Diagonal Proof to Publish Metal Recycling Here

Diagonal Proof are to publish my whimsical flash story Metal Recycling Here. Delighted about this one : the story is kind of unclassifiable : it could be slipstream, I suppose, or really just an extended pun. I think there's a great deal to be said for writing fiction without regard to genre boundaries, but obviously doing so can make it difficult to find a home for a story. So many "literary" magazines, for example, dismiss anything that's "SF", as if literariness of prose and realism of plot were somehow two ends of the same scale. Weird. What's Frankenstein, then, eh? What's Dorian Gray? Earthsea? Midnight's Children?

Anyway, rant over, Diagonal Proof are cool because they seem to agree. Here's what their guidelines say :

When we were younger, we read anything. Intergalactic sci-fi. Wildly imaginative fantasy. Deeply meaningful literature. Books about planet exploring, pearl diving, or penguins. Tales of happiness, heartache, or heroism. You get the idea.

Now we are adults, it seems the world has closed in. Universities insist on studying literature and dimissing genre fiction. Some people refuse to read fiction of any kind. Others have found their favourite genre and never leave it.

We're starting up Diagonal Proof because we still read widely, and we think we know best. We want to create a journal that constantly surprises you, a journal that will challenge you to enjoy writing of all kinds. Our ambition is for you to find something you knew you would like and something you were surprised to like in every issue.

Ah, couldn't have put it better myself. Definitely a magazine worth reading.

Story Sold to Daily Science Fiction

Just heard that fantasy short The Standing Stones of Erelong has been bought by Daily Science Fiction, which most definitely counts as bloody marvellous news. This counts as my first pro sale as DSF pay 8c/word.

This was such an easy story to write. I woke up with it there in my head and pretty much just had to transcribe it and polish it up. Love it when that happens.

Write1Sub1 Week #16 Check-In

Sunday is Write1Sub1 Weekly check-in day. I'm posting updates on my short fiction output here as well as over on the main Write1Sub1 blog.

Hedge Wytch and Hurricane Bob have been my main focus this week - I've edited 30K words or so as well as brainstorming ideas - but short fiction has also been written and submitted!

Written :

• Two Twitter stories : Human Statue and Keep Your Eyes Peeled.
• One fantasy flash story : FRPG.
• One Haiku : The Rose Glow of Dawn

Submitted :

• Three Twitter stories submitted : Human Statue, In the Foot and Last Days of Summer.

Accepted :

• Twitter story Human Statue accepted by 7x20.

Published :

• None.

Have a great Easter all!

Flash Fiction : Light Years (85/100)

... eight ...








Light Years is a work of flash fiction. In fact it is the slowest piece of flash-fiction ever written. In real-time its one hundred words would take exactly 10,000 years to recount. Because of the limitations of a normal human life-span, it has been specially accelerated to the speed of one word per week. It will therefore take just under two years to tell from start to finish.

For a full history of the transmissions, click here.

Nearly 150 Blog Followers!

I've nearly hit the 150 follower mark! I don't obsessively watch this number any more, honestly I don't, but it has been creeping up towards the milestone of late. Exciting!

And, of course, thank you, thank you to every who follows, comments or reads. I'm truly grateful to each and every one of you.

Cracking the WIP!

So I need to reassess my writing priorities a little following recent events and successes. Time to review what I'm working on :

Hedge Wytch
Working on edits suggested by the interested publisher : definitely a top priority.

Hurricane Bob
The text adventure computer game and related novella I'm working on with Rusty Axe Games : again, a top priority.

Write1Sub1
Our short-fiction scheme has been a triumph so far as I'm concerned; it's done wonders for my short fiction output. Top priority. Hmm. See a pattern emerging?

Engn
The SF novel I wrote last year and am redrafting this year. Yep, top priority ...

Godstar
The SF novel I'd intended to write this year. Getting started is, yes, a top priority.

Blogging/Tweeting/Networking/Platform Building
Essential for keeping in touch, staying sane and staying amused. Always a top priority.


So six top priorities. Damn. That's not going to work. I like having more than one thing on the go but that's too much. I need to rationalize. OK, new plan for the immediate future :


Hedge Wytch
Work on another draft for the interested publisher.

Hurricane Bob
Complete the game design and novella.

Write1Sub1
I'm obviously going to stick with this but I think I'll be tending towards the shorter stuff for a while : flash fiction and microfiction with maybe a few longer pieces thrown in.

Blogging/Tweeting/Networking/Platform Building
I'm probably going to be a little less active for a time, although I tend to fit this in and around everything else so I'll certainly still be here. The Tuesday Twitter Tales are officially on hiatus, however! And my apologies now if I go unplugged for a time.

The edits of Engn will just have to wait for a bit and Godstar can remain on the drawing-board for a while longer.

That looks more manageable. OK. Back to the writing ...

Write1Sub1 Week #15 Check-In

Sunday is Write1Sub1 Weekly check-in day. I'm posting updates on my short fiction output here as well as over on the main Write1Sub1 blog.


Written :

• Two Twitter-length stories written : Last Days of Summer and In the Foot.

Submitted :

• Three Twitter-length stories submitted : Written in the Stars, Masterwork and Distant Bells.

Accepted :

• Flash fiction story Meteorology for Beginners accepted by Zahir.
• Twitter tale Written in the Stars accepted by Trapeze. 
• Non-W1S1 : Museum Beetles accepted by The Journal of Unlikely Entomology

Published :

• None.
  

Flash Fiction : Light Years (84/100)

... life, ...








Light Years is a work of flash fiction. In fact it is the slowest piece of flash-fiction ever written. In real-time its one hundred words would take exactly 10,000 years to recount. Because of the limitations of a normal human life-span, it has been specially accelerated to the speed of one word per week. It will therefore take just under two years to tell from start to finish.

For a full history of the transmissions, click here.

Two More Story Acceptances

The Journal of Unlikely Entomology sport perhaps the finest magazine name ever devised by humanity. I'm delighted to report they are to reprint my short story Museum Beetles in Issue 1, appearing some time in May.

Meanwhile, Trapeze have accepted Twitter tale Written in the Stars (not related in any way to the great Tinie Tempah song of the same name), to appear in August.

Three story acceptances and the excitement over the novel : it's been a good week!

The Tuesday Twitter Tale : Flypaper

He held the swat over the creeping bluebottle. He was about to strike when he saw what letters its frantic walking spelled out.






The Tuesday Twitter Tale is a weekly work of tweet-length fiction. It is posted here and on Twitter (along with the #vss - very short story - hash tag).

Flash Fiction Story Sold to Zahir

I heard today that Zahir have bought Meteorology for Beginners, a flash-length story submitted to them back in February. It should be appearing in their next edition, in July. Happy dance! This is one of my favourite little stories. I know we're supposed to love them all equally, but ...

Incidentally, this is another tale I developed out of a smaller piece : originally it was a 6-sentence story but when it grew up it became 1000 words or so long. Seems to be a familiar pattern ...

Write1Sub1 Week #14 Check-In

Sunday is Write1Sub1 Weekly check-in day. I'm posting updates on my short fiction output here as well as over on the main Write1Sub1 blog.

My main short fiction work this week has been on another fantasy story called Three Miraculous Homunculi. I'd hoped to get a draft completed this week but that didn't work because of, you know, stuff. Hopefully the story will be next week's "write 1". Fortunately Twitter fiction has helped keep me on track ...

Written :

• Three Twitter-length stories written : Written in the Stars, Masterwork and Distant Bells.

Submitted :

• SF flash story wolF emiT from last week revised and submitted.

Published :

• Twitter tale Time Dilation from week #3 published by Trapeze.

Flash Fiction : Light Years (83/100)

... of ...








Light Years is a work of flash fiction. In fact it is the slowest piece of flash-fiction ever written. In real-time its one hundred words would take exactly 10,000 years to recount. Because of the limitations of a normal human life-span, it has been specially accelerated to the speed of one word per week. It will therefore take just under two years to tell from start to finish.

For a full history of the transmissions, click here.

My Game Writing Deal

Late last year I blogged about the possibilities of writing fiction for computer games. My point was that, rather than fretting about competing attractions like games, we should embrace them and see them as an opportunity. Andy Yates then wrote a great guest post about interactive fiction.


As a lover of games as well as fiction, this all intrigued me very much. Which is why I'm delighted to announce that I've come to a deal with top indie game house Rusty Axe to write the text for an Elmore Leonardesque adventure game, along with an accompanying novella based on the same characters and events. Exciting stuff! The game/story is currently titled Hurricane Bob.

We're still at the stage of brainstorming ideas and plot-arcs, but once we're there and all parties are happy, we'll sign contracts and the writing can begin in earnest. This promises to be a lot of fun. On the one hand there's going to be all the conventional writerly stuff of character development, dialogue etc. On the other there are the more technical demands of creating a believable game-flow that allows the reader/player control over events. Hopefully my years as a software developer will be of use as well as my writing skills.

It's going to be an interesting process, not least because I won't have complete control over what happens. This is a collaboration between myself, a software developer, an artist and perhaps a musician. So a bit of an experiment. 

I'll keep you all posted on progress. When it's done the game and novella should be available on a wide variety of platforms : PC, Apple iDevices, Androids etc. etc.

Exciting times we live in!

The Tuesday Twitter Tale : The Vampyre Slayer

But when he heaved open the sarcophagus, stake ready, he found only a scrap of parchment. He peered in to read the words. ‘Behind you!’






The Tuesday Twitter Tale is a weekly work of tweet-length fiction. It is posted here and on Twitter (along with the #vss - very short story - hash tag).

Write1Sub1 Week #13 Check-In

Sunday is Write1Sub1 Weekly check-in day. I'm posting updates on my short fiction output here as well as over on the main Write1Sub1 blog.

Various pieces of longer fiction (more of which another time) have been taking up most of my time this week, but Write1Sub1 has kept me on the straight and narrow as regards shorter fiction too :

• Fantasy short story The Standing Stones of Erelong from last week revised and submitted.

• Science Fiction flash story wolF emiT written. This is a development of a Twitter story of the same name published in Trapeze back in February. After mulling it over for a few months I decided the idea could be expanded into a longer story. I think it works. To be revised and (hopefully) submitted next week ...

Flash Fiction : Light Years (82/100)

... seconds ...








Light Years is a work of flash fiction. In fact it is the slowest piece of flash-fiction ever written. In real-time its one hundred words would take exactly 10,000 years to recount. Because of the limitations of a normal human life-span, it has been specially accelerated to the speed of one word per week. It will therefore take just under two years to tell from start to finish.

For a full history of the transmissions, click here.