tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89604618864220457102023-11-15T23:14:51.819-08:00BRSBKBLOGadventures in Publishing - a blog about books, books and more books although no doubt there will be some random whitterings tooAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.comBlogger421125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-69807125612412131262016-12-28T05:41:00.000-08:002016-12-28T05:41:06.841-08:00This is the endAs I now have a website, and am able to blog there, I feel that having a separate blog is no longer needed and so I'm closing this one.<br />
<br />
I'll still be reviewing, interviewing, having guest posts and blogging over on my website: <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://petewsutton.com/">https://petewsutton.com/</a></span></u></b> but I will no lonnger be updating this one.<br />
<br />
If you'd still like me to do a review have a read of <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/i-was-at-bristcon-fringe-last-night.html">this</a> </span></u></b><br />
<b><u><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></u></b>
So one door closes, but another opens, come and join me on my <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://petewsutton.com/">Website</a></span></u></b>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-47485717804065511312016-12-20T02:42:00.001-08:002016-12-20T02:42:16.555-08:00It's the end of the year postAs ever the end of the year prompts a "best of" round up.<br />
<br />
I've read 90 books this year (way down on previous years - but due to writing a novel and publishing a short story collection!)<br />
<br />
I have only rated 9 as Brilliant - this is a lower percentage than previous years<br />
<br />
15 books by women - which is woeful so I will definitely be doing the Discoverability Challenge (1 book by a women new to me with review per month) next year<br />
<br />
17 ARCs - which is more than the 1 per month that I said I'd do...<br />
<br />
51 bought this year - I need to read a higher percentage off my TBR list<br />
<br />
21 as ebooks - this seems to be creeping up year on year<br />
<br />
So those Brilliant books?<br />
<br />
<img alt="This Census-Taker by China Mieville" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1101967323.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<b>this census-taker by China Mieville </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
A masterly novella built more around what isn't revealed than what is revealed<br />
<br />
<img alt="One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken…" src="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/86/4e/864e414635fc700593631595567434f414f4141.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
A deserved classic that I can't believe I've only just got round to reading this year<br />
<br />
<img alt="A Burglar's Guide to the City by Geoff…" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0374117268.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>A Burglar's Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Since the name of this blog is inspired by BLDG:BLOG you know I'm a fan of Manaugh and this book doesn't disappoint. A history of burglary and architecture, highly recommended.<br />
<br />
<br />
<img alt="Image result" height="200" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRXEfub2BaL3crHUOXYAGjoLAOLd-Kvn9yx1qyJm5yk9tZtoJgP" width="125" /><br />
<br />
<b>The Good Immigrant edited by Nikesh Shukla</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
A collection of essays on what it means to be an immigrant in today's UK. This should be required reading!<br />
<br />
<img alt="City of Blades (The Divine Cities) by Robert…" src="https://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/9b/86/9b86e7b9ff668e8596c61666c77434f414f4141.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Intelligent fantasy and a brilliant sequel<br />
<br />
<img alt="Lovecraft Country: A Novel by Matt Ruff" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0062292064.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff</b><br />
<br />
This is a fabulous book blending Lovecraftian horror with the experience of racism of the black characters. Reads like a series of novellas.<br />
<br />
<img alt="Unflattening by Nick Sousanis" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0674744438.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>Unflattening by Nick Sousanis</b><br />
<br />
Like Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics this book seeks to explain and describe the unique nature of comic art. If McCloud's is a Comics 101 this is a masterclass. Highly recommend both.<br />
<br />
<img alt="The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/054474652X.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley</b><br />
<br />
A dark modern gothic tale, does a fabulous job of evoking atmosphere and a thoroughly entertaining read.<br />
<br />
<img alt="All the Birds, Singing: A Novel by Evie Wyld" src="https://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/c4/d7/c4d72d16c298804596e336b6977434f414f4141.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<b>All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld</b><br />
<br />
A cleverly constructed book that's a compelling character study in two narratives - one moving forwards in time and one moving backwards.<br />
<br />
And that's it<br />
<br />
I'm currently reading Don Quixote so expect that'll keep me busy til the end of the year...<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-35248449830410458082016-11-25T11:52:00.002-08:002016-11-25T11:52:41.190-08:00Cover Reveal - The Dark Half of the Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkR-V3GGcL9rk3qseDiyuen_YVEpicodYw714iu7x9t3VukL9qxy6_FxNjTpr-u2N3Le4NfH8yUsoQyQtly9RUn-9d_PrSNnWZs5s21BsEsnAH3gBrH3a7MYh7ZkymN7QXGRj4oyBxkbSs/s1600/GhostcovV4A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkR-V3GGcL9rk3qseDiyuen_YVEpicodYw714iu7x9t3VukL9qxy6_FxNjTpr-u2N3Le4NfH8yUsoQyQtly9RUn-9d_PrSNnWZs5s21BsEsnAH3gBrH3a7MYh7ZkymN7QXGRj4oyBxkbSs/s320/GhostcovV4A.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://northbristolwriters.wordpress.com/"><br /></a></span></u></b>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://northbristolwriters.wordpress.com/">The North Bristol Writers</a></span></u></b><span style="color: #1d2129;"> have been working on a book this year and it's almost ready. It's called "The Dark Half of the Year" and it's a collection of ghost tales - the idea was for it to be ready by Christmas in the best M R James fashion with all stories based around winter holidays.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="color: #1d2129;">There's an introduction by </span><b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://cavanscott.com/">Cavan Scott</a></span></u></b></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
And stories from these fantastic writers:</div>
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<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Kevlin Henney<br />Desiree Fischer<br />Ian Millsted<br />Roz Clarke<br />Chrissey Harrison<br />Dolly Garland<br />Ian McConaghy<br />Suzanne McConaghy<br />Myfanwy Rodman<br />Kenneth Peter Shinn<br />Madeleine Meyjes<br />Justin Newland<br />Clare Dornan<br />Tom Parker<br />Maria Herring<br />Nick Walters</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
and Peter Sutton</div>
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with a cover by Ian McConaghy</div>
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If you'd like a copy in return for a review let me know in the comments (first few comments only)</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
We'll be doing a launch event early 2017 with readings and book signing and other such fun</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-22724701045532610082016-11-24T04:24:00.000-08:002016-11-24T04:24:05.709-08:00The discovery challengeBack in more optimistic times I agreed to do the Discoverability Challenge - to read 1 woman, new to me, per month and write a review. For no other reason than me being rubbish this has not happened.<br />
<br />
So I'm going to commit to doing it again next year.<br />
<br />
Please send me your recommendations for brilliant women writers I may not have heard of.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-46071625026621908762016-10-31T07:16:00.000-07:002016-10-31T07:16:14.080-07:00Reflections on the manic con & fest seasonThis is quite a long rambling post reflecting on around about 3 years of "stuff" - it grew in the telling. It also includes a few thoughts about this year's festival of literature and BristolCon - so if that's what you're after bear with me a few paragraphs...<br />
<br />
This year started with signing a book deal - although it seems like much longer ago because I've published two books already & a few weeks ago I signed another contract.<br />
<br />
<br />
<img alt="A Tiding Of Magpies by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1530825857.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
I never expected to be able to sell novels so quickly, the reason I have done, I think is due to the Festival of Literature and BristolCon which I'll come onto reportage wise soon.<br />
<br />
I attended a bunch of Cons, like I have been doing since returning to the Con scene at BristolCon a couple of years ago (2013 I think it was) - BristolCon and Nine Worlds renewed my faith in Cons and I discovered that I was a very different person to when I'd previously dipped my toe in the Con scene in the mid-90's.<br />
<br />
I'd visited Octocon in Dublin mainly because of the excellent line up. I didn't know anyone in the Con world, was pretty shy and retiring (you'd not think so but I was painfully shy - so much so that I was given a nickname by a friend's daughter of 'Whisper Pete') and although I enjoyed the panels I didn't see what the fuss was and didn't return to a con until the first Nine Worlds. (I didn't take part in Bar-Con, that was the problem!)<br />
<br />
I have been going to literature festivals for many years though - the drop in on a session and then head off format is one I found easier. (I did a post once on the differences and similarities but it seems to have been lost in the mists of the ancient internet) so when Bristol Festival of Literature started up in 2011 I very happily went along. And on a leaflet there was a "if you'd like to volunteer, drop us a mail" I thought it'd be interesting so I dropped them a mail. And now I'm one of the organisers...<br />
<br />
So anyway, back in 2012 the festival did an event with the late Iain M Banks (much missed, he was a lovely bloke) and the BristolCon guys turned up. I remember meeting Jo Hall & Claire Carter (there may have been others, apologies if I've forgotten you were there). There was a reason I couldn't attend BristolCon in 2012. It clashed with Litfest events I'd committed to.<br />
<br />
I attended lots of the festival's program in 2012 and got to sit in on a whole bunch of workshops and got the writing bug (or rather rediscovered an old dream that I'd never really done much about. My storytelling urge was, to that point, being fulfilled through writing for a roleplaying company). Although I didn't get round to doing anything about it until after a book launch I attended with Vala Publishing in 2013.<br />
<br />
So I'd taken a few tentative steps in writing when there was a call for submissions for Airship Shape. I'd also backed the Kickstarter for Nine Worlds. So 2013 was Nine Worlds, Bristol Festival of Literature and BristolCon. See, go to one con and you get the bug and start going to more. Since then I've been to cons abroad too (and will do so again next year).<br />
<br />
Jo & Roz choosing to take my story (which needed work. So much work!) for Airship Shape was a seminal moment & the T Party savaging a story I submitted to the critique session at Nine Worlds was another (that story turned into Sick City Syndrome eventually). I determined that a) I needed to read a lot of how to write books and b) I needed to practise...<br />
<br />
And so to this year and signing two book contracts and publishing two books. I also attended Bristol Festival of Literature and BristolCon again (as well as SF Weekender, Nine Worlds and FantasyCon) - and because I'm not so shy and retiring anymore I now know a lot of the Con Crowd. I also seem to have become a fixture at Bristol HorrorCon (where I launched my novel Sick City Syndrome)<br />
<br />
<img alt="Sick City Syndrome by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1537638807.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
First up was Bristol Festival of Literature at which the Writing Group I joined in 2013 (the other major influential moment in my writing 'career') The North Bristol Writers did a couple of events. We did spooky tales at Arnos Vale and took part in the Flash Slam, but sadly didn't place this year (we came second last year). There was a great buzz at the festival this year, and we put on some great events.<br />
<br />
And then there was BristolCon. Once again writers David Gullen and Gaie Sebold stayed at our house and we left bright and early with a car full of books for the con. This year the writing group decided to sell books and Pat & Rachel McNally stepped up to run the table for us & did a sterling job. This meant I was mostly dividing my time between the panels I had to be in, the dealer's room and the brick out room & bar. I was driving so bar-con didn't start for me until I'd taken the stock home at the end of the day and then got the bus back. Because we then went for a very pleasant dinner with Alistair Rennie who had travelled down from Edinburgh for the con! The real drinking didn't start till late and I feel that I missed out on chatting to so many people. Gareth L Powell has posted his <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.garethlpowell.com/bristolcon-2016-report/">con report</a></span></u></b> and mentions the family atmosphere & tellingly, the Cheers theme. This is my main take away from BristolCon - it's become almost impossible to talk to everyone I know at the Con because I've come to know so many people!<br />
<br />
Many thanks to my panelists for the Uncanny Valley of the Mind panel - it was great overhearing a few con-goers chatting in the bar about the panel and some of the things we'd discussed later. Glad to have sparked drunken conversations about SkyNet ;-)<br />
<br />
I was also on a panel ably moderated by Ian Millsted about first contact which was also fascinating.<br />
<br />
Apart from that I went to the book launch, got roped into the mass-signing. I wasn't planning to but someone asked me for a signature and I got to sit next to Jonathan L Howard (Next year's Guest of Honour) and Sarah Pinborough (This year's Guest of Honour) and sold and signed a few books too.<br />
<br />
My last panel of the day was somehow at 3pm - monstrous women with David Gullen, Jonathan L Howard, Anna Smith-Spark & Dolly Garland which explored some interesting territory between what's eroticised violence and what's gratuitous. I spent the rest of my time in the dealer room<br />
<br />
It's such a great little con mainly because I know so many people there & it feels like an annual get together of many of my favourite people. Although there were a few missing this year sadly, due to illness and other commitments. But there are so many folk I've become friends with through BristolCon that I can honestly say it has been life-changing. And one person that deserves a lot of that credit is Jo Hall who stepped down from being the chair after 8 years. (I bet she's feeling very light about now with that responsibility lifted!). I very much hope it'll go from strength to strength and look forward to next year. It has very much become a highlight of my social calendar...<br />
<br />
And so it is time to put away the con calendar for the year and reflect on where I am. I have a book to edit (It was lovely to meet my editor, Kate Coe, at BristolCon - that makes a big difference I think) and ideas for more books. I have a decision to make about what to write next and some thinking about where I want to go career-wise. (It still feels weird to talk about a writing career!) and about defragmenting my life (more on that anon). But it may go a bit quiet here for the rest of the year - except for a couple of guest posts.<br />
<br />
Somehow this all got a lot longer than I thought it would. You sit down to write a short story and you end up with a novella. I blame sleep deprivation!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-84205550227411574672016-10-25T06:10:00.000-07:002016-10-25T06:10:34.507-07:00BristolConJust a quick reminder that I'll be at BristolCon<br />
<br />
My books will be on sale on the North Bristol Writers table in the vendor room<br />
<br />
<img alt="Sick City Syndrome by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1537638807.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
<img alt="A Tiding Of Magpies by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1530825857.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<br />
I'll be on two panels - as a moderator on one and panelist on the other<br />
<br />
And I'll be doing a reading from Sick City Syndrome<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px;">10:00 – 10:45 - </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px;"><b>Call Me Rosetta</b></span><br />
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
First Contact: As a probe sent out from Earth, what am I looking for, and what do I send back? If there’s life out there, when we meet the aliens, how do we say hello? How can we explain ourselves, and what should we keep back until the second date?</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
with <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2730" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ian Millsted</a> (Mod), <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2738" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pete Sutton</a>,<a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=3536" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Deane Saunders-Stowe</a>,<a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2724" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Janet Edwards</a>, one other tbc</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
13:00 – 13:45 - <b>Uncanny Valleys of the Mind</b></div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
We’ve been worried about sentient robots for a long time, but are we really worrying about what they might do to us, or what they might do to our understanding of ourselves? When we’re developing smart machines, how do we weigh up the benefits and the dangers, and given that a Twitter chatbot can become a fascist in 24 hours, when do we pull the plug?</div>
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</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
with <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2738" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pete Sutton</a> (Mod), <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2820" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Claire Carter</a>, <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2701" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kevlin Henney</a>, <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=4046" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ken MacLeod</a>, <a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/?page_id=2743" style="color: #000099; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rosie Oliver</a></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
13:50 – 13:55 - Reading</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px;">
I'm not planning on joining in on the mass signing but am happy to sign stuff if you can catch me ;-)</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-67272624894428634542016-10-21T01:55:00.001-07:002016-10-21T01:58:10.149-07:00Review - David Tallerman & Anthony Summey C21st Gods<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOV2R5H87I2iIdbh13Ih7PnSmRKoB2Dmck9Swi48x2Fwk8axQ2GqIJfs2eHOErABYQWyjS5SZVZ-2D_FWDihFke9halc_ouseP-HbxFGZg3Jqjm0RXUfjwATSsjXM5D0WjFZd9jpADMg/s400/C21stGods1Cover+-+HiRes.tif" /><br />
<br />
21st Century Gods by David Tallerman & Anthony Summey<br />
<br />
I was so happy to be able to snag a copy of this from Netgalley. I've been a big fan of Tallerman's since I read Giant Thief and have enjoyed everything I've read from him so far. So when he announced he was tackling a comic (a format I'm a big fan of) involving noir (a genre I like) and Call of Cthulhu I was so keen to grab hold.<br />
<br />
And it doesn't disappoint. The art is crisp and reminded me a little of Dave Gibbons and fit the story well. The trenchcoated, bearded detective instantly likeable and the horror built well in this first issue.<br />
<br />
There are some well-drawn tableaux's of murders towards the end of the issue that are a morbid pleasure to see. This is a nice little introduction and my appetite is definitely whetted for the next one...<br />
<br />
Overall - This is going to be a series to look out for - take yourself over to <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://davidtallerman.blogspot.com/2016/10/welcome-your-twenty-first-century-gods.html">Tallerman's blog</a></span></u></b> to see what he says about it - it's worth readingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-10823894654853037492016-10-18T01:36:00.000-07:002016-10-18T01:36:09.895-07:00Guest post - Rosemary Dun<div class="MsoNormal">
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Rosemary Dun is a lover of words and a performer of poetry – she’s been known to whip out her ukulele (unless you ask her very nicely not to!) The Trouble With Love is her debut novel with Sphere, Little Brown, and she couldn't be more delighted. She’s also a creative writing tutor, mother to two grownup daughters (how did that happen?) and she lives close to Bristol’s historic harbourside with her bonkers labrador Tallulah.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trouble-Love-hilarious-guaranteed-laughing-ebook/dp/B01HPMVFWC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1473006613&sr=1-1&keywords=the+trouble+with+love+by+rosemary+dun"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trouble-Love-hilarious-guaranteed-laughing-ebook/dp/B01HPMVFWC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1473006613&sr=1-1&keywords=the+trouble+with+love+by+rosemary+dun</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.rosemarydun.co.uk/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">www.rosemarydun.co.uk</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/RosemaryDunAuthor/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://www.facebook.com/RosemaryDunAuthor/</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/rosemarydun"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">https://twitter.com/rosemarydun</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I asked Rosemary to provide a blog on one of three possible topics - she's gone above and beyond and provided info on all three topics 9and every interesting it is too)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovC7uzqgsxaHTf89VJWzV2f38d_s5eZQp_7HUJR5B5MgAAkEKlp5tK9mLem5ug45PlMlpXJGlG0SeMDBNVDHevNefjTSF1wWBfKOzFiK9oQxA3wEtxYFpWAY5c5tmWI3c1TqE8im_ttyM/s1600/The+Trouble+with+Love+for+Twitter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovC7uzqgsxaHTf89VJWzV2f38d_s5eZQp_7HUJR5B5MgAAkEKlp5tK9mLem5ug45PlMlpXJGlG0SeMDBNVDHevNefjTSF1wWBfKOzFiK9oQxA3wEtxYFpWAY5c5tmWI3c1TqE8im_ttyM/s320/The+Trouble+with+Love+for+Twitter.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How does writing poetry help with writing a novel?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you for asking – it’s a great question. I guess that regular writing of any sort helps, especially when tackling a big project like a novel. So there’s that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Writing poetry has helped me be unafraid of the blank page. I’m happy I can get something down on paper: it’s taught me to feel the fear and do it anyway. I love the playfulness in poetry, the mucking about with words and phrases which can produce exciting juxtapositions, surprises, and alchemy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Samuel Taylor Coleridge said that poetry is “the very best words in the very best order.” So, there’s a discipline to poetry which I’ve come to embrace and love; this too has helped hone my editing/ revision skills which I can then apply to my novel writing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">On a good day I may liken the writing of poetry to the making mud pies, i.e. you scoop up a load of mud (words/ phrases/ ideas), throw it (them) down (on to the page) and set about shaping it. To stretch this metaphor to squeaking point, writing novels is playing with whole mud towns/ people/ universes. If I go too far, get overly worried, or my inner critic is threatening to ruin the day, then I try to remember advice from playwright Simon Stephens: “Don’t worry, nobody died, it’s only writing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ten things I wish I’d been told before sitting down to write a novel – let’s say my first novel (unpublished and languishing in a box somewhere):</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If you’re not careful you’ll develop “writer’s bum” and an addiction to Kettle’s crisp sandwiches! Beware comfy clothes and comfort eating!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Wear comfy clothes – it’s physical, it’s tiring even exhausting, it’s hard work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Learn how to plot, embrace the plot, love a plot – a plot does not mean that you’re writing something unoriginal; instead it’s a thing of beauty and is akin to an artist learning perspective. As the late great comedian Frank Carson used to say “It’s the way I tell ‘em!”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A novel is all about character. Time spent on characterisation - instead of rushing off like a greyhound out of the traps – is key and essential and will get you out of plot scrapes. If stuck return to character and freewrite around the problem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Get a copy of The Wisdom of The Enneagram and The Emotion Thesaurus (goes without saying that you’ll actually have a book copy of the Concise Oxford Dictionary and a Roget’s Thesaurus – the internet is not as good!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">6.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Write every day – even if it’s only half an hour (or 10 minutes). Get that shitty first draft on the page – and then the “real” work (of rewriting/ editing/ shaping) can begin. Get it written first, and then get it right!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">7.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Keep a notebook and carry a small one with you <b>everywhere</b> – from now on your subconscious will be working away at your novel and bright ideas/ the solution to plot problems, etc., will suddenly pop into your head – write them down. You can’t retain a thought for more than 2 minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">8.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Know your main character’s wound, and don’t forget his/ her emotional journey. Don’t just have stuff happen: what changes your main character – what is their “journey”?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">9.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Under no circumstances overwrite, indulge in literary folderols, engage the purple prose – NO! Instead keep it simple, be specific, and you will find your voice and the unique way you and your characters have at looking at things.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">10.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Be a method actor. Inhabit your characters – know their motivations, needs and desires. There must be a want – what does your protagonist want to achieve, what is their goal over the whole story? Oh, and never ever head hop.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">11.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I add in this final one – HAVE FUN!! (Sometimes it will be hell – but it will also be fun, moving, tear-jerking, exciting, and there will be “blimey I had no idea that was going to happen” moments.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">12.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ah – no – just one more (sorry) – have a plot, a plan, know where you’re headed otherwise you’ll get lost along the way. Writing a novel is a journey for the writer too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How Has Bristol Crept Into Your Writing? i.e. Setting As Character</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I love novels which employ setting and I love to employ setting. As you know, I teach creative writing, and I often find that setting is a key element which new writers sometimes forget e.g. they may forget to let us know where and when we are; which month/ season; what the weather’s like; what is the mood of a scene; what the characters are doing; how they are moving about their setting; what the protagonist notices/ experiences around him/ her via viewpoint, etc. etc. It’s powerful stuff, is setting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m a Bristolian born and bred – there’s something about Bristol with its whiff of adventure, its whole being a famous port and home to pirates and smugglers. You can sniff it in the air. I write commercial women’s fiction and read a lot of it too – I was becoming a tad bored (sorry) of novels set in London or the Cotswolds – especially when I live in such a marvellous place as Bristol – so it was a no-brainer! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">A setting informs your characters: it helps mould them into who they are. I can’t avoid setting – to me it’s as essential as characterisation. So, yes, it creeps in and is put in, and is just there helping us to connect to the stories of the characters and enabling us, the watchers, the interlopers, to better spy and eavesdrop on their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then there are the film rights! Ah yes. If you can visualise your novel and see it in your mind’s eye, playing out like a film, and you are able to bring this to the page, then you’re part way there!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-38410983153067623372016-10-13T05:47:00.000-07:002016-10-13T05:54:48.598-07:00Reviews - Two by Teodor Reljic & Starve better by Nick MamatasTwo books of two halves<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Nick Mamatas has written a book in two halves - Lies and Life. I read this for the Lies part - his advice to writers and there was plenty of inteersting advice from the writer and editor. I like that some of it chimed with my own writing, a celebration of ambiguity for example. Mamatas gained a bit of notoriety for earning money from writing term papers for students for money and the second half of the book, the starve better part, was how to earn fast cash as a writer. Some of which was morally er, ambiguous and I enjoyed that section a lot less.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Overall - if you are a writer you can live without this, but if you do happen to pick it up you may find something inside of use.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Two by Teodor Reljic <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Full disclosure - I was introduced to Teo by a mutual friend at the recent Fantasycon where he gave me a copy of his book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"> First things first - this is a beautiful book - the cover, the designs, the red tint to the pages - it's a visual delight. Luckily the story lives up to the promise of the outside - Reljic tells two tales (hence the title) at once, but in interspersed chapters - those following William and those following Vermillion, the protagonist of a story William's mother has been telling him. William and his parents are on their annual trip to Malta and when things go awry William retreats more and more into the Vermillion stories. The writing is dreamy, and poetic and often exquisite: </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">She lets words fall one by one, like they’re meant to die after they leave her mouth to be reborn in your mind. </span></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">William's POV is convincing and the story feels both complete and open, and there’s that ambiguity that I mentioned as recommended by Mamatas and I often explore in my own writing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Overall - this is a book that will reward re-reading and is in a very appealing style. I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing more from this author.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">It is worth me stating, since there is a personal connection here, that plenty of people give me books to review, or I obtain books written by friends but I don't always fall in love with them enough to write a review.</span><span style="background: white; color: #111111;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<em style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: "Century Schoolbook", Century, Garamond, serif; font-size: 19px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></em>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-53398975840888871082016-10-06T03:23:00.002-07:002016-10-06T03:23:28.631-07:00On being a complicated writer<img alt="A Tiding Of Magpies by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1530825857.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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So reviews are trickling in for my short story collection -<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiding-Magpies-Peter-Sutton/dp/1530825857/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475747377&sr=8-1&keywords=a+tiding+of+magpies"> A Tiding of Magpies</a> </span>and I'm pondering the ramifications of the following:<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">His writing is difficult to categorise:"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Pete Sutton is a charismatic and complicated writer"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #111111;">and from the introduction by </span><b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.paulcornell.com/">Paul Cornell</a></span></u></b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"a number of them could be called magical realism. They fit into that gap between rationality and magic." Although <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/">Cheryl Morgan</a></span></u></b>, when she interviewed me on her radio show, said that I can't be Magic Realisat as I'm not Spanish - she has a point!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On the one hand it's nice to be hard to classify, that means I must have an individual voice. But on the other it means having to build my own audience?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In this post-book lull, (<b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sick-City-Syndrome-Peter-Sutton/dp/1537638807/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475748005&sr=8-1&keywords=Sick+City+Syndrome">Sick City Syndrome</a></span></u></b> is finished, writing & editing wise - but now needs lots of marketing) I've got a number of directions I can possibly go.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<img alt="Sick City Syndrome by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1537638807.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Since signing for <span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://kristell-ink.com/we-have-a-new-signee-were-over-the-moon/">Kristell Ink</a> </span>for my novel <span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://petewsutton.com/seven-deadly-swords/">Seven Deadly Swords</a> </span>work on the edit has commenced - it needs a bit of a structural rebuild before addressing the other issues in a closer edit so still some work to do on that.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But I find myself wondering what's next.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I wrote Seven Deadly Swords as an exercise in how to write a novel (I learn by doing mainly -but also I think that's probably the only way to learn to write a novel) and Sick City was written as <span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://www.kensingtongorepublishing.com/">KGHH</a> </span>took Magpies with a deal to also give them a novel which I then had to write quick smart!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Now I have a list of possible projects to pursue and wonder which way to go. And in the background is this feedback - hard to categorise, complicated etc.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I've never really thought about doing a series and I'm not one of those writers that has a variety of pseudonyms (I'd get confused - I can't compartmentalise my life) and I have ideas for a second world fantasy novel as well as a novella in the same world which I'd like to get on and write and another contemporary (dare I say more magic realist) novel as well as another historical fantasy (set in the 17th Century rather than the 12th like Seven Deadly Swords) and I expect I'll pursue each of these ideas in good time</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But which one first? The 2nd world fantasy one will place me in that - "each of his books is different to the last category" for sure...</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Or do I go for same, same but different? </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In the meantime I'm working on some smaller projects - a piece for the <span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2029249057/the-body-horror-book">Body Horror Book</a> </span>as well as two short stories for <b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://northbristolwriters.wordpress.com/">North Bristol Writers</a></span></u></b> - one for a chapbook called Flying Cities and the other for a set of Ghost Tales called - The Dark Half of the Year.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Nothing much will progress this month though as I'm going to be busy at <span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://bristolhorrorcon.weebly.com/">HorrorCon</a>, <a href="http://www.meetup.com/unsung/events/233612735/">Unsung Live</a>, <a href="http://unputdownable.org/">Bristol Festival of Literature</a> </span>and <span style="color: blue;"><b><u><a href="http://www.bristolcon.org/">BristolCon</a></u></b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Do sign up to all those great events!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-6841755827404637132016-10-05T03:55:00.000-07:002016-10-05T03:55:00.400-07:00Reviews - Good Immigrant, City of Blades, Europe in WinterSo what ties up three apparently disconnected books? A non-fiction collection of essays, a fantasy novel and a near-future SF novel? Apart from the fact they are all new this year and all came across my desk so I'd read and review them?<br />
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Well I think they have all been written with an understanding that the world works a certain way, but it need not do so. Stories make the world. We should all tell better ones...<br />
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<img alt="Image result" height="320" src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRXEfub2BaL3crHUOXYAGjoLAOLd-Kvn9yx1qyJm5yk9tZtoJgP" width="200" /><br />
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The Good Immigrant Edited by Nikesh Shukla<br />
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From the back - "What's it like to live in a country that doesn't trust you and doesn't want you unless you win an Olympic gold medal or a national baking competition." This <b><a href="https://unbound.com/">Unbound</a> </b>book was inspired by a comment on a Guardian article (don't they always tell you to never read the comments?) The commenter wondered why a more prominent author wasn't interviewed in a piece by an Asian journalist who had interviewed five or six people of colour. The commentator supposed that they were all friends of the journalist just because they were mostly Asian too.So the editor got together twenty writers of colour to talk about what it felt like to be a person of colour in modern day Britain. This was written before the Referendum though, so I can only imagine that it has got worse.<br />
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Hence there are personal stories about anglicisation of names, the treatment of Muslims at airports, what it felt like to have no good role models and therefore to choose Kendo Nagasacki as one, why stories have to be about white people and many more.<br />
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This is good writing and it is important writing. Representation is massively important and in today's social climate needed more than ever. I was very happy to support this on Unbound and glad it was such a great read, as well as being something I'd like to place in the hands of nearly everyone. Read this, it's important, I'd say...<br />
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If you want an idea of the quality & type of writing then you can read <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/15/riz-ahmed-typecast-as-a-terrorist" style="color: blue; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;">this piece</a><b style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline;"> </b>by Riz Ahmed.<br />
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<img alt="City of Blades (The Divine Cities) by Robert…" src="https://pics.librarything.com/picsizes/9b/86/9b86e7b9ff668e8596c61666c77434f414f4141.jpg" /><br />
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City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett<br />
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What does it mean to be a soldier? This question lies at the heart of the second book from Robert Jackson Bennet in the series. A glittering, multi-faceted gem of a book it is too. I seldom invest in series, the author has to be just damn good to get me to buy more than one book in the same world and few make the mark. Bennett is one of them (Dave Hutchinson is another - see below). City of Stairs was bold, it felt fresh, it ticked all the epic fantasy boxes that I wanted to be ticked (caveat - I'm not a massive epic fantasy fan, you have to do something special in the genre to make me want to read it) and it was just a rollicking good read.<br />
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So I approached City of Blades with some nerves - I knew Bennett hadn't planned to write a sequel, I knew it wasn't going to be about exactly the same characters (although Mulaghesh is the main protagonist - and a fabulous kick-ass character too) and, although set in the same world, wasn't going to be in enchanting Bulikov.<br />
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Once I'd read a few pages any reservations I had were blown away. Bennett has the knack of grounding you in the story, you are immediately with the characters, absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of the world he's transmitting into your brain via the written word. It's a skill I am totally envious of.<br />
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General Turyin Mulaghesh has quit but is persuaded to come back for one last mission on behalf of now PM Ashara. The mission? To find a missing member of the government, someone who was investigating a new type of ore found beneath Voortyashtan, the home city of the former god of war and death. And so Bennett pulls out of the hat a second, brilliantly imagined, city in the same world as City of Stairs with an engaging plot, a new cast, with some cameos by old favourites, and a book that builds up to a page-turning second half.<br />
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I highly recommend this series to all, but especially to fantasy fans<br />
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<img alt="Europe in Winter by Dave Hutchinson" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1781084637.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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Europe in Winter by Dave Hutchinson<br />
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To reveal any of the plot would just involve massive spoilers at this, the third book, so suffice to say we are back with Rudi and the Coureurs and we get to explore some of the loose ends of the previous two novels and get engaged in exciting new plots and plot twists.<br />
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If you haven't read the first two books then you need to remedy that! Set in a fractured Europe where the EU has mostly failed and the countries of Europe are breaking into ever smaller kingdoms and polities these books have a thriller/spycraft feel but with a healthy dose of near-future SF.<br />
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Hutchinson is a master of the splintered novel with a great many moving parts that in a lesser writer's hands would feel chaotic and random. If you've got this far however you'll know to trust that everything, all the various twits, turns, apparent digressions (that aren't) sub-plots and minor characters are there for a purpose that makes a coherent and quite brilliant whole.<br />
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I love that Hutchinson explores parts of Europe that are under-represented in other fiction - places like Poland and Estonia. I really enjoyed the Polish section as I've spent some time in that country working and Hutchinson's description gelled very much with that.<br />
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The fact that the first two books made the Clarke Award shortlist should tell you that this is an author to watch and watch I will.<br />
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Another highly recommended book.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-71300134786583577402016-10-05T01:42:00.001-07:002016-10-05T01:42:23.524-07:00Guest Post - Claire Fitzpatrick<img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/23ab1e_fa42089662f84c029229f5fc7b66d119.jpg/v1/fill/w_221,h_319,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/23ab1e_fa42089662f84c029229f5fc7b66d119.jpg" /><br />
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<div class="font_8" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: Play, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Claire Fitzpatrick is an Australian journalist, author, poet, and </span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">performance</span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">artist. She writes historical fiction, speculative fiction, and </span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">horror. Currently</span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">studying a bachelor of Government and International </span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Relations, she juggles </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">her time between parenting, </span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">interviewing people</span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, writing </span></span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">assignments, and</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">spends way too much time watching My Little Pony. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Claire dropped by BRSBKBLOG to talk about her new venture - <a href="http://www.oscillatewildlypress.com/">Oscillate Wildly Press</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Pete asked me to write something short about my new publishing venture, Oscillate Wildly Press, for his blog. While I’d rather laugh at someone falling over in the street, I’m deeply humbled Pete thought my press was interesting enough to share with others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Oscillate Wildly Press (OWP) is something I’ve had on my mind for a long time. I’m a journalist and in my final year of university. I’ve been at uni for five years (I studied a Bachelor of Business for three years before changing to a Bachelor of Government and International Relations, because obviously I’m an idiot) and while I write for several magazines, edit my own film magazine, and am a published poet and horror/sci-fi author, OWP was something I continued to put off because I thought I wasn’t talented, experienced, or knowledgeable enough. However, it’s always handy to have friends in the industry! So I rounded up a few talented people who <i>do </i>have experience in publishing, and I pitched the idea. Surprisingly, people thought it was a great idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> I’m somewhat egotistical and over-ambitious, so there was never a time where I doubted my ability to start a small press, however I was afraid of the backlash and hurdles I might face. I’m a firm believer in being the best possible version of yourself you can be, even if that means putting yourself out on the edge of a cliff that you may very well fall off. What is the point of being a flower if you never truly bloom? And I have received criticism, but also support, which I am thankful for.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Call for <a href="http://www.oscillatewildlypress.com/single-post/2016/08/21/Open-Call-For-Submissions">submissions</a></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">OWP was created to publish anthologies and one or two novels a year. So far, we have two novels we are working to publish, as well as two anthologies. I want to provide readers with stories that entertain, and at the same time say something about society and the human condition. I also want to support first-time Australian authors, and authors who live to write, and write to live. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> One anthology is <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2029249057/the-body-horror-book">The Body Horror Book</a>, another project of mine, that will feature 26 chapters on body horror from a theoretical, non-fiction point of view. I studied negation at university and like to think of myself as particularly persuasive, so authors include Greg Chapman, Kaaron Warren, Brian Craddock, Gary Kemble, Wolf Creek 2 director Aaron Sterns, and many other fantastic people. I’ve also wrangled award-winning ‘Deltora Quest’ illustrator Marc McBride, who will be contributing artwork next year. So far, The Body Horror Book is the main anthology of OWP, however the other anthology will be ‘<a href="http://www.oscillatewildlypress.com/single-post/2016/08/21/Open-Call-For-Submissions">Monsters Among Us</a>,’ a collection of fiction from several established and up-and-coming horror writers. I’ve been thrilled and perplexed by the support I’ve received about the anthology. We’ve hit 70 submissions, with still a month to go! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> I’ll also be publishing my debut novel, ‘Only The Dead.’ Obviously, one of the questions I’ve been asked is whether OWP is a vanity publisher. We’re not. My novel was accepted by a traditional publisher, it was professionally edited for two years, then one day I stopped hearing from them. I waited for months and months, and after unanswered emails and phone calls, I checked the website and saw the company had closed without warning. I felt like all of my hard work had been for nothing. I was outraged. How dare they lull me with a false sense of hope? I received no explanation about what had happened, or what would happen to my contract. Nothing. I decided to self-publish. However, over time I realised this had happened to many more people, and I wondered how I could help them while also helping myself. Thus, OWP was born. Destruction is a form of creation, after all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> I named it Oscillate Wildly Press after my obsession with The Smiths. The song is an instrumental piece from their album ‘Louder Than Bombs.’ Morrissey supplied the title, a pun on his enigmatic hero, Oscar Wilde. In an interview, Johnny Marr said, “we did it really quickly in just one evening, but it came together beautifully.” We’ll be publishing both fiction and non-fiction in the genres of horror, mystery, science fiction, historical fiction, and the plain weird. I don’t know what ‘plain weird’ is supposed to signify. My face?! There are nine people on the OWP team, all with combined experiences in writing, illustrating, and publishing. Many are people I’ve worked with before, which was rather comforting. I know who they are, their philosophy, what ideas. We are not strangers to each other, and we all want the same thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> I’ve run into a bit of opposition. A few people have shamed me (on the internet), condemned me, suggested my intentions are impure, secretive, that I am not who I say I am, that my years as a journalist and my bachelor degree is not enough experience. These people are all editors of other small publishers, and while at first their words were hurtful, it made me stronger and determined to succeed. It was never my intention to appear unseemly, deceptive, or misleading. Human beings gain nothing by acting in such a manner. What is the point of defaming someone’s character for the purpose of spite? All it does it suggest ignorance and aggression. The Cosmological Argument goes like this: Everything that had a beginning had a cause. The Universe had a beginning. Therefore, the Universe has a cause. Why strip away someone’s cause, the beginning of something new? Some people are just idiots. I will not apologise for my humanity, fools!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-AU" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> I don’t know what will happen in the future, or if OWP will be successful. We have acquired a novel by American author C.E. Robertson, which will most likely be published at the end of the year (hopefully December). What I do know is that I will publish anthologies of the highest standard, with award-winning cover artists, and will provide titles that will engage, thrill, and excite readers. I just need to finish my own damn novel! Eventually. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-size: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="color_11" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "noticia text", serif; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Many thanks to Claire - I'm very happy to say that my work will be in the Body Horror Book! As I have written a chapter on skin...</span></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-73020886533094515932016-09-30T06:33:00.002-07:002016-09-30T06:33:52.567-07:00Shadows of the Oak cover reveal<div style="border: 0px; color: #777777; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 50px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Among trees, it is understood that the Oak is King. He stands tall, his branches reaching sure and strong into the sunlight. His noble bearing is proud, and he suffers no fools. He offers shade and shelter to those who need it, and he holds firm against the might of the wind for the safety and comfort of his lesser brothers.</div>
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But he who casts too deep a shade – who will not bend to allow the light to touch those who shelter beneath his might – should beware. For in the darkness, under cover of fallen leaf and decaying branch, feeding on the damp, dank earth that is their lot, the mould, the rot and the fungi grow and fester. From beneath the splendour of widespread bough and far-reaching root, the weak and wicked wield their own power – a power which devours from below, slow and insidious.</div>
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The Oak who does not share the light knows nothing of this dark threat . . . until the very moment he is toppled.</div>
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The long-anticipated follow-up to our first fairy tale collection, <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.tenebrisbooks.com/our-books/willow-weep-no-more/" style="border: 0px; color: #006600; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Willow, Weep No More</a></em>, is finally on its way, and now it’s time for the new cover to be revealed. In another beautifully detailed original illustration, artist <a class="_2wma" href="https://www.facebook.com/L%C4%ABga-K%C4%BCavi%C5%86a-Illustrations-1414683252088807/?ref=page_internal" style="border: 0px; color: #006600; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Līga Kļaviņa</a> shows us the reverse view of Willow’s cover and we catch a glimpse of the dark deeds that go on in the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shadows of the Oak</em>.</div>
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Are you ready? Scroll down . . .</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3rvbaqUD9_KVQj6st5h4R12VRLv6jHR25y694JwTq4YJEFgXqMKB7Q00FrZOM8PhiiXSHahNU7p7pu-CRgx8sSzPjy-SOBZNkQndkd1Dq_PL0LIBmTG01nPyeQymMxn7sGlitcJF0UfQ/s1600/Shadows-of-the-Oak-Digital-640x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm3rvbaqUD9_KVQj6st5h4R12VRLv6jHR25y694JwTq4YJEFgXqMKB7Q00FrZOM8PhiiXSHahNU7p7pu-CRgx8sSzPjy-SOBZNkQndkd1Dq_PL0LIBmTG01nPyeQymMxn7sGlitcJF0UfQ/s640/Shadows-of-the-Oak-Digital-640x1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Cover art by Līga Kļaviņa, cover design by Ken Dawson</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shadows of the Oak</em> explores the role of the anti-hero in this illustrated collection of original fairytales from thirteen talented authors, to be released in November 2016 as a stunning hardback.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-70448530392952775862016-09-27T01:37:00.002-07:002016-09-27T01:37:32.503-07:00Savour your small victories<b>FantasyCon 2016 - FantasyCon By T'Sea</b><br />
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For the last few days I've been up North at that there FantasyCon and had a splendid time.<br />
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<b>Scarborough</b></div>
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The Grand Hotel (from the beach) - </div>
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I was in Room 00001 deep, deep in the bowels of the hotel - the last window on the left, at the bottom - there would have been a nice view of the beach if the window wasn't so encrusted with filth... the food at the hotel was, er, interesting and the clientele odder than the con-goers (including Brexit man and man telling anti-American jokes) and boy was the Royal Ballroom swampy! But they got the basics right (for me) and I have stayed in worse places!</div>
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The Grand Lobby</div>
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There were books (including mine)<br />
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The Grimbold book table</div>
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There were readings (including mine - for which there is no photographic evidence)</div>
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BFS award nominee Steven <strike>MP</strike>oore</div>
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The Glasgow SF Writers group</div>
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There were panels. Including mine which was a fun one, ably moderated by Alasdair Stuart and which ranged over a wide array of superhero related topics. It was very early in the morning, which is what saved me Friday night - I'd visited a few things with free alcohol but managed to get to bed at a reasonable time so was relatively OK on Saturday...</div>
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Gemmel Award winner Pete Newman</div>
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The (very hot) BFS Awards</div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Congratulations to all the Gemmell and BFS award winners!</span></div>
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There was karaoke (no photos or videos to spare the guilty)</div>
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And, of course, there were many, many conversations in the bar.</div>
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One such conversation, far too late on Sunday evening, fuelled by alcohol and quite maudlin, has prompted the title of this post. A few fellow authors - two English, on Italian, one Polish, one Maltese, one Scottish and one who lived in Sweden, sat discussing everything from ancient Egyptian mythology to the Black death to antibiotic-resistant bacteria to exoplanets to Easter Island to, oh many other things, you get the idea. Authors being the modern polymaths, interested in everything really do have the most fascinating conversations.</div>
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One conversation we had though, or a sub-conversation, was about why we put ourselves through being writers. Pouring heart and soul into a piece of work only for it to get rejected by all and sundry. To spend literally years writing a book and then struggle to get it published, then struggle to market it then struggle with reviews when it's finally published. Not everyone can win awards, or be nominated for them or even get a publishing deal with the big publishers. And that's why we should celebrate the small victories, and savour them as much as possible. It was fantastic to see friends nominated for awards, and brilliant seeing friends win awards. But I'm so far away from that right now (if I'd even ever get there!) Hence the small victories.</div>
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When I got a story published in an anthology for the first time (Airship Shape) I saw that as the first of many, my expectation was that arrogant (thankfully, humbly, other people have subsequently liked my work enough to publish it, for which I am grateful) but another friend, also with his first published story in the same anthology said something at the launch which made me change my expectations, and my attitude. He said - "I am determined to enjoy this experience, because it may never happen again."</div>
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And so I always try (sometimes I don't succeed) to enjoy the small victories, as well as the large ones. My small victories this weekend were that I was on the program (doesn't always happen at every Con I go to), I did a reading and the audience was in double figures (better than last time I did a reading at FantasyCon), I sold two books (not a massive amount - but better than not selling any books) and I got to meet and talk to an amazing bunch of industry folk. Some I knew already (including two of the guests of honour), some I didn't.</div>
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Being a writer may be hard, and it may occasionally be bleak, but that really does mean that when there are moments of joy you should make the most of them. But like a drug addict you always seem to need another hit, and bigger hits too. Another story is sold? Is it to a more prestigious outlet than the last? Just signed a deal on a new book? Is it a better deal than last time, is it for a better book? etc. Don't be content, use any discontent you have as a spur - "oh they rejected <i>that </i>story? They won't reject the next one!" but do celebrate any victory, however small...</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-4573538372016349272016-09-12T01:49:00.001-07:002016-09-12T02:02:11.939-07:00Interview with Dave Hutchinson<img alt="Davey Six-Toes" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/753722227598692356/PFYcGwAw_400x400.jpg" /><br />
(photo by <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">Cecilia Weightman)</span><br />
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Dave Hutchinson is best known as the author of the Fractured Europe series, the first two books have made the Clarke Award Shortlist. BRSBKBLOG asked him about the latest in the series - <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Europe-Winter-Dave-Hutchinson/dp/1781084637/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1473669567&sr=8-3&keywords=dave+hutchinson">Europe in Winter coming</a> in November 2016<br />
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<img alt="Europe In Autumn by Dave Hutchinson" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1781081948.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>This is the 3rd in the Europe series - what's the general overview for people who aren't aware of them (as if there are still people not aware of them!) & any hints on what the third is about?</b></span><br />
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The Europe books are set in Europe – no spoilers there – between fifty and eighty years from now. Economic collapse, a flu pandemic, and reaction to a flood of refugees from the South have caused the EU to fracture into its component nations, and then to fracture further into many smaller nations and statelets, some of them stable, others short-lived. The hardening of European borders has proven an opportunity for a group calling themselves <em>Le Coureurs des Bois</em>, who are basically smugglers. The first book, <em>Europe in Autumn</em>, followed an Estonian chef named Rudi as he joins the Coureurs and then gets mixed up in a conspiracy involving a parallel Europe called the Community. The second book, <em>Europe at Midnight</em>, follows two intelligence officers from very different places as they become involved with a plot to derail union between the Community and Europe. And the third book, <em>Europe in Winter</em>, returns to Rudi, who in the middle of investigating what seems to be a massive terrorist outrage discovers that many of his assumptions about the world – and his own life – have been wrong.</div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>Was it an especial challenge or easy to return to the world you created in the first two books?</b></span><br />
It was really easy to go back to what a friend of mine called ‘Autumnal Europe’. I’ve had the whole thing ticking over in my head for years. If anything, it’s harder to write stuff that <em>isn’t</em> set in that world. It takes a real mental U-turn.<b><br /></b><b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Last post I made about you was for your short story collection Sleeps with Angels (</span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/review-sleeps-with-angels-by-dave.html&source=gmail&ust=1473755244997000&usg=AFQjCNEbXLds5WdEVUjSnugvamkoJ23WUQ" href="http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/review-sleeps-with-angels-by-dave.html" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.<wbr></wbr>uk/2015/04/review-sleeps-with-<wbr></wbr>angels-by-dave.html</a></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>) do you write a lot of short stories?</b> </span> </div>
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I used to write nothing but short fiction; I’d been writing for about twenty-five years before I got round to producing a novel. Actually, I think I’m really a short story writer by nature rather than a novelist. I find writing very hard work, and a novel is a huge project for me; at least with a short story it’s over quite quickly. Also, I have quite a short attention span. Having said that, there’s been a spell of five or six years now when I’ve done nothing but work on books, although I’ve recently finished a couple of short stories.<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>The first two books were nominated for the Clarke has being on a prestigious shortlist twice changed how you approach writing?</b></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>The nominations thing has all been a bit mad and wonderful, to be honest. Better writers than me work for years and don’t get a single nod, so the attention the Europe books have received is deeply humbling, and if I’m honest not a little baffling. But I don’t think it’s changed the way I approach writing; it’s still as chaotic as it ever was.<br />
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I’m working on a non-Europe novel. I’m not sure I should say very much about that, for various reasons, until the publishers make an announcement about it. But it’s very different.<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>If you could be a character in the series who would it be and why?</b></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>Which character would I be? That’s a hard one. Rudi’s the little voice in my head, the sort of person I’d quite like to be, so I’d have to say Rudi.<br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>How much planning and research do you do before a novel?</b></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br /></span>I don’t tend to plan a lot, but I do usually have some bits and pieces of dialogue and action and a vague idea what’s going to happen. With <em>Winter</em>, I had the beginning and end and a sort of feeling about some stuff in the middle. Mostly I just keep writing and fit it together as I go along. I do a bit of research before starting a book or a story – although quite often that ends up being thrown away because it becomes irrelevant as the story develops. Most of the research takes place while the book’s being written, as and when it’s needed.</div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">Why's your website called "automatic cat"? - </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en-GB&q=https://hutchinsondave.wordpress.com/&source=gmail&ust=1473755244997000&usg=AFQjCNHAZiBybYFxq4Tv5GCxdwUZFcK4Ig" href="https://hutchinsondave.wordpress.com/" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">https://hutchinsondave.<wbr></wbr>wordpress.com/</a></b><br />
I honestly can’t remember why I called the blog The Automatic Cat; it seemed like a good idea at the time, I suppose. It’s mostly just a place for opinionated and poorly-informed rants and I need to do more of it.<b><br /></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><b>In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?</b></span><br />
Advice for new writers? Just keep writing.</div>
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<b>Thanks to Dave for the answers - go check out his books, there's a very good reason they keep being nominated for prizes - they are very good!</b></div>
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<b>We're lucky enough to have been sent an ARC for Europe in Winter so expect a review 'soon' (for a given value of soon)</b></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-78042335696668663462016-08-26T07:55:00.000-07:002016-08-26T07:58:04.425-07:00some reviews - House of Shattered Wings, Cinema Alchemist & Under the Skin<img src="http://aliettedebodard.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/House-of-Shattered-Wings-2-small.jpg" height="320" width="211" /><br />
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Aliette de Bodard - The House of Shattered Wings<br />
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Paris has been devastated in a great war between rival houses. Fallen angels are the source of magic in the city and they scrabble around in the ruins vying for domninon. Mortals and immortals all chasing the last wisps of magic in a corrupted world. This book mainly revolves around the story of Silverspires, one of the great houses, formerly the greatest with Morningstar himself as its head. As we follow a cast of characters, as flawed and broken as the city they inhabit.<br />
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There is a murder mystery conceit but that just serves as a vehicle for intense character exploration. Mainly of the mysterious Vietnamese Philippe and the ingenue Isabelle, newly fallen and tied to Philippe though his imbibing of her blood (since fallen are the source of magic, people tend to harvest them). There are a host of interesting minor characters, although at the beginnign I was mixing some of the minor, less fleshed out characters up.<br />
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There's a lot here to like - the grand houses, the magical system, strong imagery and character. I would have liked to have seen more of post-fall Paris (a city I know quite well through many visits) but it's a world that Bodard will obviously return to. And some of it needs to be returned to I feel, I'd like to explore the under the Seine kingdom more and see inside the other houses so I will definitely return to the world once she writes more.<br />
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Overall - Enjoyable aftermath tale featuring fallen angels battling for Paris<br />
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Roger Christian - Cinema Alchemist<br />
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Roger Christian is the legendary set designer for Star Wars and Alien and if that in itself doesn't make you want to pick up this book where he tells all about his experiences working on those films then I'm not sure what will.<br />
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The iconic nature of the films is such that any insight into how they were made is welcome. But especially the art department's role in creating some of the most recognisable characters - including of course R2D2 & C3PO.<br />
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Christian has obviously polished some of the anecdotes that appear in this book and it is a delight to see the films through his eyes, as well as the directors, actors and other crew. Tales of regular ten hour drives back and forth through the desert during low-tech days without mobile phones seem like a different world (the past is a different country after all)<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span> If I had any criticism, and this is only very minor as I hugely enjoyed the book, Christian has the tendency to repeat himself - for example <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">telling you there was a Roman road to Tozeur and then a few pages later telling you the drive to Rozeur is down a straight Roman road or the description of the Chinese restaurant is repeated a page later, or s</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">aying that there were no cellphones on page 124 and then repeating it on page 125. It happened so often that it was a little distracting once I'd noticed it and I think a good copy-editor could have picked up on that and smoothed it out for the reader. But, as I say, a minor criticism.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I enjoyed the Alien chapters more than Star Wars, but mostly because I'm a bigger fan of Alien than Star Wars (Geek friends don't hate me!) It was also interesting to read about his own directorial work on his own film Black Angel and his stint on Life of Brian (which re-used a lot of the same locations as Star Wars as any good fan knows)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">There are a set of nice photographs of Star Wars and a storyboard of Black Angel but I wondered why there were no pictures of Alien.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Overall - This is an excellent book to add to the shelf if you are a Star Wars or Alien fan or any sort of film buff.</span><br />
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Michael Faber - Under the skin<br />
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This was recently made into a film (a major motion picture in the jargon of the industry) starring Scarlett Johanssen which I haven't seen. It is the story of <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Isserley, a female driver who cruises the Scottish Highlands picking up hitchhikers. I'm not sure it's much of a spoiler to say - she's an alien - but Faber seems to think so as he doesn't explicitly reveal that fact for a third of the book, although it's obvious from very early on. For some reason that conceit is a little irritating - it's a bit like watching a zombie movie where no-one is saying the z-word. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">The glimpses into the POV of her victims is fairly repetitive, apparently all men can think of are tits - but then again that is her main feature, as Faber continuously tells us.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">On a sentence by sentence level this is good writing. It just failed to engage me overly much, although I read it in just a couple of days of easy reading. And in the end it left me a little cold and unchanged. But I do want to watch the film to see how it has been adapted. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: "merriweather" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Overall - It may just be a very long advert for vegetarianism</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-81518039591673704072016-08-11T01:44:00.001-07:002016-08-11T01:46:23.023-07:00Interview with Aliette de Bodard<img src="http://aliettedebodard.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/214B0172_small.jpg" /><br />
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<span style="background-color: #fefdfb; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27.1999px;">Aliette de Bodard writes speculative fiction: her short stories have garnered her two Nebula Awards, a Locus Award and a British Science Fiction Association Award. She is the author of </span><em style="background-color: #fefdfb; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27.1999px;">The House of Shattered Wings</em><span style="background-color: #fefdfb; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27.1999px;">, a novel set in a turn-of-the-century Paris devastated by a magical war, which won the 2015 British Science Fiction Association Award. She lives in Paris.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fefdfb; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27.1999px;"><br /></span> <span style="color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "verdana" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: #fefdfb; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27.1999px;">Aliette has dropped in to talk about her book - The House of Shattered Wings</span></span><br />
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>Tell us a little about the book - why is it called the House of Shattered Wings?</i></span></div>
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<i>The House of Shattered Wings</i> is a dark Gothic fantasy set in a decayed and dangerous Paris: in the wake of a devastating magical war, factions are fighting in the ruins of the city for power and influence. House Silverspires, once the first and foremost of these factions, finds itself in a precarious position when a newly-arrived youth from Annam (Vietnam) inadvertently unleashes a curse within its walls. </div>
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It's called that because I brainstormed the title on twitter :) More seriously, the various magical factions are "Houses" because they're geographical units that control a set of streets, but also hierarchical ones that function like quasi-feudal, enormous households. And "shattered wings" refers to a major feature of this universe, which is that amnesiac Fallen angels arrive in the city (and all over Europe), and are the source of the dominant magic: both innate magic-users, and a source of a power that can be passed on to others and/or harvested from their dead bodies... </div>
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And it's got Lucifer Morningstar sitting on a throne in the ruins of Notre-Dame. If that doesn't convince you to read the book I don't know what will! </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>What was it about Paris that made you want to set a novel in the city?</i></span></div>
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Well, I live there :) It was very much a case of "write what you know", or at any rate what is close to hand. I originally set out to write an urban fantasy about families of magicians fighting for influence in Paris--except that my writer brain could never muster any enthusiasm for it. Then I decided I needed a setting that was a little more overtly fantastical, and I decided that destroying the entire city in a magical conflagration sounded about right--I could have a hint of the familiar but also the freedom to make up arresting visuals and an entirely different universe (I swear I don't have a grudge against the city, lol. I just wanted a particular vibe to go with the book, and I've always had a weakness for Gothic). </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>Did you do any specific research for the book - was it difficult to stop researching?</i></span></div>
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I did a lot of research into places, mostly: monuments of Ile de la Cité and their history (trying to find out if there was a crypt in Notre-Dame, for instance, was rather more involved than I thought, since I was on bedrest for health reasons at that time), and also into the history of 19th Century Paris and 19th Century Vietnam, since that was the period vibe I wanted to give to the book. I didn't have trouble stopping to research: what I usually do is stock up on research until I can get a plot to coalesce together. When that happens I usually put away the research books and only dip into them for the occasional detail. </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>If you could be one of the characters in the book who would it be and </i><i style="font-size: 12.8px;">why?</i></span></div>
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Uh, I don't really think I would like to be anyone in the book, because so many unpleasant things happen to them (it's my job as the author *grin*). But if I had to pick someone I'd be Claire, the head of House Lazarus: she's this old woman who people keep underestimating--running one of the weakest magical factions in Paris, and getting away with it by sowing dissensions among the other factions. I'm not saying I like what she's doing, but she's certainly one of the characters who excels at getting what she wants! </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>Do you write a lot of short stories?</i></span></div>
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I've lost count! I started writing short stories because I thought they'd be easier to get critiques on than a novel (I now know that was a really bad idea, in the sense that while there are common points, knowing how to write a good short story doesn't mean you know how to write a novel). I wrote a lot of.. middling ones before I came to a realisation in 2012--which was that, as uncomfortable as it was, I should focus on things that mattered to me and that touched on my personal history and culture. I ended up writing "Scattered Along the River of Heaven" (<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/de_bodard_01_12/&source=gmail&ust=1470990613654000&usg=AFQjCNGrbou3d_x0IDTs1kkWXl29vk3roQ" href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/de_bodard_01_12/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://clarkesworldmagazine.<wbr></wbr>com/de_bodard_01_12/</a>), a story that focused on wars, diaspora and forgiveness, and was rather surprised to see it well-received--and I haven't looked back since. </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Do you prefer the short or the long form & why?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">I like both, but they're very different beasts! Short fiction is great for mood pieces, for experimenting with structure and </span>unusual<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> voices (all right, I confess to a liking for present person second tense, a POV I'd never try to write an </span>entire<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> novel in), and novels are good for tackling complex themes, complex plots, and for a deeper form of reader immersion. It's easier for a </span>universe to feel lived in in a novel, I feel, because there's more space to show details, texture, and all the things I usually ruthlessly have to cut out of short fiction. </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">How do you decide what is a short story idea and what is a novel idea?</span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Mostly it's a question of depth? Not of the world as I've become rather good at highlighting only the pieces of the world that the plot is interested in: in my Xuya universe stories (they're short </span>stories<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> set </span>in a recurring Vietnamese galactic empire), I don't have too much trouble throwing the spotlight on one feature or another and still keeping the result short. But rather it's plot and characters: in a short story I have a fairly simple plot, and a limited number of characters who aren't spear-carriers; in a novel there's more scope for several entwined stories, longer timeframes, complicated plots... <i>The House of Shattered Wings</i>, for instance, has three main characters, the Vietnamese youth, an alchemist addicted to a lethal drug, and the head of House Silverspires, who's desperately trying to safeguard her faction from the curse; and I had a lot of space for delving into these characters--what made them tick, how their past got them where they are, and also how best to use the plot to put them into uncomfortable places (my way of writing tends to be "how can I make this character's life miserable", accompanied by "what could go horribly wrong here?"). </div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>What are you most proud of in the book?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Having written it at all I think! I hadn't written a novel <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_262126654" style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(204, 204, 204); position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">in five years</span></span>, and I </span>started<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> seriously working on this one while I was pregnant: it moved in fits and starts because I had to juggle fatigue, health issues, and later a newborn. I was convinced I would never finish it, and the process was extremely draining. But I hung on because I've always been stubborn (and my agent was kind enough to send encouragement as I was making my way through it). </span></div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>You have lots of recipe links on your web page - is food important to your writing? If so how? </i></span></div>
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I love food! I'm a foodie (I love to eat well, I love to cook for myself and especially for friends and family, and I'm always on the lookout for new experiences I can try to improve my cooking). And because food is important to me, I feel like it should be important in my worlds as well. If you think about it, how we prepare and eat a meal packs up so much meaning: what kind of staple food and how it gets there (agriculture, commerce), how it is prepared, in what company and what conditions (families, social hierarchies, implements and sources of heat available), how it is eaten (communally, in individual meals, how restaurants and cafés and inns differ from home cooking, food as a sign of social standing), how food plays into memory (childhood meals) and perceptions of home, etc. In my fiction I use it deliberately as an indicator of some or all of those things: there's a scene in <i>The House of Shattered Wings </i>where a magical faction serves shrimp on toast, an indication that, in a devastated country, they can afford to have fresh seashell--it's not only a matter of taste, but also a statement of wealth and power, a "you do not want to mess up with us" sign!</div>
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<span class="im" style="color: #500050;"><i>In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?</i></span></div>
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What you feel while writing something and the quality of that something have absolutely no correlation. </div>
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<span style="color: #222222;">Thanks to Aliette for her interesting answers - please do go check out her work </span><b><u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://aliettedebodard.com/short-stories/">here </a></span></u></b><br />
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Ive just started the book so expect a review shortly</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-20579923615549515302016-08-10T02:04:00.002-07:002016-08-10T02:06:40.759-07:00The discoverability challenge - an apology, an updateSo whatever happened to that <a href="http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/reviews-discoverability-challenge.html"><b><span style="color: blue;">Discoverability Challenge?</span></b></a><br />
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See also <a href="http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/the-discoverability-challenge-february.html"><b><span style="color: blue;">here </span></b></a>and <a href="http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/fight-like-girl-review-discoverability.html"><b><span style="color: blue;">here</span></b></a><br />
<br />
Well things got busy with a major project hitting the day job and getting two book deals, and bringing out a book, and writing a book, and editing a book...<br />
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But I have been reading women unknown to me after March but not enough time to do reviews sadly<br />
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I read - <b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/guest-post-helen-callaghan.html#more">Dear Am</a>y</span></b> by Helen Cunningham in May (which I did manage to review)<br />
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<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBzBKRmusm35zkm05gRpRcbn0RnbM7axgXBwZD0w97ucjxOwMnSqbjV3AlReTylbeP5EmIwkvU3xDMELKmO1R4ry6PHeXailKBTFvH6ubAjPAMOXrWxpsU6I6GJDwtdafGSkzUnUUaHVWB/s320/Dear+Amy+2+Large.png" /><br />
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I read The Well-Tempered Sentence and The Transitive Vampire by Karen Elizabeth Gordon in June & I'll just have to owe you a review for them (they are very good basic primers on grammar)<br />
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<img alt="The Well-Tempered Sentence by Karen…" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/417-2F9qDhL._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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<img alt="The Transitive Vampire: a Handbook of…" src="https://pics.cdn.librarything.com/picsizes/64/1a/641a384a84ea93f593774425541434f414f4141.jpg" /><br />
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and I read The Anatomy of Prose by Marjorie Boulton in July, again review owing (an interesting book on prose forms, rhythms, and construction)<br />
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But the writing books aren't really discovering new women writers, or at least they don't feel like - and I completely missed out April...<br />
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Out of the 60 books I've read so far this year 13 have been by women and 8 by collections of authors that include women - so it does look like I'm on track to be better than last year.<br />
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I do have books that I'll get to soon for women new to me - but I think I need to prioritise them to get back on track with this challenge!<br />
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Once I've finished the ARC I'm currently reading for Titan I'll move onto <a href="http://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/novels/dominion-of-the-fallen/house-shattered-wings/">T<b><span style="color: blue;">he House of Shattered Wings</span></b> </a>by <b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://aliettedebodard.com/">Aliette de Bodard</a> </span></b>- a writer known to me, but not yet read.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-21782839853600256292016-07-22T04:42:00.002-07:002016-07-22T05:32:01.461-07:00Reviews - Bleakwarrior, Sparrow Falling & Zen in the art of writing3 reviews<br />
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In no particular order<br />
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Zen in the Art of Writing<br />
By Ray Bradbury<br />
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<img alt="Zen in the Art of Writing: Essays on…" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1877741094.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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Bradbury is instantly recognisable of course and a book of essays from him, his thoughts on the craft, of much interest. However it is a bit of a mixed bag, as the essays have been written over a long period of time and there is quite a lot of repetition. When he's good he's very very good, but often he's mediocre. At the end of the book are a set of poems, which was a little unexpected.<br />
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Essays like - 'How to keep and feed a muse" and "On the shoulders of giants" were of most interest. I could see that if you were a big fan, getting an insight on how he developed the ideas that became Dandelion Wine, or Fahrenheit 451 would also be great reads, but I was less interested in them.<br />
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Overall - a so-so book about writing, one for the fans<br />
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Sparrow Falling by Gaie Sebold<br />
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<img alt="Sparrow Falling by Gaie Sebold" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1781083827.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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Make no mistake you need to have read the first book to get the most from this, the second in the series. However, although there is no precis of the former I was soon back into the swing of Sebold's Dickensian steam and gas London. This is more a function of being back with instantly recognisable characters like fox-spirit Liu, the brilliant Ma Pether and, of course, Evvie Sparrow herself.<br />
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In this installment the plot revolves around the school and an unsavory sort called Stug. When Evvie suspects Stug of doing something wicked with the children of families he houses as a slum landlord she becomes embroiled in the workings of the Fair Folk.<br />
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There is plenty here to enjoy, I wish Sebold had done more with the flying machine (although I'm guessing she's setting that up for next time) and the plot charges you along without you really noticing. Until the last few pages are gripped and released.<br />
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Overall - Thoroughly entertaining steampunk<br />
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Bleakwarriror by Alistair Rennie<br />
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<img alt="BleakWarrior by Alistair Rennie" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1940250234.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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"The Folly of Brawl is a tower of disproportionate girth, besmirched at the base with festering lichens and nettled clumps" - so starts one of the most idiosyncratic books I've read for a while. Bleakwarriror is a metaphysical romp disguised as swords and sorcery disguised as a metaphysical romp.<br />
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The Bleakwarrior of the title is a meta-warrior - a 'physical expression of natural states that serve no purpose beyond their immediate function.' a wandering masterless killer seeking his purpose. Each dense chapter is stuffed full of memorable characters (all the meta-warrirors are great, it's a real shame when some of them kill others because some deserve larger parts) and along the way he is helped or hindered (mostly hindered) by others of his kind.<br />
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This is foot to the metal, balls-out, foaming at the mouth prose and yet at the same time lush dense verbiage that deserves to be fondled and savoured. How Rennie achieves such a dichotomy is beyond me. This is not for the squeamish or prudish - there is much gratuitous violence and even more gratuitous sex. It is also a book that you need to put your brain in another gear before reading - but what a pleasure it is once you are on the same plane.<br />
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This is like Hunt Emerson meets Gormenghast. Very much in the weird and very much a book that defies quick review.<br />
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So please make your way to the nearest convenient source of books and purchase a copy<br />
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If you are still not convinced read this great <a href="https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2016/06/10/bleakwarrior-alistair-rennie/">review</a> which does it more justice than I ever could.<br />
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Overall - Highly recommended but treat with approrpiate care, it's not an easy book but it is a good oneAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-8551516493645330302016-07-22T04:42:00.001-07:002016-07-22T04:46:03.399-07:00Dear Writer Friends - an open letter<br />
<img alt="Hand writing So Many Things in To Do List with red marker isolated on white." src="http://www.getpositive.today/wp-content/uploads/635934831591771143-1324668263_todolist-300x200.jpg" /><br />
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This post was prompted from the recent NewCon birthday bash - I queued and got a book signed - but felt guilty that I didn't get other books and also get them signed. Even from people I'd consider friends, and would love to support...<br />
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Dear Writer Friends,<br />
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I'd like to support you by buying your books. By reading each and every one of them. By recommending them to others from a position of knowledge. By pressing them on friends and family and other readers as presents. I would blurb them if I was more famous (or even slightly famous). I would mention them in interviews as 'books that have influenced my writing'. Or in answer to the oft-asked question - 'what are you reading right now? What do you think we should be reading?'.<br />
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I would write long reviews on all the right websites and blogs, and in all the right magazines and papers. I would do all of this and more, if I could.<br />
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I'm sure you'd do the same for me, right? This whole book business works best if we support each other. But I'm sure that, like me, there are reasons you can't. We both know that we have our book to write, we have a commission for a short story that has a pressing deadline, we have a blog post to write to promote our own work.<br />
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That we need to watch TV as a method of procrastinating and that procrastination is very much part of our process.That we need to read books on how to write books (my personal addiction). That we need to read books about interesting subjects we may write a sentence about in our next work. That we need to read books by writers we admire greatly and wish to emulate, who are mostly dead.<br />
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We both need to prepare for interviews; or do interviews. Prepare for a panel, prepare for an article. That we are mid short story, or novellette, novella or novel. That the very thing we could use to help each other is in short supply. Our words and the time to use them.<br />
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It's very much not that we don't want to.<br />
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Today I could have helped a writer friend. Today I wrote a blog post about not having time to help writer friends .<br />
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I know you'll understand as you'll have read this knowing that you could have written the exact same letter to me.<br />
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Maybe next time you are selling a book I'll buy it and ask you to sign it.<br />
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Maybe next time...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-48228763159766571692016-07-06T01:08:00.000-07:002016-07-06T01:08:16.724-07:00Review - Silence Rides Alone by Charles Millsted<img alt="Silence Rides Alone by Charles Millsted" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1533388229.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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In the 70's & early 80's there were always Westerns on TV, along with repeats and old B&W movies, especially Laurel & Hardy. But I grew up watching a variety of Westerns, including Bonanza, Maverick and an endless repeat of John Wayne, John Ford and other western films. Later I graduated to Clint Eastwood and the Spaghetti Westerns and films like Unforgiven.<br />
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Millsted's book is more in the vein of my earlier viewing and therefore a nice nostalgic read. The book opens with the Nussbaums doing what many have done before, going west in a covered wagon. When the wagon is attacked our eponymous hero arrives on the scene to help Manny Nussbaum find out who and why his family were attacked.<br />
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Silence has his own grief from past tragedy and when their investigations cross there is hell to pay.<br />
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Millsted does well to build the characters quickly, with a memorable supporting cast including a military intelligence officer confined to a wheelchair and a gunman in the Lee Van Cleef mould called Van Hook. Corrupted officials, ranch owners and their daughters, saloon whores etc. The plot whizzes along gathering steam until the final very memorable showdown.<br />
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This has everything you want from a western, and I highly recommend it<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-81033545892503675132016-06-27T00:30:00.002-07:002016-06-27T00:33:17.894-07:00Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-10060335435118320792016-06-27T00:30:00.001-07:002016-06-27T00:33:02.834-07:00Publication week<img alt="A Tiding Of Magpies by Peter Sutton" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1530825857.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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On Tuesday A Tiding of Magpies will go on sale on <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tiding-Magpies-Peter-Sutton/dp/1530825857/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1467012752&sr=1-1"><b>Amazon </b></a>(the eBook is already available) and on Thursday there'll be a launch event in Bristol at 7pm at St John-in-the-wall - there will be readings & music & free booze<br />
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Te other book being launched at the same event is Silence Rides Alone by Charles Millstead (Bristol writer Ian Millstead pseudonymously)<br />
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<img alt="Silence Rides Alone by Charles Millsted" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1533388229.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-32734522108755564932016-06-20T01:47:00.002-07:002016-06-20T01:47:49.514-07:00Rogue -not a book, but great writing nonetheless<img height="320" src="https://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/tvbanners/9865813/p9865813_b_v8_ad.jpg" width="213" /><br />
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OK so I came to Rogue late, the first series aired in 2013 and I've only just watched it. If, like me, you missed this until now it is a Canadian-British TV show set in San Francisco starring Thandie Newton. Newton plays Grace Travis, an undercover cop embedded in Jimmy Lazlo's Mafia-style organised crime organisation. Her son is killed in a drive-by shooting and Grace sets out to uncover the killer, who seems to be linked to Jimmy's crime empire.<br />
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The first series has 10 episodes and the first couple are OK, they are entertaining enough and set up the premise well. Then the characters start to come alive and by episode 7 it becomes a must-watch. And yet. The Wikipedia page states - <span style="font-family: inherit;">"<i style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">Rogue</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;"> has received mixed reviews. Review aggregator site, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacritic" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Metacritic">Metacritic</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">, has given the first season a "mixed or average" score of 47 out of 100, based on 14 critics.</span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5" style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(TV_series)#cite_note-5" style="background: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;">[5]</a></sup><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">On another review aggregator site, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_Tomatoes" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0b0080; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px; text-decoration: none;" title="Rotten Tomatoes">Rotten Tomatoes</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #252525; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.4px;">, it holds a 38% rating with an average rating of 4.9 out of 10, based on eight reviews" </span></span>I don't know about series two as yet, only just started watching that one.<br />
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Why is this if I loved this show so much? Many of the reviews by people who also liked it say "give it more than 3 episodes" or "it's a slow burn" so maybe it has a pacing problem. There are accusations of it not being "real" mainly based on Newton's character being too skinny to be a cop (I kid you not). And, the main one I'll address, that it is too dark.<br />
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Series one is a tragedy. It is a story about revenge versus justice. Character arcs tend towards downward spirals. It's 'gritty' (several reviews are negative about the swearing and nudity) and it examines a grubby subject. The cinematography is deliberately dark and the tone is not, to be blunt, happy.<br />
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But as a character study it is compelling and well written and although the first few episodes may feel a little slow they do an amazing job of setting up the payoff later in the series. I think it's worth watching. But what do I know, a lot of shows I like get cancelled...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8960461886422045710.post-26870336076563855852016-06-17T07:59:00.003-07:002016-06-17T08:03:10.777-07:00Review - Neil Williamson's Secret Language<img alt="Secret Language by Neil Williamson" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/191093514X.01._SX142_SY224_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg" /><br />
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I thoroughly enjoyed The Moon King, Williamson's novel published in 2014 and eagerly awaited more from the author. So when I saw that he was bringing out a collection of shorts I jumped at the chance to grab an ARC in return for a review. Sadly my own writing has mean that this review is coming slightly later than planned, but not because I had any problems with the book, just purely time to put my thoughts in order.<br />
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Williamson says that he was obsessed with secret languages as a child and some of that has obviously bled into his prose. No more than in <i>The secret language of stamps </i>a very effective and menacing tale about stamp collecting. He also mentions that he's a musician and music plays in the background of many of his stories and takes centre stage for stories such as <i>Arrhythmia </i>which was shortlisted for the BSFA award.<br />
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But there is much more to enjoy with these stories than these obvious notes. Williamson has a knack for effective prose and le mot juste and for that alone his stories are a pleasure to read. However it is in the realm of ideas that any true writer of speculative fiction will be judged, and if this collection is anything to go by Williamson passes judgement, with flying colours.<br />
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I think my favourite in this collection if I can be so crass to pick a favourite amongst so many quality stories, is <i>Lost Sheep. </i>With a few deft swipes of the writing brush Williamson conjures an entire universe. And you don't see many stories that feature a spaceship full of ruminant nuns!<br />
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I enjoyed it so much I'm going to buy it in hard copy. If Williamson is speaking a secret language it is one that resonates, surprises and entertains and one that it would be worth your while learning by picking up a copy.<br />
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Recommended.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11293501236307284859noreply@blogger.com0