Yay, a new series from Anne Bishop! The Black Jewels remains one of my favourite series, so I can’t wait to see what this new trilogy brings.

Here’s the description from Amazon:

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

Written In Red by Anne Bishop is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.81 and on Amazon.com for $7.19.

Last Saturday I got invited to visit the Beyond El Dorado: power and gold in ancient Colombia exhibition at the British Museum. I’ve always been intrigued by ancient cultures and myths, so obviously I was up for finding out more the legends behind El Dorado. I have to admit, I didn’t really know much about that area beforehand, and had kind of assumed it was related to the Inca empire (which it actually isn’t).

The exhibition features over 300 objects from the collections in the British Museum and Museo del Oreo (literally the “Gold Museum”, located in Bogota, Columbia), showing the technologically advanced gold working craftsmanship of the different cultures of ancient Colombia. It was really interesting discovering more about the creation and the meaning of all those objects. Plus some of the gold metalworking is exquisite! So much detail and precision in such tiny objects; it’s gorgeous to see.

There are still tickets available if you want to see the exhibition yourself, but hurry! This Sunday is the final day of the exhibition.

Disclaimer: tickets to the Beyond El Dorado: power and gold in ancient Colombia were provided by American Airlines.

It’s Spring! I got this dress a few weeks back while it was still cold, but the flowers really make it a proper spring dress.

You can find this dress at The Joy Store for only £30.

I still haven’t gotten around to blogging properly about my trip to Florida. I keep meaning to sort out and edit all my photos before writing about it, but we’re now 1.5 months further and I still haven’t done it. Ugh. Bad blogger.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was seeing an actual rocket launch. A. Freaking. Rocket. Launch. Specifically this one:

I followed the advice of our tour guide earlier that day to not attempt to take any photos or videos and just watch the entire thing with your own eyes. I’m glad I did. There’s a ton of footage out there anyway from others and experiencing something like that yourself instead of through the lens of a gadget did make it more special.

We were really lucky though. The rocket (Atlas V) was carrying a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-L (TDRS-L) which only had a 40 minute window to launch in. A few minutes before the launch they discovered problems with the telemetry dropping out and the launch had to be delayed. They finally managed to launch with a few minutes to spare, but we know how lucky we were that it didn’t get postponed to the next day!

I’ve not been doing that great in my 52 Books Challenge this year; we’re a full two months in and I’ve only 5 books so far! I just bought this book though from Philippa Ballantine called Hunter and Fox and it looks like a lot of fun.

I read Ballantine’s Books of The Order series last year and loved what she did there. She’s a great storyteller and worldbuilder, and I’m interested to see how she fares with another series. I’ve had a couple of times in the past where you love one specific series from an author and just can’t get into any other things they write. The description of this series bodes well though:

In a world that is in constant shifting, where mountains can change to plains and then to lakes, Talyn is the Hunter for the Caisah, and a wreck of a once-proud person. She has lost her people, the Vaerli, and her soul working for the man who destroyed her people. All unknowing, she carries within her a Kindred, a chaos creature from the center of the earth that wants to help bring the Vaerli back to power. However, she has lost the ability to communicate with it. Little does the Hunter know that salvation is looking for her, and it wears the face of gentleness and strength.

Finn is a teller of tales who carries his own dreadful secret. He sets out to find answers to his path but ends up in the city of Perilous and Fair where he meets Talyn. He knows the danger and yet is drawn to her. Their fates are bound together.

Meanwhile, the Hunter’s lost brother Byre is searching for his own solution to the terrible curse placed on the Vaerli. He sets forth on a treacherous journey of his own, which will intersect in the most unlikely place with that of Talyn and Finn. The ramifications of this encounter will be felt by all the people in Conhaero, from the lost Vaerli to the Caisah on his throne.

Hunter and Fox by Philippa Ballantine is available on Amazon.co.uk for £4.43 and on Amazon.com for $16.16.

A couple months back I blogged about my first pair of United Nude shoes (see that post here). I adore that pair, so when I heard about their Christmas sale I just knew I had to take a look to see what I could find. I ended up getting one of their recurring designs, Fold (in Dark Fog):

These are so awesome! They’re super comfy, yet so stylish and eye-catching; I constantly get asked where I got them from.

I am so tempted to get a second pair in a different colour now though… Each year United Nude brings this design back, but in new gorgeous colour combinations. The two designs from the current collection that I like are:

I’m not completely convinced though; there are colour designs from previous years that look so much more interesting, fun and (most importantly) more “me”. I think I’m going to have to wait till next season’s set or see if I can find the older ones still online. Either way I’ve got my heart set on getting a second pair of these!

This looks awesome! I can’t wait to see how they end this all.

I still haven’t finished the inbetweeny not-that-original Batman: Origins, but hey, you get to be Batman again and who doesn’t like that?