Spring sprung, and that’s included film appearances, gigs, mosaics, interviews and my debut poetry in print. There’s also the usual mix of sci-fi and the ancient Roman world.

Things I did

It was an exciting start to March. Marching into March, one could say. Finally re-watching Gladiator II at home, I could pause and properly see that yes, I made it into the film, prominently! One of the cameras to the side of our marching, with some digital enhancements, put a more full-armoured Roman soldier me in film history…

I was also featured in one of the released stills from a shot not in the trailer of Kane Wilson’s We Dream in Colour. I consistently joked that it was taken before makeup. More stills here.

A little later in month, Pinewood Studios released their Futures Festival video, which included a few seconds of me talking with Nina Hartstone and Louise Burton after their conversation on stage with Ali Plumb.

Despite being so close to it many times, I visitied Cleopatra’s Needle for the first time, having seen many similar obelisks in the South of France and Rome. I appreciated the extra features surrounding this one.

I was in London that afternoon for Creative Encounters: The Londoner’s Printing Press, a printmaking workshop at the Southbank Centre with Theo Hersey, the designer and printer of Bastille’s Ampersand.

We each cut our own lino letters (E for me!), making collages with other printed types while others used the tools, and then assembled them all together as a type case in the centre of the space so everyone could print their own words. Being the project-obsessed writer I am…

A few days later there was an Image Comics-related panel at Waterstones Tottenham Court Road. Two duos were interviewed by Dirk Wood from Image, who was lovely to talk to afterwards. Of course it was great to see partners Kieron Gillen and Chrissy Williams again, but also fascinating hearing from father-son duo Sean and Jacob Phillips. There were also three other WIP Comics members attending which made it a proper community evening.

A screenshot from the talented KitsuneArt.

The next community catch-up was an AK Patterson gig in Brighton! It was fantastic hearing new songs from Alex, and hearing that she has a record deal!

The day of the Oscars, I attended Sarah Nocquet’s filmmakers party at the homely Blighty. There were ballots to fill out, and it was just as uplfiting as last time, reconnecting with some people and meeting a bunch of new ones.

My second gig of the month was my second London Music Showcase event. I was there once again to see Irina Imme, who played a fantastic set of old and new and unreleased songs! The evening also introduced me to two acts that don’t even have songs out yet, The NTE (Night Time Economy) and Iona Trainer.

From musics to mosaics. Visiting Fishbourne Palace, a very important site for Roman Britian, on a sunny day made me really appreciate spring is here. There are mosaics on par with those in Rome and Ostia, and that’s only in the one range you can see!

The museum, through the story and architecture of the site from fort to lavish home, was very well done, if a little in need of an update. But the recreated garden, based exactly on the holes discovered, still with ancient waterways, was like fully stepping back in time. While the Cupid mosaic above is impressive, my favourite may have been seeing a fortress-design one, which was actually found beneath it! Its border depicts walls, with crenellations of sorts, towers on the corners and a gate at the top (left).

Chichester on the way back yielded some new finds in the Novium museum, a longer walk around the town’s Roman-onwards walls (some of that stone may have come from the burned-down Fishbourne), and some street art. I also visited Chichester’s Comics Games and Coffee shop for the first time and saw the Neptune and Minerva stone, a very important Roman inscription mentioning the client king Cogidubnus, the probable owner of the palace, who may have also lead other projects like the temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath.

I have to say how brilliant Project Hail Mary is. Go and see it in a cinema. Dazzling, moving and a perfect adaptation of the book - the novel blew me away and I was glad to have read it and been surprised by many of the things movie fans saw in the trailers! Amaze doesn’t begin to describe it, but the pins from Odeon were a plus.

The month finished with a fantastic day on A Life in Colour, a short film by Sussex Uni students. My first speaking role in something that’s getting released was actually… doing something I do a lot of already… visiting an art gallery exhibit and then attending a book signing.

It was such a warm set, and a fantastic educational experience seeing all the departments at work. I was very impressed by the gallery set and the effort that went into the hung art pieces, but especially the cover and blurb of the fictional book. I’ll try not to spoil the film, but it’s a very relatable one for any artist out there, about the drive to make art, and the dream of it being recognised.

I was playing a fan very much recognising the talent on display, and we filmed many amusing shots of musing art or rushing around the book signing. One of those featured in the day’s bts post on the film’s instagram.

Day 5 of A Life In Colour

So, the month was bookended by We Dream in Colour and A Life in Colour. There’s something poetic there which led me to the obvious title for this month’s roundup.

Things I wrote

This newsletter…

As you’ve hopefully seen and enjoyed, I shared a short story excerpt for the first time:

Systemtic, from GLUE - issue #2

Technically, I wrote the story last month, but I think it made a good surprise, especially when Laura and Emily at GLUE decided to include it in the printed issue! More details on that post.

Both issues of GLUE are also back in stock on their store, in case you’re interested in art, photography, writing and more from a great bunch of incredibly talented creatives, consider grabbing a zine or two! In the second issue, you’ll of course find my first poetry in print, my first poetry photo comic in print and my first time collaborating with an artist on my first (but not my last?) Roman curse tablet in print. And Systemic is my first non-self-published story in print!

The evening I released Systemtic to your inboxes, I was interviewed on a Tea & Books Chat podcast by a duo from Cup of Tea With That Book, Please. The episode should be out there soon! It was lovely covering my Diamond Dimensions Universe from age twelve to now!

When my contributor copy of GLUE arrived, I took the time to truly celebrate. I've seen authors with new works out display them in a stack of previous titles. So, I decided to place GLUE amongst my other printed works, beside the two issues of Insider I contributed articles to... and a mosaic of my thirty self-published books in the multiverse that began (and ended) based on DanTDM’s videos.

I'd never seen them all together like that, so that in itself was a special moment. I'm very lucky that I've spent coming up on twelve years (half my life!) writing and releasing things. More to come! And more sneaks peeks into GLUE issue #2 and some more shots of all my books together on my instagram.

My interview with Jamais Vu Productions also released on March 3rd after we recorded it at the end of Feb. I didn’t realise quite how verbatim the transcribed article would be, but it’s a great overview of everything I’m working on.

Intervu: Harvey Hamer

A Long Time Ago... returned again this month. I loved Melissa’s deep dive into rancors, and I learnt a lot about invisible lines from her contribution!

A Long Time Ago… with Melissa T. Miller

There was plenty of new writing this month too. I rewrote three short scripts for something, and touched up a short story for submission somewhere…

I also penned a new poem, and a new somewhat non-fiction short story, both based on ancient sites important to me. Hopefully they’ll find their way out into the world.

While my Blood Moth story didn’t find its home on Flame tree’s newsletter, it was still a joy to write and share that concept with you. I was at it again, writing a story to s specific theme this month, an open call by a press who liked one of my stories in the past. It’s my first real crack at a Hard SF story, and I’m optimistic.

The monthly WIP Comics call had some exciting talk about anthology ideas and there may be an exciting update about my contribution this year…

The month’s poetry comics call hosted by Chrissy Williams was full of great conversation topics and the usual learning and creativity! I’ve counted the found poem I created on this month’s call in my tally… which I may just turn to usual numbers for next month… I made a rewrite category as I didn’t really want to count them as new. Still, proud of what I’ve done in the first quarter of the year.

2026 Projects Written

Pitchdecks: II

Poems: IIIII

Rewrites: IIII

Short Film: I

Short Stories: IIIII

Steam Page: I

Things I gained

A quieter and yet very important month for SW comics. First, Alex Segura satisfyingly wrapped up his ten issue arc of the main SW title post-Return of the Jedi. And friend of the newsletter Marc Guggenheim collaborated with Jar Jar Binks and Kelleren Beq actor Ahmed Best on a story using both characters, which is such an amazing sentence, and comic issue.

Keeping it in the realm of far, far away… I was very happy to visit Station Books in Tunbridge Wells to purchase my copy of Inkstone’s beautiful edition of Mike Chen’s novel, Star Wars Outlaws: Low Red Moon, a prequel to the Outlaws video game story. I can’t wait to dive more into the characters journeys, having loved what Mike did bridging Episode II Obi-Wan and Anakin to The Clone Wars animated show. And lovely to have his signature.

This month’s other new books include some finds from Fishbourne’s little bookshop. Why I would appreciate Roman Oxfordshire with the Stonesfield mosaic embroidery on the front is pretty self-explanatory by now. There was also a great leaflet for Roman Verulamiun where I did set part of that gem journey story that’s underway. Keeping on theme is the guide to Bath’s Roman Baths, which was well-timed for my collaboration with Cadan Welch in GLUE, and a readable memento of my visits ages ago and last summer…

Thank you so much for your continued support. And if you’re a new reader, welcome! I hope you’ll stick around to hear about everything I’m doing, writing and gaining.