colin.cymru

How fast does 25 years pass? In the blinking of an eye, I fear. For it really was 25 years ago that my game Slightly Magic was released. I'm always a little nervous when I release something new, but in Slightly's case I needn't have been.  He's done me proud over the years, and so I couldn't let this anniversary pass without throwing a magical bean feast. Actually there'll be more than one magical event this year, but I'm sworn to secrecy on the others for a while. However, as a party-starting taster for the awesomeness that's yet to come, a new full-colour art book is available now on Amazon. It's called 'The Making of Slightly Magic' and features some fascinating insights from myself together with the marvellous artwork of Chris Graham. It's well worth a look if you've an interest in games, retro or modern.

You'll have to bear with me on this, but it's been a surprising few weeks at Potassium Frog. A couple of quite wonderful things have decided to come together which have almost made me squeal with delight. However, due to the nature of games design, secrecy pacts and the Time Flux Paradox I can't say anything about these things for quite a while yet. Writing games is a funny business. Anything I'm working on now won't generally see the light of day for a few months, years, or possibly decades. And even some things which I could talk about are probably best left for now, because it's just too early. The trouble with that box of lice is that I tend to get bored with anything I can actually talk about since I probably finished with that months, years or decades ago. That's the Time Flux Paradox in a nutshell. Ho hum.

Yes, it took me by surprise too; one of the perks of occasionally writing in Welsh, I guess. 'Coed Y Brenin' is a book I wrote a while ago, for Welsh learners. I'd never published it until 2016 as I wasn't happy with the format. It was originally Welsh and English side-by-side, but I thought that people were in danger of becoming a little lazy. Anyhow, the book seemed to fill a need, as ten days or so after release it found itself at the top of the Amazon UK Welsh-language e-books chart. Croeso i Aberarthur, pentref bach cysglyd yn y De.  Mae llawer o bobl yn byw yma, ac mae stori gyda phob un. Credwch chi fi. Welcome to Aberarthur, a small sleepy village in the South. Lots of people live here, and each has a story. Believe you me. Apparently Aberarthur is a fictional village, in that it exists only in my mind. The funny thing is that as you read this book it will exist in your mind too, but entirely through the medium of Welsh.

The future is an unwritten country. I think that's what Timmy Flux said on the Deadpan Channel last night. Me, I've got a ton of unfinished business to trifle with and a collection of papers to rifle through which claim to be my diary. Like they say, if you can even remember there was a Tranquil Generation you are almost certainly confused. Even way back then, in the Endless Summer of Tomorrow. So where does the future go to die? And how come there are people in my diary who I've never even met, at least that's what they tell me. I write this from my cell in Amnesia Towers, where the guards are very kind, on the third Tuesday of each month. There's a shadow on my window, and an echo of a daydream on the radio; Tom Thugg and the Violets sing a golfing melody like they always did, even way back then. When? If a tree falls in a barbershop and there's no-one there to plant it, does it really rain on the moon? And just what is the sound of one hand scratching, and wh...

Went to a taxi-driver's funeral yesterday. The hearse double parked outside the house and beeped the horn to let the mourners know it was there.

I don't believe in Astrology, but apparently that's because I'm a Libra. Anyhow... Squirrius, the Nutcollector Your cusp is on the ascendant. Prepare to meet thy matchmaker. Lucky Fish : Pollock Scabies, the Elephant You enter the room, but everyone ignores you. Lucky Dog : Ralph, the Spaniel Doorbell, the Debtcollector Beware of falling marionettes. Lucky Skin Condition : Dandruff

The BBC's decision not to play 'Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead' on the chart show today is understandable; you have to sympathise with any grieving family and friends. However, I think that we should remember that some of the people who will be protesting (and, yes some celebrating) the death of the Iron Lady over the coming week may well be grieving too. They may be grieving for the loss of their communities, their way of life, livelihood, and even the lives of loved ones who were destroyed during the Thatcher years. They need to be able to express their grief too.