As I sit under the duvet, cloaked in a thick, soft dressing gown, it’s hard to remember a winter as cold as this one. According to my smartphone, the outside temperature has regularly been hitting -4C.
I come from the southwest of England where temperatures are slightly milder and we rarely ever had snow. This year, in the north, I’ve lost count of the number of snowy days. If I wasn’t an adult, I might find this exciting but sadly I am, and so my thoughts instantly turn to fretting about energy costs and frost damage to my aging car.
I’m a big believer in a yin-yang lifestyle, which is a great excuse to counterbalance these boring adult thoughts with fantasy daydreams and general childishness, not to mention my gaming hobby. Incidentally, I keep looking at miniature-based board games lately, something I haven’t done since my teens. There’s definitely some reach for childhood going on in my 40-year-old brain.
It’s February, one of the most depressing months of the year, and I can’t help wondering if it was this time of year when I came up with the subtitle for my third book, The Endless Night. Either way, I most certainly wasn’t built for cold climates (why was I born in this country?!).
If you’ve read Book 2 of The Inner Lands series and you happen to be British, you may have noticed a subtle line poking fun at our island weather. Can you imagine anything worse than a cold, wet land?
Speaking of Book 2, I promised to share some artist impressions of some of my scenes and I’m pleased to announce they’re now finished. Hope you appreciate the blue skies.
Keep warm people.
A.J.Austin
theinnerlands.com 