"The straights of Hormuz should be renamed Schrodinger's Straights As they seem to be open and closed at the same time." (Found on X, formerly twitter, today, with variants from David Keyes @DavidMKeyes and others)

" Band of others " by M. H. Foster, which is the third part of " A gentle apocalypse ," was published on 14th April 2026 and follows on from " The demon overlord's retirement plan " and " Love, politics, and other acts of war. " In the first book in this series, bored with evil after  444 lifetimes of grinding the faces of the poor, despoiling civilisation, fighting and killing heroes, the Demon Overlord of the world of Alteria decided to take the path of Cincinnatus, retire to a farm in a back-country village, and grow turnips. In this book, his attempts to remain inconspicuous and enjoy the quiet retirement for which he had plotted for lifetimes become still more difficult ... While not entirely without challenges, Willem Porter, a.k.a. Galornus Prime, retired Demon Overlord, thinks he has adapted to retirement and learned how to grow really successful vegetables. He has even adapted to the difficulties caused when one of his main lieuten...

We will at some point be putting up a our own reviews of all Timothy Zahn's histories of the Grand Admiral, but in the meantime here is a link to a review of the novel "Thrawn" which we particularly like. Respected Villain: Star Wars Thrawn by Timothy Zahn, reviewed by Aaron Rench . Mr Rench's review of the book begins as follows: "As I read Thrawn by Timothy Zahn, I constantly watched for the moment he turned “bad”. It never came. In the 2017 novel, Thrawn’s character is reestablished but also gets a subtle shift in motivation as he transcends from his days in the Extended Universe to that of the current Canon. Thrawn is a beloved character to many, simultaneously a deep-cut from eras past and a present pillar of tactical brilliance and cunning logic. Those who read any of the Legend books were graced with his unavoidable presence — either as a main antagonist or with a revered reference by both heroes and villains. He’s recently received a new coat of paint, an...

" Love, Politics and other acts of war " by M.H. Foster is the second volume in the "A Gentle Apocalpyse" series. It follows on from " The Demon overlord's retirement plan " in which, bored with evil after  444 lifetimes of grinding the faces of the poor, despoiling civilisation, fighting and killing heroes, the Demon Overlord of the world of Alteria decided to take the path of Cincinnatus, retire to a farm in a back-country village, and grow turnips. After 444 lifetimes of evil, being reincarnated at the end of each, Galornus Prime the Demon Overlord has faked his 444th death and settled down as a farmer in the village of Lower Middleton, which is basically a magical fantasy world's version of a cross between St Mary Mead from Agatha Christie's " Miss Marple " stories, Ambridge from " The Archers, " or Walton's Mountain.  He has managed, not without some challenges, to become accepted by his neighbours, none of who susp...

"Retro Toys and Cartoons" put up a question on X today asking what name he might give it if Emperor Sheev Palpatine (alias Darth Sidious) were to open a restaurant. The most popular reply, with at least a dozen of the 159 replies to date putting this answer forward, was " Order 66. " Nearly as popular was "The Villain Pub." Certainly if it sold Pizza's the Emperor could get Team Unicorn to advertise it with a new Meghan Trainor parody,  " I'm all about that base, Pizza Base! (No Rebels!) " Any other suggestions?