Notes From The Geek Show

Busy Busy Busy Busy

2009-11-27T15:55:00.002Z

Yeah, I've had a busy week with a couple of cool gigs. One I went along partly to catch up with Rafe of the sorely-missed G-Plan, who'd kindly agreed to help us out with scoring a fiddle refrain for Nowhere Town, and partly just to catch his new band, Tattie Toes, who were awesome. Even better, when I caught up with Rafe before the gig in Stereo, he introduces us to the other band members, and

The One Week Reminder...

2009-11-13T16:58:00.002Z

... since donations have tailed off, that the Scruffians Project is still going, three stories free to download now. We're only a couple of Guinness-worth from Story #4 being brought into the fray, so if you want more and haven't got round to chucking some dosh in the busker's hat, well, it wouldn't take a whole lot more to reach the secondary target for "How a Scruffian Starts Their Story".Just

Famous in Finland, Fixture in France

2009-11-10T18:46:00.002Z

So, yeah, now that I'm back and settled, pretty much up to date with emails and suchlike, I finally get a chance to say, Finland and France were fucking awesome! Man, you shoulda been there. Or if you were... cheers! I had a fucking brilliant time.I arrived in Helsinki on the Wednesday night, got picked up at the airport by my Finnish translator, Nina Saikkonen, and knew we were going to hit

Review of Wilde Stories 2009

2009-11-09T13:48:00.002Z

In which very nice things are said about me own contribution to Steve Berman's Best of Gay Speculative Fiction:... if you were to read down my annotated contents page you'd see a range of numbers between one and five, and then a heart and exclamation point against this title. There's a lot of strong writing in this collection, but Hal Duncan is my discovery of the volume ~ the author whose works

The Scruffians Project: An Alfabetcha of Scruffian Names

2009-11-06T18:24:00.001Z

UPDATE: NEW STORY FOR SALEThe Story So FarIf you know the score, you can skip ahead to the New Release heading. If not...So I decided to try out an experiment in direct distribution: offer a story in pdf form to anyone who donated an amount at their discretion via PayPal; and should the story reach a target of two-thirds SFWA pro rates (five cents a word), said story would be put on general

BSC Review Column

2009-11-06T03:16:00.002Z

A bit later than the start-of-the-month date intended, (hey, I had drinking with Finns and French to do,) but better late then never, me latest column is now up at BSC Review.It's about vampires. This may have been a terrible mistake, but it's about vampires.

Busy Busy Busy Busy

2009-11-02T18:38:00.002Z

Got back from Nantes late last night, slept most of today and am currently playing catch-up with emails. Will be blogging shortly about it all, though I can't promise *how* shortly. Still got a column for BSC Review to finish too. And "Jack Scallywag" just broke the secondary target, which means getting another release lined up.So in the meantime, have some Lego Sweeney Todd. It's awesome.

With Halloween on the Way...

2009-10-28T22:40:00.000Z

How To Find A Masculine Halloween Costume For Your Effeminate Son

Home from Helsinki

2009-10-27T21:52:00.002Z

And too whacked to say anything more than how awesome it was, and that from now on I am to be known as Moominhal. Cause trolls can be Scottish too, right? Or do I have to move to Finland to qualify? Cause, yanno, I didn't want to leave. There were tears at the airport; I shit you not. Ask Moominhanna.Anyway, before I crumble into bed and sleep for... well... all the time I have before

Jack Scallywag at Large

2009-10-20T23:28:00.002+01:00

Yes, that last wee reminder seems to have done the trick. Got the final few donations needed -- the last one just coming through five minutes ago -- to tip us past the $200 mark. Which means that "Jack Scallywag" is now available for free download too. So go, take, read, and hopefully enjoy. And, yes, there's another story all set to go. If folks who were waiting to try before they buy step

Almost There

2009-10-20T05:07:00.002+01:00

It's been a week since the last reminder, "Jack Scallywag" is real close to making the publication target now, (less than three pints of Guinness away, indeed,) and I'm off to Finland tomorrow, so I thought before I head off on me own adventuring, I'd throw out a wee reminder of the Grand Experiment, see if I can catch anyone what might still be swithering or might even have just missed what I'm

More Musicality

2009-10-20T03:00:00.002+01:00

Got pretty much the final recording for Nowhere Town done with Maestro Williamson tonight, so having cobbled together the rough mixes of the last three songs what were waiting to be done, I thought I'd share them with yez. So, we has Incubation, which if ye've read the libretto ye'll notice has quite different lyrics than are in that. It took me a long time of prevaricating, but I finally

Upcoming Events

2009-10-18T18:49:00.002+01:00

The Helsinki Book Fair is getting very very close now, so I thought I'd post what I have of my schedule, though I think a lot of the times are still provisional.Thursday 22nd10-11 am I've got a press conference at the book fair apparently. Coooooool! "Press conference" makes me feel all presidential. I wonder if I can slip in "I can neither confirm nor deny that rumour."From what I understand

An Open Letter to Jan Moir

2009-10-17T20:18:00.003+01:00

Dear Jan Moir,We, the Elders of Sodom, are writing to you in the hope that you'll reconsider your response to the widespread criticism of your Daily Mail article, "Why There Was Nothing 'Natural' About Stephen Gately's Death" (subsequently retitled "A Strange, Lonely and Troubling Death".) We'd like to point out to you that when you say, "Some people, particularly in the gay community, have been

Talking of Virtual Fiction...

2009-10-14T20:16:00.005+01:00

... the Paper Cities e-book, Kindle edition, has now gone live on Amazon.com:<

Direct Distribution Experiment

2009-10-13T19:07:00.002+01:00

Hmmmm. As I suspected would be the case, Paypal donations for "Jack Scallywag" have been substantially fewer than those for "Scruffians Stamp." There's plenty of freebie downloads of "Scruffians Stamp" going on in the meantime, but that clearly ain't converting into support. Yes, you get enough folks donating that it works as a one-off, but it's not looking terribly sustainable, I gotta say.

Last Drink Bird Head

2009-10-08T16:19:00.004+01:00

I've been meaning to pimp this for ages, cause: a) I'm in it; b) it's for a good cause, a literacy charity; c) I'm in it; d) there's lots of other people in it too, really cool writers like Daniel Abraham, Michael Arnzen, Steve Aylett, KJ Bishop, Michael Bishop, Desirina Boskovich, Keith Brooke, Jesse Bullington, Richard Butner, Catherine Cheek, Matthew Cheney, Michael Cisco, Gio Clairval, Alan M

Mind Meld, Matelotage and Mutiny

2009-10-07T17:41:00.003+01:00

The latest Mind Meld over at SF Signal is on the book that introduced you to fantasy. I've got me own contribution up there, a general raving on the wonder that is THE BORRIBLES. This may not come to much of a surprise to them what's read the book(s) in question, especially not if ye've read "Scruffians Stamp". And even less so if ye've ever heard me rant about these books in person (and

Jack Scallywag

2009-10-05T18:11:00.003+01:00

Well, cool! Allowing for one pledge what ain't quite come through yet, but which is from someone as I know will be chucking the money in shortly, it appears as how "Scruffians Stamp" has made the pro-rates mark of $150. Which means to things: 1) at least some folks will (can afford to) still throw some cash into the hat. (And those who maybe can't afford to contribute (and trust me, I know

Hurrah!

2009-10-05T17:45:00.002+01:00

I am nominated for an award. Is a cool little Bosch-birdy award too. I feel like I should say something clever now, since it's for "expanding vocabulary." But I'll just go for "huzzah" right now.

Scruffians Stamp: Sold to... Everyone!

2009-10-02T17:21:00.002+01:00

Yep, it looks like the experiment was a success. As of today the total donations reached £69, which my currency converter widget tells me is $109. So we've hit the hundred dollars mark I was aiming for, and that means "Scruffians Stamp" is now available to everyone. There's the original pdf and, courtesy of Meika Samorzewski and Eric Rosenfield, it's also available in pdb and epub formats. Of

October Column at BSCReview

2009-10-01T18:16:00.001+01:00

Notes from New Sodom: To the Water Fountains

Scruffians Stamp

2009-09-29T19:16:00.002+01:00

OK, so I thought in the interest of subsidising my eating hobby, I'd experiment with this online direct publication malarkey, straight from me to yerself. Like, invite the whole Paypal donations thing via the button to the left there, in exchange for a previously unpublished 3000 word short story (hot off the press, in fact,) to be made available for download when (or maybe if) donations reach a

Nowhere Town: Opening and Closing Songs

2009-09-23T18:17:00.004+01:00

Nothing in my Sight:andThe Best Days of my Death:

Awesome!

2009-09-19T17:01:00.002+01:00

My column at BSC Review just got a nod in the LA Times. Sweet!