Saturday, May 25, 2013

New story at The Journal of Unlikely Entomology

My 4k horror story 'Jeanette's Feast' is available now at The Journal of Unlikely Entomology, along with some brilliantly disturbing artwork by Justin Aerni. I have to say, I think Bert the Cockroach is one of my favourite characters :)

Sunday, May 19, 2013

This Week, I Have Been Mostly...

READING:
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloane. Wonderful, charming romp about books, secret societies and Google. Loved it.

Currently about 25% into The Wine of Angels (Merrily Watkins 1) by Phil Rickman. This sounded like it would be right up my alley, but I'm struggling a bit to connect with it. Not quite sure why. Something about the voice, or the rotating POV, maybe? My last two favourite reads, Penumbra and City of the Dead, both had distinctive first-person narrators. It's also rather slow-paced, with not much sign of a compelling story problem so far. Stuff's happening, but at the minute I'm not sure how to answer the 'And why do we care?' question.

Short stories: 174 - 188 of 500. Faves:

A Perfect Possession from Now That You're Back by A.L. Kennedy: Gorgeously creepy and excellently-paced. The developing sense of 'something isn't right here' is wonderfully done, and the first person plural POV is a great choice, adding to the off-kilter feel.

A Man and His Parasite by Cat Rambo at SQ Magazine: Wonderfully complex story that manages to be chilling, sweet, dark and life-affirming, all at once.

Always, They Whisper by Damien Walters Grintalis at Lightspeed: Brilliant twist on an old myth.

WRITING:
An SF flash, an SF short and a horror short, plus another 3k on the rewrite of a novelette and the first chapter of a novel. Not sure where it all came from, but I like it!


WATCHING:
Blitz: Jason Statham is always good value, Aiden Gillen gives great crazy, and I do like a bit of vigilante justice. Fun stuff.

Da Vinci's Demons: Really enjoyed the first ep, although the second didn't sustain my interest as much. Will have to see how it pans out.

Defiance: Liking this one a lot, even if it's not exactly overburdened with originality. This might be familiar ground, but the show's treading it well. You can't go wrong with having Julie Benz in anything, Jamie Murray as Stahma Tarr is wonderfully Cersei Lannister-esqe, and the sarcastic town doctor steals every ep with about two lines.

Dexter S7 finale: OMG. That's kind of all I've got. OMG

LOOKING FORWARD TO:
The new series of 24. After being teased with the film for so long, it's nice to know we're finally going to get some more Jack. Because as we know, Superman wears Jack Bauer pyjamas.

Watching Hannibal and The Fall, both of which we've got recorded but not seen yet. They look like they could be pretty decent.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Story sale to Black Treacle

Just signed contract for the sale of my 3,800 word horror/crime story 'Getting Shot in the Face Still Stings' to Black Treacle. Issue 3 is due out on 4th June 2013.

*does happydance*

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The World According to Me - interview & guest post

I have been out and about lately: my comic horror Not the Pizza Girl was Every Day Fiction's top story for March, and Aliza T Greenblatt interviewed me about it for Flash Fiction Chronicles. It was my first interview, and a lot of fun.

I also have a guest post about using the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet for short stories, using my dark fantasy Never Leave Me as an example, at Dianna's Writing Den - many thanks to Dianna for inviting me!


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

New Story - Destiny Fell in Love at Every Day Fiction

Every Day Fiction is one of my favourite sites, and I'm always thrilled to have a story there. My 754-word  fantasy story Destiny Fell in Love is available to read now.

Destiny craved stillness, but it was the one thing she could never have. She had to move on. How could she not?