Tyranny of the Blank Page: December 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

Ow-Wiis

So that's Christmas done with then. For us it meant the usual consumption of food and drink, with the added bonus of aches and muscle spasms. Because this year, we got a Wii.

Don't get me wrong, it's great. We got a selection of games that everyone could play and a fun time was had by the entire crowd of family and friends with whom we spent Christmas Day. The problem is that after a few hours of boxing, bowling and lightsaber duelling, my shoulders and arms started to feel like they'd been beaten with a sockful of loose change. The damn thing really ought to come with a health warning (Do Not Operate to Excess. Do Not Operate Under the Influence of Alcohol).

Apart from that, it's been reasonably quiet and enjoyable, as Christmases go. Not everyone was so lucky, however, with a fatal shark attack just 15 minutes up the coast from where we went to the beach on Boxing Day. Puts that post I made a few days back about Australia's dangerous wildlife into perspective.

Apart from that it's back to work today - there's still a bit to do yet before New Year kicks in. More later.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas

Just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas - stay well and I'll be back with (I hope) more regular posts soon.

Cheers!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Ho Ho D'oh!

Yesterday was the last day of the school term, and with the Christmas holiday also being the long summer holiday in this country I'm staring down the barrel of seven weeks of child wrangling. That's nearly two months of getting very little work done ... The last couple of weeks have been a rush to get everything finished before the teachers flung back my offspring and scampered into the sunset, giggling.

The mad activity has, however, been tempered by the fact that when school goes back in February both my kids will be attending full time. Yes ... I'll be getting five whole days each week to work on the projects of my choice. It'll have been a long time since I've been that productive, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Anyway, digressing ... first day of the holidays, first activity: taking the kids to see Santa down the local department store. Because I'm woefully disorganised, I would also be doing a lot of last-minute present hunting, so the plan was my wife would queue with the kids while I ran about buying surprises.

I estimated I had about half an hour, by the time they'd stood in line and done the whole sitting-on-knees part. So I charged around, fighting my way through hordes on a par with the sacking of Rome, and in 30 minutes I'd done, oh less than half of what I needed to do.

Flinging a pile of purchases through a checkout, I rushed to the department store ... where my family still hadn't even reached the front of the queue.

Part and parcel of the Santa experience in this country is getting your photo taken with the fat man himself. Unfortunately it's not a case of someone firing off a Polaroid and hustling you out the door. No, no, these shots are digital. You get a choice.

It seems one precious parent was having difficulty selecting which of the snaps her little darling looked best in ... to the tune of 20 minutes of umm-ing and ahh-ing. Meanwhile, out in the queue, where impatient children were starting to grumble, whinge or just plain scream, crowds of parents scowled darkly. We couldn't tell which picture the child should get, but the mother ... oh, we all knew exactly the kind of shot she wanted.

In the end we did get to see the Rotund One ... and were in and out in five minutes. I then had to spend a further half hour rushing around like a maniac while my wife and children grabbed lunch. Still, by the afternoon I could forget about the needlessly expended energy and the ground teeth and feel happy with a job well done.

The kids are asleep now and I've just sat down to start wrapping presents. I have several rolls of gold wrapping paper and a throbbing vein in my forehead.

Because all of the rolls of paper say 'Congratulations on your Wedding'.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

National Anthem

Hello!

Yes, I'm still here, just a bit under the cosh (thanks for asking!).

To tide you over, here's a contender for the new Australian National Anthem ... it gets my vote.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Hear that?

No?

That's silence, that is. I'd almost forgotten what that's like these last couple of weeks - I've barely had time to blink, let alone write anything here.

So, what's been going on?

Leaving aside the various illnesses that've ravaged the household (Vomiting! Sneezing! Man-flu!) it's been all about the magazine work lately. True to my prediction that things would kick off in the run-up to Christmas, I've been busy knocking out rewrites and arranging interviews for the Sydney mags.

This week's project has seen me banished to Perth's suburbs. I was out there to conclude a story dropped in my lap by another journo who hadn't the time to tie up the loose ends herself before leaving the mag for another posting. No, not the two-headed pussy - I was talking to a family who've had a pretty rough time over the last few years, but who are finally pulling out of it. Nice lot, polite and welcoming, but I wish they didn't live so far from the city. Perth's 'burbs freak me out at the best of times, but when I'm driving somewhere I've never been before in a car that's making worrying overheating hissy noises I get even more twitchy.

Squeezed in and around this I've been doing the usual reviews (Wanted has been my recent favourite, a film that gives hope to anyone who wants to be a Hollywood screenwriter. Seems if you can hold a crayon, you got the job) and catching up on some TV I've let slide past (The Wire - hurrah! Spooks - double hurrah! Dexter - woo-hoo!).

As to other writing ... hmmm. Not a lot of physical progress there, although I have been kicking around a couple of ideas for something I'm not nearly ready to get into properly yet. The story I had picked up at the start of the month still needs rewrites, meanwhile, but is on hold while Amanda-Editor moves house. Best of luck with that, I feel your pain.

After my catch-up with Mondy earlier this month, I've also joined the Australian Horror Writers' Association. It's more in response to the whole sitting-at-a-keyboard-in-isolation element of writing than anything else, as the consensus seems to be I need to get out more. Except that now I'll be staying in more to skim the website, obviously. Still, it's a good time to join - now I've actually got a couple of horror stories in print, I don't feel like a complete charlatan signing up.

I've also just heard from Mark over at Morrigan, who's been suspiciously silent for some time now (something about a new baby, no sleep, busy. Congrats, sir!) He's just got round to telling me that Just Us, my story from the Voices anthology, was performed at a reading at FantasyCon back in September ... by none other than the good Mr Simon Guerrier. Apparently fruit-pelting was at a minimum, which probably says more for his performance than my writing.

To finish off, a couple of other quick congratulations. First to old mate David Bishop, who after years of sterling work on Big Finish's Doctor Who spin-offs has just had his first commission for their main Doctor Who range - Enemy of the Daleks is out next May.

Meanwhile Who legend and complete gent Marc Platt has landed a twelve-part (count 'em: twelve) story for the same line. The Three Companions will be serialised throughout next year as part of the Doctor Who main range and features not only classic series companion Anneke Wills but also the delightfully barmy Katy Manning. How can you resist?

And that's me. Off now for some more reviewing. Keeping Up With the Kardashians Season One, anybody?

Ah, now that's silence.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Mags, Books, Writers, Awards

Christmas is coming, and with it a bit of extra work for some Sydney magazines who need the additional manpower over the festive season (to make their deadlines early and so get a little bit of time off for turkey and presents).

The extra hours mean my creative writing will obvously slow down a little, but in the meantime there's a spot of good news on that front too. I got word over the weekend from the editors of an upcoming anthology that the story I submitted at the end of last month has been accepted. Much as I'd like to rattle on about the book, I'll wait until there's been an official announcement about the contents. When that comes I can do all the exciting things like posting a list of authors and pictures of the cover. Until then, I'm just waiting on an email from the eds about tweaks, polishes and rewrites.

In other news, my writer mate Mondy has been in town for a wedding, and I popped out to meet him down the pub last night. A few familiar faces from Swancon also turned up to the catch up, and continued to initiate me into the names and antics of several players on the West Australian sci-fi writing scene. I absorbed as much as I could, but often there was just too much information - which again suggests I need to spend less time at the keyboard and more time getting out and meeting people.

Lastly huge congratulations to Rob Shearman for taking out a World Fantasy Award for his short story collection Tiny Deaths. There aren't superlatives enough to describe how good it is, so if you haven't read it yet, read it now. No excuses.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Tank's For Nothing

We've had a semi-formed plan for a few weeks now to get the kids a little aquarium for Christmas. Back in Sydney they had a couple of goldfish (who had to be donated to their daycare centre when we left) and the question of replacing them has been raised again, so why not?

As with most things, timing's everything. If we hadn't been discussing it, my wife wouldn't have mentioned the plan to a couple of her friends. They, in turn, wouldn't have immediately revealed that they were moving house and no longer wanted their warm-water set-up ...

So we're now the proud owners of some very swish fish in a proper tank with sunken ships and everything. Woo-hoo! Thanks then to Jane and Andrew for being early Santas.

Meanwhile I've finished that story for the Morrigan crew and fired it off for judgment. Won't hear anything more about that until next month, but there's plenty to be getting on with in the meantime. I should probably start on that other yarn they asked me to think about some months back, shouldn't I?

And even though it's the most abject and disastrous display of football I've ever had the misfortune to witness, I'm trying to maintain a sense of humour about those lads in north London. So this one's for Steve Nash, who has so far resisted rubbing it in too hard (but give him time):

What's the difference between Spurs and a triangle?

A triangle has three points.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Here's Voices

My contributor copy for Voices just arrived (hurrah!). It's on general release at the end of the month, although I understand convention-goers in the UK and those lucky enough to make it to Conflux in Canberra earlier this month have had sneaky previews. I'll be reading it as soon as I'm done with a book about Beijing.

Parallel to that, I completed the first draft of another submission for Morrigan today. It still needs a good scrub-up (the dialogue could have been written by my five-year-old son), but considering I was looking at not finishing it at all when the housing crisis was at its height I'm pretty damn pleased to have got this far.

And further to the housing issues, yesterday saw - for the second time in two houses - our sewage system backing up and volcanoing excrement all over the garden. The plumber, who proved the strength of his stomach while clearing the blockage, told me it's not an uncommon problem in houses around here.

'Really?' I responded. It didn't seem right to say 'No shit'.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Use It or Lose It

Got a good solid block of writing in today, polishing off a couple of thousand words for a short story I've had on hold since before the move. It's the first time in weeks that I've been able to sit in one place and work undisturbed for a few hours.

Unfortunately it seems my body's got out of the writing habit: my back's just started to seize up from sitting and typing on the laptop. Which confirms (albeit for different reasons) that the best thing you can do if you want to be a writer is to keep on writing.

I'm off now. Going to lay flat on the floor for a bit.

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Not-So-Grand Theft Auto

It's nice to see that even though we've only moved a couple streets across from our old house the tone of the neighbourhood has dropped dramatically. At any rate it didn't take long for our car to get broken into.

Satisfyingly the potential thieves - who had a choice of plundering sweet wrappers, some cassettes from the 80s (Now That's What I Call Music 6 ... classy), a couple of old magazines and a half-eaten Vegemite sandwich - got away empty handed. Fuel prices being what they are, there wasn't even any petrol in the tank for them to siphon out. Obviously unimpressed they left the door open so the interior could get rained on. Ho hum.

In other crime news, our dog dug a hole in the garden next to our back porch this morning, unearthing a large pile of 'exotic' cigarette butts. Good to see that even though she quit the force seven years ago, she's still got it.

Meanwhile it's still school holidays here, and keeping the kids amused is always a problem for parents. Yes, there are all those who argue that sitting the littlies down in front of the TV for an hour or two is a Bad Thing, but then again the alternative is to let them make their own entertainment.

Bet they wish they'd let him watch Ben 10 now.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Whose Line Is It Anyway?

We've been in the new house for a week now and today - finally - we have been blessed with a working phone and internet. The idea was that it'd all be ready to go the day after we moved in, but territorial issues between phone companies put paid to that.

My telecommunications provider of choice has to rent lines from Australia's biggie, Telstra. That meant Telstra's chaps had to flick a switch to allow my lot to use it.

Days pass, no line. A long call (on my mobile, because I have no land line ...) revealed the switch had been flicked, but no one had told anyone that they'd flicked it.

Some swearing followed, including several slight variations on the word 'flickers'.

Then my telecom company had to run their line in. More days pass, still no dial tone. Another long call on the mobile revealed yes, there was a fault. Estimated repair time: two to three days ...

In the meantime I've been blagging net minutes from other people, which has really boiled down to reading email (but only replying if urgent) and a very small amount of Facebookery. I'll be getting back to everyone who's been trying to reach me as quickly as possible. Promise.

So what with our TV not getting connected until October 1st, it's been very quiet indeed ... but in the event I've not really had much spare time to fill. Today also marked the final day of a week of cleaning out the old house. Yup, seven days, five hours a day to clean a house, top to bottom. No ordinary clean, this one. If we want to see any of our rental deposit again, the hygeine standards must conform to the directives on the 'Vacation Inspection Guide' kindly provided by our outgoing real estate agent. That means a level of sterility on par with an operating theatre.

For all that, I still expect to get screwed out of at least some of the money. Such is renting.

So all up I've not written anything meaningful in more than a month. Which means I really need to get my finger out. Starting tomorrow.

Until then, four words to scare all those people who were terrified of being swallowed up by black holes created by Hadron Colliders: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

If anything sucks hard enough to implode the universe, it's that lot.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

House: About That

After much scrabbling about to find the couple of thousand dollars to secure it, we signed the lease on a new house this morning. The market being what it is, we're paying the same as this old place for a much smaller home, and we'll be flat broke for weeks while we recover from the expense of moving, but hey - we won't be living in a cardboard box come October 2.

Thanks to those of you who emailed or posted here with your support, and in the case of one friend who really can't afford it, an offer of money towards the deposit - you know who you are, special thanks to you!

So aside from the continued crating up of everything we own and the inevitable two-week loss of TV/Internet/Various Valuable Documents post-move, it should be business as usual very soon. In the meantime, a quick round-up of what's been going on in the background.

The first reviews of Transmissions have started to appear, and I'm exceedingly pleased to say they're very positive. Those of you with access to the Doctor Who Forum can check out what forum member Styre had to say in the Transmissions Discussion Thread. I won't go into details, because there are some spoilers in there for anyone who's not read the stores yet, but overall he like.

Meanwhile Sci-Fi Online has got its review up too - similarly good, if a bit bizarre (the reviewer appears to love the book, then awards it 6/10 ...). That one's more or less spoiler-free, so view with abandon.

I managed to read the book myself in amongst everything else, and all bias aside it is rather good - top job by editor Richard Salter who deserves another commission quick-smart. My picks for top tales? Hard pressed to choose between Ian Mond's Policy to Invade, a cleverly constructed tale that plays to the show's strengths - large-scale sci-fi that doesn't neglect the small-scale emotional heart; Lonely, a deceptively simple but thoroughly creepy spin on internet chatrooms by Richard Wright; and iNtRUsioNs by Dave Hoskin which I can't really get into without spoiling it.

Enough glad-handing. Go grab a copy and see for yourself.

In other news, Voices is now available for pre-order. I was amused to see the cover blurb on editor Amanda Pillar's site tagging the contributors as 'master storytellers' - that kept my ego stoked for a few days ... and it also reminds me, quick shout out to Amanda, who's been very understanding about a submission I'm working on and how the housing crisis has led to its temporary derailing. Good news - with that sorted out now, I should still be done on time. Woo-hoo!

I've also fired off a testing-of-the-water email to a company concerning a new(ish) range of stories they're putting out. So far the expected utter silence, but in fairness if I'd had a reply I'd not have been able to do very much about it until now anyway. Ho hum.

And last but not least, a magazine story I've been trying to get off the ground since April has final shown a spark of life. It's become a small obsession, seeing it through - one way or another it'll be done by the start of November. Hooray.

There you go then. Nothing for weeks, then a novella's worth in one post. I hope it won't take so long next time ...

Thursday, September 04, 2008

House of Horrors

When we all uprooted ourselves from Sydney and moved to Perth a couple of years back, one of the reasons was that the rental property was so abundant and - compared to New South Wales - so cheap.

Well that's come back to bite us in the arse, hasn't it?

You may have noticed it's been a fortnight since I posted on here last. The first of those two weeks was lost preparing for our quarterly property inspection. Every three months the landlord's agent pops around to make sure we're not running a crack house or breeding livestock in the living room. That in turn means that I have to spend a week beforehand removing all trace of drugs and pig droppings so we don't get caught out. But after many days of scrubbing, buffing and polishing, job done. Get the inspection itself out of the way and I'd be able to get back to work.

Except that when the agent arrived he didn't even take the time to inhale his first whiff of polish before dropping a bomb on us. It seems the owner wants to move some relatives in and that our lease isn't getting renewed when it runs out .. on October 2.

Now since we moved to WA there've been property booms and credit crunches and all kinds of economic shenanigans that have led to not only higher rents but also a shortage of rental properties. In simple terms we have been left with the task of finding a new home in a town where you'd have more chance of spotting a unicorn, all the while knowing that for the same rent we're paying here we'll have to settle for somewhere considerably smaller.

Then, of course, there's the small problem of having to conjure up around $3000 for the requisite deposit/advance rent you need to put down whenever you rent a place. And let's not forget that our options are further narrowed by having to stay in the catchment area for our school, unless we want to pull the kids out and find them a new place of education.

All this - assuming we need a week to sign papers and physically move - realistically needs to be sorted out in about three weeks.

Which is why I've been a bit quiet. Quite apart from having to divert almost all my free time to looking for a place and starting to pack up the house (got to do it now regardless of whether we find anywhere) I've been too bloody furious to post anything here without devolving into sweary ranting.

In the meantime there have been a few work-related snips of news that are worth putting up - I'll be blogging them as soon as I get the chance - but if I'm off the radar for a bit that's why. With a bit of luck I'll have some news sooner rather than later.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Who's Your Daddy?

Still plugging away here at various projects, none of which are in a state to provide much excitement for you readers (it's not all glam this writing lark, you know). So today I'll just be bigging up my old schoolmate Alex Hitchen, who is becoming something of a media star up there in the States after breaking that whole John Edwards paternity scandal. Here's just one of the interviews he's done since the story went nova last week:

Hooray!

As for me, well the only fatherhood issue I'm grappling with is that my daughter turns seven today. Seven! I'm scared to blink in case I open my eyes and she's 21 ...

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Busted

Every now and again I like to browse through Site Meter's record of who's been reading this blog. Aside from finding that I'm still getting a lot of hits from people who are interested in how to kill sharks, one visitor in particular caught my eye.

The reader in question hailed from the Philippines and found his or her way here after doing a Google search for 'short story written by swizz author'.

Well whoever they are, they've certainly got my number ...

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Enquiring Minds

Quite a few of the people I went to school and university with have gone on to careers in the media - from magazine publishing to breakfast radio hosting to print journalism. The latter is the province of my mate Alex, who after a time on the tabloids in the UK landed a job as a reporter for the National Enquirer in the US. He sent me this little clip of what he's been up to:

Which makes him, as far as I know, the first of us to get national TV coverage and the first to make news instead of just reporting it.

Always knew he would be.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Transcripts, Transmissions, Transfers

I love school. Well I love it when the kids go to school. Means I get things done. After weeks of barely a spare moment to myself, I'm now back at something approaching full steam.

For a start, the peace and quiet means I've been able to transcribe an interview I did about three weeks ago for a women's magazine. I hate transcribing at the best of times, if only because it seems like such a waste of effort. Normally about three-quarters of what I take off the tape ends up not being used. But try doing it with a four-year-old going off in one ear and a six-year-old going off in the other. Not pretty.

With that out of the way the actual writing part of the process was comparatively painless and as of this afternoon I can cross it off my huge To Do list.

I've also seen off the proofs for Just Us, my story in the upcoming Voices anthology. A couple of you have asked when that'll be hitting shelves. That'll be October then.

Work continues to progress on two other submissions I'm tinkering with, but I've also decided to try to branch out into a different direction with something. A couple of scribe pals of mine have been good enough to help me out with this - I'm not allowed to reveal their identities or how they've helped, but they pop in here every now and again, so thanks to you both and I'll be talking to you later!

In the meantime, my author's copies of Transmissions arrived yesterday, all pink and new like little babies. There are a couple of promotional activities for the book you might want to check out here on the web - over on the Doctor Who Forum a number of the writers will be posting short insights into how their stories were written. Think of them as DVD extras if you like. Melbourne writer Dave Hoskin is first out of the blocks, talking about his story iNtRUsioNs, and I'll be putting mine on the site in a couple of days. Just head to the Big Finish area of the forum (it's in the Worlds of Doctor Who section) and it's easy to find from there.

Also editor Richard Salter has provided a look behind the scenes of the book from commissioning to publication in the latest issue of Enlightenment magazine. I've not read it myself yet, but I'll be ordering a copy shortly. You can do the same here.

And to finish, I'd like to express my disappointment - nay, dismay - at the latest shenanigans in the Premier League transfer market. When a team has a shocking defensive record and only managed to salvage anything last season becasue they scored a lot of goals, it makes perfect sense for them to start selling off their top strikers, doesn't it?

God, it sucks being a Spurs fan.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Some Day My Prints Will Come

God, it's been nearly a month since I last posted on here - not good, but I've got several excuses and here's a nice big update to make up for it.

Various writing jobs have been proceeding at various paces. A brain-frying stint of research into blood disorders has finally yielded results, meaning I'm about ready to start on a pitch for an as-yet unannounced anthology. Not wanting to curse it, I've got a pretty good feeling about this one, but we all know how often that can change once the typing starts ...

What else? A couple of weeks ago the Supanova pop culture expo landed in Perth, and I managed to toddle along there for an hour or so with my son (who has most definitely inherited his father's geek gene). For me the chief lure wasn't the special guests (who included Lt Uhuru off of Star Trek), rather the various dealers' tables. When I was at university, I used to go to events like these once a month in search of old comics - it was as much about the thrill of the hunt as it was about finally accumulating that complete run of Swamp Thing ... So I was immensely disappointed to find the selections on offer were poor and over-priced. I didn't even manage to pick up any Doctor Who themed goodies for the boy (such things are ludicrously scarce in this part of the world). I think he was less worried by that than the rubbery guy stalking him, though:

A few days later the little guy was in hospital to have his tonsils and adenoids out, both to fix his appetite and an impending speech problem. He's been grumpy all week (understandably), but not a patch on the satanic mood he was in when he came out from under the anaesthetic. It's all well and good being told that some people react badly to waking up from such a deep drug-induced sleep, but it's scant comfort when the screaming, spitting, thrashing bundle of confusion kicks you so hard in the guts that you go down like the proverbial sack of spuds.

As well as post-operative care for him, the onset of school holidays for my daughter has also put a crimp in my writing time, as has the electrical surge last week that melted the power supply in the back of my PC. Apparently it's a 15-minute job, replacing the damaged doo-dad ... unfortunately that 15 minutes wouldn't be freed up for the techie people for several days. Smashing. That left me dusting off the laptop I retired several years ago. When it was new, it was a blinder of a machine. Now, with it's web speed of one page every 20 minutes or so, it might as well have been clockwork. It certainly wound me up.

But it's not all been disasters chewing up my time. The recent arrival from the UK of several dozen boxes of belongings I left there when I moved to Australia 11 years ago has led to numerous hours disappearing as if by magic. One carton in particular - filled with diaries, letters and assorted memorabilia from university - has transported me back to 1995 for most of the last week. Now that was a good year.

And to finish off, I've just had news that the new Short Trips book Transmissions (which features my Third Doctor yarn Link) has come out a couple of weeks ahead of time. You can now grab it from bookshops or the Big Finish website, conveniently clickable here.

Oh, none of that explains the title for this post. I had a call a couple of days ago to inform me that a local chemist had found a packet of photos we'd put in to be developed ... 20 months ago. A relatively minor incident, but hey, think of all the punny goodness that would have gone to waste in the title if I hadn't mentioned it.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Latest Transmission

Not a great deal to report from the last couple of days - finished a story and wrote the dreaded 'back-of-the-book-bio' that goes with it; hit up a friend in the medical profession for a touch of scientific realism I hope to include in a new pitch; did a swift read-through for a story a mate's writing; and taught my kids how to fly a kite. We avoided all the trees and power cables and everything.

Meanwhile the release of the Doctor Who Short Trips book Transmissions is fast approaching (July 31, according to the Big Finish website) and editor Richard Salter has been doing his bit to promote the release while I've been pottering around, largely oblivious. He's given a rather good interview to Unreality SF about the book, its genesis and some of the stories you'll be able to read therein. You can read it here. And so you should.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Running Lines

Simon G has tagged me in return for the song meme I roped him into, setting me this task: “To participate,” say the rules, “you grab any book, go to page 123, find the fifth sentence, and blog it. Then tag five people.”

When Simon was set this, it was specified he should pick from a sci-fi book, but since it's not clear if I have to do the same (and because I'm splendid value for money), I'll do one that is, one that isn't:

'The commune got their ration tickets; they were allowed to keep their money, although they didn't have very much-'

Joe Haldeman, Peace and War, The Omnibus Edition

'You're not watching someone from a pushbike,' said May.

Christopher Fowler, Ten-Second Staircase

And now to the taggery: David, Adam, Paul, Amanda and (because Paul's quite right when he says you need to blog more, m'dear) Rachel.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Odd Job Man

So aside from popping in here to quiz people on their musical choices, what's been happening? Well there's been plenty to keep me busy, but for all the effort there's been little that's shown immediately obvious results.

I've spent a good deal of time on rewrites for an upcoming short story, a job that should have been easy but that ended up causing me some serious structural problems. Being told that I was the only writer the editors were still waiting for (the first time that's happened!) lit a fire under me, however, and I hope the version now being re-edited has addressed all the main problems. (If it hasn't, it's back to work ...)

Meanwhile I've been invited to pitch for another upcoming anthology, and ideas for that have been fermenting in a quiet corner of my head. With a reasonable block of free time today, I'm aiming to get a synopsis off at least, now that I have the core of a plot. The deadline for this one puts it ahead of finishing my story for Morrigan's Second Storey anthology (although that's looking good) and my constantly-put-back spec script. Of course, that's the problem with writing something as an audition piece - no deadline means no pressure means no finish.

I've also been lining up some interviews for a magazine in Sydney, covering everything from medical miracles to family tragedies. The availability of the subjects is causing me some problems, however - even though they're all keen to talk - so it's another of those situations where lots of effort is being expended but there's little to show for it.

And then, of course, there's Euro 2008 chewing up large chunks of my time. No England, obviously, but it's turning into a cracking tournament for the neutral, with plenty of upsets and surprises.

One bit of good news to finish - there's a fresh review of In Bad Dreams over at ASif, which includes some nice comments about This Train Terminates Here. It's the second review on the page, so scoot down to the bottom if you fancy a look. Good to see that after the initial wave of dislike for the tale, some more positive reviews are coming in. Yay!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

MiTunes

Apologies for the enforced absence again - lots on my plate at the minute, and I promise to drop in later and tell you all about it. In the meantime, my old mate David Bishop (over at Vicious Imagery) has tagged me with this musical meme. Here's the deal:

"List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your spring. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to."

So, the top seven songs in my life at the moment ...

1) Here I Go Again '87 - Whitesnake. My wife latched onto some throwaway comment I made a while ago about my teenage love of big-haired rock, and this song was top of the list. She got me a copy for my birthday in February and even now I'm giving it a ridiculously high amount of rotation. (Normally headphones only, though. I can only put it on the speakers - loudly - when there's no one about. And under no circumstances is there to be any singing into broomsticks ...)

2) Nylon Smile - Portishead. Tough call between this and Hunter from the trip-hoppers' third album. Nylon Smile wins on points both for being a sublime effort and for avoiding the silly wibbly bits that have crept into some of the other tracks on the disc.

3) I Fought The Law - The Clash. Pinched from the soundtrack to the TV show Ashes To Ashes, it's been on my iPod for my morning run. I've been leeching its energy during that difficult last half-a-k.

4) Hear That Sound - INXS. I've just received a large number of boxes from the UK containing all the personal effects I left behind 11 years ago. One of the items I've fallen upon with misty-eyed nostalgia is the VHS/CD combo Live Baby Live, recorded at Wembley Stadium in July 1991 (and still the best gig I've ever been to by quite some distance). Hear That Sound jumped out at me because I've been stuck with Best Of ... compilations for all my INXS needs over the last decade, and I'd completely forgotten this song even existed. Loved it then, love it now.

5) All You Need Is Love - The Beatles. Dug out an old Fab Four CD as mood music while I've been reading a history of Britain in the 60s. Bizarrely I've also discovered it's the perfect length for timing soft-boiled eggs for my daughter ...

6) Temptation - The God Machine. Because I've been asked to write a short story based on it. Which is kind of a swizz because it has no lyrics. Plentiful listening has given me the springboard I need, though, including sinister use of wind-chimes ...

7) On Her Majesty's Secret Service - John Barry Orchestra. Because no other theme tune to a film pushes exactly the right emotional buttons for me (I hear this and immediately want to ski quickly down a mountian, pursued by e-vil henchmen ...). Oh, and because it's the ring-tone on my mobile, so I get to hear it a lot.

So that's me - I now tag Mark Deniz, Simon Guerrier, Paul Robinson, Ian Mond, Adam Williams, Amanda Pillar and Erykah Brackenbury. Away you go, guys.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Writer's Black and White Heat

Been wallowing for the last week or so in what I like to call Writer's Black, that peculiar brand of depression in which you suddenly realise that the story you've been working on so long and so hard is actually ... well, crap.

That's not to say it's not salvagable. What it does mean - for me, anyway - is that I'm far too close to be objective. So I ditched the job and I've done nothing but read and play rubbish computer games since last Wednesday.

And I'm happy to say that's done the trick. Looking at the story again today everything that made it crap suddenly seemed not only obvious but also eminently fixable - hooray!

The book I've been filling my hours with in the meantime is White Heat by Dominic Sandbrook - one of those rare authors who can make history not just accessible but entertaining too. Centring on Britain between 1964 and 1970, it's a comprehensive account of not just the politics but also the music and movies, fashions and fads of the time. Amusingly it takes just four pages for Doctor Who to get a mention ...

So here's one of the many things that made me laugh therein. It's a story quoted by Sandbrook about politician and alcohol fan George Brown attending a reception for a delegation from Peru

'George made a bee-line for this gorgeously crimson-clad figure, and said, 'Excuse me, but may I have the pleasure of this dance?'

There was a terrible silence for a moment before the guest, who knew who he was, replied, 'There are three reasons, Mr Brown, why I will not dance with you. The first, I fear, is that you've had a little too much to drink. The second is that this is not, as you seem to suppose, a waltz the orchestra is playing but the Peruvian national anthem, for which you should be standing to attention. And the third reason why we may not dance, Mr Brown, is that I am the Cardinal Archbishop of Lima.'

White Heat, pp 365-366.

I thankew.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Re: Cover

It's been one of those weeks where things have conspired to thwart any authorial intentions I may have harboured. With a significant re-write required on one of my recently submitted tales, I've been diverted by everything from illness to financial reports (yup: near-death and taxes).

So it's good to see that others have been forging on in my absence. Over at Morrigan they've just released the first shot of the cover for the upcoming Voices anthology, and mighty fine it is too:

Release date is still fixed for September ... so I really need to get my finger out with those edits.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Carried Away by Temptation

An unexpected block of free time yesterday meant I could finally sit down and work on the synopsis for Temptation, the yarn I've been asked to write for Morrigan Books' Scenes From the Second Storey.

I tend to write reasonably detailed synopses for my stories - I take the 'reliable road map' approach rather than the 'high-altitude overview' that some writers feel happier with. That's not to say I can't deviate from my intended route - now and again the process of writing will open up options for characters I hadn't spotted earlier on - I just like to have the security blanket of knowing where everything is before I start.

Even by my standards, though, this job came out extremely long - I got so swept up the story that I started typing, looked up and I'd written 2200 words. That's not so much a synopsis, more a bare-bones, frill-free first draft.

Still, the fact that I was so involved in the story bodes well, and when I was finished I had that energised feeling of a job well done. Days like that are what I write for.

That said, I'm still cautious - or cynical - enough to realise that even if I think it's the best short story ever penned, there are going to be problems with it. Yes, there will be huge holes in logic and structure I've missed in my euphoria - it's inevitable. So away it's gone to some trusted readers, who I've asked to kick the shit out of it (thanks to Rach, Paul and Amanda for agreeing to handle the brutalising). Most of the feedback is still to come, then - for now I'm going to enjoy the buzz.

Wheeeeeee!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Voices On

Well, word's come back that the story I was talking about yesterday has indeed made the cut, and will be featured in an upcoming anthology from Morrigan Books called Voices. Hurrah!

The story's called Just Us, and - like all the other tales featured in the collection - it involves some nastiness in a hotel room. There's still some work to do on it (editorial tinkering and rewrites to fit the overall theme more closely) but at the moment the book's scheduled for a September release. I'll obviously be posting more details as work progresses - which should be reasonably quickly!

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Time Out

With no immediately pressing deadlines, I've been ferretting about for the last week on those little jobs I tend to forget about when I'm writing (or plotholing a synopsis). A week of catching up on my reading, wasting time on Facebook and the like doesn't make for very exciting blog material, however, so here's a quick run-down of things going on outside my control.

The bods at the Beeb have approved the stories for the Transmissions anthology, which means I don't need to make any last-minute changes before it goes to press. Hurrah! (I was a little worried by my opening scene, which involves a misleading incident with a knife ...)

Meanwhile a decision is imminent on another story I've worked on - news on whether that's made it into the anthology concerned as soon as I get it.

I've also become the biological equivalent of an EMP - anything I've interacted with in the last week that has a microchip in it has died horribly. Amongst the casualties have been my cable TV receiver (no Playhouse Disney for the littlies, no Premier League for me until the repair guy gets here ... in another week) and my internet connection, which dropped to slower-than-dial-up speed for a day or so.

(Amusingly I was moaning about this in an IM conversation with Mark Deniz when his connection decided to cark it too ...)

And that's really about it - domestic mundanity abounds. Back soon with something more entertaining.

[Oh, and a quick shout out to the ludicrously talented Mish in Melbourne, who helped me out with a problem earlier this week and confessed to being a regular here. *Waggles fingers* Hello!]

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Fevered Pitch

It's been touch and go, but I've finally finished the submission I've been working on for the chaps at Morrigan, squeaking it in on the very day the deadline closes. Got to say it looked grim there for a while. Freed up by the return of the kids to school, my window of opportunity almost slammed closed when I went down with an amusing little virus that brought with it high fevers and associated delerious rambling. It might be argued that such overheated rantings could only help my writing, but since I've forgotten everything I said at the time that'll be another golden chance wasted.

Fortunately I've been clear-headed enough over the last day or two to not only finish the story but also to avert a complete disaster with the ending. The one I'd hoped to use had seemed like a good idea when I mentioned it to Editor Mark, but once the whole story was written ... well it was like plate armour at a bikini party - clunky and utterly out of place. But it's all fixed now, and the draft's away. Should find out if it made the cut in the next week or so.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Storey Books

You may have caught wind here on the blog of a 'Secret Project' being hatched by Mark Deniz over at his new - but rapidly expanding - publishing house Morrigan Books. Well, yesterday Mr Deniz whipped the covers off his grand scheme and now we can all talk about it. Hooray!

It's called Scenes from the Second Storey, and it involves writers penning short stories inspired by tracks on an album by one of Mark's favourite bands, The God Machine. That's 13 tracks, 13 writers.

There are a few interesting differences about this project, compared with the usual kind of thing I work on. Firstly, the book will be available in two editions - one featuring Australian writers only, the other an assembly of international talent. Theoretically I straddle both categories, but I'm down for the International book, not being a natural born 'Strayan. You can click on the link above to see the full line-ups, some 26 scribes in all.

Secondly Mark's commissioned me on the strength of my previous stories ... without my writing a single word by way of a pitch for this one. That's only ever happened once before (for the Old Friends novellas) and is something of a double-edged sword. On the up side, it's good to be contracted without having to go through the usual pitching rigmarole. But at the same time there's a lot of pressure to justify the undoubted faith shown by the editor for something he's buying, effectively, sight unseen ...

The story also stands out in one other regard. While the other writers get to interpret the lyrics from their songs while they're plotting their yarns, the track I've been selected to write for is an instrumental ... so no help there, then. All I've got is the tune and the one word title:

Temptation.

Lucky I've got a good idea then.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Getting Promoted

Saw this on the Doctor Who discussion group Jade Pagoda yesterday, and couldn't help laughing:

"Transmissions" authors include Graeme Burk (of BBC and BF Short Trips fame), (our own) Ian Mond, Andy Lane (woo!), Mags L Halliday (woo!), Lou Anders, Richard Wright, James Milton, Dan Abnett (2000AD), Pete Kempshall (who's done some good fanzine work), Dale Smith (woo!), George Mann (the Time Hunter guy?), Kelly Hale (double woo!), Mark Stevens, Steve Lyons (woo!), Dave Hoskin, James Moran ("The Fires of Pompeii") and, of course, Richard Salter.

Which tells me that I really need to promote myself a little better (that or the chap who wrote the list doesn't like anything I've written since).

Still, at least someone's been reading those old fanzines - there's some very good stuff in those issues of Myth Makers, not least by Dale Smith. Who's also in Transmissions. With me.

See: bit of self-promotion, right there. Easy.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Whoosing Sound They Make

Spent the weekend in Gracetown, a small beach resort about three hours south of Perth. Mired in school holidays as we are, we chipped in with some friends to rent a place down there for a few nights, the idea being that all the kids could play with each other down the beach while I got stuck into the various stories I have to work on. The house even came with a little office that looked out over the coast:

No internet, no mobile phone reception, no kids, nice view - the perfect writing environment. Except ...

Yes, flying in the face of the loooong periods of sunshine and near-drought conditions in Western Australia recently, the skies opened on the trip down and kept on dumping water for most of the weekend. Which meant no beach for the kids. Which meant no peace in the house.

On a good writing day, I can clear about 2000 words of useable prose, so this trip was my chance to complete a 5000 word short story for which the deadline is rapidly approaching. Instead my total word count for the whole weekend: 556.

The upside is that those 556 words comprise the opening scene of the story, traditionally the part I find the hardest to get out of the way. Once that's done, it's usually plain sailing - and term starts back at school on Monday ... I might just make that deadline after all.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Begin Transmissions

Well, it's been a long time coming, but Big Finish have at last announced their upcoming Short Trips collection Transmissions. Which is nice, because I have a story in it and now I can talk about it here without being all cryptic.

The collection is available at the end of July, and the yarn in question is called simply Link. The book also features stories by new-series and Torchwood writer James Moran, fan favourites like Mags Halliday, Andy Lane and Dan Abnett, and of course fellow Australia-based scribes Ian Mond and Dave Hoskin. Honestly, how can you not buy it?

I should also give a shout-out to the editor, Richard Salter, who was not only good enough to ask me to pitch for this one, but who also gave me my start in the Myth Makers fiction collections a couple of years ago. That job led directly to bigger things, so yes, you can safely say that much of what I've written since is his fault ...

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Multi-Coloured Chop Shop

Decided yesterday to take the weekend off from any kind of writing, and catch up on some reading and odd-jobs around the house instead.

DIY tasks invariably mean a trip to the hardware shop. This in turn affords me the opportunity to walk aisles of tools and building gear, chin-stroking and pretending I'm not the kind of hopelessly arty type who thinks a screwdriver only comes in a glass. So stocked up on equipment and re-convinced of my own manliness, it was off home to fix the bathroom tiles. Then came the major task of the weekend - sorting out my son's bike.

The little lad's of an age now where he wants to pedal around furiously chasing his sister. Being a writer, however (and therefore permamently broke), I've had to wait for the right time of year to roll around, when I could get him a bike gratis.

As I'd expected, finding one the right size and in perfect working order was no trouble at all - which was all well and good except that the freebie in question was pink.

So after lunch today I sat on the porch with a tool kit and stripped the whole thing down to just the frame. Every now and again, as I sanded the paint off, one of the kids would drift past and express pleasure that I was now lightly dusted a glittery girly colour, but the real coos of appreciation were saved for later ... when the spray paint came out.

The bike is now a boy-friendly jet black. What remains of the spray paint has been carefully concealed, to ensure our golden labrador remains golden.

My daughter, meanwhile, wins this weekend's prize for ego-stroking, with her question, 'Dad, why are you so handy?'. Extra chocolate for her later, once I've stopped laughing.

I think I'll wait until she's back at school before I attempt to reassemble the bike. I've a feeling my curses and violent fitting when the brakes fail and the wheels fall off may spoil her mental picture of me as Mr Fixit. Let's face it, it's an image only slightly more rose-tinted than my clothes and hair.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Conclusive Proofs

Got lots accomplished in the last day or so, including a reasonably successful first pass at a synopsis for a new horror story - although the second I printed it out a new angle occurred to me, so there's still a fair bit of work to be done.

Also made a start on reading the proofs for story that's out later this year. It's in an as-yet-unannounced collection, so I'm not allowed to say more than that at the minute. I'm sure the release date will be revealed imminently, however, if only because details of the volume that follows it are already on the 'Net.

Reading proofs tends to mark the end of a writer's involvement with a story (unless higher powers demand that significant changes be made further down the line). It can also give you the very strange feeling of not recognising your own work. In this case it's been four months since I wrote the story, and I haven't clapped eyes on it once in the interim. Seeing it again now, there were whole scenes I don't remember writing.

You'll know them when you see them - they'll be the good ones.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

What Time D'You Call This?

That Earth Hour thing seems like a good idea, huh? I had no problem killing all the lights in the house from 8pm this evening.

Thing is, my kids did, being scared of the dark and still awake at eight ...

How about nine o'clock next year then, eh?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Train Tracking

My son doesn't get back to school until tomorrow (I know - starts back on Friday, then it's the weekend ...), so I've been having a work-lite day today. That meant dipping into Casino Royale (thanks to Simon for blogging about Bond and so reminding me that the original Fleming novels have been on my to-read list for almost two years ...) and pottering around on the Internet, odd-jobbing.

One of the things I had to do online was check out the Australian Horror Writers Association in the wake of some chats I'd had at Swancon. And while I was on their website I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was there a good buzz about the In Bad Dreams anthology overall, but also that This Train Terminates Here was named amongst the 'worthy finalists' that didn't quite make the shortlist for the 2007 Australian Shadows awards.

It's always nice to have someone say good things about your work, but more so in this case because of the cool reception some reviewers gave the very same story. Which, as I believe I've said before, just goes to show ...

Monday, March 24, 2008

Con Men

Just back from Swancon, the Western Australian sci-fi and fantasy convention, which has been running in the city since last Thursday. What with one thing and another I only got along for Sunday and today, but it's been none the less interesting for my not attending the earlier sessions.

Having missed out on chatting to acclaimed writer Rob Shearman at the London launch of his book earlier this year, I was pleased to hear from the ever-helpful Jonathan that Rob would be the guest-of-honour at the convention here in Perth. Rob and I have a mutual friend in Melbourne-based scribe Ian Mond, so a meeting was set up and I'm extremely pleased to say it all went very well indeed. Rob is a strong contender for the title of Nicest Man Alive and unfeasibly talented to boot. His book of short stories, Tiny Deaths, sold out at the convention (it's unavailable elsewhere in Australia) and while I've only dipped into it so far, already I can't recommend it highly enough. And as well as being an absolute pleasure to hang out with, Rob was also very helpful and encouraging to Mondy and I about progressing with our writing in a rather different direction. More on that in coming weeks when I've got my ideas together.

Highlights - and lowlights - of the convention itself also centered on Rob and a couple of events in which both he and Mondy were involved. Rob's live commentary over his Doctor Who episode Dalek (moderated by Mondy) was a great success, touching on earlier drafts of the script and some entertaining anecdotes about behind-the-scenes naughtiness. Less amusing - but equally memorable - was a panel on which Rob and Mondy sat, about working for publishing company Big Finish.

Both writers were ideally qualified to talk on the subject - Rob's responsible for some of the company's most critically lauded releases, while Mondy's short story output across their various ranges is in double figures. So it was irritating - and disrespectful - of a writer with a single short story under his belt to talk over the top of both of them, interrupting and putting himself forward at every turn as an expert on the subject.

I have no doubt that much of this was down to the man's uncontainable joy at having a Doctor Who story published. Then again, if you were to believe this particular writer, working for BF is like pulling teeth, with multiple rewrites and drafts required before the work is acceptable. Those of us who read the writers' guidelines that invariably come with the invitation to pitch, however, know that more than half of those rewrites could have been avoided ...

All that aside, though, I think a good time was had by all. Tomorrow it's back home for the interstate and international guests. And for me it's back to work, re-enthused by what I've learned over the last 48 hours.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Distractions

If you've chanced to glimpse me over the last couple of days, it will have looked like I've taken my hands right off the wheel, workwise.

Don't get me wrong, I've been busy. I've got lots of reading done (I'm loving Ten-Second Staircase by Christopher Fowler - why more people don't read him is an utter mystery - Mark Millar's Kick-Ass and the second volume of Ed Brubaker's Criminal), dug my office out from under three months of scrunched up drafts and newspapers, reconnected with the joys of The Shield (Season Five) and watched No Country for Old Men in a single, uninterrupted sitting. That's how good it is.

But it's not really writing, is it?

Well, yes and no. While all this other stuff's been going on at the front of my brain, a few story-related things have shaken loose at the back, notably something about bellboys, something about catering and something about x-rays. Hmmm.

Of course, I could just be trying to justify having a lazy couple of days. You'll just never know ...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Plot Dentistry

Early deadlines for Easter mean that I'm now finished all my magazine work until after the long weekend - hooray! That's not to say I've nothing to do, however, with three other non-day job projects needing attention in the time that's been freed up.

The first is a spec piece I'd quite like to have knocked into shape by the end of the week. Perth's sci-fi and fantasy convention, Swancon, kicks off on Thursday and as a result there'll be a couple of people in town I'd like to discuss this one with - assuming it's ready. A flash of insight over the weekend has opened up the ending for me, but now I'm having a few structural problems with it. Tried to fix them today, but it's been like pulling teeth.

So tomorrow I'll step back from it and work on one of the other yarns instead - a short story about a man and a bag, or the Secret Project that Mark Deniz alluded to in the previous post's comments section. As far as that one goes, all I can say is that in the beginning there was a word ...

Saturday, March 08, 2008

They Can't All Be Winners

Editor-bod Mark dropped me a line last night to say Signature Walk didn't make the final cut for the anthology. He was nice enough to elaborate on the decision, however, saying that it only missed out by the narrowest of margins. That's always good to know - at least the piece was reasonably strong. The simple fact is that there were 13 submissions that were stronger.

Still, it's never wasted effort - at the end of the day I've got a decent story (one that I can strip for parts later if I need to. Heh heh heh). Plus it keeps the writing muscles limber for the next project, the deadline for which is actually galloping closer all the time I'm doing this.

So I'm stopping now.

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Spinning Plates, Yarns

Well that was a long week ...

Work's been all about juggling. Unforeseen circumstances (a sick wife, then a sick me, a public holiday on Monday that I clean forgot was happening and then getting roped into an online civilisation-building game ...) left me working on about five different projects with several days fewer to work on them than I needed.

Aside from the regular round of day jobbery, I'm happy to say that the first draft of Signature Walk is done, has gone off to editors Mark and Sharyn, and is through to the second elimination round for submissions. Around 100 tales were culled in round one, with 26 stories are still in it, vying for 10 or 12 available slots. Should know by the end of the month.

Today saw the dispatch of a story I've been working on for one of the national mags, concerning a big wedding that happened over here last month. Assuming no rewrites are needed, that's another thing off the list, freeing me to work on other things ... like an idea for a short story I had after waking up at three in the morning for no good reason. It involves a car and an confidence trick, and that's all you're getting until I've thought it through a little more.

Meanwhile - and this is in no way competing with the far better sighting made by the good Mr Pan the other day - a strange appearance next to the Great Eastern Highway has garnered some interest in the local paper:

Seems the owner's available for weddings, birthdays and fetes. If he's got time.