Monday, March 4, 2013

This Week, I Have Been Mostly...

READING: The English Monster, by Lloyd Shepherd. From the first 50 pages, I think I'm going to like it. Nicely described, atmospheric, intriguing setup.

Short stories: 80-86 of 500. Faves this week are:

The Infill Trait by CC Finlay at Lightspeed.
A really interesting Military Experiment Gone Wrong story with a wonderful, fracturing, freewheeling voice perfectly suited to the increasingly lost and paranoid narrator.

The Finite Canvas by Brit Mandelo at Tor.com
Beautifully-judged story of murder, betrayal and (possible) redemption with both a gripping plot and complex, layered characterisation.

WRITING: A horror short about an empathic child and a humour SF flash about memory and blackmail.

WATCHING:
  • Nashville. From the first two eps, I like it a lot. Good characters, interesting situation, murky backstory, hints of nefarious deeds in the offing. And I like the music, too, which I didn't expect to.
  • The original Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes TV series. I never saw this show, saw any of the films or read any of the Conan Doyle stories, until after I'd already seen the Cumberbatch reboot and Elementary--both of which I love. It led to the strange effect of watching this and having my first reaction be, 'Ooh, a version where Sherlock and Watson are both Victorian gentlemen! How radical.' And then I facepalm because, yeah. 

WISHING I HADN'T CLICKED ON: This. Why did I do it? I really, really, did not need to see this.

SELLING: 'Not the Pizza Girl,' a comic fantasy about an uninvited party guest to Every Day Fiction (it's due to run on March 11th) and 'You Don't Want What I Get,' a horror about monsters and gangsters, to Untied Shoelaces of the Mind (it'll run when Issue #8 is filled). I like getting too use this category!

WEEKENDING: in Edinburgh, since my husband had to go up anyway, for work. Touristing, whisky-sampling and taking plenty of photos of spooky alleys and graveyards, to be used as future book covers :)

2 comments:

  1. You've been busy! Congratulations on the sales, and good luck with the reading. You're planning to read 500 short stories this year? Nice.

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  2. Thanks, Milo! And yes, 500 is the goal. So many learning expeiences :)

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