From the start, the aim of the blog has always been to showcase inspiring,
cool art and pop culture geekery, from poster art, comic art, book and
magazine cover art to the artworks on view from the latest new contemporary
exhibitions, and the artists that create them.
The blog is still a lot of fun to curate, even after all these years;
discovering the latest cool art, cover art, print releases and gallery shows,
showcasing art from some of my favourite artists in my long running 'Artist Spotlight' series (working my way through artists A-Z and currently at the letter R),
as well as starting each day with an #ArtOfTheDay post - something random from the Geeky Nerfherder image archives.
Although I've stopped posting to Twitter/X, and now posting on Bluesky, I'm
still active on the socials and they continue to gain new followers, even with
the algorithms doing their best to limit any visibility and with the influx of
AI slop (which I will NOT post on the blog or my socials), the number of
followers is still in the thousands! WOW! Thank you so much!! It's always
humbling and amazing to know that other people are also enjoying the artworks
I'm posting and hopefully discovering new favourite artists along the way as
well. But if you’re not already following, here are the links to my social
profiles where I post to:
You can also help support the blog by using these Affiliate Links when shopping online:
So that's another year almost done and dusted! There's still been enough
good stuff to escape into a geeky and nerdy bubble with, despite everything
2024 has conjured up, and here are a few of my favourites from the past year
below.
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GeekCons:
I love my away days to the various UK Geek Cons and events this year. Not been
to as many as in past years, but they've still been a lot of fun, mostly
regular jaunts to the
MCM Comic Con in
London, meeting guests from my favourite shows, games and movies as well as
some of my favourite authors too, plus sitting in on some cool Q&A panels
and catching up with familiar faces once again.
Click images for trailers.
Going to my first
Starfury Con this year, and meeting some of the stars from 'Star Wars: Ahsoka', was a lot of fun. But the highlight for me this year has to be the
Natural Six live D&D playthrough (I'm a regular watcher of their show every
Tuesday on
Youtube
and enjoy it so much I support them via their
Patreon
as well - always cool seeing my name in the show end credits!) and then
meeting the group at a Meet & Greet the following day (they were all
so lovely to meet in person), and leaving with an exclusive signed poster!
Whether it's been down on my own or with friends, they've been a blast and
hope to continue these nerdy days out next year!
***
Movies & Shows:
Not watched too many movies or shows this year, but here's a list of movies
and shows that I did enjoy this year.
Click images for trailers.
***
Books:
I love my stories, and read deep rather than wide, usually fantasy and science fiction, but I also enjoy dipping into historical and mythical retellings and reimaginings inspired by myths, legends and folklore.
Some of my favourite reads have been stories that break away from the
traditional SFF tropes and trends; tales inspired by cultures, mythologies
and perspectives other than my own (I am a white European cis male), and
like to immerse myself deep into the world building and lore of these
fantastical worlds, filled with interesting and engaging characters.
Once again I've really enjoyed what I've read / listened to this year. A
couple of DNF's (Did Not Finish) this year (why continue with something that
you're not into or not enjoying), but mostly some outstanding books
including a few re-reads / listens, and a few from brand new authors
that I'll definitely be watching out for in the future. There's always room
for more on the ever expanding TBR!!
Highlights have been the 'Dungeon Crawler Carl' series by Matt
Dinniman, 'The Lamplight Murder Mysteries' series by Morgan Stang,
'The Book Of Doors' by Gareth Brown, 'The Song Of The Huntress' by Lucy Holland, 'Gentlest Of Wild Things' by Sarah Underwood, 'The Tainted Cup' by Robert Jackson Bennett, 'Red Sonja: Consumed' by Gail Simone,
'Empire Of The Damned' by Jay Kristoff. and quite a few series ending
books that definitely stuck the landing, like 'The Lotus Empire' by
Tasha Suri, 'Ninth Life' by Stark Holborn, 'The Land Of The Living And The Dead' by Shauna Lawless, 'The Bound Worlds' by Megan E O'Keefe, and
more! All in all, a great bookish year!
Here's a list of the books and audiobooks that I've finished throughout the past year.
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***
Art / Illustration:
Here are just a few of my favourites (in no particular order and only
really representing the tip of a very large iceberg of awesome art) from
the many print releases, cover artwork and gallery exhibitions
throughout 2024 (no AI art or NFTs).
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|
| by Matt Ferguson |
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|
| by Martin Ansin |
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|
| by Tony Stella |
|
| by Paul Mann |
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|
| by Kevin M Wilson |
|
| by Kwow |
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|
| by Ise Ananphada |
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|
| by Martin Ansin |
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|
| by Deb JJ Lee |
|
| by Mr Melville |
.jpg)
|
| by Rory Kurtz |
|
| Cover art by Micaela Alcaino |
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|
| Cover art by Kelly Chong |
|
| Cover art uncredited |
|
| Cover art by Micaela Alcaino |
|
|
Cover art by
Tom Roberts |
|
| by Tran Nguyen |
|
| by Dan Panosian |
|
| by Jenny Frison |
|
| by Howard Lyon |
|
| by Kaysha Siemens |
|
| by Tom Bagshaw |
|
| by Soey Milk |
|
| by Janice Sung |
|
| by Julia Jenkins |
|
| by Julia Lundman |
|
| by Audrey Kawasaki |
|
| by Sarah Joncas |
%20by%20Ingrid%20Tusell.jpg)
|
| by Ingrid Tusell |
***
Gaming:
Playing RPG (Role Playing Games) video games are my jam, immersing
myself in a single player, story driven, action adventure game, with a
vast and deep, but not necessarily open, world to explore, puzzles to
solve, some good NPCs (Non Playable Characters) to interact with, good
gameplay, and a compelling protagonist that develops over the course
of the game.
I've been mostly playing on PC these days, as I don't want be
restricted to just a specific choice of hardware platform when there
are so many games available, especially from Indie Devs, and some
great deals at online stores like GOG, Steam, CD Keys etc.
But as I adore RPG gaming - a genre known for not exactly
having the shortest of games, along with life sometimes getting
in the way, I haven't played many games this year. But it's definitely
a case of quality over quantity, even though I've got a backlog of
games waiting in my to-play list and on my wishlist!
I finally managed to beat 'Baldur's Gate III' this year,
after over 160 hours playing through the world of Faerun! It was so,
so good! I've never played D&D (although I have watched some
streams; Natural Six, Oxventure etc, and read some of the lore) but I
really got immersed into that game, thanks to the characters, the in
depth world that you can explore, and the storytelling. It's
definitely very deserving of all the accolades it's been getting!
I'm still dipping back into 'Cyberpunk 2077' too, for what is now a
fourth playthrough! When this was originally released, despite the
troubles on launch (whch I didn't really experience too much of), I
ended up getting really absorbed by this game. And four years later
(and much more polished), the game is still a favourite and always a
pleasure to revisit Night City and the various characters again.
I've also just started 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard', which after
30 gameplay hours in, has been really good so far, loving the
characters and story. The first game in the series, 'Dragon Age: Origins', is one of my favourite RPGs, and it's been really good to revisit
the world of Thedas once again.
Really enjoyable RPG's, in my opinion, having good immersive
storytelling and characters to interact with and a large and in depth
environment to explore, things that I love in a game!
Click image for trailers.
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***
So there you have it, a list of some of my favourite nerdy things from
2024.
As always, thanks again to everyone who drops by the blog, and follows
me on the socials, making 'The Geeky Nerfherder' a lot of fun to
curate! Here's to another year of nerdiness!
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