Shiny!

Shiny Shorts

2012-01-23T08:35:00.004Z

There is no such thing as too many blogs. Really there isn't. ;-) So with that in mind, a few of us have started up a review blog specifically for all things short fiction. We'll be covering flash, short stories, novellas; podcasts, print & online magazines; anthologies & collections; fantasy, horror, SF, & crime; new releases & old favourites.

And so, announcing: Shiny Shorts!

So far we've posted reviews of Welcome to Bordertown, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #86, The Princess Trap by Peter Darbyshire (from Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #11), Lavender and Lychgates by Angela Slatter (from Best New Horror #22 but originally from Sourdough and Other Stories) and The Thief of Precious Things by A. C. Wise (from Bewere the Night), and there's plenty more reviews stacked up in the post-schedule queue so drop on by and have a trawl through.

And if any of you, dear internet peeps, fancy volunteering to contribute the odd review, please do let me know - can be of single stories/audio fic, or full magazine/anthology etc. reviews, and we'll also take reprints of older reviews - the point is to share the love of all things short-fic!

Get your Shiny Shorts on! ;-P

The Zombie Song

2012-01-22T10:26:00.005Z

I already mentioned this over on the Girls' Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse, but it bears repeating here because, frankly, I love this song.

I give you, the gloriousness that is: The Zombie Song by Stephanie Mabey.

It was used in the closing credits of the excellent Un:Bound Video Edition: Zombies and it's such a wonderfully catchy song...

"If I were a zombie, I'd never eat your brain.
I'd just want your heart, yeah I'd want your heart..."

Zommmmmmbies!

2012-01-21T09:10:00.002Z

Have you checked out the lol-tastic Un:Bound video covering the disturbing events of zombies running riot through Leicester? If not, do so - it includes interviews with acclaimed zombie experts and authors Jasper Bark, Wayne Simmons and Dave Moody.

Plus, in not entirely unrelated news... the first trailer for Resident Evil: Retribution has been released!

Woohoo!

Turtle Apocalypse Time!

2012-01-16T13:33:00.004Z

It seems to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle day on Girls' Guide to the Apocalypse as I've managed two posts on the little buggers - an early warning of imminent doom in The Ninja Turtle Threat and if the thought of watching the Ninja Rap video scares you too much, there's also the Ninja Turtle cocktail to help dull the pain.

And from the other Apocalypse Girls this month can also be found more cocktails; How to Destroy Humanity - A Guide for Alien Invasion (Part 1), for the Downton Abbey fans - a poll to see which one of the Crawley sisters would survive the apocalypse; more music, reading and accessories; a giveaway of Jonathan Maberry's 'King of Plagues' and, ooh, loads more.

Check us out here!

Apocalypse Girls with a Pornokitsch Twist!

2012-01-12T13:32:00.002Z

I think this definitely calls for a tee-hee moment - for, lo, the Apocalypse Girls have been interviewed over on that there Pornokitsch, talking about the appeal of the Apocalypse and how the Girls' Guide came into being...

Shiny Shorts: The Princess Trap

2012-01-07T09:25:00.002Z

Found in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #11, The Princess Trap by Peter Darbyshire is a wonderfully fun story about a dragon, a not-really princess, the inevitable knights that cross their path and the mutually beneficial arrangement they work out between them.

Saleema is an orphan sheepherder who dreams of being a queen but when she loses her flock to a dragon intent on settling down nearby, necessity forces her to work with the dragon in order to survive. Being a smart young lady of quite sensible character she soon turns the dragon's hunger and the questing knights assorted demises to her advantage, sowing the seeds for what is going to be a quite useful partnership for both of them.

This is a lighthearted romp of a tale with a heroine who succeeds through her own cleverness and adaptability and promises the continuance of interesting things after the story has ended, which is always a good thing. Love it!

Best of 2011

2011-12-30T12:53:00.004Z

Ok, admittedly there's still 2 days worth of reading left in the year... (well, one and a half) but as discussions seem to be popping up, here are my favourite fictiony goodies of the year...

Short stories first, as I've been going on a bit of a binge this year...

Stand out ones were:
Card Sharp by Rajan Khanna - Way of the Wizard ed. John Joseph Adams
Dancing the Warrior, Pt. 1 & Pt. 2 by Marie Brennan – Beaneath Ceaseless Skies #66 & #67
Daughters of Kali by Neesha Meminger – Expanded Horizons #27
Ghostweight by Yoon Ha Lee – Clarkesworld Magazine #52
Grey Magic for Cat Lovers by Jan Edwards - New Horizons/ BFS Journal (Summer 2011)
Lavender & Lychgates by Angela Slatter - Best New Horror #22
Lessons from a Clockwork Queen by Megan Arkenberg - Fantasy Magazine
The Thief of Precious Things by A. C. Wise - Bewere the Night, ed. Ekaterina Sedia
The Yew’s Embrace by Francesca Forrest - Strange Horizons

But also liked:
Christmas with the Dead by Joe R. Lansdale - Best New Horror #22
Demon Song by A. R. Williams – Heroic Fiction Quarterly #8
The Devil in Gaylord's Creek by Sarah Monette - Fantasy Magazine
The Dog King by Holly Black - Fantasy Magazine
The Fortune-Teller Makes Her Will by Kari Sperring - After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar
Lebkuchen by Priya Sharma – Fantasy Magazine
The Lizard Dance by Gio Clairval and Jeff VanderMeer – Fantasy Magazine
Love, Resurrected by Cat Rambo – Beneath Ceaseless Skies #65
The Magick by Kristina C. Mottla - Beneath Ceaseless Skies #78
Objects In Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear by Lisa Tuttle - House of Fear
Pataki (Part 1)&(Part 2) by Nisi Shawl – Strange Horizons
Perfect Lies by Gwendolyn Clare – Clarkesworld Magazine #54
起狮，行礼 (Rising Lion—The Lion Bows) by Zen Cho – Strange Horizons
Shiny by Rachel Caine - Chicks Kick Butt
Staying Behind by Ken Liu - Clarkesworld #61

Anthologies:
After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar – ed. Joshua Palmatier & Patricia Bray
Bewere the Night – ed. Ekaterina Sedia
Chicks Kick Butt - ed. Rachel Caine and Kerrie L. Hughes
Further Conflicts - ed. Ian Whates
House of Fear – ed. Jonathon Oliver
Pandemonium: Stories of the Apocalypse - ed. Anne C. Perry and Jared Shurin
Way of the Wizard ed. John Joseph Adams

Collections:
A Glass of Shadow by Liz Williams
Somewhere Beneath Those Waves by Sarah Monette
The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
Sourdough and Other Stories by Angela Slatter

Magazines that shouldn't be missed:
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
Albedo One
Abyss and Apex
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Clarkesworld Magazine
Daily Science Fiction
Expanded Horizons
Fantasy Magazine (merging into Lightspeed in 2012)
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly
Interzone
Lightspeed
Strange Horizons

Novels:
Neon Court – Kate Griffin
Deadline – Mira Grant
Desdaemona – Ben Macallan
Harbinger of the Storm - Aliette de Bodard
The Broken Kingdoms – N. K. Jemisin
One Salt Sea – Seanan McGuire
God's War - Kameron Hurley
Consorts of Heaven - Jaine Fenn
Department 19 - Will Hill
Cyber Circus - Kim Lakin-Smith
The Office of Lost and Found - Vincent Holland-Keen
Songs of the Earth - Elspeth Cooper

Shiny Shorts: Lavender and Lychgates

2011-12-22T18:00:00.004Z

Found in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #22 (ed. Stephen Jones), Lavender and Lychgates by Angela Slatter is definitely a story that should be read at least twice to get full appreciation of something that is both moving and creepy.

It tells the story of a girl finding her place in the world, but it also tells the story of the living coming to terms with the dead (and possibly vice versa) and the old trouble that haunts the family.
There's a dead brother and a restless sister, and an ill timed trip giving blood to his grave. There's a fox-woman who's trying to stir up some revenge and a lost woman who's willing to help from the shadows and all told with an evocative fairy tale quality that easily enchants the reader.

The characters are excellent and the family relationships and interactions both completely real and quite appealing. Oh, and there's a street where 'books are born', which is quite possibly the loveliest bit of city-setting I've ever seen. What with the print shops and paper makers and ink makers and bookshops, is it any wonder that our heroine chooses to take up the book-binding trade?

Now if I can just find an e-book version of the Tartarus Press collection Sourdough & Other Stories that this was originally published in, I'd be a very happy bunny indeed.

Double Dutch

2011-12-08T08:22:00.003Z

OU goes well. Quite well actually. Got an excellent mark on the last assignment (stunned, shocked, amazed) and so far it's all rather enjoyable, if not easy, then at least logical and full of all those lovely a-ha moments. Which is rather surprising as m'fellow students are of the opinion that this particular module is a bit of a dog. (Mind, I suffered through the compressed archaeology course so after that, anything is light relief...) ;-)

The essays do tend to take up a considerable amount of brainage, however. This month it's all about the European Reformation. (Something I have so far managed to avoid knowing anything about!) And now I totally get all those Spanish Inquisition jokes! And Iconoclasm. And Calvinism. And William of Orange! (And the Grand old Duke of York - but that was last month's bit of the course! Yes, I might have sung a bit when I realised the connection there... History is so cool!)

Have also discovered that I prefer the historian side of things to the archaeologist side of things. (Possibly the aforementioned archaeology course is a bit to blame for that too!) Possibly it's also got to do with the fact that analysing pot sherds and corn husk impressions and wotnot makes me snooze off but give me some juicy text on what people have been doing and I'm so there! Scandals! Shenanigans! Revolutions getting mucked up due to hard-line militancy and lack of funding! But mainly, I think, it's discovering all the connections between everything. Connections and getting to put into context all those vague people and events that get lodged in the brain through other means.

Did I mention History is cool? ;-P

Fictional Archaeology

2011-12-03T12:28:00.009Z

I am, it must be said, something of a fan of fictional archaeology. In real life there’s oodles of paperwork, funding issues, and a metric ton of research that needs doing before you even contemplate going anywhere (and even then you risk being pipped to the post by some random metal detectorist having a lucky day); and once you get to your site, you then have to spend months, years, even decades carefully sifting though every minute particle in order to maintain a proper archaeological record of everything. Which is a good thing. Really.

Fictional archaeologists, however, have it much easier.

They often come from a family of archaeologists or similarly talented historians, linguists or adventurers – thus giving them a step up when it comes to knowledge, experience and contacts in the field. Little Lara Croft and Indiana Jones went out in the field with their parents, little Evelyn Carnahan had a childhood steeped in all things Egyptian (and a dad who was on the King Tut tomb expedition), little Nina Wilde, Ben Gates and Daniel Jackson were heavily influenced by their parents occupations.

While real life archaeologists have to have basic knowledge of assorted disciplines, it’s the fictional archaeologist who really takes this to extremes. There’s the acceptable archaeological skills – history, languages and assorted archaeological and scientific techniques, but your fictional archaeologist will be an expert in multiple disciplines: their in-depth knowledge of history covers all periods and includes knowledge of some of the most obscure things in existence, they know how to use and have access to all the latest gadgets to make finding and analysis quicker and easier, and languages? Well, you can guarantee that your fictional archaeologist is going to be a world-class expert in at least one long-forgotten barely-translated dead language and is also fluent in at least a dozen or so other more used ones.

But, fictional archaeologists also have pretty impressive skills in other fields and often have second jobs as international spies or similar. They will have picked up a wide range of combat related skills, extreme sports, computer skills that are just a bit scary; and the fictional archaeologist always has useful friends if they need emergency transport to some out of the way location or a favour pulled in high places.

When it comes to funding, they usually don’t need to worry about grants (unless it’s plot specific) – if they’re not independently wealthy, they get commissioned for their expedition by some wealthy benefactor or government organisation (often mysterious, probably wants to take over the world), or they have the ill-gotten gains of their last big haul to draw on.

They will always be the one to make an amazing breakthrough when it comes to finding the long lost site or artefact of legend. Doesn’t matter how many people have spent their life looking for the aforementioned objects of desire, it’s the fictional archaeologist who’ll get the essential last clue, or put the random pieces together, or just accidentally stumble on it while getting their morning cup of coffee.

They always find what they’re looking for, and it’s always in near-perfect condition. If aboveground, a lost city will have plenty of remaining standing buildings and a secret room somewhere that’s ceiling high in shinies. If underground, the entire complex will be intact with all devices still working hundreds of years past installation (we’d like their builder’s number.) Yes, there will be a few booby traps lying around (there’s always at least one), but your fictional archaeologist will, quite luckily, be the only one who can navigate them safely.

Any guardians, either living or undead, who might have issues with an expedition trundling in and nicking off with their heritage will cease to be a problem once the fictional archaeologist gets talking to them, as, guess what? Turns out your archaeologist is also destined by ancient prophecies (or that handy memento found at another site and worn for luck) to be the saviour of the ancient people/the world/all existence. If this doesn’t work, however, the fictional archaeologist will be the one who can out fight, out think and generally out manoeuvre the protectors who have trained for centuries to do their job.

Some fictional archaeologists work in partnership with museums and other organisations interested in preserving an accurate site or artefact record, but if a site happens to get accidentally totalled in the midst of an expedition, no one is going to make too much noise – especially if the archaeologist comes back with something impressively shiny. After all, it won’t have been the archaeologist’s fault, there’ll have been a crew of naughty tomb raiders, bandits or minions from a secret organisation set on world domination involved somewhere.

And bullet holes in things just add to the mystique. ;-)

(1) Tombraider pic from totalfilm.com
(2) Daniel Jackson pic from danieljackson.ashtonpress.net
(3) Mummy pic from from news.bbc.co.uk
(4) Indiana Jones pic from rottentomatoes.com

Apocalyptic Week!

2011-11-27T07:49:00.000Z

This week on Girl's Guide to Surviving the Apocalypse, I've posted five (yes, five!) thingybobs:
For Movie Week there's very short word-burps on 28 Days/Weeks Later and Stonehenge Apocalypse (because, really, SA is such delightful bobbins it has to be mentioned!)
In the Know Your Idols category, I've wittered on about Major Eden Sinclair (of Doomsday fame) and Martha Jones and then there's the next one in the Getting Around series - By Water.

But don't just go for me, the fab Apocalypse Girl collective have posted on a wide variety of movies for our Movie Week, and also new this week are more music and clothes for the apocalypse, useful survival skills, defense against zombies from a proper martial artist, kick-ass mothers, weaving your own rug when resources are low, and, ooh, lots of loveliness!

And we're now on twitter - @ApocalypseGirls - who knew the apocalpse could be so much fun!

Apocalyptic Fun

2011-11-11T09:27:00.003Z

So today, spud, I'm on the very awesome Girls' Guide to the Apocalypse blog (go check it out!) talking about how to get around in your post-apocalyptic environment by the cunning use of air travel. (Road, sea and space to follow in later posts!)

If you haven't already discovered the Guide, then you've missed out on a variety of funky tips such as picking your team and knowing your idols, how to pack, what to grow when the world settles down, home defence, what to wear, what to listen to, knowing your enemy, handy crafts... and, ooh, loads more!

Check it out now!

Fantasycon 2011

2011-10-12T14:30:00.003Z

Just a little late doing this, but then, all things BFS have been a mite distracting lately...

So, forgetting the furore that has spread around the internetz and back again, how was that there Fcon? Darlings, it was awesome. Totally, absolutely, best Fcon yet. Despite the heatwave. And how weird is that, a Fantasycon in sunny weather? It shouldn't be allowed, really. Fcon is all about the freezing cold and fog drenched landscapes. (And that's just the hotel bedrooms!) ;-)

It was also the highest attended Fcon in recorded history, with somewhere between 530 - 560 people bravely trying to find their way through the maze that was the Royal Albion's lower reaches. But despite the mass amount of people stuffed into rooms with no air-con, there was an amazing vibe to the whole weekend. (And I got to be an official Red-Shirt this year! Woohoo! Red-Shirts Rock!)

Didn't actually get to see much, what with the Registration Desk duties but what I did see was worth it. The previously posted about Louise Morgan reading was fab (Blood and Feathers, buy the book next year!) - and Lou has a talent for performance that made it a fun reading. The Jo Fletcher Books launch was jam packed - wall to wall people, so not for the claustrophobic. (And Fcon attendees got all sorts of JFB free goodies. Swag, darlings, swag!)

Was dead on my feet early Saturday night so didn't make it to the disco - apparently it was a good one. Also apparently, the blackmail pictures are circling...

Here's hoping next year is just as good.

Fcon countdown!

2011-09-25T10:02:00.003Z

Exxxxxxxxcellent, Smithers! The Fantasycon programme grid is now up on the website here! Gosh, is that packed or what! Is it me, or are there more parties and readings than ever before? And a disco! And burlesque! And masterclasses!
(And I'm on registration during the Friday & Saturday daytime hours so I'll just gaze wistfully as you all wander past to heckle the panels!)

Friday night, though, peeps of unerring good taste must wander over to Louise Morgan's reading (and make a note to get her book Blood and Feathers when it comes out from Solaris next year - because it is teh awesome!)

Alice in Zombieland

2011-09-22T08:34:00.003Z

So over on Floor to Ceiling Books is my rambling post on the awesomeness that is Alice from the Resident Evil movies. Go see! ;-P

Resident Evil Rewatch

2011-09-21T15:16:00.005Z

So, very recently I opened wide my gob and promised the fabulous Amanda Rutter of Floor to Ceiling Books a guest blog post on Alice from Resident Evil. (Which will be online tomorrow. Oo-er!) Now the Resident Evil films may have their flaws but I unashamedly love them anyway – and of all the films in the series, the first one remains my favourite. The Alice/Rain double act is a joy to behold, the visuals are glorious and it's extremely quotable.

But good lord, is it a tease with the set up. I was watching it for the seventy squillionth time the other day and after the verrrrry slow sequence of dude in the haz-mat suit playing with twisty test tubes (and what is it with the twisty test tubes? How is that a sensible design feature?) realised it's thirty seven minutes until you get some actual zombie action! (But then I have the patience of someone with not very much patience so those thirty seven minutes were looooong ones.)

My brain went a little something like this:

00:03:55 - Uh oh, it’s fire drill time. Counting down to total carnage…

00:05:40 – Aaaaand this is why the lifts in convention hotels make me nervous.

00:06:25 – Woah, wait, how is this is the first time I’ve noticed how very identical the suits are that the office drones are wearing. Say bye bye, office drones.

00:07:30 – Nooooooo, silly woman, don’t try and squeeze out of the lift! And, seriously, how on earth do you think you’re getting through that teeny tiny hole anyway? Behave.

00:08:09 – Splat! I'm so not going near the Fcon lifts.

00:08:12 - Enter Leeloo Multipass! In the obligatory nekkid Milla shot.

00:10:30 – Don’t mess with the Milla, she keeps guns in her undie drawer.

00:11:35 - Eeep. There is a Weeping Angel under that there plastic. Do not blink!

00:12:55 - Finally, some excitement! SWAT is in da house!

00:14:40 – Yay, it’s the train from the games! Have to say, one of the things I do love about this film (and something that wasn’t quite followed up so much in the later films) is all the video game elements. The computer vision and map segments are particularly good touches, and the disappearing bodies, while possibly a smidge illogical in places, are a great nod to the magically disappearing corpses in the games.

00:19:30 – Infodump time! With handy computer graphics. Everything is fake and classified, just so you know.

00:22:18 - Okay, that whole underground aboveground office view with bonus traffic noise thing is just disturbing.

00:24:16 – Mermaid! Undead mermaid! Undead mermaid in a lab coat!

(1)

00:29:35 - Uh oh, the Corridor of Doom! Do not enter the Corridor of Doom. No matter how shiny it looks. And especially do not enter it when you’ve just said how you’re going to fry the crazy AI at the other end of it.

00:32:00 - Colin Salmon is such a badass. (Alas, he is now a cubed badass.)

00:35:15 - ‘You’re all going to die down here.’ Love that line!

Plot hole, though. So, there you are, able to actually ask the crazy AI why she killed off a whole facility full of people and at this point, not one person asks the question? Or attempts to get any information about the incident out of her at all? Hello? Anyone? (Also, calling the Red Queen a crazy AI does, technically, do her a bit of a disservice as the whole facility lock down thing was perfectly logical given the insane communicability of the T-virus. Though she can totally put the crazy pants back on later when she unleashes the Licker…)

00:37:35 - Fiiiiiiinally, some zombie action!

00:38:45 ‘We found a survivor.’ ‘And you shot him?’ Hah!

00:40:00 - Bring on the zombie hoards!

00:46:55 - And this is why I hate dogs - I remain secretly convinced that behind every fluffy puppy is one of these waiting to rip your throat out. Now if I could just learn to do that very awesome running up a wall kick move…

00:56:00 – Annnnnnd, finally they start asking the very sensible questions…

00:59:50 - Alice kicks ass, as only Alice can.

01:02:00 – Pipe walking over the zombie hoards. See, this? Is exactly what you need during a zombie apocalypse. Stay above them! (Unless there's a Licker nearby, then you're screwed.)

01:06:18 – ‘When I get out of here, I think I’m gonna get laid.’ ‘Yeah. You might wanna clean up a little bit first.’ Hah!

01:10:30 – And this is why you never put your gun down on random tables…

01:12:01 – And this is why you shouldn’t indulge in evil overlord monologues…

01:14:12 – The Red Queen’s been a bad, bad girl. And has now got her crazy pants well and truly on. (And, incidentally, is it me or does Spence look just a little too professional at the shooting up thing. Umbrella are really not doing their background checks are they?)

01:18:18 - And is there any logical reason why you would have a bunch of random metal poles just hanging from the middle of your cargo train? Really? (Apart from the obvious monster killing usage?)

01:20:54 – ‘I’m not dead yet.’ (Alas, poor Rain, don't speak too soon...)

01:25:34 – They’re coming to take you away… (eeew, tentacle arm!)

01:28:24 - Luckily being head of security for the Hive means knowing how to disable the very expensive high tech locks with only a medical needle thingy. (While wearing only two bits of strategically placed paper held together with string.)

01:29:15 – And yet, somehow, that very empty hospital hallway is even creepier than if it had been filled with bodies…

01:29:43 - Okay, I do get the sly reference, but seriously though, when, during their zombie apocalypse, did they have time to put out a newspaper detailing it? Would they not have been a bit busy with the whole screaming in terror and eating of brainzzzzz?

Ah logic, we knew you not. Never mind, in the next one there's more ass-kicking, the legendary (oh yes it is) motorbike scene and the delectable Oded Fehr...

(1) Pic from http://www.cinemorgue.com/annabolt.html

Academic Jollies

2011-09-10T09:36:00.003Z

So, it being September (it's September! So soon!) means that the next batch of OU courses are kicking in. Woohoo! Was initially a little worried about being able to do stuff, what with the insane price rises due to bastard!government!practices! but, luckily, the OU is keeping prices stable for peeps already in the midst of studying degrees. (Newbies, however, are totally buggered. Unless they happen to have a won a lottery or two.)

Anyhoo, this still-friendly pricing means I can happily continue on with the next course in the History BA - Exploring History: Medieval to Modern. Not my favourite era as I'm more an ancient history kinda gal, but on the plus side, shiny new information! (And a scary exam in June! Arrrgh! Must refine my (lack of) revision skills!)

Plus, just for fun, there's the short science courses. Given that I hated science at school this is probably a slightly twisted definition of fun. (Also I'd quite like to write some decent SF one day so a basic understanding of that there science thing might be helpful...)

So, right now I'm doing a shortie Human Nutrition course (and getting a crash course in the chemical composition of stuff) which is actually quite fascinating and fodder for dropping all kinds of 'and did you know' into random conversations with the parentals. (They did not, in fact, know, and are also quite fascinated. Which is nice.)

Then once the scary history exam is done and my brain's clear from nasty revision stuff, there's a couple of environmental science shorties I can squeeze in for doing over the summer break. I say couple, but actually there's four I've got my eye on but what gets done will depend on finances at the time.

Then come next September it's the Empire history course with a couple more shortie science courses and possibly the shortie Welsh history course fitted around it. Then 2013... (yes, I have planned that far ahead. That I've got a spreadsheet going to do so will surprise no-one I know.) ... 2013 will be From Enlightenment to Romanticism, with more shortie science things. Then after that, all I need to finish the degree will be Myth in the Greek & Roman worlds and Exploring the Classical World. (More scary exams! Double argh!)

Fun times!

Shiny Shorts: The Thief of Precious Things

2011-08-05T12:15:00.005Z

The Thief of Precious Things by A.C. Wise

"The world has been still too long, crows above, foxes below, and men somewhere in between."

There is a glass tower in the city, a place where the humans congregate and work on secret things, but fox-girls have a habit of getting into secret things - especially when there's Crow Lords to get the better of.

There is a fox-girl who dared what her sisters wouldn't and had her name stolen from her. She breached the tower but those memories, too, have escaped her and now what she found and what she stole is wanted by humans and Crow Lords alike.

There are a man and a woman whose goodwill and need for peace get them tangled up in trickster games, and when you play with tricksters, change is inevitable.

I'll confess, I have a thing for trickster tales and this one is a rather glorious example. It's about freedom and becoming something else and shaking the world up when its gotten stuck in a rut. This latter can be seen particularly by the division between the two trickster races - the brotherhood of Crow Lords get authority (and capitalisation) while the sisterhood of fox-girls have submission as one of their recognisable natural attributes; a display of extremes that illustrates the need for something a little more balanced if things are to move forward.

Our fox-girl protag makes for a heroine who is both charming and daring, as she gets herself into trouble then finangles her way out of it and the changes wrought in her wake promise interesting times ahead. While the Crow Lords are identikit ciphers, the human support, Yuki and Ani, have character enough to make you care about their divergent needs and fates.

Thief is set in a post-apocalyptic world but it has the kind of enchanting storytelling that can be found in the best Charles de Lint. Definitely a world to which the author should return to as I'd love to read more stories set here. All in all, a fantastic tale.

Found in Bewere the Night, ed. Ekaterina Sedia
Published in April 2011 by Prime books, $14.95 (or thereabouts) from assorted retailers.
More about A.C. Wise here.

30 Days of Genre - Masterlist!

2011-07-31T07:07:00.003Z

Alrighty then, so that was the 30 Days of Genre!

Started by Bibliotropic and picked up by such funky peeps as Floor to Ceiling Books, The Erudite Ogre, A Fantastical Librarian and SMZb (go check out their answers!) - here's the 30 Days (and then some) that was:

Questions:

Day 1 – Very first genre novel.
Day 2 – Your favourite character.
Day 3 – A genre novel that is underrated.
Day 4 – Your guilty pleasure book.
Day 5 – Character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 6 – Most annoying character.
Day 7 – Favourite couple in a genre novel.
Day 8 – Best fan soundtrack.
Day 9 – Saddest scene in a genre novel.
Day 10 – Best writing style, or the style that resonates most with you.
Day 11 – Favourite genre series
Day 12 – A genre novel everyone should read.
Day 13 – A genre novel you’ve read more than five times.
Day 14 – Favourite book trailer from a genre novel.
Day 15 – The cover from your current (or most recent) genre read.
Day 16 – Genre novel with the most intriguing plot
Day 17 – Favourite antagonist.
Day 18 – Favourite protagonist.
Day 19 – World/setting you wish you lived in
Day 20 – Favourite genre.
Day 21 – Genre novel with the most interesting character interactions
Day 22 – A sequel which disappointed you.
Day 23 – Genre novel you haven't read, but wish you had
Day 24 – Favourite classic genre novel.
Day 25 – A genre novel you plan on reading soon.
Day 26 – Best hero.
Day 27 – Most epic scene ever.
Day 28 – Favourite publisher of genre novels.
Day 29 – A genre novel you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 – Your favourite genre novel of all time.

30 Days of Genre - Day 30

2011-07-30T18:37:00.002Z

Day 30 – Your favourite genre novel of all time.

Charles de Lint - Spirit Walk.

My first De Lint, and a rather lovely one to be getting going with. There's something very appealing about Tamson House with it's eclectic community of people and the close merging with the spirit world. I love the mixture of Celtic and Native American mythology that gets woven in, the characters are lovely - particularly Esmeralda Foylan and Whiskey Jack - and there's just so many beautiful elements to it that taken as a whole it becomes this enchanting patchwork story that hits something deep.

30 Days of Genre - Day 29

2011-07-29T14:04:00.003Z

Day 29 – A genre novel you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.

Hannu Rajaniemi - The Quantum Thief

It's hard SF. I don't do hard SF. And yet... I landed a copy that had to be read for BFS purposes, so, I read it expecting not to understand word one... but, actually, it's quite an easy read. It's got an excellently conceived world, with some fab character interactions. The detective story elements hang together beautifully, it's brain twisting and has a thoroughly enthralling story. And, just generally, it's bloody fantastic.

30 Days of Genre - Day 28

2011-07-28T13:49:00.003Z

Day 28 – Favourite publisher of genre novels.

Ooh, there's a dangerous question! Gotta be a flip between Orbit and Angry Robot who both have a knack of picking up some excellent authors and make their lovelies available on Kindle. That last is now a very important factor in my book buying decisions and publishers as I'll hesitate over physical copies of books but show me a nicely priced e-book (of any format) and I'm in there.

So - Orbit - manage to come out with scads loads of cool series ranging from the urban fantasy to trad fantasy stuff to funky space sci-fi/space opera - their books tend to make for great comfort reading and there's so many of them! Meanwhile, Angry Robot is just plain fun and have a knack for putting out all kinds of the off-the-wall stuff.

30 Days of Genre - Day 27

2011-07-27T12:23:00.004Z

Day 27 – Most epic scene ever.

How do you judge epic, anyway? Do you go for the wide sweeping epicness such as, well, pretty much the whole of David Gemmell's Legend. (Which is the cheat's way of saying that I can't find my copy to pinpoint a particular scene, but I do distinctly remember that there was plenty to be found in the epic scene department.)

Or do you go for the 'OMG, that was so epically cool' aspect? Because in that case it would be that scene in Deadline, which I'm not going to spoil, but if you've read it, you know the one I mean. Chapter 27. The Coda. It's short and a total gut punch, coming, as it does, after the characters had been adjusting to the world as it was, and then, everything changes... (Damn you, Mira Grant!)

30 Days of Genre - Day 26

2011-07-26T10:03:00.005Z

Day 26 – Best Hero

Crumbs. Tricky one. So, the definition of a hero, as splattered about in multiple places (the definition, not the hero, that is), is that your hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities.

Noble qualities then. Yeah, this is going to cause problems. Noble qualities tend to bore me. Scoundrels are more fun. Like the Marquis de Carabas in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Noble in title, perhaps, definitely distinguished in ability, but you wouldn't call him a hero or admired for brave deeds. (Although Paterson Josef could totally make you believe otherwise. ;-) )

I guess Jack Churchill from Mark Chadbourn's Age of Misrule books could technically count - except for the whole finding him an extremely irritating character thing. Although this affliction didn't manifest until the later Kingdom of the Serpent trilogy so taking him just on Misrule, he could just slide in.

Livak from Juliet McKenna's Tales of Einarinn? Not noble, but definitely courageous and admired for her ability and brave deeds. Yep. She's definitely a hero. And I think we have a winner!

30 Days of Genre - Day 25

2011-07-16T20:31:00.006Z

Day 25 – A genre novel you plan on reading soon

Leaving aside the very many books I have to read for assorted BFS purposes... the next up on the TBR pile are:

Aliette de Bodard - Harbinger of the Storm

Kameron Hurley - God's War

Terry Pratchett - I Shall Wear Midnight

Jaine Fenn - Consorts of Heaven

Marianne de Pierres - Nylon Angel

Lauren Beukes - Zoo City

30 Days of Genre - Day 24

2011-07-15T19:34:00.004Z

Day 24 – Favourite classic genre novel

Hmm, I think it would have to be The Hobbit. It had something of a lasting effect on my childhood. I first encountered it at primary school when we had it read to us by a teacher whose name I have, alas, forgotten. But he did all the voices and so I can't read gollum and the trolls without hearing his version of them.

And the songs! As a wee lass I loved the songs in the book to the extent where I'd make up tunes for them and go around the house singing them. And then when we got a computer program that could read out the written text... well, that was hours of fun typing them in then changing the spelling to get the right inflections.

Ooh, and translating the runes at the front was also a favourite thing. Once I'd worked out the alphabet (and was very proud at having cracked it) I spent an entire summer writing secret things in runes. (It is quite possible that The Hobbit is responsible for turning me into a huge nerd!)

And that's before you get to the riddles and the map (maps in books was a new thing for me then) and the dragon and the sneaking around invisible and the spiders in the forest... and I went through two copies of the book before I ever got near The Lord of the Rings.

30 Days of Genre - Day 23

2011-07-12T05:44:00.004Z

Day 23 – Genre novel you haven't read, but wish you had

Lud in the Mist by Hope Mirrlees. It's on my shelf looking at me, last time I tried it I got as far as one page then got distracted... (This happens a lot with the more classic genre books... I have a tendency to total focus!fail!)

30 Days of Genre - Day 22

2011-07-11T10:34:00.004Z

Day 22 – A sequel which disappointed you.

Can we make it plural, because then I can go for the easy answer and pick the later Anita Blakes. Pr0nification ahoy!

Not that the earlier Anita Blakes didn't have flaws - the obsessional description of clothing and hair being one of the major irritants, but at least there was a plot somwhere in there. And then... then came the ardeur, and the long haired groupies and the power ups and the orgies that led to more power ups until any decent plot was relegated to the epilogue.

Which is shame, because initially there was potential for some interesting stories in the Blake-world. There was the balance of assorted preternatural group politics and how an out-ed spook world mixes with regular human types. There was the potential interference from the black ops groups, the potential of lots of lovely conflict as assorted law organisations dealt with new kinds of perps, and yet... orgies. And power ups. Such a waste.

30 Days of Genre - Day 21

2011-07-06T14:08:00.003Z

Day 21 – Genre novel with the most interesting character interactions

Had been having trouble deciding on this one - then I read the very excellent Desdaemona by Ben Macallan (which, if you haven't read it yet, do so, pronto!) - so, answer sorted!

The main interactions being between lead chap Jordan and the titular character Desdaemona - deliciously argumentative and snarky, with some growing affection and nifty surprises thrown in for good measure. Also worthy of note are the interactions between Jordan and his brother Asher, and then the trio together, being pure gold. Could have happily read more of them.

BFS awards shortlist

2011-06-28T05:28:00.005Z

So then, the BFS awards shortlist has now been published here. Which is nice. Bit of an odd mix this year and first impressions are: um, hello, can we have some more women on the shortlist sometime soon? Ta. Also, good grief, look at all that horror. Wasn't there some fantasy and SF on the long list? I'm sure there was somewhere. (Alas, can not find a link to it to check as the only link I could find led to the longlist voting form - which has, of course, been taken down...)

::headdesks:: at the amount of horror. Not that there's anything wrong with horror but this being the British *Fantasy* Society you'd think there'd be enough members voting for fantasy stuff to get at least one or two more things up there...

Whinging aside - very pleased to see that Strange Horizons made the shortlist in Best Magazine. And m'friend Jan E. has made it to the Best Short Story shortlist (she was stunned and amazed and is currently incoherent!)

So women visibility count - (which I'm fairly certain Juliet McKenna has also mentioned somewhere...)

Best Novel: 5 noms, Sam Stone (for Demon Dance) is the only female author
Best Novella: 5 noms, no women
Best Short Story: 5 noms, 2 female authors (Jan Edwards with Otterburn, Sam Stone with Fool's Gold)
Best Collection: 5 noms, no women
Best Anthology: 5 noms, 1 women co-editor (Allyson Bird with Never Again)
Best Non-Fiction: 5 noms, no women
Best Artist: 5 noms, no women
Best Small Press: 5 noms, no female editors/publishers
Best Magazine: 5 noms, 1 female editor! (Susan Marie Groppi for Strange Horizons. Woohoo!)
Best Graphic Novel: 5 noms, no women as primary creators

::headdesks again::

Having said that, though, the list for Best Newcomer is happily nice and diverse. Without naming names, as we apparently don't do that... noms from the BFS/Fcon membership = 14 authors. Of which, 7 are female! (I swear I'm not making this up!) We also have an interesting balance between fantasy, SF & horror (F: 8, SF: 2, H: 4) covering both small press (2) and big press (12), with both adult (10) & YA (4) books. 4 authors are PoC. Now m'fellow judges just have to finish reading them all... ;-P

(For comparison, last year there were 5 noms for Best Newcomer, of which: 3 female authors/2 male authors; 2 fantasy, 2 SF, 1 horror; 4 big press, 1 small press; all adult; 1 PoC)

Deadline

2011-06-25T12:02:00.004Z

Ooh, hey, and my proper review of Mira Grant's Deadline is up on the BFS website. Awesome-cakes!

30 Days of Genre - Day 20

2011-06-24T17:50:00.003Z

Day 20 – Favourite genre.

Definitely urban fantasy, no question. Though I'm not so keen on the ones with too many romantical bits (mushy stuff, ick!) I've a definite fondness for the genre, uh, generally.

Mostly, I like that UFs have myths and magic bleeding into the contemporary world, bonus points if the characters are dropping pop culture references while they kick naughty spook ass. (Why yes, I'm a Buffy/Supernatural fan. How did you guess! ;-P)

I mean, secondary world fantasies are fun and all, but an UF makes you feel like the cool weird stuff is hiding just out of sight in the world we actually live in. I like that. (And when the borders between worlds open up and let loose the freaky creatures, the UF fans will be completely prepared! ;-P)

And I love the high proportion of dynamic female protags to be found in UFs. Not just the obvious ass-kickers that you get from folks like Lilith Saintcrow, Patricia Briggs or Jennifer Rardin; but also, for example, Charles de Lint heroines who come from all walks of life with a whole range of different personalities and non-combat skill sets and still manage to rise above whatever plot related shenanigans are happening.

30 Days of Genre - Day 19

2011-06-23T13:04:00.003Z

Day 19 – World/setting you wish you lived in.

Well now, here's the thing... while there are many cool fantasy-lands, I have to confess to a liking for decent indoor plumbing and the internet - and I prefer my magic out in the contemporary world - it's more fun that way. So, first pick would have to be one of the urban fantasy ones. Maybe Charles De Lint's Newford, or Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye 'verse or Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift 'verse...

Though having said that... there is something very appealing about a SF-nal 'verse. Something with space ships with FTL or similar drives, plus teeny tiny human-computer interfaces. Maybe the Elizabeth Moon Serrano/Vatta book-verses. Or the Marianne de Pierres Sentients of Orion 'verse.

Mammoth Dracula!

2011-06-22T13:14:00.003Z

Why, hello there, I appear to have committed review!

Mammoth Book of Dracula, on the BFS site right here!

Plus my review of M.D. Lachlan's Wolfsangel will be appearing in the Summer BFS Journal, due out in the next week or two...

30 Days of Genre - Day 18

2011-06-22T09:48:00.004Z

Day 18 – Favourite protagonist.

Ooh, this is a tricky one. No one character immediately jumps out as absolute favourite so... contenders:

Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden. He has a talking skull for a friend, he animated a dinosaur skeleton and rode it into battle, he has an army of pizza loving faeries at his command and despite being surrounded by powerful enemies always manages to cludge together something to save the day. Except the leching over the nubile apprentice gets a tad squicky... so not a runaway win there.

Kate Elliott's Marit, from Shadow Gate (book 2 of the Crossroads trilogy)
Because being assassinated hasn't stopped her getting up and kicking ass. (Erm, does that count as a spoiler?)

Mirabel Stonefist from Elizabeth Moon's stories of the Ladies Aid & Armor Society (as found in assorted Chicks anthologies) - because she's a fun warrior lady.

Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax (for all the reasons mentioned in the Favourite Character post)

Stephen Hunt's Amelia Harsh - a tomb raider done steampunk style! So soooo awesome!

30 Days of Genre - Day 17

2011-06-16T14:33:00.003Z

Annnnd, we're back again...

So - Day 17 - Favourite antagonist

Gotta be Pratchett's Lord Havelock Vetinari, whose machinations shape an entire city.

Although, I'm not sure he technically counts as an antagonist, because, yes, he constantly challenges assorted protagonists and he is considered the primary threat in Ankh Morpork, but, ultimately, his deeds stablise the city and give positive opportunities to assorted characters.

Nevertheless, this is a man so terrifying that the mere sight of him was enough to make a previous patrician die of fright and, let's face it, the guy's a sneaky genius, and, just, well, quite cool!

30 Days of Genre - Day 16

2011-06-15T10:29:00.004Z

Oops, that was a bit of a break... where were we then...?

Day 16! Genre novel with the most intriguing plot.

Well it's deffo going to have to be Mira Grant but will it be Feed or Deadline? Oh, definitely Deadline.

Great mother of pumpkins, people, Deadline! And I can't even tell you why it's an intriguing plot without giving away the jawdropping revelations that pop up.

So, generally speaking, what you have is a glorious post-zombie-apocalypse world where your average peeps are co-existing with the shambling undead. Who, as I recall, get smarter the more of them in a swarm. (The undead, that is, not the average peeps, who one might imagine go the other way when in crowds...) There's plenty of mad science and even madder scientists. There's blogger and other online writer types as the heroes who have to navigate their way through increasing peril and crazed conspiracies. There's the persistent threat of the mutating virus that has more to it than previously thought, there's the dodgy genetic engineering and the clones and...and... mad science, people, mad science!

And dear god that ending. It is lethal. Lethal, I tell you. And reading the preview of the next book is even worse because it's going to be soooooo long until it's out in May 2012.

30 Days of Genre - Day 15

2011-04-28T20:30:00.003Z

Day 15 – The cover from your current (or most recent) genre read.

Just reviewed this for the BFS - fun book, utterly brutal with some truly jaw dropping plot developments. Plus bonus vikings! Wolfmen! Bonkers gods!

30 Days of Genre - Days 13/14

2011-04-27T20:03:00.003Z

Yep, it's a twofer, given that I forgot again yesterday... (am having a totally braindead week this week...)

Sooooo....

Day 13 – A genre novel you’ve read more than five times.

Stephen King. My ultimate comfort reading. IT probably takes the prize as most read as I'm on my third (very ratty) copy, but The Stand is another favourite (at least, up until it gets all over religious towards the end. Apocalypse hijinx!). Also various of the early short story collections. And bonus points because once you read the Dark Tower books you keep seeing all the connections between all the rest, which makes you go back and re-read again. Which is fun.

A similar thing happens with Charles De Lint. The Newford books have an excellent criss-crossing of characters so you'll get a walk on in one book becoming the lead in another. I think, on reflection, that Someplace to be Flying (crow girls!) would be one of my most read. Also Spiritwalk (my first De Lint!), and, again, like with King, the short story collections get more rereading than the novels do.

There is also the legendary Lord of the Rings. It has to be done at least once a year (although I don't re-read the Hobbit quite as much and have only touched the Silmarillion once.) I find I skip different bits on each reading, though. Currently, I can not being doing with the interminable Frodo angsting (the movies have ruined me...) and so I tend to give more attention to the rest of the Fellowship shenanigans; while in earlier times it was the other way around.

And as I tend to re-read collections and anthologies more than novels, Esther Friesner's Chicks in Chainmail anthologies are a definite favourite. Comic fantasy full of excellent action heroines - what's not to love?

Day 14 – Favourite book trailer from a genre novel.

No idea. Have to confess to not completely getting the big deal with book trailers - I get sold on books by either reading the reviews of and/or articles/interviews by the author, or listening to the author at a convention. Actually, especially that last one. Authors at conventions tend to make me immediately pick up at least one of their books, even if I'd only vaguely heard of them before and never gotten around to searching out titles. Especially if they give good panel.

30 Days of Genre - Day 12

2011-04-25T21:01:00.003Z

Day 12 – A genre novel everyone should read.

Eaaaaaaasy. Kari Sperring's Living with Ghosts. It is brilliant! Swashbuckling ghostie adventures wrapped up in beaaauutiful language. Soooo much love. :-)

30 Days of Genre - Day 11

2011-04-25T20:53:00.003Z

Argh. Forgot this yesterday!

Day 11 – Favourite genre series

This is a tricky one - just one? Insanity! Lillith Saintcrow's Jill Kismet books? Jim Hines' Princess books? Jim Butcher's Dresden Files? Seanan McGuire's Toby Daye books? Jo Graham's Numinous World books?
All told, though, this week I'll go for Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift series. Excellent stories, fabulously told and it even manages to make London and surrounding boroughs sound interesting. (Look, I get that people love London, really, but I'd quite like to read UK urban fantasy that is set somewhere else please... ta!)

30 Days of Genre - Day 10

2011-04-23T06:28:00.002Z

Day 10 – Best writing style, or the style that resonates most with you.

Oh good, an easy one! While Charles de Lint writes the stories I most like to read and Kate Griffin has that wicked combo of action prose done with some fantastic quirky stylistic choices and excellent turns of phrase; it is a truth universally acknowledged that the absolute lord high king and emperor of gorgeous prose has to be: Chaz Brenchley/Daniel Fox/(and possibly even Ben Macallan!)

The man delivers the most beautiful writing you'll ever read -lyrical, fabulous, and utterly enchanting, all of which subtly entangles you in the story he's telling. Read Daniel Fox's Moshui books (with their very beautiful covers), read the Selling Water by the River books, read the Outremers. Hell, read everything, you won't be disappointed.

30 Days of Genre - Day 9

2011-04-22T19:59:00.005Z

Day 9 – Saddest scene in a genre novel.

Ooh, tricky one. Especially since I've got the emotional depth of a puddle in a drought. And the memory of a leaky sieve.

One that springs to mind is the gut punch that is Gage's death in Stephen King's Pet Sematary (and if I could find my copy I'd be able to go into more detail on the why. (Alas, the great house tidy has mysteriously vanished many things...) That whole damn book creeps me out, but Gage's death comes out of nowhere and is utterly tragic.

And, actually, now I think about it, there's a similar such saddest scene in Chaz Brenchley's Shelter (which I also can't find...) - as I recall, there's a particular scene near the end that is all the more wrenching by the fact that when you're reading it, you're absolutely certain there's no way he's not going to deliver the predictable happy ending. And yet... I do recall having to flip back and re-read it a couple of times to check, that, yes, actually, he really did let that happen...

30 Days of Genre - Day 8

2011-04-21T07:31:00.003Z

Odd one today...

Day 8 – Best fan soundtrack.
I have no idea what this even means. (Goes to consult the multi-faceted wisdom of teh internetz... internetz suggests it's something to do with applying songs to characters or something? I dunno. I'm making up my own interpretation...)

So. Music. Books. Don't know about best fan soundtrack, but there are certain books I can't read without instantly hearing the albums I was listening to at the time. Stephen King's Pet Semetary & The Shining, f'rinstance, will always and forever have Roxette's 'Look Sharp' album playing in my head. And the first three Terry Brooks Shannara books are doomed to be intermingled with the strains of Enya's 'The Celts' album. (I was 14, what can I say!)

30 Days of Genre - Day 7

2011-04-20T11:54:00.002Z

Day 7 – Favourite couple in a genre novel.

Hawk and Fisher! How is this even a question? Found in the Hawk and Fisher & Forest Kingdom series by Simon R. Green; she's the princess who was sent to be a sacrifice to a dragon, he's the younger prince who was sent to slay it. Only, turns out the dragon is the one who needs rescuing from her. And when they're done with the whole save the kingdom from terrrrrible peril thing, they throw in the royalty business in favour of wandering off, changing their names and becoming cops in a far off city. Much hijinx ensue.

And as a couple, they rock. They have an excellent relationship that, as written, shows them as absolute equal partners who trust each other implicitly while they get on and do much heroic stuff. And the witty banter is just an extra bonus.

30 Days of Genre - Day 6

2011-04-19T05:36:00.004Z

Rant time! Because Day 6 is:
Most annoying character.

There is no doubt in mind who my most annoying character is - characters, plural, actually: Ruth Gallagher and Jack Churchill from the Age of Misrule/Dark Age/Kingdom of the Serpent trilogies by Mark Chadbourn.

They shouldn't be annoying. I mean, Church is an archaeologist who becomes a Destined!Champion! and Ruth starts out being pretty cool what with the solicitor becoming a witch thing. And in the first trilogy they take up Legendary!Weapons! and save the world (kinda). That their supposedly epic romance was just silly and over done was a minor annoyance, the fact that the Romance!Of!Doom! sucked in Laura (a much more kick-ass female character than Ruth, thankyekindly) and Ryan (secrets!mysteries!) was a tad more annoying. Luckily Shavi managed to dodge the Love!Triangle! and retain full-on awesomeness.

Then we got the middle trilogy which focused on a whole new set of destined heroes (who inherited the roles from the first five, who were the latest in a line of fives...)

And then... oh, then was the last trilogy where everyone gets dragged back together for the mother of all apocalyptic battles across different times and otherworldly dimensions... and yet... Ruth and Church... dear god but suddenly they were overly whiny, overbearing and sanctimonious and every moment they were on the page was a moment I wanted to skip to get to the better characters. Maybe I'm not buying Church as the big hero he was supposed to be by the end, maybe Ruth was acting far too passive for the super!witch! she was supposed to have evolved into... or possibly it was too much being told that their Romance! Was! Epic! I don't know, I just know that by the last trilogy my hatred for them as characters reached irrational proportions. (And someday I'm going to have to attempt a re-read just to see if time makes them any better...)

If you're playing along, don't forget to check out the other peeps of Day 6:
Floor to Ceiling Books
A Fantastical Librarian
Bibliotropic
SMZb
The Erudite Ogre (Day 6 not up at time of blogging!)

30 Days of Genre - Day 5

2011-04-18T20:05:00.003Z

Coo, day 5 already!

Day 5 – Character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).

We'll go with wish you were like, and the fact that I'm picking Lara Croft will come as no surprise to anybody (points to userpic).

Because, c'mon, who wouldn't. Genius archaeologist who gets to adventure around the world, finding lost sites and mysterious treasures (and we'll ignore that whole wanton destruction of aforementioned sites of important archaeological interest...) beating up bad guys while in possession of cool gadgets and, hey, the outfits aren't bad either!

30 Days of Genre - Day 4

2011-04-17T07:48:00.006Z

Annnnd today:
Day 4 – Your guilty pleasure book.

Yep, this is me, cheating again... my guilty pleasure book would actually be movie & video game novelisations/tie-ins. In most cases I'll have read the books before seeing the film or playing the game and one of the endearing qualities of the tie-in book is that they're generally short fun reads, so excellent when you need something light and easy. They're also great for filling in the gaps of the story and fleshing out the characters.

Personal faves include Resident Evil (excellent for the movie versions but the VG tie-ins have jumbled continuity with the games which makes it...interesting), Tomb Raider (extra movie scenes! Wahey! Although, again, the VG tie-in books don't quite hold up as well), the Riddick books (arrgh, one of the names is wrong in the Pitch Black one!), Doom, the Mummy books, X-Men (novelisations of films adapted from comics! Hee!) and the Alien books. Indiana Jones novelisations and the odd Star Wars short story anthology do creep in occasionally too.

For more Day 4 fun, check out:
Floor to Ceiling Books
The Erudite Ogre
SMZb
Bibliotropic

30 Days of Genre - Day 3

2011-04-16T12:39:00.006Z

Aaaaaand today's 30 Days of Genre thingy...

Day 3 – A genre novel that is underrated.

Not so much a novel, more a collection of stories - The Paladin Mandates by Mike Chinn. I love these! They're supernatural pulp detective adventures, set in the thirties, starring the immortal Damian Paladin (who goes back to at least Ancient Egyptian times!). Paladin is ably abetted by long time girlfriend Leigh Oswin, herself with some pretty interesting secrets in her background.

The historical details (both of the thirties and the earlier eras that get touched upon) are amazing, the spook stuff is nicely subtle and they're generally fun, cracking reads with barnstorming plane chases, mobsters and weird creatures all over the place!

There's a couple of additional short stories floating around in magazines in places, and rumour has it that a second collection of stories is on the way, but what I'd really like to see is a lovely novel length Paladin adventure. Or even series of. (May have to do a Misery on the poor boy! ;-P )

30 Days of Genre - Day 2

2011-04-15T11:21:00.007Z

Right then, today's 30 Days of Genre -

Day 2 – Your favourite character.

Oh, this is a tricky one. Think I'm going to cheat and split it into comics and books.

So, comics is easy... Jenny Sparks from Stormwatch/The Authority, Warren Ellis era.

She's an ass-kicking 100 year old super-heroine who doesn't take nonsense from anyone, has spent a century romping around the world and hanging with notable historical peeps both real and fictional, and she sacrificed her life to save the world by electrocuting God.

Random quotes -

Sparks: "We are the Authority. Behave."
Known bad-ass Midnighter:
"Is it wrong for me to find that woman utterly terrifying."

As far as books go, oooh, choices...

Charles de Lint's Crow Girls? Neil Gaiman's Marquis de Carabis? Juliet E. McKenna's Halice? Kate Griffin's Matthew Swift?

Better be the classic: Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax - the best witch in, on or under the Discworld.

Feared and respected by, oh, pretty much everyone, she's survived confrontations with Death, elves, vampires and wizards, usually by her skillful application of headology.
Also, she has an interesting approach to her place in the universe.

"Granny's implicit belief that everything should get out of her way extended to other witches, very tall trees and , on occasion, mountains."

(Don't forget to check out more 30 Days of Genre at Floor to Ceiling Books!)

30 Days of Genre - Day 1

2011-04-14T06:18:00.006Z

Meme time! (Ganked from Floor to Ceiling Books)
30 Days of Genre
Day 1 – Very first genre novel.
Day 2 – Your favourite character.
Day 3 – A genre novel that is underrated.
Day 4 – Your guilty pleasure book.
Day 5 – Character you feel you are most like (or wish you were).
Day 6 – Most annoying character.
Day 7 – Favourite couple in a genre novel.
Day 8 – Best fan soundtrack.
Day 9 – Saddest scene in a genre novel.
Day 10 – Best writing style, or the style that resonates most with you.
Day 11 – Favourite genre series
Day 12 – A genre novel everyone should read.
Day 13 – A genre novel you’ve read more than five times.
Day 14 – Favourite book trailer from a genre novel.
Day 15 – The cover from your current (or most recent) genre read.
Day 16 – Genre novel with the most intriguing plot
Day 17 – Favourite antagonist.
Day 18 – Favourite protagonist.
Day 19 – World/setting you wish you lived in
Day 20 – Favourite genre.
Day 21 – Genre novel with the most interesting character interactions
Day 22 – A sequel which disappointed you.
Day 23 – Genre novel you haven't read, but wish you had
Day 24 – Favourite classic genre novel.
Day 25 – A genre novel you plan on reading soon.
Day 26 – Best hero.
Day 27 – Most epic scene ever.
Day 28 – Favourite publisher of genre novels.
Day 29 – A genre novel you thought you wouldn’t like, but ended up loving.
Day 30 – Your favourite genre novel of all time.

Soooooo - Day 1 - Very first genre novel.

My very first genre novel was likely to have been one of the Buccaneer Series books by Sheila K. McCullagh. Pirates! Magic paintings that let our hero fall into the world where the pirates were! Thrilling adventures! I burned through those books several times at primary school and was subsequently told off by one of the teachers for reading them too fast...

Coming close second would probably have been Narnia or The Hobbit. (The latter of which I discovered when an awesome primary school teacher began reading it out in class. And he did the voices! And it turned out mum had a copy of it at home so I could get ahead of the story!)

BFS awardy bits #2

2011-04-12T15:59:00.012Z

As someone on the BFS forum was asking - if you're interesting in reading some of the short stories on the awards longlist, various web ones can be found here:

‘A Serpent In The Gears’ – Margaret Ronald – Beneath Ceaseless Skies
‘After The Dragon’ – Sarah Monette – Fantasy Magazine
‘All the Kings Monsters’ – Megan Arkenberg – Clarkesworld Magazine
'Camelot' - Patrick Samphire - Interzone #230
‘Distant Deeps Or Skies’ – Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Expanded Horizons
‘First Born’ – Megan Arkenberg – The Lorelei Signal
'Fool's Gold' - Sam Stone - The Bitten Word (Newcon Press)
‘Last Of The Monsters’ – Emil Skaftun – Strange Horizons
'Nightmare of You and Death in the Room, The' - Adam Christopher - Hub Magazine
‘Otterburn’ – Jan Edwards – Estronomicon
‘Six Skills Of Madam Lumiere, The’ – Marissa Lingen – Beneath Ceaseless Skies
‘Sunlight’ – Kelly Dwyer – Abyss & Apex
‘Things, The’ – Peter Watts – Clarkesworld
‘Undead Philosophy 101’ – Stephanie Burgis – December Lights
‘Unpopular Opinion Of Reverend Tobias Thackery, The’ – Adam Christopher – Hub Magazine
'Silent Night' - Stuart Young - Estronomicon

BFS awardy bits

2011-04-12T11:48:00.003Z

For those who are curious, the BFS longlist has now been published here - at quick glance, not a bad list at all. ;-)

In other news, apparently I'm on the judging panel for Best Newcomer again. (ooh-er!) I'm joined by the fabulous Lou Morgan and the equally fabulous Jenny Davies of Wondrous Reads.

This'll be fun!

Monday Morning Wake Up!

2011-04-11T09:01:00.005Z

Am a new convert to My Chemical Romance shininess, and this song & video is one of my faves...

And Grant Morrison is in the vid! How cool is that?!

Convention Happies

2011-04-09T12:32:00.005Z

So, due to being skinter than a very skint thing at the moment, I'm having to miss Eastercon, Alt-Fiction and anything else interesting that might come up this year. (Fantasycon, however, is sacred.)

Except...being a wild and crazy thing (yes I am...shut up ;-) ) I've pre-booked for some rather juicy looking events coming up in the next 3 years. (Therefore, the world is not allowed to end in 2012. Or I'll be having words...)

World Fantasy Convention in Brighton in 2013!
Which is several different kinds of awesome. I mean, a major con in the UK! Woot!
Have never been to a WFC, so can't wait for that.

And talking of major conventions in the UK...
Worldcon in London in 2014!
Technically it's not getting voted on until the 2012 Worldcon but, last I heard, there were no competing bids so... London! Worldcon! Wheeee! Another con I've never been to, so, yay!

Also, not forgetting - Eastercon 2012
Back at the Radisson in Heathrow, which also happens to be just down the road from where I grew up. Ah, the comforting sounds of low flying aircraft. Love it.

Now to start saving up for them all... ;-)

Slushing the BFS Story Comp

2011-04-09T05:35:00.002Z

And while we're talking about the BFS Story Comp... how can you (yes, you!) beat the slushpool and make it to the top 5 and, thusly, to the eyes of the celebrity judges?

Well, let me tell you... ;-P
(At this point I should mention that these are the personal opinions of someone who has been slushing the comp for maaaaaany years and in no way related to official BFS policy, etc. and so on.)

1) Read the submissions guidelines. No, really. They matter. Especially the word count. (No, the title doesn't count.) A few words over won't matter, but if you go a couple of thousand over you will be marked down. Formatting matters too, if only to make it easier for us to read. You really want to make your work easy for us to read. Trust me.
Oh, also, it's a *genre* story competition, genre meaning F/SF/horror. Make sure there's at least a little genre in your story please! The clue's in the British *Fantasy* Society.

2) Make it your best writing. Seriously. Edit it and polish it, make sure it hangs together. Send it to a reliable beta reader for a crit. And spell check. And grammar check. Then leave it to rest for a few days and check all over again.

3) Resubmissions. Yes, we remember stories. And while there's no rule against resubmissions, unless you've made some major changes to the story, if it didn't go through last year, it won't go through this year. In fact, chances are it'll get scored lower this time around.

4) Avoid cliches. Battering the same tired old tropes in the same tired old ways won't rise your story up above the rest. Do something new.

5) Trick endings rarely work. (And can be seen from, oh, the first paragraph in some cases.)

6) Make sure there's an actual story in the story. 3000 words explaining a cool world concept with a couple of character bits thrown in does not a story make.

7) Avoid excessive infodump. Trust that we can actually get the gist of the background stuff and concentrate on the actual story you're telling. We've read a lot, we *get* the shorthand in genre fiction. Honest.

8 ) Diversity! We welcome you! Without going into a long rant about default POV characters and settings...(because this is a very personal bugbear, and I'm likely to mis-speak myself if I go on too much...) I'll just quote the Strange Horizons guidelines, who say what I'm trying to say so much better -

"We'd like to help make the field of speculative fiction more inclusive, more welcoming to both authors and readers from traditionally underrepresented groups, so we're interested in seeing stories from diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

"...We like settings and cultures that we don't see all the time in speculative fiction, as long as they're well-researched and not exoticized." Special emphasis on that last bit.

And also check out Shweta Narayan's excellent post on that particular subject here.

9) Female characters! (Another very personal bugbear.) Yes, there are many excellent stories told from the male perspective. I read them. I love them. However... last year, out of 148 stories:
45 were from the female perspective
96 were from the male perspective
3 from both
3 unknown gender
1 dog (male)

Can we at least even the balance up a bit please? Like, with some active female protags? Ta muchly.

Think that's it for now - get writing, and good luck! ;-P

BFS Short Story Comp

2011-04-09T05:14:00.002Z

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the 2011 BFS Short Story Competition is in mid flow. If you want a crack at it, you've got until 31st May 2011 to get something sent over.

The comp is open to both BFS members (for free) and non-members (for £5 per entry) and can be any kind of f/sf/h story so long as it's under 5000 words.

Electronic submissions and payments (where applicable) are preferred.

Prizes are: 1st - £100, a year's membership of the BFS, and publication in the BFS journal; 2nd - £50, a year's membership of the BFS, and publication in the BFS journal; 3rd - £20

Winners will be announced at the British Fantasy Awards ceremony at Fantasycon in October.

Check out the full details here.

Genre for Japan - Auction Items Up!

2011-03-27T16:43:00.006Z

Woot! The items for the Genre for Japan auction have now been listed on their website and lo, are they shinier than shiny! (Item 27's mine, all mine, y'hear? Get yer grubby hands off!) ;-P

Bidding starts tomorrow so don't forget to get over there to show your support!

Genre For Japan!

2011-03-25T12:04:00.004Z

Signal boosting (to the three people that read this ;-P )

Genre For Japan!
What is it? A funky charity auction organised by a bunch of very cool genre peeps of both the fan and professional persuasion.

Auction opens 28th March and will include many awesome, rare and quite possibly unique items donated by fabulous people involved with the SF/F/H genres, with all proceeds going to the Japan Tsunami Appeal run by the British Red Cross.

How can you help? Donate! Today is the last day for donating items for the auction so if you've got something or can do something auctionable, get in contact with them at genreforjapan@gmail.com before 5pm GMT.

Bid! Bidding opens Monday - check out their website for full details on how to do it.

That website again: Genre For Japan!

Wildstacks - Issue One!

2010-12-24T14:13:00.003Z

Oh yes! Wildstacks #1 is now live!
Cover illo by Sunila Sen-Gupta
Fabulous Fiction being:

PATCHES
By Rob Shearman

TO INFER IS HUMAN
By Rod Rees

THE FAMILY ROOM
By Nicholas Royle

NOT A MOMENT TO SWOON
By Ian Whates

CHASING WATERFALLS
By Andrew Hook

SALTUS LUNAE
By Kari Sperring

WASHING OF THE WATERS
By Marion Pitman

LANTERN JACK
By Christopher Fowler

Random Blatherings: December Edition

2010-12-09T13:17:00.004Z

Ah, December. Apparently some people have snow. Lower Earley, however, is sunny and snow free. (The joys of being a valley girl! Apparently our weather doesn't act like wot it does in the rest of the country.)

So, what news?

Well, Kari Sperring fans can soon look out for an interview of the fabulous award-winning multi-talented genius lady in the upcoming BFS Journal (being the new megamix hardback publication the BFS is putting out in a bid to merge Prism, Dark Horizons and New Horizons. Or something. I? Have no idea.) The cover is gorgeous though. BFS members can expect it as soon as it's back from the printers.

It's Women in SF week over at Torque Control! Go check out the many fabulous posts and discussions about women in sf!

If you're in need of some fun stories to brighten your December, go see the fantastic December Lights project organised by Stephanie Burgis and Patrick Samphire. Me, I loooooove Undead Philosophy 101 by Stephanie Burgis.

Women & Hollywood make mention of how Helen Mirren kicked ass at the Women in Entertainment Breakfast There is a video. And delicious quotes. (Helen Mirren also kicks ass in the film RED. Just sayin'. :-P)

M'good friends Pete and Jan (they of Wyld Stallyns... er, sorry, Wild Stacks fame) have now been made the editors of the BFS' Dark Horizons, and, thusly, are looking for subs.

-

On personal newsie bits -
The Nano thing - duly done so my record of making the 50k in November goes unblemished. (Huzzah!)
OU status - Fiiiiinally got the results of the last course/module/thingy back. Passed it! 85% on the examinable part, 75% average on the coursework part (which is, apparently, a bit weird as most people get lower marks for the examinable bit.)
Now, just got to fight my way through the current course from hell then see how many course/module/thingies I can get done before the prices rise astronomically thanks to the Bastard!Government!Trolls! Ahem. Yes. Studying is fun. Really. ;-P

Nano (Day 4!)

2010-11-04T07:04:00.000Z

I know, shocking isn't it, we're 4 days into Nanowrimo and I still haven't bored you with word counts and other Nano blatherings! Alas, poor people, that is about to change. ;-P

So, this year, unlike may others in recent memory, I shall not be going nuts in the wordwar due to the very distracting presence of coursework for the degree (specifically, a thingy on the rise of agriculture in the Neolithic that is due on 1st December. The bastards. November should be sacred. Really.) Meaning, instead of aiming for the brain-flipping 160k-ish totals that a true wordwar demands, I'm, apparently, going to be happy to make it to the 50k. (I say apparently because there's always the chance that Insane!Competitive!Jen! will wake up and insist on more, just because.)

Anyhoo, so where are we this year then? Planning? Hah! I wish. This year, again, unlike recent years, is going to be a total Pantser. (Ooooh, scary. Control!Freak!Jen! is attempting not to panic.)

Wordcount so far? 5129 words. Teeny, but just about keeping up with the minimum daily needs. (Insane!Competitive!Jen! would still like to make 50k by end of next week, just because. Insane!Competitive!Jen! may need locking in the shed to shut her up.)

Bodycount so far? 1 unconfirmed. (I know! I should be in double figures for dead people by now!)

Action so far? Daring!Smuggler!Girl! has broken into the Alexandrian Embassy during party night to return a love-token to a chap whose husband is a big to-do, she has also narrowly avoided getting killed by the Mysterious!Assassin! who has just committed Foul!Acts! that will come back to bite Daring!Smuggler!Girl! on the ass later.
In other news, Undercover!Revenue!Girl! is trying to close a sting on a renowned antiquities smuggler/crime-lord.(Crime-lady?). Hijinx are about to ensue.
One hopes that the two plot lines will converge in a useful manner at a later date. ;-P

Wild Stacks!

2010-10-31T08:30:00.005Z

Announcing: Wyld Stallions! (oh, sorry, must stop watching Bill & Ted!)Wild Stacks: The Library of the Imagination

Yes, there is a new online magazine on the interwebs! And this one is being run by m'good friends Pete Coleborn and Jan Edwards who are reviving their Alchemy Press in order to bring genre goodness to you (yes, you!) :-P
Currently it's a 4-the-luv market, published quarterly, with the aim of 1) becoming a decent paid market and 2) producing an annual hardback Best-Of anthology (for which royalties and wotnot will be paid). Further Alchemy Press cunning plans to be announced as and when.

Meantime, Issue #0 is up - with fiction from Anne Gay, Allen Ashley and Mike Chinn.

Annnnd, most importantly, Wild Stacks is open for submissions! Oh yes. ;-P
Also I'm an assistant editor! So I get to read 'em! The subs remit is for a broad range of genre fiction ... specifically "from horror to heroic fiction, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, steam-punk, supernatural, surreal, weird fiction, and noir crime... but no hard science fiction, erotica or stories designed to gross out."

So let's see what you've got! Personally, I want to see more women writers, stories with kick-ass chicks and settings that haven't been used a zillion times by everyone else, but that's just me!

That link again: Wild Stacks! (Rock on!)

Kari Sperring Interview

2010-10-23T21:00:00.002Z

Oooooooh. My interview with the lovely and generally fantastic Kari Sperring will be appearing in the December BFS Journal. (The all new BFS mega-mix that, so rumour has it, will be a glorious hardback beast that combines Prism and Dark Horizons in one shiny package...)

On Bullying

2010-10-14T07:24:00.005Z

This - On Good Kids and Total Fucking Assholes - Kate Harding

Also, can we stop telling said tormented kids that the correct response is to ignore the bullies? Has that ever, in the entire history of weirdo kids and the aggressive little shits who enjoy hurting them, actually made a bully stop? Seriously, if I ever have a kid who gets bullied like I did — verbally, daily, constantly — or like Al did — verbally and physically, daily, constantly — my best advice will be this: “You know what, sweetie? That kid is a TOTAL FUCKING ASSHOLE, and you should feel free to say so — scream so — to anyone who will listen. I don’t care if you get punished for it at school, and you won’t get punished for it at home.” Honestly, I don’t think that would do much to stop the bullying, and it might even make things worse. But at least it’s the truth, and it feels good to say it.

But most especially this: Bitterness, Bullying and Breaking the Circle - Seanan McGuire

Fine. My day was fine. I had a lot of "fine" days back then. It's amazing how often "fine" meant "horrible, terrible, mortifying, humiliating, dehumanizing, brutal." All I ever had to say was "fine."

We've known for a long time that school bullying was out of control, but every time it gets "uncovered" again, people react like it's some sort of shock. Kids can be mean? HORRORS! Kids bully other kids? HORRORS!

Bullshit.

Go read the full posts and comments, because they say it far more eloquently than I could ever manage.

Bullying is why I hated secondary school with a black passion - possibly stemming from having so much time off ill that on those rare ocassions I was there... didn't go well. Because it's so much fun to play the 'let's keep kicking Jen in the back of the knee to see how long it takes to fall over' game.

This meant I started asking to be home schooled from the age of 11, because the learning side of things I liked. It was just the people. (Not that I'd ever admit it at the time, because you're supposed to shrug these things off, aren't you? And if they keep it up, it's obviously your fault for not finding the right way to deal with it. It's just words. Toughen up. Ignore them. Fight back. Speak out. Yeah, right.)

Homeschooling seemed the perfect solution, except the parentals routinely had to say no due to a) mum felt her education level wasn't sufficient to do the teaching herself and b) the financial situation was so not capable of funding tutors to come in. So I learned the subtle art of staying way the hell away from anyone while making it look like I wasn't bothered by the words and sniggering and mysteriously missing chairs and so on. I spent lunchtimes in classrooms (generally not eating) using the excuse of having homework to finish. Kept my head down and got on with work quietly. And hated every minute of it. Ask me in person and I'll deny that a block of my life ever happened, which is such a waste.

Then I hit 15 and finally things started looking up. There were only a few months to go until I was legally allowed to abandon the whole damn school system and do my own thing so the lovely parentals juggled finances enough to get a couple of tutors in to do the homeschooling thing and shut the education board up for a while. And after the point of freedom, mum insisted I go to night school to get some GCSEs. Adult Education? Best thing ever. Mature students are routinely awesome. (Which goes double for mum who consistently tried to find creative solutions for everything. Also, she did a couple of the GCSEs with me, which was fun. I beat her in English, we hit a tie in Spanish. Have I mentioned lately that my mum's very cool?)

Other adults, not so cool. Head of year? One of the Phys Ed teachers, so when, finally, I had a weak moment and told mum and it went to teacherly intervention, didn't go well. (Because, of course, the main instigators were also on the sports teams and popular and yaddah yaddah.) And predominantly verbal bullying apparently doesn't count. (So, what, you want evidence of serious physical abuse before you act?) The oh-so-useful teachers managed an assembly on bullying (like that was going to do any good) and, amusingly, in the next class, a couple of the instigators, in a very blatant fake-break-up ploy, sent a minion to ask if I was going to say anything. (I think I managed a vaguely sarcastic non-committal comment.)

I'll let Kate Harding sum things up:

But frankly, I don’t really give a rat’s ass why they’re like that — I just want them to stop. And I want every adult who has ever minimized the impact of bullying, who has ever made excuses for a bully instead of standing up for a victim, who has ever described a child known to viciously torment other children as “a good kid, really!” to know this: You are a total fucking asshole.

insert something witty about studying

2010-10-01T15:15:00.002Z

Apparently it's October. That's nice. Also quite surprising on account of September being blocked out by a little bit of Fcon but mostly by a month long obsession with the last assignment for the current OU module.

I was really organised, truly. I had the reading and note taking and quotes and *everything* done before Fcon, with about 80% of a first draft locked away. Because I know what Fcon does to me. Total wipe out for at least a week afterwards. And with the essay due two weeks after Fcon, prep was essential.

So last week was a haze of staring at the computer screen and not managing to do anything useful at all. (Except sign up for the free Kindle for PC app and spend money on e-books, which is a whole 'nother thing.)

And then yesterday I re-read the essay question to check all was well and polish up. And swore. Then swore some more. Yep, time to start from scratch. Bugger. And it was due today. High noon, baby.

Cue panic. (And there was No. Chocolate. In. The. House. Reader, feel my pain. Essay panic can only be alleviated by vast quantities of food of the gods. It is essential, dammit.)

So I tried to write. Which didn't work. And it got later. So I tried to write. And it still didn't work. No essay quality words would ease themselves out of my brain. So I resorted to foolishness, dear reader, as foolishness often works where all else fails. Yes, I wrote a whole essay in slang and swearing (a lot of swearing) and snarky comments. Apparently this was enough to unlock my brain, who knew! (Well, that and finding the right soundtrack to listen to, cos, apparently my brain needs music to type to and today's essay on sacred places was brought to you by the Italian Job. No, I have no idea why either. You'd have thought, given the subject matter, that something a little more atmospheric would have worked better. But apparently no.) And once tidied up (and rewritten sensibly), it's actually not too bad an essay. I hope.

Did I make the deadline? Oh yes. With 20 minutes to spare. And now I get a whole month off before the next module (World Archaeology) starts. Woohoo! (Can sleep now!)

archaeo-tech

2010-09-26T09:11:00.002Z

Here's something I never knew existed: Glyph for Windows. (Such a cool name!) Apparently the Centre of Computer-aided Egyptological Research based in Utrecht University has a bunch of groovy Egyptology programs, including the aforementioned Glyph. (Glyph! For! Windows!)

Alas, they are now having to upgrade to new programs for faster systems so they're having a sale! Yes, you too can have Glyph for Windows, or the even funkier named Hieroglyphica, or even the Coffin Texts Word Index.

What's even cooler is that someone (specifically, Kate Phizackerley) is developing a hieroglyphic plug-in for Word Press! Good grief y'all. Hieroglyphs on blogs. Sweeeeet!

And just to finish off the morning's archaeo-geekery, did you know field archaeologists are using iPads on excavations? iPads! Awesome-cakes! Specifically, the University of Cincinnati on an excavation in Pompeii who are inputting excavation data directly onto iPads instead of handwriting on a million forms and wotnot then having to type it all up later, thus saving oodles of time.

There really is an app for everything! :-)

BFS Best Newcomer - On Film!

2010-09-20T13:17:00.003Z

Oh. My. God. Someone filmed it! On camera! And posted it to YouTube!

(I'm on YouTube! Eeeeeek!)

I had no idea I was twitching my head that much. :-)

So, here, for your viewing pleasure, is the fabulous James Barclay doing his MC thing, the even more fabulous Chaz Brenchley doing his accepting thing (on behalf of WINNER KARI SPERRING!!!), the ever excellent Louise Morgan being the sane one. And some weird twitching woman showing why she avoids cameras of every kind...

And if the embedded link doesn't work, it's here!

Fcon 2010 - aftermath

2010-09-20T08:30:00.002Z

Phew! That was the Fcon that was! (Don't mention the M1 on the way up to it. It is the devil and an affront against nature.)

Firstly, let's have big cheers for Guy Adams, Helen Hopley, Martin Roberts (and his fabulous mohawk - keep it! It's ace!), Stephen Theaker and Ranjna Theaker for putting on a fab weekend. Woot!

Managed to miss every panel and launch going, so others will have to spread gossip on those, but Registration was fun. (Going to need a Registration Chick t-shirt for next year, I think) :-) (And thanks to Debbie Bennett, Di Lewis and Pat Barber for all the work they put in!) We geeked out over Ipads and Kindles and had some very interesting conversations about E-books and the like. (Want BFS E-books, and want 'em now!)

Con attendance was around 300 or so, with a good few on the day walk-ins, and, last I checked, only a dozen of the pre-booked didn't turn up.

And, oh, Saturday night and the awards... it's a bit of blur as far as who did what to whom (official listing here!) - mainly because I spent most of the afternoon in abject terror at the thought of having to co-present one. On stage. In front of people. Saying words. ::faints::

Luckily Best Newcomer was the second award to be presented, so it was over quickly. And even more luckily m'fabulous co-presenter Lou Morgan (Go Lou! Woot!) was the brains of the operation, so we said the words in the right order. And didn't drop the award statue. (It's a new design! Can't say I'm all that keen on it, myself, though.)

Annnnd the winner of Best Newcomer was... Kari Sperring!!! WOOOOOOOOT! Picked up by Chaz Brenchley as the fantastic lady herself was up a mountain in Wales doing Milford writerly things.

After that, the rest of awards kind of fuzzed into non-stop riotous applause and funky double act presenters. And James Barclay was fabulous - someone organise another event so we can get him doing on-stagey things again.
Ooh, and Robert Holdstock won the Karl Edward Wagner Special Award. Very cool.

What else? Our table won the Fcon quiz! Despite the horrendously difficult questions. (Match up the precise vehicle make and models to the transformers in Transformers 2? Behave!)

Missed the Heavy! Metal! Karaoke! (Crashed out. No stamina, me!)

Sam Stone had an amazing outfit for her launch of Demon Dance. (Please tell me there's a picture of it somewhere!)

Remembered to bring books for the Bookcrossing, forgot to write the code in them.

Was a complete zombie brain during the AGM which was annoying as I wanted to add bits to the assorted E-pubs discussions. (Must remember to go to the BFS forum and say stuff.)

Missed the Fcon 2011 launch, but found out later that joining MC Sarah Pinborough in Brighton will be GoH Gwyneth Jones. Niiiiice!

Sure there was more, but am still running a little on the brain-dead side this morning... :-)

Women of Fantasycon 2010!

2010-09-15T05:42:00.006Z

In which we celebrate the awesomeness that is the Women of Fantasycon 2010!

(Bow down and worship them, for they are mighty!)

Here is where you can find just some of our fantabulastic Fcon females...*

Lisa Tuttle
Who she? Guest of Honour and author extraordinaire. Most recently published The Silver Bough (a romantic fantasy) and there are three volumes of her short stories due out from Ash Tree Press
What will she be doing?
Friday 17th September
22:30 - Panel - Get Real
Saturday 18th September
12:00 - GoH Interview
13:00 - Launch - Stranger in the House
23:00 - Panel - The Unbelievable Truth

Juliet E. McKenna
Who she? Author most fabulous and queen of the Write Fantastic.
Most recently published the Lescari Revolution trilogy with Solaris Books.
Upcoming: The Hadrumal Crisis trilogy, plus assorted short fiction.
What will she be doing?
Friday 17th September
18:00 - Panel - In The Beginning
Saturday 18th September
15:00 - Panel - The Great Escape

Sarah Pinborough
Who she? Multi-talented author who has committed horror fiction, tie-in fiction, and is about to let her alternate personality loose on the YA fantasy world. Watch out for Sarah Silverwood and The Nowhere Chronicles Book 1 - The Double Edged Sword.
What will she be doing?
Saturday 18th September
14:00 - Panel - The Grass is Greener

Sam Stone
Who she? Author, poet and editor of horror fiction and Dr Who related goodies.
Recently published: Demon Dance. Coming soon: an anthology of short fiction and poetry.
What will she be doing?
Friday 17th September
19:00 - Panel - There Are No Small Presses (Only Small Writers)
Saturday 19th September
18:00 - Launch - Demon Dance

Raven Dane
Who she? Author of comedy and fantasy, steampunk and vampires, dark fantasy and probably a few more genres too!
Recently published: The Legacy of the Dark Kind series. Coming up: The Unwise Woman of Fuggis Mire
What will she be doing?
Friday 17th September
19:00 - Panel - There Are No Small Presses (Only Small Writers)
20:00 - Launch - The Unwise Woman of Fuggis Mire

Jo Fletcher
Who she? Poet, associate publisher of Gollancz and BFS legend!
What will she be doing?
Saturday 18th September
16:00 - Panel - How Not to Get Published

Marie O'Regan
Who she? Author, editor, past and future Fcon organiser.
What will she be doing?
Saturday 18th September
17:00 - Launch - The Brighton Bash

Sunila aka Dragonladych
Who she? Artist extraordinaire
What will she be doing?
Artshow - all weekend!

Karen Reay - Davies
Who she? Mystery woman and artist extraordinare!
What will she be doing?
Artshow - all weekend!

Nina Allan
Who she? Awesome author of rather amazing short fiction. Her collection: A Thread of Truth was published by Eibonvale Press.
What will she be doing?
Friday 17th September
19:30 - Reading

Allyson Bird
Who she? Horror author, editor and publicity diva!
Recently published: Wine and Rank Poison from Dark Regions Press.
Launching at Fcon: Never Again
What will she be doing?
Saturday 18th September
11:30 - Reading

Marion Pitman
Who she? Author and purveyor of second hand books.
What will she be doing?
Sunday 19th September
12:30 - Reading

(and not listed on the main program, but still just as awesome)

Di Lewis - queen of Area 51
Helen Hopley - supreme goddess of sales and banquets and many other things too numerous to mention
Lou Morgan - empress of the Bookcrossing
Ranjna Theaker - the power behind the throne

And not forgetting all those (as yet) unknown last minute participants and volunteers who will bustle around to make sure you (yes, you!) have a fab weekend!

*not mentioned are signing appearances for anthology launches. Assume that if they're in an anthology being launched, and at the Con, then they'll be signing! And I've no idea who's turning up for the Heavy! Metal! Karaoke! either.

Fcon Main Events!

2010-09-14T06:12:00.004Z

Hurrah! We have more intel! Here's what to do if you want to wander away from the bar! (I know, it's a bizarre concept...)

Most of this will be in the main Con room, but those that aren't will be clearly marked. If in doubt, check your program guide or ask at Registration. (and say hi! Because I am that Registration Chick! Except for the odd moment when I bribe someone to cover so I can have fun watching one of the below...)

Friday 17th September

16.00: Registration Opens
17.30: Opening Ceremony
18.00: In the Beginning - Every story begins with a single sentence. Featuring James Barclay, Rio Youers, Tom Fletcher Juliet E. Mckenna, Conrad Williams
19.00: There Are No Small Presses (Only Small Writers) - Battling for sales and recognition at the thin end of the wedge. Featuring Sam Stone, Christopher Teague, Andrew Hook, Raven Dane, Douglas Thompson, David Rix
20.00: The FantasyCon Quiz: Hosted by David Howe
20.00: Heavy Metal Karaoke (The Salutation Inn) There's a free zombie book from Abaddon's Tomes of the Dead range for the first 50 customers and a prize for the best singer: a full set of any Abaddon series they choose.
21.30: Guest of Honour Interview: Garry Kilworth talks with Guy Adams
22.30: Get Real: Looking at how weird fiction can often be the best tool to address issues in the world around us. Featuring: Joel Lane, Simon Bestwick, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Lisa Tuttle, Stephen Volk, Allen Ashley

Saturday 18th September

09.30: Registration Opens
10.00: ART SHOW OPENS: (Gallery Suite)
11.00: Ray Bradbury: Seventy Years of Stories Featuring Pete Crowther, Joel Lane, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Volk
12.00: Guest Of Honour Interview: Lisa Tuttle talks to Stephen Jones
13.00: Guest of Honour Interview: Bryan Talbot talks to Chaz Brenchley
14.00: The Grass is Greener: What are the complications on switching between genres? Featuring Mark Morris, Tim Lebbon, Sarah Pinborough, Conrad Williams, Mark Chadbourn
15.00: The Great Escape: Is escapism the key to fantasy? Is it the main draw for both writers and readers? Ultimately, do you write a world you would prefer to live in? Featuring Juliet E. McKenna, Liam Sharp, Chaz Brenchley, James Barclay, Garry Kilworth
16.00: How Not to Get Published: An Idiot’s Guide Featuring Jo Fletcher, Stephen Jones, Marc Gascoigne, Lee Harris, Jonathan Oliver
17.00: THE BRIGHTON BASH: A “thank you” from WORLD HORROR CONVENTION 2010 and a “welcome” from FantasyCon 2011, come along and have a glass of wine with the organisers and guests, and sign up now for next year’s 30th Anniversary convention at the special reduced rate offered exclusively this weekend! WHC Books and T-shirts for sale! Giveaways! Special Announcements! And much more!
19.00: Banquet: A hot buffet featuring both meat and vegetarian options. Tickets include half a bottle of wine per person
21.00: BRITISH FANTASY AWARDS: Hosted by Master of Ceremonies James Barclay
23.00: The Unbelievable Truth: A comedy panel show built on truth and lies featuring: Bryan Talbot, Lisa Tuttle,
Garry Kilworth, James Barclay, Lee Harris and Chair Guy Adams
23.15: John L. Probert reads “His Beautiful Hands” by Oliver Cook leading into: Pan Book of Horror Launch at Midnight

Sunday 19th September

09.30: The BFS AGM
10.00: What’s New?: How important is originality in fiction? Is there ever such a thing as a fresh voice or are we all hybrids of our influences? Featuring: Mark Morris, Tom Fletcher, Rio Youers
11.00: Are you looking at Me or Chewing the Black Stone? An Appreciation of the work of Robert E. Howard with Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Jones, Joel Lane, Mike Chinn
12.00: Special Guest Interview: Peter F. Hamilton speaks to Alasdair Stuart
13.00: Grandville and the Anthropomorphic Tradition: Bryan Talbot discusses his graphic novels Grandville and Grandville Mon Amour and the venerable and ongoing tradition of anthropomorphic characters in illustration and comics from which they have grown
14.00: The FantasyCon Raffle

11am start on Saturday? Methinks there's a panel or something missing... ;-) And it looks like all of Sunday afternoon is for torturing people with the raffle... Have fun with that!

Fcon Art Show!

2010-09-13T12:23:00.001Z

Aaaaannnnd, the Art Show is now full!

Confirmed artists are:
Bryan Talbot
Les Edwards / Edward Miller
Daniele Serra
Sunila aka Dragonladych
Andrew Bigwood
Russell Morgan
Karen Reay-Davies.

Fcon Launches!

2010-09-13T09:01:00.002Z

Hello sweeties!

Herewith, news on the Fcon launches.
1) More launches to be confirmed as and when.
2) More info here!

FRIDAY

20.00: Raven Dane (Wollaton Suite)
The Unwise Woman of Fuggis Mire

SATURDAY

10.00: Eibonvale Books (Dealer' s Room)
Blind Swimmer (introduction by Joel Lane), an anthology on the theme of creativity in the wilderness
Douglas Thompson’s second novel Sylvow

11.00: Nightjar Press (Dealer's Room)
RB Russell’s ‘The Beautiful Room’
Mark Valentine’s ‘A Revelation of Cormorants’

12.00: Angry Robot (Dealer's Room)
The Road to Bedlam - Mike Shevdon
Damage Time - Colin Harvey
Soul Stealers - Andy Remic

13.00: GOH Lisa Tuttle Ash-Tree launch (Dealer’s Room)
Stranger in the House.
"Lisa Tuttle and Stephen Jones (who wrote the introduction) will be on hand to sign copies specially priced at £21.00 for the event (a reduction of eight pounds). Stock is extremely limited."

13.00: Solaris Launch (Main Bar) End of the Line - Ed. Jonathan Oliver

14.00: Gray Friar 'Never Again' (Main Bar) 17 authors currently scheduled to sign...
...‘The proceeds for Never Again will go to The Sophie Lancaster Foundation, Amnesty International and PEN - an international organisation set up to promote literature and human rights, encouraging translation and campaigning against political censorship.’

15:00: Stephen Jones “A MAMMOTH SIGNING” (Main Bar) presented by Robinson Publishing:
Launch & signing of anthologies: Zombie Apocalypse, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #21 & The Best of Best New Horror.
*A Free Glass of Wine with every book purchased - come early, stocks are strictly limited.

16.00: PS Publishing (Main Bar)
Catastrophia- an anthology of new stories about the end of the world, edited by Allen Ashley (£20)
The Seven Days of Cain - Ramsey Campbell (£20)
The Company He Keeps - the latest Postscripts anthology, edited by Crowther & Gevers (£30)
The House of Canted Steps - Gary Fry (£15)
Tales from the Fragrant Harbour - a collection from FantasyCon GOH Garry Kilworth (£20)
Cinema Futura - an anthology of essays on favourite SF movies, edited by Mark Morris (£25)
End Times - Rio Youers (£20)

18:00: Sam Stone (bar near Dealer's Room)
Demon Dance - Book 3 of The Vampire Gene Series.

Midnight: Macmillan 1st Pan Book of Horror
FantasyCon will be launching the book several weeks ahead of its publication date as a convention exclusive.

SUNDAY

15.00: Peter F. Hamilton Special Guest Signing
Hosted by Forbidden Planet (Dealer’s Room)

Fcon Readings

2010-09-13T08:46:00.002Z

Hello again my darlings, further to my last missive, I now have the intel on the Fcon readings! Hurrah!

Friday 17th September

18.30: Simon Bestwick
19.00: Peter Mark May
19.30: Nina Allen
20.00: Douglas Thompson
20.30: Nicholas Royle
21.00: Simon Kurt Unsworth
21.30: John L. Probert
22.00: Pete Crowther
22.30: Ramsey Campbell

Saturday 18th September

10.00: Andrew Hook
10.30: Gary McMahon
11.30: Allyson Bird
12.00: Paul Meloy
12.30: Joel Lane
13.00: Paul Finch
13.30: Tom Fletcher
14.00: Rio Youers
14.30: Jasper Kent
15.00: Ian Whates
15.30: Mike Shevdon
16.00: Mark Howard Jones
16.30: Reggie Oliver

Sunday 19th September

10.30: Chaz Brenchley
11.00: David Rix
11.30: John Travis
12.00: Mark Morris
12.30: Marion Pitman

4 days to Fcon!

2010-09-13T07:02:00.005Z

Woohoo! Yes, fantasy fans, there are only four days until the start of that orgy of alcoholic abuse known as Fantasycon!

So, apart from the competition to see how fast the bar can be drunk dry, what do we know about Fcon 2010?

Super Special Guests! Lisa Tuttle, Bryan Talbot, Garry Kilworth, with MC James Barclay and a special one day only appearance by Peter F Hamilton on Sunday.

Panels? Yes there will be some, no I have no idea what. Or with whom. Or when. Advance information on programming has been a wee bit sketchy this year. The one definite confirmed panel is on Friday at 10pm, starring Lisa Tuttle, Joel Lane, Stephen Volk, Simon Bestwick and Allyson Bird*
Said panel is entitled Get Real. The Use of Real-Life Issues in Fantasy and Horror. Annnnd, I quote

"looking at how weird fiction can often be the best tool to poke at the world around us. Whether seeking to inform, incite or simply offload, fantasists have often used the widest scope of their imagination to address society."

Launches? Most definitely. A great many. So lots of free drinking. More details on exactly who is doing what when I wrench it out of people!

Readings? Yep. By whom and when is as yet unknown but the reading program is apparently completely full.

Heavy Metal Karaoke! Yep, you read that right. Sponsored by Abaddon Books, to be be held in The Salutation Inn, Maid Marian Way(across the road from the Fcon hotel) at 8pm on Friday. Awesome!

Bookcrossing! If you've got spare books you don't want, scribble the Fcon Bookcrossing code on them (or use a post-it if you don't want to find yourself guilty of booky defacement), then release them into the wilds of Fcon and track how far they travel!

Art Show? Well, it was a bit touch and go this year, but thanks to a last minute intervention by the very brave Steve Upham of Screaming dreams, yes, there will be art! If you're interested in displaying your work or want to volunteer for a shift of manning the room, contact him now! steve@screamingdreams.com

Film Show? Alas no, not this year.

Awards and Banquet? Of course. Saturday night. Kickoff time unconfirmed but likely to be Banquet at 7pm-ish. Will check and confirm.

BFS AGM? First thing Sunday morning, because we are just that cruel!

The infamous and terrifying Fantasycon Raffle? Oh god yes. (What were they thinking?!) To be held Sunday at 2pm.

More news as and when I get it! :-)

*Although standard convention disclaimers apply - ie. due to assorted reasons, peeps may change on the day.

September Books

2010-09-03T06:05:00.004Z

Books I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this month:

An Artificial Night - Seanan McGuire
More Toby Daye (this is book three out of, I think, five), what's not to love! I'm a new convert to this series and having burned through the first two have been looking forward to this immensely.

So what's the big deal?
October 'Toby' Daye is a half-fae who spent 14 years trapped as a fish after a P.I. job went a bit wrong. She's getting her life back and dealing with, ooh, many complications while trying to accomplish little things like not getting killed by the latest crazy fae who wants to have a go. And she is kick-ass. Very very kick-ass. And snarky. And there's all kinds of intriguing larger stories going on that won't see fruition until later books - which, of course, are going to be must-reads!

According to the blurb: Artificial Night "...brings Toby into unavoidable, disastrous contact with the darker realities of the fae as Blind Michael, Firstborn son of Oberon and Maeve, begins claiming the children of the Mists as his own...including several that Toby considers to be essentially family. Time is short and the rules are stranger than any she's ever played by, dictated by a mad Firstborn and his private army, but failure isn't an option. If she can't get there and back by the light of a candle, she may not get back at all..."

Ooooooohhhhh.... :-)

The Double-Edged Sword - Sarah Silverwood

First foray into the world of YA fiction from awesome writer Sarah Pinborough - that alone should be enough to make you spend your money...

According to the blurb: "Finmere Tingewick Smith was abandoned on the steps of the Old Bailey. Under the guardianship of the austere Judge Harlequin Brown and the elderly gentlemen of Orrery House, Fin has grown up under a very strange set of rules. He spends alternate years at two very different schools and now he's tired of the constant lies to even his best friends, to hide the insanity of his double life. Neither would believe the truth! But on his sixteenth birthday, everything changes. The Judge is killed, stabbed in the chest with a double-edged sword that's disturbingly familiar, and from that moment on, Fin is catapulted into an extraordinary adventure. Through the Doorway in Fin's London, a hole in the boundaries of Existence, lies another London -- and now both are in grave danger. For the Knights of Nowhere have kidnapped the Storyholder, the keeper of the Five Eternal Stories which weave the worlds together. Because of the Knights' actions, a black storm is coming, bringing madness with it. Fin may be just 16, but he has a long, dark journey ahead of him if he is to rescue the Storyholder and save Existence!"

Crikey!

The Road to Bedlam - Mike Shevdon

Will be buying both this and the earlier Sixty-One Nails just as soon as possible because a) sounds cool, and b) when Juliet McKenna and C.E. Murphy recommend something, you damn well listen y'all!

“Sixty-One Nails is Neverwhere for the next generation. The pacing is spot-on, the characters engaging, and the world fits together beautifully to create a London that ought to be. I stayed up too late finishing it.”
- C.E. Murphy

“Mike Shevdon strikes sparks from the flinty core of English folklore, as a hero every reader can relate to finds he’s part of an incredible and scarily believable parallel realm. If you’ve been thinking urban fantasy has nothing fresh to offer, think again.”
- Juliet E. McKenna

According to the blurb: "Learning to cope with the loss of a child is only the beginning of the new challenges facing Niall Petersen. An old enemy has returned and Niall already knows it’s not a social call. As the new Warder of the Seven Courts he will be forced to choose between love and honour, duty and responsibility. Those choices will lead him to discover dark secrets at the core of the realm, where the people in power have their own designs."

Ooh er...

Copyediting the Mother Ship

2010-08-25T17:17:00.005Z

So, anyone who's been to a Fantasycon in the last few years might recall seeing my mum around. (She'd be the one that deals with con-running problems by being a weird combination of sensible, sane, calm, collected, diplomatic and pleasant to deal with. Unlike yours truly who tends to morph into a snappish bitchy bossy headless-chicken of a control freak...)

Um, yeah, anyway, so mum, being a woman of many talents (with a tendency to neither speak of them or generally accept that she has them) had a book published three or four years ago. 'twas non-fiction and was a helpful guide to tenants (with many wild and wacky tales of life in lettings) so that peeps not get royally screwed over by many and various when renting. It went to about three reprints before it was remaindered, but she was quite chuffed with it, what with the walking into WHSmiths and seeing it in the wild. :-)

And now she's finished writing her second book: a guide to self employment for Inventory Clerks, full of more wild and wacky tales to help the newbie Inventory Clerk with those tricky challenges that arise when you just get started in the biz.*

The book was commissioned by the training department of the Association of Independent Inventory Clerks, so it's a bit of an extreme niche subject and won't be going mass market, but it plays into her two expert subjects as a) she's been an Inventory Clerk for over twenty years and b) this is the woman who has spent most of her life running many other successful home businesses while wrangling children and aged relatives in varying degrees of health and still managed to keep a sense of humour. (And is not only the primary household earner, but singlehandedly built up the current business so that all the immediate family plus a few other peeps are gainfully employed in it... Did I mention my mum's the awesome?**)

All of which means I get to have fun doing the proofreading/copyediting thing for her, which, apart from being a bit brain-bleeding from having to read it fifteen squillion times and badger her for rewrites, is proving most interesting with regards to comparing shared writing quirks. Like the excessive use of 'of course', 'though' and 'however', and the instinctive habit of scattering en-dashes like confetti. (Punctuation? Nah. Stick a '-' there! Honestly, I thought it was just me that did that. But no. Tree. Apple. Not falling that far. She has, so far, avoided my excessive 'so' habit...)

And, oh, the dropped plot points! (Er, I suppose technically, as it's non-fiction it should be something along the lines of topics of discussions raised but not followed through on...) Apparently we are both easily distracted by shiny new ideas.

The other interesting thing I'm also noticing is the difference between her fiction voice and her non-fiction voice. Her fiction (cosy crime for long & contemporary ghost stories for short) tends to be written in a somewhat quaint voice. Exactly the tone you'd expect from an aged aunt or something written many many decades ago. Her non-fiction, however, is punchier and deliciously snarky. And fun. Goodness, yes. Now there's my kick-ass mum. :-)

--

*Like: what do you do if you're in a house you thought was empty and discover a naked man wandering about on the landing. Or how to gently explain to a landlord what those pretty plants under the heat lamps really are. Or the lost art of staying calm and continuing to talk sensibly to a tenant when a Bloody Great Rat has launched itself onto your leg and despite shaking and kicking of said leg, will Not. Jump. Off! Or fleas.#

#Oh god, the fleas. We're talking mega-colony epic quantities here, where you discover them not by the odd random itchy/crawly sensation, but by glancing down and sudenly noticing that your clothes are covered by a layer of black hopping things desperately trying to find the nearest bit of nekkid skin to chow down on. And, of course, you can't just walk out of the house. Oh no. You have to finish the job. But talking faster and staying in constant motion in the offchance that you can outrun the rest of the little buggers.

**Actually, several blog posts could be written on how awesome she is. This is the woman whose general policy is: if you want to do something just go do it; nothing's impossible. And she does. Over and over. The woman is totally fearless and has more energy than the rest of us put together. All hail the mum! Huzzah! (No, she didn't pay me to say that.)

Interview Live!

2010-08-15T09:10:00.003Z

Woohoo! The first half of the interview of Aliette de Bodard is now live on the BFS website here!
The full version can be found in Dark Horizons #57 sometime in September. But feel free to enter the competition for Servant of the Underworld anytime you like! :-)

Interview coming soon...

2010-08-13T11:31:00.004Z

Have just today sent DH Editor chappie Stephen Theaker the final proofs for the interview I've done of the fabulous Aliette de Bodard. It'll see print in September in Dark Horizons #57. Woot! And, for double woot! points, there'll be an extract going up on the BFS website as soon as Mr T. has a moment to get it up there!

And for triple woot! points... you (yes, you!) will have the opportunity (actually, two opportunities, but who's counting...) to win a copy of the very excellent Servant of the Underworld. BFS members will find competition details in DH #57 after the interview, and for the rest of y'all, there'll also be a comp with the extract on the BFS website. Link to follow as soon as I have it!

Praise the Angry Robot and High Priestess de Bodard, for they are mighty! :-)

Gettin' all judgy

2010-08-08T10:48:00.002Z

Tee hee. Have very recently found out, I'm on the judging panel for the 2010 BFS Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer award. (For authors first published in 2009.)

How cool is that?! (And what were they thinking? :-P )

We have five fantastic authors to consider (though not much time to do it in, all told. Luckily I'm already very familiar with the works of 4 of the 5,) and the award will be announced at Fantasycon on 17th-19th September. (Think the awards banquet is on the Saturday evening but can't remember seeing anything definite to confirm that...)

The lucky winner gets a delightful awards statue thingy plus £100 from the Sydney J Bounds estate.

And that, my little possums, is all I can tell you about that... :-D

Except... tee hee! :-D

Kaz's Summer Camp Week 9

2010-08-03T09:24:00.002Z

Yes, I know, missed the update last week. (very bad Jen!)

So, with no further ado, here's the Tuesday Kaz's Summer Camp update!

Has been a week filled with research and editing and mad story planning so new words a bit on the pathetic side.

Also, given a sudden explosion of, everything, I'm redefining the targets for the last month of Camp!

So:
1) Taurus - my baby! Is doing quite well over on Authonomy. (Phew!) New wordage for last week: 2500. I think. It's hard to tell because I deleted vast chunks and rewrote quite a bit but it's still holding together.
Target for the end of August - another 35k new words.

2) Aqua Vitae: more plotting and planning and a shedload of research. Keep wondering whether I ought to be splitting my brain with this and Taurus, as the deadline for the competition is December 31st. Four months to write, edit and rewrite a full alt-history novel? Ooh, tricky. Very almost dropped it last week, but then got a flash of plot & character that might just work, so I'll see how this one goes.
Target for the end of August - 20k new words.

Other than that, I might, if you pushed me, confess to committing random acts of Lost fanfic. (Well, there were these persistent plot-bunnies that wouldn't go away... it had to be done...)

Fantasycon 2011 - official!

2010-08-01T17:13:00.003Z

Yep, it's definitely Brighton!

See the BFS announcement here for the full details...

But, in short:
Fantasycon 2011 will be held at the Royal Albion Hotel, Brighton (right opposite Brighton Pier)
On: 30th Sept - 2nd Oct 2011
Early ticket price is £35 until this September when it will rise in stages 'til the event next year. (You're all con-goers aren't you? You know the routine!)

Mistress of Ceremonies is Sarah Pinborough, and other Guests of Honour to be announced at a later date.

The official website will eventually be at: www.fantasycon2011.org (but isn't quite up yet.)

The brave fools (er, stalwart organisers) who are in charge are:

Chair - Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane
Associate Chair (Logistics/Volunteers) - Alex Davis
Hotels - Helen Hopley
Memberships - Mia Morgan-Ford
Online PR - Martin Roberts
Site - Marie O'Regan and Peter Keighrey
Dealers' Room - James Bacon

So there you go. More info as and when I can wrench it out of someone! ;-)

Fantasycon 2011

2010-08-01T07:27:00.004Z

Ooooooh... sneaky advance news...

According to Martin Roberts (via facebook,) next year Fcon will be in Brighton, in the same hotel wot WHC was in this year. With the ever awesome Sarah Pinborough as MC.

Nifty! The drive's much nicer than the Nottingham trek and there's a sea view! A sea view, people!! And I may get to actually walk outside and see it this time! ;-P

(Alas, the parking is utterly shite. And you need a second mortgage to pay for it.)

But, still, Brighton! Woot!

And next year is also the British Fantasy Society's 40th birthday so expect fun stuff. And parties. With drinking. Lots and lots of drinking. And shenanigans. And more parties. Possibly there might be some convention stuff slipped between parties. But you can still drink during the aforementioned convention stuff. (I don't drink, so the whole convention boozing thing remains a strange custom... but y'all go ahead and get bladdered. I'll collect the blackmail... ;-D )

No news on who is doing the actual organising of it yet, though given the location, I have a few suspicions...

Kaz's Summer Camp Week 7

2010-07-20T17:26:00.000Z

::Looks at calendar.:: Yep. It's still Tuesday. How'd that happen so fast?

So, ladies and gentlebeings, it's time for the Kaz's Summer Camp update.
(Yes, I know, I missed last week. Bad Jen. I claim excessive OU work. And that's the story I'm sticking to...)

No surprises, due to a rather complicated essay that kept my brain all tied up, (also there were wasps! In the walls! Then crawling all over the floor in their final death throes!) not a lot of fictional writing got done last week.

However - targets:

1) Hunting Ground: Glanced at the edits, didn't do much on it. Did try and find a potential market for when it's ready but can not find one that quite fits.

2) Emerald Eyes: Stands at 2339 words. Now know where it's going as the end is all written out, but the middle is still somewhat, er, lacking.

3) Kill the Wizard: no progress. Kill the story? Possibly. ;-P (Also I've got a shiny idea for an entry for the Pratchett prize thing in December so am quite tempted to do a binge writing month next month to bang out the first draft which will leave plenty of time for edits.) Yep, sounds like a plan. So, new target = Aqua Vitae. Smuggling and sea monsters and a watery apocalypse!

4) Taurus: 1500 new words. (I know, pathetic!) However have done a lot of plot fiddling and there's an actual decent motivation for the secondary bad guys/problem causers. Plus it seems to be going quite well on Authonomy (which is nice!) and I've had some useful feedback for purposes of editing. But enough work avoidance, back to the word-mines!

Taurus!

2010-07-06T13:20:00.003Z

Can haz Authonomy now! W00t!

Ahem. Hi. Sorry about that.

So, if you're an Authonomy peep and feel like having a wander over to read a thrilling tale of kick ass chicks, Minotaurs and mermaid-pirates, have finally uploaded the first five chapters of Taurus here. Crits welcome. :-D

(Am waiting for Authonomy to approve the cover art. But it's lovely. Really. And courtesy of fellow Autho member Bradley Wind.)

The pitch:
Karis was content to live a life of raiding the waters around Marigan. Until a distress call from her human sister brings her against the might of the Gethine Alliance and the secrets they’ve uncovered in the ghost city of Sagara.

Amy Morgan was only supposed to recover a sword from a maze. One pack of Minotaurs later and she finds herself caught up in a new world where mermaid-pirates hunt the seas, her friends are captured and there’s all manner of trouble waiting for her if she can find her way home.

Kassia was looking for adventure, but an expedition to Sagara gives her more adventure than she ever imagined when she finds something that the violent Gethine Alliance has spent years searching for.

But surviving the Alliance’s attentions is easy compared to what’s waiting for them back on Earth.

That link again...

Kaz's Summer Camp Week 5

2010-07-06T07:27:00.002Z

Must be Tuesday again! So here's the Kaz's Summer Camp update! :-D

Weird thing? It feels like I've written a lot, but I've also been editing and deleting a lot so the technical word counts of many and various have actually dropped. Happily, they have better words in, but still...

So:

1) Wicked Sisters - done. That's so last month! :-D Therefore, new target #1 is edit Hunting Ground story and send off somewhere.

2) Emerald Eyes - 500 new words, and the plot is getting a wee bit unexpected. I have absolutely no idea how it's ending now, it's all gone from plotter to pantser.

3) Kill the Wizard - no progress.

4) Taurus - 2000 new words, plus a metric ton of edit-fiddling. I now declare it ready for Autho! Woohoo! Just got to write the pitches and upload. (Then try not to spend too much time playing on Autho when there's a million other things to do, like bang out the next few chapters.

Which does mean new target #4 is write another 40k of the all new and improved Taurus!

Though I'm about to enter another assignment deathmarch week so immediate progress might be slow...

More fun on t'internet

2010-07-04T11:38:00.003Z

Been having fun listening to podcasts this week.

Over on Podcastle, and highly recommended, is the beautiful tale: And Their Lips Rang With The Sun by Amal El-Mohtar, gloriously read by N.K. Jemisin (I could listen to Jemisin read things all day!)
This originally appeared in print in Strange Horizons so you have the bonus option of reading it there or listening to it here!

Alt fiction have added another couple of podcast panel things...

There's the Publishing Panel with John Berlyne, John Jarrold, Jon Weir, Peter Crowther, Jenni Hill & Stephen Jones and a panel on Blogging and the Internet with Alasdair Stuart, Lee A Harris & Vincent Holland-Keen.
Only downer is most of the questions from the audience are inaudible, otherwise fascinating listening.

Over at the Happiness Patrol, Sam Stone and David J Howe join regulars Lewis, Tara and Dale to talk about the Dr Who finale. Also there are secret volcano lairs. :-D

Moving away from the podcasts... for a damn fine piece of fiction, try
The Six Skills of Madame Lumiere by Marissa Lingen to be found in the latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

On the non fiction front, over at Fantasy Magazine, Genevieve Valentine tells you Ten Things You Should Know About Eclipse. Fun stuff.

For more educational matters, over at Clarkesworld Sarah Goslee's Packing for a Very Long Trip talks about space agriculture. Awesome!

In the department of 'Bet you didn't know that!' over on the Bitch Magazine blog, Ashley McAllister talks about Melvil Dewey and female librarians in From the Bitch Library: Outing the Father of Librarianship.

Over on Deadline Dames, the fabulous Lilith Saintcrow talks writerly solitude in By Yourself.

Elizabeth Moon tells you why Women Writers Are not Pets. She also does an excellent summary of the ramifications of the Gulf oil spill.

Oh, and Liz Williams has got a stunning deal for anyone wanting to read more of her fiction...

Mmmm, lovely!

Kaz's Summer Camp Week 4

2010-06-29T09:34:00.003Z

If it's Tuesday, it must be time for the Kaz's Summer Camp update! Woot! :-)

Slower week this week due to OU assignment bashing and sinus explosion (eurch, must be summer), but words were still done. Oh yes indeedy.

So:

1) Wicked Sisters - done, status as last week.

2) Emerald Eyes - 200 new words, and plot shifting in interesting new direction. Goodness knows where it's going to end up now.

3) Kill the Wizard - no progress. There's ages yet to fiddle with this one.

4) Taurus - 2000 new words, plus more edit-fiddling. Yay! Still lovin' it.
Merc girl is kicking major ass. Adventurer girl is staying in the background so that the spotlight can be on ghost-singer girl. Mermaid-pirate girl is still awesome. :-)

It's not quite ready for Autho. Very very close, mind. Got to work out a few bugs in the third chapter.

Am now also getting a wee bit distracted by the Terry Pratchett novel comp thing. There might be something I could batter into shape for it. Or could maybe try something shiny new. Dunno. Needs thinking on, that one.

Stonehenge Apocalypse

2010-06-28T05:38:00.004Z

So yesterday I watched an intriguingly titled film - Stonehenge Apocalypse...
Just take a minute to appreciate the gloriousness of that title: Stonehenge. Apocalypse.
Yep, ancient monuments are Evil and want to Kill You.
(And strangely this makes perfect sense within the context of the film...)

...there will be BIG spoilers, so look away now...

Done? Good. Hello sweeties....

Stonehenge Apocalypse is all kinds of terrible, but it's all kinds of fun too. Definitely one I'll be watching again if only to giggle, snark and occasionally drool at the lovely gentlemen who put themselves through the torture of being in it...

There's the scientist-in-charge who Will Not Listen to our brave hero until the Last Minute (and for Highlander TV fans, hello Methos, that's a lovely suit you're wearing...)

There's the scientist who Will Listen and gets to follow our hero on the madcap dash for the plot coupon (and for Stargate fans, hello Dr Weir*, what the hell was that accent supposed to be?)

Then there's our gallant hero - a prodigy turned fringe scientist with a radio show on all things weird, who is, quite naturally, laughed at for his theories until he is Proved Right (and for Supernatural fans, hello Castiel, and goodness, I didn't know it was possible for a pair of legs to be so...distracting... :-) )

There is also the last minute bonus addition of an apocalypse cult led by Castiel's BFF. Oops. Surprise!

But enough about the people, lets talk Evil Ancient Monuments!

Stonehenge moves. Yes. Moves. Round and round. And there's a glowy thing in the centre stone and somehow this all combines to a) kill anyone near it, and b) wake up the other Evil Monuments so they can kill people.

Of course you will have to get past the fact that it is quite possibly one of the worst CGI/imitation Stonehenges ever seen. And its first act of terror is to kill the tourists who are taking a guided tour through it. Yep. Through it. ::headdesk::

If you've never had the interesting experience of visiting the Evil Monument in question, perhaps I shoould make mention at this point that There Are No Guided Tours Through It! Because it's fenced off.** And there are signs and everything. People have to stand and stare from a safe distance and talk about how much smaller it is and why isn't there a waterfall because there was one in the photo in the brochure. (True story!)

Also, in Apocalypse-land, there is a nice convenient patch of trees and undergrowth right next to it, useful for purposes of hiding and watching the poor beleaguered army/scientist types trying to find out what the hell is going on.
(Er, no. Road. Teeny tiny visitors centre. Flat plains. Film peeps, at least attempt to do your research!)

But what of its Evil Monument friends? Well, I don't know how to break it to you, but they are secretly volcanoes. Yep. All those pyramids and temples across the world are hiding molten cores, and when Evil Stonehenge gives them a call, they pop their tops and cause mass destruction. (You have been warned.)

Apparently it's something to do with ancient terraforming and using a network of electromagnetic lines to do weird science. Or something. Don't ask. Just enjoy the spectacle of pyramids shifting like giant stone Transformers and spitting out lava.

Oh, and there's a Secret Pyramid buried under Maine that will rise up to protect people inside from the other Evil Monuments and their terraforming shenanigans.

And apparently the British Army all use left hand drive cars and can't be trusted to handle Evil Stonehenge on their own so the US military gets to come in and boss everyone around. And try and blow Stonehenge up. Twice.***

And the words "Stonehenge is a threat to national security" get used. (Or something very close to that.) Hee! Bad Stonehenge!

This film is such total bobbins. Must watch it again.

* Yes, I know, Dr Weir is not a gentleman, however she is one of the few female presences in the movie, and an Authentic Main Character, so worth mentioning.

** If, however, you do want to walk through a stone circle, might I recommend Avebury instead. It's awesome. Also there's a shop. And a pub. And other lovely things to see very close by.

*** Stonehenge Kicks Ass when attacked by naughty humans and their C4. Stonehenge vs Tactical Air Strike is undecided due to Gallant Hero and Plot Coupon interferance.

Cool stuff!

2010-06-26T06:20:00.004Z

Being a celebration of fun things genre on the inter-webs... :-)

First up: Alt Fiction!
Did you go? If, like me, you could not, here's the word from some peeps that did - Magemanda and Cheryl Morgan

And, lo, there were podcasts! The lovely Alt Fiction peeps will be bunging a new one up every Monday so you can listen to panels without leaving the comfort of your own bedroom/living room/office/beachside residence... So far there's Stephen Jones & Ramsey Campbell in conversation about all things horror; and Kim Lakin-Smith, Tim Lebbon, Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane talk Dark Fantasy vs Horror.

Had been a bit meh about the whole idea of podcasts, but podcasting conventions is definitely a cool way to experience the things you missed. Hope more conventions do it.

Shall now have to look out for more podcasts of stuff... and maybe listen to some of the Clarkesworld podcasts of their fiction... :-)

Talking of Clarkesworld... in their latest issue, they've got an interview of Caitlin R. Kiernan which is quite cool.

And going a few issues back, an absolute must read is Kari Sperring on The Celts (writing as her alternate self, Dr Kari Maund.)

Over on Strange Horizons, Cécile Cristofari writes about Aboriginal Lovecraft. Now there's two words I've not seen in the same sentence before!

Fantasy Magazine has a very interesting piece on Eastern Europe's Hidden Castles, by Aidan Doyle. Apparently "Eastern Europe is home to a vampire citadel, a fortress built by God and a castle whose herd of goats saved Christendom". Who knew?! :-)

If you haven't seen the new Robin Hood film yet, Mari Ness makes it easy for you...

Ekaterina Sedia talks about anthologies here.

Seanan McGuire's got a nifty story up on Edge of Propinquity:
Sparrow Hill Road - Last Dance with Mary Jane

And there's more Aztec goodness to be had from Aliette de Bodard in the latest Beneath Ceaseless Skies with Memories in Bronze, Feathers, and Blood

What's not to love! :-)

The Gemmells, 2010

2010-06-22T06:48:00.001Z

And so, more awards.
The David Gemmell Legend (and bonus added extra!) awards were announced at the weekend after their swanky do at the Magic Circle (which, alas, I could not go to. ::cries:: Missed Mr Barclay doing whatever awesome piece of drama-speech he did do. ::cries again::)

So, here's who won, in case you missed it elsewhere: (Thanks to Mark Yon, via Facebook)

Ravensheart Award: Best Served Cold – Didier Graffet, Dave Senior and Laura Brett. For the shortlist poll there were votes from 64 different countries, with the top voters being from the USA and the UK.

(Cool! That was a funky cover!)

Morningstar Award: The Cardinal’s Blades by Pierre Pevel. For the shortlist poll there were votes from 34 different countries, with the top voters being from the USA France and the UK.

(Have not read that.)

Legend Award: Empire by Graham McNeill. For the shortlist poll there were votes from 91 different countries, with the top voters being from the USA, the UK, France and Canada.

(Have not read that either. Apparently he's a big deal in Warhammer circles?)

And apparently there were over 15,500 votes made in total, which is about twice as much as last year. Go them! :-)

Of course, looking at the list of winners, am now desperately trying to resist the urge to start singing "men, men, men, men, manly men, men, men..." (Shut up, I'm not obsessed!)

Kaz's Summer Camp week 3

2010-06-22T05:27:00.003Z

Week 3 of Summer Camp! Woot! :-)

Better week this week (woohoo!) as writing was done! So, targets:

1) Wicked Sisters - done and splicing process into Taurus in effect.

2) Emerald Eyes - up to 1000 words now, have also changed the sex of the evil vamp and have a lovely opening scene that only verges slightly on the purple. Evil lady vamp is working so much better then cliched evil guy vamp. Now to start killing people...

3) Mysterious new short - might possibly be a comic fantasy entitled Kill the Wizard. I might even have the grand total of 109 words on it... :-) It's the last on my priority list though...

4) Taurus - Yay! I am officially back in love with this one. The mermaid-pirates have plot related stuff to do; girl-adventurer is romping around underground city with old gal-pal and new gal-pal (the latter of whom is having a larger role to play now); and the unfortunate mercenaries (now with brand new kick-ass chick leader) have had their first encounter with the minotaurs (Of Dooooooom! :-) ) and are getting ready to go in the maze. (and despite the fact that I've edited and rewritten that particular scene about a dozen times now over the last couple of years, this latest variant is the best yet! (I blame the mermaid-pirates!)

And the whole thing is actually hanging together and working now. (Finally!) ::is happy, cries:: :-)

As far as Autho goes, technically I've got the wordage for an upload (10,006!) but they're not quite consecutive... so, just got to fill a few gaps and it's altogether possible that next week may see jumping on the sofa. And backflips. :-)

Alchemy Fiction

2010-06-15T11:24:00.001Z

And over on the Alchemy blog is a story from Mike Chinn featuring an incarnation of the one and only Damian Paladin. (Yay!)

Kaz's Summer Camp Week 2

2010-06-15T07:10:00.000Z

Arrgh. Not a good week on the KSC target front. For this, I blame academic deathmarch!
(On the plus side, an essay on Pugin, dissent and gothic architecture is all done and handed in!)

So, targets...

1) Wicked Sisters - finished it last week, so that's good!
2) Emerald Eyes - wrote words, deleted words, wrote words, deleted words, decided it's still crap, will keep on keeping on...
3) Hah! Got a few ideas but no words have landed on page yet.
4) Taurus - still floating at the 7k mark. Need to do slight rewrite on the mermaid-pirates chapter to match the tone with the minotaurs & treasure hunter bits. Also invent the back story for an Ancient Civilisation (tm) so that my daring girl-adventurers can secure a map/guide to accessing multiple other worlds from the secondary world they're already playing in... Also fiddle with the on-Earth treasure hunt bits to merge the plot line with the shiny new stuff! (LOVE multi-world fic!) :-)

Kaz's Summer Camp

2010-06-08T13:45:00.004Z

Wahey, I'm in Summer Camp! Kinda. Virtually. Specifically, the funky writerly summer camp started up by Kaz Mahoney.

Our mission: to use the months of June, July & August to achieve writerly goals of our choice.

So, my goals: (being teeny as there's OU coursework and an impending bout of holiday cover to contend with...)

1) To finish edits on Wicked Sisters story and send off
2) Finish gorgon vs vamp short story (temp titled Emerald Eyes)
3) Write another short story (write, meaning, *write&finish*)
4) also I'd like to get enough decent wordage together to upload something to Authonomy but I forgot to add that one to the sign up post...

So, since today is the first goal update day...

1) Wicked Sisters edits finished. (Hurrah!) However, according to my many different beta-readers, it still reads more like a part of a longer work. Which is actually handy because I had this idea the other day of making it the start of an all-new B plot in the current novel-in-progress (see 4.) So, junk it as a short story and weave it into n-i-p? Possibly best. Plus, what isn't improved by the addition of mermaid-pirates? :-)

2) Emerald Eyes. Oy vey, is this one kicking my ass. It was started with the intention of submitting it to a monster mash anthology that Pill Hill Press is doing. (Blimey, but they're doing a lot of themed anthologies!) The aim: a scary story featuring at least two classic monsters. The problem: I suck at scary stories. Might work better as comic fantasy though...

3) Behave! There's two months to go yet! :-)

4) Taurus! Aka the current novel-in-progress. Aka, the Nano thing from a couple of years ago that just won't die. The original Nano version was just a little over 50k, being a fun romp with multi-world treasure hunting, insane death count and Minotaurs. Except it was a bit thin and cliche. However, latest version now has bonus extra mermaid-pirates and more action in the not-Earth worlds which is making it way more complicated but also way more lovely! I love multi-world fic!

I've got this pegged as the Authonomy one mainly because I asked a nice chap over there to do me cover art about a year ago so it would be quite nice to actually use it... :-)

As far as Authonomy & Taurus goes... I only need a 10k minimum of decent quality words (it's the decent quality bit that keeps blocking me... that, and them being consecutive words...) - so far, though, I've got just over 7k, so victory may still be mine. ;-) (Then I'll have to whip some semblance of sanity out of the rest of the plot...)

Last Lost

2010-06-01T10:17:00.002Z

Gosh. Finally watched the last episode of Lost, fully prepared to hate it given the many internet reviews... and yet... despite it being the biggest most shameless piece of emotionally manipulative tv I've watched, since, ever, I liked it. (Having the benefit of a fast-forward button helps, as the boring bits can be easily ignored... like most scenes with Jack being emo... or Jack&Kate doing the 98th variation of soap opera antics...)

Ahem. Sorry, where was I? Right... so, from an emotional stand point, a satisfying finale. Juliet&Sawyer reunion! Many other happy people! Ben&Hurley on the island! (Tries not to lose the last vestiges of cool by sobbing at the all round gushiness of everyone back together...fails completely...apparently I'm secretly a bit of a sap...)

But the unanswered questions are still going to bug me. A cork? Seriously? At what point in island history did someone come up with that and what in hell did they think they were doing? And I so need to see the island during the Ben/Hurley reign. And more back story on Jacob/MiB (if only to get more of the excellent Pellegrino/Welliver double act.) And what about pre-Jacob times? I still want to see the temple builders, other guardians, what the hell was up with Widmore, more Dharma in the pre, during and post Lostie time travel visit eras. More on the Others, especially during the early Richard years. And how did he get off the island to test Locke before Dharma arrived? Or while they were there? And how did Jacob get off the island? And what was the big dealio with Illana and Jacob, given that she said he was like a father? That implies frequent contact, yes?

Seriously, if the Lost peeps ever decided to cash in by doing tie-in novels of the missing stories, I would so be first in the queue...

Author pimpage!

2010-03-08T15:41:00.002Z

Ooh, it's been a while, hasn't it? :-)

BFS News!

The BFS Forums now have their own dedicated Ask the Author threads and they're inviting any authors, whether BFS members or not, to come in and play. All you have to do is pop over and post yourself a thread in the section, then all us adoring fans can hang around and ask you questions and generally squee over your latest wordage! :-)

Go, have fun, see you over there!

More Author Love!

And talking of author squee, been catching up on some reading recently... (can you tell I'm trying to avoid OU work? :-) )

....anyhoo, as there is an OU deadline looming, I'll keep this short, but...

Daniel Fox's Jade Man's Skin? Awesome with a slice of how gorgeous is that?! Language to drown yourself in and loved the way the story's going. Really, really need to read the next one... Please tell me there's a next one... :-) If you haven't already availed yourself of a copy, do so posthaste.

Then there's Aliette De Bodard's Servant of the Underworld. Aztec mystery! Very cool! (Did you need more than Aztec mystery?) It is utterly brilliant, completely absorbing and totally edge of the seat stuff. Also, don't forget to nom this one for the Best Newcomer awards next year... :-)

On the short fic side, I can definitely recommend:
Doctor Diablo Goes Through the Motions by Saladin Ahmed, which appeared in Strange Horizons here... Funny and pretty damn excellent.

Also, the very beautiful and moving After the Dragon by Sarah Monette, which appeared in Fantasy Magazine here... And since I've got all the sensitivity of an iron clad rhino, it's got to be very good to get me saying that! :-)

Random me-me-me
In other news, apparently my BFS Balance post is now the guest editoral for the next Dark Horizons. Tee hee! Also, eep! (Although Cheryl Morgan and Maura McHugh both say it better, IMHO)

BFS & Fantasycon Needs You!

2009-11-26T17:41:00.003Z

First the good news: the prelim details for Fantasycon '10 have been released...
It'll be on 17th–19th September 2010. (Probably at the Britannia in Nottingham, but it doesn't say anything about location in the announcement...)

Early bird bookings are available until 31st December at the vastly reduced rate of £35 for the entire weekend. From then until 31st March the price is £45, and on 1st April it rises to £55. From 1st July the price will be £65. Non-members pay £10 more in each case.

Tickets for Saturday only will be available for £35.

Now for the bad: both the BFS and Fantasycon are grievously short of volunteers to do... stuff... especially Fantasycon organising stuff. Apparently the lack of interest from new blood getting involved is reaching crisis proportions (and the printer mishaps with the last piece of the latest membership mailing isn't helping much...)

So if you want to help out, don't be scared and check out the the Fcon news page for the emails to contact...

Nano Day 26

2009-11-26T17:35:00.000Z

Wheeeeee! Technological crisis averted. Typical, ain't it, that just when you want perfect performance from your writing machine, it keels over and dies. And then so does its predecessor. Luckily, this time, the back up discs were actually working....

So, here we are at Nano day 26, and my current wordcount is now a sniffle over 132k! Woohoo! This means that I've beaten my wordcount from last year and, with luck, may just exceed the wordcount from the year before (which was 155k.).

Alas, England: Elsewhere is rapidly falling down the Word War scoreboard. We're at no. 7 currently, with absolutely no chance of ever approaching those lofty scores that Oxford and Birmingham are pulling...

So, the werewolf thing is well and truly done, the not!TombRaider one is done, if a little on the short side, and I'm now switching between the pirate-mermaids and the urban fantasy short story collection thingy. Which is fun. :-)

Though it must be admitted that the words are increasingly harder and harder to find. Just have to keep looking at my spreadsheets from the last couple of years to remind myself that, yes, this is actually a normal thing...

Nano Day 5

2009-11-05T10:28:00.001Z

Alas, my lovelies, did not quite manage to hit the 40k target last night. Gave it up at 38,001 on account of no conceiveable brain cells left.

On the plus side, I did manage to write 8,000 words in 5 hours. Which was nice. :-) (I make no comment on the actual *quality* of said words...)

So what's new from Nanowrimo-land? The regional word wars have started up and Team England: Elsewhere are running second on the leader board. (out of 15 regions competing.) We're being soundly beaten by the mad gits in Oxford, who have one insane chap who reached 50k last night. This is the same chap who regularly pulls in epic level wordage - he was at 18k on the first day. Yipes. We've plotted to kidnap him from the Oxford team but they've hidden him in a secret location...

The Inter-Family Word War is new thing for this year. For some quite bizarre reason both mum and li'l sis have decided to have a crack at Nano. Surprising mainly as our Hell's doesn't write, and has had no previous desire to. She's at 9,057 words so far. Nice one that Evil Twin! :-) Mum's progress is also nicely surprising and is making her very pleased with herself given that she's got two manic businesses to run at the same time and is always complaining she doesn't have enough time to think about writing, let alone do it.
She's at around 27k at the moment, but keeps forgetting to officially update her count on the site....

What's particularly fun about mum playing this year is that she's by nature a very fast typist so we were in direct competition Sunday on the word front. She was keeping about 1000 or so words ahead of me all day until bedtime, when I snuck in an extra 100. I'm getting the advantage at the moment as I don't have as much day-job work to do as she does, so currently I'm in the lead, but things will probably get very interesting when the weekend hits. (Or they will once the associated day-job paperwork has been cleared up...)

Then there's the funky BFS peeps... (waves at funky BFS peeps!)
We've got Adrian F. rocking the house with 19,484
Stephen Theaker's at 9,085
Selina of Girlycomic fame is at 5,611
Ben McG was floating around the 2k mark last we checked.

And that's before we hit the Authonomy crew!
(Waves at Patty Jansen, who''s at 37,027!)

Me, my goal for the day is to attempt to reach 50k. Possibly I should have got up earlier this morning... :-) Ah well, what you gonna do? Vamps to kill, wolves to unmask as traitors to the cause, ghost callers to take down...