Our shortest month, and yet, a lot crammed in! Many back-to-back or even same-day celebrations… let’s get stuck in!

Things I did

First things first. The last day of January was spent at Pinewood Studios! Just seeing all the stages would’ve been enough! The giant Vader, 007… I managed to get in the first group of the timeslot, so went to the John Barry Theatre to see Ali Plumb interview Nina Hartstone and Louise Burton. So many fascinating insights into the sound department of so many films. And I got to hold an Oscar. Deadpool was also hanging around before and after!

On the way to the first big exhibitors hall I saw several famous cars, including a Batmobile, and Lightning and Mater. Inside, alongside all the great tables to talk to, things to sign up for, advice to take on board, was a Jurassic Park jeep and enough Star Wars props and cosplayers to fill a cantina.

Walking past trailers to the next hall - home to Imaginarium, ILM and Disney exhibitors! - I wasn’t expecting to walk into quite such a large set with a range of equipment for people to try. There was ECTO-1, a whole four-seasons space to walk through to showcase fake snow and the real and fake plants used. The Disney booth had a spread of costumes, including the Fantastic 4 and these:

Then all the groups amassed in the 007 stage for a fantastic stunt show of demonstrations, spectacle, inspiration. There were wires, fires and a whole lot of revving - bikes and stunt cars!

The next day, I celebrated true indie filmmaking by seeing Iron Lung by Markiplier at a cinema in Brighton. The fact that intially the blood-ocean-submarine film based on the game (written, produced, lead and edited by Mark) was only releasing in 50 US cinemas and then spread worldwide with several number 1s and extended runs, is a testament to his passion, talent and an amazing win for indie films.

As a supporter of Mark for over a decade, it was such a brilliant culmination to see his work on the big screen. There really was a tension to the horror, and wonderful design across all the departments.

Speaking of wonderful designs, up next for this writer was a trip to the BM for both the Samurai and Hawai’i exhibitions. There was so many incredibly unique armour pieces and weapons and artwork. I really learnt a lot. So many stories, and of course this guy:

There were a few more Star Wars artefacts which were a joy to see. And I never thought I’d see lightup toys and Funkos in the museum shop either!

Hawai’i a kindom crossing oceans was a thoughtfully put together exploration of the UK’s history with the islands. I love statues, but the really impressive things were the feather pieces, helmets, cloaks and sacred vessels made by artists over the last 300 years.

The arty day was capped by such a feel-good Liang Lawrence concert, with two great supports - Reem Mitten and Alex Amor. I couldn’t get Reem’s ‘Back to the Start of it’ out of my head. As always, it was lovely chatting to Liang, my wreathmaking buddy, afterwards.

My next exhibition/concert day (you should know this is how I roll by now) involved a return to the British Library after my first trip there - when I was ten! Safe to say I didn’t remember much for the home education trip, apart from my first memories of illuminated manuscripts and the big glassy wall of books. Both were pleasantly still there, plus a whole host of other treasures.

I could write a whole newsletter about the Leonardo notes, Shakespeare and scores, a Beatles display, all sorts of rare religious books with beautiful decorations, art pieces, Egyptian tablets and modern diaries. It was sad to see a chatGPT-written display introduction though…

Nearby was The Water Rats, the venue for Nadia Sheikh’s concert with support from Trapps. Before doors even opened, Nadia’s mum came out to give me the remaining signed CD from the bundle I bought in January!

The show was brilliant, with the band debuting new tracks and a cover, my favourite being ‘What Will Be’. I grabbed a setlist afterwards with all those new titles!

February 17th was not only an excuse to eat a lot of pancakes, but was also the Lunar New Year, which I spent in London (on the way to my first stop I visited Word on the Water - The London Bookbarge!). Mori Homemade is a charming cafe with a Fire Horse art exhibition on until March 17th! This was the opening though, so I spent the evening surrounded by artists, including a few WIP Comics pals.

Then, it was off to the Harold Pinter Theatre to see High Noon, a wonderful stage (and somewhat musical) adaptation of the film. The scene transitions, including the train arrival was fantastic. And I’d listened to this great interview with Denise Gough about the show before - and even then wasn’t prepared for her singing!

I was lucky enough to perfectly time Stage Door and meet Denise and Billy Crudupp as they came out - selfies and signatures included.

Next, I was getting my costume ready for a music video by Garo Studios. I’ve been in contact with one half of the company, Coro, since Kulty’s Christmas party, and had a brilliant time helping out as an extra, in a 20’s costume in an abandoned part of the Peckahm Rye Station building, seeing real film cameras. I’ll of course share ‘Look Around’ by Fever Dream Collective when it’s released.

Definitely check out Coro’s YouTube channel for some similar music videos, while you wait…

You may recall the last time I was on a set, last November. The trailer is now out for Kane Wilson’s We Dream in Colour! I think it looks incredible, but judge for yourself! And I made it into the trailer!

I suppose I can talk more about that scene now. It was a lot of fun doing that ‘stunt’ in rehearsals and takes, being grabbed from sitting outside my tent, pulled up to standing and brought across into the wall as the camera pans past. The guy arresting us was a great scene partner!

I’m giving you a lot of things to check out, but all this homework will be worth it. Here’s some more! Nostalgie, the Dan Smith-scored IFTA-winning and BAFTA-nominated short film I saw screened last month is now available to watch on Channel 4! Dan and Ralph Pellymounter - who loyal readers will know - also had some very exciting film news revealed in depth through a Hollywood Reporter article!

Yesterday, I had an exciting call in the morning, then headed to London, to the Fitrovia Chapel for a Cleopatra Extravaganza to celebrate Saara El-Arifi’s new book.

Moderated by Nikita Gill, Saara shared the incredbile and moving story of how the book came to be and what it represents. You can read all about that in her Guardian article - and then go and buy the book! It was lovely to meet Saara again at the signing afterwards - such a gorgeous venue to wait around in! - and remind her of when we first met at MCM May 2023, and all we’ve both done since then. Once again, she was full of advice and kind sentiments to refill my publishing quest motivation.

I will be closing out this month by seeing twenty one pilots’ concert film at the cinema, quite a way to bookend this filmic and musical February.

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Things I wrote

This newsletter…

I refined my pitchdeck into a long version and a short version based on advice and other examples - and there’s more developments on that front too!

Yes, that’s right, issue #2 of the zine GLUE that I’ve contributed to is on presale! Hit that photo to be taken straight to the store!

In the build up to the presale, we shared some behind the scenes of various pieces. Cadan, who I collaborated with to bring words to his Sulis Minerva curse tablet idea, shared some of his research and charcoal sketches in this post.

It was a lot of fun to take the phrasing and inflictions from existing tablets from Roman Bath, modernise and combine them into a retributive justeci poem with a flowing anti-ICE sentiment, then re-format it into something with missing words, backwards and jumbled encoded specifics. Something reminscent of E.E. Cummings’ ‘my sweet old etcetera’.

I also created my first poetry photo comic for one of the other poems I’ve contributed. A fun photography trip to a couple of locations on the Ashdown Forest led to fun in Canva placing the poetry lines onto an eight-panel grid, playing with how they match and flow with the imagery.

Please consider ordering a copy of GLUE issue #2 (and #1 while you’re at it!) for a brilliant array of submissions from a lovely team. There’s blown-paint cave art, a smart greenhouse, comics, two moving fiction and non-fiction short stories - my poems - and so much more! An exploration of mycelium reflecting social change? Yes!

GLUE, issue #2 - PRESALE! | GLUE

Whether it’s the Wood Wide Web or the World Wide Web, skeletons, water cycles, garderobe plumbing in Medieval castles or the networks ants dig with...

I wrote a 1,000-word story for Flame Tree Press’ monthly newsletter. BLOOD MOTH was a theme that perfectly matched one of many single sentence ideas I keep floating around in a doc. And the Iron Lung soundtrack was the perfect background music to write that horror tale to.

This month’s WIP Comics meeting saw the theme and format chosen and I have several ideas swirling around - my usual mix of ancient and modern genre concepts!

Just after the GLUE issue #2 review meeting, it was the second hang of Chrisssy William’s poetry comics group, and while I haven’t counted it on the ol’ tally below, I created a poetry comic with art from guest speaker on Riso printing Tom Humberstone and article titles from something shared…

2026 Projects Written

Mini Pitchdeck: II

Poems: III

Short Film: I

Short Stories: III

Steam Page: I

Things I gained

This month in Star Wars comics saw the end of Hunt for the Falcon and the end(?) of Legacy of Vader. Charles Soule particularly stuck the landing with Kylo Ren/Ben Solo’s ever-expanding story.

Here’s everything from my day at Pinewood! Including a Bad batch poster from ILM. Many of these things are now pride of place in my writing space!

The Cleopatra Extravaganza, along with a copy of the Waterstones Exclusive edition book, included a free drink, and goody bag with a bookmark and print. Plus, Phoebe Lim, a calligrapher, was there to write your name in hieroglpyhs using gold foil.

Thank you so much for your continued support. The more I branch out, it’s nice to know people are here reading at the roots.