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! :-)
15 August 2010
13 August 2010
Interview coming soon...
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! :-)
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! :-)
08 August 2010
Gettin' all judgy
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
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
03 August 2010
Kaz's Summer Camp Week 9
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...)
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...)
01 August 2010
Fantasycon 2011 - official!
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! ;-)
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
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...
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...
20 July 2010
Kaz's Summer Camp Week 7
::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!
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!
06 July 2010
Taurus!
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...
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
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...
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...
04 July 2010
More fun on t'internet
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!
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!
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