The Lost Kingdom: Story Background

I have a confession to make: The Lost Kingdom was inspired by the call for submissions for an anthology other than the one it actually ended up in. here’s a litte bit more about that.

Publishing Details

The Lost Kindom is one fo the short stories in Missing Monarchs (Fox Pockets #4) from Fox Spirit Books [External Link], which came out in December 2014. So far, its available on Amazon as a Kindle … Continue reading

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.

Beaumains: Story Background

It has been suggested that I ought to do background posts on all of my stories that have been accepted (in venues other than here, obviously). Partly because it gives readers an insight into my thinking and partly because the person who suggested it is a completist.

So, without further ado, here’s some background on Beaumains, a stand-alone science fiction short story.

Publishing Details

Beaumains was published in 2011 by Crossed Genres [External … Continue reading

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.

Nesting Instinct: Story Background

It has been suggested that I ought to do background posts on all of my stories that have been accepted (in venues other than here, obviously). Partly because it gives readers an insight into my thinking and partly because the person who suggested it is a completist.

So, without further ado, here’s some background on Nesting Instinct, a stand-alone sceince fiction short story.

Publishing Details

Nesting Instinct was published in 2009 by Crossed Genres [ Continue reading

Three Little Pigs & Gone Fishing: Story Background

This is a little background on the thinking behind Three Little Pigs (published back in April 2010) and Gone Fishing (published tomorrow, 30th April 2014). More precisely, I’m going to have a bit of a look at the world building as specific to these two stories.

Publishing Details

Three Little Pigs was published by Crossed Genres [External Link] in issue 17 of their original run. This issue is no longer available.

Gone Fishing … Continue reading

Sunday 30th March, 2014

So I’ve sorted out a bookshelf to sit to the right of the screen to give you links to the books that count towards The Ink Plan. The Ink Plan itself is officially launched on Monday – with thanks to Bart Lieb and Kay T Holt of Crossed Genres [External Link], Adele Wearing of Fox Spirit Books [External Link], Alex Davis (editor of No Monsters Allowed and Strange Fortunes), Djibril al-Ayad of The Future Fire [External Link], and Dominica Malcolm of Solarwyrm Press [External Link] for the numbers.

ASIDE: For those of you that aren’t aware, all numbers will be estimates – but hopefully very close to the actual sales. Given that issues are handed out for review and under offers, etc, it can be very hard to keep track of actual numbers of book sales.

The front page has already changed to take account of the new category and, with luck, the links will all work when everything goes live tomorrow afternoon.

Other than that, nothing much to report. See you next week!

Success and Mediocrity

Something I’ve wanted to put together for a while is a post praising the success to be found in mediocrity. More precisely, after having spent a while listening to my inner voices and a few real people do the “what the hell is going on? this isn’t where I intended to be?” conversation, I think it’s time to point out that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with being where-ever you are in your life. There are … Continue reading

Monday 1st October, 2012

I actually managed to do some writing and some house-cleaning last week, in preparation for the fencing weekend. Then I got to spend two days waving longswords (brain fried at almost exactly 3pm both days) with SSS Sheffield [External Link]. The strangest thing out of all of this was that the house remained in near habitable condition – even with house guests – right up until I brought the Hellhounds home. Now there’s dog hair everywhere again.

In terms of writing, I’ve finished my first draft of a “superhero” (ish) story that may work out in time to be submitted to the Crossed Genres [External Link] anthology. In what is available for writing this week, I hope to get back into A Granted Wish. But I’m driving up to Edinburgh some time Friday to spend a couple of days waving smallswords around.

Yeah, that means I’m having to decide between cleaning, packing, writing or doing nothing constructive when not working, walking the dogs, sleeping, or eating. I suspect nothing constructive will win because I just found a new game on Facebook…

Sunday 23rd September, 2012

I interrupt the living room decoration to-

Actually, I don’t. I now have a radiator to remove and paint behind, so that’ll be the week after next. Maybe.

This week, I intend to get back on top of writing and / or house-cleaning. At the moment, I’m part way through a draft I intend to submit for a Crossed Genres anthology, Oomph! [External Link]. On the other hand, I have guests staying next weekend for a fencing weekend, so I probably ought to make the place look habitable. Probably.

Also, I’m having difficulty believing that nine months of the year have almost gone. What the hell happened to time? Why does it move so fast?