The Bookseller recently reported that 23 indie bookshops opened in the UK in 2015, but 46 closed, bringing the total to 894. The number of indie bookshops in the UK has almost halved since 2005, when there were 1,535. source Welcome to the weekend. I've compiled a list of interesting articles for you to enjoy over the weekend.  Sit back with your favourite beverage and enjoy.  Before you do check out my post on the Arthur C. Clarke Award Shortlist for 2016. Six Titles Which Represent a Special Moment in Time for UK Science Fiction .  Which ones would you like read?  You can let me know via Twitter @nqwolf

The votes are in and six titles have been chosen that 'represent a particular special moment in time for UK science fiction' .  These titles were selected from a list of 113 individual eligible submissions, which was the second highest recorded number in the awards history. Chair of the Judges, Dr Andrew M. Butler praised the judges: “Our thirtieth award seemed especially difficult to bring down to a shortlist this year, from one of the highest submissions levels we've ever recieved. It was toughly argued, in a good-humoured way, and as ever I’m blown away by the hard work of our judges.” There were some really good books submitted (see it here) but none of shortlisted books were familiar to me. Which is a good thing and I look forward to reading a few of them.  The Australia Trilogy book  by J.P. Smythe caught my eye and so did Tchaikovsky's (and not for the name only).  I think  Award Director, Tom Hunter said it best:

Welcome back to another Random Articles across the Web (RAW).  I'm trying something new with these curated posts.  Most of the time I have so many articles which I want to share that I can't use them all, so here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to keep the really good ones for these weekly posts and then Tweet the rest through out the week.  So if you're interested start following me on  Twitter , and feel free to contact me via Twitter and let me know what you think.   click here to connect But now it's time to sit back with your favourite beverage and enjoy reading this weekend.

Do you have a Kobo eReader or a Kobo Books account? If so I have great news for you, Kobo is now offering a Price Match Guarantee.  It works a bit differently than you would expect it to, it takes a little bit of work, but Kobo will honour it and add an extra 10% on top. You need still need to pay the full price marked on the Kobo web site, you then have seven days to submit a request for price-matching and if approved you will receive a store credit.  I've tried it and it works. From a business point of view I can understand why they took this route as it keeps the money within the Kobo ecosystem. You can find out more on Kobo’s website  here . Click on the image to get a better view.

Welcome, to this weeks edition of R.A.W.  From Five Fun Facts About Alpha Centauri , best iPad apps to use with the Apple Pen, to Andy Warhol and My Smartphone and of course book stuff.  So grab your favourite beverage and enjoy a good read. This weekend my wife and I will be enjoying a Hario  V60 brewed Merlo coffee.  Oh, and if you haven't already seen it take a look at my latest post  World Building - One of my favorite things

If you've spent anytime reading my book discussions/reviews you'll probably know that I love a novel that has a well developed backstory or universe. There are some stories which can get away with not having it but I do love those which hint that the story line is just one of many other stories happening consecutively within this universe (sort of like real life).  To this end I love many novels written by Stephen Hunt .

Welcome to the weekend.  An interesting collection this week but the article that I really enjoyed the most this week was the last one The History and Magic of the Japanese Teahouse, Sit back with your favourite cup of tea and enjoy your reading, My choice this weekend is Oolong  tea, a semi-fermented tea.  Enjoy!

Welcome back. Here is this weeks offering of random articles, from Transparent wood to When Should You Read The Book Before Watching The Movie? And more.  So sit back with your favourite beverage and enjoy some weekend reading.