Alta (Dragon Jousters #2) by Mercedes Lackey

Look, complex litfantasy this is not, but as always, what I am appreciating about Mercedes Lackey's writing is that sometimes you just need straight-up, uncomplicated escapism. And her love for animals – and the care of her made-up dragons – shines through in the writing. Yes, there are some absolute coincidences that drive the plot forward, with Vetch/Kiron being in the right place at the right time, but honestly, I'm here for the dragons and the nod at ancient Egyptian themes that run throughout the world building.

Book two sees Kiron establish himself in Alta after fleeing from enslavement in Tia with his dragon Avatre. But all is not well in his homeland, as he discovers, and despite the prestige he has managed to garner, thanks to his relationship with Avatre – a tame dragon as opposed to the ones that artificially subdued so that they can bear riders – he needs to overthrow an insidious horror threatening the very fabric of his home before they can deal with the threat posed by the belligerent Tians.

Yeah, some of the world building is a little on the nose, as if Lackey has only slightly polished off the names and gods of ancient Egypt, and yeah, the characterisation and plotting is somewhat on the surface, but I'm still sufficiently engaged with the story. It's fun. It's light. And it has dragon-flavoured adventure. Bite me.

The Week in Review – May 31, 2025

It's finally cold enough that I'm sitting here in a hoodie and bundled up in a blanket. I'm trying to avoid turning on the heater quite yet because electricity is expensive, and I try to save the heater for once the sun goes down.

Yesterday was kinda awesome in that I trusted my gut and got out of my comfort zone. I had somewhat of a torrid week with deadlines from my UK-based publisher I'm a mouse-monkey for. I suspect many of the production controllers all want to go on summer vacation, so they've been hitting me with a pile of work with tight deadlines. Which I did get finished, but man oh man, I was pretty crispy afterwards, and it was straight to Club Duvet and a spin with DJ Pillow for me Friday night. 

I had a friend visiting from the UK, whom I've not seen in two years, and I was so tempted to cancel – primarily because seeing him would involve driving 'over the mountain' as we here in the far south peninsula call the trek to get anywhere near the city proper. Which I wasn't certain I could bear.

But I'm glad I went – because honestly, we don't know when we'll see people we connect with again. Our generation is reaching that age where people are starting to shuffle off this mortal coil. And even if we met at The Forrester's Arms in Newlands, which is totally *not* my scene, it ended up really quite pleasant even if the place was somewhat noisy and crowded. The last time I was there was more than a decade ago. So, yesterday, I had two zero beers, and additionally reconnected with another very distant connection I hadn't seen since my late teens/early twenties.

I often reflect on the meaning hiraeth in a broader context outside of Wales, and the location in question is a property in Rosebank that was for two years of my life a hub around which I orbited. Some good memories in that old Victorian home. Some sad ones, too. But I prefer to cling to the memories of the library, the lovely garden with its chameleons, the old magnolia tree. And of course the tragedy of an ill-starred young adult romance which I try to put behind me because honestly, some of the shit I pulled was so fucking cringe I'm cringing writing this. 

I'm a very different person from the person I was back then, and I suspect if present Nerine could meet past-Nerine she'd give her a rather stern talking-to that past-Nerine would promptly ignore and do all those stupid things anyway. Because I was an idiot. I probably still am an idiot, but in different ways. At least I've stopped drinking a hundred years ago, so there's that. I'm a much better person to be around now than I was back then.

The scary-cool thing was realising that my gut feeling to go out yesterday had been right all along, because that connection with past friends was really awesome – meeting with people who might be on a very similar wavelength even if they come from a vastly different background. And of course realising that my long-term, long-distance friendship with my friend from the UK means so much to both of us. Especially in a world gone crazy. Who knows when we'll see each other again. What matters is that deep-rooted affection that is still present.

Cherish the people you love. Don't be afraid to push outside of your usual comfort zone even if you are feeling a bit crispy. These moments matter.

Bloody Parchment update

So, things are moving along with Bloody Parchment's next anthology. I've just paid a deposit for the amazing Mike Tenebrae, a wonderful South African illustrator with a love for horror and fantasy art, to have carte blanche when it comes to what we'll see on our wraparound cover. I'm very excited to see what he will come up. This is the part of making books that I love – collaborating with and supporting other artists, thereby giving them a platform for their work. This year we're also partnering with a local publisher to do a small local print run that will hopefully see the book available in store, too. So more on that later.

ZamaShort "Summer"

It's been a while since I've had a short story out, and I am so pleased to have worked with editor and publisher Ivor Hartmann on "Summer" a story that is quite dear to my heart as it's inspired by an actual event (not the hanging, that is, but the chance meeting of an old friend after she'd left school). I still wonder what happened to her.

From ZamaShort:

In the far future on the outer reaches of the great space diaspora Hannali toils daily under alien skies on their farm. On a break into town she spots Summer, a childhood friend, on a scaffold waiting to be hanged...

What ensues is a touching tale of choices made, different paths taken, bonds formed and broken, what makes us who we are, and how we travel through life.

The ZamaShort imprint series is solely focused on the amazing powerhouse that is the short story. We give each short story its own publication so that it may be read and enjoyed fully as a stand-alone publication. As per the StoryTime Publishing mandate initialised in 2007, ZamaShort continues to champion and add to the ever-growing canon of African literature excellence and diversity. 

Get it here: Amazon US (Also: UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, JP, BR, CA, MX, AU, IN); Libby; Apple;  Barnes & Noble; Kobo; Smashwords; Fable; Thalia; Vivlio; Angus and Robertson.

Review copies available on request, or if you have any questions, please contact: zama1short@gmail.com

Mini Review – Cast Long Shadows by Cat Hellisen

Okay, so just a disclaimer – Cat has for many years been one of my closest writing friends. They were incredibly formative for me, having taught me much in terms of the art and craft of storytelling and style right at the beginning when I had absolutely no frigging idea what I was doing. I remain forever indebted to their guidance (and patience). And every time I read one of their books, I reman in awe (and some small part of me despairs for I shall never measure up to their incredible talent).

That Cast Long Shadows is not spoken about more often is an absolute travesty.

Although I own a signed copy, I opted to access this story via my Audible subscription, which was fan-fucking-tastic. The voice artist, Cathleen McCarron, is phenomenal in terms of the immense dynamic range of the characterisation she delivers that drives the narration, and combined with the lush, image-laden prose, is an absolute cherry on the entire deal. I could listen to her read Wikipedia entries about particle physics and probably be enthralled.

Cat's gonna murgle me for saying this, but if I had to describe this story in a nutshell, it's basically Game of Thrones mashed with Downton Abbey, by way of Snow White. (Sorry, Cat!) But it's so much more than that. The imagery, the prose, the slow-moving drama that culminates with incredible beauty and cruelty – and mercy – means that this book is going to stay with me for a very long time.

Honestly, I'm totally reccing this book to absolutely EVERYONE. It's about women's power and magic within a patriarchal world, and of course mysteries and secrets.

Where I'm at write now... 

I'm at that weird stage where I'm waiting for my publisher to greenlight the outline for my Scatterlings of Fate series. I must've spent about two months writing an outline of more than 7,000 words and creating its accompanying two-page tabled outline detailing the chronology of events so that I know where all the characters are at all times.

I know this sounds a little excessive, but when there's money involved, and an entire five-book series was sold based on the strength of book one, it's my responsibility as an author to make fucking certain that this story is functional and that my publisher knows exactly what I'll be delivering. And when, of course. I have five years to write this. So I got this.

Then, other than that, I've got two short stories to write – one due at the end of June, the other halfway through July. The second is really exciting – I'm collaborating with a scientist to write speculative fiction around the ethics of de-extinction and the impact of fortressing in conservation on the communities affected by land usage. The first is already plotted out – and it's a kinda dystopian eco-punk story inspired by a folk tale about a woman who puts on her husband's clothing and goes to rescue him.

And then, of course, I'm nearly done writing book five of a nine- or ten-book series for my ghost-writing client. It's been wild, I tell you. Wild. Don't ask me where I find the time for all this. I honestly couldn't tell you. 

The Week in Review, May 25, 2025

It's very much been a butt on seat, fingers on keyboard kinda week, but I can honestly say that I love what I do for a living, be it editing, layout, writing, quality assurance, or coaching. My day is never dull. I have seen a shift in my general income sources over the past two years where I'm getting more work that's not graphics-related. Which was always one of my goals, since I've maintained I'm not a natural when it comes to graphic design. I far prefer layout, in any case. There're some pretty exciting projects on the boil, one of which is related to Bloody Parchment, in which we'll be partnering with a local publisher and another bit of traction with a long-term ghost-writing project I've been on about, where I'm also starting to reach a point with a project where we need a publisher on board to handle all the back-end stuff I don't want to handle on behalf of my client.

I'm a weird one in that I exist at an intersection of not one but three skills sets – graphics, writing, and editing – and I don't think there are many folks who present, as one of my mentors said to me, a triple threat. Gosh. I like that. I'll have that, thanks. I blame the decade I spent in newspaper publishing, where we sub-editors had to develop those skills in our department. Or, rather, I was one of the subs who had the opportunity to do so, because for many years I was doing page layouts, writing editorial, and editing/proofreading the other subs' work.

Things look very different today. As a freelancer, I do graphics and marketing communications for a big pet food brand; quality assurance, alt text writing, and audiobook PDFs for a multinational publisher; ghostwriting; editing for independent publishers and authors; and coaching for writers. And of course, my own writing, which unfortunately does tend to take a back seat. My days are never dull, and while things do occasionally get a bit hairy when I need to meet deadlines, I wouldn't trade in career path for anything. I am constantly stimulated, and my work is often very different. One moment I'm editing a dark, gothic romance; the next I'm working on a product catalogue for pet food.

Moon Knight – a mini review

This week, I heard that Amazon canned The Wheel of Time, yet another series that has bitten the dust. I admit that I hadn't gotten around to watching it, but from what I heard, folks were enjoying it. Another series that got canned that I am sorry won't see another season is Marvel's Moon Knight starring Oscar Isaac, May Calamawy, and Ethan Hawke. I finished watching it last night, and despite the butchering of ancient Egyptian mythology, I did rather enjoy it.

There was certainly enough humour and plenty of mind-bending magical weirdness to keep me happy. Honestly, it felt like the kind of unhinged world building that had me writing my Those Who Return duology, Inkarna and Thanatos back in the day. It did get me thinking on what a fertile, underutilised mythology we have in ancient Egypt – however I suppose it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Moon Knight predictably plays loose and fast with ancient Egypt. It grated a little seeing Khonsu depicted rather as a raven instead of hawk-headed entity. Tawaret was a delight, and I was kinda missing Anubis or even Thoth. Hells, it would have been great to see Bast and Sekhmet, too, but I guess they might've made an appearance later, had the bean-counters not decided the series was not popular enough. The overall production design was lovely – and for once they seemed to have set decoration that wasn't too far off from what would come across as authentic. And yeah, it would have been great to see more of an Egyptian superhero for a change. May Calamawy was a delight as Layla, and I think given more screen time, could really have come into her own. Oscar playing opposite himself to depict the characters Stephen and Marc was nothing short of brilliant, and Ethan Hawke as the rather creepy Arthur Harrow did good, too.

Community

Honesty, I've been operating in a state of poorly contained rage and helplessness the past two weeks. I see what's happening in Gaza or listen to the absolute garbage the Tangerine Palpatine is spouting about South Africa... Or then speak to friends in the creative industry who've seen a significant downturn in work as more and more companies and clients resort to using generative AI for their needs. 

My only thought at present is that we need to stand together as communities. Whether it's sponsoring the educational needs of a child in the townships or donating to Gift of the Givers ... or simply paying your workers better wages. The point is that we do something that will benefit communities rather than enriching a few tech billionaires who already have more fancy yacht money than they know what to do with in a hundred lifetimes. Dog knows waiting for government to pull their thumbs out of their fat fannies is an exercise in futility. 

I guess this is why I'm so passionate about sticking it to the establishment in my industry (media, publishing). This week I saw that a major South African publisher is now releasing all its romance titles with generative AI images on the covers. It makes me wonder how soon they'll be releasing books under author name brands that have been wholly written by ChatGPT. Because if they don't have to pay those pesky creatives for their time, then hey, let's cut corners. I'm certainly not ever going to consider them as a potential publisher now. 

As creatives, we were only useful so long as they could scrape our work to train the machine. Now they don't need us anymore.

So, once nearly all the jobs out there are automated, where does that leave the majority of the humans on this planet? Who's going to buy all these products that the capitalists are trying to sell if most of us don't even have two rands to rub together to pay for a roof over our heads? With students using ChatGPT to write their assignments, and teachers using ChatGPT to grade assignments and create lesson plans, is this all just going to become a case of machines talking to machines while humans do WHAT exactly? 

Anyhow, this is my call for you to look around you, see where you can affect positive change in a world. Don't let the bastards lie to you and tell you this is all inevitable. It's only inevitable if you lie down and accept it.

Ancient Egyptian Magic by Bob Brier

As part of my ongoing research for my intentions to eventually write something with fantasy elements set in actual ancient Egypt I reckoned this would be a good jumping off point. Granted, I did read the well-known EA Wallis Budge book eons ago, so I thought I'd mix it up and give Bob Brier's Ancient Egyptian Magic a spin. I certainly found Brier more friendly than Wallis Budge, and if anyone has an academic interest in how the ancient Egyptians viewed magic, then Brier's book is great place to start.

Something that can be said for the Brier is that his writing is accessible, and he gives a broad overview of not only the different methods but also gives a basic crash course on ancient Egyptian culture while he's at it – you can't really dig into the magical practices at least without some idea of the history behind it.

If something needs to be understood about ancient Egypt is that magic – and the practising thereof – was intrinsically embedded in the day to day. Doctors, priests, and magicians used amulets, spells, wax figures. Perhaps the most well known were the shabti figures that represented a pharaoh's servants in the afterlife – little statues that would come to life in the afterlife and serve the dead pharaoh so that he would not have to lift a finger after death. The gods themselves, practised magic in the stories – it was as natural as breathing. Great store was put in dreams, too, with some days considered more portentous than others.

Of course, there is also the famous Egyptian Book of the Dead which was not one book, as one might expect of say, the Christian bible, but rather a varying collection of spells to protect the deceased created specifically for individual folks – so the spells collated in each 'book' would vary from deceased to deceased. Brier also looks at how these books started as texts found in burial places – the Pyramid Texts – and eventually became inscribed on coffins and then scrolls.

This is a vast subject, and while this book does not represent a deep dive, it is still a useful jumping-off point that gives essential points that can be used for further study. In terms of the amount of study and research I've done over the decades, I didn't cover any new ground here, but what I read here put much into order, which I appreciated – so this is an excellent refresher. While the copy I read I accessed through a library, I've put the book on order for my permanent collection.

The Week in Review – May 17, 2025

Buckle up, babes, it's going to be a long one. I didn't post last week because I went to the Overberg to visit my mum in Swellendam for Mother's Day. She's pretty much the only family I have left that I'm related to by blood that I still see or speak to, so it's kinda important for me to get out to see her. I love that stretch of road driving up – the Overberg is incredibly pretty, no matter the time of year. One of our favourite stops is at the Ou Meul bakery in Riviersonderend. We usually buy some of their famous pies en route home so that we can have extra gastric upsets after a day of eating stuff we oughtn't at our age.

Locus finalist, my dearests

So, last week I discovered that the very awesomesauce academic book in which I contributed a chapter has been made a finalist in the non-fiction category in this year's Locus Awards. Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction, Eugen Bacon, ed. (Bloomsbury Academic) is a fascinating deep dive into identity and the role speculative fiction plays in expressions of African culture. I'm absolutely thrilled, of course. The African speculative community is one that I'm championing, as I believe that we offer important insights to counter the traditional West-centric narrative that dominates much of the publishing industry.

South African Horrorfest Bloody Parchment Short Story Competition winners

And the, staying with speculative fiction, quite recently I decided to limit the South African Horrorfest Bloody Parchment Short Story Competition to African writers only, which does mean that we receive fewer entries. However I am adamant that we need to grow our offering as African writers. There is enough happening in the world at large for Western writers. So, I am pleased to announce the results for the 2024 competition: Xan van Rooyen for their winning story "Splinters of the Schism". Runners-up are Brett Rex Bruton for "The Hand on the Door" and Dera Udochukwu for "Alkaline Water". Do go check out more at the Bloody Parchment blog.

On Voetsekkers, and why their attitude sucks balls

By now, most folks watching the news will have heard about what we here in South Africa are now calling The Great Tsek (IYKYK). Forty-nine Afrikaners took the Naartjie Emperor up on his offer to claim refugee status in the US, on the pretext that there's allegedly a 'white genocide' happening in South Africa and that white people's land is being taken away from them.

This is all while an actual genocide is happening in Gaza, and millions of brown people who are actual refugees are being deported or refused aid, so that 49 smug, privileged and somewhat well-fed white South Africans can get a fresh start. This makes me incandescent, in addition to the blatant lies the Tangerine Palpatine has been spouting to mainstream media. Stuff that is patently untrue.

Here are the facts. There is NO WHITE GENOCIDE in South Africa. White people's land is not being taken away from them en masse. The problems we are facing affect ALL South Africans, regardless of colour or creed.

“Whites are far less likely to be murdered than their black or coloured counterparts,” Lizette Lancaster, who manages the Institute for Security Studies crime and justice hub, told Africa Check. This is supported by an analysis of a national sample of 1,378 murder dockets conducted by police in 2009.  In 86.9% of the cases, the victims were Africans. Whites accounted for 1.8% of the cases (although whites make up 8.85% of the population). (Are SA whites really being killed 'like flies'? Why Steve Hofmeyr is wrong, Africa Check 2013)

It's a grim picture, and in a decade, not much has changed in South Africa. In fact, according to data.worldbank.org the murder rate has spiked in rent years to 42 per 100,000 people in recent years. Which fucking sucks, to put it mildly. 

So, what to do about it? Firstly, instead of pandering to the politicians over the pond and our home-grown idiots, who seek to divide and destabilise us with their racist, bigoted ideas, we need to stand together. We are, first and foremost, South Africans, regardless of colour or creed. While I acknowledge that I, as a white South African, benefited from apartheid and continue to do so courtesy of the head start I had in life, I can also aim to do better than my ancestors who supported racist institutions that assisted in the wholesale systemic oppression and dehumanisation of the majority of dark-skinned Africans.

Which means that when I do see people pulling any BS strategies, I can use my position of privilege to call out their nonsense. I can pay my workers a better wage than most. I can sponsor their children's educational needs. I can assist with large expenses when I have the spare resources. These are small things, but they make a huge difference in the lives assisted.

South Africa is not all wine and roses. There's a lot that is wrong here. We have unacceptably high rates of unemployment and violence. Even though we transitioned to a true and robust democracy in 1994 without the benefit of a civil war (and that's a fucking miracle in and of itself) our politicians are... to put it mildly, either grossly incompetent or disgustingly self-serving and corrupt. There are certainly a few good ones in among the lot, but I can imagine that their work is often hampered by the numpties. We need to hold those numpties accountable for their actions (or inaction), and we need to work harder to foster a country where education, housing, healthcare, and job creation number among priorities where taxpayers' money is spent wisely.

I spoke to an elder in my community this week, and she said something that was profound. And I'm going to paraphrase here. She said, there are two types of South Africans, those who live in fear and those who live in love. Which South African are you?

So, instead of fear, where I allow myself to be manipulated by the likes of Afriforum and Magat frothings, I give myself over to love – love for the land, its people, and a future here. It's not easy. I admit that I am, as always, hyper vigilant. Violence and crime are a reality here that I will not sweep under the rug. I am privileged to live in a small, peaceful but tight-knit community far south on the urban fringe. More often than not, it feels like a small rural dorpie rather than a community encapsulated within the embrace of one of South Africa's major cities.

I do what I can, with the resources that are available to me and with the skills I can donate, to build rather than tear down. And wherever you are, I challenge you to do the same. If you can't change the awfulness of the big picture, then work where you can. Because dog knows we're going to need our neighbours in the years ahead.

Mini Review – The African Baobab by Rupert Watson

I love baobabs. I grew a few from seed when I was younger, and a few years ago, when I was on a media visit to Zambia (a beautiful country which I totally recommend you go visit if you're planning a trip) I got to see that typical view of Africa with its red earth, big trees, and small round huts clustered in tiny villages in rural areas. This beautiful book is a must-have for anyone who loves these majestic trees. Watson not only gives an overview of the tree's iconic status in history, but also discusses its importance within the landscape – the tree itself providing food and shelter to many species. He also looks at the importance of the tree on a cultural level and touches on its future (which is, predictably, vulnerable if not threatened). Although it's a concise book, it offers a wonderful, thought-provoking dive into the life and magic of this amazing denizen of our natural world, with lovey photos accompanying it.

Local is lekker when it comes to stories

With the general enshittification of publishing and the insidious creep of the technocapitalists into the wholesale destruction of All The Nice things, I'd like to remind you that South Africa has some amazing small presses that are doing the Muses' work. This is a shout-out to Karavan Press, Modjaji Books, and Mirari Press. If you're looking for quality, home-grown literature, do visit their sites and support them directly. I do believe that some of them offer loyalty or subscription programmes, which is a way that you can directly become a patron of the arts and help platform voices we need to hear.

De Zoon van Dik Trom door Cornelis Johannes Kieviet

Ik ben bezig met het leren spreken en schrijven van Nederlands, dus vergeef me alstublieft de fouten in mijn spelling en grammatica. Ik heb dit boek op mijn Kindle-app gedownload, en gekozen als het eerste boek dat ik zou proberen te lezen. Dit is het verhalenbundel over het leven in een klein stadje en de energie waarmee een kleine jongen in de problemen komt met zijn vriendin. Dit boek is licht leesbaar en gemakkelijk te gebruiken voor mensen die de taal aan het leren zijn.

The Lakota Way: Stories and Lessons for Living by Joseph M. Marshall III

I've grown quite fond of Joseph M Marshall's voice and writing, and The Lakota Way is one of the titles that I accessed through my Audible subscription that gave me much pleasure – and much to chew on in terms of how to consider life and living. And it's most certainly a book that I need to get a hard copy of in my library at some point.

Perhaps what I appreciate the most of Marshall's writing is his empathy – not only towards other people and the environment, but also empathy and kindness towards self. Yet he also does not shy away from discussing topics that are painful, and he does so within the framework that allows you to pause and reflect. 

Marshall effortlessly blends his people's cultural stories and history with his own experiences in a rich tapestry that is full of wisdom and quiet reflection – something that I feel we need, and that serves as a reason to engage more fully with ourselves, our motivations, and how we can approach navigating a world that is increasingly filled with callousness and cruelty.

I also feel that this book is suited to those who wish to engage with philosophical concepts in a way that is approachable and easy to understand – a good starting point for further reading. The Lakota Way is a book that asks you to sit still by the fire and listen. And after listening, find ways to move forward in the world with a softer touch.