Geoff Nelder's Blog, page 36
June 10, 2011
AltFiction in Derby June 25/26
AltFiction have a weekend bash coming up soon in Derby. I've been to others in the past and well worth it for fans, readers & writers http://www.derbyquad.co.uk/altfiction, and the schedule is up at http://altfiction.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/AFSchedule2.pdf
June 2, 2011
Wonderful Wonderwaan
Wonderwaan is an imprint of a Netherlands Science Fiction and Fantasy magazine see their website. They have accepted an odd little story of mine called The Witch's Alien, and are translating it into Dutch. As far as I know this is the first of my stories to be translated into another language. Many thanks to Gareth D. Jones, who suggested submitting to foreign markets, as he has done with great success.
The idea for Witch's Alien came from a computerized random title generator. There are many on the web and as a break from writing my novels, I wanted to write a horror short story. Random title generators are great for ideas even if I have to discard hundreds before one strikes me as intriguing.
The first draft was read out loud to the Chester Writers' group. An elderly lady spoke to me afterwards to complain that it was too horrific to be read to the group. It made her feel ill. That told me the horror element was working well!
Publishing history of The Witch's Alien: Via the UK Authors online writing group, the story was critiqued and revised during the 2008 UKAway stay in Bellapais, Northern Cyprus in 2008, and published in their chapbook. Later, Witch's Alien, was awarded third place in the winter competition at The Grail, a forum for literary writers.
Ironic that my relationship with one Dutch publisher, Wuacademia, has just ended, as this one with Wonderwaan is starting!
May 30, 2011
Hot Kindle
No sooner had Gary Baker of Brambling Books configured my gritty yet cheeky thriller, Hot Air, for Smashwords, then, by popular request, he put it out on Kindle.
American Kindle http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Air-ebook/dp/B0052OGV16/
UKKindle http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hot-Air-ebook/dp/B0052OGV16/
May 26, 2011
ebook half price for Hot Air
Use this code to get my Hot Air ebook at half price from Smashwords!
BN24Q from http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62162
Offer ends 31st July 2011 only £2.50
Kindle and paperback will be out next month.
May 25, 2011
Advance notice about Hot Air
The contract with Wuacademia to publish my Mediterranean thriller, Hot Air, came to an end recently. I was unhappy that it was only for sale on the publisher's website, and was too expensive. So I am chuffed that Gary Baker, the publisher of my humorous thriller, Escaping Reality, has agreed to re-publish Hot Air through Brambling Books. The text has been revised once again and is now down to 73,000 exhilirating words. In a few weeks time Hot Air will be available as a Kindle and paperback, cheaper, leaner and a thrill. In the meantime visit Brambling Books website here.
Note my Escaping Reality is still there. If you've yet to experience that humorous adventure you are in for a treat. See this page on how our hero escapes from Hexham prison, survives crossing the Northumberland moors in winter, and seeks whoever framed him as well as he keeps out of the clutches of the police. Steamy sex, pushbike and motorbike rides to Amsterdam – it's all there. see here.
May 16, 2011
Tree on a bike
I took a tree for a bike ride today. Really. I bought a 6 feet high apple tree from a well-known garden centre here in Chester. I won't name it, but it begins with G and is owned by the richest Englishman. He owns Mayfair, Belgravia in London and huge estates here in Cheshire such as the Grosvenor. I was comforted in spending nearly £30 on an apple tree because it came with the G Garden Centre's 5-year guarantee. Well, the poor thing must have a victim of our hard winter and didn't sprout a single leaf or flower bud. I went to the garden centre yesterday with my wife and we spotted many fruit trees in full leaf. Wife took the car to work today so I emptied a pannier and stuck in the dug-up demised apple tree – wrapped in a bin bag. I had some hilarious difficulty in getting my leg over in order to start peddling but off I went. It's about 6 miles of meandering country lanes away and all the ride I was thinking about how I was to dismount without kicking hell out of the tree. I know it's passed on but I didn't want to take it into the centre with kicked broken branches. Luckily, although like many such establishments, there is no cycle rack, I slowed enough to lean against a wall when I halted.
Inside the shop I was told I had to receive a voucher instead of my money back. This got my back up. Yes, I could easily find plants, books, cakes and gnomes to that value but the guarantee posters all over the shop say nothing about not having your money back. They had no replacement tree, unless I wanted one twice as big and paid extra. I lowered my cycle helmet down to look more menacing and demanded my rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979. The manager was called. He was taller than me but could see my feet-apart determination and so relented.
As I cycled away I thought, damn, I need some more lavender and / or periwinkle for father-in-law's garden. But I could hardly go back there so soon, could I?
May 7, 2011
Free three stories
We are offering samples of the Escape Velocity anthology stories. See here for the Adventure Books of Seattle website or to get the UK Kindle version too it is on this page in progress.
If you are a SF reviewer please drop me a line.
May 5, 2011
Launch day
Today we launched Escape Velocity: the Anthology. At least it was for the e-book version. The print comes out later in the month. Strange and unique day. I spent most of the morning sending PayPal payments to authors who'd contributed to the EV antho – not done that before! It felt soooooo good adding the paypal message to thank them for their stories.
I was frustrated at not finding the paypal emails or addresses (for cheques) for some contributors – I'd sent emails requesting such weeks ago but no response. Tonight, I was still working on tracking missing authors and responding to facebook and email requests when my wife pulled at my elbow. "We're going to the pub." I tried to say no but remembered we'd arranged a retirement evening for a colleague. Damn. But it was great in the end to chat with not-wriitng friends. I've given up mentioning my writing to them and talk about our kids, holidays etc. One is an English teacher but although he enjoys our chats about Chekhov, he seems to switch off if I talk about science fiction or fantasy. Oh well, we are an esoteric lot, aren't we?
For British readers who'd like to see the Kindle version of the Escape Velocity anthology, the link is here, while for Amazon.com users it is here.
May 4, 2011
update on Don't Bite My Finger
The Monk Punk fantasy anthology with my Zen story 'Don't bite my finger' is now available on Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Punk-ebook/dp/B004Z1UZ82/
and on Nook at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Monk-Punk/AJ-French/e/2940012608338
April 27, 2011
Holes keep emerging!
Holes appear in the ground scaring the living daylights out of citizens nearby. Is this happening in my SF mystery – Exit, Pursued by a Bee – or for real? Both! In Exit, Pursued by a Bee alien spherical artefacts emerge from the Earth's crust leaving bottomless circular vents, and reality now seems to prove the fiction. See a recent article (April 2011)
But, hey, this has happened before! See my blog pages from last June. Remember the perfectly circular holes in Guatemala? http://bit.ly/lTPoWe
Read the truth – kind of – as interpreted in my Double Dragon Publishing novel at
http://geoffnelder.com/exitbee.htm
