Iain Rowan's Blog, page 2
November 2, 2012
Penny Dreadnought - now in print
October 31, 2012
Hell on halloween
The scariest thing you will see all night.
Have a good halloween everyone.
Have a good halloween everyone.
October 23, 2012
Spooks, of all kinds
I've just finished watching Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the seven part BBC series from 1980, with Alec Guinness as George Smiley. Fantastic production, smeared with 70s drear (and everybody smoking, all the time. Funny how that stands out so much now). Very little in the way of action, but full of suspense all the way through: a difference that a lot of modern TV drama could well do with understanding. Brilliant acting, from a stellar cast, and a script which crackles with wit, double meaning and things left unsaid.High on my Christmas list is another DVD box set. This one's a compilation of BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas, a few of which I have in various states of crackly VHS transfers, and a few of which I have on BFI DVD. This though, is how they should have been released a long time ago. The Signalman, Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You, A Warning To The Curious, and more.
And while I am on a horror theme, I really enjoyed Mark Gatiss' three part series A History of Horror. A follow-up's coming at the end of October, this one a feature length documentary on European horror. From Murnau's Nosferatu to del Toro. Perfect Halloween viewing.
October 21, 2012
Festivus
Regular readers may remember a little while ago that a very short story of mine won the Flashbang competition for a crime story in 150 words or less.
The prize for the winner was a pair of tickets to CrimeFest, and I'm now booking my hotel and that sort of thing, and seeing who else is going to be there and getting quite excited, even though it's over half a year away.
Although I've been writing for quite a while, this is actually the first con-type thing I've ever been to, so it should be a lot of fun. For years I've half-planned to get to Harrogate, not least because it's reasonably close, but it usually falls at a time of year when it's very hard for me to take leave.
I've also had a long-standing reluctance to go to a festival or con before I had a novel published, on account of feeling like a fraud. I know, I know, but that's the way my head works. A good time to have gone would have been after the Debut Dagger nomination and when I was signed up with Gregory & Co, but it didn't quite work out.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it, and if you see me there, say hello.
The prize for the winner was a pair of tickets to CrimeFest, and I'm now booking my hotel and that sort of thing, and seeing who else is going to be there and getting quite excited, even though it's over half a year away.
Although I've been writing for quite a while, this is actually the first con-type thing I've ever been to, so it should be a lot of fun. For years I've half-planned to get to Harrogate, not least because it's reasonably close, but it usually falls at a time of year when it's very hard for me to take leave.
I've also had a long-standing reluctance to go to a festival or con before I had a novel published, on account of feeling like a fraud. I know, I know, but that's the way my head works. A good time to have gone would have been after the Debut Dagger nomination and when I was signed up with Gregory & Co, but it didn't quite work out.
Anyway, I'm really looking forward to it, and if you see me there, say hello.
September 27, 2012
Off The Record 2: At The Movies
Out now, Off the Record 2. An anthology of stories inspired by film titles. All proceeds to charity. A bunch of fantastic writers. What's not to like?Do you like short stories? Do you like films? Do you like doing good things that help with child literacy?
Of course you do. So you'll love Off The Record 2: At The Movies, a second anthology of short stories put together by Luca Veste and Paul D Brazill to raise money for the National Literacy Trust in the UK, and the Children's Literacy Initiative in the US. The 47 stories are all inspired by a film title, and the line-up is just stellar.
September 12, 2012
The *real* news today
Today, a shameful cover-up and conspiracy has finally been brought into the light.
The police and ambulance service, politicians, and press, conspired to lie to cover up their failings and complicity in the deaths of 96 people. For twenty-three years, this terrible, shameful lie has persisted, despite the efforts of the families to uncover what really happened
Finally, the truth has come out, one of the biggest national scandals of the last quarter century, surely it's such dramatic news that it would take over the front pages of some of the biggest newspapers in the country...
BUT FUCK THAT, THERE'S A NEW IPHONE OUT!
The police and ambulance service, politicians, and press, conspired to lie to cover up their failings and complicity in the deaths of 96 people. For twenty-three years, this terrible, shameful lie has persisted, despite the efforts of the families to uncover what really happened
Finally, the truth has come out, one of the biggest national scandals of the last quarter century, surely it's such dramatic news that it would take over the front pages of some of the biggest newspapers in the country...
BUT FUCK THAT, THERE'S A NEW IPHONE OUT!
August 27, 2012
Fifty-two stories
Just a reminder that my project 52 Songs, 52 Stories is still rumbling along, publishing a new story each week inspired by a song.
This week's story comes from the Mynabirds' song 'What We Gained In The Fire' and you can read it here.
By my reckoning, it's the thirty-sixth story so far this year. Each pretty much written on the spot, maybe tinkered with for a minute or two, and then published. Which is quite liberating, and one of the best things I have got out of this is that I know for sure that even if I feel bereft of all inspiration, I can sit down and force myself to it and lo, after a little while, inspiration comes along. That's something I really need to keep in mind.
This week's story comes from the Mynabirds' song 'What We Gained In The Fire' and you can read it here.
By my reckoning, it's the thirty-sixth story so far this year. Each pretty much written on the spot, maybe tinkered with for a minute or two, and then published. Which is quite liberating, and one of the best things I have got out of this is that I know for sure that even if I feel bereft of all inspiration, I can sit down and force myself to it and lo, after a little while, inspiration comes along. That's something I really need to keep in mind.
August 11, 2012
Um, what?
Received an email from Amazon yesterday, telling me that I have to confirm that I have the rights to distribute Ice Age, or to get the rights holder to contact them direct.
The email manages to both threaten that if I don't do this within five days my book will be pulled, and to tell me that the book has been pulled already (which doesn't appear to be true), which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.
So I've emailed them back to point out that they have sent their email to Iain Rowan, who is holder of the Amazon KDP account in the name of Iain Rowan, asking him to prove that he has the rights to the book Ice Age by Iain Rowan, which is a collection of short stories, each and every one by...Iain Rowan.
So essentially, they have asked me to get in touch with myself and ask myself if I am prepared to allow myself the rights to distribute the book that I wrote, and then get back to them and tell them that I do in fact agree with myself.
Which seems a really sensible use of all our time.
The email manages to both threaten that if I don't do this within five days my book will be pulled, and to tell me that the book has been pulled already (which doesn't appear to be true), which doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.
So I've emailed them back to point out that they have sent their email to Iain Rowan, who is holder of the Amazon KDP account in the name of Iain Rowan, asking him to prove that he has the rights to the book Ice Age by Iain Rowan, which is a collection of short stories, each and every one by...Iain Rowan.
So essentially, they have asked me to get in touch with myself and ask myself if I am prepared to allow myself the rights to distribute the book that I wrote, and then get back to them and tell them that I do in fact agree with myself.
Which seems a really sensible use of all our time.
August 4, 2012
The Booker...not
Well, that's nice. Thanks to some kind people my novel One of Us is on the long list for the Guardian's Not The Booker Prize.
If you've read One of Us and have a Guardian account and can be arsed to write a short review over there, then that might help it onto the final shortlist. Instructions on how to do that are in the article above.
As a reward for even thinking about it, here's a picture of me for you to cut out and keep.
If you've read One of Us and have a Guardian account and can be arsed to write a short review over there, then that might help it onto the final shortlist. Instructions on how to do that are in the article above.
As a reward for even thinking about it, here's a picture of me for you to cut out and keep.
July 6, 2012
Wait long enough, and four come along at once.
If you have missed out on the Penny Dreadnought series, or if you haven't but you're a bit weird and would like to buy them all over again, the Penny Dreadnought Omnibus is out now.
It brings together all the stories from the first four volumes of Penny Dreadnought, and gives you sixteen stories of the strange and the frightening and the really rather weird, together with bonus cover art from the estimable yet abominable Mr Ryker.
You can find the Omnibus edition at Amazon UK, Amazon US, and at places where the fabric of the world tears, ever so slightly, and the dark comes in. Not sure that they take Amazon vouchers there though, only cash and your soul. Maybe major credit cards too.
‘Lilies’ - Iain Rowan‘Cargo’ - Aaron Polson‘First Time Buyers’ - James Everington‘Invasion of the Shark-Men’ - Alan Ryker‘Falling Over’ by James Everington‘All the Pretty Yellow Flowers’ by Aaron Polson‘Ice Age’ by Iain Rowan‘A Face to Meet the Faces that You Meet’ by Alan Ryker‘Precious Metal’ by Aaron Polson‘Only the Lonely’ by Iain Rowan‘The New Words’ by Alan Ryker‘He’ by James Everington‘Occupational Hazard’ by Iain Rowan‘The Aerialist’ by Alan Ryker‘Packob's Reward’ by James Everington‘Poe's Blender’ by Aaron Polson
