R.B. Harkess's Blog, page 8
October 27, 2013
BristolCon another resounding sucess
I am home, footsore and liver battered, trying to find the will to sort through my suitcase and goodie-bag.
Knackered doesn't cover it.
But what a time. There was great pre-con conviviality with friend Dom Dulley, plus Kathrine and Lawrence from Crafty Miss Kitty, and great post-con conviviality with the incomparable Ian Whates.
I was lucky enough to be a panelist discussing world building, and I got to moderate a lively discussion on artificial intelligence between Ian Whates, Jaine Fenn and Nick Walters
Actually, who am I kidding. I was terrified. The panel went in completely the opposite direction than I had expected and threw all bar my first question out of the window. Still, with the help of some very good questions from the floor, and three very generous and experienced panelists, the noob mod managed not to make a fool of himself. And thank you to everybody who did turn up, given that we were the last panel of a very long day, and that the other thread was hosting a retrospective of Iain M Banks!
Couple of other people to mention that I met for the first time in this BristolCon. First, Chrissie of Great Escape Publishing who took time out to have a long chat with me about small press publishing and printing, and artist Jim Burns. Jim brought along an original piece of his work that had such luminosity and depth it took my my breath away. Also up for an art mention is Dave Powell, who did me an off-the-cuff sketch based on a description of one of my characters. Great work.
And as always, a massive thanks to the BristolCon team, who work far harder than we mere attendees will ever know, and deserve for more recognition than they get. You Are Magnificent :)
Knackered doesn't cover it.
But what a time. There was great pre-con conviviality with friend Dom Dulley, plus Kathrine and Lawrence from Crafty Miss Kitty, and great post-con conviviality with the incomparable Ian Whates.I was lucky enough to be a panelist discussing world building, and I got to moderate a lively discussion on artificial intelligence between Ian Whates, Jaine Fenn and Nick Walters
Actually, who am I kidding. I was terrified. The panel went in completely the opposite direction than I had expected and threw all bar my first question out of the window. Still, with the help of some very good questions from the floor, and three very generous and experienced panelists, the noob mod managed not to make a fool of himself. And thank you to everybody who did turn up, given that we were the last panel of a very long day, and that the other thread was hosting a retrospective of Iain M Banks!
Couple of other people to mention that I met for the first time in this BristolCon. First, Chrissie of Great Escape Publishing who took time out to have a long chat with me about small press publishing and printing, and artist Jim Burns. Jim brought along an original piece of his work that had such luminosity and depth it took my my breath away. Also up for an art mention is Dave Powell, who did me an off-the-cuff sketch based on a description of one of my characters. Great work.
And as always, a massive thanks to the BristolCon team, who work far harder than we mere attendees will ever know, and deserve for more recognition than they get. You Are Magnificent :)
October 25, 2013
Crafty Fox Does it Again
Delighted to find out last night that my short story 'Change of Address' has been selected to appear in the 'Girl at the End of the World' anthology, to be published by Fox Spirit early next year.
Apparently, there were so many excellent offerings that the decision was made to split the anthology into two volumes!
I'm delighted to have been included in such an awesome project. Be prepared for a storm of marketing messages when the luanch dates and covers are announced.
Apparently, there were so many excellent offerings that the decision was made to split the anthology into two volumes!
I'm delighted to have been included in such an awesome project. Be prepared for a storm of marketing messages when the luanch dates and covers are announced.
October 21, 2013
I am now officially Foxy
No, seriouslly. I am.
I can now reveal to the world+dog that Fox Spirit will be publishing my YA Urban Fantasy novel 'Warrior Stone:Underland'. Excited doesn't cover it. My tail twitcheth with delight (which is annoying the cats).
No firm publication date, but some time in 2014.
Lovely bunch of people to work with. They have even given me my own author page and I am now sharing space with personal heroes like Alasdair Stuart (presenter of Pseudopod, amongst other things) and Colin F Brown
News, cover reveals, and firmer dates all to follow in due course.
(Is there a happy fox dance?)
I can now reveal to the world+dog that Fox Spirit will be publishing my YA Urban Fantasy novel 'Warrior Stone:Underland'. Excited doesn't cover it. My tail twitcheth with delight (which is annoying the cats).
No firm publication date, but some time in 2014.
Lovely bunch of people to work with. They have even given me my own author page and I am now sharing space with personal heroes like Alasdair Stuart (presenter of Pseudopod, amongst other things) and Colin F Brown
News, cover reveals, and firmer dates all to follow in due course.
(Is there a happy fox dance?)
September 3, 2013
Blog tour: Mark Iles
Mark and I have had the fortune (misfortune?) to have appeared in a number of anthologies together, so I was delighted to hear his debut novel had just come out. Today I hand Harkess Hall over to him to shamelessly flaunt his wares :)
A Pride of Lions – Blurb When Selena Dillon is caught in an assassination attempt on her planets ruler, she finds herself sentenced to 25 years servitude in mankind’s most feared military force, the Penal Regiments. Much to her surprise she enjoys the harsh military life and is quickly selected for officer training. But something’s wrong, worlds are falling silent. There’s no cry for help and no warning, just a sudden eerie silence. When a flotilla of ships is despatched to investigate they exit hyperspace to find themselves facing a massive alien armada. Outnumbered and outgunned the flotilla fight a rearguard action, allowing one of their number to slip away and warn mankind. As worlds fall in battle, and man’s fleets are decimated, Selena is selected to lead a team of the Penal Regiments most battle-hardened veterans, in a last ditch attempt to destroy the aliens’ home world. If she fails then mankind is doomed. But little does Selena know what fate has in store for her, that one of her crew is a psychopathic killer and a second the husband of one of his victims. Can she hold her team together, get them to their target and succeed in the attack? Selena knows that if she fails then there will be nothing at all left to go home to.
Bio
Mark works for Southampton University, and also as a freelance writer. His short stories have been published in Back Brain Recluse, Dream, New Moon, Auguries, Haunts, Kalkion, Screaming Dreams, and the anthologies Right To Fight, Escape Velocity and Monk Punk. With an 8th Degree Black Belt in Taekwondo he’s also written non-fiction for Combat, Taekwondo & Korean Martial Arts, Fighters, Junk, Martial Arts Illustrated, profwritingacademy.com and calmzone.net.His first full length work was ‘Kwak’s Competition Taekwondo’, and he also has a short story collection entitled ‘Distant Shores’. ‘A Pride of Lions’ is the first in ‘The Darkening Stars’ series. Having written features and fiction for over 30 years Mark applied to do an MA in Professional Writing. ‘Pride’ had been bouncing around in his head for some time, and he seized the opportunity of the MA to produce this first novel as part of the course. Mark says it’s without doubt the best choice he’s ever made, as it really focused him, and that getting this novel accepted is the perfect conclusion to a wonderful experience. He’s now focusing on the second book in this series, ‘The Cull of Lions’.
Linkswww.markiles.co.ukwww.twitter.com/welcometoearthhttp://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mark-iles/33/67a/822https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Iles/279162705557698
Books:Distant Shores: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Shores-ebook/dp/B008SD4KOS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347182066&sr=1-1Kwaks Competition Taekwondo: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kwak%60s-Competition-Taekwondo-Mark-Iles/dp/B000FTHGFI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325614714&sr=1-1
A Pride of Lions – Blurb When Selena Dillon is caught in an assassination attempt on her planets ruler, she finds herself sentenced to 25 years servitude in mankind’s most feared military force, the Penal Regiments. Much to her surprise she enjoys the harsh military life and is quickly selected for officer training. But something’s wrong, worlds are falling silent. There’s no cry for help and no warning, just a sudden eerie silence. When a flotilla of ships is despatched to investigate they exit hyperspace to find themselves facing a massive alien armada. Outnumbered and outgunned the flotilla fight a rearguard action, allowing one of their number to slip away and warn mankind. As worlds fall in battle, and man’s fleets are decimated, Selena is selected to lead a team of the Penal Regiments most battle-hardened veterans, in a last ditch attempt to destroy the aliens’ home world. If she fails then mankind is doomed. But little does Selena know what fate has in store for her, that one of her crew is a psychopathic killer and a second the husband of one of his victims. Can she hold her team together, get them to their target and succeed in the attack? Selena knows that if she fails then there will be nothing at all left to go home to.Bio
Linkswww.markiles.co.ukwww.twitter.com/welcometoearthhttp://uk.linkedin.com/pub/mark-iles/33/67a/822https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Iles/279162705557698
Books:Distant Shores: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Shores-ebook/dp/B008SD4KOS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347182066&sr=1-1Kwaks Competition Taekwondo: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kwak%60s-Competition-Taekwondo-Mark-Iles/dp/B000FTHGFI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325614714&sr=1-1
August 25, 2013
Review: The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett
In a nutshell, The Troupe is about a young man, George, with a preternatural ability on the piano, who gets into a vaudeville theater so as he can spot when a certain troupe comes through; the one run by his father.
Only they aren't an ordinary troupe of performers. They sing, and seek out, fragments of the First Song, the song sung by the Creator to bring forth the universe. They are chased by the Wolves, who seek to destroy the world by stilling the music, and who are out to destroy the song as well.
I haven't had a difficult to put down book on my bedside cabinet for some time, but The Troupe certainly qualified as such. Bennett creates a plausible, smooth universe and populates it with incredibly dense characters. The plot is never sedentary, and snaps around a couple of twists sharp enough to give you whiplash.
As with most page-turners, this is about the people as much as it is about the plot, and Bennett's five characters are fragile, multi-layered, and are as twisted as the story. In many ways, I'm reminded of the HBO series 'Carnivale'.
A definite 'recommended'.
Only they aren't an ordinary troupe of performers. They sing, and seek out, fragments of the First Song, the song sung by the Creator to bring forth the universe. They are chased by the Wolves, who seek to destroy the world by stilling the music, and who are out to destroy the song as well.
I haven't had a difficult to put down book on my bedside cabinet for some time, but The Troupe certainly qualified as such. Bennett creates a plausible, smooth universe and populates it with incredibly dense characters. The plot is never sedentary, and snaps around a couple of twists sharp enough to give you whiplash.
As with most page-turners, this is about the people as much as it is about the plot, and Bennett's five characters are fragile, multi-layered, and are as twisted as the story. In many ways, I'm reminded of the HBO series 'Carnivale'.
A definite 'recommended'.
June 1, 2013
Good news for a good friend
I am absolutely delighted to be able (finally) to announce that my goof friend and mentor, Terry Jackman, has landed a book deal for her novel 'Ashamet'
Terry runs the Orbit writers groups, organised by the BSFA, and has been instrumental in getting my writing to the point where it does not look like the output of a gifted four-year-old. I first read her book about four years ago, and thought then it needed to be published.
Well done, Terry :D
Terry runs the Orbit writers groups, organised by the BSFA, and has been instrumental in getting my writing to the point where it does not look like the output of a gifted four-year-old. I first read her book about four years ago, and thought then it needed to be published.
Well done, Terry :D
Matt Smith to Leave Doctor Who
Or so it was announced yesterday by the BBC. Now some will think I am going to be bouncing up and down with glee at this, as I've been a little vocal in my lack of support for the current era, but I'm not. I'm actually disappointed.
See, in my humble (stop laughing) opinion, Matt Smith could have been one of the Great Doctors, but he's been let down by poor choice of companions, poor scripts, and this utterly abysmal thing that's crept in about short, broken up series.
One of the things I really cant get my head around is how Moffat and Gatiss can do such a jaw-droppingly great job on 'Sherlock', yet consistently get it so wrong with Doctor Who. It is almost as though they had too much on and didn't concentrate on it. Wonderful sidekicks have been shockingly ignored - I would love to have seen a spin-off Steampunk-esque series with our favourite Victorian crime-fighting trio :) - and there has been a constant theme of ending through the last series, as well as a very poor choice of companion in Jenna-Louise Coleman.
What I am now afraid of is that we have entered another period of terminal decline (if that makes any sense) in Doctor Who, much as we did with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.
I hope not.
See, in my humble (stop laughing) opinion, Matt Smith could have been one of the Great Doctors, but he's been let down by poor choice of companions, poor scripts, and this utterly abysmal thing that's crept in about short, broken up series.
One of the things I really cant get my head around is how Moffat and Gatiss can do such a jaw-droppingly great job on 'Sherlock', yet consistently get it so wrong with Doctor Who. It is almost as though they had too much on and didn't concentrate on it. Wonderful sidekicks have been shockingly ignored - I would love to have seen a spin-off Steampunk-esque series with our favourite Victorian crime-fighting trio :) - and there has been a constant theme of ending through the last series, as well as a very poor choice of companion in Jenna-Louise Coleman.
What I am now afraid of is that we have entered another period of terminal decline (if that makes any sense) in Doctor Who, much as we did with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.
I hope not.
May 12, 2013
Review: Urban Occult(ed Colin F Barnes)
Horror is not my bag, yet. I’m still learning. I know enough to realise I don’t like spatter-gore, or horror that involves detailed explanation of the removal of body parts. Fortunately – for me - Urban Occult, edited by Colin F Barnes and published by Anachron Press, has no truck with this type of horror.
Urban Occult is focused very much more on what I call (probably erroneously) psychological horror, or Hitchcockian horror. It’s less blatant, less in your face, and more situational, suggestive.
I won’t pretend that I liked every story. I questioned the inclusion of a couple, and simply didn’t get a couple more, and some I thought were well written, but not particularly horrific. The majority, though, are snappy, compelling, and thought-provoking.
The anthology covers everything from creepy golem-children, through a people eating house, to moving tattoo jigsaw. In fact, Pieces by Julie Travis, for which the latter is the subject, is one of the outstanding stories of the collection.
Other specific mentions are hereby awarded to James Brogden for The Remover of Obstacles and The Strange Case of Mrs West and the Dead by Sarah Anne Langton
For me, though, Wonderland by K T Davies was the scream of the crop. Yes – I did mean to just that word. Wonderland skirts the edges of insanity and fantasy, both urban and classic, and kept me up far too late finishing it off.
Whilst I reviewed this anthology in return for an e-book copy provided by the editor, my comments are fair and impartial, Even so, I still recommend this book as a fine read.
April 25, 2013
Craft Fair in Solihull Wednesday May 1st
This is a bit out of my normal patch, but a very good friend of mine will be in the craft market so anybody who is in the area should drop along and keep and eye out for 'Crafty Miss Kitty'
April 16, 2013
Long time no post
Its been an interesting few weeks. Seems my partner's coping strategy for me no longer being in gainful employ is to find massive home improvement jobs for me to do on top of being a House Husband :) I'm not bitter. It all needs doing and I've probably been avoiding it.
Also, I've been working on a secret project, which has just come to a very successful and satisfactory conclusion - but I can't tell you anything about it. Well then it wouldn't be secret, would it :)
One thing I would like to tell you about is 'Human.4' by Mike A Lancaster, which I finished reading last night.
There seem to be fewer books that I feel stand out from the crowd, but there is something about 'Human.4'. It might be that its a really good 'boy book'. That's not to say that it wouldn't appeal to girl readers, but its unusually short, ultra-fast paced, and very well laid out. I had to fight not to read it in one sitting. Indeed, YALSA recommended it as a 'Quick Pick for Reulctant Young Adult Readers', and I wholeheartedly agree.
As usual, I'm not going to tell you anything about the book. Very difficult to do so without letting out a spoiler when a story is as compact as this.
I gave it five stars on Goodreads - which I haven't awarded for some time - and thoroughly recommend it, especially for boys 12 and up.
Also, I've been working on a secret project, which has just come to a very successful and satisfactory conclusion - but I can't tell you anything about it. Well then it wouldn't be secret, would it :)
One thing I would like to tell you about is 'Human.4' by Mike A Lancaster, which I finished reading last night.
There seem to be fewer books that I feel stand out from the crowd, but there is something about 'Human.4'. It might be that its a really good 'boy book'. That's not to say that it wouldn't appeal to girl readers, but its unusually short, ultra-fast paced, and very well laid out. I had to fight not to read it in one sitting. Indeed, YALSA recommended it as a 'Quick Pick for Reulctant Young Adult Readers', and I wholeheartedly agree.
As usual, I'm not going to tell you anything about the book. Very difficult to do so without letting out a spoiler when a story is as compact as this.
I gave it five stars on Goodreads - which I haven't awarded for some time - and thoroughly recommend it, especially for boys 12 and up.
