The rough end of publishing...

A little bad news, the Twisted Library Press, where I had my Trip Hawker and superhero story waiting for publication has cancelled all of its upcoming anthologies.

According to Dr Pus (the man in charge of this small publishers), he couldn't afford to do the anthologies - they cost him around $1500 each to publish and the economic times made it impossible to fund them; he said he was struggling with his dental practice and so something had to give.

Very unfortunate, as I got the impression that he was a guy trying to get his small press up and running (a tough job even in a good economic climate) and was very keen on giving new writers a chance for publication.

Micheal Lea, who was editing the superhero anthology, said he would look for a new publishers so I was happy to let him keep hold of my story in the meantime, although he could promise nothing about when they might ever occur. From my point of view, the story was written to fit his book so unless I see a open submission that it would somehow work for, I'm not in a hurry to find a new home for it.

Trip Hawker, alas, joins the list of my homeless short stories......he's not alone.

I will concentrate on getting some decent work done on a novel (one or other) until the end of the year, then have a sort through the pile and see what can go where and get them back out into the world.

As a tribute to the horror fun and jollies of the Twisted Library Press, and because I'm reading the wonderfully creepy "Hell House" by Richard Mathieson, here is a 100 words of haunted house horror:

Floyd looked round the table at the other two survivors of Helmdark Hall.

Margot was smug; surely possessed. It explained Dr Tewk’s disappearance.

Vijay was distraught; he’d watched his wife hurl herself to her death. No use now, but the Presence might decide to use him as a weapon.

Floyd was ready.

The table rocked. Margot laughed. Floyd pulled his revolver and fired.

Margot slumped, whispering “idiot.”

The knife flew from Vijay’s sleeve. Vijay was unaware, even when it hit Floyd’s throat.

Floyd’s mind went black; he heard voices. Tewk agonised, pleading forgiveness. Margot furious. The last voice just laughed.

I blame the Rugby World Cup!!

A while back I posted on how much I was getting into writing my novel (The Power!!), and how I was cheerfully churning out at least 500 words a day, how I would surge onwards to have a first, rough draft done by Xmas...
Then there was New Zealand Spec Fic Blogging week - I DID achieve my goal of 7 blogs in 7 days, being 7 drabble episodes of a self contained story...but my novel writing slid a little.
And then I reached a bit of a big ending to the first chapter of my novel - and I really had to grind out 500 or so awful words to get going on that bit...and haven't been able to get back to it since.

 

What also got in the way was talking about an idea I had for a more YA adventure, steampunky story set on Mars at the last Wellington SpecFic meet-up - I worried that the idea was just so unoriginal..but Craig and Paul seemed shocked by the idea that this should stop me writing it. So I started writing it, which gets in the way of the other novel.

 

Oh, and then Paul said how he was taking submissions for a horror anthology that I thought one of my homeless short stories might fit into so then took some time to tweak that (again).

 

So all in all, a fair lack of discipline to keep focused on ONE project.

 

Oh and six weeks of storming rugby action (talking of lacking discipline, I was supporting England) where awesome New Zealand held one of the biggest parties in the world, kept me from The Novel too.

The status now - NZ won the Rugby World Cup (at last), they had a victory parade through Wellington this lunchtime, and I have plugged away at my Mars story.

Goals for November

• Finish that last bit of the first chunk of The Power (maybe a thousand or so words).
• Write the 2nd chapter of The War on Mars (2 or 3 thousand words?).
• Finish editing the horror story for the anthology and submit.
• Watch less TV.

Going Down - Finale

Colin had found papers explaining the conspiracy that had taken his life. A gorgeous naked girl appeared from nowhere.

“I’m Tasha,” said the girl, “from a grim future you created.”
“That’s what it says here.”
“Do they say I have to kill you?”
“No, but apparently you can fix my iPod.” He laid the stylish gadget beside her hand.
She tapped her wristpad. The iPod turned on.
Colin’s sense of personal status and satisfaction returned. All of the bitterness that had consumed the future was gone.
Tasha vanished, paradoxically, from existence. Colin put in his earphones and left the office.


So there we are, 7 one hundred word chapters in seven days.
And what have I learned from this? Mainly that it is quite fun to just run at a story without any clue about where its going, BUT, it would be best to review and re-write before putting it out there. I feel a few changes a couple of chapters ago would have made the ending make more sense.

And the other thing I learn is that I really do benefit from a deadline. At least something gets written when there's one to spur me on, even if it is just my own deadline.

Tomorrow, the novel continues. Tonight, young Colin goes back to his life...or does he?

Going Down Part 6

“Tell us,” said Vellus, the Leader, “The name on the discs?”

Colin shrugged. “An office in Swindon. Taking away people’s lives, erasing them. From all systems.”

“The name?” said Vellus. Tasha watched a monitor.

“My name.”

“Time travel,” said Tasha. “Screws everything. The drones are getting closer.”

Vellus sighed. “If we send you back, you’ll take charge of everything.”

Colin smiled. “Kill me now.”

“No need,” said Tasha. “The drones are here.” She tapped her wristpad.”

The drones poured death upon their bunker.

In the office in Swindon, Colin looked up. A naked girl had appeared in front of him.

Is Colin finally dead? Or is he behind the whole conspiracy? Is there any hope that any of this will make any sense at all?

Tune in tomorrow for the last part!!!!

Going Down - Part 5

Colin’s hut was obliterated. With him in it.

He sat up. A car flew past the window.

“That worked, then,” said the brunette, donning a black body suit. Colin was naked.

She threw him a suit. “Clothes don’t do time travel. I’m Tasha.”

“Time travel?”

“Yes. You were completely incinerated. But you’re too important to die. I had to save you.”

Colin felt tingly as he dressed.

“Sub-atomic mapping.”

She glanced out the window. Drones fired energy bolts at them.

Tasha tapped the wall. A green glow appeared. She grabbed Colin.

Colin’s body dissolved. They flew into the energy stream.

Hmm, all getting a bit weird now - who would have thought that there would be time travel? Certainly not me...at least, until I had to think of some way of getting Colin out of the hut.

More tomorrow as we thunder towards our big finale....and I promise, no cop-outs!

Going Down - Part 4

And on we go......

Sergeant Stein was satisfied with the test firing. Admittedly, it was hardly the toughest shot, just an old hut.

Obviously, the hut was uninhabited.

Though, there had been that flash in the window.

But his Commander said it was empty, so that was that.

The Commander didn’t question the mission. He reported its success to the Ministry.

The Civil servant approved the report and sent it to the Department.

The department noted the approval and sent it to the originator.

In an Office in Swindon, a box was ticked, and the paper filed.

No need for questions. Everything was approved.

Crikey - I've only got three hundred words to wrap this thing up! Did Colin escape? And if so, HOW?

A quick Beta City update - I asked what was happening with the anthology and the editor, Michael C Lea was good enough to get back - it's all still moving forward, abeit a little slowly, mainly due to various issues.

I really hope I make the cut with this one - Michael has a professional approach so I'd hope that this would be a really good book to be in. Fingers continue to be crossed.

"Rockets, swords and rainbows", however, seems to have slid into some strange limbo and I don't seem to get any updates...

Ah well, I will carry on hammering out my novel - hopefully finish the first rough-as draft by year end then I will revisit my homeless short stories, see if I can spruce them up a bit and find them homes.

Going Down - Part 3

And on to Part 3 - a bit of exposition, a smidge of character development and a challenge for our protagonist.

Colin’s life had been rubbed out. Made redundant, defriended from Facebook, bank accounts closed. Utilities had been cut-off and even his flat had been let to someone else. But Colin was no ordinary person; he was an ex-Extreme Customer Service Representative.

In his Orkneys hideaway, he searched through stolen disks on his old PC. One address kept coming up, an office in Swindon.

Now it was time to take his life back.

And then he noticed the tiny chip on the stolen disk. Then he heard the ominous sound of helicopter blades.

The missiles hit the hut; the hut exploded.

This is turning into an interesting writing exercise - just a rush of pure narrative. Character, description (of characters and places etc), dialogue - all have to take a bit of a back seat, but the story just has to charge forward.

So, stay tuned for Part 4 tomorrow - will our hero escape? Who or what is based in the office in Swindon? Don't ask me - I won't find until tomorrow either. I'm sure Colin will be OK...or  will he?