Daynote - Wed 15 Apr 2026

It's the last day of looking after this fuzzy little guy, so we nipped out for a short walk before I finished packing. A bit gloomier today, but milder too. Very pleasant.

Checks calendar - oh hey look, fifty days to go until SOLITARY AGENTS comes out. Time is passing really quite quickly this year. Why don't you pre-order? Just so you don't forget, y'know?

ON DECK: A solid bit of writing this morning, though I got up a bit late, so got 1,120 on Project VAULT. Nothing on the short story so far, but I might do a bit over lunch.

LISTENING: My journey through the backlog of the superb What Went Wrong podcast continues with their episode on the production of The Sixth Sense. I knew M. Night Shyamalan was a bit of a wunderkind at the time but I hadn't appreciate how nuts the story of how he wrote and sold the script for this film was. Ballsy move doesn't even cover it.

WATCHING: I watched A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE last night while I did some minor computer admin. A fun movie with some properly chilling moments (the helicopters flying over Lower Manhattan blaring 'DO NOT MAKE ANY SOUND' from loudspeakers was pretty spooky) and I, predictably, spent most of the runtime worried about the cat.

READING: In the last little bit of NO WAY OUT by Max Connor (aka Neil Lancaster, Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon). It's about to get... kinetic, I suspect.

LINK: A wee reminder that I'm appearing at Edinburgh Sparks tomorrow, Thursday 16th April, with a reading and Q&A. I'm really looking forward to it! Book your free ticket at the link above.

UP NEXT: Once River's parents are home, I'll be heading home to my wife, my cats, my own bed and my comfortable office chair with a large monitor. I'm really looking forward to it.

Onward!