I have spent most of today in Bristol doing bookish things.

It started out at Forbidden Planet where the manager, Tim, had kindly laid on a signing for Gareth L. Powell’s latest novel, Ack-Ack Macaque. Gareth was in full flying gear for the event, his hero being a monkey who flies spitfires against the Nazis in a very odd version of WWII. (And if you think that’s weird, the first chapter of the book features a woman cyborg investigating her ex-husband’s murder in near-future London.)

Alongside the book were copies of the new issue of 2000 AD, which contains a short strip trailing the novel. Tharg and his buddies have clearly been busy in the many years since I bought a copy of their magazine. Not only have they surpassed the date in which their stories are supposed to be set, they appear to have surpassed 2000 issues as well (correction: they are not quite there yet). Amazing, though it does make me feel rather old.

After a quick sojurn in the pub, many of us trooped down to St. Nicholas’ Market for Fairies at the Bottom of the Market, a reading featuring three local authors. The location was the Indian/New Age shop, Lunartique, which has recently moved into the catacombs below the market. They have a small store room decked out as a grotto which is a nice spot for readings, though we do need to find a source of good quality temporary seating.

The event was organized by Scott Lewis who is one of the contributors to Colinthology. He was also one of the readers, along with Emma Newman and Jo Hall. Roz Clarke chaired the event. We got a good crowd, and sold a few Colinthologys along with some of Emma and Jo’s books. We shall do this again, I think, though hopefully with better seats.

Finally I took myself along to My Burrito. They have a couple of seasonal specials on at the moment. The first is a Mexican-spiced lamb, which I tried a few days ago and very much enjoyed. The other is steak with a jalapeno & coriander pesto, which was also delicious though flash fried steak (which they cook to order) doesn’t work as well in a burrito as the traditional shredded Mexican meats.

All in all, an excellent day out, despite the ever-present danger of Christmas “music”. As Eugene Byrne commented on Twitter today, no, I do not wish it could be Christmas every day.