Geoff Nelder's Blog, page 40

Hot Air is published

Years ago I saw a hot air balloon over Bristol and wondered, as you do, what if someone wanted to shoot it down? You're thinking I don't know that the balloon is full of hot air and not hydrogen, aren't you? Wrong. So the scenario is a challenge and is the beginning of a thriller, Hot Air. A feisty young woman celebrates her birthday by taking her boyfriend in a hot air balloon. They witness an unsavoury crime in a Bristol suburb but the gang need to stop them. The action takes the reader to Mallorca, the south of France and London.

On a whim I entered Hot Air for a best unpublished novel competition in which readers voted for their favourite. The competition was organised by a Netherlands Arts foundation called Wuacademia. Perhaps it was because the action was European based, and so was the competition, but Hot Air won a Silver and a Special Award. It even picked an Award d'Or the following year. My daughter came with me to Groningen to receive the award – photos and video here.

There's a video trailer for Hot Air here

At last you can buy Hot Air. It is only available via the arts academy on their website here. I think it is rather pricey but if you like books that have a hand-made feel to them and know someone who would hug you for a rip-roaring adventure, where our heroine is held captive in Mallorca, where she meets one of Robert Graves' muses, and escapes to the south of France then go for it!

The heroine is red-headed Erica. This is her photograph – her vivaciousness and determination is written in her face is it not? She's perfect for the protagonist. Her real name is Karen and this photograph is used by permission of Doug Barber. His website is here. If you know Karen please ask her to get in touch so I can send her a copy of Hot Air.

In Absentia praise

I had a Cafe Doom critted story, In Absentia (bloke thought he was an amnesiac but turns out he was a little girl's imaginary friend) in this summers ezine and paper antho The Horrozine. I was getting downmouthed Friat the lack of me being mentioned in reviews but  a review in fright Site says:

This reviewer's "Best Stories" go to:

 

Sandhya Falls

Ed Gorman

Mark LaFlamme

Bentley Little

Graham Masterton

Geoff Nelder

 

I can only boast to you lot because my wife and even many writer friends have never heard of Bentley Little,  Masterton and Gorman.

Made my day

To read In Absentia free of charge click here.

Have my cake and read it

What a shock I had when today I visited my writer friend, Gladys Hobson, in Ulverston. Gladys and husband, Ralph, were hosting a luncheon meeting for writer, Les Floyd, his friend, Louis Willis, and me. It is always a pleasure to natter over publishing and writing with Gladys and Les but it is the first time those two had met each other. You could feel the warmth and mutual admiration in the atmophere. The big surprise for me was when Louise brought in a box. It was my birthday on bonfire night and knowing I'd had a humorous thriller, Escaping Reality, published. Louise had made me a cake in the form of a book!. Look >>>  it tastes as yummy chocolately as it looks. Thanks Louise!

For those who have yet to read Escaping Reality then peep at this link. Of course part of our discussion was on the bubble-wrap sex in the book, also on how the setting for the action is authentic to the geography of the Scottish Borders.

 This must be the first time I've taken a bite out of one of my books.

 

Gladys Hobson's website showcasing her romance books and Northern Lights anthology in which Les Floyd has his famous humorous tale, Barnsely Bear, and I have a short story sequel to Escaping Reality.

Screaming Dreams

An enigmatic publisher I like a lot (and I don't have one of my books with them) has exciting and thought-stimulating books for sale here. http://www.screamingdreams.com/books....

Paul Kane's The Gemini Factor; John Grant's Dragons in Manhattan; and Allyson Bird's brilliantly-titled Bull Running for Girls antho are all there. Screaming Dreams is run by Steve Upham in South Wales. He's a gifted artist and small craftsman too. Want cover art for your new book, or an unusual craft gift? Then get on to his contact link on the Screaming Dreams website and get in touch.

Holiday reading

Holiday reads

For the first time in a decade I travelled for more than a day from home without my LSS, my Life Support System. Do I mean essential medications? No. Vegan food? No. My laptop – not to keep up with e-mails and facebook but to keep my daily writing increments going. I told my wife that literary muscles, as other parts, will atrophy if not exercised regularly. Never mind, it was an opportunity to give eyeballs more swivelling to do. And so they did on the beach of Cala Pi in Mallorca: bikini watching and reading.

For the Chester SF Book Group in the library on November 6th I needed to read Banner of Souls by Liz Williams because our theme is to be technology in Science Fiction. I remembered reading another book by Liz Williams in which a sentient vehicle gave me much thought and inspiration. So much I wrote a short story, The Judgement Rock, in which an asteroid miner had to argue with his sentient spacesuit, which wanted to go in a different direction. It was accepted by Steve Upham for his Estronomicon ezine.  Of course sentient machinery abound in many science fiction stories and films from my own novel – Exit, Pursued by a Bee to HAL in A Space Odyssey: 2001. The fun bit is to extend the character beyond mere computer interface. In Banner of Souls, sentient armour is extended by having several previous owners haunting it. Clever and it works. The armour is a feature of alien-provided haunt tech. Other technology includes a fascinating wet ship made of water whose molecules are bounded by unknown forces. GM people populate the novel and thereby comes a disturbing consequence. Apparently, when biotechnology sees to it that all future humans are engineered for optimum lives and occupations, they will all be female. The argument runs that if procreation is unnecessary with the advent of 'growing tanks and bags' for people making then men are not needed. The notion of sex as fun is raised but discarded by the main character. She is Dreams-of-War and initially endearing as an Amazon type intelligent young woman. However, her murdering adversary, Yskatarina, appealed to me more and more. Dreams-of-War made too many tactical errors for someone supposedly selected for a bodyguard job because she was the best. Seemed incredulous, as did the excissieres, who rushed around with inbuilt scissors – like the joke, Edward Scissorhands. In fact the anti-male stance in the book grated with me increasingly. Is misogyny applied to women hating men as well as vice versa? (edit: apparently it is Misandry) Having said that, the action is page turning as is the clever tech.

On my shelf waiting for a holiday read has been Time's Arrow by Martin Amis.  All the Amis family are noted for their literary style of writing and this book had been described as a venture into science fiction, which it isn't really. Maybe it was described thus because the main character is a conscience that is experiencing a doctor's life from the moment of death back to his birth. It is a backwards plot. As such I loved the way it forced the reader to contemplate how different common aspects of life is organised anew. Consider eating. The narrator observes a dirty plate drawn out of a dishwasher, then scraps added to it from the trash. Food is disgorged from the doctor's mouth onto the plate and moved around for a while until the food is decanted into pans on the stove. From the stove the food is poured into cans, which are taken to the shop, who reimburses the doc for his trouble.  Being stuck with the doctor the poor conscience sees well people come into the hospital, undress, lie on a bed, taken to the operating theatre. There, the doctor opens the patient, rummages around inside them and eventually sends them back outside but ill, sometimes with horrible injuries he inflicted on them. Of course all this is with people walking and talking backwards, but the conscience knows no different and assumes these modes as normal.  However, a flaw in my opinion, is that the narrator is aware that he is experiencing life in reverse and so he should know that the bodies are being repaired. Harrowing scenes come as the doctor sails backward from the US to Europe where we learn he is an experimental surgeon at Auschwitz concentration camp. The observation is of bodies pulled from pits, or as ashes from ovens, and miraculously made better, given back their jewellery, dressed and put on trains to go home.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this fascinating insight into the life of one of Hitler's evil surgeons and of the time direction. A short book (176 pages) this was a quick read and peppered with literary phrases and concepts – eg As he moves through the house mirrors monitor him.

One of our Chester Book Group members is a keen fan of Christopher Priest. I bought Inverted World at NewCon in Northampton. I'd asked the seller if he had anything by Priest and he told me Priest's first wife, Lisa Tuttle, was standing behind me! What's the odds?  To be brief, I didn't like Inverted World as much as I wanted to. It is engineering based – great, but in a daft way. A city has to be pulled along four rail tracks to avoid being crushed by centrifugal forces. The planet is shaped like a rotated hyperbola – think of a Pringle. There are too many stretches to make the premise feasible. I also find the characters unfeeling and sterile. Shame. On the other hand the narrative is easy to read and the maths explained lucidly, worth a read for the infinity aspects – even if nonsense.

My wife enjoyed Mark Haddon's A Spot of Bother.  Haddon wrote the best-selling The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. I hated that book (not really) because he described things editors told me not to – eg the unique numbers on lampposts – but it is an incisive excursion into autism.  A Spot of Bother looked like a family-lit light read, and it is. I started reading it at Palma Airport, and continued on the plane. Still have a hundred pages and now I want to continue even though it is a bit two-dimensional. However, the dad, George, has feelings about the world that I have. He observes clouds, and misinterprets people. He is rather potty but endearing as are his dysfunctional family.

Three and three-quarter books in a week! Even so, I'd rather have read one book and taken my laptop.

Clambering Delight

Climbers by M. John Harrison

Reviewed by Geoff Nelder

Paperback: 224 pages

Publisher: Phoenix; New Ed edition (4 Nov 2004)

ISBN-13: 978-0753819555

Jon Courtenay Grimwood told a SF writing group at the Winchester Writing Conference that they should keep their reading up to speed by reading M. John Harrison's SF novel, Light. I did and enjoyed its flickering in and out of Quantum Mechanics to tell an interesting story without losing readers. So, when I found a copy of Climbers at a bookstall at NewCon5 I puzzled because it didn't resonate as a science fiction. Nevertheless, I have dabbled at climbing – even got a Mountain Leader Training cert somewhere in the attic – so bought the book. I couldn't put it down – it is not science fiction though a little fantasy creeps in with a mention of the mythical runaway children nakedly inhabiting Kinderscout and other uplands in the North of England. The writing style is exquisite, full of the sensory Show (colour, aromas, touch, taste, sound) that I urge new writers even when many best sellers don't.

I can't resist this quote: Let's have some tea,' said Pauline. 'I can easily make some!' she added as if this ability had suddenly surprised and delighted her.

As the title suggests, Mike takes us through his experiences as a rock climber. It feels like an autobiography, but is described as a novel. What makes this book personal is Mike's distain for teachers (I was one), especially it seems of Geography (me), and is based in Yorkshire (I lived in Sheffield and Huddersfield). The distain is because of a pure love of Mike for his climbing with other friends, on whose lives their hobby impacts. It is beautifully written and I forgive his nose-downing. I admit to a  bit of abseiling and climbing decades ago and still rock scramble but I identify with his tactile love of the geology, flora and fauna, which are superbly portrayed even in cold rain.

Mike's descriptions of people are amazingly observant. Educational psychologists tell us that teenage boys are clumsy because their heads can't keep up with their body growth. Mike describes them as: …big vague boys with a hit-and-miss way of walking… Brilliant.

If you relish good writing and have teetered on the edge of a limestone or sandstone edge, better still, traversed it, then this is must reading.

New pals at NewCon5

I've just returned from NewCon5 in Northampton – a convention for lovers of science fiction. I had a nice long chat at what in many conventions are called Kaffeeklatsche (German – sort of – for a coffee chat about almost anything with Paul Cornell: author of many SF books and graphic comics including Dr Who novels, Captain Britain, and the recent Young Avengers series. I had a good chat with Jaine Fenn, successful author of Principles of Angels. We discussed the possibility of Adventure Books of Seattle (I am the British branch) being a distributor of Sam Stone's books. Also with Juliet McKenna, who has graciously accepted to read my Xaghra's Revenge novel with a view to endorsing it. I have an endorsement for it already from Jon Courtenay Grimwood, who was born in the Maltese Islands where the novel is set.

While there it was a pleasure to meet up with old friends such as Ian Whates. who organised the successful NewCon, and with others such as Sam Stone, her publisher, Terry Martin, and with my old friend, Terry Jackman of the BSFA Orbiters. It was my pleasure to read and review a pre-published version of Sam Stone's Demon Dance. Also from BSFA (British Science Fiction Association) Orbiters but whom I'd not met in person before, was Robert Harkess and his wife. Robert is a skillful writer and has helped me with critiques of many of my short stories. At the con was Northampton's jester, Kevin Burke, on his modern bendy stilts. Always a friendly chap – remember he was with me at NewCon4 helping me sell Exit, Pursued by a Bee. Which reminds me that it was a pleasure to hear Robert Harkess say he'd just finished reading Exit on his Kindle. Excellent!

On my train homeward journey I've been planning the science fiction workshop session I am doing with the Llandudno Writers' group. I did a session with them earlier in the year on how to win short story competitions. A creative and appreciative bunch they are too. Brian Lux, writer of excellent children's stories, is my contact with them.

My nephew, Ben Bamber, is in the papers again. His dystopic novella, The Vast and Gruesome Clutch of Our Law is now out as an ebook at the innovative site, Smashwords, and an article about it has appeared in the Gloucestershire Echo.  The text of the piece is on the Echo's site here.

Another link for you is my review of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale at Compulsive Reader. Is it Science Fiction? I don't think so: just because a story is set in the future it doesn't make it SF automatically unless the change in the future features intrinsically. Nevertheless. I enjoyed reading the book. .

More biting

I spent a great day yesterday taking my 19-month-old grandson out and about in Urmston and Trafford, Manchester. His mum, my daughter, needed a hand because she was poorly with tonsilitis (even though she'd had her tonsils out when she was 12! Apparently the bed of the tonsil are left in and it is those that became infected. Tonsil-bed-itis?) I took Oliver to the play centre at the Trafford Centre where he put me through my physical fitness paces climbing into impossible-for-adult spaces, wobbling over rope bridges and sliding down before being buried in ball pits. While sharing an ice-cream cornet (I took one small bite and while I thought he might lick once then give up (he's not into eating much lately because of teething) he took the whole cornet off me and finished it – I hasten to add it was a tiny version of a small cornet the vendor kindly made especially for us)) we passed a Mall shop with a difference. There were ground-level aquariums with minnow-sized fish. Oliver likes fish. Wriggling feet were also in the tanks and the fish seemed to be feeding on them! On enquiry these are Garra Ryfa fish and for a fee of £10 for 15 minutes you can have your callouses nibbled away. This bizarre practice has been going on for centuries in Turkey and now is appearing in shopping malls the world over. It seems a bit suspicious to me. A scam by the vendors to save on feeding costs. Apparently, the water is filtered and the tanks regularly disinfected but I bet there's no way of knowing if the fish could carry bacterial and fungal infections from one person's foot to another. We were tempted only to stand and stare, and giggle a little.

On the writing front, I am still writing a Monk Punk short, working out a lesson plan for the Llandudno writing group I am to teach next week, and I'm writing a short TV play about book groups. In between I am making slow progress with Left Luggage volume three. However, I'm anticipating with glee attending NewCon5 in Northampton on Saturday. Many SF writers will be there including several, who ironically contributed stories to the Monster Alphabet Book where my Goliath story sits. Ironic because Monsters are fantasy rather than science fiction but often writers of one genre are happy to release steam in another.

Don't bite…

Don't bite my finger, see where it is pointing. This is known as a chbap, a Cambodian gnomic poem meant to be inspirational in Zen Buddhism to evoke enlightenment. When I found that chbap I fell in love with it because I immediately formed an image of a helpful stranger pointing to a faraway place – giving directions – when his listener misinterprets and goes for the finger. Haha – it appealed to my warped sense of humour. I planted it on my status on facebook but it seems the poem doesn't resonate so well with others. Ho hum. I am considering using it as the title of a short story on Monk Punk. I've never considered writing a story about this sub-genre of fantasy. The idea is that a lovable monk, of any religion and place, has adversity to overcome – as in any story – only set with a fantasy element.

I'm inspired to write it as a result of my Goliath short story being accepted in John Prescot's adult fiction – Monster Alphabet Book. One of the other contributors, Aaron French, is an editor for Static Movement, who are publishing a Monk Punk anthology. Hence my story. See the great cover art.

Almost simultaneously I have encountered news of anthologies from The Dead Robot's Society and Solaris. And of course, Adventure Books of Seattle are publishing an Escape Velocity anthology in the next few weeks based on contributors we accepted before the magazine folded, along with a few best from early issues. It seems there is a resurgence of publishers going for short stories. Reminds me to ask Wayne Goodchild what has happened to my submission to his Library of the Living Dead antho – Library of Science Fiction.

I'm helping son to move his family including my new granddaughter, to a new home in Nottingham this weekend. I'm spending nights in a Travelodge. Yes, I could have had a mattress on a floor but I find I can knock out a few thousand words on my own in a hotel room – rather like an office – whereas nothing comes my way on floors.

Fancy that at FantasyCon

FantasyCon is a bit like a writers' club, one that specialises in fantasy and science fiction. In spite of writing about things that hit the back of readers' minds, scaring the hell out of them and stirring the ordinary into the extraordinary often with ghouls and black moments, those writers are wonderfully warm and friendly. Take Sam Stone, who writes about nothing but vampires, who want to rip out our necks or create the undead from the innocent: she is an effervescent blonde (this time...