welcome back to honest to blog (working title), a newsletter with thoughts about writing, movies, music, science fiction and fantasy, and general creative process blah. if you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe (and read the full archive) here.

greetings, friends!

things have been a-moving here at honest to blog. quite literally, i’m getting ready to move in with my partner (d'awww), so i’ve had the whole gamut of flat-hunting experience from getting yanked around by an agency for a solid month, to finding our dream flat and signing contracts within a week. so now i get to declutter and pack and leave my wonderful little home of the last 6 years, for pastures new. what an adventure!

(genuinely daunted at having to sort through all my stuff now, pls send help)

i’m also booked in for both my jabs, with the first one in a couple of weeks, and the second sometime in august. not long to go now till some sense of normalcy creeps back into life… not that i’m counting the days or anything!!!

all this during some of the worst, wettest, most miserable weather we’ve had in quite a while. i keep wanting to bust out some non-rain-safe shoes, but it is not this day. and it probably won’t be next week, either. /grumbles

*not really, but it may contain useful tips!

our speaker event this month (tomorrow, may 29th, at 7.30pm BST) is a panel talk on Writing Media Tie-Ins. what’s a tie-in, i hear you ask? well, any time there’s a novelisation of a movie (like the pacific rim one, for example, which was awesome imo), or a book set in a known universe (like most star wars or star trek novels), or even an audio drama based on a TV show based on a comic book (the marvel netflix shows did that), that’s a tie-in. they’re fun to read, and i’m assuming fun to write, and all the lovely people on this month’s panel have done it, and lived to tell the tale.

so if this sounds like something you might fancy doing someday, or just want to hear some pro writers dish out industry gossip, check it out! panelist bios at the link below, with a cheeky discount included because why not:

last weekend was that magical time we in europe like to get funky. i had the immense pleasure of introducing my american partner to all manner of kitsch schenanigans, starting off with this year’s contest and moving on to some of my personal favourite entries from the past 15-20 years.

the winner this year was italy, with a glam rock banger that swept up the public vote even if it left the industry juries a bit lukewarm. these kids are pretty talented, and a tight-knit band that emanates love for music. very excited to see what an italian eurovision will look like next year!

what was really impressive for me was that none of the entries that made it to the final were genuinely awful; normally we’re good for one or two entries each year that are truly cringe and make those 3-4 minutes feel like hours of agony, but this year, even the songs i’d consider my least favourite (looking at you, serbia, sob) were perfectly passable, and there were loads of commendable entries that tried something different, like the netherlands with their message of resilience of the african diaspora, norway with their angelic boyband of one, malta with their absolute k-pop style banger, russia with their surprisingly queer-inclusive message of feminine diversity… belgium even sent hooverphonic, An Actual Band, and san marino… sent flo rida. (… yeah, idk either). honourable mentions for me: bulgaria, france, and yes, germany - with the perfect song to send to your haters without context :)

overall, some pretty cool stuff, actually. good job europe!

but if you ask me, it was lithuania that was totally robbed. ROBBED, i say:

they were the only entry to even vaguely hint at the isolation we all went through in the past year, and also arguably the best 80s inspired entry of the evening (and there were quite a few: switzerland, greece, the much-lambasted nil point uk entry…); the jury left them hanging, the public left them out to dry, and somehow they finished below discount linkin park–i mean finland. why must you be this way, europe?

oh well. if you need me, i’ll be dancing in my room 💃

new stories for your listening pleasure, narrated and/or produced by moi!

more coming next week, with our trans special featuring some exciting fiction from people whose work i greatly admire.

you can vote if you were an attending member of ConZealand, or have a supporting ($50), attending ($225), or virtual ($75) membership to DisCon III. more info here.

that’s all from me. you can let me know your thoughts about anything i’ve mentioned by replying to this email, or tweeting me about it. until next time, stay safe and creative!

xK