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cresting the big wave
I’ve been working on the web site redevelopment of the Irish Playwrights and Screenwriters Guild for a long time. I do a lot of web-related work for the Guild, including managing all of its social media outlets, which every organisation needs to maintain these days. A big job like a web site overhaul requires large periods of allocated concentration, and that’s been problematic in regards to divvying up my few resources. Working with advocacy organisations means you’re always scraping the pan for those last scraps of funding, and this year the Guild absorbed several funding cuts: there is nothing lurking at the bottom of that pot now. Still, I’m glad…
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news for the new year
I’ve some news I’ve been sitting on for no good reason, other than my motivation for blogging suffered a sap across the forehead late last year. In December I sold the audio right to my story “The Tamga” to Pseudopod. I’m delighted I’ll soon have another story up among their fine catalogue of spoken works. “The Tamga” was originally published in issue 6 of Shroud Magazine. My story, “The Secret Names of Buildings” is now available in M-Brane SF, issue 12, which is guest edited by Rick Novy. It’s another of my Clarion West stories, and this was written for week 6, when the brilliant sf writer Vernor Vinge was…
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waiter, is that horror in my sf?
The events of the previous week came at a time when I was busier than normal, so it’s taken me some time to catch up, and even out my workload. Except now I have the joyful task of sorting out my tax returns, ASAP. Hurray! So, it’s nice to hear that issue 9 of M-Brane SF has been released. It contains my horror sf story “Empty Mind Came Back with the Pearl”. When I began submitting it to publications I learned that a lot of markets aren’t so keen on horror in their sf; many expressly forbid it. It’s a pity, and certainly a factor to consider when writing a…
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a sale, and a shoot
Chris Fletcher, editor of M-Brane SF, informed me yesterday that he wanted to buy my near-future sf short story “The Secret Names of Buildings”. So I said yes! It will appear in issue 12, which is being guest edited by Rick Novy. Again, this is a story I wrote at Clarion West. It was during week six, my last week at the workshop, and we were being mentored by sf legend Vernor Vinge. Vernor is a hard sf writer, so I wrote something I thought might benefit from his expertise. Vernor, by the way, was very generous with his time, and enjoyed geeking out with us – all his conferences…
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end of summer round-up
I’ve never had such a long gap between blog posts before, I guess that means I’ve been busy. Time to herd some news stories across the prairies. I sold my sf-horror story, “Empty Mind Came Back With the Pearl”, to M-Brane SF a while ago. It will appear in issue 9. I’m delighted this story will get to an audience. I wrote it at Clarion West, during the week Nalo Hopkinson was our teacher. She described it as the love child of Clive Barker and Brian Aldiss I believe. I’m co-writing a three-issue comic book, called Róisín Dubh, with Rob Curley of Atomic Diner publications, and the fabulous Sub City…
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establishing space
Over the years I’ve watched Alien (1979) many, many times. Every time it appears on television I am compelled to watch it again. I’m never bored because I’m always watching for something new in the film, and each time something comes to my attention. In my recent viewing I was struck at how Ridley Scott takes his time establishing the environment of the spaceship. A good four/five minutes pass until anyone speaks. Before that there are moody shots of the interior, with enough human touches in-between the technology and flashing buttons to suggest people before we ever see them. Goldsmith’s score is haunting. This is a film that sets an…
