2013: An end of year review

And as we approach the end of 2013, 2014 steadily advances towards us like a panting dog dragging its arse across the carpet of time as the Mayan prediction for the end of time becomes increasingly more inaccurate.

It's been an odd one in that on a personal note I've properly fell in love with writing again and have gathered together enough material for a book of short stories - The Shadow Cast By The World - available for as cheap as I'm allowed to give it away on Amazon, fact fans. And the good news at the end of the year is that one of my short stories will be printed in a horror anthology coming out in the New Year called "Fear's Accomplice" which I'll clearly spam the living fuck out of when it's released, and I know you'd expect no less of me. I'm currently working on my first novel (tentatively titled Version Control) of which I'm about a tenth of the way through - My synopsis for it is "David Cronenberg writes a superhero story".

It's been a year of good conventions - The Convention formerly known as the SFX weekender (now known as the Sci-Fi weekender) in February in which I got to spend way too long in costume and got to properly meet the awesome Liam (Judge Lemmy) and Victoria Matthew who I'd briefly met and befriended at the event the year before. The London Super Comic Con in May was excellent and the largest gathering of Judges we'd managed yet. Highlights included patrolling the queues for artist Brian Bolland, and having a cup of coffee bought for me by Dredd co-creator John Wagner who I escorted on stage for one of the 2000ad panels. The most recent was in Birmingham which definitely WAS the largest gathering of Judges yet - both the comic and movie varieties. And with my new movie armour coming any.. day.. soon... 2014 promises to be a good year for conventions as well.

It's been an odd one for movies and telly - After the first one I was dead excited for Star Trek Into Darkness but it turned out to be a plot-hole laden nonsensical pile of mediocre space crap.  But it was okay because then Gravity came out and renewed my love for cinema and showed me that 3D doesn't have to be a shit gimmick. We had the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who which was marked by the wonderful Docudrama "An adventure in Space and Time" and the excellent 50th Anniversary episode "Day of the Doctor" (which was then followed by the dreadful Christmas episode, but you can't have everything).

The biggest highlight of the year on a personal note was to see my best friends Tom and Fran get married and to have the honour of being their best man.  Nervousness about speech aside, it was a fantastic day (following a brilliant Stag Do in Cologne which I was incredibly remiss in not blogging about).  

On the gaming front we had two of the best games I've played in my life  The Last Of Us which I still can't rave about enough - which had not just one but two blog posts and the wonderful GTA V.

It's been the year in which my wife started her excellent blog The Little Ginger That Could after going from just contributing a few excellent pieces here. She writes a blog far braver, painfully honest and helpful than I could ever dream of doing, and she makes me incredibly proud. With her depression it's been an incredibly tough year for the both of us, but 2014 can only be better.

So, thanks for sticking with the blog despite its recent scarcity of content, and let all of us have a fantastic 2014.

"Resolve to make at least one person happy every day, and then in ten years you may have made three thousand, six hundred and fifty persons happy, or brightened a small town by your contribution to the fund of general enjoyment" - Sydney Smith