Le mag...

I've not yet caught up on my emails but in answer to general questions - no we don't take poetry, nor do we take non-genre stuff. Read the guidelines - I'm fairly flexible on word count and I'm always willing to have a look at more traditional styled fantasy - but nothing mushy or ridiculously language-d, I've a soft spot for adventure-fantasy tales though. Plenty of action!
Any outstanding mag orders were sent out this morning, next batch of submission answers will be happening tomorrow morning and yes, I know, I need to update the website since Issue 3's down as appearing last month.

Talking of Ish 3 - due out end of March/1st week April. It's got a gorgeous looking cover illo which I'm hoping to be able to do in colour, but budget may dictate b/w. I'm really aiming for the colour cover though. (And I'm having a crack at getting a modest arts grant so that I can do the next few issues with colour covers and get some better promo stuff out there.)

Funky web stuff

Came across this in my wanderings the other day. The very secret diaries of the Fellowship of the Ring. Great stuff!

That'll be the day job then...

So when I'm not mucking around with the BFS, sweating over the mag or skiving off surfing reading and watching too much satellite telly, I have to do my share in the family biz, which is a bunch of related services to do with renting out properties. We're like 3rd party contractors who come up with inventories for properties, then have all the fun of going around with the tenants, both when they move in and when they move out, to note down every single tiny chip, scuff and crumb. (We also do mid-tenancy inspections, and a bit of property management for private landlord types but that's by the by.)

I mention this because I've just spent all morning in Sonning doing an inventory of an old country hotel that Uri Gellar (me=brazen name-dropping hussy!) wants to buy, and I'm completely shattered! (No, none of the cutlery was bent, but apparently he bent a spoon for the lady that's selling the place.)
Oh and the next door neighbour's cat, Merlin, followed me around for most of the morning, yowling strange, incomprehensible things. I kid you not. :->

Gagh! 2 weeks since the last post. I've been snowed under both literally and figuratively. Not as snowed under as Gabe Chouinard though. A 712 email backlog sounds mighty impressive! I'm only on about 270 myself which is why I've decided to give up being stockholder for the British Fantasy Society - too many things, so little time. (So if anyone wants the job, check out the BFS sits vac page on their website - it's a voluntary position but you get a couple of BFS related perks out of it.) Or email me directly to find out whats involved. Oh and you need to be UK based to do it.

And in mag news....
Just got an encouraging review of issue 1 in the latest BSFA mag. I'll put my hands up to the bad typo's & spelling cock ups (in particular, apologies to Tony Richards for continually mis-spelling the title of his story - it should have been 'The Lightning Dogs' NOT 'The Lightening Dogs' - I'll fire my proofreader now shall I?)

Everybody go aaaaaaah. Li'l sis is moving out this week to a funky little 1 bed semi just up the road.
Truth is, I'm probably way more excited about it than she is, if only cos I get to have all the fun buying stuff for her new place while she's at work. :->

And back to the lovely H&N...
Contributor & review copies of Issue 2 are going out today (which is nice!) And for all those outstanding submission people I've not contacted, next couple of days, I promise. I've got the fiction contents of issues 4 & 5 locked down, with Issue 6 almost full. When I've notified all the relative people re. what issue and when, there'll be an update on the website (and a handy clickable to let you pre-order the relevent issues!)

I'm still after faction pieces for all forthcoming issues. And not just genre pieces, either. I'd like to see some earth mysteries/folklore/urban magic type pieces Full gl.s re. format & style etc. are at www.bradanpress.co.uk - just hit the 'Submit!' link and you're there.

UK mag news...

The other day I heard a rumour that Legend, run by Trevor 'Roadworks' Denyer was finishing. Today I got confirmation that it's definitely going. Damn, bugger & blast. That & Kimota were my two favourite fantasy mags and now they're both gone.

On the plus side, there's the relatively new mag 3SF being published by Big Engine. I've haven't got my hands on a copy yet, but it sounds impressive. Full colour cover, tons of features, great looking artwork.....

(Course if you really want a good fantasy mag, you've to turn no further than the fabulous Here & Now! Buy it. Love it. Subscribe for more! You know it makes sense.)

Bloggers bloggers everywhere.....

Just trawling through some of my favourite sites this morning and discovered that Ariel of the Alien Online has a blog. (Ok, so he's had it a while, I just hadn't noticed it before.....)

And ever so handily, the Alien Online has a link to the brand spanking new blog of Mark Chadbourn, one of my fave authors. His Age of Misrule trilogy is totally top banana! Great big whalloping books stuffed full of urban fantasy at it's best, with tons of Brit folklore mixed into the nail-biting narrative. (Sorry, do I sound like blurb there?)

Then there's Neil Gaiman, the lord and master of the Sandman, and also the one responsible for getting me into graphic novels/comics in the first place. Although I think I first discovered him via Good Omens when I was in a serious Pratchett phase. His American Gods was great, and I loved Neverwhere (and I'd really like to see some more stories from the Neverwhere universe.)

She had a whisky drink, she had a lager drink......
Helen and her bezzie mate went out to play last night.
Now my favourite and only sister is an expert at the art of alcohol consumption.
At school, she passed her end of year exams under the influence of what her and the gang had smuggled in.
She can drink anyone under the table and has been known to mix a good dozen varieties of alckie in one night .
Champagne with a Russian cola chaser, tia maria coffee interspersed with several red wines.
Half a bottle of voddy, and any number of odd neon coloured drinks.
She's been there, drunk that, and is still able to walk, communicate and wake up bright and early the next morning with no ill effects apparent.

And being a consummate professional, she knows what she can take and knows when to stop.

Her friend, on the other hand, got completely wasted and has spent the whole morning throwing up. Every 30 mins. Regular as wotsit.
Lovely.

Hah! I finally got the The Invisible Kingdom this morning and naturally it's already been gobbled up. Talk about your head fuck. Coincidentally some of the points raised regarding common identity/fic-suits/nature of time, space & the universe! were things I'd been getting my head around earlier in the week.
I love it when that happens. Not just a cracking story but a cool philosophical text to boot.
The art was a bit shite in a few pages towards the end though. Can't work out whether it was intentional or just an unfortunate byproduct of the artists jam that happened when they were doing the series way back.
I'm sure I read somewhere - probably on BARBELiTH - that some of the panels were redrawn from the graph nov. version.