Mark Cantrell's Blog, page 50

UPDATE: An Author's Lot

An interlude elsewhere

 

As an aside, let me just quickly introduce you to a little blog I keep on the side over at Tumblr.

 

It's nothing much, I guess, by no means part of my main web presence; just a place where I've been posting the backstory links for my novel CITIZEN ZERO.

 

Beyond that, I kind of figure on it developing into a kind of 'author's scrapbook'.

 

The site is called An Author's Lot, by the way, so why not head over and have a quick look.

MC

 

ESSAY: Destitution By Design Is Surely A Crime

It's the quiet ones you've got to watch out for
We've all got a stake in social security, so when it comes to the privations of welfare reform, maybe it's time we got work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith to take the point to heart, writes Mark Cantrell

Vampires, by and large, are kind of cool, so the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith can't possibly be one of these creatures of the night, but it's certainly time to wonder if he doesn't draw some kind of macabre sustenance...

BLOG: Work Culture

Coffee and cultists in the Uncanny Valley

THE other day I was having a quiet coffee in a cafe down the road from Manchester Piccadilly station, when a conversation caught my attention - there were corporate cultists in the building.

 

A few tables from me, a couple of blokes were having a business meeting; the place is often used by suits for this kind of thing. Now, I'm not a one for eavesdropping conversations (unless it piques my interest, of course) but if these corporate bods want to...

BLOG: Oh, The Censorship Of It All!

Caught in the crossfire

Well, here's a thing. My novel CITIZEN ZERO, and several of my other works, has found itself 'censored'. I wish I could say it was personal, even political, but it isn't. Rather, as a self-published eBook formerly available on WH Smith's website, the novel has fallen foul of the retailer's purge of self-published works.

 

As anyone following the story (or tried to buy anything) will know, WH Smith's has shut down its entire website. That's quite something for a reta...

BLOG: Don't Mind Me, I'm A Writer

Art That Dare Not Speak

YOU don’t have to wear a dirty mac to be a writer, but sometimes it’s easy to get the impression it’s expected of you.

 

Once, while enduring a mundane temp job, one of the staff asked me what I thought of a particular television programme; I confessed that I didn’t watch much television.

 

“What do you do then?” she asked.

 

“I’m a writer.”

 

From the face she pulled you might think I’d confessed t...

INTERVIEW: Bublish & Me

Talking TwitterKathy Meis of Bublish chats to Mark Cantrell about his dystopian sci-fi and horror writing

Every Thursday from 8pm (3pm EST), Bublish hosts its guest author slot on Twitter for a casual chat about their writing. October, being the month of Halloween, it focuses on dystopia and horror and all things dark. Yesterday, 3rd October, I was the invited guest of Kathy Meis, for a chat about my work. What follows is the Storify of our discussion...

[View the story "Bublish Chats with Auth...

UPDATE: Twitter Chat With Bublish

Date night Thursday for a sci-fi chat

 

HERE'S a little something for me to look forward to: on Thursday, 3 October, I'll be on Twitter to chat about my work with Bublish host Kathy Meis.

 

I've been invited to take part in the weekly guest author slot, where we literary types chat with Kathy, and all-comers, about life, books and the written word.

 

Given the month, you can no doubt guess the broad themes me and my fellow invited authors will be discussing. Indeed: "We're featuring...

UPDATE: Hold The Front Page

Site for more eyes

 Over the last few weeks, I've been putting together a new blog and now I think it is finally ready for public consumption. So, without further ado, let me introduce Mark Cantrell, Journalist.

 

Astute visitors to this site, or at least those who weren't too lazy to browse around, might have already encountered the new addition to my platform. For the rest of you, there's no more excuses so what are you waiting for? Check it out.

 

Mark Cantrell, Journalist is a c...

POEM: Vampire's Soup

A Dish For The Dusk 
By Mark Cantrell

Vampires love warm soup,

Usually the

Haemoglobin kind,

But it’s little known

The delectation

They find

In a delightful broth of garlic.

They savour

This flavour

So much,

That the very first sip

Detonates

Their tongue

And knocks ‘em

Dead

And gone.

 

Mark Cantrell,

Bradford, 31 August 2002

Copyright © August 2002. All Rights Reserved.

FICTION: They Searched For A City

[image error]The Man Who Dreamed Of Bradford
 Short Fiction By Mark Cantrell

 OUT of all the offices in all of the city, she just had to walk into mine.

 

She wasn't what you'd call the standard classy dame; more phlegm then femme, if you catch my drift, but in this town a man's got to roll with the dice and take whatever comes along.

 

If I was honest with the lady, I'm not your typical gumshoe. But tell it straight and I'd be out of this business quicker than a dime vanishing inside a m...