World Fantasy Con, or How To Drink Your Way To Fame

I'm on the train leaving Brighton and World Fantasy Con.
This is my first Fantasy Con and the po-faced nature of some of the publicity had made me worry it was a bit staid.
I could not have been more wrong.
I had a brilliant time. Every day was busy and every night long and drunken. I met and blethered at many lovely people, listened to big names say interesting stuff and even ate.

Top points being Brian Clemens, K.W. Jeter and the bar

All in an excellent time and I will certainly look at another Fantasy Con as soon as I have money and time

In the meantime I now have homework to get two stories published by WorldCon so, if you will excuse me, I have a Wikipedia article on bees to look at.

The Writing Is On The Wall

Oomph, the anthology from Crossed Genres is released today. Available in both eBook and real, physical, smells funny and gathers dust, paper formats.

You can find it here and I look forward to reading some excellent stuff on the lower end of the super hero spectrum.

Also, by way of a small plugette for the other things I have had published in the last glorious year, do please be looking to the right for them.

Cheers m'dears.

The Return of the Pulp-O-Mizer

It turns out that anthologies are like buses. You wait for ages and then two turn up at once.

Today the TOC for Oomph got announced and so, by way of celebration, I've been farting around on the Pulp-O-Mizer site again.

So, coming soon in Oomph is;

and in Caledonia Dreamin';

Caledonia Dreamin'

Not posted here in a while due to mucking about with a novel length piece of nonsense and so not much happening.
(Actually, I've been watching too much Doctor Who in the run up to the 50th anniversary but I like to fool myself I have a reason for not writing so much short fiction at the moment)

Anyhoo, the reason I am here is that the rather wonderful cover for Caledonia Dreamin' has been shown to the world here

Isn't it gallus?

I'm really looking forward to reading this, so many interesting and new words from funny foreign places like Lanarkshire and Fife and the like.

But first, I must go and write more, just as soon as I have caught up with Doctor Who.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Well lummee!

The purple patch is now looking like a small purple lawn as the fine people in charge of an anthology called Caledonia Dreamin have accepted my story.

Excitingly, the last plan I heard featured launching the anthology at World Fantasy Con, which I will be at, so I may get the chance to stand beside it and grin like a non-speaking Terrileptil.

In other news, I heard that the Crossed Genres anthology, Oomph. Is delayed due to ill-health. Hopefully everyone there is better now but rest assured, when it comes out, I will annoy you all about it.

Well, suppose I better go and write something new now. Preferably not something it turns out is due to be released as a film very soon.

Stolen ideas

So, I have had an idea knocking round my head for years. Imagine a city as a train, thundering round the world. Then imagine how the class system would develop.

Several years back I wrote a short story set on that train. It was suggested I might want to lengthen the story. So I turned it into a novel.

The first one I had ever tried.

I ummed and awed at it for ages, finally submitting it to GSFWC for critiquing in two weeks time. Then someone spots this trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyhjuCH9zWQ

I must learn to write quicker.

The Art of Cake Baking

Do you like cake?

Then you should go to Unspoken Water right now and buy issue four.

They have very kindly published a short by me on the subject of cake baking. I would tell you the title, but I have changed it so often I can't remember what it is now. Sharon tells me it is her favourite of the stuff I have so far done, but then it would not have been written were it not for her Great Gran. Thanks Mrs. Heath.

This also marks the first time I have been paid for writing something. The Creme Egg I bought with the cash was a fine reward, I can assure you.