The Journey to Publication

The wonderful How Publishing Really Works blog has just announced a new series of articles coming our way – stories of people’s routes to publication. This is going to be really interesting, I can tell.

As an aspiring author, published in short fiction but as yet unagented and without a book deal for any of my novels, I find these sorts of stories of hard work and determination wholly inspiring. It makes me feel if they can do it then so can I, if I just stick with it, work hard, improve my writing and come up with that killer idea!

So pop over there and take a look. The first will be posted tomorrow.

Equinox

It is the equinox and summer is turning to autumn, berries in the hedgerows and falling leaves.

It’s a beautiful September this year, clear skies and sunshine. But the seasons are turning.

All summer this sandy bank was a bustle of sand martins, dashing back and forth, raising their young. The skies were filled with their cries, and their dropping splattered over any cars that foolishly parked too close.

But last week they left. Their nest holes lie empty. The skies are silent. Autumn is here.

Time for me to turn away from the fields and woods and get on with some writing…

Old Bones

We used to have a hedge at the bottom of our garden – one of those messy old hedges with lots of gaps. But, getting a bit tired of regular garden invasions by the local livestock, we decided to remove it and put in something more substantial.

It was then that the children found the bones...

My first thought was that we’d found the remains of someone’s pet dog – and my husband was worried that they might be human!! But, having convinced him that they were definitely animal, the kids put them in a box and proudly marched them up to the local museum for identification.

We got them back at the weekend, along with the archaeologists report, and it looks like neither of us was right.

The bones belong mainly to young cattle with a few rabbit bones as well. Some have been cut or sawn suggesting that they were killed for human consumption. They are also likely to be well over a hundred years old – dating to the times before organised refuse collection, when people buried their waste in pits. The suggestion is that these bones are the remains of the meals of workers who were building the nearby railway in the 1850’s.

So there you go – our very own archaeological dig! I wonder what the kids will find next – a stash of gold coins would be nice!

More Jupiter Reviews

Another couple of good reviews of Jupiter SF 25: Erinome have appeared – one over at the Sfsite which is very positive about Jupiter 25 in general and another, also good, over at SF Crowsnest. Here are a couple of extracts…

About the issue as a whole:

'Jupiter Magazine' allows the fiction to speak for itself and in this case we have five excellent stories to entertain the readers.'

And my story:

'The Oracle' by Kate Kelly was a rather disturbing tale. Not the sort of thing you would want to read if you were claustrophobic!"

I’m pleased with that. Just the effect I was aiming for. :-)

Footprints Signing Pictures

Last night myself and David L Clements met at Waterstones in Dorchester to read from our 'Footprints' stories, answer questions and sign copies.

There event was well attanded and there was a lively discussion afterwards - inevitably the question of whether the Apollo landings really actually happened came up :-) - and my thanks to everyone who attended.

I've posted some pictures over on my website -

Here.

Footprints Signing Reminder

Don't forget to get your tickets for Thursday's Footprints signing at Waterstones in Dorchester at 7:30pm - see post below for details.

You can either buy them in the shop or give them a call on 01305 257123 to book your place.

Hope to see you there!

Footprints Signing in Dorchester on the 27th August

On the 27th August myself and fellow UK author David Clements will be in Waterstones in Dorchester, Dorset at 7:30 pm.

We will be reading from Footprints, and anthology of science fiction stories from Hadley Rille Books to which we are both contributors, and will be answering questions about the anthology, our stories or anything else you care to ask.

Footprints is an anthology of science fiction stories based around the fact that, long after our civilisation has crumbled to dust the Apollo astronauts’ footprints will still be there on the surface of the moon, and the stories it contains explore how visitors from distant worlds might interpret this evidence. Footprints has been released to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing.

I do hope that anyone reading this who might be in the vicinity of Dorchester on the 27th August will join us. Tickets can be purchased beforehand from Waterstones and are £1 which is redeemable against the cost of the book, or you can pay on the door. Refreshments will be available.

But above all it will be a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow authors, and it would also be great to meet any of my virtual friends if you can make it.

I do hope to see you there.