In the interests of recycling (and shameless self-promotion), I’ve recently put a couple of my reprint stories up on a site called AnthologyBuilder. The URL (which may or may not be a link once it’s been through my blog editor), is http://www.anthologybuilder.com/index.php The theory is that authors put previously published work up on the site […]
I’m most of the way through the first short story I’ve written for about six months. More importantly, it’s the first short story I’ve written since completing the 125,000 word first draft of ‘Consorts of Heaven’ over a rather busy five months. I was surprised, though I probably shouldn’t have been, to find myself working […]
The process of becoming a published novelist has given me a chance for a number of new and interesting experiences. One of these is dealing with my work at later stages than I’ve been used to; when I’ve had short stories published my contact with the story ends either with signature on contract, or, if […]
My brain came up with the pithy (or pretentious) assertion below when it was meant to be working out a knotty plot point. This is absolutely not a mission statement (pah!) but it does summarise what I like in the fiction I read, and what I try to aim for in the fiction I write: […]
Pleased with myself for having finished the first draft of ‘Consorts of Heaven’ ahead of schedule, my plan for the rest of the year had been to catch up on some neglected short story admin, then devote a bit of time to non-writing related stuff (like cleaning the house). In the week up to Christmas […]
I’m feeling a sense of accomplishment, having this weekend completed the first draft of ‘Consorts of Heaven’, the sequel to ‘Principles of Angels’. It took just under five months, writing about thirty hours a week. Obviously, being a first draft, revision will be required. I already have ten pages of notes for the re-write, some […]
One of the joys of writing, especially writing SF, is that it gives me the excuse to find stuff out. Even though I’m nine-tenths of the way through the first draft of ‘Consorts of Heaven’, I’m still doing research. Admittedly my enquiries have been superficial, as I don’t want to let myself use research as […]
I’ve got an infestation of spiders in my garret. Though I’m something of an arachnophobe, these are money-spiders, and hence insy-winsy enough not to trigger my urge to jump onto the furniture and squeal like a stalked teenager. They are irritating though, as their favourite place to practice spinning webs seems to be the frame […]
I think I may have developed consumption. All right, so it probably isn’t the real thing (and yes, technically my garret is a loft conversation), but I have still got a pretty impressive cough. In the absence of laudanum I’m drinking an awful lot of tea.
I’m somewhat ambivalent about Bonfire Night. Though there are a few people who I wouldn’t mind seeing burnt in effigy, Guy Fawkes isn’t one of them. At college, I had a poster on my wall saying’ Guy Fawkes: the only man to enter Parliament with honest intentions.’ Most modern northern European festivals hark back to […]