Alan Baxter's Blog, page 103

RealmShift special on Kindle

If you're a Kindle owner and haven't read RealmShift yet, my publisher (Gryphonwood Press) is running a special offer at the moment where the book is available for just US0.99c from the Amazon Kindle Store. Its usual Kindle price is US$2.99 so it's a pretty good offer. I think the special is only going to run for a month, so get in while you can.

If you're outside the US, there's a surcharge from Amazon. For example, in Australia it's a $2 charge, so the price is down to $2.99 from $4.99. If y...

The writing life update

Things are interesting in my writing at the moment. I'm deep into the first draft of my third novel. I'm at that stage where I'm both loving and hating it. I love the fact that I'm writing a novel again, as I do adore getting my teeth into a great big story with no real word count restrictions. I'm hating it because I want it to be really good and have regular waves of writerly anxiety. Is this story really any good? Are my characters cliches? Am I just a hack that should give it all up and b...

Movie Review – Kick-Ass (Real Life Super Heroes)

Regulars here at The Word will probably remember this post from back in December 2008. The post was a quick one, just for a laugh. The real value is found in the comments. But brace yourself for a big read if you haven't been there before. There's 156 comments and we get our very own RLSH or Real Life Super Heroes commenting and having a pissing contest. It's hilarious reading, so I urge you to check it out. But what does that have to do with a movie review of Kick-Ass? I'm glad you asked...

Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus have a sword fight

I'm a big fan of the site 27b/6. The guy is very funny and sets up all kinds of awesome correspondence where his irreverance holds sway. I'm sure he's actually a really annoying guy, as one of the commenters (fiona) on his site says:

"i have a feeling that i would want to stab you in real life but on the internet i want to marry you."

He earns a place on my site here because everything he does is an example of great writing. His turn of phrase is often exquisite. He's excelled himself with...

Friday Flash – Misery Most Delicious

Here's another of my irregular and infrequent Friday Flash efforts. This is something a bit different to my usual fare and, to be completely honest with you, it's a bit daft. But I enjoyed writing it so hopefully some of that enjoyment will rub off when you're reading it. If not, I apologise. May I present:

Misery Most Delicious

by Alan Baxter

For millennia the misery of humans has sustained me, though I have never known such sumptuous feasts as these. Time and again the human race surprises m...

Top Ten Reasons Not To Be A Writer

Top 10 lists are pretty popular these days. Do we have Letterman to thank for that? Anyway, in the interests of being in with the popular crowd, here's a Top 10 list that seems blatantly obvious to me, but might serve as a warning to others. And before anyone accuses me of being all jaded and defeatist, I prefer to look at it as arming myself with the truth in order to beat that fucker down and prove every point on this list wrong. Wish me luck.

Top 10 Reasons Not To Be A Writer

10. For the...

2010 Ditmar Award nominations announced

The nominations for this year's Ditmar Awards are out. Some great names in here and some really deserving nominees. You'll be able to vote online soon at http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2010.

Best Novel

* Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld (Penguin)

* Liar, Justine Larbalestier (Bloomsbury)

* World Shaker, Richard Harland (Allen & Unwin)

* Slights, Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot Books)

* Life Through Cellophane, Gillian Polack (Eneit Press)

Best Novella or Novelette

* "Siren Beat", Tansy Rayner Roberts (Twelfth...

Bill Congreve collection from Blade Red Press

Most of you know that I keep a foot in both camps, being a writer and a publisher. My small publishing company, Blade Red Press, has just announced its latest project – a single author collection of dark short fiction from Australian author Bill Congreve. The collection is called Souls Along The Meridian, and will be available soon.

Full official announcement here.

Please share the news with anyone you think might be interested.

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"Stand Off" to be a short film

It's no mystery to anyone that reads this blog that I'm a big fan of movies. A lot of you may also be aware that my writing style is often called cinematic or that people talk about how my books would make great films. This pleases me no end – I would love to see my novels turned into movies (as I was gushing about in my recent Inception review). One review of RealmShift (I think it's on Amazon) described my books as graphic novels without the pictures. Which would be novels, which they are, ...

The nominations are in and the votes are cast

Aussiecon 4, the 68th World Science Fiction Convention, has announced the ballot for the 2010 Hugo Awards and all the votes have been cast. Now it's just a case of counting it all up.

There are some awesome nominees this year and some truly deserving ones. I'm looking forward to the announcements on these. Below is the full list of categories and nominations.

Best Novel

(699 Ballots)

•Boneshaker, Cherie Priest (Tor)
•The City & The City, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan UK)
•Julian Comstock...