A Week of Sherby57: 18th Apr – 24th Apr 2010

April 26, 2010 Leave a comment

Yet another week has flown by like a cloud of volcanic ash.  As a result of these unforeseen circumstances, I didn’t publish any posts on Friday and Saturday.  Sorry about that.

Sunday 18th

Remember These Facts – Two facts that may possibly help you in a crisis.  Sadly, I can’t remember which type of crisis they are applicable in.  Have a read anyway, just in case.

Monday 19th

Sherby57′s Mind Expanders – 2 –  The solution to last week’s immense puzzle and a brand new one to tease your tiny brains with.  If you’ve been having a good try at solving these riddles then I expect that your IQ has shot up by at least 30 points.  Possibly.

Tuesday 20th

Poor Poem – A Poem – It’s a bad poem about writing a bad poem.  It’s very post modern (i.e. it’s rubbish).

Wednesday 21st

Free Postage Offer for the Sherby57 Book – Hmmm. What an excellent book I’ve written and yet there are P&P charges incurred when buying a copy.  Whatever are we going to do?  Well, have a look at this link and you can get free P&P.  Super.

Thursday 22nd

Martin’s Muse – A Story – It’s a story about a romantic novelist who’s lost his inspiration and the strange way in which he gets it back.  Very moving.

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Free Shipping on my Book

April 20, 2010 Leave a comment

OK, I know you’re probably not interested, but I have to try anyway.  If you were thinking of purchasing a copy of my book then you can use the code FREEMAILUK305 at the checkout at lulu.com to get free shipping (up to the value of £2.99).  Here’s the link, just to make it a bit easier for you:

http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-best-of-the-world-of-sherby57-volume-1/6558616

You’ve really not got any excuse not to buy a copy immediately.  Other than not wanting to, of course, but please don’t let that stop you.  Thanks for listening.

P.s.

The offer is valid until the 5th May, so don’t think about it for too long.


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A Week of Sherby57: 11th Apr – 17th Apr 2010

April 19, 2010 Leave a comment

Lovely posts, lovely man.  Enjoy:

Sunday 11th

The Book of The Blog – Have I mentioned that I’ve released a book version of The World of Sherby57 called The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1?  Oh, I’ve mentioned it several times, have I?  Well forgive me, your Lordship.  Anyway, this is another post advertising my wonderful book.

Monday 12th

Sherby57’s Mind Expanders – 1 – There’s a lot of flabby minds these days, so I thought I’d have a crack at getting your thoughts in shape.  This is a very tricky brainteaser, so don’t feel bad if you don’t get it straight away.  The solution will be published this week.

Tuesday 13th

Hunting Turnips – A Poem – It’s a poem about how it feels to hunt turnips for fun.  Admit it, we’ve all done it.

Wednesday 14th

Doctor Sherby57 on TV – A round up of the week’s TV, including: a St Helens-based sci-fi drama, a wig-based game show and a documentary about toes.

Thursday 15th

Leo and Linda’s Lion Luxury – A Story – Yet more bonkers romance.  It really is my forte.  This week sees two mis-matched people find love in the beautiful city of Wolfsteinsten.

Saturday 17th

The Sherby57 Exercise Plan – My new fitness regime has worked wonders for me and it seems only fair that I share my secrets with you.  Get prepared to buy a whole new wardrobe.

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More About My Book

April 13, 2010 6 Comments

So, it’s been at least 24 hours since I’ve mentioned it, so it’s high time that I wrote about my book again.

It’s quite a weird thing to publish a book (even a self-published one) and face up to the fact that it’s probable that nobody will ever buy a copy, other than you.  This is not intended to be a guilt trip, so don’t worry, it’s just an observation.  As much as I would have liked for the book to magically (and impossibly) become a best seller, I’m not really that bothered.  No, really.  Although in some ways it was an exercise in vanity publishing (and there’s nothing wrong with that), the main reason that I did it was to prove that I could.

I’ve been writing my blogs for a while now and have always wanted to complete a longer project, but they always seemed too daunting.  How do you get the belief that you can write something of any length without actually ever doing it?  Sure, this project was a bit of a cheat because it’s based on posts that already existed, but it’s still 25,000 words that I had to knock into some sort of shape.  To be honest, it was surprising just how much work was actually needed.  I had to amend many of the posts heavily; mainly because of how sloppy I had been when I’d originally written them.  The Fireheart story in particular was significantly extended and I even had to dream up a concluding chapter.  This was more difficult that you might imagine as I had been warned that I would be killed if I used the Bobby Ewing “it was all a dream” ending.  Luckily I came up with a fittingly stupid conclusion.

Anyway, the point that I’m trying to make is that it was an excellent learning experience and that, as a bonus, I got a nice looking book out of it.  What more could you ask for?

For those of you who are interested, you can take a look at the book here.  There’s a pretty nifty ‘preview’ function that allows you to read the first 12 pages of the book, so you can at least have a browse.

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Buy My Book!

April 10, 2010 1 Comment

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me, as I received the first copies of my book – The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1.  Yes, it’s a real life book and I wrote it.  It’s a very strange feeling.

Now, admittedly it isn’t a real book because it’s entirely self-published and the only copies that I’m likely to sell are to myself.  But don’t try and rain on my parade, I’m still excited.  The book is, unsurprisingly, a collection of posts from my other blog, The World of Sherby57, and is made up from stuff from its first two years.  Rest assured that I haven’t just copied and pasted from the blog and then published.  There were a frightening number of mistakes that had to be corrected and many of the posts are heavily revised and expanded.  There’s even an expanded version of Fireheart! – the thrilling\weird adventures of the maverick Johnny Fireheart – and the story finally has the conclusion that’s been missing since Chapter 5 was published in November 2007.  The book is 113 pages of sheer Sherby57 goodness.

The book was published through lulu.com, a service that allows you to publish a book for free.  They even give you an ISBN number so you can feel even more like a real author.  Lulu are based in the US but I received my copies just 7 days after ordering them which is pretty impressive.  It’s amazing how a Word document that I knocked together can end up looking so good when it’s turned into a book.  I highly recommend a bit of vanity publishing to any fellow bloggers out there.

Anyway, this is only the first post about The Best of The World of Sherby57: Volume 1, I’m sure that I’m going to bore you to tears with it over the coming weeks.  In the unlikely event that you’d like to buy a copy then you can do so by clicking here.  It costs a very reasonable £8.27.  I don’t know why it’s such a random price, but it is.

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Reading Habits – March 2010

April 9, 2010 4 Comments

Yes, I’m back with another Reading Habits already.

(The opening sentence of the post will only make sense if you’re reading this from my home page while this and the previous post are both on it.  If you’re reading this directly on the post then you just need to know that I published February’s edition just one minute prior to this one.  You can read it here.  To be honest, I should have probably started the post in a different way.)

Anyway.  You may have gathered from the previous RH that I still haven’t read any books, and this month I also didn’t acquire any.  I’m only really here out of an OCD sense of completeness.  Sorry about that.

Anyway, I’ve got 3 weeks left of April and it is my challenge to read at least one book.  Join me next time to see if I can actually accomplish this Herculean feat.

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Reading Habits – February 2010

April 9, 2010 2 Comments

So.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t read any books in the whole of February, which kind of makes a post about my reading habits kind of hard to write.  Or it makes it very easy to write, depending how you look at it.

Considering that I love reading so much I have no explanation as to why I’ve stopped.  I just don’t have any desire to read whatsoever.  It’s slightly scary as I’ve got so many bloody books to get through.  Since I’ve not read anything, I thought that I could at least fill up this post explaining the reasons why I haven’t.  I had assumed that once I started writing then some reasons would occur to me, but, sadly, that isn’t happening.  Maybe, I’m just suffering from a general reading fatigue.  It’s intriguing that this time last year I spent a few months not updating my blogs.  Maybe there’s only so much that I can cope with in the early months of the year.

It’s the only theory that I’ve got and I’m sticking to it.

Books Acquired

McMafia by Misha Glenny – This was lent to me by Dave from work.  It’s cover looks like it could be the poster for a Danny Dyer film, but I’m assured that it’s misleading and is actually a very good read.  This will be the first book that I read when my drought ends as I’ve already had it for ages.

Talking Cock by Richard Herring – Richard Herring is one of my favourite comedians (see here) and I’ve wanted this out-of-print book for a while.  The problem is that it’s always mega-expensive on Amazon Marketplace, so I’ve waited to see if I could get it anywhere cheaper.  Luckily, Mr Herring himself tweeted a link for a reasonably priced copy and I pounced.  And, yes, the book is about penises.

Result

Books read 0 – Books acquired 2.  A comprehensive defeat.

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Reading Habits – January 2010

March 26, 2010 4 Comments

Well, it’s now the 26th March and I’m only just getting around to writing about what books I read in January.  This probably tells you all you need to know about my current frame of mind when it comes to reading.  Now, people saner than me might think it wise to just give the whole thing a miss and just write about it when I rediscover my love of reading. Sure, that would be the sensible thing to do, but when did that ever come into play with my blogging habits?  Anyway, the final word is this:  I do Reading Habits as much as a reading diary as I do it as a book review, so it’s for my own benefit, even if it’s really annoying.

Books Read

The problem I have with this section is that it’s been so long since I’ve read these books.  Forgive me if my thoughts are ridiculously brief.

The reading year started off with Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut.  This was lent to me by James (from the podcast), and so it superceded what I was reading at the time.  If someone lends you a book then you have to make it your priority or you end up for having it for far longer than is polite.  Anyway, I’ve always wanted to read some of Vonngut’s stuff and so I was more than happy to dive in.  I loved it.  The ‘timequake’ of the title refers to some mysterious event in which the whole human race suddenly finds themselves reliving the previous decade, only they have no free will and everything pans out as before.  They are effectively passengers in their own lives.  This is an intriguing premise, but it is almost irrelevant to the novel.  The whole book is more of an excuse for Vonnegut just to explore things that interest him and in parts it reads like an autobiography.  From my description, it sounds like a complete mess, but it somehow all works.

The book that got interrupted for Timequake was Trick or Treatment? by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.  My reasons for buying it were explained in December’s Reading Habits.  They’re too boring to go into again,  but check out the link if you’re curious.  The book takes a look at the efficacy of several leading alternative therapies.  All I’ll say is that if you use any alternative therapies and think that they’re working for you, you probably shouldn’t read this book.   To be fair to the authors, they do look at each of treatments in an impartial manner as possible and it definitely doesn’t come across as a witch-hunt.

My third and final book of the month was Empress Orchid by Anchee Min.  I know that three books in a month is a poor showing, but you’ll be even less impressed when you learn that I gave up on it after just 50 pages.  It’s a novel about the real life last Empress of China.  I’m always a little uneasy about novels based on real events, but it seemed like fascinating material nonetheless.  The subject matter was interesting but I just couldn’t get into the book and it took me a week to read the 50 pages that I managed.  I decided to give up rather than get stuck on it for months.  I felt that the book probably just wasn’t for me.  In hindsight, it may just be indicative of my subsequent complete lack of interest in reading.  But that’s a story for next time.

Books Acquired

Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut – see above.

Boiling A Frog by Christopher Brookmyre – British Heart Foundation – part of my quest to get all of Brookmyre’s novels through charity shops\Bookmooch.  It’s very slow going.

Result

Books read 3 – Books acquired 2.  Technically it’s a victory, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.

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Reading Habits – December 2009

February 13, 2010 5 Comments

It’s time for an extremely belated edition of Reading Habits, in fact it’s so belated that it’s in entirely the wrong month.  This kind of reflects my current apathy toward reading, which I hope it very temporary.  Anyway, I just hope I can remember something about the bloody books from back in December.  As always, my ‘to be read’ pile of books are kept in chronological order, and I alternately read the book I’ve had longest (marked B.H.L.), followed by a free choice (F.C.).  For a full description of my insane book selection rules, please click here.

Books Read

I was off work for the first two weeks of the month, so I expected to get really stuck into my reading.  Sadly, this didn’t materialise.  Part of the reason for this was me being stuck for so long on The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (B.H.L.).  I’ve read some other of Dawkins’ books, so I was looking forward to it, but, despite being interested in the subject matter (evolution), I found it really hard going.  I almost gave up on it, and I skipped through most of the last chapter.  This makes me feel incredibly ignorant.

My next choice was That’s Me in the Corner (F.C.) by Andrew Collins.  I’m a listener to the Collings and Herrin podcast, so this is the third of his autobiographical books that I’ve read.  I even bought it from a proper bookshop, because I thought it was only fair with all the free entertainment that I get from the podcast.  The book documents Collins’ life in journalism and the media, but avoids becoming a bragathon by focusing on his work-life.  It’s an entertaining read.

I don’t even know why I bought Chronicles Vol. 1 (B.H.L) by Bob Dylan, but I’m glad that I did.  I’m not into his music and didn’t know what to expect.  I really didn’t expect it to be such a great read, despite all the glowing recommendations on the cover.  It’s certainly not your average ‘celebrity’ autobiography and it reads more like a novel than a memoir.  He eschews the traditional ‘and then I did this’ format and concentrates on bits of his life that he found interesting, rather than on this historic moments.  As a result, it’s far more revealing than it could have been.  A recommended and surprising read.

After a visit to a closing down Borders, I bought the second volume of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman, and so had to read both volumes immediately.  Yes, I know that it’s breaking my own book-choosing rules, but it’s the exceptions that made life worth living.  Anyway, long-running comic book characters (and Superman is certainly the longest) tend to get bogged down in years of convoluted continuity and impenetrable back story.  With All Star Superman, Morrison is allowed to ditch all the baggage and simply tell the story that he wants to tell.  And boy, does he ever tell a story.  Anyone even vaguely familiar with Morrison’s writing will know that he has a hell of an imagination and he unleashes it here.  He’s ably assisted by Quitely’s magnificent artwork – I’ll say no more, my words wouldn’t be able to do it justice.  This is only Superman story that you’d ever actually need to read.

And so we come to my final book of the month with Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science.  I bought this after seeing Dr Ben perform at the Darwin Birthday Spectacular, in December, and so it was another exception to my insane rules.  The book takes a look at the medical industry and is equally scathing of the mistakes of alternative medicine, pharmaceutical companies and the media.  It’s a funny, entertaining read and you’ll come away much better informed than before you read it.

Books Acquired

All Star Superman Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely – I already owned it but it wasn’t on my TBR pile.

All Star Superman Vol. 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely – See above.

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre – Also see above.

Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh & Edzard Ernst – Bought for the same reason as Bad Science.

Liverpool FC – The Official Guide 2009 by Various – Christmas present.

The Life of Brian by Tim Crane – Christmas present.

Result

Books Read 6 – Books Acquired 6, result – another draw.  Ho-hum.

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Whatever Happened to my Ten Predictions for 2009?

December 28, 2009 Leave a comment

Back on the 3rd January I made 10 predictions for the forthcoming year (here).  I thought I’d take a look back and see how accurate I was.

1. A day won’t go by without me messing with my IPhone to the point of obsession (and beyond).

This one is certainly true, although it wasn’t so much a prediction as it was a fact.  If it had buttons then they would have worn out.

2. I’ll get angry on a weekly basis over internet forums discussing either “why UK comedy is shit and US comedy is great” or “why US comedy is shit and UK comedy is great”, especially those contributors who state opinions with Hitler-like zeal.

Anger isn’t very healthy and so I’ve avoided forums wherever possible.  I would be very angry if I were to read them, though

3. This year’s ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’ will feature someone putting their hand in to some insects whilst squealing.

I didn’t watch a second of it, but I still know that I was right.  This doesn’t make me a genius.

4. The longer that Liverpool stay in the title race, the more I’ll turn in to a nervous wreck. If they’re still in with a chance of being champions in the last week of the season then I will have to be hospitalised.

Well, Liverpool stayed in with a chance of winning the title until the last week or so, but I probably wasn’t as nervous about it as I thought I would be.  It probably helped that we were reliant on Manchester United to slip up, and so destiny was never in our own hands.  This season my nerves are all based on just how badly the Reds will do.

5. Football pundits will give opinions that are so black and white, in order to make mundane incidents seem ‘controversial’, that they will cease to have any meaning.

This will be true until the end of time, or until the end of football.  Whichever comes first.  I did some heavy-duty slagging off of pundits when they were all writing Liverpool off at the start of the season.  Sadly, they were correct.

6. I’ll buy books at a rate faster than I can read them.

I’ve not kept track of this throughout the year, but ever since I’ve been writing Reading Habits, I’d say I was just about breaking even.

7. I’ll compulsively update my Amazon recommendations every dinner time while at work, not satisfied until I’ve checked up to at least 500 suggestions. Eventually it will recommend the perfect book.  Hopefully.

I don’t do this as much as I used to, mainly because I’m messing about with blog related stuff.  It’s still not suggested the perfect book yet.

8. Sky + HD will continue to be an enigma, even after I’ve had it installed. The question will go unanswered; is it the greatest thing ever, or slightly disappointing?

I got Sky HD a couple of weeks before making the prediction and it is semi-true.  Some programmes look amazing on it and some programmes look slightly better than before.  What makes it harder to judge is that you get used to watching in HD and so some of its impact is lost.  It’s still great though.  I have to tell myself that because it costs so much.

9. I sadly won’t blog as much as I’d like to and then feel really pissed off that I didn’t, resulting in the odd week throughout the year when I’ll post every day for a week or so, before giving up for a couple of months.

Well, it’s been a year of two halves (literally).  There was the four month hiatus I, inexplicably, took from both blogs, January to May.   It looked like the prediction was about to be breathtakingly accuarate, and then something happened:  I started writing regularly.  I’ve actually done daily updates since 14th August, which is quite impressive (to me).

10. Computers will become so cheap that you’ll get one free with Saturday’s Daily Mail. This one is more of a punt than the others.

Well this didn’t come true – well, I assume it didn’t.  However, September saw the first video advertisement in a magazine (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8258307.stm) and that’s sort of what I meant.  Honest.

And that’s that.  Not very interesting.  I will endeavour to make my predictions for 2010 a little more thrilling.  Or I just won’t bother doing them.

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