Ignore the way generative AI is created, the ecological and social impact, the abuse of copyright. Pretend it’s a fantastic machine, a cornucopia of content that responds to simple inputs with many outcomes, some of which a user will find artistically pleasing or match what they hoped for. A little like pulling the lever on… Continue reading AI, the Algorithm, and the Attention Economy.
Category: News and Updates
News and updates.
This is not a review, it’s a recommendation.
Last night I had the absolute pleasure of attending the launch signing for brand new creator-owned comic Petrol Head #1, by Pye Parr (blow-you-away art/nigh-perfect design/fantastic everything) and Rob Williams (smooth as hell dialogue/wild story-wrangling/perfect melding of multiple-timelines-writing), and was privileged enough to spend a little time afterwards toasting Pye in company of some of… Continue reading This is not a review, it’s a recommendation.
Spring Cleaning
Just been cleaning up the website a bit and experimenting with giving wordpress a bit of a refresh. Also, apparently there are ways to integrate Patreon with the website, which I'm giving a try - including importing Patreon posts over here. So, that's exciting to fiddle with...
Three quick reviews for #FurryBookMonth
It's October! You know what that means, don't you? ... No? Well, I guess that's allowable as this is the very first #FurryBookMonth! For more details, including special prices on many fine furry publications, head over here: https://furrywritersguild.com/furry-book-month/ In the meanwhile, here are three short reviews of some of the furry fiction I've read so… Continue reading Three quick reviews for #FurryBookMonth
Extinction Biome: Invasion, now released!
The book I co-authored with Anne Tibbets (http://www.annetibbets.com/), under the house pen name of Addison Gunn, is now available for purchase! The book is titled Extinction Biome: Invasion, and I'll let the blurb tell the story: THE EARTH WAS NEVER OURS Alex Miller trained for years in the Army, waiting for a war that never… Continue reading Extinction Biome: Invasion, now released!
Celebrating one hundred sales: Dog Country on special for a short time!
I’m very pleased to announce that Dog Country’s just recently sold its one hundredth copy, and to celebrate, I’m very briefly making it available at a lower price. Until the end of Friday, you can buy it from Amazon.com and .co.uk at 99 cents! If you’re a little late to the party, it’ll be on… Continue reading Celebrating one hundred sales: Dog Country on special for a short time!
Two weeks on: Dog Country & Copyright Infringement
Wow, so. Here we are, two weeks on from the launch of Dog Country, my debut novel. (See here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DJYMQQO/ ) Independently publishing it has been a heck of an experience. And, y’know what? It’s done great. With 60-65~ish sales (counting people using Kindle Unlimited’s read it free on a subscription thing) it’s succeeded well… Continue reading Two weeks on: Dog Country & Copyright Infringement
Pneumonic November
So. I've been laid up with pneumonia for most of the month, including a six day stay in hospital to receive treatment with IV antibiotics and ventilators after my lungs more or less decided to stop working. Thank heavens for the NHS and fie on any politician trying to pull it apart. Other than that,… Continue reading Pneumonic November
My ounce of bile: Yarn is cowardly.
TL;DR: I have an opinion on the Hugos/Sad Puppies thing, people who cry out 'we just wanna write good old fashioned entertainin' yarns!', and the state of Science Fiction as a genre. For context if you didn't know (and wow, are YOU out of the loop), a bunch of people hijacked one of the Science… Continue reading My ounce of bile: Yarn is cowardly.
Happy Holidays, wrapping up the year, and things of that ilk.
So. Happy holidays, and I hope the year's been absolutely wonderful to you and yours! My year's been ups and downs, like any good year should be. Just lately it's been spent running myself a little ragged, rewriting things and catching up after a double-dip spell of the flu which has left me with one… Continue reading Happy Holidays, wrapping up the year, and things of that ilk.
Post-con shenanigans, titles, and outlines.
Slow off the mark this month! So. I attended both LonCon 3 (Worldcon) and Eurofurence 20 last month, and, man. I did not expect things to be so tiring. I actually managed to give myself a fairly heinous foot blister by the end of Eurofurence, so, I've been taking the excuse to be fairly lazy… Continue reading Post-con shenanigans, titles, and outlines.
On to the next project + Cons
So. My novel Dog Country's done. Or, more accurately, it's as done as I feel like I can reasonably make it in the time available to me. In theory it's the second draft, or at least that's what I've got it numbered as, practically it's kind of a third/fourth pass. At some level I would… Continue reading On to the next project + Cons
Revision Country + Journal Of Plague Year Out In UK!
So. Most of the previous month has been eaten up by edits on Dog Country, and I'm about twenty percent into the second second draft (it needed more than one second draft), but, annoyingly, I've spent a lot of that time planning out my edits rather than actually making them. Complete with a revision outline.… Continue reading Revision Country + Journal Of Plague Year Out In UK!
Back to the grindstone 2: Ouch, my nose!
Okay. Time to begin the second second pass on Dog Country. ... You read that right. The first second pass, which went fairly well, felt a little too light. So, I need a second second pass, this time with some handy feedback from friends. So that is lined up to eat up the majority of… Continue reading Back to the grindstone 2: Ouch, my nose!
Life in April.
Continuing my trend of making at least a monthly update, this month's big news is, of course, the release of Pavlov's House. (Read it on Strange Horizons here.) It's my first pro-level short fiction sale, and it is probably one of my best works to date. In brief, it's about one of the dogs from… Continue reading Life in April.
Pavlov’s House now out!
Pavlov's House, my first pro-level short story sale, was published on Strange Horizons today! Go read it! Now! Immediately! In brief, it's one of my war dog stories, and while you might think the title refers to Pavlov the physiologist and his dogs, which it does, you might be interested to know that there have… Continue reading Pavlov’s House now out!
Back at the grindstone.
So. After doing some indulgent sideline writing about power armour to keep my hands moving, which is unlikely to see the light of day, I am now back on the Dog Country manuscript, taking the first pass of reacquainting myself with the text and cleaning it up. So far, I am feeling mostly happy with… Continue reading Back at the grindstone.
Life on both sides of the fence – Some blabbing about writing in and outside of a niche fandom.
My writing career, to put none too fine a point on it, is screwy. But the first thing you learn, trying to make writing your business, is that everyone's career is screwy. Recently while playing MechWarrior Online (I play videogames! That's socially acceptable now!) I was talking to another player in a public channel about… Continue reading Life on both sides of the fence – Some blabbing about writing in and outside of a niche fandom.
Orbital Decay now available!
After mentioning it on and off for months now Orbital Decay, a novella by yours truly and commissioned by Abaddon Books, is now available for purchase in various electronic formats, and will appear in print later this year. What is Orbital Decay, you may very well ask? Orbital Decay is a story about what happened… Continue reading Orbital Decay now available!
Risking burnout and writerly fetishes.
So. As those of you who follow me on twitter/generally stalk me are likely aware, I am currently working flat out on getting the first draft for Dog Country done. This has resulted in some thoughts, which I will get to in a moment. First up, things are getting finalized very rapidly on Orbital Decay,… Continue reading Risking burnout and writerly fetishes.