Audiobooking The Domestic Revolution by Ruth Goodman about the huge cultural changes produced by the household and factory conversion from wood to coal for cooking, heat and power generation.

Her "[historical] farms" shows are really great.

I do not admit to having read anything of particular merit lately. Some nearly 100 years old British train mystery shorts collected by Martin Edwards were amusing.

Mostly I try to find good Regencies to read but half the time I find badly written ones. The good thing about reading a badly written book at bedtime is it is easy to put down. Well-written books keep me up until all hours. 

just out at the cinema to see Jurassic World Rebirth - my son and I both enjoyed it. We had seen all the others except Dominion, and I would say this one is in the top 3 overall. There are lots of water sequences which I particularly enjoyed, and the swimming dinosaurs were well done.

So touched that all of you remember me and thanks for the welcome back.

Bill, thanks for the advice. I love writing flash fiction and it might be a good way for me to start.

I'll certainly keep you posted if I get any sales out of the SW promo or even if I don't.

This was a while ago, but I read a series by forum member C Gockel (Urban Magick and Folklore series, beginning with Snow So White). The premise is that technology has failed and magic has returned to Earth. Fairy tales provide inspiration, but the plotlines are very original. Good mix of action and character development. Some of the characters work well despite (no doubt intentional) incongruities, like a gentle vampire who is also claustrophobic--coffins are just not a good fit!

I'm currently working on Michelle Bardsley's vampire books (the Broken Heart series). Yeah, I know, vampires are maybe used too much, but hers are undoubtedly original. If you don't mind lots of sex, there is at least one good love story in each book and also plenty of intrigue as different vampire factions with competing agendas work to gain dominance--or just wipe everybody else out, depending.

For my Substack book club, I read Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures. One of the viewpoint characters in an octopus who forms a bond with a seventy-year-old woman who cleans the aquarium where he is held captive. (In real life, octopuses are intelligent but not social.) He sees what humans miss and tries to bring together broken people who can mend each other. There is also a lot of that happening outside the confines of the aquarium. But will it happen fast enough? A misunderstanding prevents two people who should have a strong bond from fulling knowing each other. Soon, one will move away, and there will be no chance. But Marcellus the octopus has a plan... Yeah, it is in some ways a silly premise, but the book is so good that you'll want to disregard that.