So, should you happen to read the Fortean Times, the current number (257?) contains my brief review of Simon Young's The Celtic Revolution. Executive summary: OK, but not great.

If you want any of these books, let me know before tomorrow, because I will be giving them to charity. But sing out and they shall be yours.

The stack of books to be disposed of has grown again, although not to its epic former dimensions. Some of these may have been originally intended for feanelwa, and then we didn't see her for ... like ... ever. But they're still hers if she wants 'em. But for the rest, let us know if you want one and how we can get it to you. Trades, donations, pints, etc. accepted but not by any means expected!

1) Life.

I have been busy this week, and will be busier the rest of it, but it's good busy. I am temping for a company in (whisper it) Swavesey. This involves bus rides, which involves catching up on my reading, which is good, since I've been to Galloway and Porter a fair amount lately. Not that I'm carrying The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World on the bus with me, but since I bought that particular vegetable I have also allowed myself some dessert.

Speaking of books, this Lovecraft talk appears to have attracted rather more attention than I had expected, which is cool. I will say more about some of the projects that seem to be developing from it when they are closer to fruition, but hopefully they will be fun.

I did just get my first book to review from Fortean Times in the mail today (or more properly, Allison did). We will see if I can turn my hand to this. I wrote book reviews for ARC, right? How hard can it be?

Many thanks for birthday gifts and good wishes to all, especially those (like merovingian) I haven't thanked already!

I don't know; 31 has been pretty good so far. Let's see how it develops.

By the way, I'm not sure I agree with the whole thing, and obviously time and geography separate some of our basic experiences, but if you want to read something thought-provoking about Watchmen, and by extension about comics in general, you could do a lot worse than checking out Who Sent the Sentinels? which you can buy in hardcopy or download as a free PDF here.

... went well, I thought. It was at Treadwell's in Covent Garden, and was preceded by dinner with gbsteve and chilledchimp. It was great to catch up with them after far too long.

A recording is online here. Listening to it again makes me cringe in places, but you might enjoy it. I'm sorry I sounded flippant about Dark Ages Cthulhu, which everyone assures me is good but which I have never actually read. I promise if I ever get some money I'll buy it. Thanks to Steve for the recording!

Also, James Bridle posted a detailed summary with lots of links to further discussion of the subjects in the talk, which is incredibly useful. He even found a lot of the same photographs I used and sourced some of my offhand quotes. I don't have any written summary nearly that nice.

This Tuesday, in the unlikely event that you're stooging around Cambridge in need of something to do, I'm doing some readings in this:

Darwin and everybody
27th October 2009
Time of event: 14:45 - 15:45
Darwin's work changed forever the way humanity thinks of itself. The presentation looks at his influence on archaeology and anthropology, with readings from books in the Haddon Library.
Type of event: Performance
Who's it for?: All ages
Booking required?: Yes 01223 766766
McDonald Institute of Archaeological Research
Downing Street CB2 3ER

Which is part of the Cambridge Festival of Ideas, where all the arts and humanities departments host special events.

Right, off to Dublin until late tomorrow. Will be online only intermittently until Monday. If I don't get back to you about something, that's probably why.

So I have finalized the details of my upcoming talk at Treadwell's. Dan Harms has already talked about it on his blog, so as you can see waiting even a day or two lets me be scooped even when the news is actually about me!

Which is good, really.

Anyway, in short:

15 October 2009 (Thursday)
The Lairs of Cthulhu
Archaeology, Myth and Mystery in the work of HP Lovecraft
James Holloway (Cambridge)
£5.00
7.15 for 7.30 start

For many, the name HP Lovecraft conjures images of strange pre-human ruins. In fact, Lovecraft was keenly interested in archaeology and ancient history, and used archaeological theory to create specific dramatic effects in his work. This talk explores Lovecraft’s relationship to archaeology, its use in his fiction, the adoption of this imagery by the Lovecraftian fan community, and the ways in which Lovecraft’s work anticipates modern debates in the field. This is a night for all who have been moved by the landscapes he conjured, the deeps he evoked: the lairs of Cthulhu.

---

I'm hoping to live up to that last line...

anyway, it's at this place.

You're coming, naturally.

Something funny's been happening over the last couple of weeks, starting with a trip to the UL and continuing in London. I think my brain's been waking up, turning itself over from the hibernation of the last year or so. That's not to say my career prospects are now any better, but some level of mental energy is returning. I need to know what fed the fires and keep stoking it.

Right, kids, I'm off to Lunnon town until Thursday night. I will try to check email, but just don't be alarmed if I'm slow replying. I am meeting up with badgersandjam tonight and dashism tomorrow night, and mistress_fran at an unspecified lunchtime, but if anyone else in the metropolis feels like hanging out (naturally I picked a week where gbsteve and chilledchimp were in the US!), either email me at my university address or give me a call or text.

See you all at the weekend!

The downside is that I feel like crap. Let's hope not so much tomorrow.

On the other hand, most everything else is good to report: major house reorganization, including some new furniture courtesy of akonken's company getting rid of old stuff. Spent Saturday wandering and shopping -- I spent £2.70 on books and am looking forward to my future in the poorhouse -- meeting ebb and David, then off to lslaw's for Lost, in Space with lslaw, whollyrandom, slick_mink and jenewman. Good stuff.

Week after next, I have a few days in London! I'm going to be in town from the 10th to the 13th. Anyone feel like doing something?

So, I'm working on this miniatures project -- near-futre 28mm skirmish, possibly with zombies. Does or did anyone on my friendslist play clicky-games like Heroclix or Horrorclix? I've found that with some repainting some of their models work quite well. I'm not looking for flashy stuff, just soldiers, thugs, cops, civilians, scientists, and zombie-types. I know that in a lot of these games those are crappy surplus figures that nobody wants. Anybody have ones lying around they'd be willing to part with?

I need to take some photographs of small things. Can anyone in Cambridge lend me a hand? I just can't seem to get the focus right, or I'm moving the camera, or something. I know some of you are dab hands at this sort of thing...

Glasses-wearers of my flist -- if you're going to be at Saturday's games, and you have one of those little screwdrivers for adjusting your glasses, can you bring it? I need to unscrew some very small screws.

Thanks!