The frugal frontier

This morning I was:

1) Inspired by a quote. According to The Weekend Australian Review, the Italian fabulist Italo Calvino said: “Fantasy is like jam; you have to spread it on a solid slice of bread. If not, it remains a shapeless thing, like jam, out of which you can’t make anything.”

2) Amused, and frightened, by the concept of El Cheapo aliens. Catching up on my New Scientist reading, I came across the scary thought that ET might, like us, be in thrall to bean counters. If so, extraterrestrial economics of the thriftier kind suggests that aliens would use small and cheap beacons as transmitters, and choose to transmit their intergalactic greetings at frequencies closer to 10 gigahertz rather than 1.42 to 1.72 range that the SETI projects scan. It’s the thought of accountants ruling the universe that unsettles me. Is there then no escape from their adventure-strangling mindset?

Repeat after me

I must get a synopsis done for the YOSF&F workshop, I must get a synopsis done for the YOSF&F workshop, I must get a synopsis done for the YOSF&F workshop ...

Silver Star

Googling yesterday for a Sunday blog picture, I discovered that the Lone Ranger's horse Silver once had his own comic book. This I did not know. Called The Lone Ranger's Famous Horse Hi-Yo Silver, it started in 1952 and ran for 34 issues. Just by looking at the covers, I know that if I'd been a 10 year old back in the early fifties, I'd have bought and cherished those comics.

What I did know was that Silver was originally a wild stallion. You see, the Lone Ranger first rode a chestnut mare called Dusty, but she was killed by a criminal, boo hiss. But then the Lone Ranger saved Silver's life from an enraged buffalo, and in gratitude Silver gave up his wild life to carry him. Aaaah.

Hi-Ho, Sunday, Away

I'm just back from a long day of horseriding. The weather was perfect - sunny, but crisp. It was just my sister and myself today, so we could do whatever we liked, which mostly involved exploring the Wombat Forest, occasionally getting a teeny bit lost, and finding our way back out again.

Now for a hot shower.

A short story a day...

I finished Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine Issue 44 this morning. My favourite story is the one I read Tuesday - Factory Made by Ralph Benedetto. It has a nice Golden Age of SF feel about it, and was fun to read.

Two catty questions

After reading the local paper this morning, I ask:

1) Is it right to use that hated word ‘lifestyle’ when referring to the terrible conditions endured by people in Third World countries, as in ‘It was emotionally draining and just really hard to accept their lifestyle'? I have no problem with the speaker’s generosity and praiseworthy desire to help others, just with that stupid word used in this context. To me, ‘lifestyle’ implies an element of choice, and the financial luxury and political freedom to pursue your choices. Methinks that wretched word ‘lifestyle’ is to the English language what the vuvuzela is to music.

2) If a dog that guards property (utes, commercial sites, home offices) and equipment is deemed a member of a work environment, and their dog-related expenses such as food, vaccinations and vet bills can be claimed as deductions from a business’s gross income, should not the costs of the dedicated cats belonging to those involved in more contemplative trades also be legitimate tax deductions? For some of us, a cat in the lap, or just snoozing companionably in the room, is a vital part of the thinking/writing process. I shall have to speak with my local MP.

Feel the Force

Sighted from a tram on the way to the Arvo Job – a Stormtrooper and a Jedi knight striding side by side up Collins Street, office folk in sensible attire milling about them. I laughed, I did.

Once at the Arvo Job, I discovered that for the fifth (maybe sixth?) consecutive week, by the merest of leads (1 point), I am still #1 in the footy tips. There are still 4 rounds to go. Ah, so near to monetary gain, yet so far.

End of the Month Report: July

Submissions: 9
Rejections: 4
Acceptances: 0
Published: 1 (Rajiv and the Bn Stalks)
Stories presently out: 13
Mood: Wondering whether trying to crack the bigger, tougher markets is such a good idea. I get lots of nice, constructive, encouraging and much appreciated feedback, but also lots of rejections.

Mind Games

I love a good heist movie. I love SF. So when someone like Christopher Nolan (The Prestige, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, all films that I love) takes the standard script of the heist genre, namely a team of experts (in this case, the Architect, the Chemist, the Forger etc) orchestrating a multi-leveled deception, and then throws in the brainy science fiction concept of entering dreams and manipulating them to steal information, well, for me that’s just hog heaven Phillip K. Dick style.

Three cheers

I'm back at the Arvo Job - yay! On the way to work (yesterday!) , I was 15 minutes into writing, and writing well, when Rover's battery went flat - yay! On the way home, I had to bus part of the way because of track work, which added 40 minutes to my trip - my final yay!

And now, the end is near

That was that AJWWB then – it’s back to the Arvo Job tomorrow. *sigh* It’s been lovely. Days of writing and wrangling ideas to my heart’s content, cats popping in and out to say hallo or stopping for a snooze on the bean bag that I cunningly placed next to my keyboard to distract them from walking all over the keyboard whilst I worked, and lots of reading done in between.

Then there was the other fun stuff – movies, the European Masters exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria & the Tim Burton exhibition at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (this is a picture from the ACMI's after dark festivities) furniture shopping (the bedroom got a makeover), visiting, gardening, long walks etc, all done at a relaxed pace.

And yesterday I finished off with the YOSF&F workshop, which included a great, really informative talk given by a commissioning editor from Allen & Unwin.

I could live like this all the time. Honestly.

Lookee here

If you squint, you can just make out that my name is on the cover (and what a cool cover it is too).

As this is only the second time this has happened (I'm usually bundled up in the phrase and others) I'm quite excited by it.

So here we have Arkham Tales #7:



If you'd like to read Rajiv and the Bn Stalks and other fine stories of much weirdness, you can go to http://arkhamtales.leucrotapress.com/ and download a PDF copy of the issue for a measly $1.99.

The meme machine

So I succumbed and, like everyone else, I went to play at I Write Like and got carried away and ended up putting in 12 stories. The result? 1 x Charles Dickens, 1 x HG Wells, 1 x Arthur C Clarke.

Also, 4 times:

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

And 5 times:

I write like
James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Hmm, make of that what you will. Me, I'm considering changing to shorter sentences, little words and tiny paragraphs. Or maybe I'll just move to Ireland.

Lovin' it.

Spent the morning reading and writing. Still in my jammies :-) :-) but will get dressed and go for a walk now.

The ABE story is shaping up well, or at least I think it is. What was difficult last week is flat out writing joyousness this week. Am also well into a longer project, and having much fun coaxing a 'no-I-will-not-head-down-that-boring-path-you-planned-for-me-because-I'm-about-something-completely-different-you-moron' story into existence.

*sigh* The difference between one's everyday, gotta-fit-in-the-Arvo-Job brain and one's AJWWB brain is both astounding and just a little depressing.

Rain...

...and writing go together so well.

Blogging ...

... in the middle of the day, just because I can :)

Tomorrow, When the Work Began*

Okay, so I didn't exactly hit the ground running writingwise. Shopping (both functional and recreational), movies, reading, exercising, DVD box set watching (I'm finishing off True Blood Season 2 and aim to watch both seasons of the Sarah Connor Chronicles over the next fortnight, having been inspired to do so by The Big Bang Theory boys' many references to said series), food making and cake baking, guests and whatnot have kept me busy these past 3 days, but hey, I am on holidays.

Tomorrow, I swear, being another day and all that, will be packed with writerly diligence as I once more send off a few stories that have been recently rejected, and my brow will be soaked with scriberly sweat as I try to beat into shape a rather ambitious submission for the Anywhere But Earth anthology.

*Love your work, John Marsden, and am looking forward to seeing Ellie & co. up on the big screen in September.

AJWWB Opening Ceremony

I've ditched the Arvo Job for a fortnight, my once-mighty lurgy has been reduced to manageable sniffles and the occasional coughing fit, and my hitherto snot-sodden brain actually came up with two vaguely usable ideas on the train today just in time for my Annual July Winter Writing Break. Let me snip the red ribbon right now to make it official.

I have hopes, I have goals, I have plans. Let the word games begin.

Sneaky Friday

A few days ago, Arkham Tales posted a sneak peak of the artwork provided by Mari Anne Werier that they'll be using for the cover of AT #7. Now that I know I'll have a story in this issue, I'm a whole lot more interested in it.

I give you Roots Like Hands:

Pretty awesome.

Beanz meanz horror

A nice bit of writing news that has just come to hand in a week otherwise dominated by dawn to dusk Arvo Jobbing whilst battling a voice-stealing, snot-producing, energy-siphoning lurgy is that my humorous horror story Rajiv and the Bn Stalks is scheduled for the July issue of Arkham Tales.

Which means that my forthcoming section will soon look decidedly lean with ... uhmmm ... a grand total of exactly zero stories due to appear in upcoming publications.

Note to self: must make some kind of bookish sacrifice to the fickle god of publishing.