Memories

For some years now I’ve been looking at my late father’s memoirs gathering dust on my hard drive and thought how nice it would be to get them into print for family and friends. The problem always was that we only need a handful of copies between us, and most people from my writers group who have self published have used printers that do print runs of several hundred, which, in this case is quite unnecessary. Add to this the fact that any form of self publishing or vanity publishing is completely off the agenda as far as my own work is concerned, it was looking as if my father’s memoirs were destined to remain for ever electronic.

But then a new guy at my writers group, David Smith, told me about Lulu.com. So I checked them out, and came to the conclusion that, for what I needed, they might be the way to go.

Well, worth a try. So I re-formatted his old Macintosh file and uploaded it. And I managed to dig out a photograph to use for the cover, and I can keep the file private – most important since this is family stuff and not for public consumption.

So all I need to do now is order one and see what it looks like. And hopefully that’s this year’s birthday present for my Mum sorted!

Writing Weather

The rain has been pounding down all day washing away the last of the snow. Rivers and roads are one and the same and where I once looked out on fields all I can see is a brown muddy lake. The Frome has burst her banks (not that she ever needs much encouragement to do that!!) and I’m so glad that I live on a hill!

The wind is lashing rain against my windows, but my fire is warm. This is good weather to get some writing done – and as I’m writing about a flood at the moment it’s rather appropriate.

Winter for me is the best time to write – the time when I get the most done. For, come the summer with light nights and sunny days the fields and the valleys will call me, and I’ll be heading for the beach instead. (Assuming we have a decent summer this year!)

Control those Characters!

This is the part of writing I like the most – the moment my characters start to take on a life of their own.

I reached this point last night with the WIP. One of my characters went and did something quite unexpected, and yet it was the right thing for him to do. It added a bit more excitement to the scene I was writing. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it first!

Of course, if my characters get too carried away it can be a bad thing. Sometimes they want to go off at a tangent, and when I first started writing I used to let them get into all sorts of pickles. I’m stricter with them now. I know where they have to end up and if they start to digress too much it’s down to me to steer them back on track.

But even so, they never cease to throw up surprise after surprise.

Of course, if you don’t write you probably think I’m quite mad by now. But I’d like to wager that any writers reading this know exactly what I’m talking about.

(I wonder what they’re going to surprise me with next?)

The Trees

I have only just stopped hugging my sides with laughter at the two local road protestors who climbed up a tree that wasn’t actually scheduled to be felled – so the engineers left them up there while they got on with felling the trees that were!!! I wonder how long it took them before they realised their mistake – and it’s been awfully cold of late as well!!

Anyway, some years ago I wrote a story about a group of road protestors. It was my first modest writing success, being commended in the short story category of the Yeovil Prize.

It’s been gathering dust on my hard drive and I gave up any idea of selling it some while back. But I thought I would dig it out and post it over on my website, as a tribute to those two guys, who, as far as I know might still be sitting in those cold, cold branches.

So pop over to my website, where I am proud to present – The Trees. (It’s under ‘short stories’) Enjoy.

Free Science Fiction

Guys - if you want some good free SF then pop across to the Escape Velocity Magazine website - they've just made issues 1, 2 and 3 available as free PDF downloads to celebreate some of their stories being nominated for the BSFA awards this year.

Still no firm date for Issue 4 (which will contain a story by yours truly here) but I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything.

Tracking those Agents

It’s now a while since I posted that I was about to embark on the hunt for an Agent to represent Myth Making and I thought I would say a bit more about that whole process.

Ah, and a slow process it is too.

“Why’s that?” I hear you ask. “You just stick them in the post.”

And here is where I tear my hair and shout “NO NO NO!!”

You can’t just go and bung a dozen or so submissions in the post to the first names you find in the Writers and Artists Yearbook. You have to do your RESEARCH first – and that is what takes the time.

Take Myth Making for example, my children’s book aimed at kids aged 10+. Well for starters, not all Agents handle kids books. So why waste my time and theirs sending them something they’re not going to be interested in the first place.

But it goes deeper than that. Once I have an Agent’s name I check them out. Many have websites - a good place to start. If they list clients I check them out on Amazon. If not a quick google should turn up the websites of some clients. This then starts to give me a picture of what sorts of books these Agents handle. Have I heard of them? Who are their publishers? Does my book seem to fit with their lists? Are they a member of the Agent’s Association? And many many more.

All these questions take time to answer, but, once they’ve checked out then at last they go onto my list.

So if you’re an Agent reading my blog because you’re looking at Myth Making and you’re checking me out – then that means I checked you out first :-)

My Thoughts on Arkham Tales #1

The first issue of the new Weird Fiction magazine Arkham Tales was made available for free download back in November 2008, and, since I’m a huge fan of weird fiction, coupled with the fact that they’ve already accepted a story of mine for a future issue, I thought I ought to take a look.

The magazine is issued as a PDF download, and the first thing that struck me was the superb artwork on the covering page. But since my main interest is the content I shall move on.

There is a veritable feast of weird fiction in this issue with seven short stories and one novelette, which form an interesting blend of genres. The House on the Hill of Stars by Jeffrey Scott Sims, a haunted house story with a distinctly Lovecraftian feel to it, is exactly the sort of thing I was expecting and I wasn’t disappointed. Night Frights by Benjamin W Olson is a more conventional horror tale while MageRider by Mike W Barr is a story more in the fantasy genre, but one with a dark underbelly of deception.

Talking About Cet Baker by Derek Rutherford which opens this issue is a frightening tale of revenge that has alarming repercussions while Market Values by Jenny Schwartz explores corruption in the organ vending business.

I spotted Pickman’s Progeny by Robert Masterson listed over at the Predators and Editors Readers Poll, and with good reason. It is a beautifully written and powerful piece. However, my personal favourite has to be Animal Rights by Steve Calvert. There are some lovely touches of humour, which balance so well with an ending that I didn’t see coming.

Finally Until death, I Eat by Steve Bastedo made a cold shudder pass up my spine. A chilling parting shot and definitely not one for vegetarians!

All in all this is a cracking debut, so if you like your fiction good and weird, head over to their website and download it for yourself. And look out for Issue 2 next month!