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Sunday 16th December, 2012

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Another round of Advent presents!

The TTA Press Advent calendar continues (links can be found from here: [External Link]) and there is a forum thread for discussion (here: [External Link]).

(If you want me to mention another Advent calendar or you feel my ignorance of them needs fixing, get in touch!)

Here are episodes 5 and 6 of the children’s TV series, Moondial. Episode 6 is the conclusion, so something different next week.

Remember my edition of The Next Big Thing? My nominees versions went up this week, so here are the direct links to Amber FOX’s edition [Link Defunct] and Vincent HOLLAND-KEEN’s [External Link].

My Flattr [External Link] experiment continues. It’s still surprisingly hard to tip people whp don’t have it on their sites. If they don’t, it’s possible to tweet it at them – but there’s nothing to say they have to pick up said tweet. This is assuming they have a twitter account or that the contact details for it are available on the site. Ah, well, more money in for the other ten or so people who have accepted a share of my December budget. And some people obviously aren’t interested in picking up what could end up being tiny donations even if there’s a possibility of it all adding up. Both Google and Wikipedia have joined in at some point priorto my joining, interestingly enough, so there are obviously people who think this is going to work out.

(A note, in case you haven’t read the Flattr site through: the tip is divided among all the people I click on and accept my click at the end of the calendar month. The clicker also sets a monthly budget of how much money they have available to divide among the clickees.)

Sunday 26th December, 2010

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Merry Christmas! Plus a new story online and a genealogy tweak.

I hope Christmas Day went well for everyone and you’re now suffering the traditional Boxing Day after-effects (full, bloated, slightly hung-over).

For the site updates, let’s start with genealogy. As mentioned last week, my aunt has provided some minor corrections to the LOWE data:

  1. The original Zachariah LOWE is not from Staffordshire on the 1841 census.
  2. His place of origin on the 1861 census is probably “Paines Lane”, Shropshire (now St George’s, Telford).

I have made the changes to the LOWE page but Parries Lane / Paines Lane hasn’t been corrected on the associated report. I’m waiting for more results on the mysterious Zachariah LOWE.

In writing news, not much continues to happen. Another one of my stories available on site, Baba Yaga, was part of the Christmas Day treat overload on the TTA Press advent calendar [External Link]. Again, you don’t need to go there to link to my story but there are quite a few other lovely flash fictions available from the Christmas post. The collection of links can be found here: [External Link]. Also, don’t forget the alternative advent calendar that can be printed out here: [External Link]. Meanwhile, I’m nibbling away at the latest method in 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf (set in Alex Jones’ world but not containing her) and have several short stories out looking for new homes. As predicted, I didn’t get as much as I’d like done due to a combination of procrastination and sorting out for yesterday’s celebrations. But in an effort to make myself look productive, I offer you the following after-Christmas present: Sanctuary. Remember, a human being is for life, not just for Christmas.

Sunday 12th December, 2010

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A Genealogy Update! SANSOM data and the “Alternative” TABERNER line.)

It was a little bit of a struggle getting it out of the computer – I use The Master Genealogist, which is a Windows based program, but run Ubuntu as my operating system now – but the oft-mentioned genealogy is here. They’re only minor tweaks but I figured I better do them while I remembered! Anyway, slight changes to the SANSOM and the “Alternative” TABERNER reports. As usual, if there are any issues / errors / additions / removals, please let me know.

In writing news, not much going on. I’m waiting to hear about submitted pieces and have started polishing the general story arc for 25 Ways to Kill A Werewolf (Alex Jones’ world) – despite the fact that each chapter provides another method, there is an actual story behind it and keeping the outline straight makes life easier. It also means that the synopsis is already done when it gets around to submission time. As this is probably going to be around the 75,000 – 80,000 word length, a synopsis could end up being a vital part of its rehoming strategy. And as much as I dislike working to an outline, having an easy to prepare synopsis far out ways the annoyance I get from not making it up as I go along.

Oh, and please don’t forget about advent calendars. The TTA Press [External Link] ones can be found here: [External Link] and here: [External Link]. And don’t forget to let me know of any other interesting advent reads out there!

Sunday 5th December, 2010

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I’m in an advent calendar! Am I famous, yet?

Welcome to Advent – or the fifth day of it, as I write this. Yes, I really do write this on the same day as it’s dated, if only if I’m too lazy to do it the night before.

The writing news first. Parthenogenesis, one of my stories available on site, is being used in the TTA Press advent calendar [External Link]. You don’t need to go there to link to the story but if you haven’t read the other stories so far, I strongly recommend it. The collection of links can be found here: [External Link]. They also have an alternative advent calendar that can be printed out here: [External Link].

I’ve pretty much been house-bound since the last update. Finn and I have made it out walking near to home but I’ve been banned from sitework and my local office was snowed in for a couple of days, so I’ve been working from home the last week. And I do mean working from home. It’s been… quiet.

And genealogy isn’t quite working as intended. I can’t get the reports back in the same format (yet), so the minor tweaks to the SANSOM data and the “Alternative” TABERNER line will be up next week.

Sunday 6th December, 2009

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Welcome to advent.

And that’s pretty much it for me. I am, I hasten to add, busy working on writing, CHARLESWORTHs and TABERNERs. I just have nothing to show for it. I do have some off-site bits of information for you, though.

First thing is a rather special advent calendar being run from the TTA Press site [External Link]. A different flash fiction piece is linked each day of December up until Christmas. The direct link is here: [External Link]. One of my stories is up today (I’m not sure which, I put forward 3 and asked Pete to pick based on genre).

For those of a swordsman-like inclination, 2010 SWASH is open for booking. You can find more information about the event here: [External Link]). But, in short, it’s a two day convention being held in February at the Leeds Royal Armouries. With swords. And fencing. And dinner. What’s not to like?

Finally, my vote for Christmas No.1 (although the Muppets’ version of Bohemian Rhapsody is pretty cool).

Sunday 17th June, 2007

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Happy Father’s Day for any fathers reading this.

Nothing much going on this week, but I’ve tweaked Finn‘s page a bit. Spot the difference! There isn’t much, I admit.

This week’s been a bit of a go-slow as I’m adjusting to a slightly longer working week – 25 hours a week instead of 15 at Netherhall School [External Link] and 2 hours a week at the Cumbria Biological Data Network (CBDN) [External Link]. I am aware this is not the hardest week in the world, but with the resulting travelling, transporting of puppy, 6:30am starts (yes, I do get up that early to ensure Finn is well looked after!), and so on, I’ve been a little knacked by the evening, making it hard to get any writing, genealogy or web-site stuff done. I’ll never make a domestic goddess or super-mum. Excuses, excuses, eh?

But, for entertainment’s sake, I thought I’d pass along this link. The Light of Other Days [External Link] by Bob SHAW was written in the 1960s and is considered one of the best science fiction shorts of the period. I read it years ago in an anthology from my then local library and loved the idea of “slow glass”. It’s since gone out of print but is now available on the web, as I was told on the T3A forums [External Link], so enjoy.

Sunday 3rd June, 2011

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Well, in the midst of my redecorating, I’ve had my first story rejected by Interzone (which has had a site redesign and looks somewhat different and the publishers now use the name T3A [External Link] for the company). So I did the obvious thing and sent it off to another regular read, Strange Horizons [External Link].

I’ve added my regular online reads to a new page in the writing section, as they’re “work related”, and watch out for the slight tweak to the MOODY downloadable file. A minor update thanks to finding a researcher, Sheila MARCHANT, whose family overlaps slightly. If there are any other people interested in the Eliza BRADBURY who married George MOODY, drop me an e-mail and I’ll pass you along.

The only other thing of note that I can pass along is that Finn has learnt to cock his leg. He doesn’t do it all the time and he hasn’t worked out which leg he prefers to lift, but believe it or not, he is a very advanced dog. Many dogs don’t work out how to join the “how high can you pee up a wall” contest before the age of one (I’m told). Today the lamppost, tomorrow the world, etc.

Sunday 6th May, 2007

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This week, I submitted a short story (currently known as “A Council of Angels”) to Interzone [External Link]. In celebration, I’ve added a tiny bit of information on my “projects” onto the writing page. You never know…

I’ve also been updating the CHARLESWORTH family having been contacted by a cousin, Terry CHARLESWORTH. He’s given me some more people to put on my tree and explained where Jack GASCOYNE (note the name!) fits in. We’re still unsure of how the LDS fit in with everything, though.

My doggy news this week is that Finn has learnt to swim. This can only be a good thing, despite the smell of soggy doggy that now follows us in from our walks.

In (further) web-site news, I’ve tweaked the structure, so if you have bookmarked pages, be sure to check they haven’t moved. I’ve also downloaded Mozilla’s Firefox [External Link] and Opera [External Link]. These are the leading non-Microsoft web browsers and I thought it was time I checked the web-site is displayed well in them. Turns out, Internet Explorer is much more forgiving of basic errors, but at least I know the site displays as I intended for most people now. As for how well Firefox and Opera perform, so far I prefer Firefox as I find it just that little bit more easy on the eye. To be honest, from the basic user point of view, there is very little to choose between them. Firefox doesn’t handle mail and newsgroups, Opera doesn’t seem to have as many add-ons. They’re both more secure than IE, but the average user wouldn’t even notice it. I certainly don’t “feel” any difference so far.