through a glass darkly

Writers' desks - Merry

2009-07-17T09:04:00.003+01:00

Time for the next in my weekly series of writers' desks, where you can find out if all writers work their fingers to the bone in a half-ruined garrett, or swan about in a summerhouse with Sangria on tap!

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"I share my desk so it's usually in an advanced state of chaos (I admit it - I tidied before taking the photo!)

The desk is in the back parlour next to the doorway into the kitchen. This means that it’s always gloomy, and in winter it’s absolutely freezing with the cold coming in through the single-glazed kitchen window.

I've become quite adept at typing with fingerless gloves on!

I face the wall so there's little to distract me there. I sometimes dream of having an attic office looking out over the fields but I know that – really – that would be the kiss of death as I'd spend far too much time daydreaming at the view. A wall is much better for progress.

I keep a general timetable of when I want things to be completed up on the pinboard, as well as a business plan for the year. The idea for the business plan came from Lynn Viehl and (for me) it works well as a means of setting out my goals and targets for the coming year.

On the floor by the chair are my Collins dictionary and thesaurus - not only handy for looking things up but also for short people to rest their foot on when typing! The chair (that you can't see) is a ratty old office chair, extremely comfy but looking rather threadbare as it's the cat's favourite scratching post.

The picture on the wall is one of my favourites - The Fighting Temeraire by Turner. I love the colours, the way everything is blurred and smudged; when I need a break from the screen I'll often lean back and look at it for a while, just to relax my eyes, before setting to once more."

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Merry writes what she reads; combining fantasy, science fiction, romance, and horror in short and long fiction. When not working as an academic librarian—or herding a trio of Border Collies—she can usually be found with her nose buried in a book, or putting pen to paper.

Her blog is at: http://www.bibliothecariusalpha.blogspot.com/ and is cross-posted at Livejournal and Dreamwidth.

Selling what all the world desires

2009-07-16T09:46:00.003+01:00

Birmingham City Council are making a big thing of the bicentennial of Matthew Boulton's death in 1809. He was, if not the father of the Industrial Revolution, then at least one of its 'movers and shakers' and was responsible for putting Birmingham on the map as the centre of manufacturing it remains (more or less...) to this day.

One of the main events marking his death is a big exhibition called 'Selling what all the world desires' at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, exploring the man, his business skills, his family life and the exquisite metalwork produced at his factory in Handsworth. Dave and I went to the exhibition last Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. For starters it was free (always a bonus!) and it was also a good size, taking up three whole galleries in the Museum. (Not like one recent Chinese art exhibition, much hyped around the city, which turned out to be housed in eight glass cases....) We spent a whole hour wandering around, reading old inventories and accounts, looking at scale models of the steam engines he used in his factory, and gazing at the silverware and ormulu vases, candlesticks and clocks he produced. Some of these were a little too ornate (positively frilly) for my taste but you could see how expensive they were. Indeed, one entry in an inventory listed an item as costing a whopping 42 shillings. That probably represented a year's wages for most people!

Writers' desks - Charlie Cochrane

2009-07-10T10:10:00.005+01:00

It's Friday again (already?) and time for the third in my series of writers' desks. This week it's the turn of historical romance writer Charlie Cochrane.

Don't forget that if you're a writer and would like to take part, you can email me for further details.

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"This computer cart is where I write, answer e-mails, edit and do most of the things associated with my author life. It’s in our study, which is a pleasant little room with a view out onto the garden so I can swivel round in my chair and see winter jasmine, miniature daffodils or rhododendrons in flower, all depending on the time of year.

It’s a place I can shut myself away in and get on with writing – when the muse lets me – and let my bits and pieces spread.

The picture makes it look a bit too tidy – at the moment there are a pile of books under that teddy bear, one to be reviewed and some reference sources for the ‘work in progress’. There’s also CD’s to keep me happy while I’m tied to the keyboard and a picture of my eldest daughter and her prom date to admire. Alongside all the usual paraphernalia of modern life such as spare printer cartridges and cables to link various electronic gismos one to the other.

I find inspiration from the framed poem – one a friend wrote for my twenty fifth wedding anniversary - and the romantically creative juices are at present also being stimulated by pictures of the Garrison Church at Portsmouth and a rather nice Italian chap from the 1880’s, whose photo I found in a shop in Oxford.

Perhaps it’s appropriate that an assorted set of stories such as mine get written at a desk covered in an eclectic mixture of stuff."

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Charlie Cochrane primarily writes historical gay mysteries/romances - her Cambridge Fellows Mysteries Series, set in Edwardian England, is available through Samhain, and she has stories in the anthologies 'I Do' (MLR), 'Queer Wolf' (Queered Fiction) and ‘Speak Its Name’ (Cheyenne Publishing). You can find her online at her Livejournal blog.

Free flash story

2009-07-09T09:46:00.005+01:00

Every now and again I enjoy experimenting with different styles and forms of writing. It makes my brain ache, but it's a challenge and I'm always up for a challenge, at least in writing terms.

Here's a flash story based on a (fictional!) episode of 'Antiques Roadshow', which I tried writing backwards. I deliberately numbered the paragraphs to make it easier to follow. See if you can work out what's going on!

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Slip Ware

5. "I'll have you for that, expert or no expert." The man shouts at her, his face a shiny red balloon, one foot pawing the ground like an angry bull.

4. She wakes, groggy, and finds herself starfish-like on her back, gazing up at the exhibition hall roof. Anxious faces peer back, and her hand rests on something sharp.

3. "Watch out, she's going to fall," someone yells. She hears it through the thick grey fog buzzing in her ears, as nausea surges up her throat.

2. The cameras focus on her face, catching her expression as it sags into horror. She watches the vase slide through her fingers and shatter into shards on the polished parquet floor.

1. The antiques expert smiles at her next contestant in delight. "It's a rare and valuable early slip-ware vase, worth about ten thousand pounds."

Ice Age 3-D

2009-07-07T08:49:00.003+01:00

We went to see this film on Saturday. Believe it or not, it's the first time I've ever seen a film in 3-D, let alone one using the new technology that uses polarisation rather than red and green lenses.

The film was great. Completely silly, of course (I mean, who ever heard of dinosaurs in the ice age? They'd died out millions of years before that!) but still, tremendous fun. And the 3-D effects just blow you away. Characters actually look as though they're in front of the background; the perspective changes with the camera angle; and things hurtle out of the screen right at you. (And the less said about the way that made me jump, the better...) The technical wizardry to achieve all this is amazing. Just how do you render cartoon animation fur in 3-D? Yet someone's done it, and done it brilliantly.

My only gripe is that in this day and age, when we can fly people to the moon for their holidays, they still can't make 3-D glasses (or non-prescription sunglasses, for that matter) that fit people who wear specs. I ended up wearing the 3-D pair over the top of my everyday pair and it was uncomfortable and gave me raging eye-strain. Come on, scientists. Given that around a quarter of the population now wear glasses as standard, can't you come up with something that clips on instead?

Writers' desks - Bill Kirton

2009-07-03T10:39:00.006+01:00

Here's the second entertaining entry in my series of writers' desks, this week from crime writer Bill Kirton:

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"I use a double desk arrangement, one for the computer, one for the rest. It means twice the area to put things down with the good intention of tidying them up later. But, like others of a messy persuasion, I really do know where everything is. It’s also very much who I am. I hope I don’t mean a total wreck, but rather it’s the place where there’s just me and my characters and my words. No need to make any of the compromises that are necessary in normal social interactions. I can just sit there as an observer and record the goings-on.

The room’s in the basement of our house and I look out on a lush corner of the garden. Standing among the grasses and shrubs is a carving of an eagle I did at a class I started attending in order to find out what it felt like to carve a figurehead. That was research for my historical novel The Figurehead but I liked it so much that I still make things.

On the desks (and floor) apart from work-related bits and pieces, I have family photos and strange little things I’ve picked up at conferences and the like, such as a wee armchair for my mobile to sit in, or a long spring with a dog’s head at one end and a tail at the other in which I stick letters and things – my in-tray, if you like.

On one wall, there’s a huge poster for the film Germinal – a great book and a reminder of how nasty the gap between the haves and the have-nots is and always was.

In brief, though, and with no pretentiousness intended, the desks are like those magic mirrors and things – places you walk through to enter other worlds."

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Bill was a university lecturer but took early retirement to write full-time. His crime novels have been published in the UK and the USA. He also writes short stories, sketches, songs, and stage and radio plays, but earns his living writing commercial scripts and documents.

His website and blog are at:

www.bill-kirton.co.uk

http://livingwritingandotherstuff.blogspot.com/

Story in Mslexia

2009-07-02T13:41:00.004+01:00

I was all set to blog about something completely different today.

And then the postman called, and a large brown envelope bounced onto the doormat containing my subscription copy of Mslexia, a well respected British literary magazine by and for women. I always enjoy leafing through so I ripped the thing open... and out popped a cheque.

Oh, I thought. Has there been a problem with my subscription? Have I overpaid?

Not so. When I looked at the fiction section I discovered, to my absolute joy and amazement, that they've published a short story of mine. The piece, which is untitled, is a modern parable on the subject of bricks and mortar, told in only 150 words, which was quite a challenge in itself. I've been sending stories to this magazine for years because it's so well respected (and because I like it, dammit), but I never, ever thought my work would find its way onto their pages. As you can imagine, I'm somewhat excited (aka hyperventilating) to be proved wrong.

You can find full details on how and where to buy copies of the magazine (including a list of stockists if you don't want the bother of sending off for one) on their online subscriptions page. The magazine is usually stuffed with interesting, valuable and sensible articles on the subject of womens' writing, as well as a selection of new writing. In this case, it's poetry as they're showcasing the winners of their recent poetry competition, but one flash story appears in every issue regardless.

If you do decide to buy a copy of the magazine, my story is on page 30. And that's Issue 42, by the way. I had to use a picture of the previous edition because they haven't quite finished updating their website yet!

Published today...

2009-07-01T17:08:00.002+01:00

The Pygmy Giant, the online magazine which published Fish Out of Water a few weeks ago, has just posted another of my flash stories. This one is called Lovers' Lane and it's a dark, almost vicious tale of the fallout from an affair, set in a town centre car park.

Believe it or not, the story is based on something that happened in my past life. Nope, not the affair, but the description of the car park. You'd be amazed where writers end up sometimes - and where they find inspiration for their work. ;)

Anyway, you can read the story here and I hope you enjoy it, even if it is a little on the dark side.

Feeling hot hot hot

2009-06-29T08:31:00.003+01:00

Summer has finally arrived here in Brum. We've actually had (gasp) sunshine, and temperatures over 20c for several days at a stretch! Wonders will never cease... Of course, we're still getting thunderstorms most days as well, but I don't mind that as long as I'm warm. I was speaking to a friend who knows someone in the meteorological business and apparently the period from late May to early July counts as the equivalent (if somewhat less dramatic) of the UK's monsoon season, when we get a fair proportion of our yearly rainfall. Makes a lot of sense, actually.

The good weather's come just in time for the Moseley Festival, a whole week of events, entertainments and general fun in this rather unique little corner of Birmingham. Unlike many places we don't settle for a dodgy float procession, a raffle and a steel band. Oh no. Moseley has to be one step ahead of everyone else, at everything. ;) We get a farmers' market, a craft fair, morris dancers, drummers, a flash mob, open days at local schools, galleries and artists' studios, a guided tour/walk, and an open day at the local park (which is usually kept locked - and only local residents get a key).

On Saturday Dave and I strolled down to the village centre and joined in the fun, and spent far more than we'd ever intended. The farmers' market has won awards (best urban one in the whole country, apparently) and was bulging with all kinds of yummy produce from Parson's Nose cheese to scrumpy to a hog roast. The craft market was also bulging, but with beautiful hand-made crafts, artwork, turned wood, pottery and goodness knows what else. It was quite a challenge to come away without buying anything, and one we didn't meet.

Yesterday there was a bird of prey display in the park and we were hoping to go along and see owls and falcons and things, but Dave's work intervened rather sharply and we never did get there.

Writers' desks: Sharon Maria Bidwell

2009-06-26T10:35:00.008+01:00

And now for something completely different. ;)

A few weeks back I thought it might be nice to run a little feature on my blog, once a week or thereabouts, showcasing writers' desks. The Guardian runs a similar series, based on Writers' Rooms, which I've always found a fascinating insight into authors and the sort of environment they like to work in. I'm hoping, on a smaller scale, I can do the same.

First up in the new series is British author Sharon Maria Bidwell. If you'd like to take part, please email me for details of what I need.

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"I don’t always write at my desk. I face a wall because I’d spend too much time staring out at the world. I can still turn my head left or right to see through a window.

I fell in love with the glass desk not realising it would be cold to rest on in winter. The hearts are from a shop in Boscastle, Cornwall, just one of many places I love. So is one of the two dragons here. I love dragons and many are dotted about the
house. The piece of pink quartz is supposed to block negative ions or something...I forget exactly. I’m not convinced, but it’s pretty.

Betty Boop and Marvin the Martian are recent additions and appeal to my sense of humour, particularly Marvin with gun raised as if to say “stay away”. Fine, so I need treatment. The most important item on the desk and which you can’t see very well is a tiny photo of my beloved pet, now deceased. There isn’t one of the other half because although we carry photos of each other, they are kept private.

The wrist-rest has been heaven sent. I get RSI in my right wrist. This is a 'neat' moment. The neatness varies but I am much better organised than I used to be, meaning I have trays in which to put things away in order to forget all about them. My filing pile used to be a waste bin so I think a tray is an improvement.

My desk is no longer hidden away in some small room. I missed my husband. LOL. I’ve learned to write despite distractions, although there are times I need peace and quiet. I also like to write on a laptop in the garden."

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Sharon’s writing is diverse, often crossing genres, blending horror, fantasy, action, adventure, fairy tales, gothic, erotica, and romance in any combination. She’s called her website “Aonia” for in Greek myth that is where the muses lived and with numerous publishing credits, the muses have definitely found a home at Aonia.

Concrete Jungle available

2009-06-25T14:12:00.002+01:00

I've just heard from the editor at Ink Sweat & Tears, that my flash surrealist piece Concrete Jungle is available to read on the site RIGHT NOW!

I can't really call this a 'story' since it doesn't have a plot. Instead, it's a series of vivid images that conjure up the atmosphere of a moment in time. This was a method used by surrealist writers in the early 20th century, and since the piece was inspired by a surrealist-style garden, I wanted to use an appropriate writing style for it.

The garden, which is constructed mostly of coloured concrete in a jungle setting, is at Las Posas in Mexico. If you're interested in seeing it you can get a glimpse in the new Empire of the Sun video for their single 'We Are The People' on YouTube. The garden appears when the falsetto chorus begins, and you can see just how weirdly beautiful it is.

And if you'd like to read Concrete Jungle, please go to Ink Sweat & Tears now, before it disappears off the bottom of the page!

Shopping dilemma

2009-06-24T09:44:00.002+01:00

I watched a fascinating programme on tv last night about the hardships facing shops on our high streets. It hit home to me because our local high street has suffered terribly in the 'economic downturn', with big name stores pulling out due to rent increases and independent shops closing by the week. I was staggered to find that we're by no means the worst; in some cases (such as Dunstable in Bedfordshire) the experts think that the closures have now reached critical mass. In other words, there are so few shops left that nobody is visiting the town centre and the remaining shops have no customers, so they too will have to close.

It's all very sad. Those of us who don't drive depend on local shops that are accessible on foot or by public transport and we're seeing our choice cut day by day. In one case last night a town's last remaining baker had just closed its doors. Where are people going to buy bread? And I feel particularly sorry for elderly folk, who may not have the means to travel to out-of-town malls and nearby hypermarkets.

But it did just strike me - who is to blame for all this? Yes, okay, I know about the recession, and the fact that people in general are spending less. But it seems to me that the problem goes deeper than that. One statistic quoted last night, in the case of Tewkesbury, a lovely old town in Gloucestershire, was that only 11% of its inhabitants shopped in the town. Presumably the other 89% go out of town to nearby cities, malls and supermarkets. That doesn't leave much of a customer base to keep the small town centre shops going, does it?

I hear a lot of people grumbling about the lack of shops in their village, on their local high street, even in their city centre. But, um, maybe we should all moan a bit less and use our local facilities more. After all, it's we who have the power to save or condemn our local shops, and even a handful more sales per week could be enough to tide them by...

Another acceptance

2009-06-23T08:47:00.002+01:00

Rather to my astonishment they're coming thick and fast at the moment. This morning The Pygmy Giant emailed to say they would take Lovers' Lane, a dark little piece about the downside of an affair. The story has an almost sleazy feel to it, and is set in a grotty city centre car park, of all the peculiar places - you'll have to read it to find out why! It should be out on 1st July, but I'll post a reminder once it's available.

Will the good luck last? Almost certainly not. In publishing things seem to go in runs - I find I get three or four acceptances in a matter of weeks, and then everything goes quiet and nobody wants what I write. ;) Over the years I've learned to be grateful for the good times and grit my teeth the rest of the time. I guess it's just the nature of the game.

Anyone for tennis?

2009-06-22T16:06:00.002+01:00

It's that time of year again: strawberries, rain, athletic young folk leaping about in whites, and the gentle thwack of balls. Tennis balls, that is. Yup, Wimbledon is here again. Two weeks of joy for tennis fans, two weeks of fuming and searching the tv listings for *anything* that isn't tennis for those of a less sporting persuasion. But hey, it is only once a year.

For me, it's two weeks of bliss that bring back happy memories of perching on Mum's knee and watching the likes of Ilie Nastase and a young Jimmy Connors on a grainy black and white tv. These days it's slightly less of an event, simply because thanks to cable television there's more chance to catch up with our tennis heroes and heroines week in, week out. Back then, if you missed the action at Wimbledon, you'd have to wait a whole year before you saw tennis again, with the minor exception of the US Open final. Not the whole tournament, you understand - just the final.

So, for the next two weeks I may not be at my desk much. Instead you can find me camped in the living room with a tray of sandwiches, and perhaps a laptop, hooked up to the telly and imbibing tennis intravenously. As long as it doesn't rain, of course. Because Wimbledon is played on grass, the matches have to be stopped if it rains, in case someone slips over and hurts themselves. This year, the All England Club have gone to vast expense to fit a roof over Centre Court, so that at least one match can continue if the heavens open. Normally the spectators hate rain because it plays havoc with their viewing schedule. This year, according to a BBC website survey, 80% actually want it to rain so they can see the new roof in action.

Including me, I'm ashamed to say.

War of the Worlds

2009-06-22T09:37:00.004+01:00

In spite of my blue fingers I thoroughly enjoyed the concert on Friday night. We're very lucky here in Birmingham - we have four theatres, a concert hall, a symphony hall and an arena in the city centre, and another arena a few miles away near the airport, so the list of bands, acts etc that come here is very extensive. So far this year we've already seen Cirque du Soleil, the Austrialian Pink Floyd show, the Blue Man Group, and Jean Michel Jarre.

On Friday it was the turn of the live version of Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds', and it was pretty amazing. Wayne himself conducted the orchestra and rock band that provided the music, while two of the original performers, Justin Hayward and Chris Thompson, reprised their roles. Apart from a few minor glitches the overall standard was extremely high, and it can't be many concerts that have a Martian tripod descending onto the stage and sending heat rays out across the audience! Great fun, and the place was packed to the rafters. So much so it took us half an hour to get out of the car park afterwards...

Pen 1, Fiona 0

2009-06-19T16:07:00.001+01:00

I had an argument with my fountain pen earlier.

The pen won.

Now I have bright blue fingers and it won't scrub off, and we're going out for the evening.

Sigh. It's the story of my life, really... ;)

Fastest response ever?

2009-06-19T09:25:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I discovered the webzine Ink Sweat & Tears, which specialises in crossover poetry and poetic prose. Like many literary magazines, some of the contents are highbrow enough to make your hair hurt but others were clever, fun, and really got me thinking. I had a great time poking about in the archives and eventually decided to try them with a piece of my own.

I submitted it about five o'clock last night. Ten minutes later, I'd had a reply from the editor saying 'fantastic, love it', which as you can imagine left me glowing. I don't think I have ever had such a rapid response as that, especially for an acceptance! (I've had a few rejections that were so fast they made me blink, but that's another story.)

The piece they've taken is very different from most of my work. It's called 'Concrete Jungle' and it's based on surrealist forms of literature, with little or no plot but a welter of incredibly vivid images. It was inspired by the amazing surrealist gardens at Las Posas in Mexico, which I've never been to but saw on a recent tv programme and fell in love with.

Apparently they'll feature the story within the next 3-4 weeks and I'll obviously let everyone know when it's available to read. And in the meantime you might like to pop over and explore the zine anyway because there's a lot of good stuff hidden amongst its virtual pages.

The sound of silence

2009-06-18T09:43:00.003+01:00

Hands up everyone who needs total silence to write, or concentrate on work of any kind?

I don't, always. Mostly it depends on my mood, and how well (or otherwise!) the writing is going. If I'm really focussed on a story, really in the groove, then I'm lost in that other world and an entire herd of elephants could blunder through my study and I probably wouldn't notice. If I'm having difficulty concentrating, a mouse tripping over a pebble will interrupt my thought-processes and I'll probably never get them back.

Yesterday, though, I discovered that there is a noise level beyond which I just can't work, and it involves two sets of neighbours having two different lots of work done at once. Workmen on one side were cutting stone. Workmen two doors down on the other side were lopping trees, with two chainsaws and a shredder going full-tilt. The result? Sheer bloody cacophony from 9 am till 5 pm and a Fiona who was tearing out her hair and climbing up the walls.

Needless to say, I did not get much work done...

Smile of the day

2009-06-09T19:15:00.004+01:00

Nicked from the excellent (and subversive) xkcd cartoon website:

Back from holiday

2009-06-09T09:30:00.006+01:00

We had a wonderful break, cruising round some of the less well-known towns and cities of north-western Europe. Stops included Falmouth (in Cornwall), Dublin, Bilbao, Bordeaux (via a small port on the Garonne estuary), and Brest. All were interesting, but the star of the show was definitely Bilbao, which is a vibrant buzzing city with a staggering mix of old and new. We spent most of the day in the amazing Guggenheim Museum, a work of art in its own right, exploring the weird and wonderful modern art inside. We also spent a morning in the National Gallery of Ireland, an art gallery of a totally different kind but every bit as interesting.

The French cities were the least interesting. Bordeaux is a UNESCO world heritage site and filled to bursting with beautiful 18th century architecture. It's very elegant, but also rather sedate and insular, and if truth be told, ever so slightly dull (although I expect those good people from UNESCO would have a blue fit if they heard me say that). And Brest was a typical sea port - slightly grubby round the edges and still showing the signs of having suffered a pounding during World War II.

The weather was terrific throughout - we set off in hot sunshine and towed it round with us until we got back on board for the final sailaway in Brest, when it started to rain. But goodness, we've gone straight home to winter. It was 30c in Bilbao on Wednesday; four days later in Brum it was only 8c. No wonder we've broken out the winter woollies and stuck the heating back on.

Even better news!

2009-05-29T09:44:00.002+01:00

I'm dashing in, in the midst of last-minute packing, to say that QueeredFiction have accepted The Visitor, a gay time travel romance, for their Queer Dimensions anthology. This story had been accepted for two previous anthologies (with other publishers) that were cancelled before they got off the ground, so I'm delighted to have found such a good home for it at last.

The editor doesn't yet have a release date but I promise to let everyone know the minute I find out!

Now, I really am off on holiday...

Good news

2009-05-28T17:25:00.003+01:00

I'm delighted to say that From The Asylum have now been in touch with me and the editor has confirmed that 'Things Aren't What They Seem' is still going ahead in spite of the closure of their publishing business. I'm very happy about this because it means Boyfriend From Hell still has a home after all. It's nice to know that I won't be having to punt it round the publishers all over again.

And there's a great review of Shifting Perspectives 2 at Bitten by Books, which describes the stories as 'interesting and unique'.

I'm travelling away on holiday tomorrow so won't be around to update this for a few days.

Currently working on...

2009-05-22T09:59:00.002+01:00

A gay horror story for the next QueeredFiction anthology, adapted from an earlier unpublished story about a haunted house. So far I've written about 3,500 words, but I'm going nowhere fast. I don't write a lot of horror and I'm struggling to find the right tone. I'd like it to be dark and chilling, but at the moment the characters are hijacking it and keep turning it fluffy. And fluffy horror doesn't really work, or didn't the last time I checked.

I shall persevere, even if it means knocking my own characters over the head with a frying pan to stop them running off with the plot.

And no, I'm not going insane. Why do you ask? :P

News on From The Asylum?

2009-05-19T10:09:00.005+01:00

Has anyone heard anything further about this online zine/anthology publisher?

Back in February I had a story accepted for their latest anthology, called 'Things Aren't What They Seem'. I sent off my signed contract in the post, plus a load of other bits and pieces (story in a different file format, updated bio etc). Since then I've not heard from them, and not received my counter-signed copy of the contract.

Then I saw from EREC that their publishing arm was closing down. According to their website, last updated in early April, they are honouring the anthologies they had already accepted stories for, including 'Things Aren't What They Seem'. But I'm not sure how they're going to sell the books if they are effectively closed (even their online business is apparently closing in July).

On Friday I wrote to the editor with a few queries including whether they'd received my contract and whether they still wanted my story. So far I've had no response. I really, really hope I'm wrong, but it's beginning to look as though this is a completely dead market. Unless anyone has any different information?

More fishy news...

2009-05-17T14:29:00.002+01:00

I wrote yesterday's blog in a hurry because I only found out that my story had been posted at The Pygmy Giant about ten minutes before we were due to go out to the cinema to see the new Star Trek film. So it was a bit light on details, because I only really had time for the basics.

So, here's a tad more information about the story. I wrote it while I was on a writing course a few years back, when the tutor challenged each of us to do a crossover between noir and one other genre. I chose humour, which sounds completely perverse, but oddly it seemed to work very well and I've always been rather fond of the result. So much so, in fact, that I decided to try my hand at one or two other stories in the same style - one of which is Rock and a Hard Place, currently appearing in Radgepacket Volume 2.

You wouldn't think that noir and humour would marry together well at all, but it seems to give rise to an intriguing 'gallows-humour' style of writing which can be quite fun.

And the film? It was terrific. Lots of thrills and spills, great special effects, an exciting plot (as long as you don't think too hard about the time travel causality loops), and excellent acting from the new young cast, in particular Zachary Quinto as a more-Spock-than-Spock younger Spock. A great night out.