Okay, so, getting through things roughly in order... In absolutely positive news, things are slowly getting finalized on a novella I've produced for Abaddon Books. What I can confidently say at the moment is that it's provisionally titled 'Orbital Decay', it's around 30 000 words long (fractionally longer than Dangerous Jade), and it's set in… Continue reading Something on the way, back in the slush piles, and Ancillary Justice
Category: News and Updates
News and updates.
Recent Reviews, Current Activities
Okay, so, in the interest of keeping things all updated and everything on here, since last we spoke, I've gotten some neat reviews, some walks beside the Thames, achieved a lunar landing with a slide rule and logarithm table, and stood in a queue for two and a half hours. Firstly on the reviews front,… Continue reading Recent Reviews, Current Activities
A very brief review of Papers, Please.
Papers, Please is one of those games that, I feel, explores what storytelling in videogames is all about. From the point we're confronted with a near perfectly immersive interface -- we interact with the world by moving documents around, as we step into the role of a passport inspector/border checkpoint desk agent -- to the… Continue reading A very brief review of Papers, Please.
Last day of Dangerous Jade sale + Other News
Today's the last day you can get Dangerous Jade for $3.99 (50% off!) at BadDogBooks. (Also, if you've read Dangerous Jade and have an opinion, please think about leaving a review on BDB, Amazon, or Goodreads!) In some other news about things that are going on: Things are hopefully entering the final phases for a… Continue reading Last day of Dangerous Jade sale + Other News
Dangerous Jade won the Ursa Major Award – Thank You All
I've just been informed that Dangerous Jade won the 2012 Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction. Thank you all so much. Thank you, fans and friends, for the support. Thank you, Meesh, for being an amazing artist to work with and giving Jade such wonderful illustrations. And, especially, thank you Kyell Gold, for… Continue reading Dangerous Jade won the Ursa Major Award – Thank You All
To Iain Banks,
This was my contribution to the flood of messages supporting Iain (M) Banks when the announcement of his terminal illness was made. I post it now, after news of his passing, because I simply have no other good way to mark the moment and feel like I have to do something with my grief. ----… Continue reading To Iain Banks,
A little less conversation, a little more censorship please.
This morning I read an article on the BBC news website reporting calls to close a 'loophole' allowing the existence and viewing of rape pornography. The article (here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22803502 ) explains that much of the motivation behind the campaign to tighten these laws has been driven by violence against women and children. While I fully… Continue reading A little less conversation, a little more censorship please.
ConFuzzled advisory.
This week I am off to attend ConFuzzled, which I am sure I will produce all manner of terrible anecdotes to share. If you're attending, yell at me on twitter or something if you want something signed.
Thank you for your Ursa support!
Thank you to everyone who's supported me during the Ursa Major Awards period this year, or, just, y'know, supported me in general! You guys and gals are all fantastic. The voting's over for the year, and we'll learn what the results are when they're announced at Anthrocon on July 5th. Tune back in then, and… Continue reading Thank you for your Ursa support!
Ursa Major Awards – Nominated!?
So. Uh. ... That happened. Check out the short fiction section on this link. ... Yeah. I'm actually kinda-sorta floored. I mean, I know I have people out there rooting for me and enjoying my work? And I massively appreciate that I do? I just don't think I realized that there were that many of… Continue reading Ursa Major Awards – Nominated!?
Some brief thoughts on Robert E. Howard.
So just to keep the blog moving, and since I've been reading Conan the Barbarian stories, I thought I might as well jot down some of my thinking on that. Personally, I'm a big fan of Robert E. Howard. Not so much for his literature as the position he occupies in foundations of spec lit… Continue reading Some brief thoughts on Robert E. Howard.
Dangerous Jade available as e-book!
Dangerous Jade is now available as an e-book, on Kindle (US) (UK) and on a variety of other e-readers via Smashwords, both for $7.99, and you can still pick it up in print from FurPlanet at $9.99. If you're still making your mind up, there are some reviews on the store pages, as well as… Continue reading Dangerous Jade available as e-book!
Workblog for the week: Nearly done!
I am within a page or two of finishing up the new War Dog cupcake's first draft. It is fractional, and I feel like I should be writing to finish it even as I write this, but, eh. So it goes. I am not quite sure what I'm going to do with a title for… Continue reading Workblog for the week: Nearly done!
Workblog for the week: Pulling teeth.
Having another of those somewhat difficult weeks. You know the kind, where every bit of work done is like pulling teeth. So, sadly, not had as many words down as earlier this month, but, at least, progress has been steady and daily. If nothing else, that's something to crow about. I think when I finally… Continue reading Workblog for the week: Pulling teeth.
Workblog for the week: Ups and downs.
Well, things have slowed down again, but that initial burst of speed on the War Dog thing looks terribly hopeful indeed, and I hope to pick up on it again by Monday. Otherwise very little to report, really.
Workblog for the week: Eat, Sleep, Write, FTL.
This has been one of those welcome weeks where the main thing I did all week was write. And write and write and write. To the point where it's slightly hard to recall what happened. I've been writing, reading trashy books, reading up on ridiculous warfare related items, and, as of yesterday, playing FTL. What… Continue reading Workblog for the week: Eat, Sleep, Write, FTL.
Workblog for the week: Definitely working on the next cupcake.
It is just, somehow, liberating to wind up in a situation where the words just flow. I'm not quite there on the current project, but it's closer than it's felt in months and months. So, wordcounts are high-ish, and morale's high-ish. The current project is indeed about a mangled War-Dog, and I have no idea… Continue reading Workblog for the week: Definitely working on the next cupcake.
Workblog for the week: Barking at the door.
Two weeks goes by fast, doesn't it? That's how long I've been working on putting together three pitch documents, which seems like it took longer than it should... but, then again, pitches are not prose. These specific ones required full plotting, which is one of those tasks that takes way more effort per word than… Continue reading Workblog for the week: Barking at the door.
Workblog for the week: Synopsis.
Well. This week I've been working on synopses, and that's the synopsis of my week! Pitch documents are interesting things. The ones I've been working on this week, partly in the hopes of getting some work, partly for the practice element, involve a short 'hooky' synopsis, about 150 words, then a larger breakdown of the… Continue reading Workblog for the week: Synopsis.
Workblog for the week: One more chapter down.
After nailing another chapter down this week, and keeping things rolling, I'm taking a few days break with other projects, just to keep every pot on my stove merrily boilling away. I feel like I'm a bit more than a quarter into my book. Which is an odd achievement. It is, at this moment, inclusive… Continue reading Workblog for the week: One more chapter down.