The Seven R’s (or Eight, or Nine)

For all my artistic ambitions as declared so forthrightly last month, there was always going to come a point where all the various things that demand energy were going to clash, leading ultimately to failure to really progress much of note. This week I have been Revising the final draft of the current day job project […]

Conventionality

Round about this time every year I start to check the calendar to see how many weeks are left until Eastercon, one of my cherished biannual breaks spent in the company of my excellent friends in the genre writing community. And, on finding out that it’s still six weeks distant (*sigh*!) I’m always a little […]

At long last: The Cyber Puppets!

Have just this second bought the brand-spanking squeaky new Kindle edition of Angus McAllister’s The Cyber Puppets from Brain In A Jar. For me this is where ebooks come into their own, making available books that for whatever reason previously missed their chance. I first ordered The Cyber Puppets – I don’t know – ten years […]

More on the muse

Reading back yesterday’s thoughts on Hal’s marvellous muse post, there’s the possibility that readers might see an implied criticism along the lines of being too precious about one’s “art” when a professional writer should be more concerned with seeing to the requirements of one’s “business”**. Obviously, that’s not what I meant. Not at all. Every […]

The trained MonkeyBrat

Just read on Hal Duncan’s blog possibly the most accurate and entertaining description of muse-wrangling and dealing with so-called writer’s block Every Committed To The Page**, and it delighted me almost as much as the awesome news that he’s finally finished TESTAMENT. There is SO much truth in what Hal says. It is *most* true […]

Novels, and me

Following this morning’s reading post, I had a nice twitter conversation with Juliet McKenna about how one of the greatest skills a novelist can learn is to hide their Grand Plan sufficiently to make the characters’ actions seem naturalistic throughout the book. You’re saying: “of course it is, that’s obvious!” I know you are. And […]

January reading

Kicking off last year’s monthly feature where I attempt to jot down some notes on what I’ve enjoyed reading-wise during the month. During February and March I’m going to attempt read the BSFA shortlisted novels, but January’s selection was a bit more of a lucky bag. The Sword Of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett – a […]

Neilogism of the day

Hal Reads

Hal Duncan fans who’ve been missing their fix lately (I hear he’s busy writing a novel!), might like to click over to youtube and watch the arch word scamp himself reading from his recent story “Styx Water And A Sippy Cup”. (Hey, I think I spot one of the Pinata Of Apocalypse in the background […]

Celebrating The Return Of Unusual Genitals – Welcoming Brain In A Jar

Really pleased to hear about the launch of Brain In A Jar ebooks, a new venture by SF novelist Gary Gibson. The ethos behind the company is much the same as that for Infinity Plus books, to bring out of print writing back into public view. Gary’s dusted off his skills as a graphic designer […]