Cate Gardner's Blog, page 20
July 23, 2013
The Scratch of Audio
My story 'The Scratch of an Old Record' is available in audio over at Tales to Terrify, and narrated by the excellent Kim Lakin-Smith. The podcast also contains a story by Christopher Golden.
The Scratch of an Old Record originally appeared in Necrotic Tissue magazine, edited by R Scott McCoy.
Although, this is my first official audio story, there's two more coming soon in an anthology. Details will follow when I stop twirling in my chair and get down to regular blogging.
Although, twirling in the chair is exercise of sorts.
July 13, 2013
A Broken Review
Over at Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews, Mihai Adascalitei has reviewed my latest novella In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair.
Here be an extract:
“In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair”is the latest example of Cate Gardner’s prowess in weaving fantastical worlds and strange events and to confirm that she is one of the distinct voices of modern speculative fiction.
You can read the rest of the review here. The novella is available as an ebook in the UK, US and Canada and is published by Alchemy Press.
Many thanks to Mihai.
July 3, 2013
Some Story News
Here be a couple of anthologies that my stories will shortly be appearing in...
Here be the official blurb:
From the post-apocalyptic American West to the rural terror in New Zealand, this major anthology has evil spirits, bin-Laden style assassinations, steampunk, sexual dysfunction, a twisted version of Peter Pan, the folklore of standing stones, mermaids, alien tour guides, zombies, gruesome beasts, voice-controlled police states, environmental disasters and off world penal colonies. Unmissable. Featuring (among others) Simon Bestwick, Joseph D’Lacey, Cate Gardner, Carole Johnstone, Tyler Keevil, Kim Lakin-Smith, Alison Littlewood, Cheryl Moore, Mark Morris, Adam Neville, Lavie Tidhar, Sam Stone, Steph Swainston, E.J. Swift, Lisa Tuttle, Simon Unsworth, Jon Wallace.
It contains my story, Too Delicate for Human Form, which was previously published FISH, and Simon Bestwick's Dermot which was previously published in Black Static.
My story Weird Beautiful Muse will be appearing alongside stories by Barry Napier, Aaron Polson, Natalie Sin, Mary Rajotte, Michael Hultquist and others in Return to New Bedlam, which is edited by Jodi Lee.
Here be the official blurb:From the post-apocalyptic American West to the rural terror in New Zealand, this major anthology has evil spirits, bin-Laden style assassinations, steampunk, sexual dysfunction, a twisted version of Peter Pan, the folklore of standing stones, mermaids, alien tour guides, zombies, gruesome beasts, voice-controlled police states, environmental disasters and off world penal colonies. Unmissable. Featuring (among others) Simon Bestwick, Joseph D’Lacey, Cate Gardner, Carole Johnstone, Tyler Keevil, Kim Lakin-Smith, Alison Littlewood, Cheryl Moore, Mark Morris, Adam Neville, Lavie Tidhar, Sam Stone, Steph Swainston, E.J. Swift, Lisa Tuttle, Simon Unsworth, Jon Wallace.
It contains my story, Too Delicate for Human Form, which was previously published FISH, and Simon Bestwick's Dermot which was previously published in Black Static.
My story Weird Beautiful Muse will be appearing alongside stories by Barry Napier, Aaron Polson, Natalie Sin, Mary Rajotte, Michael Hultquist and others in Return to New Bedlam, which is edited by Jodi Lee.
June 30, 2013
Sally Broke Her Neck
After a glorious weekend in Manchester, I arrived home to find Sally had broken her neck and was lying unnoticed on my bookshelves. Don't worry, Sally is a ceramic doll from The Nightmare Before Christmas and I have super glue.
If only we could be fixed as easily.
Thank you to everyone who offered support in my 'writer's block' cry for help and especially to Deborah Walker whose wonderful advice got me writing again. So far, I've written one short story (This Contagion) and am hoping it's not a one-off. It shouldn't be, especially as, after a visit to Manchester Museum yesterday, I am full to the brim with ideas. Now I just have to beat the procrastination gene.
Some other news:
Alison Littlewood won my In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair competition. Thank you to everyone who entered and who has purchased the novella.
I finally subscribed to Duotrope because I missed it.
Oh, and I my google-fu found this review of Shimmer 16, which contains my story 'The Binding of Memories', over at Casual Debris. They kindly said the following about my story: "Dreamy and unique, a good concept well delivered, and a story that well represents the shimmery quote from above."
If only we could be fixed as easily.
Thank you to everyone who offered support in my 'writer's block' cry for help and especially to Deborah Walker whose wonderful advice got me writing again. So far, I've written one short story (This Contagion) and am hoping it's not a one-off. It shouldn't be, especially as, after a visit to Manchester Museum yesterday, I am full to the brim with ideas. Now I just have to beat the procrastination gene.
Some other news:
Alison Littlewood won my In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair competition. Thank you to everyone who entered and who has purchased the novella.
I finally subscribed to Duotrope because I missed it.
Oh, and I my google-fu found this review of Shimmer 16, which contains my story 'The Binding of Memories', over at Casual Debris. They kindly said the following about my story: "Dreamy and unique, a good concept well delivered, and a story that well represents the shimmery quote from above."
June 20, 2013
A Drowning Emptiness
You know when you forget how to do something you've always done. That. I'm drowning in that. I'm typing this onto a blank Word page while the Bestwick writes for all he's worth in the kitchen (and I have serious word envy). I'm not supposed to be typing this, I'm supposed to be writing a story, the beginnings of a novella, a novel, anything. Heck, I'd even settle for some bad poetry at the moment.
I've come to a complete stop.
I have time. I'm not complaining about lack of that. Actually, the only thing I'm complaining about is me. Sure, I have more things filling my life at the moment but there is still plenty of space for words. I'm also aware some people have no more than ten minutes here and there to write and they get stuff done in those ten minutes. They get stuff done and their lives are difficult. I can have a long hour stretching ahead of me and all I fill it with is a growing sense of dread and sickness. I lie awake at night sometimes worried that I'll never write again, that something has misfired in my brain. It's possible I suppose.
I've written a sum total of two short stories this year. Two. I used to do that in a week (heck I've been known to do that in a day and sell them to excellent markets). I've also written a short novella (or wait, I may have written that last year - whatever, it certainly wasn't recently). It feels like my head is full of things and yet when it stares at a blank screen or a blank page it's empty. There's not a single word floating around in there.
One thing I'm getting very good at is staring into space. Hopefully something weird and wonderful will float by the window and inspire me or maybe the gremlins will climb from beneath my desk and fix the broken bits in my brain. They need me sitting in my office, at my desk, so they can steal my pens and break things--otherwise they have no purpose.
I don't know if writers block exists. This feels more like writer erosion.
I've come to a complete stop.
I have time. I'm not complaining about lack of that. Actually, the only thing I'm complaining about is me. Sure, I have more things filling my life at the moment but there is still plenty of space for words. I'm also aware some people have no more than ten minutes here and there to write and they get stuff done in those ten minutes. They get stuff done and their lives are difficult. I can have a long hour stretching ahead of me and all I fill it with is a growing sense of dread and sickness. I lie awake at night sometimes worried that I'll never write again, that something has misfired in my brain. It's possible I suppose.
I've written a sum total of two short stories this year. Two. I used to do that in a week (heck I've been known to do that in a day and sell them to excellent markets). I've also written a short novella (or wait, I may have written that last year - whatever, it certainly wasn't recently). It feels like my head is full of things and yet when it stares at a blank screen or a blank page it's empty. There's not a single word floating around in there.
One thing I'm getting very good at is staring into space. Hopefully something weird and wonderful will float by the window and inspire me or maybe the gremlins will climb from beneath my desk and fix the broken bits in my brain. They need me sitting in my office, at my desk, so they can steal my pens and break things--otherwise they have no purpose.
I don't know if writers block exists. This feels more like writer erosion.
May 22, 2013
Broken Birdcage Competition.
My novella In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair is now available to buy as an eBook from Amazon (UK, US, Canada, and France). Here be a blurb...
'Escaping the birdcage in which she's imprisoned is only the beginning of Kathleen's journey; on the other side of the mirror she'll have to evade the Devil, and the attentions of the Perfume Thief...'
To celebrate it's release I'm running a competition where you can win a signed hardback of my novella Theatre of Curious Acts, a paperback anthology Attic Toys, a notebook (with a birdcage on, of course) and a set of magnets. To enter please purchase the eBook on Amazon (it's only available for Kindle), and Tweet or Facebook status that you've purchased it via Amazon. Amazon normally have a widget for that kind of thing. If you don't play with Twitter or Facebook (or are worried I won't notice your entry) then send an email to catephoenix@gmail.com and let me know you've bought it. Closing date is my birthday - June 20th. Good luck.
May 9, 2013
The Bureau of Spectral
Hot on the heels of my novella acceptance from Alchemy Press, I am (again) delighted to announce that Simon Marshall Jones has accepted my novella 'The Bureau of Them' for Spectral Press. It should appear in early 2015.
Spectral published my chapbook Nowhere Hall in 2011 and I'm delighted to be working with them again.
May 1, 2013
Out of a Broken Birdcage
I am delighted to announce that Peter Coleborn has accepted my novella 'In the Broken Birdcage of Kathleen Fair' for the Alchemy Press Novella line. It will appear as an eBook later this year and then in print as part of a collection of novellas sometime next year.
This makes me smile and possibly happy dance. Who am I kidding? I so shook my ass when I found out. I should add, I was on a train. No one saw although I may be on CCTV.
If you have a strange novella hiding in your bottom drawer or are working some strangeness into novella form, then the guidelines are here: http://alchemypress02.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-page.html
April 10, 2013
A Story of Somebody Else
Seen as my last post was all about me, I think it's time to make one all about someone else.
I've met Priya Sharma on a couple of occasions at writing events in Liverpool and Halton, and she has to be one of the modestest (is that even a word - it sounds wrong) people I've ever met. Her latest story 'Rag and Bone' is published at Tor and is set in my home town, Liverpool. It's a marvellous story of a rag and bone seller, with emphasis on the bone, and the poor in an alternative 19th century Liverpool. Trust me, you should read it.
Link here: Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
I've met Priya Sharma on a couple of occasions at writing events in Liverpool and Halton, and she has to be one of the modestest (is that even a word - it sounds wrong) people I've ever met. Her latest story 'Rag and Bone' is published at Tor and is set in my home town, Liverpool. It's a marvellous story of a rag and bone seller, with emphasis on the bone, and the poor in an alternative 19th century Liverpool. Trust me, you should read it.
Link here: Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma
April 8, 2013
It's All About Me and Biscuits
Some reviews, which have appeared on the net over the past few weeks. I used to be better organised, more on the ball, not so distracted, fa la la la la...
Lois Tilton has reviewed Shimmer 16 over at Locus Online. Here's a snippet of what she had to say about my story, The Binding of Memories:
...a darkly amusing, imaginative bit of absurdity. You can read the rest of the review here.
Sam Tomaino also reviewed the story over at SFRevu Reviews. Here's a snippet:
...This story gets darker and darker until its end and certainly fit the purpose of having “a strange and original idea” and being a very good story, too. You can read the rest of the review here.
Haralambi Mmarkov reviewed the anthology Fish from Dagan Books. here's a snippet of what he had to say about my story, Too Delicate for Human Form:
...In a typical Gardner fashion, an already weird concept with its haunting, mournful beauty descends into madness. You can read the rest of the review here.
Paul Weimer reviewed the anthology over at SF Signal.
..."Too Delicate for Human Form” is a haunting fantasy story of the unexpected legacy of a girl’s aunt and a magical secret with a sharp sting in the tail. You can read the rest of the review here.
And, lastly, but by no way the least, James Everington reviewed my novella, Barbed Wire Hearts over at his blog and amongst the delightful things he had to say...
...But it's easy enough to describe how damn good they are. And this novella (published by Delirium Books) strikes me as possibly the strongest book of hers I've read – in common with the best novellas, the form allows the plot to be fully satisfying but without any extraneous fat.
As I said in the title... It's All About Me. Apologies for that. Go make yourself a cup of tea and dunk some biscuits in it. Don't like dunking biscuits. Me neither.
Lois Tilton has reviewed Shimmer 16 over at Locus Online. Here's a snippet of what she had to say about my story, The Binding of Memories:
...a darkly amusing, imaginative bit of absurdity. You can read the rest of the review here.
Sam Tomaino also reviewed the story over at SFRevu Reviews. Here's a snippet:
...This story gets darker and darker until its end and certainly fit the purpose of having “a strange and original idea” and being a very good story, too. You can read the rest of the review here.
Haralambi Mmarkov reviewed the anthology Fish from Dagan Books. here's a snippet of what he had to say about my story, Too Delicate for Human Form:
...In a typical Gardner fashion, an already weird concept with its haunting, mournful beauty descends into madness. You can read the rest of the review here.
Paul Weimer reviewed the anthology over at SF Signal.
..."Too Delicate for Human Form” is a haunting fantasy story of the unexpected legacy of a girl’s aunt and a magical secret with a sharp sting in the tail. You can read the rest of the review here.
And, lastly, but by no way the least, James Everington reviewed my novella, Barbed Wire Hearts over at his blog and amongst the delightful things he had to say...
...But it's easy enough to describe how damn good they are. And this novella (published by Delirium Books) strikes me as possibly the strongest book of hers I've read – in common with the best novellas, the form allows the plot to be fully satisfying but without any extraneous fat.
As I said in the title... It's All About Me. Apologies for that. Go make yourself a cup of tea and dunk some biscuits in it. Don't like dunking biscuits. Me neither.
