It’s hard to believe now, but I used to be a summer person. I loved waking up with the sun before my alarm went off; loved long beach days dashing in and out of the waves with salt-stiff hair; loved long evenings sipping wine in the garden of my parents’ old house, feeling the sunbaked bricks still warm to the touch at ten o’clock. Only a handful of years ago I hiked up to Pontypool Folly on a deliriously sunny August bank holiday and came down feeling like I’d stepped out of an Arthur Machen story.

But that was then. Nowadays, 30C is normal and unfortunately, my brain turns to porridge and dribbles out of my ears at 25. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks chasing air conditioning around the city like a sweaty little blue-arsed fly, fighting my partner for the last tip-top in the freezer, and doing precious little thinking.

So, all I’ve got for you this month are updates. But (finally!) I do in fact have some.

Writing news

At the start of the month, my new story “The Sunflowers” was published at The Dark. It’s an odd little tale about a farming family being slowly consumed by their sunflower field, and definitely a suitable bit of heatwave reading. (Consumed with madness? Or literally? You’ll have to read it to find out!) It’s free to read online.

Also here this month is the TOC announcement for Perilous Plants, one of a pair of new anthologies from WonderBird Press. (The other one, Sinister Scales, is all about scary reptiles.) I’ve got a story in it called “Gilded Lilies” – yes, another flower-themed one – and it’s a kind of artsy dark academia story about rival painters, flowers that give magical inspiration, and of course, a nefarious plot. I love a good art monster story, and this was great fun to write. More when the Kickstarter appears.

After writing very few shorts last year, I feel as though I’ve got back into the swing of them, and I’ve been working on a couple of others in between plugging away at 90s Witch Book. So, who knows, you might see a bit more from me before the year is out. Watch this space.

What I’ve been reading

Currently making my way through A Rope of Thorns, the second book in Gemma Files’ weird west Hexslinger series packed with bloodthirsty gods, strange magic, and toxic yaoi. I wouldn’t say it’s a quick read, but that’s more because I’m finding that I only want to pick it up when I’ve got time to linger over the playful prose and bizarre imagery – it demands not to be consumed in bite-size chunks.

What I’ve been watching

Speaking of bizarre imagery, a couple of weeks back I saw Angel’s Egg for the first time in my local cinema, and it’s stuck with me ever since. More of a gothic visual tone poem than a traditional narrative, I nonetheless thought it was gorgeous.

What I’ve been listening to

Last week saw me braving the heat and heading to Cardiff Castle to catch the Garbage/Skunk Anansie joint headline tour, alongside many, many other elder millennials. Garbage were lovely, but Skunk Anansie retain their crown as perhaps the best live band in the country. Brutal, mesmeric, and immense fun.

That's all from me for this month. 'Til next time.

JL