every day should be a susie day

It was only a matter of time – and what better excuse to revisit the geek bakery than a birthday? So, in honour of the happy occasion of the birth of Red Scharlach, creator of the internet’s finest small fannish persons, I present:

Gingerbread Sherlock, and his faithful Watson

Happy Birthday! May your celebrations be worthy of fistfuls of Mrs Hudson’s soothers.

As you may have heard, that nice Mr Cable-Knit there has gone and got himself a rather significant new job. This development has been met with universal whoops of glee and hula-dancing to They’re Taking The Hobbits To Isengard, swiftly followed by a trembly lower lip at the consequences for Sherlocky fun. (Or perhaps that was just at my house.) However, since Freeman is quite perfect for both roles, I think we can all agree that there’s only one logical solution.

Sherlock: The Adventure of the Bag-End Burglar

No Graham Norton guest appearance on Doctor Who this week, though it appears some people would have preferred him to pop up distractingly in the closing moments…

Flesh and Stone: angels and Amy and SPOILERS, oh my!

Public Service Announcement, for anyone still planning to enter the FABULOUS BAKE-A-BOY CHALLENGE competition (closing date is this Friday, btw): Delia’s gingerbread men recipe is rubbish! Now have kitchen full of inedible people. I sense the Ginger(bread) Companions Club beckoning, just to get rid of the little beggars…  (Much nicerer recipe here, btw.)  Did I mention that you can win lovely free signed books and things?  Go on go on, you will, you will, you will…

This weekend is all about the snogging, apparently. Just finished Luisa Plaja’s Swapped By A Kiss, the semi-sequel to the very funny Split By A Kiss, and it’s another twisty and touching treat. Spiky American Rachel, convinced her British best mate Jo has the perfect life, wishes they could swap places – but when they do, walking in Jo’s shoes isn’t quite as she’d imagined. So far, so Freaky Friday – but as with her previous novels it’s a deceptively clever read, with each girl keeping secrets from the reader as well as each other until the end. The incidental characters are sharply drawn (Tori, Clyde and Tamber especially), Jo’s frantic diary excerpts are a giggle (despite being reproduced in Comic Sans: oh, editors, why do you do such things?), and it’s a thrill to read a fluffy teen romance where the heroine is a sharp-tongued, comic-book-drawing, plus-sized grump.  Frankly, any novel which turns on being able to identify a text message code based on Buffy episode titles cannot fail to charm.

Erm.  I’m having motivation issues, and for once they aren’t even mine.  Too many characters, all going in different directions!  Now I remember why I liked writing in the first person.

Attempting to cure womanflu through the power of early Supernatural alone (Dean Winchester: like paracetamol, in a way); getting overexcited about the election, and then horribly depressed at the prospect of any of the likely outcomes; being Twitterspammed by Gene Hunt.

The Guardian may think the Daleks win the monster-off, but for the stuff of nightmares nothing can top Weeping Angels.  Blimey.

The Time of Angels. Click if you dare!

Whovians are a crafty lot, btw: check out this spiffy birthday cake, and the magnificent cosplaying femme!Doctors (complete with a really intriguing answer to the ‘why are you doing that, then?’ question). Telly: it’s not just for looking at, you know.

Della Says OMG! – the debut novel from Chicklish‘s co-founder Keris Stainton.  It’s the best/worst night of Della’s life: she kisses the boy of her dreams, only to discover her diary has been stolen – and whoever has it is intent on torturing her, posting extracts online and into her friends’ pockets.  It’s a great set-up for exploring issues of trust and privacy, but above all this is a first-love story, written in sparky, convincing prose.  There’s a strong language warning on the back (which is definitely accurate!), but I hope parents and book-providers aren’t put off giving this to mature younger teens: there are wonderful positive messages in this book, about self-confidence and understanding your own body without shame.  This could be the Forever of the 21st century, girls…

My one quibble is with the cover, which is gorgeous but made me expect a very different book (something more immediately OMG!tastic, like Lauren Myracle’s Internet Girls series, or, erm, Big Woo/serafina67).  But if it makes the book leap off the shelves into readers’ hands, then it’s done its job – and the writing is so fresh, fun and beguiling that you’ll probably be halfway through the book before you’ve noticed.  A teen-lit voice to watch.

Note to self: PLANNING.  We do that now.  I sat down all excited to write the next chapter, and then realised I didn’t know what was going to happen in it or what any of the characters were like.  Have thus ended up with a lovely meandering string of crap jokes about Jane Eyre and ramen noodles, that goes nowhere at all.  (“It’s stream of consciousness, Miss! Virginia made me do it!”)  Also decided this week that Project Poppy is carp personified and I might well throw it away and start again.  So, funtimes.

Crawling to the gym for the first time in 3 weeks, ooer; watching Ashes to Ashes in open-mouthed awe; discovering baked sweet potato and blue cheese (taste: om nom nom; visual: Giant Mouldy Wotsit).

I have, at long last, achieved my life’s ambition.  (Technically I did that in 2004 by getting published, but if you achieve your life’s ambition and remain inconveniently alive, you have to come up with a new one.  It’s in the rules.)

Those who were around these parts last year will recall the joys of Bake 7 and GingerbRed Dwarf, and the bake-a-boy gallery already bears a respectable showing of Time Lords.  But I have, at last, achieved the pinnacle of sci-fi bakery: ALL ELEVEN DOCTORS, in nommable gingerbread form. Behold!

Click: they're bigger on the inside

And in case you were thinking that wasn’t a very productive way to spend a Sunday, here is my review of this week’s Doctor Who.   Proof positive that biscuits are central to everything.

Gingerbread Who: Victory of the Daleks

I have a feeling this may become a weekly thing.  I’d apologise, but I’m not even a little but sorry.

Oh, and if you should happen to feel inspired by my adventures in food colouring AND like to win lovely things, then you still have a couple of weeks left to enter the FABULOUS BAKE-A-BOY CHALLENGE, and snag yourself a tasty little parcel of books.  Go on, go on, you will, you will…

Am reading China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun, which is like a funny Phantom Tollbooth mixed with Mortal Engines.  There are ninja bins (binjas!), and nice drawings, and two fabulously dry and narky heroines.  Loving it so far.

I’m being so naughty.  I’m plotting a new possible series, the idea of which I am madly in love with, and am supposed to be writing 3 chapters for my agent – which is why this week I randomly started writing a completely different book about superpowered teenagers on a sinister landlocked island who, you know, fight crime, and fall in love in inappropriate directions. I’ve decided it’s going to be my guilty evening pleasure.  Will doubtless never see the light of day, but I miss having something to write which I’ve no intention of publishing: writing purely for my own wonky lols.  (Dear Agent/Editor/Bank Manager: this is all lies, and I never said any of it.)

Failing to go on proper holiday this Easter (which is lucky due to the GIANT ASH CLOUD which can apparently eat planes); discovering microwave popcorn; wondering why anyone in their right mind thought that remaking The Prisoner was a good idea.