Yesterday afternoon, just a little after lunch time, Marianne and I flew out of Perth for Adelaide. It had been cool, bright and sunny there, and we were both looking forward to a short break, to seeing friends, and to Sean and Amanda’s wedding. The flight was uneventful, the in-flight movie even less so, and I read a little more of The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (which is full of event). We arrived at Adelaide airport, lined up for taxis for about thirty minutes, then headed into the city and the hotel. We were late, and our dinner dates arrived while we were checking in. To cut a long story short, after a pleasant drink in the Hilton bar, we ended up in a Thai restaurant with Simon, Scott, Rob, Cat, Dave, and Karen. It was a splendid evening. It’s now Saturday morning, and I believe I’m in Adelade because I’ve heard the church bells. Next is breakfast, then the markets, then lunch with the gang, before the wedding tonight.

This is my favorite magazine in the world.  I would give a lot to read a science fiction magazine that is ten percent as well done, as interesting,  as this one. sigh.

This is a weird time of year for me. I’m in ‘year’s best’ reading mode, so I’m dragging magazines, or print outs of magazines, around with me all over the place, so I can read in odd moments, take notes etc. I’m also trying, stupidly, to read a few novels. This year looks like a really good year for novels, after a comparatively quiet one last year, so I’m eager to do it if I can. I’ve been slowly reading Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, which I’m really enjoying. It’s only taken me a whack of time because of my other reading. I’ve also just stared reading Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones. Justien recommended it somewhere, so I ordered it from Amazon along with a few other things. I’ve read the first three chapters, and am hooked. The only question is, do I take year’s best reading to Adelaide this weekend, or do I read City of Bones. I can’t decide. Though it is supposed to be a holiday weekend.

There’s a very nice review of The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year over at Bookgasm.

I suspect I *might* be having problems with my email. If you’ve emailed me in the past week at my (at)iinet address and not received a response, could you resend. I know that comcast is filtering emails from my service provider, but I wanted to check if anyone else was having troubles getting to me.