Prizes in the post

I love getting things in the post, especially when those things are shaped like books. Luckily I buy a lot of books online, so it’s like every day is Christmas for me.

Today I received an issue of Shock Totem – who I intend to try and sell to in the near future – a signed limited edition (my favourite kind of edition) of Bryan’s Gold by Peter V. Brett (released by Subterranean Press, and I’ll blog about them later because they produce amazing books), and the first chapbook from Spectral Press.

Spectral Press are a new publisher who produce extremely limited edition chapbooks (this first one is limited to 100 signed copies). They’re focussing on stories with a ghostly/supernatural theme, which is right up my alley. The first book looks like this;

I love chapbooks, and this is a cracking one. It’s a great story, the kind that makes me go I wish I’d written this. The Quiet Room is a really cool idea, although I think I would have done something very different with it.

But anyway… It’s a great read, and this is a really high-quality product. I would have liked to see some illustrations alongside the text as well, but that would have made this much more expensive. As it is a Spectral Press subscription will only set you back a tenner, and that gets you a year’s worth of chapbooks (they’re going to be released quarterly). On it’s own this is £3.50, and that includes postage. Bargain. You should invest.

The imprint is invitation only. I’m going to add them to my list of people I’d one day like to be asked to write for, which includes Subterranean Press and PS Publishing. I’d best get cracking on becoming a successful writer, really.

Also, I've just spotted an interview with Simon Marshall-Jones (the editor/owner of Spectral), in which he says this;

"I would like to expand the lines available from Spectral – first, in line with my love of old ghost stories, there’ll be Spectral Old Masters, which will reprint out-of-print and out-of-copyright stories from the late Victorian/Edwardian/early 20th century eras."

Can I be the first to say yes, please?

Brian Davis

Something a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m fascinated by 17th-19th Century natural history. I’ve got a small – but growing – collection of natural history books that were published in the 1800s, things like Ray Lankester’s Diversions of a Naturalist and Frank Buckland’s Curiosities of Natural History; books that try to explain things that science at the time didn’t have an explanation for.

The whole ‘Age of Enlightenment’ in general is enormously interesting. This was a time when science as we know it was in its infancy, and people still had a residual belief in magic. This was the time that gave birth to the Wunderkammer, and mediums and freak shows and all sorts of things could be found everywhere you looked.

The story I’ve been writing this past couple of weeks has drawn quite a bit on my love of all of this stuff, especially on the history of the Feejee Mermaid. If you don’t know what that is you should read about it, because it’s fascinating.

Anyway. It’s a goal of mine to build up a collection of curiosities to go with my natural history books, and I think I know where I’m going to start. There’s a guy on eBay called Brian Davis who makes all sorts of weird things, including feejee mermaids and – believe it or not – a Cthulu foetus. They’re amazing, and hideous, and I really want on. Have a look;

Feejee mermaid in a box

Sasquatch foetus 

Cthulu foetus!

Aren’t they amazing? If anybody wants to buy me one, feel free.

Windows Live Writer Test

I’ve just downloaded Windows Live Writer and I’m hoping it’s going to solve my cross-posting problems. This is just a test post, so ignore it.

Image test

And I should try a link as well.

Kitty Says

After I posted the blog last night I realised that I haven't written about Kitty. There's a link over on the links page, but who ever goes over there? So. Kitty;

The card she gave me at Christmas has been framed, because it's awesome. I'd put a photo up, but it's mine and I don't feel like sharing. And she hasn't put the design online, and I'm not going to be rude. 

She blogs. She eats. She draws. She tweets. That about sums it up.

Peter Carrington

My friend Pete is incredibly talented. Not long ago he put on an exhibit at Grindsmith in Manchester, which was a roaring success. They've since shut down, unfortunately (nothing to do with Pete), but while the exhibit was up he sold more pieces than anybody who had exhibited there before, and his show kept getting extended. I wish I had photos from the opening night, because the place was packed with people.

Anyway. Here's why he was so popular;

Talented git. He makes me sick. And I really want him to design a tattoo for me (hint hint, Pete, hint hint). His current project sounds really cool, but I'm not going to say anything about it because I want him to start updating his blog. Get on it boyo.

It Happened To Me!

While I was killing time after work I spotted this;

Terrible blurry photo.

It's full of supposedly true stories of people's encounters with the paranormal, and it's an absolute treasure trove of story ideas. I've already found something that's going to help kickstart my fairy story back into action, and found a few things I want to research.

I sense a subscription to the Fortean Times in my future... 

In other news, I've got one - possibly two - more scenes to write on the mermaid story before it's done and I send it out to beta readers. And, even more exciting, I tweeted Kyle Cassidy about my last entry - to check he didn't mind me putting his photos up - and he tweeted a link about the blog*. I'm going to take that as permission to use the photos...

*This made me grin for roughly 82gajillion hours.

Dallas + Shad - Live Forever

This came in the post today.

Obviously not the one I got.

It's the new 12" single from Dallas Green - the man behind City & Colour and guitarist/vocalist with one of my favourite bands, Alexisonfire.

The single is in collaboration with rapper Shad, and it's awesome. Dallas' vocals work really well with Shad's rapping, and the music is really chilled yet upbeat at the same time. The single is limited to 556 copies and all proceeds go to Skate4Cancer, a Canadian charity who aim to spread cancer awareness. It's an awesome single, for a great cause, and if there are any left you can buy it from Maple Music.

And in case you want to here it, here's side one of the record, 'Live Forever'. Enjoy.

Where I Write

One of my favourite people on teh interwebz is Kyle Cassidy, a fantastic photographer and all-round inspiring person. His blogs are always entertaining and uplifting, and he's always telling his readers to go "do something awesome today." That's a philosophy I can get behind.

My personal favourite project of his is Where I Write; photos of best-selling writers in their creative spaces. I love these little glimpses into the world of genius, and the difference that can be seen in each picture. For example, compare the chaos of Michael Swanwick's office with the clinical emptiness of Harry Harrison's;

Images © Kyle Cassidy. Used without permission. Click to embiggen.

I really do love this project, and I can't wait for it to become a physical thing I can have on my bookcase (the other reason for that is because Neil Gaiman is going to be in it. Remind me to post a picture of my Neil Gaiman bookcase when I'm next procrastoblogging).

Yes, I'm procrastinating (I like the word procrastoblogging actually), so I thought I'd share mine. This should more accurately be called Where I Type, because my first-drafting is done longhand wherever I've got room to wield a notebook and pen. But still. 

Big cup of coffee and the world's most uncomfortable chair to stop me falling asleep, right next to my bed for when that's just inevitable. What you probably can't see are my stuffed Sonic and Tails toys hiding behind the box-file and books, there for moral support.

Yeah. What?

Jingle Bells and Clockwork Elves

This year I decided to send a Christmas card for the first time. I don't usually bother because, to be honest, I don't like Christmas. I work in retail, and have done for the past 6 years. You do the maths.

Anyway. I decided to get in the spirit and produce my own card. Only about 6 got sent out, and I still owe one to a couple of people because I'm just rubbish like that, but I thought I'd share it here. There's a link to the story I wrote for the card with a photo of the card itself on the Writing page, or you can click here to be taken straight to it. Enjoy!

Post-It Monsters

I was pointed in the direction of this guy's blog today courtesy of my good friend Whiteh. This guy draws illustrations of monsrers of Post-It notes, and they're incredible.

(Image © John Kenn. Used without permission.)

This one in particular reminds me of the scene in The Amber Spyglass when Lyra is crossing the lake to the land of the dead, which is one of my favourite scenes in any of those books. You should look through the rest of his blog, because these drawings are incredible. Maybe when I'm a mega-successful writer I'll ask him to illustrate some of my work. </ego>

In other news, tonight I'm going to try and get the first draft of the mermaid story finished so I can type it up at the beginning of next week and start on one of the other stories burning a hole in my skull.

New year, new start, new stories

So much for using this as a mirror of my livejournal, eh? That didn't happen. Too much like hard work, I guess.

That's going to change. My big resolution this year is to really focus on my writing, and that's what I'm doing. I'm taking part in Write 1 Sub 1, a challenge that seeks to emulate Ray Bradbury by writing and submitting a story a week for a year. Yikes.

Of course, my other resolution is to write a novel this year, so I'm going to cut the 52 stories down to 40. That gives me 12 weeks to get a novel written as well - and obviously I can do that when I'm taking time in between stories. It's going to be hard work, but it's going to be totally worth it.

So... It's just on 2 weeks into the new year. I've written and submitted two stories (one I've submitted twice, because Clarkesworld read their slush really fast) and I've submitted a story that I wrote at the tail end of last year (the one that got rejected by Shimmer). This week I'm finishing the first draft of a novella I've been talking about writing for a few years, and then I'm going to start on a story that's unlike anything I've written before.

Sounds like fun, doesn't it?