C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 222

Progress Made on December 2012 Goals

On 29 September 2012, I posted a set of goals. Here’s where they’re at one month later:Completed
Release one novel as PenName2: 1/1 released (SecondhandSweetheart – Madeleine Torr).
Progressed
Release five novels as C.M. Simpson: 1/5 released ( Fisherpriest )Re-release 2 novellas under PenName3: Novella7A: editing complete, now only awaiting new cover art;
Static
Release five anthologies:4/5 released. The status remains the same with the final one still requiring the completion of four short stories.Re-release 2 novellas under PenName3: Novella6A: complete, but still awaiting rewrite and new cover art;Re-release one novella under PenName1: Novella8A: complete, awaiting rewrite and cover art;.Release one new novella under PenName1: Still deciding on which one to complete.
Additional Tasks Completed
Re-edited, re-formatted and re-uploaded the four anthologies and all 26 individual titles;Undertaken the terribleminds blog flash fiction challenge consistently every week bar the Halloween challenge, which I missed the deadline for;Started catching up on my blog and sending photos out to panellists at Conflux8; andSubmitted one adventure proposal to a roleplaying company. ConclusionOctober has been an extremely busy month.

Conflux 8 Report – Part 5: Day 2 After-Lunch Panels

1415-1515: Mashpunk—Does steampunk play well with others? with Louise Curtis, Conor Bendle, Marilyn Pride and Rik Lagarto Panelists (from left to right): Louise Curtis, Marilyn Pride, Rik LagartoThe panel started out by giving a couple of broad definitions for steampunk, and then went on to discuss some other kinds of ‘punk’ I hadn’t heard of: trenchpunk and dieselpunk. Examples of steampunk novels included Mortal Engines and Lark Light by Philip Reeve, World Shaker by Richard Harland, Blaze of Glory by Michael Pryor and Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. The panel also went on to discuss favoured steampunk tropes and moved into the main focus of what genres would best get along with the steampunk genre.1515-1615: Other entities—Fantasy beyond dragons, fairies, kings and queens with Katie J. Taylor, Lily Mulholland and Tor Roxburgh
The discussion opened with what creatures they had chosen to write about and why. All had chosen creatures that were ‘off the beaten track’ of most mainstream fantasy, being creatures based on ideas in Aboriginal folklore, griffons (as opposed to dragons), and the folklore of Asia and the subcontinent. One of the interesting things was that this panel echoed that of another panel, in that characters had to arouse emotion in the reader, while another point raised was that fantasy could be used as a tool for helping us to explore and understand the bad things that happen in the world, but from a much safer emotional distance. Panelists (from left to right): Tor Roxburgh, Lily Mulholland, Katie J. Taylor
 

First Paragraphs: Fisherpriest

Fisherpriest is the first novel in a series of books set in an alliance of kingdoms located in the south of Tzamesch's main continent. It focuses on a priestess's journey to discover who she really is.
First Paragraph

I did not know, when I created the fisher priests, that they existed, and it was certainly never my intention to become one.



Overview:
When the two halves of her soul rejoin, Linna finds herself in a city she does not recognize on a world she thought existed only in her imagination. To make matters worse, the god she serves has rejected her, and she is captured and sold to four princes from a distant land, who require a priest of the sea. What starts out as a journey to regain her deity’s approval, soon becomes a flight for her life. With one prince at her side, and unspeakable evil at her back, Linna embarks on a journey where she must survive pursuit by the purist Silver Mountains tribeselves, and captivity by the cave spider clan in order to find her place in the world.
Fisherpriest is currently available in e-book from Amazon and Smashwords, downloadable PDF from DriveThruFiction, and in print from Amazon and CreateSpace.

Conflux 8 Report – Part 4: Day 2 Before-Lunch Panels

Day 1 of Conflux 8 was full of activity and broadened my understanding on not only techniques or styles, but of the publishing industry itself. I headed into Day 2 with hopes for more of the same—I was not disappointed.Conflux 8—Day 20900-1000: Using lessons from apocalypses past in your fiction with Ian McHughHe made me cry—or rather, the presentation on the Lakota, on top of the other tragedies and localised apocalypses, made me cry, but I challenge any one to put themselves in the shoes of this people and not be touched and angered and hurt on their behalf, and I challenge any writer to put themselves in the post-apocalyptic zone and not come away emotionally limping. If you do, go back over your manuscript and make sure you’ve captured what you want out of this genre of disaster and tragedy and conveyed it so your reader is pulled right in. And this is the point Ian made very well when he said ‘It doesn’t matter if your apocalypse is fast or slow or what the death count is. What matters is that you capture what it feels like, the human side of the apocalypse. This was an excellent presentation that not only gave different forms and definitions of apocalypse, but on where to go to research how a story’s characters might feel in the face of one. I am sorry to say, I failed entirely to take any photographs of this session. My apologies, Ian.1000-1100: Independent publishing and speculative fiction with Keith Stevenson, Keri Arthur, Jodi Cleghorn, Bill Congreve and Simon Petrie
Panelists (from left to right): Jodi Cleghorn (Emergent Publishing), Bill Congreve (Mirrordance), Keith Stevenson (Coeur de Lion), Keri Arthur (traditionally and independently publishing via agent), Simon Petrie (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine - ASIM).I approached this panel with some trepidation, not knowing what to expect, but half-expecting some adverse attitudes towards writers who, like myself, independently publish at venues like Amazon and Smashwords. I also expected some kind of defence against authors independently publishing and a strong push towards publishing houses as ‘the proper’ path, but then I’m a cynic.This panel was pleasantly open-minded about independently publishing authors, and focused more on the effects small independent presses had experienced as a result of the recent changes in the publishing industry—an area most were eminently qualified to speak about.What they all agreed on was that no matter how an author is published, they needed to focus on professional presentation and editing, at the very least. They also noted that the world of publishing was still in a state of flux and that more changes would be seen in the future.1100-1200: Urban fantasy as alternate reality with Keri Arthur, Claire McKenna, Ross Hamilton and Tracey O’HaraThe main focus of this discussion was the way an urban environment causes a reader to react differently to elements of fantasy. Keri also pointed out it was easier for readers to springboard into a story that had elements they already knew about than for them to make the leap into a more unfamiliar fantasy world. They all agreed that placing fantasy creatures in a real-world setting had to be done with thought and care for the ripple effect the creatures’ needs would have on the social infrastructure, if the reader was going to be able to sustain a suspension of disbelief.
Panelists (from left to right): Claire McKenna, Keri Arthur, Ross Hamilton, Tracey O'Hara

Conflux 8 Report – Part 3: Day 1 After-Lunch Panels

Lunch on Day 1 of Conflux 8 was over almost before we realised it and many of us had to scramble to make the first after-lunch panel on time. Something I’m going to have to remember to have a better handle on at Conflux 9.
Several interesting panels ran after lunch, but I couldn’t attend them all. Here are the ones I was able to get to, and each one was well worth it.1300-1400: Romance Writers of the Apocalypse with Tracey O’Hara, Nicole Murphy and Jodi CleghornPanelists (from left to right): Tracey O'Hara, Nicole Murphy, Jodi Cleghorn.This panel consisted of a few of the many writers making up the Romance Writers of the Apocalypse blog. The blog was born out of a Twitter conversation about the need to get fit, have fun and write smart. They each spoke about the different ways they got into writing and/or publishing. Jodi Cleghorn spoke about how the lyrics of ‘Deck the Halls’ and the anthology that resulted brought her to the independent publishing field. They also talked about the elements making up post-apocalyptic fiction and the role that landscape and climate would play in Australian apocalyptic fiction.1400-1500: The art of scene and mood setting in dark speculative fiction with Tracey O’Hara, Alan Baxter and Lily MulhollandPanelists (from left to right): Lily Mulholland, Tracey O'Hara, Alan Baxter
One of the most important elements of scene and mood setting these panelists pointed out was place. They discussed how place was important to story, and how applying the dark aspects of a place assists in building its character. Examples of writers good at creating place included Stephen King, Paul Haines, Joanne Anderton and Steig Larsson.1500-1600: Keith Stevenson Guest Spot with Keith Stevenson Keith Stevenson (Coeur de Lion Publishing)Keith Stevenson needs little introduction in the field of Australian speculative fiction and publishing. He spoke about the changes going on in the publishing industry at the moment, and then moved on to the importance of editors in whatever mode of publishing a writer selects. Keith also spoke about the different types of editing and emphasised that every piece of work benefits from editing.


1600-1700: How do you write a good non-human romantic lead? with Janeen Webb, Keri Arthur, and Tracey O’HaraThe key element to making a non-human romantic lead successful was to make them human enough that the reader could relate to them, but alien enough to make them believable non-human. The appeal in a non-human romantic lead was more about the emotional than the physical as this was where readers were most likely to make the connection. They also talked about the ways characters had to grow, and that characters should provide readers with a reason to cheer them on. It was also important to note that there were some lines writers should not cross in the depiction of non-human sex, such as no rape or bestiality.
Panelists (from left to right): Tracey O'Hara, Janeen Webb, Keri Arthur
And there endeth the day… for me at least. There were some excellent panels remaining, and five books being launched, but I was exhausted and needed to go home. Next year, perhaps…

Response to the Terribleminds Flash Fiction Challenge: Five Ingredients Make a Story

This week, we were given ten ingredients and told to choose five. I used a ten-sided dice and this is what came up.  ·      An indestructible tree;·      A mysterious rabbit;·      A half-burned notebook;·      An impossible doorway;·      A missing corpse.
It took me all week to get to this, and in the end I just had to start writing and see where the story took me. Welcome to:
Aunt Imelda's Legacy
Step through the candle flare to the tree at the end of the world. There ask your question of the king o… The sentence stopped. Nola looked down at Moppet. The black and tan rabbit looked back at her.“I don’t suppose you could have rescued the notebook before Aunt Imelda dropped it into the fire?”Moppet’s ears drooped and the rabbit shook its head.Nola sighed. “I don’t know why I talk to you anyway. It’s not like you understand a word I say.”The rabbit snorted and its tiny tongue protruded from its mouth. Nola glared at it, not at all sure it had been licking its whiskers. She had no choice but to trust the rabbit; Moppet was the smartest creature she knew. What she didn’t know was why the piebald bunny had adopted her. Of all the things Aunt Imelda had left behind, the rabbit had been the hardest to bequeath.The house had been a no-brainer—and there’d nearly been a permanent family feud form over that one. Nola was still exhausted from heading both parties down the track of a satisfactory settlement. The books had gone to Germaine and Harold for their private collection; their place was like a library anyhow, and if you wanted to borrow something, they were always happy to oblige.But the rabbit… Nola remembered all too well how the cousins and grandchildren had fought over it, until it started indiscriminately nipping and piddling on those it didn’t like. Several of the inheriting parents were advocating it be put down—and reluctantly agreeing that this was not want Imelda would have wanted, when reminded of their share of her inheritance.Imelda had loved the rabbit. The least they could do, Nola had argued, was for one of them to provide a good home for it. She’d regretted saying it the moment her cousin had turned to her, smiled sweetly and said “Well, you’d better have it then, dear. It seems to like you.”And it did. No sooner were the words spoken, than Moppet had hopped over to her and snuggled down on her feet, and when Nola had picked her up, the rabbit had given a contented wiggle and sigh and relaxed in her arms.Nola had inherited the gatekeeper’s cottage and gatehouse, which suited her just fine. The cousins and her siblings had all agreed this was the best thing Imelda could had done for her. None of them wanted either building, and Nola had spent most of her childhood and holidays cooped up there, with her paintings and her herbs. Moppet thoroughly approved.When the call came from the morgue that Aunt Imelda’s body was missing, everyone had been thrown into a panic. Even though they had rarely visited her, they wanted to give her a ‘decent Christian burial’ in the hallowed grounds of the estate’s chapel. Search as they might, none of the authorities had been able to discover where the corpse had gone and the funeral had gone ahead using a coffin weighted with stones.Nola had been charged with discovering the whereabouts of Aunt Imelda’s remains, and given the run of the house and grounds while she did so. Nola had been the only one to think of talking to the morgue attendant who’d been on duty the night the body had disappeared and, over a cup of delicately herb-laced tea and similarly enhanced tea cake, had coaxed the true story from the man’s terrified lips.He’d been checking the vault, when he’d heard a loud firm knocking coming from one of the drawers. Cursing himself for having an overactive imagination, he’d opened it to be greeted by the old lady herself.“Took you long enough,” she’d snapped, sitting up and clambering out over the side.“Remarkably spry, she was,” the attendant remembered, “and as bossy as always. Demanded a cup of tea, and not that horrible brew you serve up to waiting family either. Knew all about my secret stash of exotic tea. Near wet myself I did, but drinking tea with her calmed me down right enough.”He paused, pale faced.“If you don’t mind me asking, Miss,” he said, “You won’t be repeating any of this to my boss, will you? Only I’m in enough trouble as it is, with the body going missing and all. I didn’t have the heart to tell them the old dear just up and walked herself out. Crazy, they would have called me. They’d have fired me for sure.”They fired him anyway, but Nola hired him to tend the grounds until he found something better he liked to do. Moppet divided her time between sitting on Nola’s lap, and hopping about on the gardener’s heels. He was another human of which she seemed to approve.It had been Moppet who found the notebook in the incinerator, and Nola had needed to give the poor gardener something to help calm his nerves. He’d been lifting the match to the gas when the rabbit had pushed open the door and hopped out, the notebook in its mouth.“Near had a heart attack, I did,” he said, pale as milk and trembling like a leaf.“Never mind,” Nola said. “Why don’t you take the afternoon off. Go and lie down for a bit.”When he was gone, she lifted the notebook once more and opened the cupboard under the sink; it was where she kept the candles and matches in case of a blackout.“Step through the candle flare,” she murmured, lighting the candle, Moppet sitting on the table. “It’s going to take simply forever to work this out…”

First Paragraphs: Screams for the Dying

Screams for the Dying is a short story exploring the place of mythical creatures in science fiction. How does one immortal kill another? What interest could a banshee have in a single mortal child and why would they defend them? And why does a banshee scream?




I had lived here from childhood to my thirtieth year but, in spite of the wattle dancing on the breeze and the eucalyptus-scented air that brushed across my skin, I knew I no longer belonged. My nostrils remembered the faint fizz of Kelfa blossoms from the sun-drenched planet of Bolan, and my eyes recalled the darkness of subterranean living on the asteroid of Quorbet.

Screams for the Dying is the last short story in the fourth Simpson Anthology-An Anthology of Worlds.

 
can be found in
















An Anthology of Worlds was released mid-September 2012. It is available from Amazon, Smashwords and DriveThruFiction.













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Conflux 8 Report – Part 2: Day 1 Before Lunch Panels

Day 1: Those of you who know me, know I don’t do high volumes of people well… but most people can’t pick it. Until I’d attended three days of convention, I didn’t fully understand this about myself either. Day 1 was the first time I’d been to a public event in a number of years. It was wonderful. Full credit should go to the Conflux 8 organisers and panellists for putting this event together… and I am very much looking forward to Conflux 9, early next year.Now, on to Day 1:0910-0950: The Opening Ceremony FILDENSTAR! Oh, wait, first there was Jack Dann opening the convention and welcoming us, paying respects to the traditional landowners of the ACT region, and THEN introducing Fildenstar, a pair of performers who brought us speculative songs like Ghost Butterfly Ships. Memorable.



1000-1100: What makes a good fantasy/sf/horror story with Sue Isle, Ian McHugh and Alan Baxter This panel discussed the different elements that writers should pay attention to, if they want to make both their short and long fiction work well. Some of the elements mentioned were: listening to feedback from editors and beta readers to learn how others perceive your story, paying attention to your characters and making the readers care about them, careful choice of details, and being concise.










1100-1200: Speculative poetry discussion with Penelope Cottier, Frankie Seymour, Talie Helene and Ross HamiltonThe speculative poetry panel spoke about what classifies poetry as speculative an why it is an ideal form for writing about other worlds. Each poet gave an insight into what they liked about poetry, why they wrote it and elements they preferred in the poetry they read.


1200-1300: Buffet LunchI regret that I didn’t shift position sooner to take better photos, and that I completely forgot to change settings and allow the flash. (We live and learn...) The buffet lunch for today was included in the  convention price and followed a loud shirts ‘On the Beach’ theme. There were some lovely, and interesting, costumes; unfortunately, the photographs didn't make it out alive.

Conflux 8 Report – Part 1: Pre-Con Workshops

Conflux 8 was the first writing conference I’ve been able to attend in a long time—a very long time. I’d like to thank the organisers for the wonderful experience they put together for those who were able to attend, and to thank those who sat on the panels during, and ran the workshops prior to, the convention. I am looking forward to seeing what they do for Conflux 9, now.Conflux 8 ran over two days, with a day of workshops run the day before the convention opened. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend three of the workshops and many of the panels, although discovered I was a bit short on stamina by the time late afternoon arrived, so I didn’t attend the afternoon or evening sessions.Pre-con workshops were very, very good, and I regret I couldn’t clone myself or use a magical device to attend more than the three workshops I managed. I also regret not taking out my camera and photographing those I could attend. To recap:Workshops—Friday 28 September 2012I know I’ve covered these in a previous post, but here they are again:0900-1100: Writing Backstory with Nicole MurphyThis was a well-presented and valuable workshop on the whys and hows of incorporating backstory into a story while avoiding the risk of drowning the reader in details they don’t need, or slowing the pace of your story. As Nicole’s workshop showed, not only was it important to be aware of the details the reader needed to know, but to be aware of the details the writer actually knew about the situation. The activity accompanying this section of the workshop showed us how to identify these details so we could select the most relevant ones to incorporate. This section of the workshop was followed by instruction and activities revolving around a number of methods that could be used to incorporate backstory. This workshop makes me look forward to the others she will be running at the NSW Writers’ Centre.1100-1230/1300-1400: Intro to Writing for Games with Rik LagartoI really wanted to attend this session in the hopes it would give an insight into writing for computer- or similarly based games. It did not disappoint. Rik gave those attending the workshop one of the most in-depth introductions to the industry that I could have hoped for. He managed to compress an overview of the industry, the roles of writers in a design team, industry-specific terminology, and activities based on the types of writing required into a scant two-and-a-bit hours. I am looking forward to seeing more courses from him.1400-1600: Fighting the Details with Alan Baxter and Ian McHughWhen I first attended this workshop, I thought it might be about incorporating detail into your writing. I was both right and totally wrong. Not only was it about looking at details to incorporate in a scene, as the first activity helped emphasise, but it was about incorporating realistic details of combat into your work. Practical exercises made those of us with no experience in physical fights, aware of the factors that affect combatants. Scripting a fight and then watching other people stepping it through, gave an insight not only if the fight was physically possible as described, but also how others might interpret what we had written. If you have a chance to attend one of these workshops, I recommend it as a valuable learning experience.

First Paragraphs: Nettlefold Princess

Nettlefold Princess is a speculation on conflicts that might arise with urban encroachment over land that once belonged to fairies. In this case, a teenager finds out first hand. Here's how it starts:


Nettlefold Hollow took its name from the myriad nettles that grew there. Stinging nettles mingled with greater and lesser nettles as well as wood and hedge nettles. Clambering amongst the rocks and mingling with clumps of grass or peeking from beneath the blackberries, the nettles dominated the hollow. With emerald leaves, highlighted in silver and dripping diamonds from the morning dew, the nettles were beautiful… until some unwelcome visitor brushed against them. Rumors of fairies were rife.

 can be found in 

















 
An Anthology of Worlds was released mid-September 2012 and can be found at Amazon (in print and e-book) and Smashwords.