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
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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.
Something on the way, back in the slush piles, and Ancillary Justice
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
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.