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Thread Killer...

¦ dialling in from sky bunker ¦

19:23 GMT, Sunday 17th Feb, 2008. Just dropped down onto my ergonomic stool, steam still rising from my skin after the hot bath I clambered out of a few moments ago... big glass of red wine... *slow smile*

Currently have William Obit, Hinterland album playing by direct choice on the laptop. Very mellow sounds that take me right back to 1994-95... amazing how music can do that, transport you viscerally to a distant place and time. Now...lying in the bath, listening to the music from upstairs, supping red wine from a broad goblet of lead crystal...with 3 novels published and an RPG under my belt... back then: sitting cross legged on the wooden floor of a large room in Hotwells, Bristol... Maria'O had recently departed from my world, and I had only just returned from an aborted attempt to move back to Newcastle. Simon P and Mick T were new friends in my life. We were playing a lot of Call of Cthulhu, 1920s style... I had only recently transcribed the original version of GOD SEED from the Amstrad Word Processor to 3.5" floppy diskette (thanks to covert trips to Bristol Polytechnic IT Lab)... the Happy Flat and Matthias P did not exist within chemically locked molecules of my brain. Ahhh, the joy of reflection. As opposed to the sadness of nostalgia.

Did you know I am a Thread Killer? I say this because it seems my natural inclination to be forward, friendly and helpful is not helping me in the slightest. Over the past few weeks since I launced Yellow Dawn I've found several threads springing up on forums with posts by people discussing Yellow Dawn. I've been diving in, saying hello and "can I answer any questions?" to which the unanimous response has been...silence! In fact, every thread I've ever dived into has subsequently died. Great move, Mr Djr. Jo, my girlfriend said, "People are probably pissed off you're there... they want to be able to talk about stuff without thinking your watching". My brain made an "Ah!" sound.

I really needed to have the long hot soak in the tub tonight... I had a fight today with nature's version of Satan. What am I on about? A thick limbed, wirey bastard of a thorn bush that I ripped out of the garden a year ago. During 2007...through Spring, Summer, Autumn and now Winter, that sprawling mass of spine-festooned evil has been taking-up the patio. Today, in the golden rays of a freezing afternoon sun, I figured, "Ah-ha! You'll be as tame as an old man gaffer-taped to his zimmer frame"... but no, how wrong I was. I launched into the dead bush with heavy boots and thick gloves, and found every part of me snagged, caught, spiked, punctured, cut and sliced by the fekking barbed and evil thing. I thought I would have been able to carve it up and drag it's god-forsaken remains into my car and take it to the recycling place... but it beat me. Burn it? I could... but every neighbour has their washing hanging from lines strung across gardens...I would not be a popular man. I'm going to buy some thicker gloves... and maybe borrow a chainsaw? Who knows...

Apart from that, this weekend has been divine. Spent all day Saturday working on Shadows of Quantinex and made great strides toward the final part. I'm really close to finishing, and that is an exciting feeling.

Djr