GemmellFest 2026 and Royal Armories Visit!

Greetings Fellow Nerds and Gemmell Fans!

This weekend I went along to GemmellFest. This was to honour and remember the late, great David Gemmell and his work in fantasy fiction.  Primarily his Drenai and Rigante novels.

It was also poignant that it has been 20 years since David's passing in 2006.

GemmellFest started from a Facebook group, the members being fans of David's work and life.  The main members of the group being Gary and Anna, (I probably missed a few other Admin who helped too). The event was strengthened by David's own daughter Kate attending and helping the event.

First we met up at ...

The Royal Armories - Leeds.

It was my first time there and I was very impressed.  Firstly by the size of the building, as it was a maze!  I was also astounded my how much weaponry they had from around the world, from different times.  It was also free entry.

At the Royal Armories there is also the chance to enter the Crossbow Challenge.

I think most of the group had a go at the challenge and for my first time I did well and actually hit the target without killing anyone.

We then made our way to the hotel where most of the group were staying and the place where GemmellFest would take place.

Weetwood Hall Hotel

Located near Leeds/Bradford Airport on the outskirts of Leeds, Weetwood Hall Hotel was very nice and posh.  It was different to the usual Premier Inn I stay at in Derby for Edge-Lit.  

With a Brasserie restaurant and separate Pub called the Stables Pub for entertainment and where GemmellFest took place.

It was entertaining in the taxi to the hotel seeing all the drunk students in fancy dress heading towards Leeds City Centre.

GemmellFest 2026 and Stables Pub.

After some dinner we made our way to the rear courtyard and to the Stables Pub, obviously they used to be stables at one point and we're a fitting venue for the event.

At the event itself there was much drinking and we had other people's raffle tickets, so we had to find them and was a great way to break the ice and get chatting.  Even though names were probably forgotten.

I remember Sean, another Neil, Anna, Gary, Suze, Kate and many Marks.

The event had some great food plus the main reason for it was the raffles.  One held online for those who couldn't attend and one for those there.  Prizes included signed David Gemmell books, art and the axe Snaga.

It also launched the new fan based web site https://davidgemmell.com

We also got to pose with the axe Snaga (no one was maimed or killed as far as we know) and wear David's hat.

It was an incredible weekend with lots of drinking and making new friends that are fans of David's work.

 

Luckily I wasn't too rough and managed breakfast the next day, and get a photo with David's daughter Kate.  A big thanks to all the organisers.

I'm off to finish my re-read of Legend and hopefully see everyone and newcomers next year at GemmellFest 2027!

Neil x

Book Review - Doctor Who - The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier

 

Books Read in 2026 - No. 2

Greetings Fellow Readers!

It's been a while since my last blog post.  It's also been ages since I last read a Doctor Who novel.  The last one was in March 2024 as I missed last year.

I'm getting close to finishing the books in the second box set I have.

So The Pirate Loop by Simon Guerrier starts with the Doctor and Martha crashing the TARDIS into the star cruiser The Brilliant.  It's full of aliens, human crew and badger creature pirates who have boarded the ship to capture an experimental drive running the ship.

The only problem is the Brilliant and everyone on board including The Doctor and Martha are stuck in a time loop.  So snacks are replenished straight away and no one can die, they just keep coming back.

This is a problem as the energy will implode the Brilliant as the loop isn't complete.  Can the Doctor get everyone out of the loop.  Can Martha make friends and teach the Badger Pirates what is the right thing to do?

Overall - At the start of The Pirate Loop I almost gave up and the book would have been my first ever DNF. 

It started slowly and not much seemed to happen for the first few chapters, only the three Badger Pirates learning not to be bad and how to eat party food.

The characters were written fine by Simon Guerrier including the Doctor, Martha and the Badger Pirate Archie.

I couldn't help thinking I'd grown out of Doctor Who books.  The Badger Pirates reminded me of Rocket Racoon but this novel came out in 2007.  Seven years before the first Guardians of the Galaxy film.  The first time I knew of Rocket Racoon.

Just before half way the story moved along more, as we learnt what was happening to the Brilliant and the Badger Pirates and my score for the book kept going up especially towards the end where we meet Captain Florence, the leader of the Pirates who kills everyone she can.

Near the end, the novel got darker and had quite a bit of action.  Although obviously the Doctor solves the problem quite easily and quickly, there is a good moral message at the end and your left wondering who decided to stay in the loop having a party on the Brilliant forever,  and who left with the Doctor and Martha.

The story reminded me of one of the final Peter Capaldi stories where he's on the Cyberman ship and the back runs at a different time to the front of the ship.

An OK novel with a slow start and silly premise at the beginning with the Badger Pirates, although it gets action packed and darker at the end.

Score -   6.5/10

Goodreads -   3.5/10

February 2026 Update!

 

Hi Geeks!

So February has come around once more!  The year has gone fast already.

This time last year I lost my girlfriend Jane, which was devastating and a shock. I'd rather have her here x

January Review -  I actually finished a book in January - the excellent Christmas Evie by Karen Naylor.

Sadly January wasn't a good month Mental health wise, so I didn't get any writing done, even though I was in a group with Write Magic to get me writing again.

I was too stressed with kitchen floods and the washer breaking.

In February -  I hope to finish reading The Pirate Loop.  It's ok so far, but thinking I've grown out of Doctor Who!

In February I also want to re-read Legend by David Gemmell in time for GemmellFest in Leeds at the end of the month.

I hope to eventually do some writing this month too.

Other than reading and writing I'm hoping to eat healthier and try do some walking in February to keep fit and try lose weight.

What are your plans for February?

Neil

January Book Haul!

 

Hey Book Nerds!

Just a quick post and a short book haul for January.

I'm trying to cut down on the number of books I buy, especially as I've to read most of the 300 books I already own.

I've decided that to help me read more and help book shelf space, I'm only going to buy one book after I've read five at home.

The only time it doesn't apply is at author and book events.

So for January I bought The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi.  It's a slasher comedy where the final girl is in her Seventies.  It drew me in straight away especially as I'm a fan of slasher and horror films and books.  I am planning to write one myself at some point.

Anyway, what books have you bought recently and read?

Neil x

Book Review - Christmas Evie by Karen Naylor

Books Read in 2026 - No. 1

Greetings Fellow Readers.

Well I've read my first book of the year already! Although it took me longer than I'd hoped as I started it on Christmas Day and was hoping to finish before the 12 days after Christmas was over. Hopefully I won't get any more bad luck this year.

Karen Naylor is not only the author of this book but a friend and founder of Cleckheaton Writing Group.  A writing group I used to attend regular a couple of years ago.  Sadly due to timings with work and Library opening times I don't get to go.

So in a way I've read Karen's work before in the past.  Most were fantasy, crime and supernatural stories.  So when Karen said she'd written romance and got it published I was shocked.  It wasn't, until now, a genre I saw her writing.  It's also a genre I never thought I'd read.  Though it's said you're best reading out of your comfort zone some times.

The story centres on Evie, the owner of a florist. Her friend, Rosalie, owns the coffee house opposite her shop.  Rosalie is trying to set Evie up with one of her Italian brothers.  Although Evie fancies one of her customers, who ends up helping Rosalie out when she's in hospital.  Will Evie end up with the handsome Romano or Rosalie's brother?

Will Evie also fulfil the clause in her Grandma's will to be married by Christmas to receive the inheritance?

That is all I will say, as I don't want to spoil the story too much!

Overall - the story follows the main POV of Evie and also Romano.  Here we see their inner struggles as they negotiate the dating and romance world.  They instantly fall in love with one another.  The other brother Luca is also quite a big part of the story as that is where the misunderstandings and humour come from.  

As a debut novel, Karen has done well with the characters and the story as a whole.  Although I think there could have been more towards the end when there is a break up as it feels slightly rushed at the end.

Karen has certainly done her research on the Italian language and the Island of Capri.

I've already said I haven't read any comedy romance before and wasn't sure what I'd get into. 

I have to admit when I started reading Christmas Evie I wasn't sure it was for me.  It probably didn't help earlier in the morning I'd just finished a gory Alien novel, then started this, so the tones and genres were totally different.

I'm glad to say I continued on and chuckled quite a bit through the novel.  Especially Evie's disaster dates, almost killing a date paint balling.

The prose and action are fast paced and when I read it, flew through it in big chunks, especially towards the end to see how the misunderstandings were resolved.

What shocked me, knowing Karen, were the intimate sex scenes in the novel. I had to blush a few times!

Whilst reading I realised the hunky protagonist and love interest Romano seemed very familiar with his chocolate brown eyes and toned body.  Then it dawned on me.  When I first started Karen's writing group that is what I looked like before I put a bit of weight on.  I'm sure Karen took inspiration from me?

One thing that bugged me about the novel was the layout but that's just Amazon printing for you.

Published by the small indie publisher Champagne Book Group I felt they have done well by Karen.  There seems to be a lot of small indie publishers printing via Amazon now which is a good thing as it gets more out.

Finally, I really enjoyed dipping my toes into romantic comedy as Christmas Evie was a fast paced fun romp.  I look forward to the sequels Karen has promised in her novel.

Score  -  10/10

Goodreads Score  -  5/5

 

2026 - My MBR - May Be Read

 

Next Book I'm going to Read!

Greetings Book Nerds!

In 2026 I'm doing things differently.  The last 2 years I've tried and failed on the Goodreads challenges.  Last year I signed up for the 25 books in 2025 but only managed 2 books.

So this year I'll be hopefully reading what was left over on that challenge and added a few other books too.

The difference is they aren't TBR - To Be Read but MBR - May Be Read so less pressure of reading them.

Here are the books I definitely hope to read in 2026.  Including the above book pictured.

As you can see there is a lot of David Gemmell content and books in 2026.  Hopefully in 2026 I'll be attending GemmellFest in February.

If I get through those books, here are a few more I want to get to in 2026 - if possible!

Wish me luck!

So what are your reads for 2026?

Neil x