Tag: sci-fi

Silo (2023- )

~ GraydonJonesWriter

What about Silo on Apple TV? I’d not heard of the novels, but once we re-subscribed to Apple TV, this was the 10th item on our list of things to watch. Yes, I enjoyed Foundation, and maybe I would have written about that had I not been releasing The Unicorn from space while we completed the first two seasons. But I didn’t, and, to be fair, as brilliant as it was, if I had to write about one thing this year, I think it would be Silo.

The actors:

Two of my favourites, Tim Robbins and Iain Glen were, as you’d expect, brilliant. Though I wasn’t sure about the latter’s US accent. The Star, Rebecca Ferguson, shines too, depicting someone thrust unexpectedly into an adventure that they probably didn’t expect but were probably ready to go the distance – no matter the cost.

My favourite characters are Paul Billings, played by Chinaza Uche and Common (the wrapper) who plays Robert Sims, from ‘Judicial’, with a low voice that reminded me of Vin Deisel. I also enjoyed Rick Gomez’s character, Patrick Kennedy, who I would have liked to have seen more of. Finally, Dame Harriet Walker… Is she going to sit on the list that contains Dame Judi Dench, and Dame Maggie Smith as a British treasure? What do you think?

The story:

Without giving up any spoilers, the story starts with two other characters who set the scene, and immediately start you guessing how it all ends. Yes, you do have to suspend a certain amount of disbelief, but this is fiction. I mentioned Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, and that is, without a doubt, brilliant. Very twisty-turny and complex. And I will get around to reviewing it. However, I liked Silo because, even though I first dismissed it as something like the 2008 Film, City of Embers, featuring Bill Murray (sorry, there were many other actors in this, but you can’t forget Bill, can you?) It struck that middle ground that hit the spot for me. Not too long, too complex, and with a twist or two to make it not as predictable as you might think. From the get-go, it had us guessing what the finale would reveal. All I’ll say is that we were not disappointed, and at the same time… let’s just say there are 3 novels.

Dressing gown and slippers

~ GraydonJonesWriter

No, this isn’t an opening scene from one of my favourite writers, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Though I’ve always had a hankering for a Sherlock Holmes-style smoking jacket, calabash pipe and deerstalker. What do you think? Okay…maybe not – I don’t smoke, nor do I stalk deer (unless it’s with a camera).

Back to today. I really am sitting here in my dressing gown and slippers, despite feeling totally unwell. [sniff, cough] I’m sitting here because there’s only…

Five, Cinq, Fünf, Cinque, Cinco…

…yes just 5 DAYS TO GO until Annika Dash and the Unicorn from Space will be available.

The last few weeks of frantic work learning about self-publishing, using the KDP software, and tweaking the cover and manuscript until it all fit together perfectly, was worth it.

My next worry, believe it or not, is my signature. If medical qualifications were based on how illegible your signature was, I’d be a Consultant Surgeon. Before you consider me pretentious, friends and family have asked me to sign their copies. Flattered by this, I agreed without hesitation.

Gosh, I’ve just thought of something else – what else would I write – besides my signature??? I guess I’ll cross that bridge next. Meanwhile, back to my signature.

I have a pad close by and later, armed with my favourite pen and a toasted Hot-Cross-Bun, I’ll practice. It mustn’t be too plain, nor too flamboyant. Maybe I could get Amanda to do it for me – her handwriting is amazing – no, I couldn’t. Why has my handwriting become so bad? It was rubbish when I left school and worsened at college. Then, working in IT for nearly 30 years, I swapped my biro for a keyboard, so used a pen less and less. I guess James Bond has this very same problem: he’s not able to use his biro unless he wants to shoot someone or blow something up. Yep, 007 must have rubbish handwriting too.

Anyway, having established 007 is much like me, if you have any ideas about how to fix my handwriting in 5 days or less or just want to get in touch, please use my contact form.

Last Train to London…

~ GraydonJonesWriter

That’s what’s playing on my Spotify. And this is probably the last post of 2023. Some of the eagle-eyed amongst you may have spotted that this is also the first and only post of 2023. I (may) get back to that later, but there was a reason it was playing.

I had just listened to the previous track on ELO’s Discovery album – The Diary of Horace Wimp. Why? Well, Horace is one of the villains in my latest story and one of my lovely beta readers hadn’t heard of the name before. She also struggled with its pronunciation. Of course, I wanted to show that Horace is an actual name and not something I had just dreamt up. And, after a few days of head-scratching, I remembered this song.

Want to know more about Horace? Well, I’ll say more in the new year. Until then, have a very merry Christmas and happy new year.