Cate Gardner's Blog, page 23
August 13, 2012
Well I never...
Life has taken an interesting turn at this end. If you're one of my Facebook friends you may already know what I'm talking about. If not...ooh, the mystery.
Here's a clue... Faceless
Don't panic, I haven't removed my face. Actually, that may be cause for some to start panicking. Don't worry, the lesser-spotted-me doesn't leave the North West area very often. Fair warning: I will be in Brighton this September.
Here's another clue... Twisted Tales
You may recall that I've mentioned attending writers events at my local Waterstones. You may also recall that I meet a friend for coffee before these events. I've known said friend since the late 1990s when he edited a magazine, we spoke on the phone a few times, he published some of my stuff and then I vanished from the writing world and we didn't catch up again until I returned to the writing fold, found his blog and yelled 'hello'. We started meeting up for the occasional coffee two years ago, in August 2010.
Another clue... My head is in the clouds and airships are floating by.
No, I'm not tripping.
I think.
So, for those of you not on my Facebook friends list, I just updated my status to... In a relationship with Simon Bestwick.
Here's a clue... Faceless
Don't panic, I haven't removed my face. Actually, that may be cause for some to start panicking. Don't worry, the lesser-spotted-me doesn't leave the North West area very often. Fair warning: I will be in Brighton this September.
Here's another clue... Twisted Tales
You may recall that I've mentioned attending writers events at my local Waterstones. You may also recall that I meet a friend for coffee before these events. I've known said friend since the late 1990s when he edited a magazine, we spoke on the phone a few times, he published some of my stuff and then I vanished from the writing world and we didn't catch up again until I returned to the writing fold, found his blog and yelled 'hello'. We started meeting up for the occasional coffee two years ago, in August 2010.
Another clue... My head is in the clouds and airships are floating by.
No, I'm not tripping.
I think.
So, for those of you not on my Facebook friends list, I just updated my status to... In a relationship with Simon Bestwick.
August 5, 2012
The Carnival is Over
It appears my glorious two weeks off work have whittled down to this last day. I'm not certain how that happened. Okay, I know how that happened but some of it is a blur and some of it deliciously highlighted in its wonderfulness. Back to reality tomorrow.
Ugh! (Uttered like a caveman in pain)
The plan for today (should I ever escape the endless loop of Twitter and Facebook) is to work on my novella/novel, which I haven't touched since Tuesday. My first week off work I wrote, wrote, wrote. The second week not so much, but that doesn't matter as I was out having adventures. One of those adventures included going to a Terror Scribes meeting in Manchester yesterday. I always feel so brave going to events because I can be incredibly shy. Annoyingly shy. God help me at Fantasycon--I shall have to get drunk on candy floss. At Terror Scribes, people were lovely and welcoming, and luckily I went with Simon Bestwick so that helped the nerves a little.
Now I shall go play with some ghosts, including a malicious one who appears to be channelling Willy Wonka.
Ugh! (Uttered like a caveman in pain)
The plan for today (should I ever escape the endless loop of Twitter and Facebook) is to work on my novella/novel, which I haven't touched since Tuesday. My first week off work I wrote, wrote, wrote. The second week not so much, but that doesn't matter as I was out having adventures. One of those adventures included going to a Terror Scribes meeting in Manchester yesterday. I always feel so brave going to events because I can be incredibly shy. Annoyingly shy. God help me at Fantasycon--I shall have to get drunk on candy floss. At Terror Scribes, people were lovely and welcoming, and luckily I went with Simon Bestwick so that helped the nerves a little.
Now I shall go play with some ghosts, including a malicious one who appears to be channelling Willy Wonka.
July 28, 2012
Some News from The Trenches
Earlier this year, Jay Eales invited me to write a story for an anthology he was editing set in the Faction Paradox universe and I am pleased to announce that my story, ...and from the tower she did fall will appear in the anthology 'Burning with Optimism's Flames' forthcoming from Obverse Books. Jay has been revealing the authors day by day over at Factor Fiction, although our bios are a little tricky.Dagan Books have announced a Kickstarter campaign with some awesome perks for backers. My story Too Delicate for Human Form will be appearing in their Fish anthology. (Full TOC here). The beautiful cover is by Galen Dara.
And on this delightful and (after last night's Olympic's opening ceremony) slightly surreal Saturday afternoon I am fixing-up a novella, shuffling some cards around and wondering if I can turn it into a novel but that all depends on if I can find 60,000 more words of plot plus an injection of scare - but I don't have to worry about that today. Actually, forget the injection of scare, I'd quite like an injection of funny. They're a humourless bunch. I think I shall have to invent someone new to shake them up.
In other news, I can currently be seen zooming around my office in my new chair and tomorrow I'm hoping for a rematch of Space Hopper Football with my nephew. I think I'll go for Gold this time.
July 25, 2012
The Mechanical Heart of Him
.jpg)
My story, The Mechanical Heart of Him, is now available to read over at the Daily Science Fiction website. Here there be little folk and visible hearts.
Thank you to all subscribers who read, tweeted and emailed me about the story last week.
July 21, 2012
Sour Saturday
On a trawl of the internet, I noticed that the electronic version of Phantasmagorium (edited by Joe Pulver) is now available to purchase. It features my story 'The Sour Aftertaste of Olive Lemon' along with stories by Edward Morris, Cody Goodfellow, Ann K Schwader and Michael Cisco. #
It's the first day of my summer holiday today (not that I'm going anywhere more exotic than my back garden or maybe Blackpool) and we have actual sunshine with the promise of more to come. I was expecting to spend the week in pink Wellington boots. I shall have to de-mothball the summer wardrobe (which is in fact a lie as, despite the weather, I tend to wear t-shirts all year long).
Day one has gotten off to a productive start. One short story finished, one biography made up (well that was the brief - actually made up bio's are so much more fun and easier to write than real bio's), and about to type up an old short story and thus start the beginnings of a new short story collection that I've been meaning to do for forever (okay, a few months). What is with the lies today?
July 17, 2012
Things
I think I need to empty my study.
It's full to the brim with things I love like notes, Jack Skellington, books, pens, pocket watches, Christmas angels that are too pretty to live in a box all year, a glum photo of my gorgeous niece wearing butterfly wings, and several million works-in-progress.
I need to tear down my memo boards. All four of them.
They are covered in dozens of pictures from six different books (all in various stages of repair, some even waiting in the wings), notes I've scribbled of things wise people have said online, coach tickets, theatre tickets (or rather ticket as I'm going to said show alone - I can't decide if I'm brave or rather sad, perhaps both), and jingle bells (yeah, they never got put away either).
I need to empty my study because as the saying goes a tidy desk is a tidy mind and place a white sofa against a white wall and scribble words onto white paper or a white screen. Only, I don't do tidy, I do chaos.
I won't declutter my study, but a corner of space would be nice, somewhere I could lose myself in a story rather than twirling in my chair and making the little doctors, Tennant and Smith, walk like zombies across my desk.
Focus is nice. Maybe I'll sit in the empty bath and write and see how long it takes me to clutter that. Ooh, rubber ducks...
(P.S. there is no photo of the cluttered office because my camera is dead. "Phew!" said I).
It's full to the brim with things I love like notes, Jack Skellington, books, pens, pocket watches, Christmas angels that are too pretty to live in a box all year, a glum photo of my gorgeous niece wearing butterfly wings, and several million works-in-progress.
I need to tear down my memo boards. All four of them.
They are covered in dozens of pictures from six different books (all in various stages of repair, some even waiting in the wings), notes I've scribbled of things wise people have said online, coach tickets, theatre tickets (or rather ticket as I'm going to said show alone - I can't decide if I'm brave or rather sad, perhaps both), and jingle bells (yeah, they never got put away either).
I need to empty my study because as the saying goes a tidy desk is a tidy mind and place a white sofa against a white wall and scribble words onto white paper or a white screen. Only, I don't do tidy, I do chaos.
I won't declutter my study, but a corner of space would be nice, somewhere I could lose myself in a story rather than twirling in my chair and making the little doctors, Tennant and Smith, walk like zombies across my desk.
Focus is nice. Maybe I'll sit in the empty bath and write and see how long it takes me to clutter that. Ooh, rubber ducks...
(P.S. there is no photo of the cluttered office because my camera is dead. "Phew!" said I).
July 13, 2012
Abominable Gentlemen
For today, I am an honorary abominable gentleman. I guess I should put on a waistcoat and suit and a nifty pocket watch. I have the pocket watch if nothing else and it is a mighty pretty one with gold and silver flowers carved onto its back. I do hope they won't object to my parasol.
And who are the Abominable Gentlemen? Well they are James Everington, Aaron Polson, Iain Rowan and Alan Ryker, and Mr. Everington interviewed me over at the Penny Dreadnought blog where we talk about astronaut postmen, poisoned lipstick and platform shoes.
I hope you'll read it.
July 10, 2012
Aliens
On my daily trawl of the web, I stumbled across the below reprint anthology that I thought some of you may be interested in (especially Ms. Walker).
Alex Dally MacFarlane is looking for science fiction stories about encounters with aliens. Stories must have been previously published elsewhere and you can send up to three. Payment is 1 cent per word and 2 contributor copies and the closing date for submissions is October 15th.The anthology will be published by Prime Books. Full details can be found here.
Alex Dally MacFarlane is looking for science fiction stories about encounters with aliens. Stories must have been previously published elsewhere and you can send up to three. Payment is 1 cent per word and 2 contributor copies and the closing date for submissions is October 15th.The anthology will be published by Prime Books. Full details can be found here.
July 7, 2012
Balancing on One Leg
It's Saturday and I am painting the bathroom and writing my flamingo story which you will have no idea about unless you follow me on Twitter or Facebook and even then you'll still probably have no idea about it. Not that you should.
Anyhow, while waiting for paint to dry I am working on the first draft of said story. This story was supposed to be a daft little thing but while formulating ideas it became more ambitious and now I've rewritten and rewritten the first paragraph a dozen times. I am aware how wrong that is and that I should just get it down, but this is often how I work. First paragraphs take me half the time and then once I settle into a story I (usually) fly through the first draft. We have to find our feet first and I've started this story in numerous locations. Maybe by the time we finish it'll be a daft little thing again. Either way, there will be flamingos.
Anyhow, while waiting for paint to dry I am working on the first draft of said story. This story was supposed to be a daft little thing but while formulating ideas it became more ambitious and now I've rewritten and rewritten the first paragraph a dozen times. I am aware how wrong that is and that I should just get it down, but this is often how I work. First paragraphs take me half the time and then once I settle into a story I (usually) fly through the first draft. We have to find our feet first and I've started this story in numerous locations. Maybe by the time we finish it'll be a daft little thing again. Either way, there will be flamingos.
July 2, 2012
Burp!
A couple of links for this Monday afternoon post...
Daily Science Fiction has posted its forthcoming stories for July and my story, The Mechanical Heart of Him, will be emailed to subscribers on July 18th. It's a tale of woe.
Sam Tomaino has reviewed The Journal of Entomology for SFRevu and has good things to say about the stories. I'm incognito in the review.
I feel I should have a third link because good things usually come in threes. Someone should send me awesome news like now...waiting...waiting....waiting. Ah man, best finish the post then. Most of the time I'm convinced that Gmail is eating my emails. Plus, I'm nervously biting my fingers (there are no nails left) waiting to hear if a story has made it into one of the most awesome magazines in the universe and I'm sure Gmail is laughing at me and thinking, 'I so ate that one last week.' In fact, I think Gmail just burped.
Currently working on a short story that is hopefully unsettling and definitely has a dose of woe. It's the same story I mentioned last week (false love, tattoos and the Devil) with an extra dose of awesome tattooness. In my opinion. My opinion is often wrong. I am (or will be when I've posted this blog) finishing off the second draft before I slice and dice with a pen sharper than the knife I left in my protagonist's hand.
Daily Science Fiction has posted its forthcoming stories for July and my story, The Mechanical Heart of Him, will be emailed to subscribers on July 18th. It's a tale of woe.
Sam Tomaino has reviewed The Journal of Entomology for SFRevu and has good things to say about the stories. I'm incognito in the review.
I feel I should have a third link because good things usually come in threes. Someone should send me awesome news like now...waiting...waiting....waiting. Ah man, best finish the post then. Most of the time I'm convinced that Gmail is eating my emails. Plus, I'm nervously biting my fingers (there are no nails left) waiting to hear if a story has made it into one of the most awesome magazines in the universe and I'm sure Gmail is laughing at me and thinking, 'I so ate that one last week.' In fact, I think Gmail just burped.
Currently working on a short story that is hopefully unsettling and definitely has a dose of woe. It's the same story I mentioned last week (false love, tattoos and the Devil) with an extra dose of awesome tattooness. In my opinion. My opinion is often wrong. I am (or will be when I've posted this blog) finishing off the second draft before I slice and dice with a pen sharper than the knife I left in my protagonist's hand.
