Sunday 20th July, 2014

I posted the second of the 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf background posts, this time “On Genre” with a snippet of information about how the book’s genre could be defined.

Mousie’s A-Z guide to Thurnscoe, part of the A to Z Blog Tour, has finished. Last week’s posts are:

Some of the others in the A-Z blogging challenge are still going and you can find out more on Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

And Mousie had another outing this week – we (me, Ole and Mousie) went down to Edge Lit 3 and we have three postcards from Little Miss Mouse:

I presented a talk on swords for fantasy writers (well, sidekicked for Fran Terminiello [External Link]) and did some wandering around pretending to be a Fox Spirit [External Link] representative – which means handing out badges and postcards to unsuspecting attendees.

I’ve also done some (re-)thinking about the way I do events in general and on site. Next year, I need to put some serious thought into attending more, money allowing. Budget has been the main problem this year but I enjoy having a day out – before being surrounded gets too much for me. More news as I sort things out.

And finally, last week’s Sunday Story was The Boy and His Dog – and this week’s is Once A Month.

Sunday 13th July, 2014

This week has seen the first of the 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf background posts, this time “On Titles” with a snippet of information about how titles and names work for me. This week… Well, you’ll see on Wednesday!

Mousie’s A-Z guide to Thurnscoe continues, as part of the A to Z Blog Tour. Last week’s and today’s posts are:

We’ve got two more posts to go (Y and Z) and they’re due out on Monday and Tuesday. Some of the others in the A-Z blogging challenge are still going and you can find out more on Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

Last week’s Sunday Story was Silent Song – and this week’s is The Boy and His Dog.

Sunday 6th July, 2014

Well, I thought I’d try for bang on time considering I was a day late last time.

Last week’s story background post was for Beaumains, which was published in issue 36 of the first iteration of Crossed Genres [External Link]. As Crossed Genres doesn’t keep short stories up indefinitely, this story is no longer available online. This is the last of the background story updates for the already published stories.

This week’s story background will be 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf focussed. In fact, I’ve got a few weeks of Elkie-related background posts coming up, an excerpt and a giveaway in time for the due date in mid-August!

Mousie’s A-Z guide to Thurnscoe continues, as part of the A to Z Blog Tour. Last week’s and today’s posts are:

We’ve got more posts (U to X) due Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. For more on the A-Z blogging challenge take a look at Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

Last week’s Sunday Story was Friday Night, Saturday Morning – and this week’s is Silent Song.

Monday 30th June, 2014

A day late because of computer problems, but here we go!

First off, last week sawe the public announcement for A Granted Wish’s rehoming with Fox Spirit Books [External Link]. This is (just) a novella, with a smidge over 15,000 words – and will probably be turning up on their website early next year.

The story background post published this week was for The Big, Bad Wolf, which was picked up by the now defunct Drollerie Press for an anthology of Little red Riding Hodd retellings. It’s been out of print a few years, now.

Mousie’s A-Z guide to Thurnscoe continues, as part of the A to Z Blog Tour. Last week’s and today’s posts are:

We’ve got three more posts (R to T) due tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. For more on the A-Z blogging challenge take a look at Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

Last week’s Sunday Story was Simulacrum – and this week’s, which I managed to announce before computer problems got in the way, is Friday Night, Saturday Morning.

Sunday 22nd June, 2014

Well, I hope the Solstice went as well as these things can (it’s all down hill form here, sorry folks).

The story background post published this week was for Nesting Instinct. This was the first story of mine picked up by Crossed Genres [External Link] in their first interation of their magazine. It’s been out of print a while.

As we’re still part way through the A to Z Blog Tour challenge, Mousie has posted four selfies / postcards for her A-Z guide to Thurnscoe. These are, in alphabetical order:

We’ve got four more posts (M to P) due next week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. For more on the A-Z blogging challenge take a look at Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

And last week’s Sunday Story was Wake-Up Call – and this week’s is Simulacrum.

Sunday 15th June, 2014

Happy Father’s Day to any dads in the audience.

Well, the Amok: An Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction Anthology giveaways are over (both mine and Ole’s[External Link]). The online random number generator [External Link] declared Marc-Anthony Taylor victorious, so I’ll be organising shipping soon.

The story background post published this week was for Spindrift. This is the second of two that relate to the New Dryas world and it has some incidental family influence in there!

Mousie has posted four selfies / postcards for the A-Z guide to Thurnscoe. These are, in alphabetical order:

We’ve got four more posts (I to L) due next week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. For more on the A-Z blogging challenge take a look at Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

In non-site update news, I rehomed Alfie recently, so I probably ought to do an update of the page. He’s gone to a better home where he will be admired by a sabreur (a person who fences with sabres).

And finally, last week’s Sunday Story was Virus – and this week’s is Wake-Up Call.

Sunday 8th June, 2014

REMINDER: Ole and I are running giveaways for a copy of Amok: An Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction Anthology (again, on the bookshelf to the right). Mine can be found here, while Ole’s is here: [External Link] These are only open to people with postal addresses in Europe (UK / EU / EEA / Switzerland) due to household cashflow restrictions and the winners will be announced on June 15th. yes, this means you have one week to enter, so get posting!

This week I published a story background post for The Ally-Ally-Oh. This is the first of two that relates to the New Dryas world – which I haven’t been back to in a while. Maybe I’ll revsit once I’ve finished the current WIP.

Mousie has posted four selfies / postcards for the A-Z guide to Thurnscoe. These are, in alphabetical order:

We’ve got four more posts (E to H) due next week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. If you want to know more about the A-Z blogging challenge take a look at Chris Galvin’s blog here: [External Link].

And the final note: I’ve started reminding you all that the on-site fiction still exists as a “Sunday Story”. Last week I tweeted the existence of Distractions. This week, it will be Virus.

Sunday 1st June, 2014

REMINDER: Ole and I are running giveaways for a copy of Amok: An Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction Anthology (again, on the bookshelf to the right). Mine can be found here, while Ole’s is here: [External Link] These are only open to people with postal addresses in Europe (UK / EU / EEA / Switzerland) due to household cashflow restrictions and the winners will be announced on June 15th.

And back to the latest updates and news for the website:

SWASH 2014 was this weekend (some people are still playing…) and so was the Copenhagen Open. These event posts are now marked “done” and no longer sticky / visible on the front page.

This week I published a story background post for The Girl From Yesterday. This is the last of the stories still available that has been published elsewhere. The remaining stories that will come up in background posts have gone out of print (or the website has closed down in some cases). I will also only be doing background for five more of the nine stories – the New Dryas and stand-alones – as the remainder have background available on site by following the Fur-Skins and Jehanist world have quite a bit of background already.

That said, when I’ve run through those stories, I shall be posting some background about the soon-to-arrive 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (the cover reveal from mid-May is here). This should be available from Fox Spirit [External Link] in mid-July – in time for Edge Lit 3 [External Link]. I have three posts prepared explaining a bit about Genre (Fantasy), Location (North Wales) and Character (Elkie Bernstein).

In related news, I’ve started writing the first draft of the third Elkie story. Sorry, she wanted to come out to play again – and I haven’t even got Book 2 sorted, yet! Working title is currently “Under The Skin” and, as of this week, it now has a tag. I’ll leave it a few weeks before I start updating the Fur-Skins page with it, though.

Having got a Mousie Postcard out last weekend, it looks like Mousie is going to have a bit of a jaunt. Actually, she’s having most of it today as a photo shoot to prepare but I digress. Along with Margrét Helgadóttir [External Link] and Chris Galvin [External Link], I’ll be doing an A-Z challenge with posts due every 1 to 3 days. So, Mousie will be releasing her “A-Z Postcard Guide to Thurnscoe” – where I live in South Yorkshire. Mini-blogs should be posted Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday so the first will be tomorrow.

And the final note: I’ve started reminding you all that the on-site fiction still exists as a “Sunday Story”. Last week I tweeted the existence of St James Infirmary Blues. This week, it will be Distractions.