Sluice Issue #23

Sluice  | Arthur H. Manners

Updates, recommendations and links

Issue #23

Hi friends!The last two months have been unbelievably busy, but I finally have a period of rest ahead. After a miserable start to the year we have had some beautiful sunshine here in Cambridgeshire.

This Week's Recommendations

1. TV: The Haunting of Hill House, Netflix. I've loved pretty much all of Mike Flanagan's horror series on Netflix (with the exception of The Midnight Club). Hill House started things off, based on the book by Shirley Jackson. I'd call these series "horror with a heart" and I recommend them to lovers of the genre and anyone sceptical and prone to think of horror as just a string of cheap jump scares. 

2. Book: The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry. Berry's poetry focuses on nature, which I honestly didn't expect to connect with. But so many people had recommended it that I had to try it, and I declare myself a convert.

3. Article: How Quickly AI Learn Unexpected Skills on Quanta. Yet another LLM article, but Quanta's material is always a good balance between robust and accessible.

4. Music: We Have to Go Back: The LOST Concert. I was a huge fan of the TV show LOST, which aired from 2004-2011. Just recently, composer Michael Giacchino appeared with the former show runners and some of the cast members to stage a live concert of the OST. Listen on Spotify or catch some of them on YouTube if the links still work.

5. Podcast: David Mitchel on Desert Island Discs. David Mitchell is such an understated sweetheart (watch him and Neil Gaiman being interviewed together) and a beast of a writer, creator of Cloud Atlas, one of my favourite books. I really enjoyed this interview on Desert Island Disks. Also on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere.

Writing News

• My poem "Now You Know" went live in Strange Horizons in late April. I'm thrilled to have work appear in such an incredible market. Maybe poetry is something worth pursuing... 

• I've just made a short story sale for a story I never thought would find a home, which I'll announce next month.

• Some HUGE news that I can't talk about right now but am eagerly awaiting the moment that I can sing it from the hilltops.

• Mainly teasers, right? Sorry, but watch this space!

General Life Updates

I've had my writing life turned upside down recently. I can't talk about it yet, and everything is still up in the air, but I've reached some major milestones. It's the most exciting time of my career so far! We're about to go on holiday for a few days to see a friend in Budapest, and then I'm going put my head down for six weeks and power through a project to round off the craziness. More to come! 

Where's Rolo?

Until next time, be good.

Best regards,

Art

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