Lee Moan's Steam-Powered Typewriter

Two Kindle Novels and a Short Story Collection - Free for Monday

2012-01-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

For today only (Monday 9th Jan) three of my Kindle ebooks will be free on Amazon:

Lazarus Island
The Vanished Race
The Midnight Men and Other Stories

(Please spread the word!)

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams . . .

2011-12-30T14:24:00.000-08:00

Twelve months ago I was in a bad place. The New Year was looming, I had some personal problems that were kicking my behind, and my writing career was not progressing the way I'd hoped. Then, on Jan 2nd, I received a late night phone call from America. It was Joni Labaqui from the Writers of the Future Contest. The story I had entered almost four months previous (and which, to be honest, I had forgotten about) had reached the final 8 of the quarter. Ms Labaqui assured me that my story was really good and that I was a talented writer. I almost cried. As it happens, the story didn't make the all-important Final 3 but shortly after I went on to sell it to Realms of Fantasy Magazine*. [*That's another story.]

Anyhoo, this episode taught me a couple of things. One, I can do this. I've "got the chops", as they say. Two, I started telling myself to stop waiting around for things to happen. Make your own opportunities. At the time, I didn't quite know what that meant. Surely a writer has to wait for that all-important publishing deal, right? That was my dream, wasn't it? Since the age of ten I'd been dreaming of being a published full-time writer just like my hero Stephen King. (Yeah, I read Firestarter, Pet Semetary, Cujo and Thinner about that time - go figure.) But back in January 2011, I had an epiphany moment.

Sometimes, we have to adapt our dreams.

I'd been following the blog of Mr Joe Konrath and his trailblazing adventures in the world of self-publishing (or indie publishing for want of a better term, but to be honest the terminology is unimportant). Things were changing. The publishing world was changing. Hell, the world was changing. With the advent of ereaders like the Kindle, the Nook and the Sony Reader, the way people read was changing - and at the same time, the way writers got published was changing, too. Writers suddenly had the autonomy and the freedom to write what they wanted and publish it how and when they wanted. With publishing platforms like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Smashwords, writers were able to reach potentially vast audiences. I'm not going to detail the various arguements for or against self-publishing because, in the end, every writer has to weigh up the pros and cons for themselves and make a choice. Personally, I am proud to say that since March 2011 when I self-published my first ebook, I have sold over 20,000 ebooks. In the process, I've received really good reviews, some great feedback from readers, and most importantly, I've been given a real sense of purpose in my writing. I can't wait to get the next book out to readers. And the next one after that.

I've never felt more excited about doing the thing I love most.

May I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2012! May all your dreams come true.

Probability and Chaos

2011-12-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

Probability and Chaos

'If you jump,' the cop bellowed, fighting to be heard over the buffeting wind, 'you’ll be dead before you hit the ground.'

The jumper, a young man in a white lab coat, glanced over the ledge on which he was standing, taking in the endless tiers of sky-traffic coursing by in every direction below them. The young scientist let out a short, high-pitched laugh. 'You would think so, wouldn’t you?' he shouted to the cop.

'What are you talking about?' said Officer Pullman. 'If you throw yourself into that traffic, the odds of surviving are a million to one!'

The young scientist smiled grimly. 'Actually, the odds are 123,570-to one, to be precise.' He observed the puzzled expression on the officer’s face. 'That’s my field of research - probability and chaos. You’re quite right that the odds against me not being hit by a single vehicle during my descent are considerable. But for the last six months I’ve been working night and day to predict the exact moment and the exact circumstances necessary for me to fall through the sky-traffic and completely avoid being hit.' He glanced at his wristwatch. 'And that moment, according to my calculations, is due in twenty-three seconds time.'

'Are you serious?' asked Pullman.

'Of course! At precisely 11:47 and 23 seconds I will conduct my experiment. I will jump.'

Pullman shook his head in disbelief. 'But … even if you miss being hit by the traffic, you’ll still die. You’ll hit the pavement!'

'That doesn’t matter,' said the scientist. 'If I hit the pavement before I hit anything else, the experiment will have been a complete success!'

'Not if you’re dead!' said Pullman.

'I’m not afraid. I will die safe in the knowledge that I will be famous beyond death. As the first person to truly control his destiny!'

Pullman slumped back against the window-frame in defeat, and then he said the one thing negotiators are taught never to say to a jumper: 'You’re crazy!'

The scientist gave him a wan smile. 'We’ll see, shall we?' He looked once more at his watch. Pullman could see him silently counting down 3 … 2 … 1 …

Then he jumped.

With a mixture of horror and curiosity, Pullman watched the man fall - only he didn’t fall very far. About twenty feet below them, just above the point where the heavy flow of sky-traffic began, a speck of blinding blue light exploded into life. The light expanded rapidly into a large cone-shaped vortex. In its swirling throat Pullman could see a terrible blackness. Something told him that inside that vortex was the end of all things. He watched as the demented young scientist fell straight into that heart of darkness (his final cry of 'What the hell?' echoing in Pullman‘s head for some time afterwards) and disappeared. A second later, the vortex itself winked out of existence.

Officer Pullman looked down into the noisy sky-traffic, scratched his head and said, 'I guess he never predicted that!'

The View from the Bridge

2011-12-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

“Potential suicide, Golden Gate Bridge. Officer needs assistance.”

Sergeant Harris studied the figure in his rear view mirror. Dark clothing, black raincoat, raised hood. It was a miracle Harris had seen him through the thrashing rain. But this wasn’t the first time he’d come across someone loitering conspicuously at that particular spot. In his ten years on the beat there’d been a dozen suicides there; he’d attended two of them himself.

The first one had jumped - a middle-aged woman driven to despair after ten years in an abusive relationship. Harris had never really gotten over her death. He could still remember the feel of her dress as it slipped through his fingers. Helpless, he’d watched her fall - silent, graceful - into the roiling waters below.

He’d made a promise to himself that day - he would never let it happen again. Thankfully, the one which followed, a young man, had been pulled back from the brink. Afterwards, Harris had asked him why he’d chosen to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. The man replied, “I just liked the view from there.”

Harris supposed that was all it was. If he ever decided to end it all, he would probably go to the same spot for the very same reason. The view of the Bay was glorious from there, and what better view to have at the end . . .

The figure in the hooded raincoat, oblivious to Harris’s patrol car parked only a dozen yards away, stepped onto the lower bar of the railing.

“Just hurry with the back-up,” Harris barked, slamming the inter-com back into its cradle. He studied the figure for a moment, feeling the twin spokes of fear and adrenalin in his gut. After glancing round, he pulled a small silver flask from his pocket and raised it to his lips. If any of his colleagues saw him on the sauce again he’d be canned for certain, which would be a tragedy after he’d managed to convince everyone that he’d beaten his addiction.

He took a healthy swallow and slipped it back into his trouser pocket, before climbing out of the car into the rain-washed night. Cautiously, he approached the wavering figure.

“Hello there!” he hollered.

The figure didn’t turn.

“You okay, sir?”

Still no response.

Harris shuffled closer. He could just glimpse the man’s profile - nose, lips, bearded chin - peeking from the hood. The guy looked rough. A tramp, maybe. As Harris took another step closer, he smelled the wreak of booze.

“Would you step down from there, buddy?” Harris asked in a calm, level tone. “Can you hear me, pal?”

“Stop me.”

The words were so faint, Harris wasn’t sure if he’d imagined them.

“Excuse me?”

The figure turned slightly towards him so that Harris saw one rheumy, bloodshot eye staring back at him.

“Stop me,” the old man said.

“Stop you? Buddy, that’s what I want to do.” Harris took this as a plea for intervention and stepped forward-

But something - some force - was stopping him. He pressed forward again, but felt a definite resistance. It wasn’t the wind. This was like some invisible barrier surrounding the hooded figure.

“Stop me!” Louder this time, almost a command.

“I - I can’t,” Harris admitted. “I want to, but-”

The figure pointed a bony, accusing finger at Harris. “You can stop this!”

Harris tried to focus on the hooded figure, but it was as if his vision was slipping between two different images of the same man - one looking down into the water, the other turned slightly towards him.

“You can stop this!” the figure said once more, before it turned, both images melting into one again. The old man raised himself up on the railing, his upper body shaking with the effort.

“No! Don’t!” Harris screamed. He threw himself forward with all his strength, hit the wall of pressure and then-

The next thing he knew he was lying on his back in the traffic lane, rain running down the back of his uniform, blinding headlights bearing down on him. He was so stunned he didn’t even think to scramble out of the way. Luckily, the vehicle slowed and pulled up in front of him. The flashing blue lights filled him with relief.

“Harris, you okay?”

It was Sergeant Dawson, one of his oldest friends on the force. He rushed over and helped him to his feet.

“The old guy!” Harris said breathlessly. “He jumped!”

“What old guy?” Dawson said, scanning the length of the bridge.

“Didn’t you see him?” Harris asked.

“I only saw you, man,” Dawson said. “You stumbled and fell in the road.”

“Yeah, but-”

Dawson’s friendly expression suddenly turned sour. He leaned close and sniffed Harris’s breath. “You been drinking, man?”

Before Harris could answer, Dawson reached down and picked something up from the gutter. It was Harris’s silver flask.

“Jesus, man,” Dawson said, slapping the flask against Harris’s chest. “You told me you’d kicked the habit.” He shook his head. “It’ll be the death of you, Harris.”

Harris froze, his shame momentarily forgotten.

“What did you say?”

“You heard.” Dawson walked back to his patrol car. “Give it up, man,” he said, before driving away.

Harris stood awhile in the pouring rain, staring down at the sleek surface of the flask.

You can stop this.

Had he imagined the whole thing? Was that figure not really there at all tonight? Or was it a glimpse of something that had not yet come to pass? He remembered the profile of that haunted figure, and saw a likeness now that sent a terrible shiver through him.

You can stop this.

“Yeah,” Harris said to himself, “I can.” And with one mighty throw, he tossed the flask over the railing and into the dark waters below.

***

The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Star Pilot

2011-12-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

JOURNAL ENTRY #3138 Date: 11/04/2199 Time: 1046

This is Cory Dealth, captain and pilot of the cargo freighter, Alexa. I’ve just chartered the final leg of our course for Delta Centauri, but I’m certain that I won’t reach journey’s end alive. I am in the grip of “the Sorrow”, “the Loneliness”, “the Pilot’s Despair”; it doesn’t matter what you call it, I know it has only one cure — death.

Continue reading the story here: Planet Magazine

The Thing All Parents Fear

2011-11-27T13:21:00.000-08:00

Some years ago, I recall Stephen King talking about Pet Semetary (still one of my favourite King books) and the hesitancy he felt about actually publishing it. The cause of his hesitancy? The fact that the story featured the death of a child - surely the greatest fear of all parents. I believe SK referred to that particular plot development as "real horror". There's another quote out there (I forget from whom) which goes something like this: "In a novel, you can kill as many men as you like. You can kill women if they deserve it (if they're really bad) and you can kill a child if you have very, very good reason. But if you kill off a dog in your book, you're probably going to alienate your readers completely." I'm paraphrasing here but that's the essential gist. Incidentally, I love the irony of the quote that dogs spark a greater emotional reaction than children. Anyway, point being that no matter how great the tale you are spinning, readers (and I count myself amongst that number) are emotionally connected to certain things and as a result may react to your narrative in an unexpected and seemingly quite irrational way. I think, in literary terms, this sort of reaction goes back to the public outcry Charles Dickens experienced when it was discovered that he was about to kill off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. Readers petitioned him to change the outcome, to save their beloved Little Nell, a character they had come to love and care about. Of course, Dickens did not. He told the story he set out to tell. That is the writer's job.

Children die. They die all the time, all around the world, every day. It is heartbreaking and traumatic, but it is part of life. I remember watching a BBC documentary some years ago about the hardships suffered by children in an African community which believed in the occult practice of Kindoki. In one scene, a child of no more than 3 0r 4 years old was sick with some incurable disease and a holy man was standing over him, conducting a deeply upsetting ritual over the boy (he was crying throughout). The journalist reporting the event said in voice-over: "The boy died two nights later". I couldn't sleep that night. I couldn't stop crying for that little boy, so scared and alone and confused. I've never been so upset by something I've seen on television. So I totally get why people react so strongly to children dying even in a fictional narrative. We, as a society, are deeply sentimental when it comes to children. No one in their right mind wants to see a child in pain, or worse still, experience the death of a child. My novel, Lazarus Island, features such an event, and I have to say, the original ending kept me from publishing it for quite some time - years, in fact. I wasn't happy with the original ending at all. I personally found it so dark and depressing that I simply shelved the book and moved onto other stories. But I always loved the mythology of the island and, like Lazarus himself, the story just refused to die. Finally, I found the ending the story needed and I believe it directly addresses the issue I'm trying to highlight right here. At what point do we let go of our emotional connection to a character and allow the story to unfold as it was intended? (The only pop culture example I can think of to illustrate this point is the death of Jack at the end of Titanic - Jack and Rose should have been together forever!!!) The writer's dream is to create characters readers can care about. It shouldn't matter whether they're a child or an adult. A writer's responsibilty is to "tell the truth" and, like I said, sometimes children die - in real life and in fiction. I have four children myself, so it's not something I say lightly, or without personal experience. Children are precious and that is what makes the human experience so painful and difficult and - ultimately - so rewarding.

Lazarus Island Offer

2011-11-23T15:38:00.000-08:00

Hi folks. My latest novel Lazarus Island is currently discounted on Smashwords until 20th December:

USE COUPON CODE UE63U at checkout to get this ebook for just $1.50.
Smashwords - Lazarus Island

As always, all feedback is greatly appreciated.

LAZARUS ISLAND AVAILABLE ON KINDLE FOR HALLOWEEN

2011-10-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

AMAZON US

AMAZON UK

Into the Realms of Fantasy (see what I did there?)

2011-09-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased, proud, and all kinds of excited to announce that my dark fantasy story 'The Transmuted Engine' has been picked up by Realms of Fantasy Magazine. I do believe this will be my very first professional sale. It was a long and interesting process.

The first draft of this story was written waaay back in 2008. I was a regular at Critters Online at the time and after honing the story as best I could I submitted it for critique and four weeks later recieved about fifteen or sixteen critical evaluations, ranging from in-depth monologues to a few scant lines. After fixing the issues which arose in those crits, I sent it to a number of magazines, including Interzone, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Weird Tales, GUD, Andromeda Spaceways and a bizarro anthology, amongst others. Despite the rejections, I still believed in the story. I felt it was the most exciting and imaginitive piece of fiction I had yet produced. In August 2010, I sent it to L Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future Contest. I didn't hold much hope of success. I'd entered twice before and reached the quarter finals and felt that was as far as I was going to get. But in the early hours of January 1st 2011 I received a phonecall from America. It was Joni Labaqui, one of the administrators of the Writers of the Future Contest. She told me my story had reached the final eight for the quarter and was in with a good chance of winning. She told me that, no matter what happens, "you are a great writer". I am telling you now, with absolute honesty, that tears sprang into my eyes at that moment. It was all I could do to keep myself standing upright. I managed to keep my composure for the rest of the conversation, but I was choked with emotion by the end of it.

Now, sadly, 'The Transmuted Engine' didn't make the all-important final three (the prizewinning positions) but that phone conversation not only saved my life, it gave me a newfound sense of self-belief. As a result, I sent the story to Realms of Fantasy, the magazine I had always dreamed of being published in but never dared believe I would, and here we are, six months later, with an acceptance. [Duotrope's Digest reports that Realms of Fantasy has a 1.27 % acceptance rate, and that alone makes me feel emotional all over again.] I wanted to share this story with you, the story of my first big story sale, because it is a huge milestone in my career. There are so many factors involved in selling any story to any market - the editor's tastes, the genre/style of your story, your status as a writer, etc. - but I think the one thing this process has taught me is that if you write something you are proud of and which you utterly believe in, and if you work damn hard to make it the best it can possibly be, it will find an outlet. Eventually.

Never give up.

Never give up on yourself and never give up on an ideal.

'Nuff said.

My Author Page at Goodreads

2011-08-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

I now have my very own shiny new Author Page over at Goodreads. If you're a fellow author or reader, please consider adding me as a friend. I'd love to hear from other booklovers.

Why Do We Write What We Write?

2011-08-15T15:01:00.001-07:00

It's a question writers are often asked, and which they may sometimes ask of themselves. For my money, Stephen King provided the best answer to this question. He proposed the idea that we all have a filter in our brains and as we go through life certain things stick in that filter, things which may pass through everyone else's. For King, the things which seemed to frequently catch in his filter erred on the darker side of life. Hence the horror. For other people, their filter may catch the weird and the amusing, the fantastic, the mysterious or even the downright saucy.

I've found that I tend to write about the extraordinary, sometimes the fantastical, but my stories are always grounded in the human experience. After all, a fantastical tale told without any emotional human connection is really just an empty exercise, in my opinion. I also tend to write about tortured heroes. I like a happy ending as much as the next guy, but my protagonists need to go through a pretty hard time to reach that happy ending, and even when they get there, it'll never be the happy ending they (or the reader) expect. I guess I'm a 'bitter-sweet-ending' kind of guy. And if there is one thing above all else which drives my writing it's the love of surprise. I want to surprise my readers, I want to surprise my characters, and hell, yes, I want to surprise myself when I'm writing -hence my reluctance to write detailed story outlines these days. I love to tell fast-paced stories and it's always my intention to provide a gripping mystery to solve right from the first paragraph, if possible, or at least from the opening chapter. Mystery is primal. Everyone loves a mystery.

But above all else, I want to find that emotional connection with my hero or my main characters. When I'm reading a book or watching a film, the thing I most value is to be moved by it in some way. The ability to stir the emotions in drama or fiction is a truly wonderful thing. It's what I always strive for when I'm writing. And I'm not talking about sentimentality, the 'unearned emotion'. I'm talking about creating characters which readers really care about. It should be at the core of what we do. To this day I am amazed and inspired by the public outcry from readers when Dickens said he was going to kill off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop. That so many people found the death of a fictional character to be so deeply upsetting that they needed to beg the author not to carry it out - well, it's just beyond words.

There have been two great influences in my life with regards to my artistic sensibilites, and they are the works of two massively talented Stephens - Stephen King and Stephen Spielberg. I think my own sensibilities lie somewhere between the two. I remember years ago picking up a paperback copy of King's The Talisman and reading that Spielberg had bought the rights to make it into a movie. Sadly, it never materialised, but I often wonder how perfect that partnership might have been. For me, anyway.

I'm off to do some writing now. Like Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone, I might just keep a box of tissues by the keyboard. You know, in case I get something in my eye.

Two Free Kindle Ebooks

2011-08-05T14:20:00.000-07:00

Last week, Amazon made my ebooks Forever and Symbiosis free in the Kindle store. Since then, these two ebooks have been downloaded a total of 13,000 times. At the moment they are only free on Amazon.com but will hopefully be free on Amazon.co.uk in the very near future.

The Vanished Race - OUT NOW

2011-07-23T04:56:00.001-07:00

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk

If Agatha Christie Wrote Science Fiction . . .

2011-07-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

Two years ago my first novel, The Hotel Galileo, was published by Wolfsinger Publications and one of the back cover blurbs declared the following: "If Agatha Chrsitie had written fiction she would have stayed at the Hotel Galileo . . ." (Thank you, David Boop). After pondering that sentence for a while it struck me that what I was really trying to do with the book (and consequently the series) is what all writers do: create something they can't find in the current market.

How many times have we enjoyed a certain book or film or tv series and said afterwards, "Yeah, I really enjoyed that . . . but what if they did it this way, or in this type of genre, or with vampires?" For me, The Barclay Heath Mystery Series (which now includes The Hotel Galileo and The Vanished Race) was borne of a love of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot mysteries and an underlying desire to do something different with the genre. I loved the traditional 'Britishness' of Christie's tales, the gallery of suspects, and the genius plots; but at the same time, I also love science fiction - aliens, faraway planets, mystical objects, and everything that goes along with it. It took me several attempts (and a lot of sleepless nights) before I struck on the formula which is the basis for the Barclay Heath series: that of a 1920's-set mystery series set in an alternate universe. What if, I pondered, mankind had ventured out into the stars at the end of the nineteenth century? And what if Twenties values and attitudes had remained unchanged? Imagine a traditional British gentleman detective hopping around the galaxy solving all manner of mysteries. Wouldn't that be so much fun to write?

The answer, I can tell you, is yes it was.

Of all the works I've written so far, the two Barclay Heath mysteries have been the most enjoyable to write. And the third adventure is well under way. Writing should be fun. Otherwise, why bother doing it?

I grew up in Torquay, the birthplace of Agatha Christie, so her influence has been all around me for as long as I can remember. Her legacy is exceptional. I believe she is still one of the best-selling authors of all time. I loved the recent episode of Doctor Who, 'The Unicorn and the Wasp', in which he meets Agatha Christie on the night she went missing; and I particularly love the end of that episode when the Doctor pulls out an old trunk in the Tardis and finds a copy of one of Christie's classic paperbacks, Death in the Clouds. The Doctor remarks how, even in the far-flung future, Agatha Christie is still the best-selling authors of all time.

And rightly so.

_____________________________________________________

The Barclay Heath Mysteries:
The Hotel Galileo
The Vanished Race

The Healing Power of Stephen King

2011-07-14T15:05:00.000-07:00

It's happened before. Many times. When I'm feeling down, moping about in what Dorothea Brande called that 'slough of despond', there's only one tonic I can rely on to reinvigorate the creative juices, to fight off the shackles of despair and stop the old Muse from draping herself languidly over a metaphorical sofa like a pampered tart with a headache. The name of this miracle tonic? Stephen King.

In tough times I've always turned to one of King's books. Non-fiction works are just as good as novels. On Writing always helps relight the fires. As does Danse Macabre. But anything from the opening passages of Carrie to the epic conclusion of The Dark Tower is usually enough to drag me from the pit of despairing writers and hoist me, breathless, onto safe ground. This latest bout of fear and self-loathing has been a pretty protracted affair (months rather than weeks or days), and even the surefire King cure-alls failed to work. But in the end, I found the pill I needed. (All right, enough with the medicinal metaphors!) The book I needed was Cujo.

I know, not hailed as one of his classics, but when you’re a fan of King, all his works have a place in your heart. Cujo is one of those books I bought back in my early teens when I just couldn't get enough of SK's work. I had fond memories of that paperback. It was the Futura edition released shortly after the movie came out with the kid recoiling in horror as the 'BADDOG' lunges in for the kill. I know I read it way back then, but I couldn't remember anything apart from just a few key moments early on. So it was nice to get hold of a reasonably good copy of this little gem off Ebay (sadly not quite the same Futura edition) and to sit down and soak up King at his creative height. And as I was reading I felt the old creative juices beginning to flow again, and within the first fifty pages I had already decided to tackle the difficult second half of my own stalled novel and to complete the unfinished short stories in my 'To Do' list. Once again, Doctor King has worked his voodoo magic.

What would I do without him? Honest answer: Without King, I probably wouldn't be a writer. 'Nuff said.

What is a Slow Learner To Do? Guest Post by Lee Thompson

2011-07-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

I remember when I was younger, all the hours I put into martial arts and how people thought it came naturally. But I lived it, breathed it, dreamt and caressed it. And then in my twenties playing guitar and having other musicians around Detroit say I had something unique going on, something really special, while I let my soul bleed through my fingertips. I wish I was a natural at a lot of things but know I’ve never been with anything (except maybe daydreaming.)

So yeah, I’m a slow learner. My buddy Ken made a blog post recently about discipline, how he wished he had more of it. That’s one thing I’ve always had, luckily. Whether I was imagining, training, writing songs, or whatever, I was committed and they were a priority—those things occupied space in the forefront of my mind even when I was doing something else. I’d work out the images, the motifs, the substance and structure constantly and consistently.

Something I read a long time ago that I think has a lot of benefits if put into practice, especially if you’re a slow learner, is Visualization. The big V. Powerful stuff. Ground shaking creators use it, Olympic athletes, and so many others who are at the top of their game. I don’t care for Donald Trump but I think I read that he used it frequently.

But numeral uno for a slow learner is discipline. Everything else stems from that.

Discipline spawns consistency, which in turn bears the fruits of results and knowledge.

But like any exercise (steps toward higher ground), just going through the motions isn’t enough. From my experience the best way to hone any skill is to focus on one thing at a time.

With boxing you can have a ten minute session of nothing but combinations, another segment for footwork, another for defensive skills like bobbing and weaving; with guitar, running scales over chords or learning how the modes fit in key, finding the right notes, learning to read music, learning by ear, learning new rhythms. And in writing: having a day to study structure (or experiment with it), or focusing on finding every area where the description in a WIP is so run-of-the-mill you want to knock your teeth out, and instead take those areas, highlight them and be creative (all the while training yourself to put more of yourself into it instead of just hoping someone will get something out of it; learning how you see the world, whether drab or beautiful or both instead of just bland. Actually, I’m convinced that writers whose stories are flat stems from their view of the world as flat and one dimensional, each little thing a chore instead of an opportunity. The only cure I know for that is to adjust your perspective, not an easy feat, but doable.)

I think a lot of my characters are slow learners. It’s what I know and live. It’s painful, but once a lesson is hard-won and you bear the scars of those dark moments you don’t forget them. Those kinds of memories are vivid, a blast of cold air on sunny days, a blaze in the dead of winter.

I think that we train ourselves to fail, to give up too easily, to believe the lies we tell ourselves. We make things harder than they really are. We over-think instead of following our instincts and intuition. I’m not you and you’re not me, but we’ve got patterns that work for us just like we do stumbling blocks we throw ahead of us because we’re frightened; things that move us; things we hate and adore; experiences we can draw from and use to make our writing powerful, immediate and unique. Let’s do that. Not everyone will get it. But we have to do our best and settle for nothing less. Stop thinking your competition begins and ends with everyone else. It doesn’t. It begins inside.

Search out ways to discipline yourself, to be honest with yourself, to dig deeper than you ever have before and ever thought you could.

Never quit searching, asking questions, or striving.

--Lee Thompson

http://leethompsonfiction.com

Nursery Rhymes 4 Dead Children is available for iPad and iPhone (click image below to go to store).

Live to Write, Write to Live

2011-07-02T13:21:00.001-07:00

By any standards, being a writer is not a sane life-choice.

It takes a monumental feat of perseverance and self-belief to achieve the goal of being published, usually over a long (sometimes considerably long) amount of time with no promise of success at the end of it, save of course for the personal satisfaction of having written and, hopefully, having been read. Whilst pursuing this crazy dream, the writer must also juggle the usual demands of a modern life: family, work, studies, and many other responsibilities; so finding the dedication to apply themselves in whatever limited free time they have to sit down in a room and write takes incredible self-discipline, especially when deep down we would really rather be relaxing, enjoying a Babycham or two, or, just for once, sleeping. But for those bitten with the writing bug the dream, and the will to succeed, is so strong that despite the madness of it all, we just have to do it. As Samuel Lover said, "When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen". It's an oft-quoted maxim that a writer must write at least a million words before they reach a publishable standard (no shortcuts here, Mister!), and I think that over the course of that long, long period there is a real danger of the writing losing focus, that they may end up living to write, not writing to live, which is how it should be. And is it any wonder? To spend so much of your time and energy fighting for those few precious hours, to sacrifice sleep and relaxation and 'downtime' to put pen to paper, when everyone and everything around you is screaming at you to do this, that or the other. How much pummeling will your self-belief take before you throw your hands in the air and say, 'Okay, I give up. No one cares about what I'm doing here anyway. This is all just a pipe dream, so forget it.'

But we don't. Somehow we find a way to carry on doing it, and then, one day, out of the blue, those gloomy old clouds break, and you find someone who really likes your work and who wants to publish you, and then, before long, you are published and you're frantically working on the next book and starting to make plans and although you still don't have that much free time it all just seems to be easier, the writing seems to be flowing these days, and - oh wow, just got some feedback from someone who has read your book and they're saying how much they loved it and can't wait for your next book and the one after that. And God bless them. Things like that make the whole crazy journey worth it for a while. And then, with any luck, you're able to achieve the real dream - writing to live. That is, being successful enough to start enjoying life, maybe even giving up the crappy day job and just being paid to write. My, that's a great dream right there, isn't it?

Anyone who comes to writing and thinks it's an easy ride to fame and fortune is either naive, seriously ill-informed or simply deluded. Maybe even all three. And now, of course, with the advent of self-publishing platforms such as Kindle and Smashwords it has become much easier to get published, but the maxim must not be forgotten: no matter how good a writer thinks they are, they must still write at least a million words before their work is ready for the world. In that respect, there are no shortcuts. An apprenticeship must still be served.

Yes, being a writer is not a sane life-choice. But for those willing to put in the work and the dedication (and if they're lucky - luck is always a major factor) the rewards can be great.

Keep writing. And keep dreaming.

Serial Fiction in the Kindle Market

2011-06-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

After having spent some time immersing myself in the indie Kindle market (and when I say that I am really referring to the wider ebook market as a whole, it's just that I'm a Kindle owner and so that's my direct experience) both as an author and reader, it has become clear to me that the one thing that really excels in this brave new digital world is serial fiction. By that I mean series of books which follow a recurring main character or books set in a particular 'universe' in which several adventures take place. Of course there are stand-alone indie novels which have achieved great success, but those indie authors who have found long-term, sustained success have most often achieved it through offering a series of books to their readers (or more than one series if they're really prolific).

I can see the appeal.

Since the TV series Lost exploded onto our screens back in 2004 I've become a bit of a devotee of quality serial telly. [Okay, so people take issue with the ending of Lost but by and large it was an exceptional piece of televisual storytelling, keeping its audience guessing for six years, right up until the very end, and that's some achievement right there. Rant over.] Of course, 'quality' is subjective and so I can only talk about the shows which really push my buttons, regardless of their perceived worth. I loved Lost. I also love Fringe. I loved The 4400 (until it was cancelled!!!!). I love Supernatural. I also love Doctor Who. And all of these shows follow the same format: individual episodes which can be viewed and enjoyed in isolation but with an overall story arc which spans multiple seasons.

When I was a young aspiring writer I wanted to be like Stephen King who, with the exception of The Dark Tower sequence, has always written stand alone novels. But times have changed and I have changed. What really excites me now is creating a unique universe and revisiting it over the course of multiple adventures. I love the idea of story arcs, dropping hints at future developments, and cliffhangers which lead us into the next instalment. The Kindle market is made for this format. Affordable, easy to download ebooks are the perfect way to keep readers and fans returning. I've said it before (as have so many others), now is an exciting time for authors. Especially if you have a gripping serial in mind . . .

The Vanished Race: A Barclay Heath Mystery

2011-05-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Cover art and design by Steve Upham

It's almost here . . .

VISIT THE AWESOME TEMPLE OF TOBRIOSUS
SOLVE THE GREAT MYSTERY OF THE VANISHED TOBRII RACE

For Barclay Heath, it was a mystery too great to resist. But as night falls on the deserted alien world, his fellow passengers begin to vanish one by one . . .

Heath must unravel an age-old mystery before time runs out, before he, too, suffers the same fate as the Tobrii . . .

********************************************

The Barclay Heath Mysteries are set in a whimsical alternate-1920s, where humanity has ventured out into the stars but Twenties values and attitudes prevail. Barclay Heath is a gentleman detective enjoying semi-retirement from Earth’s Secret Service. Unfortunately for Heath, murder and subterfuge are never far away. As he travels the cosmos, he comes up against fiendish plots involving mysterious lost races, strange alien artefacts and, of course, a generous sprinkling of devious humans.

The Vanished Race is the second volume in the Barclay Heath Mystery series, following the detective's exploits in The Hotel Galileo. The books are self-contained mysteries and do not necessarily need to be read in order, although the first book in the series gives a good grounding in the universe Barclay Heath inhabits.

The Vanished Race will be available to buy from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all good online ebook retailers. Watch this space for more details . . .

Reaching the Kindle Top Ten

2011-04-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Last week was a particularly exciting time for this author. Without any warning, my supernatural horror story collection The Midnight Men and Other Stories spent two days in the Amazon top ten charts.

For 48 hours I watched as it jumped about the Top 100 list for Horror Short Stories, reaching its highest ranking of #9, before falling down the rankings a bit then rising again to #10 briefly. At one time it was sandwiched between two HP Lovecraft collections! Cool! Another time it was also sandwiched between two of my literary heroes - Stephen King and Joe Konrath! As you can imagine, I was in a very happy place.

Thanks to everyone who purchased a copy and/or downloaded a sample. Its little moments like these which make the whole journey worthwhile.

My first fully-fledged novel for Kindle is almost ready

2011-04-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a long and difficult road but my novel Lazarus Island is almost done. And when it is finally done it will be my first fully-fledged indie novel. A quick look at the lovely My Books scrolling-thingy above shows the ebooks I currently have to offer on Amazon, and you may notice they are all short story compendiums of varying length. Although I've had some minor successes with the short story collections (particularly The Midnight Men which this week hit the top ten in Amazon's Horror Short Stories chart) I am continually reminded that it is novels which sell well in this new Kindle/Nook age, so I'm really hoping Lazarus Island will liven things up. I will report on its success once it goes live next month.

Watch this space. No, not that one. This one.

(For more info on Lazarus Island visit the website)

Prismatica by L David Hesler

2011-04-16T10:43:00.001-07:00

From April 13th to the 21st, author L David Hesler is offering to donate the profits from his book Prismatica to the charity Relay for Life. Please consider buying this book. I can't recommend it highly enough.

You can purchase it at Amazon.com and here at Amazon.co.uk.

Here is a little more about it.

"1993- Michael Duncan is a rural police officer. He meets a mysterious young girl during a routine search and rescue mission in the woods of Soldier Creek, a haunted stream on the outskirts of Mason's Post, Missouri. His encounter with this tortured girl has consequences that reach nearly twenty years into the future, when a madman possessed by something dark and primal threatens to tear apart a family... and the fabric of reality itself. As Michael's story unfolds in four different sections, the mystery only becomes more maddening. Why was he chosen? And where will he go when he's fulfilled his destiny?"

Find out more at L David Hesler's website: http://ldavidhesler.blogspot.com

(r)Evolution of a Noob: INDIE AUTHOR SHOWCASE 2: Lee Moan

2011-04-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm very pleased to be featured on the website of fellow writer L David Hesler today. This is the second author showcase following on from Daniel Arenson. Click the link below to pay a visit.

(r)Evolution of a Noob: INDIE AUTHOR SHOWCASE 2: Lee Moan

I love my Kindle

2011-04-10T02:59:00.000-07:00

I'd been planning to get myself a Kindle for ages, and after a recent trip to my local Staples store to purchase a memory stick and browse their range of laptops, I asked the sales assistant if by any chance they sold ebook readers. She pointed behind me and I was stunned (and a little suprised) to find a massive display dedicated to the Kindle towering over me. What's more surprising is that they were selling them at the same price as Amazon. So I got myself the Wi-Fi 3G version and haven't looked back since.

It really is a marvel. Without wanting this post to turn into an advert for Amazon's baby, I just want to say how this device really has changed the game for readers and, more importantly, writers in the 21st century. Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

Yesterday, Saturday, I attended my Open University graduation ceremony. I took my Kindle with me just in case there were some lulls in the day. There were. Anyway, during the ceremony an honorary degree was awarded to the writer William Trevor. Although I had heard of Mr Trevor before, I wasn't aware of his work other than knowing he was regarded as one of the greatest living short story writers. Well, after the ceremony was over, I turned on my Kindle and went straight to the Kindle store where I was able to download - instantly - some of his works. Within minutes I had familiarised myself with Mr Trevor and I am now reading one of his collected works. Magic. Ten years ago, or maybe even five years ago, doing this would have been regarded as science fiction. But the age of the digital ereader is here. The Kindle is just one of the growing wave. It just happens to be a darn good one.

Since purchasing it, the Kindle has reinvigorated my reading. A few years ago I was reading 50-60 novels a year. Recent personal setbacks have seen that number drop almost to zero over the past year. But the Kindle is already proving to be a big help in getting me back into reading, my second love after writing, obviously. I've just finished reading my first novel on Kindle (Draculas by JA Konrath, Blake Crouch, et al) and I have many more lined up that I'm dying to read.

Thank you, Kindle.
*mwah*

Coming Soon: Lazarus Island

2011-04-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

WELCOME TO SCALASAY

For mystery writer Sam Thorne, moving to the island was supposed to be a fresh start—an idyllic refuge for his young family, and an escape from his past indiscretions. Things he wanted dead and buried.

But on Scalasay, the past has a way of catching up with you . . .

The horror which tore the island apart ten years earlier is returning. Ben Garrett, the convicted rapist and murderer, is coming back to the island to visit his dying mother. But no one could have foreseen the shocking turn of events which are about to unfold.

A storm is coming . . .
And on this terrifying night even the dead will not stay dead . . .

WELCOME TO
LAZARUS ISLAND

The Midnight Men and Other Stories

2011-03-22T02:31:00.000-07:00

THE MIDNIGHT MEN AND OTHER STORIES
A collection of supernatural tales guaranteed to keep you reading until the bitter end.

My short story collection The Midnight Men and Other Stories is now available to purchase from Smashwords.

Introductory price $0.99. For a limited time only.

SYMBIOSIS gets a new cover

2011-03-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Although the original cover (see my earlier post) for Symbiosis wasn't too bad I thought I could improve on it. So I did. I went away and spent a bit of time crafting a cover that was a little more eye-grabbing. That's the beauty of publishing in the new digitial age. Authors now have so much control over their work...and things can only get better.

In the course of its first week, Symbiosis sold over fifty copies. Not bad for a 7000-word short story. It did get some extra exposure during Smashwords' Read an E-Book Week promotion, so now that's ended it'll be interesting to see how it does from here on in.

This is all incredibly exciting. I just can't wait to see how The Vanished Race does once it's published. Watch this space...

It's Read and E-book Week

2011-03-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, folks, it's Read and E-Book Week and Smashwords is participating for the third year running. Lots of good e-books out there all at discounted, low prices or the best price of all - free!

My new ebook SYMBIOSIS (see previous post) is in there and is now available for free until March 12th when the promotion ends.
Check out all the e-books on offer here: Read an E-Book Week at Smashwords

Happy reading!

SYMBIOSIS

2011-03-06T13:04:00.000-08:00

Light years from home.
Bonded to an alien for survival.
A dark secret is about to be revealed . . .

The planet Verdana was supposed to be their new home, their new Eden. But shortly after arriving the human colonists were faced with a dilemma - join with the alaahi or perish. In the end, they chose the process of symbiosis, a physical conjoining with the native alaahi.

But now there are whispers amongst the colonists. The alaahi are not the benevolent beings they made themselves out to be. Before long a dark secret is about to be revealed, and young Jena must make a terrible choice . . .

SYMBIOSIS is available from Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, Deisel, and many other formats. Visit the Smashwords page for SYMBIOSIS to download a free sample.

The Vanished Race OUT NEXT MONTH

2011-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to announce that the publication date for The Vanished Race, the second in the Barclay Heath Mystery series, will be March 2011. The series is set in an alternate 1920s and follows the adventures of retired detective Barclay Heath as he travels the cosmos and comes up against some fiendish plots involving mysterious lost races, strange alien artefacts and, of course, a generous sprinkling of devious humans.

In The Vanished Race, Heath finds himself amongst a small group of passengers visiting the deserted planet Tobriosus, once home to the ancient Tobrii race, who mysteriously disappeared almost a century ago. It's a mystery too tantalising for Heath to resist.

Then, one by one, the passengers begin to vanish into thin air. . .

Out next month and available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and all good online bookstores.
Don't forget - The Hotel Galileo, the first Barclay Heath mystery is also available.

How Lord of the Rings spoiled my movie enjoyment forever (well, almost)

2011-01-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

I love movies. I really do. But over the past decade something has happened. Although I still watch movies regularly (a subscription to LoveFilm gives me my regular fix) I have found that I haven't really truly enjoyed a movie for a long time. About ten years, in fact. Which strangely enough takes me right back to 2001 and the release of the film which, for me, changed everything. I'm talking, of course, about Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Yes, Peter Jackson, it's all your fault.

Looking back it's hard to recall what expectations I had of the movie before seeing it. Although I had been an avid reader of fantasy growing up I'd never actually managed to tackle Tolkien's epic so I really didn't have the same expectations fans of the book would have had. And up until that point fantasy movies had a bad reputation for being slightly disappointing (see Legend, Krull, Hawk the Slayer, etc.) So there I was going into the cinema not knowing what I was about to experience. And, to put it mildly, I was blown away.

In the week which followed I can clearly remember going about my daily life with a strange but pleasant numbness. I don't want to make out that it was some kind of epiphany (after all it's only a movie right?) but I know the experience affected me deeply. The film-makers had realised the world of Middle Earth so completely and the drama had been played out so well that it was hard not to be swept up in it. Of course for those whose first experience of the movie was on DVD they really are doing themselves and the movies a disservice. As visually amazing as they are they do lose something on the small screen as most movies do, which could explain why I own all the DVD versions and yet I haven't watched them in years - because I know it won't be the same as that first time, up there on the big screen with the surround sound. Maybe, when I get my home multimedia projector sorted out...

And so, everything I have seen since has, unforunately, suffered by comparison. The movie trilogy was really a coming together of very special and unique forces: a great film-maker given virtual free reign; a one-time-only three-picture financing deal (unheard of in the history of cinema) which allowed a sense of continuity missing from most other trilogies; a perfect cast; and of course the awesome backdrop of the New Zealand landscape. Add to this the sumptuous three-hour running times (not to mention the even longer extended editions) and the consecutive Christmas releases and it really was a feast for fantasy movie fans everywhere, one we will never see again...or will we?

Next Christmas we should see the first part of The Hobbit. Peter Jackson is back in the director's chair and we are promised a second movie the year after. Expectations will be high. Impossibly high. I, for one, can't wait.

A Timely Call From America

2010-12-31T12:40:00.000-08:00

Just when I was at my lowest ebb, the phone rang. It was a call from America. The friendly female caller told me I was a finalist in a VERY BIG WRITING CONTEST. Out of the thousands who had applied, my story had reached the final eight. She said that even if my story didn't win one of the three prizes I should know that I'm a great writer. I could've cried.

I've never been a believer in destiny or providence, but I sure as hell needed that phone call last night. The timing was almost supernatural.

Happy New Year people! May 2011 be your year!

A Quick Audit

2010-11-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've written about my writing projects so I thought I'd have a quick roundup of where things are at.

Novel: Lazarus Island
This is the novel I wrote a few years ago which consumed me completely at the time of writing it. I finished it and then just stuck in my trunk folder. I got it out recently and began reading it and was pleasantly surprised to find it still packed quite a punch. I've vowed to fix the ending and send it out asap.

Novella: The Vanished Race
This is the follow-up to The Hotel Galileo which was published last year by Wolfsinger Press. It needs one more polish and then it's ready for the world.

Novel: The Silver Sea
Can't say too much about this one only to mention how excited I am about it. Again, it needs one last polish before I can send it out.

Novelette: The Man Who Ate Planets
Coming soon in the Permuted Press anthology Best New Tales of the Apocalypse...

Lost and Found by Rhonda Parrish

2010-10-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

Lost and Found is the new novel from Rhonda Parrish. Check out the first instalment here:
http://www.rhondaparrish.com/publications/lost-and-found

You can either read online or listen to the first chapter as a podcast. If you like fantasy you'll love this.

Apocalypse....Now

2010-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hello you lovely people.

I've been out of the loop for a while. The lack of blog entries is testament to that. But I'm still here. If anything I've been recharging myself. I have several projects about to see the light of day and I have a number of irons in a varied selection of fireplaces. The only one I can confidently talk about is the long-awaited Permuted Press anthology Best New Tales of the Apocalypse edited by Bobbie Metevier and DL Snell. This collection of apocalyptic tales includes my story The Man Who Ate Planets. I can't wait for this anthology to come out. Seriously I cannot wait. It should be released any day now. As for the other projects - I'm hoping to report on them soon. How soon? Real soon....

Watch this space. No not that one. This one.

Once More With Feeling: In Defence of Remakes

2010-08-14T12:45:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of eye-rolling in the entertainment press regarding the glut of remakes dominating Hollywood output these days and I have to admit that, until recently, I've been shaking my head and tutting a fair bit, too. When I heard they were remaking The Omen a couple years back I remember feeling a pang of despair. Richard Donner's Omen is a timeless classic, with still enough power to chill the blood even today. Why remake it? (As an aside, although I haven't seen the 2008 version, I believe it was received with relative apathy from both audiences and critics alike.) Then I heard they were remaking Piranha. Why? The first one was a pulpy riff on the Jaws phenomenon. Did we really need it remade? And then, even more recently, I heard there are plans to remake Total Recall. Again, my cynical movie alter ego (let's call him Norman Barry) piped up with a derogatory sigh and the classic cry, "can't they come up with any new ideas istead of rehashing old ones?"

And then, just for a moment, I stopped being a grumpy thirty-something and began to look at this latest remake/rehash/reboot-fad in the context of movie history and I began to understand. Well, a little anyway.

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here (btw, a film that really should not be remade, imho).

First and foremost, Hollywood has always done this. Hollywood has been remaking its biggest successes since the earliest days and it's really never stopped. Ben Hur? Before Chuck Heston's 1957 epic Oscar-winning effort, there were two attempts at bringing Lew Wallace's epic tale to the screen (19o7 and 1925). For years I thought John Huston's The Maltese Falcon was the only version of Hammett's classic noir thriller until I discovered the 1931 version starring Ricardo Cortez. Arguably, the later version is far superior, and the same goes for the 1957 Ben Hur. And I think that's part of the answer to all this remake shenanigans.

For all its financial excesses and endless self-promotion, Hollywood movie-making is an imperfect and flawed artistic process. There are, perhaps, a handful of movies made under the Hollywood banner which could be regarded as 'near-perfect' or 'untouchable', where the filmmakers involved were fortuitous or talented enough to catch cinematic lightning in a bottle and end up with a movie that is truly timeless and crying to be left alone. Off the top of my head, I can think of a treasured few: Citizen Kane, Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, The Wizard of Oz. You could probably add some of your own personal choices in there, too. But for the vast majority of films produced each year the results are often imperfect and open to improvement. As Francis Ford Coppolla famously said, "A movie is never finished, it just gets released". This is part of the problem. Under the current movie-making model, the artistic side of movies is constantly compromised by the business side. Movies lose money if they go past production deadlines. These days movies are given a release date before they've even shot a single frame of film. That's the nature of Hollywood film-making. No wonder the results are consistently flawed.

So is it acceptable to keep remaking movies based on this illogical back-to-front process? Well, yes and no. Take the recent spate of horror remakes. These have been aimed largely at a teenage audience. Friday the 13th, Hallowe'en, My Bloody Valentine, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Most of these movies were only made as recently as the Eighties. Can't teenagers today just rent the old DVDs? What's wrong with that? Well, this is my theory. Movies, or at least the perception of movies, has changed in this generation. In a way, movies have become like pop music. In the same way that young people don't want to be listening to their parents' music, they don't want to be watching what they regard as their parents' movies. Young people want what is current, what is 'now'. Hence the proliferation of remakes.

But are they any good? Well, I would imagine that, to anyone who was a fan of the original versions, no. They probably seem completely pointless. But to the uninitiated, yeah, they probably "rock". I've spent a lot of time recently watching a lot of movies and a large proportion have been remakes. Some good, some mediocre, some naff. But that's down to taste I suppose.

I love movies, and in particular, I love GOOD movies. If it takes a couple of goes to get it right, then that's okay. I'm learning to live with the remake thing. How about you?

Never Again - A Weird Fiction Anthology

2010-07-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

The anthology, NEVER AGAIN, edited by Allyson Bird and Joel Lane, is now available for pre-order here: http://grayfriarpress.com/catalogue/neveragain.html

The subtitle for this special collection is 'Weird Fiction Against Racism and Fascism' and the profits will help benefit charities such as the Sophie Lancaster Foundation amongst others.

The anthology contains fiction by some of the most talented writers around, including Nina Allan, Lisa Tuttle, John Howard, Tony Richards, Alison Littlewood, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Rhys Hughes, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Joe R. Lansdale, Kaaron Warren, Steve Duffy, Gary McMahon, Rob Shearman, Carole Johnstone, Ramsey Campbell, Stephen Volk, Andrew Hook, Simon Bestwick and many more. Pre-order a copy today!

I can't wait to read it!

Sapphire and Steel

2010-07-10T03:34:00.000-07:00

Just finished watching the complete boxset of Sapphire and Steel. This is a show which I only saw once when I was about ten years old and it left such a huge impression on me. I couldn't remember specific things from it (apart from Joanna Lumley's eyes going all blue and twinkly) but it was more of a feeling which stayed with me. Rewatching the series as an adult obviously means much of the magic is lost but, even despite the huge limitations of the budget, the show still stands up as a genre show that was way ahead of its time. I love the interplay between McCallum and Lumley (he is all cold and gruff while she is soft-spoken and all heart) and the ending of the final episode in which our heroes are left stuck in an existential trap - 'Nowhere...forever' - is just fantastic. For me, the shorter assignments (i.e. four episodes) were more successful but, as a whole, the series was a genuine original. I would love to see it brought back but only if they stuck to the show's original formula and didn't try to explain everything as is the vogue nowadays. Still, there are always the Big Finish audio stories which I may sample sometime, but somehow I don't think they'll be quite as satisfying.

Story Goals and the Lost Art of Brevity

2010-05-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

TV news just in: US networks have this week cancelled Heroes and Flash Forward. Why? Well, both shows had seen their viewing figures drop significantly. The reasons put forward for their respective slumps were a lack of direction in the former and a lack of brevity in the latter.

I liked Heroes. I watched the boxset of the first season and found it mesmerising. The second season was scrappy, no doubt marred by the writer's strike, and the third season just felt directionless. In any drama or work of fiction viewers need to feel there is a universal end-goal, a sense that the events (and the characters) they are following will reach some satisfying dramatic conclusion. (Soap operas are the only exception to this. They just go on and on and on - which is why I can't watch them - a dramatic phenomena I don't feel capable of explaining or understanding!) Sure, each individual season of any long-running drama has some story arc for viewers to follow, but it's usually just one part of a much longer overarching narrative, which is, of course, the nature of multi-season TV shows. The Fugitive TV series is a classic case: Dr. Richard Kimble is on the run for a murder he didn't commit. Weekly episodes show him dealing with the various dangers of being a fugitive, but the overarching premise is his hunt for the one-armed man who may hold the key to proving his innocence. In the final episode he finds the one-armed man. End of series. When that end-goal is not presented early enough or is too obscure or merely absent, viewers or readers rapidly lose interest.

I believe this is what happened with Flash Forward. Great premise, great opening to the series, but it just didn't get to the point quick enough. An interesting exception to this is Lost, which can also be accused of crimes against brevity. Lost escaped the network axe, although it was close, very close. The makers of Lost avoided the hangman by doing something quite unprecedented in US TV: they promised an ending. They told viewers there would be three more seasons and that it would reach "a shocking and dramatic end". That ending is to be seen tomorrow night (Sunday 23rd May) all around the world, six years after it all began. I remember clearly seeing the first trailer for it back in 2004 and thinking it was going to be a three-part mini-series! How wrong I was! As much as I love Lost, and I really do love it, I truly believe they could have told the story in half as many seasons as they have done. If they had, I believe it wouldn't have experienced the mass exodus of viewers around season three and would have been more widely regarded as a television classic, and not just by the core fans who have seen it through to the bitter end. I can't wait to find out how the whole thing concludes (although I'm not sure if I want to be getting up at 5am on Monday which is the UK time for the finale - I might just wait for the Tuesday night repeat!) but when it is all over and the fat lady has sung, I will still be thinking, "Very good, but they could have told us that in half the time!"

Perhaps the recent cancellation of the shows mentioned above will make programme-makers sit up and take note. There's only so long you can keep your viewers wondering what's going on, before they decide to turn over and watch something else.

Lost and the Road Not Taken

2010-04-25T14:19:00.001-07:00

As someone who has watched Lost avidly since it first arrived on our screens six years ago, the latest and final season has been a bit lacklustre to say the least. I still enjoy it and I would never miss an episode, but it's almost as if the unveiling of the answers fans have craved for so long has let too much air out of the balloon and now it's just a matter of just seeing it through to the end. I'm hoping I'm wrong and that the finale will be as brilliant and as shocking and unpredictable as the writers have been promising all these years.

Anyway, the most interesting thing to come out of this season is the idea of the parallel reality seen in what the programme-makers are calling 'flash-sideways'. The detonation of the bomb back in 1977 created a different timeline for our main characters, an alternate reality running side by side with the events on the island. I'm not entirely sure where all that is going within the tv show but it got me thinking about alternate realities in our own lives, what Robert Frost called 'the road not taken'. Now I may be going out on a limb here but what the heck - I'm going to chuck the concept out there. For years now, in fact, as long as I can remember, I have had 'strange feelings' about particular places. I remember driving through Salisbury when I was about eleven with my brothers and my dad and feeling this strange sense of 'I've been here, I know this place'. That's the only way I can describe it. Now I'm not talking about 'I've been here before' in the Shirley MacLaine sense. I mean, it felt as if some part of me had lived a life in that place - or should be living a life in that place. This odd feeling has recurred quite regularly in my adult life, especially when I travel to new places. My recent trip to Canada was the weirdest experience of them all, especially as I know for a fact that my parents planned to emigrate there before they had any of us kids. I have never felt more 'at home' than I did during my two weeks in that beautiful country. The sensation I'm talking about is like deja vu only times a hundred. Times a thousand. And I wonder sometimes, could it be that I'm feeling the echoes of a life lived there in some alternate version of my timeline? What if my parents had decided to move to, for example, Salisbury instead of Devon back in 1972? What if they'd emigrated to Canada back in '68? What if?

Food for thought. Or maybe I'm just as mad as a fish and need to see 'somebody'.

Stephen King at the Movies

2010-04-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

I love Stephen King.

I love his novels. I love his short stories. Hell, I love pretty much everything he's ever written. Of all the writers I've encountered, his his work has had the greatest influence on me. He's been called "a master storyteller", amongst many things, and I agree with this up to a point. I see him as the closest thing we have to a modern Mark Twain in his ability to capture the essence of small town America in populist fiction while spinning a great yarn.

So why on earth do almost all movie adaptations of his work suck?

Wait, let me just explain myself here.

I'm not saying all, I'm saying "almost all". There are exceptions. I would say (and yes, this is just my humble opinion) that the better movie adaptations are, in no particular order, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Misery, Stand By Me, The Dead Zone and a few others. There are many other movies/tv mini-series such as the original Salem's Lot, which have been "okay", but beyond that it's a pretty poor show for one of the most successful novelists working today. The reason for this post is that I recently bought a boxset of King movies which contained three purported "classics" which for some reason or other I had never seen before: Maximum Overdrive, Silver Bullet and Cat's Eye. Well, I'd seen Cat's Eye on tv many years ago and my memory of it was pretty positive. Of the three movies in this particular collection, it was definitely the best. The other two offerings, however, were woeful to say the least.

First up was Maximum Overdrive. I was incredibly naive in my anticipation: A King movie directed and scripted by the man himself with an AC-DC soundtrack and a pretty funky idea about motor vehicles coming to life. What's not to like? It's often been documented that King was unhappy with many of the film adaptations of his work and so here he had the chance to set the record straight, to show them all how it was done.

Well, all I can say is, what the hell happened?!

I can say, without reservation, that this is one of the worst films I have ever seen. It's not even good in a "so bad it's good" sense. It just didn't work on any level that mattered. It was like a Cannonball Run movie without the laughs with some poorly-executed gore thrown in. What a wasted opportunity. And it started so well.

Silver Bullet was only marginally better. Taking the material a mite more seriously, the film is still horribly dated. The werewolf scenes (with creature design by Carlo Rambaldi no less) were just poor, especially as this film was made after such revolutionary SFX films as American Werewolf in London and The Howling. In Silver Bullet, the poor old lycanthrope was nothing more than a big hairy oaf. So disappointing. And the story itself just limped along to its trite and predictable conclusion. Possibly the longest 90 minutes of my life.

So why does this happen? The examples I've just given have their own reasons for being bad and they are exceptional in their badness. What I'm wondering is why the vast majority of his adaptations just don't make successful movies. I think part of the reason is down to King's plotting. King has said that he likes to create a unique situation, throw in some interesting characters and then let them work it out on the page. This works well for readers, but when it comes to transferring these things to the screen, it's problematic. Horror movies have a certain dynamic, and often adhere to a rigid template, something that King's fiction doesn't always fit into. I believe this often leads to big changes being made to try and shoehorn King's sprawling plots into a form horror movie fans would expect, when really King's books are not just straightforward horrors. That, I think, is where the aforementioned problems occur.

Famously, Frank Darabont has been most successful at adapting King's work for the screen: Shawshank, The Green Mile and The Mist are good, in my opinion, because they respect the source material and don't try to turn them into something they're not. (My only exception here with regard to Darabont's adaptations would be the 'shock' ending he added to The Mist which is a bone of contention for many. The original story had no ending and worked fine without it. For me, Darabont's ending, whilst shocking and disturbing, doesn't follow on from what's gone before. These people risked everything to try and survive...I won't say any more for spoiler reasons.) Anyhow, I would love to see someone like Darabont adapt all of King's work for the screen, because there is so much more to his novels than mere 'horror'. Come on moviemakers! It's been far too long since we had a damn fine King movie in the multiplexes.

Having said all that, there is no excuse for Maximum Overdrive.

Author Threads

2010-03-20T10:09:00.001-07:00

No, I'm not talking about a new high street fashion store tailored exclusively for writers. I just wanted to mention that the BFS forum now has a special little place for writers to discuss/promote/explain their various projects and publications. I've got a quiet little corner there myself. Thanks must go to Allyson Bird who has worked very hard to set this up for the BFS. Cheers, Ally! Everyone is welcome to drop in.
The link is here:
http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/forum/index.php?board=38.0

On NOT Writing

2010-03-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

Writers write.

That's what they say. It's the first thing they think about when they wake up and the last thing on their minds when they put their head to the pillow. When they're not physically in the act of writing they're thinking through plot points, blocking scenes, inventing new ways to show character, and so on and so forth. And that is exactly what I've been doing for a while now. I haven't waited for the time to write I've made the time and that's worked pretty well so far.

But the past six months have been a kicker. For the first time in a long time there have been entire weeks when I haven't been able to write and I just wanted to talk about the effect that has on the mind and soul. When I say "haven't been able to write" I'm not referring to the great spectre known as writer's block. I'm talking about a situation when life - that is, the day-to-day demands of work and family and everything inbetween - when all that obviously important stuff becomes so all-consuming that you don't have the time or energy to apply oneself to writing, at least writing anything of consequence anyway. I know I become incredibly frustrated when this goes on for any length of time, because the thing is . . . I'm still thinking. Half of a writing is thinking - thinking about story and character and a million other things, especially when working on a novel - the other half is the physical act of putting all that thinky-stuff down on paper. When all you're actually doing, when all you have time for, is thinking, that becomes incredibly frustrating. That's like a Formula One driver using only simulators for months on end without ever parking his butt in a car. Or an actor who is stuck in an endless cycle of rehearsals without ever setting foot on stage.

Having said all that, I'm not overly worried. I've learned, or at least I'm beginning to learn, that 'down-time' is actually a good thing. I think last year, in particular, I reached a kind of 'burn out'. Sometimes it's good for anyone with a passionate past-time to take a step back once in a while, take a breath and look around. Recharge the Duracells. Even if it's an enforced break, try and turn it into a positive. In about two months' time I finish my Lit degree and I feel really positive about getting back at the writing.

How about you?

The Hotel Galileo from Amazon

2010-02-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

My alternate history mystery novella THE HOTEL GALILEO is now available to order direct from Amazon.co.uk priced at just over £6. Until now this title was only available through Amazon.com so it's great to be able to offer people in the UK the chance to order it on this side of the Atlantic.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hotel-Galileo-Lee-Moan/dp/0981623344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265144124&sr=1-1

News on the follow-up: THE VANISHED RACE, Barclay Heath's second mystery, is nearing completion. Editing is almost done and I'm hoping to send it to my first readers in the very near future. I hope to be able to post a few hints about the plot here soon.

Doctor Who: Farewell to The Tenth Doctor

2010-01-25T12:13:00.000-08:00

Now that's it's all over and the dust has settled and Gallifrey has been sent "back into hell", I'm finally able to see just where the Tenth Doctor's final adventure fits into the saga since its rebirth in 2005. I've come to wait a while on such things before making any rash judgements as most of the episodes which I now regard as my favourites took a second or third viewing to really help me fully appreciate them. (Although there are two episodes which I hated on first viewing and still hate even now, which I'll mention briefly later on.)

So was The End of Time any good? Was it a fitting send off for David Tennant, voted by readers of Doctor Who Magazine as the Most Popular Doctor in the show's history? Did the final episodes do him justice? Well, yes . . . and no.

To explain: As always, the double episode crammed a fair amount of drama into the two hour running time with some moments swinging wildly from the sublime to the fairly ridiculous. For example, the climax of episode one in which the Master hops into the Immortality Gate and turns every single human being into a replica of himself was a great twist to the plot. Fantastic! The idea was horrible - that we as a race had lost our indentity - even if the reality of seeing that played out, shaky heads and all, erred on the side of 'a bit silly'. The dogfight in episode two was also a great action-packed sequence subsequently ruined by the Doctor's utterly implausible leap from hundreds of feet in the air, miraculously hitting the target and crashing through the glass dome of the building to land on a marble floor - only suffering a few scratches and sore knees. Bloody hell! I know he was told he was going to die but there was no need for him to make it so easy for his enemies! The last few scenes, though, were brilliant - with reservations. Again, it took a second viewing to see how well acted that climactic scene between Wilf and the Doctor was. It was also beautifully poignant that after saving the world from complete oblivion (and surviving), the Doctor ended up giving his life to save 'just one old man'. Bernard Cribbins was absolutely fantastic throughout, but in that scene in the glass chamber he was exceptional. His timing and his reactions to the Doctor's 'rage against the dying of the light' amplified the emotion to such an extent that when he shouted at the Doctor, "No, Doctor, no, don't! Please!" I, for one, had to fight back a tear. (I'm such a softie.)

But then, after that . . . the ending kind of didn't end, for a looooong time. On first viewing I didn't mind, I was caught up in the whole thing so I just went with it, but in retrospect I think allowing the Doctor so many farewells robbed the whole thing of much of its impact. The idea of the Doctor having a little time before his regeneration is an interesting one, it hasn't been done before, but it was overdone and more than a little indulgent on the part of Russell T. The only scene which had any real value was allowing the Doctor to see Rose one last time, and of all the 'visitation' scenes it was the only one I watched and thought, yeah, that's good. For me, if the episode had ended with the Doctor dropping Wilfred off at home and saying he was going to collect his reward and then cut to the Powell Estate and the scene with Rose, it would have been a much more satisfying ending. But that's just my humble opinion.

The Doctor's dramatic final moments staggering to the Tardis to the accompaniment of the Ood Male Voice Choir was well done, and his final line ("I don't want to go") was a poignant coda, especially for a Doctor who loved life so much.

So, in general, I thought The End of Time was great in parts but too uneven to be regarded as brilliant. My three favourite scenes were actually the quieter ones: the scene with Wilf and the Doctor in the cafe in part one; the scene with Wilf on the Vinvocci ship when he tries to give the Doctor the gun ("You're the most wonderful man I've ever met and I don't want you to die..."); and the scene with the Doctor rescuing Wilf from the glass cage. Ah hell, Wilf was just a legend!

Overall, though, I thought it didn't live up to the Season Four finale. Season Four is still my favourite season and saw David Tennant in his element with the most consistent run of good stories so far.

My two least favourite episodes since the show began in 2005 are New Earth (which I dislike for reasons too numerous to go into here as I've rambled on long enough!) and the Christmas 2007 special, Voyage of the Damned - again for many many reasons, but chiefly for the programme makers robbing the episode of any tension it may have built up over the previous hour by having that silly shot of the Queen standing on top of Buck Palace - waving for crying out loud! - as the flying Titanic soars overhead and saying, "Thank you, Doctor!" Worse than Moore-era Bond, that's all I have to say. Shame, such a shame.

David Tennant is a fine actor and made an energetic and engaging Doctor. I think he was right to leave when he did, though, because as Christopher Ecclestone remarked on his departure after one season that the show is basically this crazy guy saving the world every week; for Tennant to do that for three full seasons and still make the whole process interesting and entertaining is a testament to his acting talent and his enthusiasm. You could see how much he loved what he was doing.

Now, Matt Smith, let's see what you can do...

The Future

2010-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've been messing about with this blog for a while and the truth is I'm just not entirely happy with it. I have promised myself a 'proper' website in the near future (probably after my degree is completed in May/June) with free content and other lovely stuff. I have exciting plans for a more professional website. Watch this space for changes.

As mentioned I will finish my Literature Degree in June this year. After that it really will be no-holds-barred. The amount of projects I have on the go or 'on-hold' at the moment will ensure that the next twelve months will be a every busy and exciting time.

2009/2010: Looking Back, Looking Forward

2009-12-27T02:51:00.000-08:00

All in all 2009 was a strange year - quiet in many respects but eventful, too. In the past twelve months I've had only a handful of short stories published (my quietest year yet) but I also had my first book published (The Hotel Galileo) at the start of the summer which was a wonderful experience. In September I visited Nottingham once again for my second FantasyCon and, despite feeling like "warmed-up death", I enjoyed it much more this year. It was a particular highlight to see Allyson Bird winning the award for Best Collection.

>Didn't get to the cinema very much in 2009. I just about managed to catch Star Trek back at the start of the summer and A Christmas Carol in November, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Over the Christmas break I've managed to squeeze in Avatar (awesome) and Sherlock Holmes (enjoyable romp).

> I joined LoveFilm this year so I've had a steady stream of DVDs to watch, but nothing that's really blown me away. In fact the films I've probably enjoyed seeing most were low-key affairs: The Whole Wide World about Conan creator, Robert E Howard, and Moon starring Sam Rockwell which was pleasantly different from the usual fare. Oh, yeah, and I suppose the Watchmen film was all right.

> Another bad year for reading, sadly. The thing is, the Open University studies take up all my reading time so to be able to squeeze in a book for my own enjoyment means giving up study time and that's never good. (The only book I completed this year was Gary McMahon's Different Skins which was great, although I started reading about half a dozen others). I'm now in the middle of my final year with the OU and come May I will complete my Literature degree and finally be a BA. Hurray! Then I can start on the towering pile of books to read which is growing bigger by the week and has expanded even more over Christmas with new additions such as Stephen King's Under the Dome, Hungry Hearts by Gary McMahon and The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, amongst others.

The Future

In 2010 I have only a few simple resolutions:

> Finish my degree.
> Finish The Vanished Race (the follow-up to Hotel Galileo).
> Finish my novel The Silver Sea.
> After they are all done I can then look at the slate of new short stories and novelettes which I have had to leave on the shelf for a very long time.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year. I have a feeling it's going to be a good one.

Christmas Estronomicon

2009-12-27T02:33:00.000-08:00

The latest issue of Estronomicon went online on Christmas Eve over at Screaming Dreams. This is a bumper issue featuring lots of festive-themed fiction from such notable pens as Rhys Hughes, Bob Lock, Gary Fry, Shaun Hamilton, Hugh MacDonald and many many more. My own contribution is a story called Crack'd featuring two very special young women, Epiphany and Jade - the Crowe sisters. As I was writing this story I really came to like them and the more I filled in their back story the more I wanted to explore their world. Initially Crack'd was only intended as a one-off story but I'm thinking about revisiting the Crowe sisters at some point in the future. In the meantime, if you have time to peruse the issue I hope you enjoy the stories on offer.

Best of luck in 2010 everyone!

And the title of the next Barclay Heath mystery is...

2009-11-27T08:38:00.001-08:00

So that's it. The Vanished Race. For a very long time the working title was 'The Everlasting Universe of Things' but when this title came along it just fit so perfectly, not only for this particular story but for the series as a whole. Work is almost complete on the manuscript and I'm hoping to be able to give a little more info about the story in the near future. As always, any thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks for dropping by!

Writing and Music

2009-11-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

I used to write with headphones on and loud music playing. That was in my youth (what seems like a very long time ago) and was in part due to my living circumstances. I grew up in a happy, busy household and it was a necessary thing to cut off the hustle and fuss around me in order to find that special focus. Now, though, things are very different. The most productive writing sessions I have these days are just me in a quiet room (thankfully I have a place at a friend's house to go to sometimes) with no music or any other distractions. This is especially helpful during editing when acute concentration is required. During composition, however, I do still like to have some kind of background music. The best music is unobtrusive and, at best, inspirational in a filmic sense. I like to have a movie soundtrack playing - some of favourites are the soundtracks to movies like Batman Begins, Rocketeer, or Star Trek 2 or 3 (yes, there's a James Horner theme going on here). As J.K. Rowling said in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, "Ah music. A magic beyond all we do here."

What music do you listen to?

Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars Trailer

2009-11-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

The beginning of the end . . .

Swamped!

2009-11-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

The recent lack of blog posts on the Steam-Powered Typewriter are not due to chronic lazyboy-itis (honest!) but the same old demands of day-to-day life: I began my final Open University course, Children's Literature, last month and the sheer mountain of reading involved (thirteen novels from Swallows and Amazons to Treasure Island to Harry Potter) is taking up the majority of my spare time - as well as the various assignments, of course.

Right now I'm in the final editing stages of the second Barclay Heath mystery (the follow-up to The Hotel Galileo) but finding the amount of time needed to make any kind of progress with it is proving increasingly difficult. I am however very excited about the second book. I've had some amazingly positive feedback from Galileo and also some healthy, constructive criticism, too, especially in the area of maintaining a returning character within a series of books. I'm happy to say that all of these comments and suggestions have been addressed in the follow-up and I feel the story is even stronger and it's been great to flesh out the character of my detective, Barclay Heath, a little more and the ending is . . . well, very emotional. At least it was when I wrote it. Really hoping to get the manuscript finished by Christmas.

I will announce the title of the second Barclay Heath mystery here on this blog in the very near future. I really like it and I hope you'll like it, too. Watch this space...

FantasyCon 2009

2009-09-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

Last year I attended my very first FantasyCon as a non-member, and it was a very pleasant and inspiring experience. In the twelve months since then much has happened: I am now a fully paid-up member of the British Fantasy Society, I've had my first book published (a novella called The Hotel Galileo, which I may have mentioned once or twice here on this blog!) as well as an ebook of Medea's Children through Screaming Dreams and a few other short story publications, most notably in the final print issue of Whispers of Wickedness, which has in the past year ceased publication, taking its thriving and friendly forum community with it into the smoke-obscured afterlife...

This year, the FantasyCon experience was even more inspiring and enjoyable. To begin with I was able to chat with some of the people I had missed last time around, most notably with Gary McMahon, Paul Meloy and Gary Greenwood, as well as spending time with the always delightful Allyson Bird. I was very pleased to come away from the convention with my very own copy of Ally's limited-run 'For You Faustine'; Gary's new book, Different Skins, a beautifully-produced double-novella published by Screaming Dreams featuring another stunning cover by Vincent Chong; and a copy of Paul's Islington Crocodiles which I was determined to get hold of this time around. I also picked up the latest issue of Murky Depths which is just awesome and still pushing boundaries in terms of its production design and its eclectic mix of graphics and prose.

As always, the weekend flew by in a blur and before I could draw breath it was Saturday evening and the awards were upon us. There were so many people trying to squeeze into the main hall that we were spilling out into the adjacent room. I can tell you - the awards sounded great! (I've since had to watch video footage of the event to find out exactly who said what, who won which award and why everyone was laughing at certain points!!!) It didn't dampen the experience though because after the awards everyone was on such a high and the alcohol and the chat flowed freely. I was very pleased for Ally when her book Bull Running for Girls won the award for Best Collection beating off some pretty stiff competition. What an achievement! I had some great conversations well into the early hours with Gary Greenwood, Stu Young and Gavin Williams and others - talking about everything from The Mist to Watchmen and everything in between - and then just before the night was over meeting Carole Johnstone and her sister at the bar to talk about stories published and hopes for the future. By that time it was three o'clock in the morning and time for this lad to go to bed before he really did end up turning into a pumpkin.

Roll on 2010...

Steampunk Tales

2009-09-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

May I direct your attention to a stupendous new publication currently storming its way onto the interweb, a wonderful periodical which deals exclusively with the fantabulous steampunk genre? It's called Steampunk Tales and it's a thing of wonderment and beauty. Issue 2 has just been released for download at the meagre price of $1.99, whilst issue 1 is still available for free. The latest issue contains fiction from such talented individuals as Lawrence Dagstine, Phillip Challis, Brenda Cooper and many more.

Take a peek, you'll be glad you did!

http://www.steampunktales.com/

Stephen King Answers My Question

2009-09-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

Well, in response to my open query at the end of the last post about the long and the short form, I came across this from Mister King. I could listen to SK all day long.

The Long and the Short

2009-08-22T00:55:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I undertook an inventory of my written work and discovered that in the four years from 2004-2008 I had written forty short stories. That's an avaerage of ten a year. How many did I write in the past twelve months? Three. (That's not including the short pieces I wrote on my Open University course last year.) The simple fact is that things in the short story department have slowed almost to a standstill. At my most productive I was working on one story with about two or three in my head bursting to be written. That's not the case anymore. My mind is consumed almost completely by longer works. I have just completed the first draft of the next Barclay Heath book, a follow-up to The Hotel Galileo, which is in the same novella-length range of over 30,000 words. I'm also on the final draft of my novel The Silver Sea which is the first volume in a series and I am bursting to write the next episodes for that. As for new short stories, there's really nothing on the horizon.

Thank You!

2009-08-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

Despite the treacherous British summer weather (it rained ALL DAY) the book launch party for The Hotel Galileo was a great success. I am so grateful and indebted to the people who braved the summer rain and visited the Torbay Bookshop on Tuesday to buy a copy. It was a very special moment for me, a celebration of what Matthew, the bookshop owner, likened to 'a birth'. I couldn't help thinking how strange it was to have spent so long working away at this project (and many others) without anyone knowing about it; and then, down the line, here I am - standing in a bookshop signing copies of the book.

I received many messages of support also from people who were unable to make it to the launch. I'm pleased to be able to tell you that The Torbay Bookshop in Paignton are currently stocking signed copies of the book. So, if you are still interested in picking up a copy, please pop in when you have a chance and grab one. They can be found in either the SF & Fantasy section or the Local Author section.

I will also be bringing copies to FantasyCon next month for those who don't live down thie end of the world. I'm very grateful to Steve Upham for allowing me to squeeze my little book onto the Screaming Dreams table. Hope to see you in Nottingham!

Thanks again to everyone for your amazing support!

Book Launch Party!

2009-07-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, I'm pleased to announce that my novella 'The Hotel Galileo', published by Wolfsinger Publications, will have its very own book launch party in a couple of weeks time.

The details:

Venue: The Torbay Bookshop, 7 Torquay Road, Paignton, Devon
Time: 6pm
Date: Tuesday August 4th 2009

If you are in the area on that date please feel free to come along and bring a friend or partner with you. I will be selling signed copies of the book and there will be wine and nibbles available. Everyone is most welcome!

Barclay Heath has arrived!

2009-07-11T03:18:00.000-07:00

After a long wait, copies of my novella, The Hotel Galileo, have arrived and they are all shiny and lovely. I've been waiting for this moment for a very long time and now that it's finally here, it's ... better than I ever imagined. Flicking through a copy, it's hard to remember the hard work that went into the writing of it (three drafts and countless revisions/polishes). I just feel good about it. And I haven't felt good about things for a long while.

The character of Barclay Heath, the detective in the story, has been with me for years, about fifteen years in fact, as long as I've been married. (In fact, my wife is fond of saying that there have always been three people in our marriage - me, her and Barclay Heath!) This latest incarnation just feels right now, and everything else before it was just figuring him out and finding the right story and the right universe to really bring him to life. Work continues on the next Barclay Heath mystery and I'm having a great time writing it. Having seen the first one published I'm fired up to make the next one even better.

Now all that's left is to arrange the book launch party. Date to be announced soon!

The Hotel Galileo - Updated Ordering Details

2009-06-16T13:26:00.001-07:00

Hi folks,

Just to let you know as concisely as possible the easiest ways to order The Hotel Galileo:

UK ORDERS:
The cheapest and most efficient way is through Lulu printers via this link:http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-hotel-galileo/7206856
Lulu sell the book for £7.08 + £4.75 flat rate shipping to the UK.
Dispatch time is about 6-8 days.

You can also order it from Amazon's printers CreateSpace but I've just seen the shipping costs and they are very high to the UK and dispatch time is very slow, too. I'd advise Lulu, but here are the CreateSpace details anyway:

You can order from CreateSpace via this link: https://www.createspace.com/3385957
PLEASE NOTE: When ordering from outside the US please use this discount code: FAFPNMQH
which gives a 25% discount to help offset the cost of international shipping.

EBOOK VERSIONS:
To avoid all that shipping-cost malarkey you can also order it from Mobipocket as an ebook at this link:
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=185259
Price of download: $2.49

US ORDERS:
You can order from Lulu and CreateSpace (see above links) but your best bet is probably direct from Amazon.com at this link:
http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Galileo-Lee-Moan/dp/0981623344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244663910&sr=8-1.
Paperback is $9.95
(Kindle ebook version coming soon!)

Phew! I think that's about all.
Best wishes,Lee

The Hotel Galileo is available to buy NOW

2009-06-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to be able to say that my novella, The Hotel Galileo, is now available for purchase.

If you are ordering in the UK:

You can order it direct from the printers CreateSpace via this link: https://www.createspace.com/3385957

VERY IMPORTANT: When ordering from outside the US please use this discount code:

FAFPNMQH

which gives a 25% discount to help offset the cost of international shipping. Thanks!

If you are ordering from the US:

The page is up on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-Galileo-Lee-Moan/dp/0981623344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244663910&sr=8-1. You can, of course, also buy it from CreateSpace (see link above).

The paperback retails at $9.95.

Kindle version will be available on Amazon soon.

I hope that all makes sense. If there are any problems please don't hesitate to contact me and I will do my very best to address them.

Thanks for your time, and if you intend to buy a copy - THANK YOU! I hope you enjoy it.

Medea's Children

2009-06-03T08:57:00.001-07:00

My science fiction story 'Medea's Children' has just been released as a free PDF ebook over at the Screaming Dreams website. The fantastic cover art is by British Fantasy Award-nominee Steve Upham.

It's about a young mother searching for her baby son on an alien planet and the lengths she goes to in order to find him.

Download the ebook free here: http://www.screamingdreams.com/medeaschildren.html

I hope you enjoy reading it!

You can also download the latest issue of Estronomicon at the website, featuring fantastic fiction from Paul Kane, Bob Lock, Paul Edwards and many more.

Hotel Galileo Publication Date

2009-05-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

I'm very pleased to announce that my novella 'The Hotel Galileo' will be published in about a week's time. All being well, the book will be available by June 5th. For people in North America, it will be available for purchase from Amazon.com. (I will post details and links asap.) Because of the large shipping costs, UK/European residents will have an alternative option to purchase the book - I will provide more info on that nearer publication date.

Battlestar Galactica - How did I miss this?

2009-05-22T11:46:00.000-07:00

I've recently been watching the TV series Battlestar Galactica on DVD as I completely missed it when it was on the telly. I believe the final season aired earlier this year. Hearing good things about it, I went back and started with the initial mini-series, then watched season one and two back to back. And so far, I'm impressed. Very impressed.

When I tell people about it, their intial reaction is always the same: "Battlestar Galactica? That was for kids, wasn't it?" No, no, no, I say. This is the new version, the 're-imagining' as it's known. And that's exactly what it is. Taking the central idea of the original 1978 series, the producers have refashioned it, exploiting its full potential and bringing it bang up to date. It makes you realise how good that idea was in the first place, it was just a shame it came so soon after the massive impact of Star Wars and ended up suffering from that, I think. Anyway, this new incarnation is a million light years away from the original, although some things have been retained (specifically the ships and a lot of the main characters). This version is well-scripted, well-acted, thought-provoking, challenging and intelligent, with high production values and an unflinching ability to peer into the abyss now and again. This is not a show peopled with cosy hero characters. These are real, flawed human beings, fighting for the right to stay alive. So, yes, there are some dark moments, and that's what makes the show so watchable. You don't know what's going to happen next, who will live, who will die.

So, how did I miss this first time round? Not sure, really. I can't say for certain what made me NOT watch it. I vaguely remember when the mini-series aired that there was some furore over Starbuck being a woman. (Oooooh!) And I caught the odd episode here and there on Sky but didn't really know what was going on and I hate coming into a show halfway through. So I kind of just waited, really. Now that it's finished and I've heard reliable reports that the show's ending lives up to all expectations (please, if you know the ending...don't tell me!), I am enjoying it all the more, safe in the knowledge that it won't disappoint as so many TV shows in the past have done. I'm just about to get my hands on Season 3 and I can't wait to find out what happens next. Ah, if only all TV shows were as good as this.

Arkham Tales Issue 3

2009-05-11T14:34:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...

http://www.arkhamtales.com/

The Time and Space to Write

2009-04-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

In her brilliant book, Becoming a Writer (published some seventy-five years ago but still relevant today), Dorothea Brande spoke about two of the most important things a writer needs: the time and the space to write. Well, for me, time has always been a precious commodity, but as a father of four studying for a degree and working full-time there really isn't a lot I can do about that; I grab time when I can and make the most of it. When it comes to space, I've always struggled, too. I have no study, not even a shed or a roomy closet. At the moment, all I have is a tiny desk in the corner of the bedroom where I rest my laptop of an evening and try to produce good words. But it's not really conducive to the production of inspired work.

Now, things have changed.

Thanks to a family friend I now have a study in her house, and it's a beautiful house. Surrounded by gorgeous flower-filled gardens and a view of the bay that is quite stunning, Peace Cottage is the ideal idyll for the writer. The study is spacious and airy with plenty of light, and I am surrounded by library shelves filled with the most amazing old books. Inspiration is all around me.

Today I spent my first afternoon there and produced over two thousand words, a chapter and a half of my new book (the follow-up to The Hotel Galileo). I'm going back tomorrow for the whole day and I can't wait. At last, a place to go, a peaceful refuge for a cluttered mind. Peace Cottage. I think it's going to be a wonderful summer...

British Fantasy Awards 2009 - The Long-list

2009-04-24T13:14:00.001-07:00

I recently joined the British Fantasy Society and as a fully paid-up member I am now eligible to vote in the society's distinguished awards. The long-list is extremely long this year, so long in fact, that the BFS have produced a downloadable PDF of all the nominees which can be found at the BFS website by going here: http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/

I am very pleased to see Allyson Bird's first collection Bull Running for Girls (which I raved about a few blog entries ago) receive not only a recommendation for Best Collection, but her story 'The Caul Bearer' has also been recommended in the Best Short Fiction category. I sincerely hope she does well in both categories and goes on to make it onto the shortlists. This won't be possible, of course, without lots of votes. Well, I know where I will be casting mine, but if you are a member and haven't yet made up your mind, then I would recommend taking a peek at Ally's work. You won't be disappointed. You can purchase the papaerback edition of Bull Running for Girls at the all-new Screaming Dreams website (http://www.screamingdreams.com/) at the special reduced rate of £6.99 plus free P&P. You will also find 'The Caul Bearer' available for free download there. Good luck, Ally, and happy reading everybody.

Great also to see that Screaming Dreams has been nominated in the PS Best Small Publishing Award and Steve Upham's excellent ezine Estronomicon is nominated in the Best Magazine category. As expected there is strong competition in all categories and it will be fascinating to see who makes it to the final shortlsists. Exciting, too, to be able to play a small part in choosing them.

Now, where are those voting forms...?

The Hotel Galileo

2009-04-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

The Hotel Galileo, my first published book, is scheduled to be released next month, and here is a preview of the fantastic cover art by artist Marge Simon.

You can view more of Marge's wonderful artwork here: www.margesimon.com

The Hotel Galileo will be available from May 2009. Check out the publicity page at the Wolfsinger Publications website: http://www.wolfsingerpubs.com/TheHotelGalileo.html

"Sherlock Holmes meets Star Trek meets 28 Days Later" - Rhonda Parrish, editor of Niteblade Magazine

"The Hotel Galileo is well-plotted, fast-paced. A Roaring Twenties-style mystery set aboard a space liner, which will leave you wondering 'Whodunit' the moment you crack open the pages." - Lawrence Dagstine, author of Fresh Blood (Sam's Dot Publishing)

The Hotel Galileo Publication Update

2009-03-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Things are moving forward apace regarding publication of my novella, The Hotel Galileo. I was fully expecting it to appear towards the end of the year but publisher Carol Hightshoe contacted me the other day to inform she was hoping to release the book in May. I'm currently working on the advance reading copy and after that it'll be all systems go. I'm so excited. It will be so great to finally have a book 'out there'. I'm already far along with the next book (almost done) and planning a further dark fantasy novel as the next project. I've been dreaming of this moment since I was eleven years old. Twenty-five years of waiting has not lessened the feeling of excitement I'm feeling right now, I assure you.

More news to follow...

Star Trek: Reboot...are we excited about this?

2009-03-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

When it was announced in late 2007 that Paramount Pictures were planning to reboot the Star Trek movie franchise, the initial reaction from fans and non-fans alike was underwhelming to say the least. The last Trek movie, Nemesis (2002), performed poorly at the box office and fans felt it was little more than a pale imitation of the franchise’s arguably finest moment, The Wrath of Khan, but it was just too ‘lite’ to light up the screen and people stayed away in droves. After that, general feeling was somewhere in the region of ‘let sleeping dogs lie’. Then, out of left-field, JJ Abrams (Alias, Lost, MI:3) was attached to the project, and a Spock-like eyebrow was raised all round. Fascinating. Surely, if anyone could inject new life into Gene Roddenberry’s space baby it was Abrams?
And so the questions began: which Trek crew would it be? Not The Next Generation, that’s for sure. Not Deep Space 9. (That one was going nowhere, literally!) Not Voyager, either. (They wrapped that up pretty smartly on TV). So, surely it had to be Enterprise, the much-maligned last ditch effort of the franchise’s television arm? The show was axed once, brought back for one more season only to be axed again. (Sometimes it’s more merciful to set your phasers to ‘kill’ and not ‘stun’, if you catch my drift!)
Well, Mr Abrams, was it to be the Enterprise crew?
No, said Mr Abrams.
“Then what on Genesis could it be?” the world screamed (well, on the internet, no one can hear you scream.)
I don’t think anyone was really expecting the announcement that the franchise was going back to the Kirk/Spock era. I certainly didn’t. My initial feelings were a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I loved the Classic Crew. Star Trek 2, 3 and 4 are still among my favourite movies of all time. Those three movies form a neat trilogy and I believe it was there that Star Trek reached its zenith, exploring and expanding on the underlying ideals that were at the heart of the original TV series, and giving them an almost epic treatment. And with Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (a.k.a. the One with the Whales), the franchise even managed to bring in people who weren’t Star Trek fans; justifiably, the movie went on to be the most successful Trek movie of all. After that everything diminished to a greater or lesser degree.
If there was a downside to the Classic Crew movies (for the uninitiated that’s Star Trek 1-6, with a slight overlap on 7) it was the spectre of age upon the cast. The sterling work done on those first six movies was undermined by endless jokes about Zimmer frames and phasers set to ‘afternoon nap’. While Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley examined the grand themes of friendship and sacrifice and loss, all people wanted to do was poke fun at Shatner’s (alleged) wig and ever-expanding paunch, which really wasn’t the point. Shame.
What people really wanted to see was the original cast (and they were a great cast) running around like they did in the original TV series, if not with those primary-coloured shirts then at least with the same energy. And that, in a nutshell, is what JJ Abrams is about to attempt. Except, of course, with a brand new cast...and the shirts. Chris Pine (Smokin' Aces) will be sitting in Captain Kirk’s chair; Zachary Quinto (Sylar in Heroes) will be donning Spock’s pointy ears; and Karl Urban (Eomer in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy) will be filling McCoy’s size 12s. Whether these fresh-faced young whipper-snappers will be able to fill the shoes left behind by Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley remains to be seen, and will no doubt be debated on countless internet forums for a long time to come.
I, for one, feel as excited about the whole enterprise (sorry) as I did back in 1979 when, aged eight, I breathlessly awaited the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the first attempt to bring Star Trek to a new audience and a new generation. Although, in retrospect, the movie was a bit of a disappointment for an eight year old. I had more fun making cardboard Star Trek figures and ships out of the movie tie-in Weetabix boxes than I did sitting in the cinema watching that overlong, poe-faced spectacle which almost killed the movie franchise before it got going, but that’s a discussion for another time.
What I’m most excited about is the prospect of taking my seven year old son to see the new movie. Star Trek was always about hope (hope for the future specifically) and I hope this latest reboot is a massive success and leads to more (good) Trek movies in years to come. Die-hard fans may already be appalled at the audacity of what they see as ‘treading on hallowed ground’, whilst the majority of fans will have impossibly-high expectations which the movie could never hope to meet. But we can always hope. Hope is good. Hope is human. It is also, as Spock would say, “not logical”.
Star Trek is scheduled for release May 8 2009.

Small Steps...

2009-02-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

The writing has continued these past few months but at a slower pace than ever before. I’m surprised, though, how I have trained myself to be more productive despite having less and less time. When I get the odd hour to work on a story, I do it. If I can snatch a couple of hours to do edits on my next book, I do the edits. Time is precious to me now, more so than ever, so I don’t have the luxury of goofing off and faffing about with stuff which is really just procrastination dressed up as something far more important and appealing. You know the stuff of which I speak…
Anyway, I recently received an advance from Wolfsinger Publications for my novella ‘The Hotel Galileo’. Such an amazing feeling, hard to describe, and I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of…I don’t know, that maybe this is a bit more ‘serious’ now. A great but weird feeling. I am looking forward to the book release with barely contained excitement and anticipation. I’m already getting requests from work colleagues and fellow writers to keep a copy for them. Cannot wait to see the cover art…
My story ‘The Transmuted Engine’ is still under submission at Beneath Ceaseless Skies, a pro-paying ezine. I am holding my breath on that one. As it happens, I am currently in the process of expanding the universe from that story into a full-length dark fantasy novel. I love fantasy, I really do. I enjoyed Terry Brooks’ Shannara books as a teenager, I love China Mieville’s Bas-Lag trilogy of books now, and The Lord of the Rings is my favourite movie trilogy of all time; but I’ve resisted writing a fantasy novel until now because I didn’t feel I had anything new or exciting to bring to the fantasy genre. However, it was a fellow writer who, whilst critiquing ‘Engine’, suggested I consider writing a novel set in the Tasia universe. I’m going to give it a go, and so far, early sketches are proving to be quite interesting and exciting.
I’m ready to start work on the third draft of ‘The Silver Sea’. This will be the hardest draft, I think, because it’s about the nitty-gritty. But the end is in sight for this one, and that is an encouraging thought.
That’s me for now. I hope all of you are getting the breaks you deserve.

The Dead of Night Awards

2009-02-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, folks, it's that time of year again. Screaming Dreams are holding their annual Dead of Night Awards for Best Author and Best Artist. This is a list of authors/artists who have contributed to the Screaming Dreams ezine Estronomicon or to the eBook section in 2008. Voting closes on March 7th 2009. To cast your vote you can email the editor Steve Upham directly at: steveATscreamingdreams.com, replacing AT with @, and in the message include the name of the author and/or artist you wish to vote for. To see the full list of eligible author and artist names visit the Screaming Dreams website here:

http://www.screamingdreams.com/index1.html

If you vote for me I will love you forever.

2009-02-15T06:07:00.000-08:00

The new issue of ArkhamTales is online and available for free download. My story 'Inheritance' is scheduled to appear in a future issue. If you like Lovecraftian fiction, this magazine is for you.

Download it here: http://www.arkhamtales.com/

A Dark Love Story for Valentine's Day...

2009-02-14T03:13:00.000-08:00

Madrigal

They met by moonlight in the shadows of the bone garden — a place of relative sanctuary in the old ruined city — and there lay down together, servant and princess, in the dust and the scattered remnants of ended lives. The boy, Stille, held his young lover close, drowning her in passionate kisses and limitless promises, for such was the capacity of his young heart that his love knew no bounds: he pledged to Almira his love for all eternity.
But Almira's father, King of the ruined city, discovered their affair from a servant's loose lips, and on the night of their next scheduled rendezvous, sent his men to the bone garden.
When the princess arrived she found only a small cloth sack with her name written upon the fabric. Inside was Stille's tongue, still bloody, still warm.
She wanted to cry out with sorrow and rage, but did not. Like Stille, she remained silent.
Almira knew that her father had ordered this. The king told her she was forbidden to ever see the boy again. And even if she did, he could no longer whisper his words of love to her. Their love affair was over.
Yet several nights later, the grieving princess found a familiar figure on her balcony. Her heart leapt for joy on seeing his beautiful face. She rushed forward to kiss him, but Stille held her back with a raised hand.
In her passion, she had almost forgotten how her lover had been mutilated.
The princess hung her head. Her father was right. She would never again hear Stille's whispered words of love...
But Stille had found a way.
The boy removed his cloak and lifted Almira's chin. By candle-light she saw twisted calligraphy sprawling across his entire body — a madrigal written on the fabric of his skin, a declaration of love that could never be silenced.

(This story first appeared in Antipodean SF in 2005.)

Bull Running for Girls by Allyson Bird

2009-01-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

Just finished reading:

Believe everything you may have heard about Allyson Bird’s debut collection Bull Running for Girls (Screaming Dreams Press, 2008), folks: this collection of adventure-horror tales is a stunning, absorbing read. The stories blend together seamlessly to create a unique travelogue style, mixing in supernatural horror and suspense, terror and tragedy. The twenty-one stories take in such locations as Pamplona (for the title story), Madison County, U.S., Hong Kong, the Silk Road in China, Bordeaux, Pompeii and more. So hard to pick a favourite story (they are all equally enchanting), but the highlights for me were ‘The Conical Witch’, ‘The Sly Boy Bar and Eatery’, ‘In a Pig’s Ear’, ‘Blood in Madness Ran’ and the longest story, ‘Silence is Golden’, all of which left me with the most amazing images in my mind long after having finished reading them.

The book is dedicated to Ally’s mother and her sister who both passed away recently, and it’s a wonderful tribute to them and to Ally as a writer that the book is filled with true heart and emotion. The book has been so popular they sold out of all copies at FantasyCon last year and had to order a second print run. I am very excited to hear that Ally is working on a novel. Judging by this glowing debut, it will be one to look out for.

To pick up your copy, contact Ally at: http://www.birdsnest.me.uk/
Cover art by Vincent Chong.

Jupiter SF #23 Out Now!

2009-01-06T12:57:00.000-08:00

From the website: "Issue 23 of Jupiter: Kalyke is out now! This issue features 5 stories. The Weight of Shadows by Lee Moan, The Darken Loop by Huw Langridge (this is a follow on from Huws story The Ceres Configuration which was featured way back in issue 4), Thicker Than Water by Ian Sales, The Rule of Law by Elaine Graham-Leigh (a prequel to her story The Blue Man's Burden from issue 18), Notes from the Apocalypse by Michael Pepper and finally a short The Bridge of the Compass Rose by John Rogers."

The cover is by yours truly.

If you wish to purchase a copy of this issue, or any of the back issues of Jupiter SF, go here: http://www.jupitersf.co.uk/index.htm
Jupiter SF costs £2.75 for a single issue.

The Hotel Galileo to be published in 2009

2009-01-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still stunned, excited, delirious. After a polite query to Carol Hightshoe at Wolfsinger Press asking about the status of my short novel submission, 'The Hotel Galileo', I received a reply offering me a contract for publication! I was so excited about this I couldn't sleep Sunday night. Woke up for work this morning completely knackered and wondering if I'd imagined it! But no, it's true. Carol said the book was scheduled to be released "sometime in 2009" as a paperback edition as well as an eBook version for Kindle etc. The paperback will be available to buy through Amazon.com.

This is the culmination of two, maybe three years' work. The Hotel Galileo is, so far, one of the most enjoyable writing expereinces I've had so far. I really did have a ball writing it, and it was one of the first times I finished a project and was able to read it back over and feel really proud of it. (I've written several other novels prior to this which remain in a drawer and shall never see the light of day!)

So, what's it all about?

'The Hotel Galileo' is a murder mystery set in an alternate version of the Roaring Twenties where Mankind has ventured out into the stars. The action takes place on board the famed space hotel of the title, where an alien dignitary is murdered shortly after arrival. It is up to Barclay Heath, "one of the greatest detective mind's in the known universe", to see through the web of lies and subterfuge and uncover the deadly plot and the mystery which lies at the heart of the Hotel Galileo.

What else can I say? It's got dancehalls and flappers and the costumes of the Roaring Twenties all set in the plush surroundings of a steam-powered space hotel. It's a whodunnit, a whydunnit, a locked-room mystery with hidden chambers, unexpected twists and ancient alien mysticism.

And it's coming soon...

Resolutions Update

2008-12-26T12:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a year since I made my last set of New Year writer resolutions. So, how did I do?

1) I will start/finish the damn book
Did that. I completed my short novel 'The Hotel Galileo' back in August and sent it to small US small press Wolfsinger in early September. No response yet...
2) I will always have at least three stories on submission, while working on a fourth
This has been a year for taking a breather, taking stock of the past four years and then going back into it with renewed energy. I see the last two stories which are still on submission as the end of a "first phase", and the new stories I'm working on are part of a new phase. Suffice to say I'm quietly excited about the new stuff.
3) I will attend at least one writer's conference, and introduce myself to agents, editors, and other writers
FantasyCon 2008 back in Septemeber. This is the achievement of 2008 I am most proud of. It took a lot for me to go out into the world and meet other writers and publishers, being a shy, retiring type.
4) I will subscribe to the magazines I submit to
Subscribed to Black Static for six issues, but that has now lapsed. Need to either renew my subscription or subscribe to something else. Murky Depths, maybe...?
5) I will join a critique group. If one doesn't exist, I will start one at the local bookstore or library
Joined Critters Online Critique Group three months ago. First experience has been phenomenally good.
6) I will finish every story I start
Still working on that.
7) I will listen to criticism
Something I've always striven to do. As well as needing a colossal amount of self-belief, the other important quality for an upcoming writer is having the humility to listen to criticism. And act upon it.
8) I will create/update my website
Voila: the Steam-Powered Typewriter. I would still love to have a purpose-built website but this will do for now.
9) I will master the query process and find an agent
Not quite ready for that, yet. Soon, though, fingers crossed.
10) I'll quit procrastinating in the form of research, outlines, synopses, taking classes, reading how-to books, talking about writing, and actually write something
Yes, add to that the process of social networking. Necessary in these modern times, but oh-so-time-consuming. Damn you Facebook!
11) I will refuse to get discouraged, because I know JA Konrath wrote 9 novels, received almost 500 rejections, and penned over 1 million words before he sold a thing--and I'm a lot more talented than that guy
Refuse to get discouraged? The thought never entered my head.

And that's me for 2008. Not bad, I think, even if I say so myself. Not a very big year for publication credits admittedly, but as I've mentioned before, this year has seen me take a deep breath before coming back at it. I've never suffered from writer's block, because part of me thinks it doesn't actually exist. I think all writers get jaded occassionally, and at some point all writers suddenly find that what they're writing has lost it's mojo. That's right and proper and part of the process of improving. That's the time to go away, read some good books, read some good short stories, watch some good movies. And whilst doing this you will find yourself in quiet moments thinking to yourself, "wow, that was really good. If I'd written it, I would have done this . . ." And before you know it, you're back at the writing desk again. It can't be all output. There has to be input, too.

Have a great 2009, everyone.

Some haikus

2008-12-19T15:44:00.001-08:00

Just stumbled across three haikus I wrote in my notebook last year. Poetry is something I'd love to write a lot more of. These are quite sweet, I think:

Rain runs down the glass
The clouds above cast shadows
On my empty lawn

If she says 'No way'
I will walk out that door now
Never to return

The flowers I bought
Are beginning to dwindle
Water cannot save them

And there you have it. I have no recollection of composing them, either, but knowing my state of mind in recent times it's not a surprise. Amazing what you find in your old notebooks, though.

Estronomicon FantasyCon 2008 Special

2008-12-03T13:38:00.000-08:00

The FantasyCon issue of the FREE Estronomicon eZine is now available. Although I don't have a story in this issue my "Newbie's Guide to..." report is in there. Lots of great fiction from other writers including Allyson Bird, Neil Davies, Charles Black, Stephen Bacon, Tony Richards, Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan. The cover art is by Award-winning Vincent Chong.

It's a great issue, containing short stories by some of the FantasyCon attendees, art by award-winner Vincent Chong and lots of pictures of the event. I thoroughly enjoyed this convention and yes, there is a photo of me in there somewhere, but keep it quiet, won't you?

See the webpage for more info and to download :http://www.screamingdreams.com/index.html?target=d90.html

or you can get it directly here (2.48mb) :

http://www.screamingdreams.com/ezine/FantasyCon2008.pdf

Incoming

2008-12-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

It's been a relatively quiet year for getting stories published, but I have a handful of stories about to be published in the coming months.

First up is "The Weight of Shadows" which is a science fiction story due to appear in the next issue of Jupiter SF in January 2009. This is my second appearance in this fine sf zine and I'm pleased to say there will be artwork accompanying my story provided by yours truly. I admit I have neglected my art for the last few years to concentrate on the fiction side of things. It was the encouraging comments from an old school friend that made me pick up the brush again. I hope the result isn't too shoddy. If feedback is positive I may look at doing more artwork in the future. We'll see.

Second imminent publication is in new online venue Arkham Tales, the personal project of editor Nathan Shumate. The first issue is online now and available to download as a PDF. My story "Inheritance", a weird western story, should be published in the second issue due around February next year. http://www.arkhamtales.com/

Still awaiting the publication of "The Man Who Ate Planets" in the anthology Best New tales of the Apocalypse. The collection is edited by D. L. Snell and Bobbie Metevier. I recently saw the table of contents and it looks like my story is first up - how exciting is that!!! The book is to be published by Permuted Press any time soon.

All being well, "Deus Ex Machina" should appear in the next edition of Estronomicon. Watch this space for updates on that. http://www.screamingdreams.com/

In other news, I submitted another story to the Aeon Award. The final deadline was yesterday, Nov 30th. Results will be announced in about two weeks. The story I sent in was inspired by something my five year-old daughter said to me one day. I hope it does well for that reason alone.

So lots of stuff coming up. And of course, there's the second draft of the novel. Work on that starts very soon.

Stop the world I want to get off!

2008-11-04T13:01:00.000-08:00

Blimey! Where did that month go? I've been so busy lately that I haven't even had a chance to blog! So, what has happened in the last month? Well, I started my latest Open University course, Advanced Creative Writing. Submitted my first TMA last Thursday. Despite it being an added pressure to everyday life, I am enjoying the course a lot so far.

I've got a stack of stories that have either been published or are about to be published. Since my last blog entry, a new issue of Estronomicon has appeared: The Hallowe'en Special, and it contains another one of my stories, 'The Witch is Dead'. It originally appeared at Whispers of Wickedness, but I thought it was perfect for Halowe'en. You can find the issue over at Screaming Dreams:
Hallowe’en Special

Coming up: 'Inheritance' is scheduled to appear in a future issue of Arkham Tales; 'The Man Who Ate Planets' to be reprinted in the Permuted Press anthology Best New Apocalyptic Fiction; two stories ('Guardian' and 'The View from the Bridge') to be reprinted in the Year 4 Anthology of From the Asylum; and 'The Weight of Shadows' is due to appear in issue 23 of Jupiter SF. I've also submitted a piece of artwork to editor Ian Redman to accompany the story. Also coming up, my story 'The Devil's Bones' has been accepted for the final print issue of acclaimed small press magazine Whispers of Wickedness. I am very excited about this, as it was one of my ambitions to appear in their zine since I started all this business. I've been honoured to have my story edited by Peter Tennant who recently won the British Fantasy Award for his work as head of Whispers Review Team. I can't wait to see the story in print. Chuffed is what I am!

I've been writing lots, too. Well, not as much as I would like, but more than in recent times. Working on several interesting short stories and really enjoying the process again. Maybe I needed to get the first draft of that novel out of the way in order to come back to the short form refreshed. Speaking of which, I would really love to start work on the second draft of 'The Silver Sea', but there's only so much a guy can fit into twenty-four hours. Still, I feel hopeful at the moment; tired, but hopeful.

A World Without Men

2008-10-04T15:02:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered what the world would be like if every single man disappeared tomorrow? Come on, you've all thought about it at one time or another.

Well, I'm very pleased to have my story "A World Without Men" published in the latest edition of Estronomicon magazine. This story was actually my final piece for my Creative Writing course last year. The mag comes in PDF format, downloadable for free at the website. This link will enable you to download the issue directly: http://www.screamingdreams.com/ezine/Recovery2008.pdf
Or, if you prefer, you can visit the Screaming Dreams site ( http://www.screamingdreams.com/) first and check it out. There's lots of free stuff there, including back issues of Estronomicon available for download, as well as free ebooks and excerpts from their range of excellent print books.
I would be proper chuffed if you found the time to read my story and if you do, and it moves you in any way (good or bad), please feel free to leave me a comment. Thanks for your time. Have a good one!

Reading

2008-10-02T12:37:00.001-07:00

Taking some time out to do some serious reading (as opposed to jocular reading which is not to be encouraged). My To-Read Pile includes such works as Temeraire by Naomi Novik, Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, Shadows and Other Tales by Tony Richards, Lisey's Story by Stephen King and many more. But first on my list are two collections which I'm zipping through now: Allyson Bird's Bull Running for Girls and Twentieth-Century Ghosts by Joe Hill. Both are collections of similar length and in similar genres, so it should be interesting to see in what ways the "girls" may differ from the "boys", as it were, in terms of style. After I've completed those two I'm jumping straight into Joe Hill's much-acclaimed debut novel Heart-Shaped Box. So, as you can see, much great fiction to devour over the coming few weeks/months. I begin the fifth year of my Open University course on Saturday, Advanced Creative Writing, so I will seriously have to manage my time better than I have been doing recently if I'm going to fit in all this reading for pleasure.

One new story publication to announce: the latest issue of Estronomicon contains my story "A World Without Men". The PDF download is here: Screaming Dreams (Just click on the Estronomicon eZine link in the sidebar and then click on 2008 issues). I hope you have time to check out this great zine; it contains fiction by such writers as Peter Tennant, Gary McMahon, Garry Charles, Hugh MacDonald, Allyson Bird and many others.

Report: FantasyCon 2008

2008-09-27T15:32:00.000-07:00

What is a ‘FantasyCon’ and what can the first-time attendee realistically expect? Men dressed as Orcs? Women dressed as Ice Queens? Well, not quite.

FantasyCon is an annual event hosted by the British Fantasy Society which takes place in the spacious surroundings of The Britannia Hotel, Nottingham. The convention is open to everybody, although BFS members get preferential membership rates.
The website (http://www.fantasycon.org.uk/) states: “At FantasyCon, you can meet your favourite authors, attend book launches and listen to panels. Or, if you prefer, you can sit in the bar with friends old and new and perhaps win a prize in the acclaimed FantasyCon Raffle!”

I went primarily as an observer, to sample the delights (and the beer) of this auspicious event. As a writer who is relatively new on the scene it was a great opportunity to say “Hi” and shake the hands of some of the publishers I have had the privilege of being published by, including Steve Upham of Screaming Dreams Press, Lee Harris of Hub Magazine and Terry Martin, the man behind the exciting new publication Murky Depths. It was also a chance to sit in on some very interesting discussion panels, my favourite being “Crafting the Short Story” in which Christopher Fowler, Stephen Jones, Tony Richards and living legend Ramsey Campbell waxed lyrical about their favourite short stories and what made each one so special. The moderator was Peter Crowther of PS Publishing who was absolutely brilliant, managing the discussion in a relaxed and highly amusing way. I also enjoyed “New Directions in SF”, with Ian Watson and John Grant sparking off each other to such entertaining effect.

The overall highlight for me was the British Fantasy Society Awards ceremony on the Saturday night. It was wonderful to be sitting at the same table as Allyson Bird and Vincent Chong when Vincent won the award for Best Artist for the second year running. (He provided the cover art for Allyson’s stunning debut collection ‘Bull Running for Girls’, amongst many others). A great moment. The entire ceremony was never less than entertaining, from the inspiring moment when Ray Harryhausen won the Special Achievement Award and Stephen Jones read out a letter from the great man himself, to Joel Lane’s exclamation (“F*** me backwards!”) after winning the award for Best Short Story. I’ll never forget his face as he walked away from the stage proudly clutching his statuette.

If there were any downsides to the event they were the age-old restraints of money and time: I regret not being able to buy more books. There were so many wonderful novels, collections and anthologies on sale; and although I aim to purchase as many as possible over the coming months it’s not the same as picking up a copy at FantasyCon and having it personally signed by the author. The other slight downside was not having the time to talk to more people. For example, I met Paul Meloy on the first night and never got a chance to talk to him about his collection ‘Islington Crocodiles’. But things like that make me determined to return next year. Next year I aim to be a member of the BFS. Next year I hope to be able to make recommendations for consideration, and then vote for the authors/stories/artists/publications I think are deserving of the prestigious awards. And that, in a nutshell, is what FantasyCon is all about. It is a welcoming, gracious society and you cannot help but be drawn into their circle. When you’ve been once, you just have to go again—for the experience, for the fascinating company. And yes, okay, for the beer, too.

On Writing, On Waiting, On Stuff

2008-09-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm very happy to have just completed the first draft of The Silver Sea this weekend. As well as the huge sense of achievement which comes with completing any such undertaking, I also felt an odd sense of surprise at completing it without any real strenous effort. The best way to describe it is that the novel sort of wrote itself. I never nailed down the plot specifically (keeping only key moments and scenes in my head as markers to guide the narrative to its conclusion), and yet the story just flowed along quite nicely, filled with drama and tension and conflict and surprises; and a bitter-sweet ending which ties into the second volume, which I hope to be writing at some point in the near future. Very very happy with how it's turned out, and although I have forced myself to put it away for a few weeks I am already chomping at the proverbial to get back to it and make it even better.

Good news on the story submission front: The Devil's Bones is now slated to appear in the final print issue of Whispers of Wickedness. It sure was a long wait (I submitted it last hallowe'en) but I'm glad I waited. Since I started out down this road one of my ambitions was to get a story into the print version of Whispers (I have several pieces of flash fiction on the website). Whispers doesn't pay (only contributor copies) but it has some major kudos. A proud moment for me; just a shame it's the last issue.

This coming Friday I will be travelling up to Nottingham for my first major Con. FantasyCon, run by the British Fantasy Society, is one of the biggest events of the year and I can't wait. Nervous, but excited.

Finally, the other day I submitted The Transmuted Engine to the Aeon Award, a short story competition run by the folks at Albedo One. I was lucky enough to have my story Juju make the longlist back in 2005. Fingers crossed this new story does even better.

Murky Depths Review

2008-09-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

Murky Depths #5 has just received its first review, and a very positive one it is too. With regard to my story Halls of the Tollomai, reviewer Michele Lee had this to say:

In the war story “Halls of the Tollomai” by Lee Moan, a group of Marines are stuck in combat on an alien world with shifting landscapes, a mind-controlling enemy, and infectious locals. The heart of this isn’t about who wins and loses, but what it costs to get there.

You can read the entire magazine review here: Murky Depths Review

Dr Steel - Back and Forth

2008-08-26T13:24:00.001-07:00

The Silver Sea hits 30k

2008-08-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Some great advances this week during my time off work. Managed to hit the 30,000 word mark with my steampunk detective novel The Silver Sea. Right now I'm in that all-consuming, totally invigorating period where the characters are really coming to life and the fluid plot elements are slipping into a configuration that is very pleasing, and I am finding myself jotting down sentences, character nuances and snippets of dilaogue at the strangest times. This, for me, is the true joy of writing.

This novel is more challenging than anything I've done before because it is the first volume in what will be a five-part series featuring the detective character, Inspector Darknoll. I am constantly thinking "how will that affect future events?", or "will we see this character again, if so, where and why?". It's all very exciting. Right now, I am desperate to get the first draft finished, so I can begin the exciting process of hammering it into shape.

So you want to be a writer?

2008-08-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

Great article on the true value of devoting your life to being a writer by R J Ellroy, author of A Quiet Belief in Angels:
http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/blogDetails.aspx?id=6.

Here's a quote from Kaari Itrio which I like:

I can’t help but to write, I have a inner need for it. If I’m not in the middle of some literary project, I’m utterly lost, unhappy and distressed. As soon as I get started, I calm down.

Then there's Jack Dann:

For me, writing is exploration; and most of the time, I'm surprised where the journey takes me.

And finally from Jules Renard:

Writing is the best way to talk without being interrupted.

Getting Somewhere

2008-08-19T08:41:00.001-07:00

I'm off work for a week, so I've been working on two projects:

First off, finishing The Transmuted Engine. This long short story (it's come in around 7500 words) is all but complete now. One more polish and then I shall be submitting it for the Aeon Award. I have a lot of faith in it.

The second project is my novel The Silver Sea. I am very pleased with the work so far. I'm just about halfway with this one, and desperate to get that first draft done.

Sent The Hotel Galileo to WolfSinger Publications back on August 3rd. Waiting with bated breath... Also waiting to hear back on some stories with painfully-long response times. Feel like I'm starting to get somewhere, though...

Steampunk Girl (2)

2008-08-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, I can reveal that the mystery girl in my last blog entry is model and fashion designer Kato, who, amongst other things, has a fashon line devoted to all things steampunk. You can check out her gear at: http://www.steampunkcouture.com/. As a lover of all things steampunk myself, it's hard not to love someone devoted to this wonderful style.

Yeah, and she's mighty pretty, too.

Steampunk Girl

2008-08-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Who is she?

Murky Depths

2008-08-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

When I was a young lad I wanted to be a comic strip artist. I would have given my right arm to draw for 2000AD (which would have been a problem as I'm right-handed!!!) Okay, things change. Now I'm a thirty-something father of four who is carving out a career as a writer and trying not to get too jaded by the pressures of life and work and all the crap in between. But my love of comic strips hasn't faded at all. And here I am, at the age of thirty...well, in my thirties...with one of my stories appearing in Murky Depths, one of the most exciting venues for upcoming writers and artists I've seen in a long time. The production values are of the highest standard, and the content, a generous mixture of prose and comic strips, is nothing short of inspirational. Is just works. If you don't believe me, go check it out yourself. Nothing is more convincing than feeling the magazine in your own sweaty hands, turning the glossy pages, smelling that fresh-print smell. Terry Martin has produced a modern marvel. In an age when the doomsayers are decrying the death of short fiction, Murky Depths is out there shouting its defiance at the world.

Get it, while it's hot...

Finished!

2008-08-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

The final edit of my steampunk mystery The Hotel Galileo is complete. I feel a massive sense of achievement right now. This project began back in 2005. It's been through several big changes, and to see it now reading so coherently, so complete, gives me a wonderfully warm feeling. I am hoping to submit the manuscript to Carol Hightshoe of Wolfsinger Publications at some point in the next few days. Just tinkering with the formatting now, making sure I've done everything correctly. I don't want to jump the gun (but I'm going to anyway!) but I have so many ideas for marketing the book, as well as some exciting ideas for further mysteries for Barclay Heath.

Murky Depths #5

2008-07-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's here...

The Steam-Powered Typewriter Rides Again

2008-07-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

I use this title for my forum page at Whispers and just figured that as my longer works are all firmly embedded in the steampunk/dieselpunk/alternate history genres, it would be a wise move to give my blog that title too. I love the entire steampunk universe, both aesthetically (all those cogs and wheels and dials and valves!) and dramatically, too. My completed short novel The Hotel Galileo is set in alternate version of the Roaring Twenties, one in which humanity has branched out into space. The novel I am currently working on, The Silver Sea, is a crime novel set in a much darker universe, an alternate earth circa 1898, with airships and steam-powered automatons, and many other retro-sf ideas, all observed by a detective from our own reality lost at sea in this grim dystopia.

I'm very excited to have found (possibly) the perfect publisher for The Hotel Galileo. Right now I am doing one final sweep of the novel before it goes out into the big wide world. Watch this space.

GUD Goodies Contest

2008-07-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) has just launched a pre-buzz contest to promote the release of their third issue. You can check out the details out here.

GUD is published twice a year and chief editor Kaolin Fire has already implemented many good ideas which are innovative and realistic for the publishing world of today (such as being able to download individual stories for a small price and promotional contests like the one mentioned above). They seem to be going places. Good luck to them, or should that be GUD luck?

Stories and Longer Works

2008-07-21T15:07:00.001-07:00

Things are moving steadily in all areas at the moment. In Short Story Land I've just done a "final edit" on The Transmuted Engine before sending it to my first reader for a serious critique. I'm looking at entering this one for the Aeon Award this year. I made the long-list with Juju in 2005 (see here) which made me very proud. (Juju went on to appear in the second print issue of Hub Magazine). I've also been working on a dark fiction piece called The Postal Worker, which is delving into some creepy new territory for me. It's very much in the tradition of "weird" fiction. Spiders of Suburbia has a strong start but I'm putting it on the shelf for the time being as I'm not too happy with the way the story's heading.

In Novel-Land I'm steaming across The Silver Sea, which is demanding mosty of my time right now (I'm actually thinking about it the moment I wake up, which is disturbing!) I'm bracing myself for a final-final edit of The Hotel Galileo before I start looking for a publisher. Trouble is, it's an odd-length--publisher word count is about 45k--and that's a hard-sell any time of the week. Looking at all options for this one, but obviously I would dearly love to see it published as a stand-alone volume, possibly the first in a series. Time will soon tell...

Imminent Publications
Halls of the Tollomai - Murky Depths #5, due early August
The Man Who Ate Planets - Best New Tales of the Apocalypse (Permuted Press), due September
Guardian and The View From the Bridge - From the Asylum Year 4 Anthology, due September

(Medea's Children which was due to be published as an ebook at Screaming Dreams has been indefinitely postponed due to publisher Steve Uphams's ill-health. My thoughts are with Steve and his family.)

Doctor Who Series 4

2008-07-11T12:54:00.000-07:00

I went off the series last year. There was something missing from the show that I couldn't put my finger on, and even now, a year later, I'm still not exactly sure what it was that 'stuck in me clack'. I know for certain that I disliked the Daleks in Manhattan episodes without apology, and the series finale was ruined for me by the way the Doctor got out of the (almost) impossible situation. It was a nice idea in theory, but dramatically it was only one step away from a deus ex machina resolution. Then again, maybe I was just in a bad mood. I would love to watch the series again, just to see if the problem lay with me or the series itself.

Anyway, that lengthy preamble brings me to the current series which finished last Saturday with a bang (lots of them actually), a screaming Davros, and a plethora of guest characters all getting their moment to shine in the biggest series finale yet. And I enjoyed every minute of it. In fact, the series as a whole was, for me, the most enjoyable so far. The naysayers (and there are oh-so-many naysayers out there, just waiting in the nay-saying trenches of cyberspace to nay-say at the first given opportunity!) gave Catherine Tate a rough ride the first time she appeared in the Christmas special in 2006; so when it was announced she was returning as a regular companion for an entire series, well, I think the nay-sayers went into overdrive. However, history shows that they also did this to Billie Piper before the revitalised Doctor Who was even screened on TV! And what happened? The majority of people loved Rose by the end of the first series. Well, fans of the show did, anyway. The naysayers will never be satisfied.

Catherine Tate showed she could handle the drama and the comedic moments with equal aplomb. Her performances both in Turn Left, when she was about to be transported back in time, and her final scenes with the Doctor at the end of Journey's End showed she was an actress as well as a comic performer. I enjoyed her portrayal of Donna throughout the series, and if we occassionally saw shades of her "am I bovvered?" persona creeping in, what does it matter? That's a part of her, innit? Her story arc and its low-key conclusion were brilliantly performed by all, especially Tate and, of course, David Tennant, who carried the weight of the show to its heartbraking denoument with true class. I love his Doctor, and he is now so comfortable in the role it's hard to imagine anyone else taking over. The fright we all had at the cliffhanger ending to the penultimate episode ("I'm regenerating!") really brought it home how much I enjoy him as the Doctor and how much I would hate to see him leave the show. The good news is, he's happy, the producers are happy, and, on the whole, the fans are happy, too. I understand Tennant will be present for at least next year's specials (two Christmas specials and two further specials over the course of 2009), and things look set for him to be around for the next complete series in 2010. Let's hope so.

News that Stephen Moffatt (The Empty Child/Doctor Dances, Blink and Silence in the Library/Forests of the Dead) will be taking over from Russell T Davies as chief writer is very welcome news. Roll on Christmas and the Return of the Cybermen!