Weekly Roundup Vol. 11
Marvellous Times
Welcome to this week’s roundup! Been quite a quiet one but I’ve been planning ahead a few things for next year, and enjoying my writing. At least my cold is finally gone by now, though it is colder than ever outside. Happy December!
Marvellous Times
It seemed like a good subtitle for this roundup as, well, I saw The Marvels this week. Well worth the watch I think. It was a fun sci-fi adventure, not overstaying its welcome, continuing Captain Marvel’s story well. I think the best part of the film was the chemistry between the three leads. It didn’t gel that well with Nick Fury’s previous appearance in Secret Invasion but as a film in itself definitely stood up.
The other marvellous time this week was attending this month’s video hangout with paid subscribers of ’s newsletter, with special guest Michael Siglain, creative director of Lucasfilm Publishing. I saw Michael from afar (far away) at Star Wars Celebration earlier this year, but it was fantastic to hear his journey, thoughts on things and just generally the type of guy he is. He has overseen so many books I’ve read and that have been influential to me over the years.
Also there is so much incredible insight into the creative process beyond the paywall on Cavan’s newsletter that I’ll take with me into projects in the new year. (Stay tuned, hopefully!). I’d really recommended you subscribe, at least to the free tier, but if you have the money - or the ability to get referrals like me! - what he’s put out so far to paid subscribes is an amazing resource and the video calls are great! People talk about what they’re reading and watching before the main topic of the call, and it’s a good time all round.
If you subscribe with the link below you’ll be supporting him and me. (I want to eclipse Daniel José Older’s referral on the Cavletter’s leaderboard!)
My Writing
I made some great progress this week on my third novel (the interlude section within). Probably between the time writing this and sending it out I’ll have reached 80,000 words! (Edit: I have!)
I wrote about Roman Richborough, the crystal in the short story leaving the 25m monumental arch behind as it leaves Britain on a merchant ship. Again I’ll link to my post visiting the site here. Big thanks to all the artists that have imagined what the site would’ve looked like.
After writing that section I’ve been plotting the crystal’s journey to Trier in Germany up the Rhine and Moselle like I’m a historian creating an intricate version of one of those Indiana Jones maps. I found this amazing resource that I’ve used to follow the river from the sea near Rotterdam in the Netherlands all the way up the rivers to where modern Germany borders Luxembourg. A link to that site here. It has every known Roman landmark and road across the world in one digital atlas, as close to an ancient google maps that we could get. When you click on each site, it can take you to a page all about it! I didn’t know the extent of Roman forts along the Rhine, the border of the empire then.
I also had the pleasure of browsing through the photos sent to me by the kind volunteers at North Leigh Roman Villa in Oxfordshire (very worth the visit), all from their trip to Trier and a nearby reconstructed villa. I can’t wait to turn all of these resources into words that hopefully one day you’ll all read.
This week’s books
This segment showcases the new additions to my research and fiction collections. Only one this week.
Once again a charity shop find from my parents. I half-joked that it was sci-fi pre-Star Wars - but I was right! The book came out 1977! But it is filled with interesting stuff, as the list on the cover suggests.
Thanks for reading! Let me know how your week went, if you feel like it.
Cheers,
Harvey