Reconstruction - June 2025
This month was a balancing act of many events and projects, so that title seems appropriate. Now it’s winding up (or pretty much over as you read this), I’m reconstructing things for the summer which is definitely here.
Things I did
On the 2nd, I treated myself to a usual London excursion to Forbidden Planet, the nearby Oxfam bookshop and the British Museum, to check out the two new exhibitions on Ancient India and Hiroshige. Here’s just a glimpse of those exhibitions, which expertly covered the ancient art of three very much still practised religions, and the life and work of a fantastic artist.
The real reason I was in London that day was to see a friend I made in the queue for twenty one pilots last month perform some of her songs! Check out her music - Irina Imme!
Ten days later, I was treated to more live music! Merrick Winter was playing at the Gibson Guitar store. It was a fantastic two-floored shop, and me being me, I arrived early, so got to chat to Merrick while he was doing a sound check, then hit the Pacman machine they had in the basement.
In between that early afternoon gig and an evening concert, I visited the Renaissance rooms in the National Gallery, which I hadn’t explored since a school trip when I was thirteen. Then I visited the BFI to get my under 25 account, which I hope will come in handy.
It just so happened that the original ‘77 film of Star Wars was being shown that evening, so it was packed, and I may have been in proximity of Kathleen Kennedy. The shop had this special section, featuring Women of the Galaxy by Amy Ratcliffe! Between the BFI and the concert queue, twenty one pilot’s first single off their new album was released, with an astounding music video, The Contract.
Opening for Hohnen Ford was yeemz, playing cello like a guitar. She also joined Hohnen on stage throughout the concert, as did Birdy for their single together.
On the way to the merch table to grab some CDs and get some postcards signed, I briefly caught up with AK Patterson and Merrick again!
I shared a few more photos from the above events, plus some shots of the London Wall and more Andor filming locations I brought my parents to on a Father’s Day out, on insta.
I spent a couple of nights round a friend’s in Bath. He’s just finishing uni there and has already got a job as an architect! We fitted a lot in, visiting the Roman Baths, which of course I really enjoyed, and also the M Shed in Bristol which is an incredible museum, with things from an ancient mosaic, a series of Wallace and Gromit models to the Colston statue! Highlights from that trip here.
On the way back through London, I attended an open call at Shoreditch Studios. I had to get measured, had some professional shots taken and then performed a tape…
On the 23rd, I found out with five hours to go that I’d won a ticket on the guestlist for Lydia Night’s party. I first discovered Lydia’s music when she was lead singer of The Regrettes, who supported twenty one pilots in 2019. It was surreal just to attend a party with her, and we had a Q&A, two acoustic songs and watched two music videos she directed on a projector before their release!
Two days later, I was back in London for another celebration - The Arthur C. Clarke Award. It was fantastic to meet the nominees and winner and her husband, see a handful of familiar author faces and meet so many new people in publishing, from agents to editors and publicists, and many new authors. Special thanks have to go to Stark Holborn for introducing me to people and inviting me to the pub afterwards!
I’m writing this before I go, but I’ll be finishing the month with a weekend in Cambridge with the family, and then another Screen Players Film Club at Selfridges. I’ll start next month’s with anything of note from those!
Things I wrote
This newsletter… (I always like starting with this one!)
Above is a thing I drew, but still counts for this section! It’s a progress photo from the day I did a pencils layout for my page in WIP Comics’ Infinity anthology. Those three panels are all you’re going to get, though I have pencilled all eight and inked the first two (below). Please follow this link to the Kickstarter and press Notify me for updates! We’re launching next month!
The Diamond Adventures video game script is now over 100 pages! Level 2 is completely finished, and 3 is in the final stretch. I had a great few days banging out a ‘zone’ a day. And I’ve seen some great art and gameplay progress!
My other major project this month gives this newsletter it’s title, my North Leigh Roman Villa Minecraft Reconstruction Competition. Bit of a mouthful, and I’ve talked about it before. But after about a hundred emails, a zoom meeting, creating a master table with everything in each room of the villa and organising other documents and photos, it launched on the 21st!
Please please please share with any Minecraft builders you may know. I’d love to see their submissions rebuilding the villa as it would’ve been. Plus, Blenheim Palace have offered a £100 prize to the winner, whilst runners up will also be featured on tablets on site.
Whatever your Minecraft knowledge, here’s the link to the form, with all the entry details and further links to online resources and my painstakingly-crafted folder of pdfs: https://forms.gle/hDgySG5yrcdgWWjy5
I wrote and submitted some poetry and a ramble about companionship/solitude to this zine I saw on instagram. I may submit more before their deadline of July 15th.
I’ve also spied some other opportunities, the special call on stories about Regret for Flash Fiction Online, guest edited by Ai Jiang! This one’s open all next month.
I also have a story ready for this anthology about memory manipulation from air and nothingness press, which opens for submissions on the 7th.
I also met up with one of my friends studying filmmaking at Greenwich Uni. We met at the Barbican as a possible filming location, read through everything in twenty one pilot’s story world, made notes putting all the pieces together and developed our own ideas for a good story, a short film that could be a sort of pilot for further anthology shorts.
Things I gained
A great array of Star Wars comics this month, including May’s Free Comic Book Day issue of short stories tying into the three main ongoing series. Star Wars by Alex Segura launched, taking the original trilogy cast beyond the end of the Galactic Civil War (a year after Episode VI), plus catching up with the excellent Rise of Skywalker adaptation.
This fantastic delivery arrived from Coles Books, wrapped in four layers. I’ve left the book in its final sheath for now, but look at that signed print! Two more deliveries also arrived but I won’t clog this with more photos. I got Rock Sound’s interview with twenty one pilots and their cover album all in celebration of ten years of Blurryface and I snagged a signed and swag-laden copy of Jendia Gammon’s Atacama!
If that wasn’t enough, here’s a massive stack of other books. Working downwards are some great things I found at Forbidden Planet. I didn’t add the great Timing/Luck photo book by Gerry Duggan, and sitting on top is a variant of the new Star Wars #1, with just the logo on a starfield on the cover. I also nabbed that treasure-full Batuu book and a signed copy of Ai Jiang’s A Palace Near the Wind, with a poster. I was very glad to find that after being at a concert for her signing and attending the other day of MCM when she actually signed those copies. The cover of the sequel, A River from the Sky, has just been revealed!
The rest are all fantastic finds by my family and I at various charity shops. 4 3 2 1 had been on my list for a while, there’s some great history books, another Star Wars and my missing Andy Weir. And that is the purple-edged Goldsboro edition of Kate Dylan’s Mindwalker. I met Kate and heard her talk about the book at Worldcon last year, and saw her again at the Waterstones dragons event in March.
Okay, time to get reconstructing (and enjoying my last few days of this month).
Thank you for reading!