyskYHpg0QgKGk9984_u2uWCoDsbK1e-hAuQhgYm4HMrh_aG0xBNR_JPEWFlxVq4v6yLOSa3BqxshhMnsMQ4pwikAg/s320/breakpoint-insertion.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p>It was supposed to be a military training exercise, but when an explosion lights up the night in Scotland, special forces cyber specialist Case is plunged into a new kind of operation against Russian covert specialists operating on UK soil. Can he survive the murky world of dark secrets and violent, sudden action?</p><p><br />A short thriller featuring Case during his time as a member of 18 (UKSF) Signals Regiment, the cyber-savvy arm of UK Special Forces, before he became an operative of IACS.</p><p>Enjoy, enjoy...<br /><br /><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-63700555658610407412022-07-09T15:54:00.000+00:002022-07-09T15:54:40.003+00:00What I Did On My HolidayIt's a little while back now, but we had a long trip through places like Lindisfarne (think Vikings) and Whitby Abbey (think Dracula) and the Western Highlands of Scotland.
Here's a view of Ben Nevis (Scotland's highest peak) by moonlight:
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRoYx6fGRQ60fcNzvklEHpttHCZnemASMFYLqIRMyh_BJ44lB2yRHOGCBSj011eBD7VLL0oUgT6kLBQHHKafJ1JAtuj_1ibtp11y0zUv_0Qck0aSPuGb1DfvLPVjgoLsEzDnC0ZdRzCjSG452tlZy8SQOmVigLTA8gol08TZFRfCsecovm8g/s606/moon-over-ben-nevis.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="606" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRoYx6fGRQ60fcNzvklEHpttHCZnemASMFYLqIRMyh_BJ44lB2yRHOGCBSj011eBD7VLL0oUgT6kLBQHHKafJ1JAtuj_1ibtp11y0zUv_0Qck0aSPuGb1DfvLPVjgoLsEzDnC0ZdRzCjSG452tlZy8SQOmVigLTA8gol08TZFRfCsecovm8g/s320/moon-over-ben-nevis.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>
The Caledonian Canal features a long series of locks called Neptune's Staircase, and I did take photos of the canal itself, but was struck by this piece of useful advice, which we should always bear in mind every day: </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfWBvL1x80nFznp6jwjfY7pKtfWCUePMBt_IdosLnuUzNoKFyHTZxVevRm1pBLolINddDIeC0GuPLBM4BApDBFMxAUTRe-2J108_-mpjNzU7Jh467fvcyoFLlFUuKl0wgINivw4mBqMRTGKoIk3TfCFpfRYm_CD0myFLjCVDp8TFReN_kVw/s605/good-advice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="605" data-original-width="454" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEfWBvL1x80nFznp6jwjfY7pKtfWCUePMBt_IdosLnuUzNoKFyHTZxVevRm1pBLolINddDIeC0GuPLBM4BApDBFMxAUTRe-2J108_-mpjNzU7Jh467fvcyoFLlFUuKl0wgINivw4mBqMRTGKoIk3TfCFpfRYm_CD0myFLjCVDp8TFReN_kVw/s320/good-advice.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p> </p><p> So I did a few things during the trip. One was to grow Very Old Indeed. Back in my youth, reaching age 65 (for a bloke) counted as becoming an OAP (Old Age Pensioner). </p><p> So I did indeed pass that milestone, but (even with a somewhat knackered hip) I managed to train everyday: either wrestling calisthenics or resistance bands (and karate drills).
I can carry a gym in a small bag, which I think is pretty damn marvellous: </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMw6Guuvk9v4MKS5qaRmaQgt0OT6ylgkVtclwNInsnGNqRRk_kQQoo2sqOMXdXhur0hMYE57_z-x2-3cSNjg53aXDBnhEOKNDGaW-rVe-aY7ebfRHe7ir1N5MbWKI-frm_PuVudJaZSuQN8myzSMticF3VTmWr8VddKNclYtOVGWfq774pxw/s372/gym-in-a-bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="372" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMw6Guuvk9v4MKS5qaRmaQgt0OT6ylgkVtclwNInsnGNqRRk_kQQoo2sqOMXdXhur0hMYE57_z-x2-3cSNjg53aXDBnhEOKNDGaW-rVe-aY7ebfRHe7ir1N5MbWKI-frm_PuVudJaZSuQN8myzSMticF3VTmWr8VddKNclYtOVGWfq774pxw/s320/gym-in-a-bag.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p> </p><p> And I mostly trained in hotel rooms, but I also got in some nice outdoor training in a rather excellent lodge we stayed at: </p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5wgRkCmqqGNRfrqxGTT9iiNGuiRCxyd-ptud5egxg8eBdeYznd7ZlAxaeyeN5BMpv2DMkimvEnetCL9cM_70A35HbcNVoXQ7XybtRECBT97lSP5pFbUeMycfZhmKFGMOcri89_ad_3UNZpk9L314FRMN6tfwBDPCr5kll_YgfOrP5Bh0K5Q/s440/gripper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="421" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5wgRkCmqqGNRfrqxGTT9iiNGuiRCxyd-ptud5egxg8eBdeYznd7ZlAxaeyeN5BMpv2DMkimvEnetCL9cM_70A35HbcNVoXQ7XybtRECBT97lSP5pFbUeMycfZhmKFGMOcri89_ad_3UNZpk9L314FRMN6tfwBDPCr5kll_YgfOrP5Bh0K5Q/s320/gripper.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5uzgVFpWBNZPbWqW1erhqUvCh3nSd1JYbD9_BGXK4Ny710fFNV2w3QTvWALHEIWf1lT2WLmPXA1Y47vHNqRbi4HD8Hp6pjzrn9gBph8JCt0vrO1OCNcaDkO9Z89IdMsEKWrKnCRdyrBPyKRzodZxYgqJVf5Fb-mlittf523p6VxvKcYIqg/s422/triceps-kickback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="422" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc5uzgVFpWBNZPbWqW1erhqUvCh3nSd1JYbD9_BGXK4Ny710fFNV2w3QTvWALHEIWf1lT2WLmPXA1Y47vHNqRbi4HD8Hp6pjzrn9gBph8JCt0vrO1OCNcaDkO9Z89IdMsEKWrKnCRdyrBPyKRzodZxYgqJVf5Fb-mlittf523p6VxvKcYIqg/s320/triceps-kickback.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJOqGy1ozBAgVV1bXOMvSLYKYwf4RVws0TxjtpeNuJcfx7lwXjIL4XxeU4T7blMIH215gHAGJKzhFpW8Gcft9VPnJTDKcD6gsnGJ_MI3gpvV9OJGQ60fNeieI4yoSprxvEfEm80ZFIgcdRypIz7NYNs_xiNXGkT3jAPbhM7sKBbhKTMH3UQ/s479/unilateral-chest-press.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="479" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJOqGy1ozBAgVV1bXOMvSLYKYwf4RVws0TxjtpeNuJcfx7lwXjIL4XxeU4T7blMIH215gHAGJKzhFpW8Gcft9VPnJTDKcD6gsnGJ_MI3gpvV9OJGQ60fNeieI4yoSprxvEfEm80ZFIgcdRypIz7NYNs_xiNXGkT3jAPbhM7sKBbhKTMH3UQ/s320/unilateral-chest-press.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_gL91g8FmRLLeiae9g-ncwdRJqBEMqGuU2wlwyyhRYToSktZexXmYeWdiwushjKeIOl3qB17zyl0IKkoKtguSfDSxgSeO4AnmqAoJQryPRuQUnWWKAjF6aAjGk0ifHG4R-MRwnnZuli0NSDXkhzmk8uPgBdbuwpz-hAn6BHLv3MSy1h-Hg/s402/unilateral-row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="402" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL_gL91g8FmRLLeiae9g-ncwdRJqBEMqGuU2wlwyyhRYToSktZexXmYeWdiwushjKeIOl3qB17zyl0IKkoKtguSfDSxgSeO4AnmqAoJQryPRuQUnWWKAjF6aAjGk0ifHG4R-MRwnnZuli0NSDXkhzmk8uPgBdbuwpz-hAn6BHLv3MSy1h-Hg/s320/unilateral-row.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />...Oh, and, I started a new piece of writing also. Current state of play: the latest Case and Kat book is finished bar the actual publishing bit (minor detail!); I've a new novel in progress, plus some other new thing whose eventual length I have absolutely no idea about. Not a Scooby (as we say in Cockney rhyming slang).
<p></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-85868967228280578632022-03-09T17:58:00.001+00:002022-03-09T18:00:25.996+00:00 ON BECOMING (OLD) BATMAN
<p>
There's a profound interface between physicality and cognitive/creative prowess. That's maybe a buried but insistent theme in my books. Too bad that my 65th birthday is only a matter of weeks away and time has taken its toll... but that's not enough to stop me working out 6 or 7 days a week.
</p>
<p>
These days, I'm more likely than ever to be frightening my neighbours by doing some of my training bare-chested in the back garden. I'm just in from whacking out some punches and cossack squats in the rain and wind. I blame this young chap (young by my current standards) called Adam Sinicki, better known to the world at large as The Bioneer:
</p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="157" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xMmQXJA23Tc" title="YouTube video player" width="280"></iframe>
<p>
Want to become Batman? Or Black Widow? Arrow? Check him out on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIh_TPYPqjJuS_-nOfAIlfg">his YouTube channel</a>.
</p>
<p>While I'm here, the latest book I've read from an SF author is Island Reich, but it's not SF: a World War II thriller underpinned by a vast amount of research. (From writing the historic timelines in the Ragnarok trilogy, plus On The Brink and even New Jerusalem, I know how much effort goes into creating this kind of verisimilitude.) It works really, really well, with a nice <i>what if?</i> embedded in the story.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMLAbfp1We5mApG47Jos2oa5CzZP8m12GnhWrUrR9dYoYvQCHSLVUP-F8p9qlEeTGPP_WiwG5I0fGGl_7vMjUZTA5-3w5_2KoOn9J1fPDfaqHIp8tm07KwU6UvMZkKJElWm6sfOrox0S7UdMMyEJIrRm48EmVX12XQUUjFLEfP-X5qCm6lvw=s346" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="226" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjMLAbfp1We5mApG47Jos2oa5CzZP8m12GnhWrUrR9dYoYvQCHSLVUP-F8p9qlEeTGPP_WiwG5I0fGGl_7vMjUZTA5-3w5_2KoOn9J1fPDfaqHIp8tm07KwU6UvMZkKJElWm6sfOrox0S7UdMMyEJIrRm48EmVX12XQUUjFLEfP-X5qCm6lvw=s320" width="209" /></a></div><br /> <p></p>
<p>
The author is better known to SF fandom as Jon Courtenay Grimwood. I haven't seen him for many a year. I do recall a little nunchaku challenge between the two of us at some convention, using a makeshift weapon I constructed out of a shoelace, a hairbrush and a pen. Or something like that.
</p>
<p>
Mr Grimwood won.
</p>
<p>
I have two books in progress right now, so more to come from me...
</p>
John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-46726900067715605652022-01-24T17:19:00.001+00:002022-01-24T17:55:09.085+00:00FREE BOOK! 2 DAYS ONLY!<p>Nulapeiron Press is making ON THE BRINK available <span style="color: red;"><b>totally free of charge</b></span> on Amazon for 2 days only, in ebook form.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbENt-htfx0rD8UPi4U-uYmdLf3IsBkxyBXEMWPA7HRe0f9YzaqaEXlqu9FDJ_VcTFLGe4K1hK-s2Gzt8lXiZTC3x2lnTsFy61oE-zILYXz94u8aSt-R0JKIs-svRqiRY3nF-McxD3rMPWk6sq3QVghT9XtPmk7LvRcIxAVqk_nhHFZk8ZMw=s2400" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2400" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjbENt-htfx0rD8UPi4U-uYmdLf3IsBkxyBXEMWPA7HRe0f9YzaqaEXlqu9FDJ_VcTFLGe4K1hK-s2Gzt8lXiZTC3x2lnTsFy61oE-zILYXz94u8aSt-R0JKIs-svRqiRY3nF-McxD3rMPWk6sq3QVghT9XtPmk7LvRcIxAVqk_nhHFZk8ZMw=s320" width="213" /></a></div><br /><p>The offer runs this coming Friday and Saturday only. Get something good to read for the weekend!</p><p><b>It's the Cold War revisited - and totally relevant today</b></p><p>November 1957: Sputnik circles in orbit. The free world sees a Russian threat: on the brink of dropping atom bombs from above.</p><p>Schoolteacher and former commando Paul Reynolds reluctantly agrees to work for MI6. In East Berlin, scientist Elsa Vadimova, desperate to escape, holds - or can steal - the price of freedom.</p><p><i>A secret from the past, an enemy within, a promise of the future.</i></p><p>The Cold War gave birth to thrilling tales of espionage, but they shaded over Europe's monstrous recent past, and failed to notice new technology poised to shape the world.</p><p>Now read On The Brink: a new perspective on the Cold War spy thriller, utterly relevant today</p><p></p><p> </p><p>(The offer starts on Friday at just after midnight Thursday Pacific Standard Time: that's 3am Friday EST, or 8am GMT. It runs for 47 hours and 59 minutes, ending at 11:59pm PST Saturday 29 January.)</p><p>Enjoy!</p> <p>Get <b>On The Brink</b> from</p>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BB17KWN">Amazon.com</a>
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John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-34600588485636870892021-09-27T10:56:00.000+00:002021-09-27T10:56:33.948+00:00NEW TRISTOPOLIS BOOK!<p> Here it is...</p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabezvKBKZwBEhPl_Kj759XlL1-bqmvjV_BY9VOSmzeXlmPTbTR5GnVavy7bOO1-PVA64c5iiS4ARzMw5jKq3hIKuQIYalnQbaXhWNcvqPHPn1NgxMYMXBYE978ZP6tB6BQT9x/s2048/tristopolis-revenge-cover+-+v5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgabezvKBKZwBEhPl_Kj759XlL1-bqmvjV_BY9VOSmzeXlmPTbTR5GnVavy7bOO1-PVA64c5iiS4ARzMw5jKq3hIKuQIYalnQbaXhWNcvqPHPn1NgxMYMXBYE978ZP6tB6BQT9x/s320/tristopolis-revenge-cover+-+v5.jpg" width="213" /></a><p></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</p><p class="MsoNormal">From award-winning author John Meaney comes a thrilling tale
of Tristopolis, a Gotham-like city beneath perpetually dark skies, where the
bones of the dead fuel the reactor piles, indentured wraiths power the
elevators, and daylight never shines.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 10.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span lang="EN" style="mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Tristopolis has faced eldritch dangers before,
with resurrected cop-turned-PI Donal Riordan at the forefront of keeping his
city safe – but this time it's the ones he loves who face the deepest risk.
Will he be in time to save them? Or will the only thing left be revenge?</span></p>
<p>I'm still having a blast writing Donal's adventures on that weird version of Earth. Hope you enjoy this one too!<br /><br /></p><p> </p><p> </p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-39499443499424179052021-09-22T14:31:00.000+00:002021-09-22T14:31:35.179+00:00EQUINOX & ANNIVERSARIES<p>Tonight (8:20pm BST) the Earth will be angled so that we'd get equal-length light/dark periods if only it stayed that way. In the universe of the Tristopolis books, of course, the Earth's orbit and axial rotation are phase locked, like Mercury.</p><p>Tristopolis Revenge will be out very soon...</p><p>Meanwhile, thinking of time's passage (cue Al Stewart songs here): in the first or second week of September 1972, as a 15-year-old non-athletic geeky schoolboy, I stepped onto a judo mat for the first time, and knew I'd come home. By the inexorable logic of simple arithmetic, I am now commencing my 50th year of training. And my feelings about that are... complicated.</p><p>This photo of me is from the early to mid-90s, perhaps half way through that half century of martial arts, taken in the Marshall Street dojo of the late great Enoeda sensei.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8HgXYbaYVJjBnqyvOLJjMKQ-wai5hGZK8pmCDgJCib_m1N7MXg9l3N6Wl8nzDV9inPyx3LoCr4k48DP8m0brnv8DvhYeBb6RV5FZFXDWqwBQdthq2ipkkf3aXT6Z_TAOFCIJ/s605/John-at-Marshall-Street.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="605" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH8HgXYbaYVJjBnqyvOLJjMKQ-wai5hGZK8pmCDgJCib_m1N7MXg9l3N6Wl8nzDV9inPyx3LoCr4k48DP8m0brnv8DvhYeBb6RV5FZFXDWqwBQdthq2ipkkf3aXT6Z_TAOFCIJ/s320/John-at-Marshall-Street.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I could wax lyrical. Around the corner from Carnaby Street, you reached the old Edwardian swimming baths, climbed a hundred or more steep stone steps to the upper reaches of the building, to the full-time dojo. The repeated kiais of the lower-grade class would echo down the stairwell, and along the street outside. Subliminal scents of sweat and adrenaline, and perhaps a little blood, strengthened during the ascent.<br /><p></p><p>Once, in my early days of training there, I turned up early, got changed into my gi, sat down in the changing-room without having seen anyone else, and thought: "I could just change back into ordinary clothes and leave." Because, despite being a black belt for over a decade at that time, what I experienced in that dojo was an intensity that I'd never have imagined before actually immersing myself in it. For intensity, read fear... </p><p>Of course I trained that night regardless, and many other nights besides. I loved that place.<br /></p><p>Another anniversary of sorts: in August 1996, while at the Worldcon in Los Angeles, I got a fax in the middle of the night from my agent, telling me I had a book deal, my very first. In October that year I actually signed the contract, so this is the 25th anniversary of the midpoint between fax and contract proper.</p><p>It wasn't until Easter 1998 that To Hold Infinity hit the shelves, by which time I was nearly 41 years old. As a senior consultant for the largest tech consultancy in Europe, I wasn't exactly dying to give up the day job... That just wasn't going to happen. If anything, my day job grew more interesting than ever. ("John, could you just nip over to Paris to check out the software engineers making this product?" "On my way, boss. Et ouais, d'accord.")</p><p>Here I am, signing To Hold Infinity when it was launched at Eastercon.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqkqik3UuHNxAgeX97_YnkwCRPZr0gyuFV4_CzrhGOJGBxDilvakwND-JzlDnCiFOLRAw4NSqn1wSDxmFb6aiduSf4rjF7nhL7cjufAtEco7dFd1svWrsDPtGNtEsOc0imgy2/s646/John-signing-Eastercon-1998.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="646" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqkqik3UuHNxAgeX97_YnkwCRPZr0gyuFV4_CzrhGOJGBxDilvakwND-JzlDnCiFOLRAw4NSqn1wSDxmFb6aiduSf4rjF7nhL7cjufAtEco7dFd1svWrsDPtGNtEsOc0imgy2/s320/John-signing-Eastercon-1998.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>That's Steve Baxter and Peter Hamilton at the table with me, while I do believe the gentleman standing on the left is Simon Bisson, whose articles on Infoworld I've been reading very recently. <br /></p><p></p><p>The original working title for the book was Summer Storm, Winter Flower. Then I changed it to Twisted Skein, before settling on To Hold Infinity. My New York sub-agent said he couldn't comment on the choice, because he wasn't good with titles. My UK editor said: "Old Blake is always good for a book title, isn't he?"</p><p>Was I too clever with allusions and Easter Eggs in my first few books? I still don't know.</p><p>Example: there are 36 chapters in To Hold Infinity, and each begins with a haiku. If you join the haikus together, matching the last word of one line with the first word of another haiku's line, the 36 haikus join together to form a tesseract (aka a hypercube). And the impact of holographic displays on alphabets and writing is a little tangential theme in the first couple of books.</p><p>Too clever by half? Probably.</p><p>Also too much dwelling in the past today. I think I'll just go to my dojo and train. Cheers! <br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-30885732753348703642021-06-29T11:46:00.001+00:002021-06-29T11:49:18.002+00:00NEW BOOK COMING SOON!<p> I couldn't resist... I had to find out what happens next. So I wrote this:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2jMYDfSKESZNHR91gcIkfWzN-qC8cNe3q57P_YPA3K7uNpqcAlocP1O32xiE5EEcYIplKex4gjNrBIlCjFMoe23HKE3Fu7YSIHESJDuUDB6s4ol6PhPOTNIwSamtEJ60mzfK-/s2048/tristopolis-revenge-cover+-+v3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2jMYDfSKESZNHR91gcIkfWzN-qC8cNe3q57P_YPA3K7uNpqcAlocP1O32xiE5EEcYIplKex4gjNrBIlCjFMoe23HKE3Fu7YSIHESJDuUDB6s4ol6PhPOTNIwSamtEJ60mzfK-/s320/tristopolis-revenge-cover+-+v3.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>More on the new Tristopolis book very shortly.</p><p>Meanwhile, I'm feeling my age (64), which means I need to use my head when it comes to exercise:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCcIfS1Oha-cEj_HjPmpodsrkPMvjZe7nId0gmGSoseaApVGSxcne5Ds-SkQ0Ams_VsXRh5qfSL3Q9n9qgqPvs1eiqILqY1vuZYz3tn0458h31c8UBCAcZ6rle8qvtzeJ016a/s2048/20210512_143615.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuCcIfS1Oha-cEj_HjPmpodsrkPMvjZe7nId0gmGSoseaApVGSxcne5Ds-SkQ0Ams_VsXRh5qfSL3Q9n9qgqPvs1eiqILqY1vuZYz3tn0458h31c8UBCAcZ6rle8qvtzeJ016a/s320/20210512_143615.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>...And that's why I don't write comedy. Ahem. But because it's a lifelong habit, near enough, I'm keeping up the daily training, despite the forces of entropy. I wouldn't be the same person without it.<br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8t1Gg6jh0fSnOwbr6T4LSqDEGAfMUqyyeJhlURJHNjbx3rzqeZA0uyWQqYJmtlLvOdypmtnO0rlCa1RCLUQTXbSKZor0oYuF9fUaf9vaLylU0WjKOVlAmHDrJiJADP9yFr1v/s2048/20210512_145815.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG8t1Gg6jh0fSnOwbr6T4LSqDEGAfMUqyyeJhlURJHNjbx3rzqeZA0uyWQqYJmtlLvOdypmtnO0rlCa1RCLUQTXbSKZor0oYuF9fUaf9vaLylU0WjKOVlAmHDrJiJADP9yFr1v/s320/20210512_145815.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>And finally, vaccinated fully as I am, I ventured out to enjoy my first Starbucks coffee in 16 months.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimY8DtrFjkrFjRlu7i140JvTMAHTc3t7JYGLJ9KOqtSiAhF6heADaozQhiKZYsMFfTaDFVouSZgKa5AXpoYB6j8sd3G4T__YAy-smOpdZ4s8zXI89_m4pB0uh2-NZeAeiexiMZ/s2048/20210625_133548.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimY8DtrFjkrFjRlu7i140JvTMAHTc3t7JYGLJ9KOqtSiAhF6heADaozQhiKZYsMFfTaDFVouSZgKa5AXpoYB6j8sd3G4T__YAy-smOpdZ4s8zXI89_m4pB0uh2-NZeAeiexiMZ/s320/20210625_133548.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>...So I'm doing all right. Hope you are, too. <br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-29003871938126450312021-02-28T19:33:00.002+00:002021-02-28T21:56:06.797+00:00AGATHA HARKNESS<p>I quite like the WandaVision TV series, maybe in part because I'm old enough to remember the Dick van Dyke Show: if you haven't watched the series, you might not be aware that it begins in a "reality" modelled on 1950s TV shows. (And this would be a good point to exit this blog post if you want to avoid spoilers.... although Stephen King once said that spoiler alerts are for wimps.)</p><p>The name Agatha Harkness rang a bell for me, even though it was January 1970 when she first appeared in Fantastic Four issue 94. My copy shows the price as 15 cents, so it was a US import instead of a UK reprint. My copy of issue 93 shows the price as 1/- (in other words, one shilling), so the changeover to decimal currency from pounds-shillings-and-pence might have had something to do with it.</p><p>Back when we had real money. 12 pence to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound. Thrupenny pieces (worth 3d, i.e. 3 pence), sixpenny pieces (aka tanners), and shillings (bob). A two-shilling coin was also called a florin. Two-and-six was half-a-crown (half crown coins existed, like ten bob notes). Pennies and ha'pennies (half-penny coins). Farthings (quarter pennies) had been removed from circulation years before, but you still occasionally saw the physical coin, even though it wasn't legal tender.</p><p>For further musings on my clearly advanced age, see the previous post... In this post here, I was intending to mention Agatha Harkness, who looked like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_f5DZk_F4WAJpjlCMoCtJUxc6edfwcFtMgwB-CvBSH5vmPgTEigdYv4moZvjhOP3LsXHo4Zc9E_BYl2LwQBOFB3R9HnZnVIsRW1Y1fQEgREc5fCq5NGY0ZlPmpJSaM0xDAwB2/s2048/20210228_145322.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_f5DZk_F4WAJpjlCMoCtJUxc6edfwcFtMgwB-CvBSH5vmPgTEigdYv4moZvjhOP3LsXHo4Zc9E_BYl2LwQBOFB3R9HnZnVIsRW1Y1fQEgREc5fCq5NGY0ZlPmpJSaM0xDAwB2/s320/20210228_145322.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>And for a total spoiler, the issue ended like this (with the Frightful Four defeated by the old lady herself, while the Fantastic Four were incapacitated):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9hK4jBNX6RhYpb3WR6gWAtgayrqr8CuK4ivjp5pxLVcSVeTSxQiqqcHT_iu6VC49eWwcDjoXHHMy3HWrbB2PZ49VM7ekG2IP0eYxE9NB1TJaDq0uxuUOjNifHVhDafEVFo7G/s2048/20210228_145408.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi9hK4jBNX6RhYpb3WR6gWAtgayrqr8CuK4ivjp5pxLVcSVeTSxQiqqcHT_iu6VC49eWwcDjoXHHMy3HWrbB2PZ49VM7ekG2IP0eYxE9NB1TJaDq0uxuUOjNifHVhDafEVFo7G/s320/20210228_145408.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>I'm not a proper comics geek: I only hung onto a few comics from the Old Days. But still, nostalgia...</p><p>And speaking of Vision, which we nearly were... In the first Captain America movie, in the 1940s expo where Howard Stark is presenting, you can see a frozen red man-shaped (and man-sized) figure in a glass display cylinder. That looks like the original Human Torch, a character who was around before Johnnie Storm took that superhero name, and who was actually an android.</p><p>In the comics, it was that android's body that became, or was used to grow (I can't remember which) Vision's body. I don't think Ultron had anything to do with it, although I might be wrong.</p><p>I do remember Ultron in the mags, though. At the end, when you see Ultron's lifeless head lying in a sandy waste, you also get the famous Ozymandias poem in full. I learned it by heart (and still know it word for word) from that comic book, not from a poetry book. (That's not an issue I still have, though.)</p><p>Maybe not a true fan, but no anti-comics snobbery from me, folks.</p><p>Stay safe!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-34402086037372929412021-02-28T17:39:00.003+00:002021-02-28T21:47:03.165+00:00PUSHING 64...<p> ...years of age, that is. Also still pushing weights, not daisies, so I've much to be thankful for even when the universe throws little reminders my way regarding entropy and duration and all that.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_90ElFCdoT0yfQWqc4y3DWQHaonUs2Pc3lfslHEQPGCIkAn_MKVfJvtdqw_8ztayosS2TkLW51xLqHQiHA6zS_ryNbehvLzH7slZ761Qlx432NMv5yblGcyw_Q98dJjqxz_eC/s738/20210227_150703.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="738" data-original-width="700" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_90ElFCdoT0yfQWqc4y3DWQHaonUs2Pc3lfslHEQPGCIkAn_MKVfJvtdqw_8ztayosS2TkLW51xLqHQiHA6zS_ryNbehvLzH7slZ761Qlx432NMv5yblGcyw_Q98dJjqxz_eC/s320/20210227_150703.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>My favourite modern book on physical training is probably this one, written by two former US Olympic judo coaches. I particularly like the incorporation of Karl Gotch's wrestling calisthenics (as popularised by the not-always-popular Matt Furey, but used by top American and Japanese grapplers for decades now) along with weight training. John Saylor, on his blog, expresses puzzlement about self-defence-oriented martial artists lacking the athleticism of those who compete. I couldn't agree more, even though my cardio is nowhere near the level it ought to be right now.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPcxaEcpvQN6MLkWPUresD-NBtGHNrAvsKAza5qlr4iB04BSWMutHeC-4wEGhoGN6e8E0WuFQLuUw8k3siQWiYYY2fr_0B9-StXxpoKO0z6OP0PrIvuH-x8BlpbzYACBdAmuX/s2048/20210228_145436.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPcxaEcpvQN6MLkWPUresD-NBtGHNrAvsKAza5qlr4iB04BSWMutHeC-4wEGhoGN6e8E0WuFQLuUw8k3siQWiYYY2fr_0B9-StXxpoKO0z6OP0PrIvuH-x8BlpbzYACBdAmuX/s320/20210228_145436.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>One of the many judoka appearing in the book's photos is Dr AnnMaria De Mars, whose blogs are well worth a read. She's a tech entrepreneur, she's taught maths at every level from young kids to post-docs, been a working engineer and a software developer (she still codes), and possesses four academic degrees despite starting life on the wrong side of the tracks. She was also the first American to win the judo world championship (regardless of gender), in 1984. And one of her daughters is the judo/MMA legend, Ronda Rousey.</p><p>For pure personal nostalgia in the physical training world, however, I can't get any better than this book, written by the guy who designed the weights room at Birmingham University, where in 1975 I first started serious (by my standards) weight training. You'll note that the benches lack upholstery, and cardio machines are non-existent in the weights room.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJGB7LPGWDT0bJyod2OxUqIG7wWx8k03PR0jYFOoIZ78SIYTg2y8TH5dSGl7ycOTrJhX2HcMOhZ14d7VicFjhAaw_2PrQYYCEgt_lAjftOiMFqF1uzyFgkyg_zBUgKpqnvoBe/s2048/20210228_145454.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuJGB7LPGWDT0bJyod2OxUqIG7wWx8k03PR0jYFOoIZ78SIYTg2y8TH5dSGl7ycOTrJhX2HcMOhZ14d7VicFjhAaw_2PrQYYCEgt_lAjftOiMFqF1uzyFgkyg_zBUgKpqnvoBe/s320/20210228_145454.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCc15nEi50lrn6nWW-N1_yLc7UIRx7j2lR2ObZdNENxozC6i_i-y69hFDeJNDNOYjCesPSGQy75Yji8J6mrYXFH6SOL8k5sm2tRBpCrTQukf1E4Lk3l5vOYiKkmms-TJtHDrT/s2048/20210228_145620.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtCc15nEi50lrn6nWW-N1_yLc7UIRx7j2lR2ObZdNENxozC6i_i-y69hFDeJNDNOYjCesPSGQy75Yji8J6mrYXFH6SOL8k5sm2tRBpCrTQukf1E4Lk3l5vOYiKkmms-TJtHDrT/s320/20210228_145620.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWiXMmDilzJnsXJwLJl3YRo4SH4ssMOOFKkINFYHKECvejzmK6CcFaBxC2xl0nAsz3UFWRom71sGGyAfZIhnGXEd6LVnS6AU_rSGM-Jsd9BXnbp4V2eYIeQV9aEj5_27jAuHt/s2048/20210228_145639.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuWiXMmDilzJnsXJwLJl3YRo4SH4ssMOOFKkINFYHKECvejzmK6CcFaBxC2xl0nAsz3UFWRom71sGGyAfZIhnGXEd6LVnS6AU_rSGM-Jsd9BXnbp4V2eYIeQV9aEj5_27jAuHt/s320/20210228_145639.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitfUX5Nx3_G6xh1j5HYTEhWmrkZl51ZNnAgNai7_jY03YQShyOk26cODDLrYmpH-hWVyDQJl6NWCNNcXf9WagaK70TcGB7SbcN3MUPvF90nMxLTazZbQ2fja6SA8m343GDgg6t/s2048/20210228_145643.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitfUX5Nx3_G6xh1j5HYTEhWmrkZl51ZNnAgNai7_jY03YQShyOk26cODDLrYmpH-hWVyDQJl6NWCNNcXf9WagaK70TcGB7SbcN3MUPvF90nMxLTazZbQ2fja6SA8m343GDgg6t/s320/20210228_145643.jpg" /></a></div><p>Howard Payne was a faculty member. He was also an Olympian and multiple Commonwealth Games competitor, won Commonwealth gold in the hammer throwing, and was multiple times West Midlands regional powerlifting champion. </p><p>(You'll hear people say that in the 1970s athletes were discouraged from lifting weights because of the "it will slow you down" fallacy. The all-styles karate UK team captain, Ticky Donovan, said exactly that right in front of me in 1978 or '79, and to be fair, he was astoundingly fast: he must have hit me about two hundred times during the three minutes that he fought me. I was the person he chose to fight (use as a mobile punchbag) in front of all the other trainees, at the end of a weekend training course at Aston University. He was a terrific karateka, but in this he was wrong, and the Birmingham University athletes knew this. (I'd also trained once with Terry O'Neill at Cyril Cummins' dojo, and Terry was like a transporter-accident-melding of Arnie Schwarzenegger and Bruce Lee. He produced picture-perfect technique when dropping people for real, when working as a bouncer in the violent old days in Liverpool, as well as in international competition.))<br /></p><p>I recognise and remember most of the athletes pictured in Howard Payne's book, though I only knew one or two by name. (One of them was a wado-ryu black belt.) The photos would all have been taken while I was training there. The book appeared in 1979.</p><p>Some postscripts:</p><p>1) I should add that Ticky Donovan didn't actually hurt me, but instead hit me so often that my brain short-circuited: the same effect that escrima fighters attempt to produce with rapid sequences of stick-fighting strikes rather than single heavy blows. Ticky's control was as amazing as his timing, distancing and technical brilliance.</p><p> 2) There's a fandom link for anyone who attended a Liverpool Eastercon at the notorious Adelphi Hotel. Yvonne and I checked in there once at 2 a.m. and it was a war zone outside. A drunk, aggressive young lady smashed the glass of the locked revolving doors, and eventually got inside the hotel that the staff had tried to keep her out of. In another incident around the same time, and that I initially misinterpreted, a young woman knocked on the door screaming for help, while a bloodied, bare-chested man came running up behind her. I thought he was her attacker, but in fact they were both fleeing a total psycho who was in pursuit. (The psycho had torn the shirt off this innocent guy's back!) The source of the trouble, I believe, was the Banyan Club that was located below the hotel; and that was where Terry O'Neill worked the doors. Sooner him than me.</p><p>Both the dealers' room (I seem to recall) and at least one fan's hotel room were burgled during that con...<br /></p><p>3) Remember the maxim: the older I get, the tougher I used to be. Although there's an opposite saying about old age and sneakiness... ;-)<br /></p><p>4) One of the guys pictured in Howard Payne's book was a local Brummie (inhabitant of Birmingham) who was actually still at school, or so I was told, rather than a university student. Years later, when I watched the Commonwealth Games on TV, he'd come out of retirement to compete in the shot putt aged forty or so (as far as I recall) but his day job was strength and conditioning coach at Stanford University in the States. Not bad!</p><p>5) In Paradox, which first appeared 21 years ago – my second published novel – Tom Corcorigan learns the "Five Sigmas" of fighting from Maestro da Silva. I eventually added a sixth to the list, as you can see in the first photo overhead. </p><p>(This was long before I ever heard business consultants talking about 6 Sigma and, for pity's sake, 6 Sigma black belts, which used to sound like an insult to me... until I decided I didn't care. Likewise coding dojos. Coding kata, however, is not an insult, because "kata" in Japanese has a much broader scope than martial arts. And in fact, the notion of dan grades can also apply to things like playing Go or formal flower arrangement... just not with coloured belts.)</p><p><br /></p><p>... Stay strong, stay safe, everyone!<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-46112284988251402492021-01-21T18:08:00.000+00:002021-01-21T18:08:31.392+00:002021: a space oddity<p>All is well, or mostly so. My website is missing, although this blog clearly persists (although the navigation buttons above won't work for a while)... </p><p>The disappearance is all my fault, due to ignoring important hosting-service admin for an entire month. The whole thing should reappear soon.</p><p>There's a fully functional copy <a href="https://johnmeaney.github.io/website">here</a>. Feel free to visit!</p><p>I'd point the usual domain name at that site, but changes take time to propagate and I'm expecting the normal version to come back in any case.<br /></p><p>Meanwhile, look what appeared in our yard:</p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfPVlRE1EP-s5BUXslhJozXSJLhLX-OgI8DvzY6hGR10qn8RW9wCb2Eg7M2otvregYwQqaa8mkoK-H9wsZdzOdS0am8b0SOpMzIf3OFDTaZgGogNjVePKhTWpnGqQc5takf5B/s2048/mini-monolith.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfPVlRE1EP-s5BUXslhJozXSJLhLX-OgI8DvzY6hGR10qn8RW9wCb2Eg7M2otvregYwQqaa8mkoK-H9wsZdzOdS0am8b0SOpMzIf3OFDTaZgGogNjVePKhTWpnGqQc5takf5B/s320/mini-monolith.jpg" /></a></div><p>Here in the UK, depending on your leading-zero editing option, today's date may be palindromic. Maybe that's why the monolith has started to hum...<br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-47159991493523435122020-10-30T12:30:00.000+00:002020-10-30T12:30:32.009+00:00NEW BOOK FOR HALLOWEEN: TRISTOPOLIS HOWLING<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyTOfaBgRW8ZVH1qNkQjRAKbjqeyQEaWIw79MyOnRBC17HwgTa-mnGvYIBp4D_HBTOc9fvn3muUTLoYRQLxLbgk6J1DeaMv_-qgc_H-ozj6HkhXjiEMmzs5BfoYNbCXGe4pfTF/s2048/tristopolis-howling-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyTOfaBgRW8ZVH1qNkQjRAKbjqeyQEaWIw79MyOnRBC17HwgTa-mnGvYIBp4D_HBTOc9fvn3muUTLoYRQLxLbgk6J1DeaMv_-qgc_H-ozj6HkhXjiEMmzs5BfoYNbCXGe4pfTF/s320/tristopolis-howling-cover.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>From award-winning author John Meaney comes a
thrilling tale of Tristopolis, a Gotham-like city beneath perpetually dark
skies, where the bones of the dead fuel the reactor piles, indentured wraiths
power the elevators, and daylight never shines.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s no such thing as ghosts, not even in Tristopolis,
and zombie detective Donal Riordan knows it. So when his dead lover appears in
his boxing gym, he knows that something dangerous has arisen. But the threat
facing him and his new partner Mel, and perhaps the entire world, is of
eldritch origin and far more powerful – and stranger – than anything he’s faced
before.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Without his former colleagues to help him, can he even
survive the day? Or is Tristopolis doomed?</p>
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<![endif]--></p><p>...And for Tristopolis Requiem, a bit of re-branding to match:<br /></p><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSV8heheEwGSOYA_oS8BMXb2u6AMOpFwEsKhsIml6OvoFtRcnY8KI7eMeL3fZ3Dld-MwHcMDQo3dkaKNI020znuNg5Iwcb50DxUjABsEyfO7BemBapd1HSXDfbjO8UAN-K7gId/s2048/tristopolis-requiem-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSV8heheEwGSOYA_oS8BMXb2u6AMOpFwEsKhsIml6OvoFtRcnY8KI7eMeL3fZ3Dld-MwHcMDQo3dkaKNI020znuNg5Iwcb50DxUjABsEyfO7BemBapd1HSXDfbjO8UAN-K7gId/s320/tristopolis-requiem-cover.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Do you dare to read them after dark?<br /> </p><p></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-77124336725206249402020-10-06T16:31:00.000+00:002020-10-06T16:31:52.587+00:00Call yourself a physicist?<p>Back when I was a physics undergraduate, I missed an evening lecture that formed part of a series given by various visiting academics. (I was probably in the weights room or the dojo.) I'm pretty sure the lecturer was Professor John Taylor of London University, the year was 1975 or '76, maybe '77, and the subject was black holes.</p><p>(I used to own a copy of Professor Taylor's 1973 book on the subject. It might be around here somewhere.)</p><p>So I wasn't there, but I heard the next morning what happened. In the Q&A at the end, one of the final-year undergraduates stood up and asked the question: "Call yourself a physicist?"</p><p>Because, of course, the idea that black holes might actually exist was... bonkers.</p><p>And today, Professor Roger Penrose, whose theoretical work nailed the entire concept, has won the Nobel Prize for Physics, along with the two researchers who, in the 1990s, found that a humongous massive black hole sits at the centre of our galaxy.</p><p>I've read some of his stuff, certainly made use of Penrose tiles in a scene in Paradox, as I recall, which I wrote two decades ago. Gulp. Time, entropy, all that.</p><p>Congratulations to Professor Roger Penrose, Professor Andrea Ghez and Professor Reinard Genzel.<br /></p><p><br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-86166463636892295102020-09-20T17:32:00.000+00:002020-09-20T17:32:29.799+00:00<h2 style="text-align: left;">The Bones Are Calling</h2><p>Well my bones are 63 years old, thanks for asking, and "age is just a number" was never coined by a senior citizen, but I'm working out every day nevertheless. Just like every other year. Today was stationary bike and wrestling calisthenics in the main: Hindu squats and pushups in the sunshine, wrestler's bridge on the judo mat in my dojo. Yesterday was stationary bike and chest/back/shoulders with the weights.</p><p>I've primarily been using full-body weights workouts for the past few years, but my favourite split when I'm focusing on different muscle groups on different days is a simple two-way split: chest/back/shoulders, then legs/arms. (Yes, you use your arms for chest, back and shoulder exercises; but if you train, you know what I mean.) And I stretch and do at least some kind of martial arts drill every day.<br /></p><p>Not the bones I meant to talk about, though.</p><p>Back in March I was working on another contemporary cyber thriller, when suddenly contemporary reality wasn't as entertaining as it might otherwise be, so I did what Silicon Valley types call a pivot.</p><p>(Honestly, it's not rude.)</p><p>So what called me? Yes, that city where the sky is perpetually dark purple, and the bones of the dead are fuel for the reactor piles, where necroflux builds up in the resonance cavities that bring light and warmth to the living. And Donal Riordan is back.</p><p>Along with a weirder and far more powerful threat than he's ever faced before. Him, and a talking obsidian skull called Drad. And some of his old acquaintances have made a real mess of things. The kind of mess that can destroy an entire city, or worse.<br /></p><p>Or rather Donal and the others will be back, next month, in a book I'm calling <i>Tristopolis Howling</i>. Nicely in time for Halloween, too.<br /></p><p> <br /></p><p> <br /></p>John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-70432941841921228192020-07-16T09:15:00.001+00:002020-07-16T09:15:48.102+00:00<h2>
NEW JERUSALEM</h2>
<div>
The year is 1962, in a different world. The setting
is New Jerusalem: the free Jewish state, founded in 1948, that occupies 15
percent of pre-war Germany. Cold war is a growing threat, made more likely by a
neo-Nazi resurgence in Outer Germany.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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David Wolf is a scientist and a spy, tragically in love with
a woman who can never be his.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When treachery, betrayal and weapons-grade uranium mix
together, can one lone Wolf possibly save lives and a fragile peace from total
annihilation?<o:p></o:p></div>
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John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-43417657470667596542020-05-26T16:55:00.001+00:002020-05-26T16:55:57.827+00:00RAGNAROK TRILOGY IN US AND CANADA!New in North America: the Ragnarok trilogy is now available.<br />
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From across a cosmic void, the Darkness moves. At scattered points in human history, some individuals become its tools, while others stand against them: Ulfr, a young Viking; Gavriela, pioneering physicist and World War 2 cryptographer; Roger Blackstone, a 27th century mu-space Pilot.<br />
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There are others, but will they be enough to save humanity’s descendants a million years from now, when the Darkness and its forces reach the heart of our galaxy?<br />
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“Absorption is the best hard science fiction I’ve read this year, well written, exciting, mysterious, full of interesting characters and ideas...” The London Times
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<br />
“…the world building is phenomenal and the pace as chapters switch from time zones is just right, keeping the tension levels up. The female characters are particularly strong and literally jump off the page, particularly the WWII code breaker Gavriela. The novel is also steeped in historical accuracy and authenticity.” Terror-Tree.co.uk, reviewing Transmission
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<br />
“Resonance is a book driven by big ambitions. Meaney has penned a story that aims to be epic beyond even the level of Dune or similarly famed series. Furthermore, the amount of research that has gone into the book adds a surprising degree of credibility...” Starburst Magazine
John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-39625711769616758912020-04-30T21:13:00.001+00:002020-04-30T21:13:41.813+00:00THE LOST PILOTA new short story, on Kindle:<br />
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Only Pilots can operate in mu-space. Markov is a senior operative, suffering personal loss no ordinary human could understand, investigating unauthorised efforts to duplicate Pilots' abilities. But in ordinary-seeming Gamvil lies a threat he could never have imagined... along with, just maybe, a chance for redemption.<br />
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Enjoy...John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-7411958039091362852020-04-06T17:15:00.000+00:002020-04-06T17:15:47.432+00:00DAILY DISCIPLINEMy neighbours have garages. I have a dojo. Just my way of prioritising life.<br />
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But I'm never at a loss when training in a hotel room, or anywhere. You can always keep fit and healthy. And that boosts cognitive development (or for us less-young types, protects against Alzheimer's). One of the two most important hormones involved is BDNF, which means Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor. I guess the clue is in the name.<br />
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Resistance bands are great for strength training (which gives you a stronger immune system, apparently). I use the Bodylastics brand for the type with handles (you can look on YouTube), which is what I use for upper body work. There are other brands. For squats and deadlifts I prefer the loop type of band (I've several different brands of these). There's a guy on YouTube called James Grage who uses the latter type for everything.<br />
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He's a bodybuilder, and I don't follow any of his routines or anything, but he uses the bands with intensity and seriousness (and no barbells or dumbbells at all these days). Others don't take the bands seriously enough. (Yes, do I have a squat rack and free weights in my dojo. But I sometimes travel for extended periods of time, so I'm used to the bands as well.)<br />
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Lockdown, smackdown... Keep fit, keep healthy, keep safe.<br />
John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-51736479917217807622020-04-06T14:21:00.001+00:002020-04-06T14:21:51.263+00:00NIL DESPERANDUMI hope you're doing well.<br />
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In the computing world, it's been my privilege to teach millennials and Gen Yers. Final-year university students have switched to online lectures and, importantly, exams. And then there are the final year students nurses, student doctors and student paramedics who are plunging straight into the healthcare front line.<br />
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Talk about a baptism of fire.<br />
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Respect to them.<br />
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Take care of yourself. That by itself does some good in the world. Keep safe, everyone.John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4010225.post-35792638668129509432020-02-26T18:29:00.000+00:002020-02-26T18:29:03.022+00:00<h4>
New book: The Whisper Of Disks</h4>
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Here it is: a dazzling, diverse array of stories from award-winning
author John Meaney, including "The Whisper Of Disks". How is Ada
Lovelace connected with humanity's future among the stars? How can a
grieving widower dream of a parallel world extruding into ours? And who
is the man fighting a covert anti-Nazi war in a 1940s dominated by
genetic engineering?<br /><br />Nine tales of sparkling imagination...<br />
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Enjoy! John Meaneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13236108158993642237noreply@blogger.com0