#Bernie Steadman

[freakingoutthesquares]

Sexual Squealing! Words: Jonny Dee, Photographer: Steve Double Taken from the New Musical Express, 9 April 1994 Transcription: Acrylic Afternoons

After 13 years Pulp are Top 40 virgins no more, having finally lost their pop cherry with 'Do You Remember The First Time?' Jonny Dee shares some pillow talk with Jarvis Cocker and comedian/Pulp fan Jo Brand before making his excuses and leaving to poll various popstars about their very own first time.

Pressed up against a hotel room window 25 flights above the city. With UHT cream. And the whole of the Cowdenbeath reserve football team watching. In the toilets on Concorde. On a desk, On the roof. On a washing machine. They did it with candle wax. They did it in a bin liner filled with sun tan lotion. Up against the bonnet of a hired car, in Safeways car-park, at night, right in front of a security camera. With fruit. On drugs. In the bath with a bottle of Matey. She smeared fish paste all over his chest then they went at it like rabbits. In the rain. With Robbie Coltrane. On a mountain. They did it.

For most people, these situations are ridiculous fantasies. It never really happens like that. For the majority of us, it's damp patches, squeaky beds awkward. Pulp realise this. They know there's a world somewhere in between David Lynch and Grange Hill, The concrete world of council estates, Berni Inns, parks and pubs.

Jarvis Cocker, Pulp, Jo Brand and the NME have sat around a table in an East London photo studio all weekend, drinking coffee, telling each other things they'd never dare tell their mothers. About wanking... "I remember when someone first mentioned the word masturbate," remembers Jarvis. "I raced home to look in the dictionary and it said 'to abuse oneself'. I thought what, like shout 'you twat' at the mirror?"

About friends, about going with your best mate's girlfriend, Jarvis has talked about his favourite celebrity perv rumours - the American singer who enjoyed shitting on a glass coffee table while his partner lay underneath; the hamster story; the TV host who said "f--- me 'til I fart" to the producer in what they thought was an empty studio; the '80s star who went to hospital and had two pints of semen pumped out of him ("Later, it became dog semen!").

He talked about his first time, and his last time and the in between times. Now it seemed as if he'd gone too far - revealed too much. Recently Jarvis Cocker told a magazine about an erotic correspondence he keeps with a woman he has never met. Talking about how it had ruined the salacious magic of their postal affair. Revealing his sexual fantasy now would probably do the same. You don't have to tell us if you don't want, Jarvis. But he will. Because Jarvis Cocker loves to talk. And when you talk to Jarvis Cocker it is impossible not to talk about sex.

Pulp's songs are full of it. Their excellent new album, 'His 'n' Hers', is bulging with songs about shagging, and relationships, and what goes on between two people behind the net curtains: 'Lipgloss' - about being chucked by your lover; 'Acrylic Afternoons' - about making love in the afternoon being more special because everyone else is at work; 'Babies' - about spying on teenage lovers from a wardrobe; 'Pink Glove' - about dressing up to keep your sexual appetite feisty; and, of course, Pulp's first bona fide hit single 'Do You Remember The First Time?'.

Jarvis remembers his first time. He talks about it in a short film Pulp have made about the subject which will be shown on Channel 4 next month. It was in a park in his hometown of Sheffield, at night, behind some privet hedges, about 20 yards away from a bandstand. He was 19 and Pulp had just released their first album. Also in the film, talking about who, why, when and where are a dozen or so friends and celebrities - Jo Brand. Vic & Bob, Terry Hall, Alison Steadman. Justine from Elastica and Vivien Stanshall, among others.

"People imagine that celebrities have this idealised life," says Jarvis. "Again, it's the thing about sex being shown in this idealised light and really you should do it on a beach at sunset and violins are going to be playing. And somehow, if you do it in the back of a Ford Cortina then you've not done it properly. These famous people, all their introductions were as fumbling and untidy as anyone else's."

Russell, Pulp's guitarist, who has puzzlingly brought along 182 pairs of second-hand sunglasses all wrapped in protective plastic sheets, is, obviously, an obsessively fastidious character. Yet he is a man whose current star status - Pulp are on the verge of their much-longed-for Top Of The Pops and This Morning debuts - is anchored to nappies and bringing home the bacon as father to a six-month-old boy and five-year-old girl. Russell's sexual awakenings are, unsurprisingly, the strangest of all. He was 16 on a camping holiday with some mates... "I met this ginger lass and although I didn't really like her very much I thought, y-know, she was alright. So I asked her back to our tent, there was about four of us in it and nothing really happened but in the middle of the night I got all tangled and I ended up on top of this person next to me, doing it. But it wasn't this ginger girl, it was my friend's girlfriend," And was the friend in the tent at the time? "Oh yeah, he wasn't very happy about it, like"

Bassist Steve, a Sheffield Wednesday fan, lost his cherry in a house that backed on to Sheffield United's Bramall Lane ground when he was 16, to a glamorous blonde nine years his senior. Nick, the drummer, rather suitably since he's the sensible member of the group, lost his in a loft conversion "on some nice orange scatter cushions".

Resplendent in self-applied make-up and jumble sale chic, Pulp have the air of a band that has just stepped out of the salon. Jo Brand, meanwhile, looks like she's just stepped out of Ladbrokes. She is here today to share a makeshift conjugal bed with Jarvis for the NME. The scene is intended to insinuate that Jo has just seduced the lead singer of Britain's most fancy pop band. In reality the liaison is far from romantic - photographer Steve Double stands five feet above them balancing on a wobbling plank suspended between two ageing step ladders.

"Could you light up another fag, please Jo?" asks the lensman as the comedian puts out her 15th Silk Cut of the hour. "Oh, yes please," she deadpans, relishing the prospect. Sadly, in true life, Jo and Jarv are not lovers, but just good friends. They met after Brand professed a liking for Pulp in an NME interview and later agreed to appear in the First Time film. Hers was at a party, in the bathroom, with her head knocking against the toilet through the 30 seconds it took her first mate to climax. Jarvis and Jo make a good couple, both are collected and down to earth and from similar backgrounds - both have cared for people with disabilities, Jo as a psychiatric nurse, Jarvis in a nursery for deaf children. "When I first met Jarvis I embarrassed him by saying I thought 'Razzmatazz' was a work of utter genius," Jo reveals. "I don't really like much modern music, my head is stuck in the bands I liked when I was a teenager - The Clash and The Damned. But Pulp are great. I like Jarvis' songs because he realises that life is basically shit, but it's OK really."

That's Jarvis and Pulp encapsulated. For most people, the realisation that life is basically shit and not all Tizer and Cadbury's Roses comes when they're tortured teenagers, Jarvis Cocker, though, had his first Bell Jar moment at the age of five. "I had meningitis, that's what f---ed up my eyes. And because everyone thought I was going to die I got given loads of brilliant presents. then when I didn't die all the presents had to be burnt. All except these crap rubber spacemen 'cos they could be boiled. Things were never the same after that."

Amongst the confessions in the film there is an almost inconsequential long shot of a heavily pregnant mother wheeling a tot in a buggy. It's there to tell you that this, without precautions, is what the sweaty moments on shag-pile carpets result in. More tellingly, it looks as if the woman is no actress but has been filmed surreptitiously. Likewise, Pulp songs sometimes seem like small fragments of life glanced at from outside basement windows, lives constructed from strangers spotted in bus shelters.

It is easy to see why friends readily confess their amorous liaisons to Jarvis. He's easy to get on with, with a gentle Sheffield accent and unflappable nature. It is only when he forgets himself and starts mimicking the NME photographer's southern tones during the photo shoot that you see a different side of him. "Innit, innit," scoffs Cocker. "Taking the piss?" snaps Double half-jokingly. Cocker is visibly flustered. He is not, it seems, a man who enjoys confrontation - especially not violent ones. 'Joyriders' on the album is inspired by a gang of 14-year-olds his Hillman Imp broke down next to on a Sheffield estate. For a moment he thought they were going to attack him: that used to happen a lot when he was a kid because of his height and his glasses. Instead they made him sit in the Ford Sierra they'd stolen, listening to a rave radio station, while they hotwired his car for him.

So when was the last time you were hit? "It was about four days before last Christmas in London, about 3:30 in the morning. Me and Steve were walking back from a party and we saw these three kids on the other side of the road. One of them said, kind of cheerfully, 'Do you wanna fight?' It was said like, 'Have you got a light?', not aggressive, really casually. And while I was thinking about it he hit me in the face and my glasses went flying. Steve tried to pick my glasses up and he got kicked in the face." Did you hit him back? "No."

Have you ever started a fight? "Only once, at school. It was with one of my friends and we didn't really want it to happen but we kind of got stuck in this thing of saying 'I'm harder than you' and before we knew it everyone was crowding round us shouting 'fight, fight'. It became known as the longest fight in school history. I've never liked the idea of hitting someone in the face, it doesn't seem right, so I was trying really hard just to hit his sides and he couldn't reach my head anyway, so it just went on for hours."

Who or what do you despise? "Quality music - this spineless soul or castrated reggae that seems to mean quality, all this 'we're sophisticated us' when they're about as sophisticated as a plate of whelks. AOR music - Phil Collins, Eric Clapton. the main reason being - apart from the dire quality of the music - that by inference it implies that if you're an adult you're only interested in blandness. It's like once you get to a certain age you're not interested in anything exciting any more, you just want something that sounds OK on the M25."

Right now thousands will be having a Pulp record in their house for the first time. 'His 'n' Hers' is a perfect introduction: like a box of chocolates with equal portions of milk and dark, it is scattered with the teenage pop sensibilities of 'Babies' and 'Lipgloss', and with the crooning adult symphonies of 'Someone Like The Moon' and 'Pink Glove'. It is, indeed, utterly wonderful - Jarvis' voice reaching hitherto unheard ecstatic highs, from a Bryan Ferry, to an Ian Curtis, to a cheesy crooner, forever sounding like a man possessed by the music and only just managing to keep his composure.

Right now Pulp are possibly the most fashionable band in Britain, yet to many who have never been convinced by Cocker & co's shenanigans there lurks a deep suspicion that Pulp somehow aren't a proper band. They've been around too long (13 years), they're too old, they're a joke. They are all unpretentious, candid people who treat their fans as friends and maybe this is part of their problem - there's no mystery. Where most bands would spend their record company advance on fast cars and the latest Issey Miyake, Pulp take the train and shop at Cancer Research. Steve, currently homeless, prefers to sleep on Jarvis' floor rather than take up the offer of a free hotel bed.

Most of Pulp are all too aware that there are people who loathe their band for all the wrong reasons. They've read the ground-level presumptions: that Pulp are ironic, wacky and kitch, one too many times. They're hardly likely to carve '4 Real' into their forearms but, says Steve, "Just because we don't take ourselves too seriously doesn't mean we don't mean it." "We didn't set out to be different from other bands," adds Jarvis, "it just sort of evolved. That's what upsets me when people write those things - it implies it's all a clever joke. And the minute you mention the word ironic it implies you're not involved in things, and that's not true. I'd hate people to think I was observing things from a great height and saying 'this is what human beings are like, aren't they silly'. It is heartfelt."

The 'In Bed' pictures finished, Jo and Jarvis untangle themselves from the bedsheets and change out of their nightwear. They sit around for a while, flicking through the 1970s Men & Women magazines Jarvis bought from the charity shop across the road, and talk naturally turns to sex once more. "I read this problem in a tabloid paper recently," Brand tells us. "It was from this woman who enjoyed smearing fish paste on this bloke she was having an affair with. Then one day her husband came home from work early and the only way her lover could get out of the house was to jump through the window. And her question was: 'Can I get the council to repair the window?'"

It is that time once more. Time to ask Jarvis about his darkest sexual fantasy. Has he done it pressed up against a window, in a bin liner, with fish paste? With a nun? With two nuns? "I'm not going to tell you," he says, temptingly, mysteriously. "But it involves sherbet fountains."

[cazvincent]

| Book Review | Death on Dartmoor - Bernie Steadman

| Book Blog Tour | Book Review | DEATH ON DARTMOOR West County Crime Mysteries #2 Bernie Steadman  @BernieSteadman @Bloodhoundbook

  Two murdered bodies are found in a Dartmoor bog and five teenagers are hospitalised due to a dangerous party drug. Time for DI Hellier and his team to act!

| Book Blog Tour | Book Review | DEATH ON DARTMOOR A West County Crime Mystery #2 Bernie Steadman  @BernieSteadman @Bloodhoundbook | Introduction |

A West County Crime Mystery #2

This is Bernie Steadman’s second book in the ‘West County…

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Death on Dartmoor by Bernie Steadman

A West Country Crime Mystery #2

 Detective Inspector Dan Hellier is settling into life in Exeter after once being in the big city. He is making friends, has a love interest met in book one, is working well leading his team and is getting along with his superior. When a body is found in a bog the first question is whether or not it landed there long ago or more recently. With the assistance of a forensic archaeologist and pathologist determining the bodies not historically significant the hunt is on for the murderers. The team has few leads but perseveres only to have to set aside one case for another when drugs kill a youth in the community. With two cases now on his plate Dan is feeling a wee bit stretched as he and his team work hard following the letter of the law to uncover two mysteries.

 This was an absorbing story that kept me interested not only in the cases but also engaged with the characters. I wanted to find out more about Dan and his girlfriend Claire, wondered if any of the others on the team might find romance, enjoyed observing Dan’s friendship begin with Neil (the archaeologist), wanted to find out who killed the bodies in the bog and wondered if the drug dealer/maker would be found and put out of business. The way all the pieces were gradually fitted into the overall puzzle was seamless and intriguing and also provided a surprise or two. I enjoyed seeing people I could relate to and might wish to have as friends learn and grow personally and professionally. And, I want to read more about them in the future.

 Now, being from the USA originally and not all that conversant with the geography of England I decided to take a look at where Exeter (where Dan is stationed), Dartmoor (where the bodies are found) and Devon (the county Exeter is in) are located in relationship to London. Educational in more ways than one because I can now visualize where Ian and his team work and also might one day wish to go see some of the locations mentioned. Two other items I found of interest, as a non-Brit, were the rankings of police and the Flowerpot Men. Both were looked up and I now know that “The Flowerpot Men” was a television show on TV with…animated “men” made of flower pots. Since Bill and Ben are the names of the men on the team and also the names of the animated characters I now understand the reference. As for the police rankings…as I find myself reading more mysteries set in England I may write them down to refer to later ;)

 Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Will I read more books by this author? Definitely

Should you read book one first? Not necessarily but it would give background and a bit of context to Dan and his team.

 Thank you to NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 4-5 Stars

 BLURB

Death on Dartmoor 

Life is good for DI Dan Hellier until the discovery of two headless, handless bodies buried in a bog on Dartmoor. But how can he identify the victims when nobody has reported them missing? 

The tension mounts when the death of a young man plunges Hellier into the murky world of the Garrett family. Could the peaceful, family-run Animal Rescue Centre really be a cover for murder and other criminal activity?

Hellier is about to learn just how far people will go to get what they want.

And this investigation will challenge Hellier’s decisions as he races to catch another murderer before it’s too late.

Author Bio:

Bernie taught English for many years but only dabbled in short fiction and poetry until a few years ago when she took to writing full-time.  She completed her debut novel, Death in the Woods when she escaped the classroom and could finally stop marking essays. This was the first in the West Country Mysteries series featuring DI Dan Hellier and his Exeter-based team. There are now three in the series, Death on Dartmoor and Death on the Coast completing the series.        

Bernie lives in a small village in East Devon and her novels are set in and around the ancient Roman city of Exeter, which has seen its fair share of murder and mayhem over the centuries. The books explore the beauty of the area, but demonstrate that even in the most charming of settings, terrible events may occur.

When not glued to the laptop, Bernie is a keen yoga fan and enjoys walking and cycling in the Devon countryside with her husband. They share their home with two large, black cats which came from the animal sanctuary where she is a volunteer and trustee.

Links:

@BernieSteadman

http://basteadman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ ExeterCrimeSeries/

http://www.bloodhoundbooks.com/

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Naming all 22 Democrats running in 2020 is now a meme

Have you heard the news? Everyone's running for president in 2020! Well, sort of.

It's still early, but 22 whole Democrats have already announced their plans to campaign, and boy does it feel like a lot of people. 

On Tuesday, Twitter user @MorganJerkins posed quite the challenge to followers by asking if anyone was able to name all 22 Democratic presidential candidates.

Can YOU name all 22 democrats running for President?

— Morgan Jerkins (@MorganJerkins) May 14, 2019

Jerkins' question was "very serious." She swears. But alas, unable to resist the opportunity to joke, the unhinged people of social media used the question as fuel for a new political meme.

SEE ALSO: Chrissy Teigen's daughter is now a meme, of course

To poke fun at the ridiculously large pool of Democratic candidates, people quote-tweeted Jerkins' question and each offered their own creative responses.

Biden Bernie Harris Warren Booker Gillibrand Beto Buttigieg Klobuchar Tinky Winky Dipsy La La Po https://t.co/um2o32Z5GM

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) May 14, 2019

There was Brenda, LaTisha, Linda, Felicia, Dawn, LeShaun, Ines, and Alicia, Teresa, Monica, Sharron, Nicki Lisa, Veronica, Karen, Vicky Cookie, well, I met her in a ice cream parlor, Tonya, Diane, Lori, and Carla Marina, Selena, Katrina, Sabrina About three Kims, LaToya, and Tina https://t.co/vryJJVBTrY

— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) May 14, 2019

Tony, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Natasha, Clint, Carol, Bucky, Scott, Hope, Stephen, Wong, Peter, T'Challa, Okoye, Wanda, Peter (again), Nebula, James, Rocket, Groot, and Shuri. nailed it https://t.co/WSdKi8Aiu1

— kevin (@kevlncastro) May 14, 2019

Dasher Dancer Prancer Vixen Comet Cupid Donner Blitzen https://t.co/PWBIYUf1f4

— Ashley Hupfl (@AshleyHupfl) May 14, 2019

Bulbasaur Charmander Squirtle Caterpie Weedle Pidgie Poliwag Pikachu Nidoran Clefairy Jigglypuff Zubat Diglett Magnamite Krabby Jub Jub https://t.co/mII6ugmVay

— Amy Schellenbaum (@acsbaum) May 14, 2019

2 all-beef patties (HUBBA HUBBA) "special" sauce lettuce soooo much cheese pickles onions & a sesame seed bun https://t.co/838Xkfa7kf

— tracy the emotional support penguin (@brokeymcpoverty) May 14, 2019

2 all-beef patties (HUBBA HUBBA) "special" sauce lettuce soooo much cheese pickles onions & a sesame seed bun https://t.co/838Xkfa7kf

— tracy the emotional support penguin (@brokeymcpoverty) May 14, 2019

A little bit of Monica in my life A little bit of Erica by my side A little bit of Rita is all I need A little bit of Tina is what I see A little bit of Sandra in the sun A little bit of Mary all night long A little bit of Jessica, here I am https://t.co/b43nVCiZ5h

— e.b. bartels (@eb_bartels) May 14, 2019

Mario Mario, Luigi Mario, Princess Toadstool, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong...I think there's more. https://t.co/us09yKo96J

— Manuel Aragon (@Spacejunc) May 14, 2019

Clarkson, Guarini, Studdard, Aiken, Barrino, Underwood, Hicks, Sparks, Cook, Lambert, Allen, DeWyze, McCreary, Lambert, Phillips, Glover, Johnson, Fradiana, Harmon, Poppe, Abdul, Jackson, Lopez. https://t.co/m6AZB3Pz9c

— Alana Massey (@AlanaMassey) May 14, 2019

Iron Man Incredible Hulk Iron Man 2 Thor Captain America Avengers Iron Man 3 Thor 2 Captain America 2 GotG Age of Ultron Ant-Man Captain America Civil War Dr. Strange GotG 2 Spider-Man Homecoming Thor Ragnarok Black Panther Infinity War Ant-Man and the Wasp Captain Marvel Endgame https://t.co/DJZtFXBaBD

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 14, 2019

Perhaps this joke is foreshadowing something about the upcoming election cycle, but we can't possibly think about that just yet.

I asked a very serious question and everybody took it as a joke because this upcoming election cycle is about to be a joke. I love us for real.

— Morgan Jerkins (@MorganJerkins) May 14, 2019

For now, let us enjoy simply laughing at this joke. Because knowing politics, our genuine giggles will probably turn to nervous laughter very soon.

WATCH: Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke’s teenage hacker life

[sassybrit]

Death on the Coast B l o g t o u r #Review with #author @BernieSteadman on #AltRead @bloodhoundbook #NetGalley

Death on the Coast B l o g t o u r #Review with #author @BernieSteadman on #AltRead @bloodhoundbook #NetGalley

 Welcome to the blog tour of Bernie Steadman’s book DEATH ON THE COAST!

I’m so excited to actually be kicking this tour off!!!

In case you don’t already know, I love to chat books! You can also follow me on Twitter: @Sassy_Brit.

My Review:

Death On The Coast by Bernie Steadman

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

  I thoroughly enjoyed this “West Country Crime Mystery” Death on the Coast by Bernie…

[scifiandscary]

Cemetery Picnic: A Coloring Book of Haunting Art by Shaun Karma #BookReview

Cemetery Picnic: A Coloring Book of Haunting Art by Shaun Karma #BookReview #ColoringBook #HorrorArtColoringBook

Kids from 1 to 92, grab your favorite colors and lunch box. It’s time for a Cemetery Picnic! World famous tattoo artist and illustrator Shaun Kama presents his first coloring book. Appropriate for all ages, Cemetery Picnic contains 30 pieces of haunting line art waiting to come alive with your imagination. As an artist, Shaun Kama was inspired by Bernie Wrightson, Edward Gorey, Ralph Steadman,…

[hellofastestnewsfan]

The World War III memes are here, bursting onto the shores of TikTok and Twitter after American forces assassinated the Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani this week. “Me and the boys on missile duty during #WWIII,” one reads, illustrated by a gif of two soldiers failing running from a misfired mortar. “Me chilling at home after ignoring my draft notice #WWIII,” says another, illustrated with a Spider-Man clip in which the hero’s aunt is interrupted during a prayer by the Green Goblin exploding through her window.

Along with the memes came the counter-memes, chiding people for joking about war, or smarming at them over how little their comfortable lives would be impacted by a new war in Iran.

World War III is not actually upon us, of course, but just hashtag-World War III—a container for content. In that role, these memes fulfill the internet’s ability to fashion endless turtles of content about anything. On TikTok, someone feigns illegally disposing of a draft notice set to Britney Spears’s “Criminal,” which someone else collates in a thread on Twitter, which gets rolled up into Buzzfeed metacontent about World War III memes.

@sarahfaithxx

#wwiii #ThatsWhatILike #turnitup #gymrush #BreakupWithBottled #fyp

♬ original sound - sarahfaithxx

But World War is not just a hashtag, either. It’s also a symbol. And it’s notable that young people are mustering that old emblem to express their unconscious fears about the present. In doing this, they are reviving a received notion of “world war,” one mostly expended by the generations that precede them.  

For three decades or more, World War III has been an anxious fantasy. During the Cold War, it became a shorthand for a very specific kind of doom: global nuclear destruction. After the blasts comes the fallout, the depthless smoke of nuclear winter, the ensuing end of the crops that sustain our mortal bodies, and the certain starvation of those too unlucky to have survived the war.

Those who lived through this period can still feel how real the threat was. That has not changed: Global nuclear stockpiles have been cut by 75 percent since their peak between 1965 and 1985, but there are still thousands of nuclear warheads spread all around the globe, each between tens and thousands of times more destructive than the Fat Man and Little Boy bombs detonated over Japan in 1945. Iran is not believed to have nuclear weapons, although its ambitions to develop or acquire them have been at the heart of the American conflict with the country.

Even so, the fantasy of World War III helped hide the reality of what war had become: a tangled mess of statecraft, profiteering, and politicking. In the moment, tidy narratives often made conflicts seem straightforward, but history has unraveled their knotty strands. During the Cold War, hot tensions became hopeless moils, conducted for political benefit as much as (and, over time, more than) moral right. Vietnam braided opposition to communism, itself a tenet of Cold War conflict, with democratic state-building in a decolonizing region. Proxy wars became common, such as the United States’s support of the Afghani mujahideen to destabilize the Soviet Union rather than to support a Muslim revolution. The Gulf War braided up the emerging 24/7 media ecosystem with the oil economy. The Iraq and Afghan wars, it now seems clear, were manufactured for political and commercial gain, and at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives.

And those are just some of the “normal” wars—the military ones entwined with nation-states rather than cartels like Los Zetas in Mexico, militias like the Sudanese Janjawid, and paramilitary groups like ISIS. Then there are the corporations. Mercenary data brokerage by Cambridge Analytica put useful information extracted from Facebook into service for misinformation campaigns. Via social media, organizations like the Russian Internet Research Association weaponized information, on the cheap, to disrupt the operation of the nation-states that might yet wage conventional or nuclear war. Services like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram provide easy, global reach for all the non-state actors that have proliferated to further destabilize their opponents.

In the face of all this chaos, is it any wonder that young people might see the relatively conventional act of assassinating an Iranian military commander as an oasis of political clarity? The memes help amplify a moment that fits into a straightforward narrative.

The deluge of draft-related memes that flowed from the news of  Soleimani’s execution exemplify the mental comfort such clarity brings. The idea of a normal war—an organized military front where national armies face off—became so piquant that it crashed the website for the Selective Service System, the government agency where men over 18 must still register in case of a draft. Even though a U.S. military draft hasn’t taken place since 1973, some of the memes feign comfort in evading conscription, citing hypothetical age, sex, or medical reasons why their authors might be disqualified.

There’s just tons of content about potentially getting drafted pic.twitter.com/4Zwjk57E0L

— Ryan Brooks (@ryanbrooks) January 3, 2020

At Insider, Andria Moore wrote that young people are using the wry humor of memes to cope with uncertainty. And at Buzzfeed News, Otilla Steadman and Ryan C. Brooks portrayed the practice as an expression of fear, carried out on the media formats like Instagram or TikTok that have become native environments for Gen Z.  

But the 18-to-24 set might have no idea what they are thinking or feeling when they create or share these posts. “Nobody is aware of what’s going on,” my Gen Z son texted me from his group of friends. (He’s 20 years old.) “It’s not coping because there’s nothing to cope over,” he theorized, adding that his crew wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the people posting these memes don’t have the faintest idea about the geopolitical circumstances to which they are supposedly responding.

That’s probably the case for people of all ages, thanks in part to the frenetic pace at which everyone produces and consumes information online. “Buckle up, nerds,” the Arc Digital editor Berny Belvedere began in a hilarious viral tweet. “After discovering the existence of Quasar Sailemun thirty minutes ago, I am now ready to explain how, being three trillion times more significant than Bin Laden, his assassination means we will have to forfeit the Louisiana Purchase.”

Instinct and habit rule online, and online life is just life now. The instincts and habits everyone has developed over the past 20 years of forever war involve reacting first, and thinking later—if at all. The news is so ubiquitous that its coverage—from Soleimani’s assassination to all these memes supposedly comforting people in its aftermath—evades more meaning than it elucidates.  

Absent knowledge and intention, the best and most generous way to interpret these World War III memes is to try to understand how they surface the ideology of contemporary life. Memory of the experience of world war is disappearing, as the last of the generation who survived conventional, global warfare pass away. At the same time, conventional war itself became too constant to take notice of; today’s 18 year olds have never taken a breath at a time when the United States wasn’t embroiled in combat in the Middle East.

For GenXers like me, the fear of nuclear annihilation made the end of the world a dark but deviously appealing fantasy. It seemed natural for humankind to dream about witnessing our collective end. No matter your scientific suppositions or religious beliefs about life or afterlife, the glory of human existence became even more bewitching in the event that total annihilation might insure that you would not have missed out on its future, beyond the grasp of your own lifespan.

For many of today’s youths, however, a mortgaged future can already feel likely, if not certain, for much more concrete reasons—from economic inequality to climate-caused extinction. It’s no wonder that their fantasies would look toward the past instead. It is strangely comforting to imagine a conventional war of the 20th-century variety, mated to the risks of nuclear escalation, because it represents a return to a well-worn period of history.

The two World Wars produced horrific atrocities. But they also tipped out into a long period of prosperity and comfort, especially in America. That connects the idea of a world war with other matters: the Greatest Generation, and the idea that military service is noble, thanks to the unvarnished clarity of good and evil; a time when patriotism in general and the war effort in particular was nonpartisan; the social services, tax base, and economic circumstances that produced the middle class and all its benefits, from stable jobs to cheap homeownership.

But that reality is no more. So now what? To fear world war is also to dream of it, and to dream of world war is also to indulge the nostalgia of the mid-century, that great refuge between two gilded ages, when ordinary people thrived.

from The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2sQuZqC

[tribunamag]

Tweeted

Bernie Sanders won the primary in Michigan https://t.co/gH6abVEAGw

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) November 2, 2019

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to FiveThirtyEight’s weekly politics chat. The transcript below has been lightly edited.

sarahf (Sarah Frostenson, politics editor): At long last, the wait is over — former Vice President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is officially running for president.

Biden enters the Democratic field as the polling front-runner and with some serious establishment credentials as both a long-time senator and former VP. But this doesn’t mean he’s a favorite to win. If anything, in a field with so many candidates, it’ll be hard for any one candidate to stand out and win over a significant chunk of voters. Which means that building a coalition and a base of support will be vital. So, how does Biden’s candidacy change the dynamics of the Democratic race? Let’s tackle this by talking through the following questions:

Which candidates are hurt by Biden’s decision to run?

Who is his biggest competition?

And, more generally, what does this mean for candidates looking to cobble together a winning coalition? How does Biden’s entry ease this or complicate it?

OK, let’s get started with question No. 1: Which candidates are hurt by Biden’s decision to run?

natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): Maybe almost everyone is negatively impacted in some way, or maybe almost everyone except Elizabeth Warren.

For the more moderate white Democrats, like Beto O’Rourke, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, Biden is sort of running adjacent to their lane, if not actually in their lane.

He also has a lot of the black vote, so Biden’s candidacy complicates the ability of Kamala Harris and Cory Booker to win South Carolina.

perry (Perry Bacon Jr., senior writer): For all the candidates who are making electability an implicit (O’Rourke, Jay Inslee) or explicit (Klobuchar, Tim Ryan) part of their campaigns, Biden is a very big threat. Plus, black voters find him appealing, which could hurt those candidates I just mentioned, but especially Booker and Harris.

natesilver: If you’re Bernie, now you can’t really call yourself the front-runner. And if Biden is getting 30 percent, maybe your 20 percent or 25 percent factional support isn’t going to be enough.

clare.malone (Clare Malone, senior political writer): But at the very least, Biden probably weeds out some of those guys like Ryan and Seth Moulton sooner rather than later, right? That is, if we’re thinking about the field winnowing at some point.

sarahf: Ryan just qualified for the debate stage though, Clare!

clare.malone: Big day in Youngstown.

natesilver: Ryan is the one guy who really seemed to be running on a Poor-Man’s-Version-of-Biden platform. Some of the other candidates who might have done that (e.g., Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, Terry McAuliffe) didn’t run.

I think others, like Moulton and Eric Swalwell, are just running because they like doing TV.

And they aren’t really affected by Biden because they didn’t really have a chance to begin with. (If Moulton or Swalwell wins the Democratic nomination, feel free to throw this back in my face, Internet.)

sarahf: Well, as our colleague Nathaniel Rakich pointed out, Nate, Moulton and Swalwell don’t have that much to lose by running — so why not run?

clare.malone: I wonder who of the top-tier candidates Biden sees as his biggest competition? I was pretty surprised to see that he hired Sanders’s 2016 press secretary.

natesilver: Biden probably sees Bernie as competition, although to some extent welcome competition because Biden probably wins a one-on-one showdown with Bernie because he has broader support among both elites and regular voters.

sarahf: What will you all be looking for as a sign that Biden’s candidacy is making a dent in the support of these other contenders?

perry: Biden already leads among moderates, voters over 50 and black people. So I will be looking to see if those leads grow.

geoffrey.skelley (Geoffrey Skelley, elections analyst): I don’t know if it’s so much about a dent as about them never getting off the ground. For someone like Klobuchar, is she just going to remain stuck in the polls at 2 percent? Does O’Rourke never consistently get into double digits nationally?

sarahf: I saw some speculation on Twitter that the first 24 hours after his announcement will be crucial for Biden as a test of whether his first-day fundraising number can compete with other candidates’:

We'll know if @JoeBiden is a name recognition front runner, or a real front runner, when he posts those 24 hour fundraising numbers. He can't just match @BernieSanders, he needs to obliterate him. In a call to supporters yesterday, Biden acknowledged as much. https://t.co/cHgBljmkKk

— Rachel "The Doc" Bitecofer (@RachelBitecofer) April 25, 2019

And on Friday, the campaign said it raised $6.3 million in the first 24 hours, which puts Biden ahead of both Sanders, who raised $5.9 million in his first 24 hours, and O’Rourke, who got $6.1 million.

perry: I actually don’t think fundraising is a great metric for Biden. That’s because he is getting more support from people who are moderate and black, which I don’t think necessarily is the type of person who gives money to candidates on Day 1.

clare.malone: Going after constituencies that are likely to be a bit more moderate is something that I think Biden will focus on. Another thing I thought was telling was this Spanish language ad he put out first thing on Thursday:

Hoy estoy anunciando mi candidatura para presidente de los Estados Unidos. Somos los Estados Unidos de America – y juntos no hay nada que no podamos hacer. Únete a nuestra campaña: https://t.co/9MBT8Qkyzd#Joe2020 pic.twitter.com/GhSYDci4dr

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2019

That seems like a conscious play to a group of voters who might be more inclined toward a moderate candidate and might be ready to get active in a 2020 election against Trump, given the tenor of his first term — i.e., child separations that disproportionately affected Latino families and communities.

geoffrey.skelley: Latino voters seem like a wide-open voting bloc. Julian Castro seems like a potential fit. But he’s not attracting much tangible support in either the polls or fundraising so far among Democrats in general, so, as Perry wrote earlier this month, it’s not clear that he’ll be able to make significant inroads there.

natesilver: I don’t think it’s that interesting whether Biden gets a polling bounce, because those bounces usually fade anyway. But if he does get a bounce, I’d wonder how much of it comes at Bernie’s expense.

sarahf: Does it matter, Nate, that more of it come at Bernie’s expense than any of the other candidates?

natesilver: It matters in the sense that it would be quite bearish for Bernie if he fell to, say, 16 percent.

geoffrey.skelley: Well, looking way ahead — if Biden cuts into Sanders’s support, that could have real ramifications for delegates with the Democrats’ 15 percent rule (in each primary or caucus, candidates have to win at least 15 percent of the vote to win delegates statewide or by district). So sliding closer to 15 percent in the polls might signal that a candidate is going to fall short of that threshold in some states. But we’re a long way from thinking about that just yet. (Not that it will stop me from doing so!)

natesilver: If Bernie’s base is a solid 20 percent or 25 percent of the electorate, he’s reasonably interesting as a candidate. But if it’s really just like 15 percent, and the other 5 percent or 10 percent is just sort of foam-at-the-top name recognition, I don’t know that he’s a major player for the nomination.

sarahf: Well, to ask that same name recognition question of Biden, how will we know whether some of his popularity is just name recognition? I know he has higher favorable ratings than Sanders, but how should we think about his polling in the next couple of weeks?

natesilver: Given that there are more reasons to think his polling will decline rather than rise later on, I wonder if it will increase to the low 30s from the high 20s. That would give him more runway for stumbles later.

sarahf: Based on what you’re saying about which candidacies are threatened by Biden’s entry into the race, it seems as though he appeals to both the kinds of voters who’d support Klobuchar/Ryan/O’Rourke and those who’d support Booker/Harris, which is sort of a weird, in-between spot. And yet we don’t necessarily think of candidates like Klobuchar and Harris competing for the same voters.

So what is it about Biden’s candidacy that gives him appeal to different wings of the party? How could he play that to his advantage? And how could that backfire?

geoffrey.skelley: Well, Biden is going to lean hard into his connection to former President Barack Obama, who remains basically the most popular figure in the country among Democrats.

sarahf:

I asked Rihanna not to DM me https://t.co/p3TytePAjH

— Steadman (@AsteadWesley) April 25, 2019

perry: That was hilarious.

sarahf: Setting aside the 1,000 memes sure to follow, what do we make of Biden saying that?

perry: Obama is not going to endorse him, so that was a way to deal with that issue head-on.

natesilver: Nor is Obama going to endorse anybody anytime soon, although I do wonder if he’d weigh in if it came down to a contest between [Candidate X] and Bernie.

clare.malone: The way I’ve been thinking about it and the way I phrased it on Thursday’s podcast is that the Democratic Party has been having a big ideas meeting for the past two years — there are lots of new ideas, lots of people buying into them, and lots of talk about big, structural changes. But Biden is kind of offering the “if it ain’t broke” theory of things, which is that he’s here to remind people of the halcyon Obama days. A familiar face, familiar messages, that kind of thing. Which is how, I think, he could steal voters from a decently broad swath of candidates who are trying to differentiate themselves in this new environment.

natesilver: And a lot of messaging about how Trump is a historical anomaly, rather than being the inevitable culmination of the Republican Party’s drift toward populism.

geoffrey.skelley: Obama was never going to endorse this early, not with so many candidates running. But Biden has eight years of being his VP to use as evidence of his ability to lead the country, which isn’t nothing.

perry: I thought Obama’s spokeswoman’s statement praising Biden was great for him. It’s not an endorsement, but it’s somewhere between not endorsing him and endorsing him, and probably the best Biden could hope for at this stage. And Biden is already featuring pictures of himself with Obama.

Biden had a good campaign rollout in some ways. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey endorsed him, which signals support in an important swing state. And a prominent, young black voice in the party — Symone Sanders — is joining his campaign.

natesilver: This was an interesting endorsement, too:

This is fascinating and surprising. Biden’s first NV endorsement is from progressive, young legislator, first Latina ever elected to state Senate. She also all but ran @RubenKihuen campaign that crushed @LucyFlores, who has accused Biden of invading her personal space in ‘14. https://t.co/INL3JHwnn6

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) April 25, 2019

perry: Yeah, Biden’s endorsements aren’t just from white people, or moderates in the party, or people living in the Northeast.

geoffrey.skelley: Nevada state Sen. Yvanna Cancela hits three important demographics: Latina, union ties, and from a key early state.

perry: Biden wants to build a broad campaign, and all the first indicators are positive.

But what we are seeing right now was all planned I assume for his first day as a candidate, so what happens a month from now will be more telling.

natesilver: Biden’s announcement has made me think of Harris in a slightly different light. Like, why isn’t she getting more endorsements outside of her home state? I’d think she might have more success if she used an argument along the lines of: “The polls are now dominated by three white guys, none of whom really does a great job representing the whole Democratic coalition. I’m the best alternative to them, and it’s time to start building momentum before it’s too late.”

clare.malone: On a debate stage, I think a lot of people might go after Biden’s record. I’m curious to see how cutthroat the primary will get about his past and how much that will stick with the kinds of voters that he wants to win — moderates, including minority voters.

perry: Biden vs. Warren is going to be great.

clare.malone: Warren’s memoir calls out Biden for his opposition to some of her bankruptcy work. Kind of fascinating.

perry: Yeah. Warren has long been concerned about his record and, I think, is the person with the most incentive to take him on. She is the most policy-focused candidate, and he is the exact version of the Democratic Party she is trying to fight.

geoffrey.skelley: The thing is, in a crowded field, you don’t know what the ripple effects will be of attacking someone. This was one of the things that slowed GOP contenders from attacking Trump early on during the 2016 primary. They didn’t know if their attacks might help someone else instead.

clare.malone: Right. There’s some game theory involved.

Or something. I dunno. I was an English major.

sarahf: So, who do we think Biden sees as his biggest competitor? And vice versa?

perry: Harris probably has to win South Carolina. And I think Biden has to be worried about any candidate with the potential to do well with black voters and big donors in the party.

geoffrey.skelley: Harris has to be hoping Nevada is a possible win for her, too, given its proximity to her home state of California, where she is polling well.

perry: If I were Biden, I would be worried about Buttigieg or O’Rourke or Booker taking off and being seen as very “electable” to Democratic voters.

sarahf: As Nate wrote in our theory of the case for Biden, his “ratio of favorable ratings to unfavorable ratings is 4.8, which essentially ties him for second-best in the field with Harris and puts him only slightly behind the leading candidate, Buttigieg.”

Biden’s favorability ratings are near the top of the pack

Average of favorability ratings among Democratic voters in recent national, Iowa and New Hampshire polls

Morning Consult: U.S. Monmouth: Iowa Saint Anselm: N.H. Average Candidate Fav. Unfav. Fav. Unfav. Fav. Unfav. Fav. Unfav. Ratio Buttigieg 38% 9% 45% 9% 42% 6% 42% 8% 5.2 Biden 75 14 78 14 70 18 74 15 4.8 Harris 49 12 61 13 54 10 55 12 4.7 Booker 44 12 54 16 56 11 51 13 3.9 O’Rourke 47 11 60 13 46 17 51 14 3.7 Sanders 75 16 67 26 67 25 70 22 3.1 Klobuchar 28 13 51 10 31 13 37 12 3.1 Castro 28 12 36 9 24 8 29 10 3.0 Inslee 17 7 26 5 10 6 18 6 2.9 Warren 55 19 67 20 58 30 60 23 2.6 Hickenlooper 16 9 32 8 15 10 21 9 2.3 Delaney 14 9 31 12 17 7 21 9 2.2 Gillibrand 32 14 37 17 33 18 34 16 2.1 Gabbard 16 11 29 13 16 13 20 12 1.6

Only candidates whose favorability was asked about in all three polls are included in the table.

Morning Consult poll was conducted April 15-21, Monmouth University poll conducted April 4-9 and Saint Anselm College conducted April 3-8.

Sources: Polls

geoffrey.skelley: Sanders and Harris are my first thought as his biggest competition. Plus, as Perry said, someone like O’Rourke — and I guess Buttigieg, too.

natesilver: Every candidate should probably be worried about Buttigieg right now.

perry: Biden seems like the safe choice. But if other candidates seem like a safe choice but are also exciting, that might pose a problem for Biden. Democrats want a candidate who will be Obama-like, exciting and thrilling to vote for.

clare.malone: YOUTH

Although Biden is going after the youth vote pretty hard, tbh.

Currently on sale for $27 pic.twitter.com/kLu0KBlaMV

— Shane Goldmacher (@ShaneGoldmacher) April 25, 2019

perry: Yes, Biden served with Obama, so their connection is strong. But I’m sure that many Democrats would love to elect a first-in-history candidate, whether that be a gay man, woman, South Asian woman, Latino or black woman, if they are convinced that person can beat Trump and would be a good president.

geoffrey.skelley: Buttigieg isn’t that well-known, yet he is getting around 10 percent now in some polls. That is notable given how name recognition plays into early polls.

clare.malone: People like Buttigieg because he’s young blood. That’s central to his appeal, as is the “I’m a smart moderate” thing.

sarahf: But the one big thing working against Buttigieg is that some voters don’t seem ready to say they think he can beat Trump, even though there’s a lot of enthusiasm for him:

Even non-Biden voters think Biden could win the general

Average difference between share of Democrats who said each candidate was their first choice in a primary and the share who said the candidate had the best chance of winning the general election in two recent state polls

Quinnipiac (CA) Granite State Poll (NH) Candidate First Choice Best Chance First Choice Best Chance Average Diff. Joe Biden 26% 35% 18% 25% +8.0 Beto O’Rourke 4 5 3 3 +0.5 John Delaney 0 0 0 0 +0.0 Bernie Sanders 18 17 30 30 -0.5 Kirsten Gillibrand 0 0 1 0 -0.5 Cory Booker 2 1 3 2 -1.0 Amy Klobuchar 2 1 2 0 -1.5 Andrew Yang 1 0 2 0 -1.5 Elizabeth Warren 7 4 5 2 -3.0 Kamala Harris 17 9 4 2 -5.0 Pete Buttigieg 7 2 15 4 -8.0

Includes everyone who appeared in both questions in both polls, which means some people who have not entered the race are included and some declared candidates are excluded.

Quinnipiac sampled 482 Democrats and Democratic leaners; UNH sampled 241 likely Democratic primary voters.

Sources: Quinnipiac University, University of New Hampshire Survey Center

perry: I think most of Biden’s rivals need Democratic voters to think differently about electability and who is electable. But that’s not great for Biden — a part of his campaign is based on an opinion that the others can’t beat Trump, but that perception could change.

Obama himself has publicly said that people other than white guys can win. If I were one of the candidates, I might start noting that in public.

sarahf: Yeah … What’s the scenario where Biden’s electability argument falls short? Does that happen if that’s the only thing Biden can campaign on?

clare.malone: I’m really curious about what kind of campaigner he’s going to be in 2019! I don’t think we can underrate that.

natesilver: I’m not sure if it’s that Biden’s electability argument would fall short so much as that people become more comfortable with the other candidates. If there’s someone you think would make the best president, you tend to come up with rationales for why they’re the most electable, too.

perry: About 50 percent of Democrats are liberal, and about 50 percent identify as moderate or conservative. Plus, half of Democrats are 50 or older. One advantage Biden has is that there are currently not that many strong candidates appealing to this crowd.

sarahf: So if Biden is able to woo that portion of the party … might he have enough for a winning candidacy?

geoffrey.skelley: To win the Democratic nomination in a crowded field, you might only need a plurality of the primary vote — Michael Dukakis did it in 1988, for example. However, winning a majority of delegates with just a plurality of the vote is not easy in the Democratic primaries as there aren’t winner-take-all contests like there are in the Republican primaries. Still, I’d say there’s an opening for Biden if he ends up being a factional candidate.

natesilver: You need more than just plurality delegate support, though, to win the nomination — it’s the one contest where you need majority support (more or less), or else you have to endure a contested convention.

So I think it is worth thinking about how each candidate would fare at a contested convention. If Candidate X has 35 percent of the delegates and the next-closest candidate has 30 percent, does Candidate X tend to win the nomination at the convention?

For Bernie, I think that answer is “maybe not.” For Biden, I think it’s “probably so, but not sure.”

sarahf: 2-0-2-0 C-O-N-T-E-S-T-E-D C-ON-V-E-N-T-I-O-N!!

I don’t know how you do that, Nate, because that was terrible to type.

natesilver: CoNtEsTeD CoNvEnTiOn

clare.malone: The return of delegate hunting.

geoffrey.skelley: Also, SUPER DELEGATES RAAAHHH

Anyway, yes, it could happen, but I still wouldn’t bet on a contested convention.

sarahf: OK, we’ve talked about which candidates Biden’s candidacy threatens and from which candidates he faces stiff competition. What do we think will change in the field overall now that he’s announced and we continue to move closer to the first debates?

perry: Biden now has to figure out his position on like 50 issues that have emerged in the primary.

clare.malone: I was thinking about this during the CNN forum the other night. Candidates were asked about felon voting, and now it’s turned into a little bit of a kerfuffle.

I think people might start to give more hedging answers on some of these structural change questions that have been popping up — abolishing the Electoral College and the like.

That is, I think Biden could splash a bit of cold (moderate) water on some of these hot topixx debates.

natesilver: We may be in a relative period of stasis until the debates. We’ll see how much higher the “Buttibump” grows. We’ll see if Biden gets any bounce of his own and how good his initial fundraising numbers look, but there’s not necessarily a whole hell of a lot going on right now.

perry: The stances Biden adopts will help set the stage for the debates — i.e., how big is the ideological divide in the party? But I don’t think voters really are that engaged on policy.

However, at this stage, candidates are asked tons of policy questions by activists and reporters.

And Biden will have to give some answers, which will create fodder for activists, the press and the other candidates.

sarahf: Does Biden risk not offering enough of a vision? For instance, I’m thinking of Klobuchar, who dismissed the idea of free college tuition or canceling student debt by saying that it’d be impossible to pay for and without countering with a vision of her own. I could maybe see Biden finding himself in a similar situation.

natesilver: I think Biden offers a pretty clear vision — defeat Trump and restore America back to Obama’s America.

sarahf: But is that exciting enough for voters?

natesilver: It doesn’t have to be exciting. It just has to intuitively appeal to Democrats. And I think it probably does, and I think that’s more important than the policy specifics, at least to the sorts of voters that Biden is seeking out.

geoffrey.skelley: I guess one thing to keep an eye on is whether aviator glasses-wearing Biden shows up or gaffe-prone Joe shows up? Or is it a mix?

sarahf: I’d bet on the former given the screen-printed totes his campaign is selling.

perry: I don’t think Biden can run on electability solely. I expect him to have policy ideas — just not as many or as liberal as Warren’s. He will have gaffes, but the press will cover them less intensely if he is leading in all the polls.

Also. If the gaffes are really him being insufficiently woke, he might not care about them.

This will be a fascinating part of the campaign. There will be an “Anybody-But-Joe faction” of the party. And we will see if he can steamroll them.

[bytheletterbookreviews]

Death On The Coast by Bernie Steadman @Bloodhoundbook @BernieSteadman

Death On The Coast by Bernie Steadman @Bloodhoundbook @BernieSteadman

Book Description:

Can DCI Dan Hellier decipher the twisted mind behind the ritualised burning of homeless men on Devon’s beaches before more people are sacrificed?

  When images from the burning appear all over social media, Hellier realises that he is dealing with a cult and a mystery that will leads back to the Irish Troubles.

  Hellier will battle a bitter man who has plotted revenge for more…

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

Death in the Woods by Bernie Steadman

West Country Crime Mysteries #1

 Detective Inspector Dan Hellier is lead in his first murder investigation soon after he transfers to Exeter from the big city. Supervising him as his senior advisor is soon to retire, Ian Gould.

 Who was murdered? Sixteen year old, Carly Braithwaite, who seemed to have a big successful future ahead of her.

Who found her? Schoolmates out to sneak a smoke in the woods

How many potential killers are there? More than a handful

 As Dan begins the case he is full of himself and a bit brash but as time passes he realizes that there is much more to the job than he thought. He has let his temper rule him in the past and is trying to rein in his impetuousness as he leads his team in finding out what happened to Carly and who ended her life.  

 As an introduction to a new crime solving series this was filled with action, dealt well with the police procedural aspect of the story, introduced characters that will be seen throughout the series and made me care about more than one character while learning some rather horrific things as another criminal activity was uncovered. The story does deal with pedophilia, pornography, an Eastern European gang and a few things that may be triggers for some readers. It made me think again about how important it is for parents to be involved in their children’s lives and for them to maintain lines of communication with their children. I enjoyed the way those on Dan’s team began to work together as he found his place with them and I was thrilled that the bad guys were ultimately found and dealt with.

 Did I enjoy the book? Yes

Will I read more in the series? Yes

  Thank you to NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 4 Stars

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40125963-death-in-the-woods?from_search=true

BLURB

Meet Detective Inspector Dan Hellier, a man who needs to redeem his career and catch a killer.  

 Soon after DI Hellier returns home to Exeter under a cloud, the body of a talented young singer is found in the woods.

When her death reveals links to the boss of a recording studio, a predatory gang and a school music teacher, Hellier knows he has his work cut out.

Before any more innocent people are put in danger, Hellier will need to untangle the web of lies and work out which of many suspects are guilty of murder. But can he solve the case in time?

AUTHOR BIO

Bernie taught English for many years but only dabbled in short fiction and poetry until a few years ago when she took to writing full-time.  She completed her debut novel, Death in the Woods when she escaped the classroom and could finally stop marking essays. This was the first in the West Country Mysteries series featuring DI Dan Hellier and his Exeter-based team. There are now three in the series, Death on Dartmoor and Death on the Coast completing the series.        

 Bernie lives in a small village in East Devon and her novels are set in and around the ancient Roman city of Exeter, which has seen its fair share of murder and mayhem over the centuries. The books explore the beauty of the area, but demonstrate that even in the most charming of settings, terrible events may occur.

 When not glued to the laptop, Bernie is a keen yoga fan and enjoys walking and cycling in the Devon countryside with her husband. They share their home with two large, black cats which came from the animal sanctuary where she is a volunteer and trustee.

Links:

@BernieSteadman

http://basteadman.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ExeterCrimeSeries/

A Leading Independent publisher of crime and thriller fiction

                                                                     info@bloodhoundbooks.com

Bloodhound Books is a leading independent crime fiction publisher based in Cambridge, UK. We specialise in crime, thrillers, mystery & chillers.

http://www.bloodhoundbooks.com/

[cazvincent]

| Book Review | Death in the Woods - Bernie Steadman

| Book Blog Tour | Book Review | DEATH IN THE WOODS - West County Crime Mysteries #1 Bernie Steadman  @BernieSteadman @Bloodhoundbook

  In this exciting and thrilling detective novel, we get to know and follow Detective Dan Hellier, who came down to Exeter from the London Met to start anew but soon he finds himself in over his head…

| Book Blog Tour | Book Review | DEATH IN THE WOODS West County Crime Mysteries #1 Bernie Steadman  @BernieSteadman @Bloodhoundbook | Introduction |

West County Crime Mysteries #1

A body has been…

[tribunamag]

Tweeted

Among other things is Bernie Sanders' hair really all that crazy https://t.co/yQHbf0bA1G

— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) April 3, 2019

[jenmedsbookreviews]

Been up to much this week? No? Me neither.

Actually, I tell a lie. This weekend I celebrated my birthday. Not a particularly special one. 43. Neither here nor there really, just a number. Could be worse. I’m the baby of the family. I could be my sisters’ ages  … 

Oh yes. And I bought a bookcase. Just a small one although I bought to larger ones as well. I just need to assemble them. I did a quick job of putting the shorter one together on Wednesday night/Thursday morning while suffering a bout of insomnia so at least not all my reference books are upstairs in the office near to my desk. Also got to mount my two prints on the top temporarily, so it may be half empty but looks pretty.

Not that it will be half empty for long because I have more books. More books than you can shake a stick at. Well, you could shake a stick at them but I don’t really know why you would want to … Why? Well because I went to Harrogate this weekend, and the Theakston’s Crime Writing Festival. This is my second year and what a difference the weather makes let me tell you. Blue skies (the occasional bit of cloud and some minor rain showers) but nothing like last years torrential downpours. It made it a completely different festival for me. Really different.

Now if we are Facebook friends or you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen I was in the verge of a mini meltdown mid week about attending. Despite being in this blogging game for two years now, I still feel like a newbie, a fraud and someone who shouldn’t really be here. I know I attend a lot of festivals and launches etc, and I may appear confident and all that but all I can say is that I am a bloody good actress. I hate group situations. I always feel as though I am being judged. On everything. I cannot make small talk. I have no idea what to say. The idea of approaching someone, even someone I have met (vaguely or in real life) and saying hi petrifies me as I think they do not want to see me and are going to be just thinking WTF are you bothering me for.

I am an insular person in real life. This being online, being public, is not something I do naturally. If you saw me at home, and my family can attest to this, I am more likely to be found on my own ignoring the whole world than I am arranging meet ups and the like. I push myself to go to them because I know I need to change and I need to be more confident in this area. Also most of them are either more intimate with smaller crowds, or more driven by panels where you are simply a face in a small dark room, or, in the case of the book launches, it’s all about the authors. I may talk to a few folk (and I typically only go where I will know at least one other person) or I don’t. Went to the Orion tour the other week and it was only because Sam Eades took pity on me and introduced me to another blogger that I spoke to anyone all evening.

I am not shy in talking about my nerves – my lack of confidence – I published a long post about last years Crimefest and how I couldn’t face even going down to the bar to meet people I’d arranged to meet. Well, Harrogate is like Crimefest’s bar on steroids. the ultimate in social gatherings for the Crime (book) loving community. Everyone knows everyone, they are all in their groups chatting and you feel stupid and awkward in approaching them and saying hi, even if they have told you to do so if you see them and even if you know them already. Well I feel awkward and stupid … I am sure I am not alone but most folk make it look easy. I just usually stand and stare at people and probably look like a psycho ready to commit some kind of weird stalking/murdering spree. Quite possibly not far wrong but that’s an entirely different story …

But … this year I have said sod it. Well, a little bit at least. I have had my moments of itchiness (I have scratches in places you would not believe and are never, ever, going to see), my moments of refusing to go and say hello even though I know I should do, and my moments of just needing to watch the world go by. My nails are bitten beyond the quick, the skin around them raw and ragged where I have chewed them to pieces and I am now typing this post with my knuckles as the rest of my fingers are ruined. But I have also been brave. taking a leaf out of the lovely Jill Doyle’s book and acknowledging life is just too short. Like me.

I said hi to Jenny Blackhurst like I promised after several failed attempts to do so previously. I said hello to Sarah Hilary, mostly in passing, but it’s a start as I’d normally have just snuck on by with perhaps a nod of the head or one of my trademark weird stares from afar. I had a chat with the lovely Mel McGrath who shares my pain at social groupings and we were joined by Ann Cleeves. Ann Cleeves! I even managed to speak to her without making a complete arse of myself or exploding so that was nice.

More embarrassingly I talked about knocking myself out with my boobs and using the phrase titty lip in a review (don’t ask) with Mark Billingham … Yes I am a truly classy lady.

And I did pictures. Not a lot admittedly but still. Pictures. With me in. That I instigated. Here is the proof.

Yes. Me. With people. Going from top left, Mel McGrath, Ann Cleeves. Rachel Abbott, Lee Child, James Oswald and Will Dean. I like how Lee Child doesn’t bend down for the picture and I can pass this off as him being really tall rather than my lack of height. Will, bless him, really can’t make it more obvious lol.

It’s okay. I really am that short.

So yes, alcohol was consumed. All that did though was stop me from sleeping so if there are typos in this post that is why. I’m tired (not drunk) and will probably suffer for the rest of the week from late nights and post festival hangover syndrome. Its a real thing! (It also helped me survive the embarrassment of having Happy Birthday sung to me in the tent but that’s something I will never get over …) But I would like to say thank you to the lovely folk at Harrogate who were so kind and welcoming and who made a point of saying hi to me. I may not have photographic evidence but there were so many great moments and great bloggers, authors and, most importantly, friends to share the weekend with, that it made it all that little bit easier. So a big shout out to Mandie (because she bought me cake and she’s my sister and I have to), Vicki Goldman, Katherine Sunderland, Joy Kluver, Jacob Collins, Abbie Osborne, Jill Doyle, Susan Hampson, Joanne Robertson, Kate Moloney, Tracy Fenton, Mary Picken, Emma Welton, Janet, Jacky, Susan, Darren, Kim, Noelle, Sharon, Kate E, Anne, Sarah, Alexina, Claire, Steph, Liz, Ellen and all the other fab folk I have forgotten (too many to mention.)

It was also great to see all the fab authors, especially the lovely Mel McGrath, Libby Carpenter, Sam Carrington, Caroline England, Jack Steele, Jane Isaacs, Bernie Steadman, Tom Bale, Will Dean, James Oswald (who rather kindly stood and talked Coos even though he probably thought we were mad), Louise Mangos, Malcolm Hollingdrake, Jenny Blackhurst, Amer Anwar, Amanda Robson, Felicia Yap, Marnie Riches, Chris Whitaker, Patricia Gibney, Mel Sherratt, Caroline Mitchell, Graham Minett, Alison Belsham, Graham Smith, Jackie Baldwin, Louise Beech, Dave Sivers, Susi Holliday, Steph Broadribb, Karen Sullivan, Sarah Hilary, Sam Eades, and not forgetting Rachel Abbott. So lovely to finally meet her and to hear about my namesake in her next book. I am going to love reading the next Tom Douglas book. It will be a hoot.

That probably makes it sound like I did far more partying and interacting than I really did but Harrogate is one of those kinds of weekends where you see everyone and no one and still come away exhausted. It is mentally draining for someone who doesn’t like crowds, people, human interaction, but it is still heartwarming. Give me a few weeks and I’ll hopefully be back to normal (whatever that is) but as I have Bute noir in two weeks and Bloody Scotland a few weeks after that, I’m going to need to get my game face on again pretty quickly.

So … that was my nerves in a nutshell (coconut shell). More on the festival and the books in part two …

  Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 22/07/18 – Part 1 Been up to much this week? No? Me neither. Actually, I tell a lie. This weekend I celebrated my birthday.

[jenmedsbookreviews]

My last evening in Northumberland I went for a walk. Thought it might be nice to get a few last minute pictures just before sunset. I pass a field of cows. They stare at me, quite possibly wondering why this sad old lady keep wandering past their field, but I chose to interpret this as them wanting their picture taken.

I stopped and took a photo of the cow who was hanging about staring the most. Soon it seems others want in. Next I have a whole bunch of them lining up and posing. Then, when I decide to do a group shot, I’m already to press the shutter button when the one at the back decides I don’t have her best side. The result … Well see for yourself.

Photobombing cows … Just when you thought you’d seen it all. I thought this picture of Bamburgh castle with a photobombing puffin was cool but these cows just made me hoot.

I could honestly share about a couple of hundred photos with you of my last week in Northumberland as I have had such a great time. We went to Chillingham Castle, reportedly the most haunted castle in England; went for a walk with wild cattle; spent time wandering the streets and town walls in Berwick where I don’t think we have ever seen so many swans – well over sixty lurking; spent a day on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, visiting the castle and priory and going on a nice long walk around the island; went for a cruise around the Farne Islands where I saw puffins and seals, followed by a big fish (jumbo sausage) supper and an afternoon at Bamburgh Castle and town. Even Hector didn’t keep us down and we managed to sneak in Alnwick Castle and Gardens and Barter books on Thursday afternoon before spending our last full day exploring Cragside and making one last morning trip to Holy Island, before heading home via The Angel of the North. Only managed to clock up 54 miles walking though. Poor effort.

And yes … this is me relaxing.

All of this however means I haven’t don’t much booking this past week. It hasn’t been completely book free but nowhere near my typical standards.

I might have taken advantage of a cracking offer on Craig Robertson’s books which were all 99p and bought myself the missing parts of my set by way of Random, The Last Refuge, In Place of Death, Snapshot and Witness the Dead. And, because I have all the others and I like a full set, I purchased the last Ransome book by Rachel Schurig, The Ransome Brothers.

I received a couple of bits of book post while I was away. Firstly a copy of Where the Missing Go by Emma Rowley, and also Seven Bridges, the latest DCI Ryan mystery from LJ Ross, which is quite apt given I have just spent a week in Ryan country and managed to tick of several of the books locations while away – Holy Island (Holy Island – obvs), Bamburgh Castle (Heavenfield), Cragside (Cragside – also obvs) and The Angel of the North (Angel). Thankfully we found no cults lurking (to our knowledge) on Holy Island although with that funky white pyramid (day marker) on the edge of the island, anything is possible …

No new Netgalley – no bad thing. Did purchase some more Bloody Scotland tickets though so just the rest of Sunday to decide upon now. Tidy.

Books I have read

Shores of Death – Peter Ritchie

Grace Macallan is at breaking point. All around her, events threaten to run out of control – and a new investigation is testing her to the limit. 

An undercover officer is missing and a woman is washed up, traumatised and barely alive, on the shores of Berwickshire. She has witnessed horror on the dark waters of the North Sea, but survival turns her life from a bad dream into a nightmare. 

As she untangles the woman’s story, Grace is drawn into a cold-blooded criminal world. At its head is Pete Handyside, a notorious gangland boss who will fight hard and dirty to control his brutal empire and keep the money flowing. 

But a traitor in his midst is intent upon betrayal – a betrayal that triggers an uncontrollable wave of violence. As she hones in on crucial evidence, Grace knows that one wrong move could end in tragedy.

I will be sharing my review of the latest Grace Macallan thriller later this week but the story is set around the world of gangs and human trafficking and sees Grace tracking killers all over Scotland and as far afield as Newcastle in a bid to bring justice. A great addition to the series, you can buy a copy here.

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The Chosen Ones – Howard Linskey

Eva Dunbar wakes in a large metal box.

She has no idea who has taken her.

She has no way out.

She isn’t the first young woman to disappear.

And with no leads Detective Ian Bradshaw has precious little time.

When at last a body is found, the police hope the tragic discovery might at least provide a clue that will help them finally find the kidnapper.

But then they identify the body – and realise the case is more twisted than they ever imagined . . .

Continuing on my Northumbria themed post, I picked the right week to read this one didn’t I? The Chosen Ones sees Detective Ian Bradshaw and his journalist friends Tom Carney and Helen Norton investigating the disappearance of five young women from all over Northumbria. Gripping and sometimes claustrophobic I’ll be sharing my thoughts as part of the blog tour later this week but this did have me on edge, the action uncomfortably close to my lodgings… Thank heavens it is set in the late nineties or a girl could get paranoid. You can buy your own copy here.

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Behind the Wire – Rachel Amphlett

Dan Taylor is trying to keep a low profile when an old friend contacts the Energy Protection Group seeking his help.

The man’s daughter is alone in sub-Saharan Africa, and her life is in grave danger.

Thrust back into active duty, Dan soon realises that getting Anna to safety is only half his problem. The forensic accountant holds the key to preventing Western Sahara descending into chaos, and exposing the puppet masters behind a coup d’état.

With a group of militants financed by a regime intent on acquiring mineral assets in the conflict-torn country in pursuit and willing to do anything to stop him, Dan must draw on old survival skills and luck to make sure Anna and the evidence she has in her possession reaches safety. 

Behind the wire lies a secret – a secret that people will kill to protect…

I have been putting it off and putting it off, knowing that this is the last Dan Taylor book currently written but the call was too strong and, with the perfect travel time home from my holiday, I listened to the audio book. Gripping and explosive as ever, Dan is back under the kosh and I loved it. My review will be published soon but do go and buy your own copy here. Now leave me alone as I am very sad … No more Dan 😦

…

The blog was busy all week in spite of my travels. Good planning, I know. Here is a recap.

The Cornish Village School: Breaking the Rules by Kitty Wilson

Follow Me Home by DK Hood

The Blood Road by Stuart MacBride

The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Extract – The Tall Man by Phoebe Locke

Guest Post: Perfect Dead by Jackie Baldwin

This week is another busy one – making up for lost time, and yes – still cutting back. Mandie and I will be on tours for the following over the week –

Monday – First to Die by Alex Caan; Wednesday – Death in the Woods by Bernie Steadman; Thursday – Shores of Death by Peter Ritchie & Where the Missing Go by Emma Rowley; Friday – Toxic by Jacqui Rose & The Almost Wife by Jade Beer;  Saturday – The Date by Louise Jensen and Sunday –  The Chosen Ones by Howard Linskey.

Right – sadly I have to go and get ready for work. My punishment for taking a week off will be to plow thought hundreds of emails in a bid to get them below 2000 in my inbox. Wish me luck.

Have a fabulously book filled week all.

Jen

Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 17/06/18 My last evening in Northumberland I went for a walk. Thought it might be nice to get a few last minute pictures just before sunset.

[jenmedsbookreviews]

  Man. Where to even begin this week. Well. I will start by saying my reading achievements were next to none. Not quite none. But near enough. Work has been very demanding, I have been very tired and my heart just was not in it. No reflection on the books, more a reflection on my weary and rapidly ageing bones and brain telling me to take a break. In fact I am writing this post in stages as I know where my head is currently at so it if makes no sense come the end … well nowt new there really but this time there is an excuse at least 🙂

So, anyway. Aside from being generally ancient (turned 42 this past week don’t you know) I was preoccupied with something else. Lordy 42. Do you remember being a kid and thinking that people in their forties were ancient? Well I’ll let you into a secret – when you finally reach your forties you bloody feel it too. Just kidding. Age is just a number. Like my chest, mine is just larger than some, that’s all. But back to my point (wandering mind comes with age too…) I was away from home from Thursday until Sunday this week because I took the plunge, packed my backbone in a small holdall and made my way to Harrogate for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Festival.

It’s an interesting festival, very different in tone to Crimefest, geared very much to a social atmosphere but encouraging and enticing readers with a healthy and steady supply of books. I say healthy with my tongue in my cheek (not easy to do without biting said tongue – don’t believe me try it), as carrying around the dang things all day has knackered my shoulder but hey ho. 

As book hauls go, this week was mega. It was also rather big in terms of meeting people. I met a whole host of bloggers this weekend who I’m not going to try and name for fear of missing someone and causing great upset, but it was a pleasure to meet you all either finally or again (and you super lovely ones already know who you are 😉 ). I also met quite a few authors that I admire, including Robert Byrndza and the lovely Jan, Caroline Mitchell and Mel Sherratt, Graham Smith, Sarah Wray, Claire Seeber and also got to meet Keshini Naidoo (yes – a small Bookouture bias in this post I think).

It was also lovely to catch up with Kim Nash, Karen Sullivan, Steph Broadribb, Amanda Jennings, Lucy V Hay, Amer Anwar, Felicia Yap, Patricia Gibney, Bernie Steadman and Fiona Cummins again, and to get to say hi to Paul Burston as I absolutely loved his book The Black Path. I even remembered to take pictures of some of them (but not many as I suck at that). Oh yes, and it was nice to see Rod Reynolds again even if he did show Jo and Emma the terrible selfie he took at Crimefest (terrible because I was in it). And lovely to finally meet Graeme Cumming and have a catch up chat with Gabriela Harding in the quiet times. I’m just hoping I haven’t missed anyone and if I have I’m sorry and I do love you too. (Well at least like and admire – love is such a strong word 😉 ).

Have to give credit to Abbie Osborne for the selfies as I would totally not take those 😀

As well as generally milling about I did attend a couple of panels, though not as many as I perhaps would have liked so I’ll try better next time. The Friday night panel chaired by Sarah Millican and featuring Lee Child, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid was hilarious as you would expect. And I totally agree with Sarah Hilary’s shout out for Chris Whitaker as a totally brilliant writing talent. I also went to a blogger/author event organised by Orion where we met Mari Hannah, Emma Kavanagh, Stephanie Marland (aka Steph Broadribb, aka Crime Thriller Girl) and Lara Dearman, a forensics talk in which I learned many important things to include in ‘Killer’, and a quick start talk on writing crime fiction with Isabel Ashdown and Sam Eades.

And I had two lovely evenings out, firstly with Abigail Osborne, Leah and Jill of Jills Book Cafe, and then with Tracy Fenton and the guy and gals from TBC. Thanks for the company all.

And then there were the books… So. Many. Books.

I got the following:

The Devils Claw by Lara Dearman (Kindle pre order 7/9/17);

My Little Eye by Stephanie Marland (Kindle pre order 2/11/17) Happy dance moment :D;

The Wrong Child by Barry Gornell (Kindle pre order 2/11/17);

The Lost by Mari Hannah (Kindle preorder 2/3/18);

Murder at the Mill by M.B. Shaw (Kindle pre order 30/11/17);

Shadow Man by Margaret Kirk (Kindle pre order 2/11/17);

Beautiful Liars by Isabel Ashdown (Kindle pre order 19/4/18);

I Found You by Lisa Jewell;

The Seagull by Ann Cleeves (Kindle pre order 7/9/17) – The only book I actually purchased all weekend.

The Snowman by Jo Nesbo;

If I Die Before I Wake by Emily Koch (Kindle pre order 11/1/18);

Give Me The Child by Mel McGrath;

Eyes Like Mine by Sheena Kamal;

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (Kindle pre order 5/10/17);

My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent (Kindle pre order 29/8/17);

The Mountain by Luca D’Andrea;

The Mitford Murders by Jessica Fellowes (Kindle pre order 14/9/17);

The Collector by Fiona Cummins; (soooooooooooo excited about this one and so new there are no Amazon links yet!!! :D) If you don’t know why I’m excited and haven’t yet read Rattle (and if not why not?) then you can order it here and get yourself ready for next year. Did I mention I love that book? I do. I was so excited I may have actually started reading this in bed instead of the books I should have been reading. Oops. (Sorry – not sorry). All the eeeeeeeeeks and squeeeeeeeeals.

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn (pre order January 2018);

Consent by Leo Benedictus (pre order 1/2/18);

Perfect Remains by Helen Fields;

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughn (Kindle pre order 11/1/18);

Strange Magic by Syd Moore

So all in all a great book haul of a weekend. And I visited Betty’s and treated myself to a belated birthday cake. Go me.

Now the weekend wasn’t without it’s down moments too but least said, soonest mended so lets move on.

Now as if all that wasn’t brilliant enough, before I left for Harrogate I received some absolutely stonkingly fantabulous book post from the wonderful Louise Ross (LJ Ross). Now I knew I’d be getting the signed book as I won it in a charity auction, as well as the chance to be a named character. But I wasn’t expecting to receive a DCI Ryan series mug as well. I actually collect mugs as well as books so this couldn’t have been a better gift for me and will take pride of place in the collection.

And, totally not book related but my new cushions and mugs turned up. How fab are these?

The McMoos by Jennifer Hogwood – You totally need to check out the website.

Just the one book order this week (just as well) which was Bad Sister by Sam Carrington. It’s due out on 5th October and I can’t wait to get my mitts on a copy.

Just the one Netgalley this week too (just as well) which was The Good Sister by Jess Ryder. It’s due for release on 16th August.

I see a theme here. Kind of reminiscent of my life. I have one of each. I’ll let them fight over which is which 😉

I also received an ARC of I Know A Secret by Tess Gerritsen, the brand new Rizzoli and Isles novel which is due out on 10th August.

Now I am hoping that all of these exciting things I’ve been rambling about above will distract you from my reading tally which stands at the grand total of 2. Lorraine at The Book Review Cafe will be laughing at me this week given her mammoth reading achievements and rightly so. If only I’d saved the bloody Mr Men books… When I say reading tally it was one read, one listen as I only completed one book and then listened to an audio on the way too and from Harrogate. Failed blogger I am then (this is not news but now we have evidence).

Books I have read

Red Is The Colour by Mark L. Fowler

A GRIPPING NEW POLICE THRILLER Bullying. Corruption. Murder.

It is the summer of 2002. The corpse of a 15 year old boy, who has been missing for thirty years, is discovered in Stoke-on-Trent. The city is on the cusp of change and Chief Superintendent Berkins wants the case solved quickly. 

DCI Jim Tyler has arrived from London under a cloud, moving to Staffordshire to escape his past. He is teamed up with DS Danny Mills to investigate the case, but there is tension between the detectives.

When the dead boy’s sister comes forward, describing a bright, solitary child, she points a finger at the school bullies, which puts important careers at stake.

Then one of the bullies is found brutally murdered and when Tyler and Mills dig deeper they start to suspect a cover-up.

What is the connection between the death of a schoolboy in 1972 and this latest killing? 

With the pressure building, and the past catching up with DCI Tyler, will he and DS Mills be able to put aside their differences in order to catch a cold-blooded killer?

I’m reviewing this for the blog tour next Monday but I have to be honest and say that this was a really well observed look at childhood bullying an the people who were involved, both directly and indirectly. With a thirty year old victim it is a tough ask for newly transferred DCI Jim Tyler to bring the killer to justice in this new police procedural from Mark L. Fowler and Bloodhound Books. It is released tomorrow, 25th July, and you can buy a copy here.

…

  You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood

It’s easy to judge between right and wrong – isn’t it?

Not until you hear a convincing truth.

Now it’s up to you to decide…

An unnamed defendant stands accused of murder. Just before the Closing Speeches, the young man sacks his lawyer, and decides to give his own defence speech.

He tells us that his barrister told him to leave some things out. Sometimes, the truth can be too difficult to explain, or believe. But he thinks that if he’s going to go down for life, he might as well go down telling the truth.

There are eight pieces of evidence against him. As he talks us through them one by one, his life is in our hands. We, the reader – member of the jury – must keep an open mind till we hear the end of his story. His defence raises many questions… but at the end of the speeches, only one matters:

Did he do it?

Oh my life. What an intriguing novel. Taking courtroom drama to brand new heights this is a story which will not only challenge your idea of right and wrong but also the whole idea of how courtroom dramas should be. Set as a series of court transcripts and told in the defendants voice the author takes you on a journey and you as reader are set to act as jury. I listened to the Audio book of this and I have to say it was absolutely perfect in this format. My review will follow but you can order a copy of the book here.

…

That is all. Thankfully I was fully prepared on the blogging front so I had posts everyday.

#BlogTour Guest Post: Dying Art by Malcolm Hollingdrake

#Booklove: Katherine Sunderland

#BlogTour Review: The Other Twin by Lucy V Hay

Review: Blind Justice by M.A. Comley

#BlogTour Review: Her Deadly Secret by Chris Curran

#BookLove: Jane Cable

#GuestReview: Another You by Jane Cable

…

The week ahead is a bit of a mixture. I start with a review, then some #Booklove with Helena Fairfax, followed by blog tours for The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond, and then The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan with a very special Author Q&A in between, rounding out the week with more #Booklove with Jack Steele and another blog tour, this time The Lost Wife by Anna Mansell.

Hope you have a brilliant week all. I’m reading all day today before going back to work and some more training tomorrow. Boo hiss to that one but someone has to do it. Going to Chester Zoo on Saturday so think of all the animal/nature pics I can share with you next week. You can’t wait can you? Hope they still have the Pudu’s and the Kimodo Dragon. I love them!!!

See you next Monday.

JL

P.S. since penning this post Sunday evening I have been online and preordered three books from Goldsboro (it’s now Sunday bedtime). We’ll just ignore those, pretend I ordered them after midnight and I’ll fill you all in next week 😂

Rewind, recap: weekly update w/e 23/07/17 Man. Where to even begin this week. Well. I will start by saying my reading achievements were next to none.