Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's Blog, page 4
March 16, 2018
Kandy, Riots and Sri Lanka’s Facebook Ban
Last week, anti-Muslim riots erupted in Kandy, leading to homes being burned down, a State of Emergency imposed on the country, and widespread fears that we would see a repeat of 2015’s Aluthgama incident. Initially, almost no action was taken by government forces. In light of this, I published on Facebook a six-stage request to Maithripala…
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February 26, 2018
Feb 2018 update: the months of small circuits
I have not been idle; despite the hugeness of the Harper deal and so on, I (estimate) I've written about 16,000 words of fiction since Jan - 11,000 of it in Feb, so my productivity is returning
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February 16, 2018
Jan-Feb 2018: The HarperCollins Deal
The past month and a half has been so incredibly rewarding that I no longer have the slightest regret of overwork. It’s worth it. For starters, HarperCollins India offered me a four-book deal. It’s apparently the largest (in terms of books) offered to a Sri Lankan author. That’s me and Kanishka Gupta, my agent. He… Read more Jan-Feb 2018: The HarperCollins Deal
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January 22, 2018
Artificial Intelligence then, now, tomorrow
(A speech given at the Arthur C Clarke Centennial on the 16th of December, 2017, Colombo) BOWMAN Hal, give me manual hibernation control. HAL Have you decided to revive the rest of the crew,...
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THE GHOST OF HAL: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THEN, NOW AND TOMORROW
(A speech given at the Arthur C Clarke Centennial on the 16th of December, 2017, Colombo) BOWMAN Hal, give me manual hibernation control. HAL Have…
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December 22, 2017
December 2017 | Year End, Orobourous Update
At last, December draws to a close, and I find myself with a day of rest. I went and saw the Last Jedi yesterday, and quite liked it*.
It’s been an extremely hectic and extremely rewarding month. I instagrammed something at the start of it:
At the start of September I foolishly promised myself that I’d finish an entire second novel by December. Finished as in proper second draft, ready to read.
November came and went. My father died, wiping out my bank account – burning bodies is expensive,...
November 25, 2017
Tommy Donbavand: a Wordsmith versus Cancer
Tommy Donbavand is a writer’s writer.
By the time I made his acquaintance online, he’d written and published over one hundred books, primarily for young readers; Scream Street, one of his oldest works, was on the BBC as an animated TV series; and he’d also written Doctor Who: Shroud of Sorrow, which came out for the Doctor’s 50th anniversary. It had Clara. It had the 11th Doctor.
Gold.
But two years ago, Tommy was diagnosed with cancer. Stage four, inoperable. He beat it. And when I emailed...
November 20, 2017
A new Lord of the Rings?
So Jeff Bezos tweeted about Amazon doing a LOTR TV series. Rumors and reports put the acquisition price between $200 million and $250 million. The studio, in a statement, said that they wanted to ““explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring.” [1]
And almost at the same time, Christopher Tolkien, longtime custodian of his father’s legacy, resigns Director of the Tolkien Estate, laying down his pen at the age of …93? Man’s truly old now. [2] Christopher is the...
November 7, 2017
Pronoun [RIP] is shutting down . . .
A few things died this month: among them, the distribution service I used to publish my first book.
Two years ago Pronoun set out to create a one-of-a-kind publishing tool that truly put authors first. We believed that the power of data could be harnessed for smarter book publishing, leveling the playing field for indie authors. Unfortunately, Pronoun’s story ends here. While many challenges in indie publishing remain unsolved, Macmillan is unable to continue Pronoun’s operation in its curren...Nov 2-7: Words complete on Blue Mountain
“A pale and sickly moon hung over the darkness of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Spires, many of them old, shell-blasted hotels, reached out to the sky. They made shapes in the skyline: A, B, C, black silhouettes on gray.
THE BLUETOOTH DEVICE IS READY TO PAIR, blared a voice in this awful darkness.
The little girl woke up, her mouth frozen in a soundless scream.
THE BLUETOOTH DEVICE HAS CONNECTED SUCCESSFULLY, announced the voice. It had a slight Chinese accent.”
This morning I penned the last couple o...
