| July the 4th... |
[Jul. 5th, 2009|12:04 am] |
...is my nephew's birthday. He hit the big 1 today. Happy Birthday, Jack!
Also, I had a story podcast. Japanese Motorcycle Clob, the sequel to Lonely Heart Clob. Both stories have been given the audio treatment by those able and amiable bods at Dunesteef. JMC also features a very short *ahem* bonus interview with me. If you listen to either story and enjoy it, please leave a comment on the Dunesteef site. The guys deserve encouragement. They work really hard on these productions. |
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| Twos |
[Jul. 1st, 2009|09:29 pm] |
BANG went the telly and stopped working, and then, ten minutes later, a kitchen light fell off the ceiling and shattered. S'not my day, I tells ye, it's not my day.
On the plus side, I found out that Graham Joyce has two books coming out on the 6th of August.
Not quite yin and yang, but I'll take it. |
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| Book list |
[Jun. 12th, 2009|10:52 am] |
I was tagged by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ajjones on facebook a week or two ago but didn't get round to doing this. List fifteen fave books. Don't think about it, just do it.
The Tooth Fairy by Graham Joyce
Player of Games by Iain M Banks
Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
The Last Guardian by David Gemmell
Standing on Shamsan by Garry Kilworth
The Naked Ape by Desmond Morris
A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin
Sacrifice of Fools by Ian McDonald
The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
The Green Mile by Stephen King
The Bridge by Iain Banks
Skin Tight by Carl Hiaasen |
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| Me, aged eight |
[Jun. 7th, 2009|11:08 pm] |
As mentioned in a post earlier this year, I contacted an old school friend. Tonight, while up my mum and dad's house I was rooting through some old school pix to scan and send him. I thought I'd share this one with you.
I'm eight in this one. My life wasn't complicated. I was either playing football, dossing around down the brook, reading comics, drawing superheroes or writing gross-out horror stories. I look at this picture and I'm looking at a person comfortable in his skin, something I haven't been since I was 12 or 13. He's untouched by bitterness or regret or disappointment. I've sometimes wondered what I'd say to my younger self if I could go back and meet him. What words of wisdom would I share? Tonight I've realised I wouldn't say anything. What could I tell him?
And where did all my lovely hair go! |
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| Not white goods |
[May. 30th, 2009|09:23 am] |
It's a bit sad to look at your LJ page and see a post about washing machines. So, a writing update. Don't groan! I could talk about having the kitchen tiled instead. My life really is that exciting.
Had a productive three or four days this week. I'm now halfway through chapter 32, with two more to go. The end is nigh. Hurrah! I would have written a lot more but I reached a point where I wasn't enjoying myself, and I can't help feeling that if I'm not enjoying writing, no one will enjoy reading it. That's when it's time to rest, to read, watch TV and talk to other people a bit.
The Rival Wood Witch
Currently reading and loving Matter by Iain M Banks. The best Culture novel since Inversions. The last book I read was an ARC of Fifty Grand by Adrian McKinty. If you've read McKinty before you don't need me to tell you how bloody good he is. If you haven't read one of his books, you should is all I'm saying. Fifty Grand is as good a place as any to start. |
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| White goods |
[May. 25th, 2009|04:45 pm] |
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Does anyone reading this have a washer dryer combo? Are they any good? Will my whites come out whiter than white? Are they reliable? Years ago they had a bad reputation but I'm wondering if they're okay now. Jill wants one, you see, so I said I'd so some market research. :) |
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| Charity Antho |
[May. 12th, 2009|02:14 pm] |
Announcing the publication of The Fleas They Carried: Animal Aid Anthology, available now on Lulu in both electronic (.pdf) and paperback. Stories by Jetse de Vries, Jennifer Brozek, Michael Merriam, Michael Stone, Eugie Foster, Diane Payne and Michael Jasper
ALL proceeds from The Fleas They Carried will be donated to reputable shelter and rescue groups that have been hit hardest by environmental disasters. The editor will be matching (out of his own pocket) dollar-for-dollar (within reason now, don't break the bank) and donating matched funds to the ongoing efforts involved with the 600 dogs that were rescued from several puppy mills earlier this year in the PACNORWEST.
I hope you'll consider buying this book, folks. Click on the cover pic above to be directed to the Lulu page. |
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| Black Static and novellas |
[May. 9th, 2009|05:43 pm] |
I was invited by Pete Tennant at Black Static magazine to chat about my fave novella. It wasn't easy to choose just one, and I wasn't sure whether some of my faves were actually long shorts or short novels. Anyway, I picked one in the end. You can read what I and others had to say here.
What would you have plumped for? |
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| Bits and pieces |
[May. 8th, 2009|09:19 am] |
The Rival Wood Witch stands at 66,000 words approx. Another 8,000 to go. Yeah, I keep upping the target wordcount. I'm consistent like that. Meanwhile, some of the biggest publishers in the land -- Tor, Little Brown, Bloomsbury -- have passed on To Pastures New. Comments from editors are mostly along the lines of 'too dark and mature for middle grade readers'. I'm seriously thinking about adding a couple of years to Heather's age to nudge the book into the lower end of the YA range. Seems odd to me that because a character is eleven then that must the age of the target audience. Still, if that's the way it is, then that's the way it is and I need to address it.
You'll have to excuse my absence on these pages of late. I can however tell you that I really enjoyed the Iron-Man movie, that the latest U2 album is mediocre and that the rather bizarre computer game And Yet It Moves should be retitled And Yet It Is Addictive. I completed it last night though so maybe I can put it away now. |
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| Run Fatboy, Run! |
[May. 4th, 2009|08:21 pm] |
I daresay you've seen this on Mark Deniz's facebook, his lj and other forums he hangs out on, but I figured there might be some people on my flist that are not on his so...
He says, "On Thursday 7th May, I'll be running in Norrköping for The Children's Heart Foundation. More info can be found on the link below."
Sponsor Mark!
You know, if we all just chip in a quid or two, we could help Mark reach his target. I'd like that. |
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| HB2 progress report |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|05:36 pm] |
3k written this week, and most of that written yesterday and today. I'm closing in on the end of Chapter 29, five more to go (I think). I've also raised the target by 2k. The fact is I don't know what I'm doing. I just make this stuff up as I go along. It seems to work.
The Rival Wood-Witch I'm wondering, should I nix the hyphen?
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| HB2 progress update |
[Apr. 17th, 2009|03:43 pm] |
A good week. Kind of. I wrote 4k in four days, then struggled to scratch out 1k over the next three. That's the way it goes sometimes. I've come to a pivotal scene -- one the reader will, I hope, be looking forward to all through the book -- so I gotta milk the sucker for all its worth.
The Rival Wood-Witch
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| Improve your word power |
[Apr. 16th, 2009|01:54 am] |
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I just discovered there is such a word as paradiddle-diddle. That will go into HB2 even if it kills me. |
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| Jolly Hockey Sticks |
[Apr. 12th, 2009|11:30 am] |
Heather Berry has been picked for the school hockey team, so I'm reading up on the sport -- hurrah for Wikipedia! It'd be nice, though, to have someone on hand who has actually played or watched the sport. If you can help and don't mind answering a few questions, drop me a line or leave a comment below. Thanks in advance.
NB. For my N American friends, this is field hockey, not ice hockey.
Meanwhile, Happy Easter, everybody! |
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| Heather Berry 2 progress |
[Apr. 10th, 2009|02:22 pm] |
It's been a while since I posted a progress report on The Rival Wood-Witch. I used to do them weekly when I was writing book one, To Pastures New, but I wrote HB1 quite quickly, over a period of six months or so. HB2 has been over a year in the making.
Anyway. I've flattened out that rat's nest I made for myself a couple of weeks ago. I untangled the last knot this morning and now I can forge on ahead again. Bliss. Also, while I was away this week, I jotted down several pages' worth of ideas, jokes, scraps of dialogue etc. all stream of consciousness stuff which is now sitting at the side of my computer serving as inspiration for what is, I hope, the final leg of the journey.
The Rival Wood-Witch
Note the drastically reduced wordcount. I thought RWW would be in the region of 85k, but I fully expect it to be in the region of 70-75k now. Not good for an adult book, but fine for something aimed at a younger audience. S'all good. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 9th, 2009|08:00 pm] |
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Just back after a few days in an internet-less wilderness. Gimme a little while to catch up with your posts, okay. |
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| Mr Make-It-Up-As-I-Go-Along comes unstuck...again |
[Apr. 2nd, 2009|12:26 pm] |
Chapter 24 is done.
Chapter 25 is done,
Chapter 26 is underway. But, um, now I come to think about it, this bit -- for reasons too complicated and boring to go into here -- should be chapter 23 or 24. Except I've had to plot the book so far around the school timetable, so I can't just plop this bit in in any old where.
Oh. Bugger.
ADDENDUM: I have a solution! It will require the Crowbar of Painful Insertion -- and create all kinds of problems in time and space -- but it's a fix. Of sorts. For now. |
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| Oh.... |
[Mar. 28th, 2009|08:46 am] |
D'you remember Everyday Weirdness accepting (eventually) my 700-word story Cutting the Cord? It was accepted on March 13th. I snail mailed the contract on the 15th and have been waiting for a) acknowledgment that it arrived and b) a publishing schedule.
I was browsing the site today, looking at previously published stories, and came across mine! It was published on the 13th. Is that the quickest acceptance-to-publication or what?! Anyway, you can read it here. |
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