Lambda, Mu, Delta, and now Omicron.
If I had said those same words before 2020 no one would have thought of Covid19. Maybe Mathematics might come to mind, or the different versions of an engineering project. Perhaps the name of an elite squad of marines, or even the latest batch of Transformers, but certainly not a pandemic.
Yet here we are in 2022 and still travelling through the tunnel of Covid19.
My writing has found a place in all this chaos, settling for early mornings, then around lunch, and sometimes at night just after Star Trek, if my son allows. I’m proud to complete another milestone, and have arranged with local grammar expert and writer Kia-Marie for a review by the end of this month. Then I’m aiming to finish the final polish edit by May, but I’m trying to keep the excitement under control.
I’ve also begun thinking about a book cover, so look out for that soon.
In the meantime, I’d like to share my top choices for sci fi fantasy that I wholeheartedly recommend you check out in 2022.
Remember this isn’t a list of new releases, just things that I’ve recently seen or plan on watching.
Books
Finally, while I take a break before starting on the grammar review, I have some time to read, and I’m in the mood for fantasy. Reading is necessary to keep my writing sharp, and a great way to escape the sludge of life.
Not planning to consume much this year because I still have the final polish edit to complete, so I’ll be continuing my old Warhammer favourite Gotrek and Felix with Elfslayer, Shamanslayer, and Zombieslayer being books 10, 11, and 12 of the series. Gotrek isn’t the Disney’s Snow White kind of dwarf. He’s an unstoppable tank seeking death – his death – and reading these action-packed novels are a total thrill.
If time allows, I’ll throw in something awesome that’s been sitting on my Goodreads To-Read list for ages: Half a King, Half the World, and Half a War. Joe Abercrombie’s writing and story in the First Law trilogy were inspiring stuff so I’m looking forward to more of his work with these books.
TV Series
I’m most excited for The Wheel of Time, Amazon’s television series based on the fantasy book of the same name. Also the Witcher season 2, and the Witcher: Blood Origin. Netflix did a good enough job with this to hold my interest. MCU continues with Hawkeye, then there’s more Walking Dead season 11 and Walking Dead World Beyond.
Sci Fi has some good options with The Book of Boba Fett, Lost in Space season 3, and Cowboy Beebop is already available. I have to say Cowboy Beebop started off with so much character, so much promise, but ultimately the Netflix writers couldn’t resist throwing in their typical style of special effects with no reasoning. Beyond that, there’s more Star Trek Discovery with season 4. These new generation Starfleet recruits are annoyingly emotional, but there’s always Captain Picard and the 1980’s gang to sooth my anger.
And the penultimate anime Attack on Titan returns with season 4 part 2. It’ll be hard finding another anime to watch after this is over. At least that’s what I thought until Arcane, an animation based on a game, and created by Netflix. I have never seen a show with so many red flags soar so high. Castlevania is in a similar category, but Arcane really pushed it with story. That’s what happens when Netflix joins production with professionals and focus on what they are good at – special effects. Excellent stuff!
Movies
Spider Man: No Way Home, which paves the way for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Need I say more? Also Spider Man: Across the Spider-Verse part One, and Morbius, although I’m not a fan of vampires. Batman gets another reboot, again, with The Batman. Haven’t seen Dune yet but I heard it’s good, and I’m glad there’s a second part coming up, implying that the story wasn’t crammed into a 2-hour sitting. Other recently released movies on my list include Venom: Let There be Carnage, the Green Knight, The Matrix Resurrections, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
I’m looking forward to Moonfall, involving somehow stopping the moon from crashing into Earth. The strangely named Everything Everywhere All at Once, and the Northman looks like a bloody epic similar to 300.
Games
I hope this is the year I get a next gen console, and I’ve decided to go with an Xbox series X (sorry Sony). The main reason for the change – Starfield. It’s supposed to be an open world game that expands multiple planets across a distant galaxy. And we all know how I feel about starships and distant galaxies.
I was actually fractions away from buying a Nintendo Switch and passing the gaming baton to my son so I could just watch him play. But during our weekend gaming time he always hands the control to me for most stages, so unfortunately the young master isn’t ready yet. Maybe next year.
Another unexpected contender is a handheld console called a Steam Deck, but it’s release has been pushed back to February so I’m not sure about the quality.
.
So that’s it for today. Wishing you a happy new year and stay covid free. Feel free to let me know if you plan on checking out anything I’ve mentioned, or whatever new that you are most excited about this year.