'This Life Sucks' wins poll

Each quarter, Flash Me! Magazine holds a poll to find the most popular story in their previous issue. This time round, I'm delighted to discover that 'This Life Sucks', my short vampire tale, took first place in the most recent poll! I'm really pleased because the story is a little on the dark side and I wasn't sure that readers would enjoy it, but clearly they have.

Thank you to everyone who voted - it's really made my day!

If you haven't yet read the story there's still time, and it's still available free. Simply pop along to Flash Me and check out Issue 23. And I hope you enjoy it (and the other great stories) as much as everyone else seems to have.

Google Opt In/Out

Fellow authors should take a look at this deeply worrying article on the Google Opt In/Out agreement on Jessica Freely's Friskbiskit blog.

Apparently we have only one week to decide whether to opt into or out of Google's settlement, both of which options have hidden pitfalls and neither of which can prevent Google from scanning our work and making it avalable online without our permission.

This has huge implications for anyone with an out-of-contract e-book that they were hoping to release in print. Please read the article, take the time to consider your options, and as Jessica says, spread the word. I didn't know about this, and I'm quite sure I'm not the only author who didn't.

A toast rack?

I've been looking out for something to keep letters and odd scraps of paper tidy on my desk for ages. This afternoon I pottered round to the local high street and happened to stumble across exactly what I needed in one of the charity shops. It's a small silver-coloured (don't suppose for one moment it's real silver!) toast rack, very old fashioned with pointed arches and a looped handle at the top. It's seen better days as the arches are all skew-whiff, but it cost me the amazing sum of... 99p. So I don't really mind. I've already stuffed a load of stamps and business cards in there and it's doing exactly what I wanted, which is making a bit more space on my desk. Thank goodness for charity shops - you never know quite what you're going to find next.

'Men of Mystery' to be republished

Haworth Press, the original publishers of the 'Men of Mystery' anthology containing my short story Any Means Necessary, ceased trading as a fiction publisher before the book could be distributed properly. The editors, Sean Meriwether and Greg Phillips, have worked long and hard and have just negotiated a new deal with Lethe Press, a publisher specialising in gay and lesbian titles. The book is due out later this year with the same contents and in pretty much the same format as before. It's excellent news because this is a top-notch anthology full of cracking good stories and it was a shame that it didn't receive the best 'after-sales care' that it could have done.

I'll be posting more details about the release etc in due course so watch this space.

'I Do' success

Early indications are that the charity anthology 'I Do' has already raised over $1,000 for the Lambda Legal Fund in its first quarter. This is terrific news. It's always nice to take part in a worthwhile project, but it's even nicer to know one's efforts are having a positive effect.

If you haven't yet bought a copy of the book, either in print or electronic format, and would like to contribute to the cause, feel free to pop along to my website for further details on where and how to purchase.

Read the guidelines, stupid!

I spent a long time the other day writing a new short story with a Christmas theme for a contest in Words Magazine. The word count was a measly 1,000 words and I did struggle to fit everything I wanted to say into such a short space, but eventually after a tussle and a lot of hacking, I got it down to 997 words including the title and was reasonably happy.

And then I re-checked the guidelines to see how and where I should send it, and found that the word count was actually... 2000.

Goodness knows where I got the lower figure from but now the story is too short, feels rushed, and there's a danger that I haven't expanded the theme strongly enough to really make the point I wanted to. I'm going to have to sit down and try to fit some more detail in, but without making it feel padded in any way. It's a good job the deadline isn't till June because I've a feeling I'm going to need the extra time.

Memo to self: read the guidelines first, stupid. 8-)

I review a gay historical

And not a terribly good one, sadly. You can read my review of David Pownall's 'The Ruling Passion' (which might have been better named 'Not Much Ruling Passion') at Speak Its Name.

Stuck in traffic....

I had to laugh this morning when the local news programme featured an item about slow-moving traffic on the motorway, caused by an accident involving a cement lorry. Not so much slow-moving as stuck fast, I should think....

A Small Problem

The thirteenth isn't always unlucky. It was the 13th Feb when I heard my latest story had been accepted (The Boyfriend From Hell), and now Issue 13 of Gay Flash Fiction is playing host to A Small Problem.

This little story is a real tease. It's only short but it packs quite a punch as the crew of a manned mission to Mars suffer equipment failure and have to take matters, quite literally, into their own hands, much to the consternation of the mission chief engineer.

You can read it at Gay Flash Fiction and I very much hope you enjoy it.

Ewwww...

It's good to know, sometimes, that I'm not the only writer to make the occasional howler.

We were watching an episode of CSI:Crime Scene Investigation the other night that involved a young woman who'd been killed. A male friend of hers had played a prank on her shortly before she died and this helped lead the CSI team to him (although he turned out not to be the murderer). The prank involved getting her to stick her hand in a bag of elephant dung, and the clue was that she still had traces of the dung under her fingernails.

This is a blooper of the first order. How many women do you know who would put even a fingertip in any kind of dung and not wash their hands immediately afterwards? And not just wash, but soap and scrub and practically use sandpaper to get the stuff off their skin? They certainly wouldn't stand around for hours afterwards enjoying drinks at a party, knowing that they smelled of elephant poop, as this girl was supposed to have done.

So, even the professionals get it wrong from time to time...

My tiny hand is frozen

Our (pretty well brand new) boiler went paf last night and stopped giving us either heating or hot water. After much fiddling my husband managed to get the hot water back on (phew, I hate not being able to have baths) but the heating is stubbornly refusing to work. At this time of year we only have it on for an hour or so in the morning just to warm the house through, but it's amazing how uncomfortable it still is without. I'm sitting at my desk in umpteen layers, with woolly socks and a scarf, and my fingers are so numb I can hardly type.

I wonder how people managed to write before central heating was invented...

Overheard...

Another entry in my occasional 'you couldn't make it up if you tried' files.

We were out walking in our local park the other Saturday and were passed by a very smartly dressed older couple who looked as though they were on their way to church. As they passed us the man was saying, "They can't stand the sight of each other, so they just go cruising all the time."

We're still wondering who he was talking about, why they hate each other, and whether he meant cruising on a ship, or in the clubbing sense....

Currently reading...

Strange Tunnels Disappearing by Gary Ley. This is a rather, um, strange book. Set in Peru in the 1980s but written by a Welshman, it tells the story of Jose, an academic with communist leanings, who goes on the run after hearing that his life is in danger. Every review I've seen of it is absolutely glowing but so far I'm finding it terribly slow and packed with the sort of meaningless, introspective, navel-gazing dialogue where the characters vocalise their thoughts to one another rather than holding proper conversations. I can't help thinking some of these vocalisations are actually of the author's thoughts, not the characters', since in one place he has a Spanish-speaking character muse on the sound of the word 'gringo' - in English!

I shall persevere in the hope that the characters stop musing on the meaning of life and actually do something, but I'm not hopeful...

Gorgeous cover, though!

Currently working on...

...the fourth re-write of a novel set in the Lake District. It's early days yet - I'm still only on the first chapter and setting up the characters, the situation and the backstory - but it seems to be going quite well.

This novel has gradually developed from a ghost story to a character-driven mystery with a hint of paranormal to a character-driven mystery with no paranormal at all. And for a complete change, I'm writing about a family with *gasp* children, which I've never tried before. Although I don't have kids myself, enough of our friends do that I know the sort of things they say and do. It's very different, but lots of fun. The very first line is "Are we nearly there yet?", which will hopefully strike a chord with parents everywhere!

Best childrens' books

This week's Radio Times has a list of author Ursula Le Guin's favourite childrens' books. It's an interesting list, at least as much for what isn't on it as what is - no Peter Pan, no Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen, no Alice in Wonderland, no Wind in the Willows. But lots of Rudyard Kipling.

1. The Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book
2. Ferdinand the Bull by Munro Leaf
3. Any book by Beatrix Potter
4. The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling
5. Kim by Rudyard Kipling
6. The Jungle Books by Rudyard Kipling
7. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
8. The Once and Future King by T H White
9. The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien
10. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

I'd agree with many of the choices (with the exception of Black Beauty, which I hated, and Ferdinand the Bull which I've never heard of) but my own list of books which had a big impact on me and/or have stayed with me for life would have to include:

1. The Andrew Lang 'colour' fairy tale books
2. A A Milne's Winne the Pooh books
3. Tom's Midnight Garden by Phillipa Pearce (quite possibly my favourite childrens' book of all time).

Does anyone else have any favourites they'd have to include? Or books they hated so much they'd rather pay money than put them on a list? :) I'd love to know.

Radgie on Amazon

Just a brief line to say that 'Radgepacket Volume 2' is now available on Amazon UK, which means you can take advantage of any special offers, free postage, vouchers etc if you want to order it and already have an Amazon account.

You can buy from Amazon here.

Authors' homes

Spurred on by the news that the National Trust is about to open Agatha Christie's old home to the public, I was chatting to some writer friends about visiting other authors' homes. My friends like the idea and a couple of them had been to loads. I was rather startled to realise that I've only ever been to three: Hill Top, which was Beatrix Potter's home; Brantwood which belonged to John Ruskin; and the Bronte family parsonage at Haworth.

I was very young when my parents took me to Hill Top and I can remember very little about it except that it was rather small, but you could see some of the features from the books such as the yard where Jemima Puddle Duck lived and the fireplace from Tom Kitten. I think that 'made' the visit for me.

Brantwood I remember only as being rather dull, but I think that might be because so much of the house was given over to galleries of his illustrations, rather than showing how he used to live. Haworth was more rewarding, at least in part because it still looks like a family home and you can get a real sense of the Brontes living there.

I'm in two minds about visiting more of these places. For one thing, they tend to get so hellishly busy because they attract both general tourists and fans of the author concerned. Dove Cottage, Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, for instance, attracts simply thousands of visitors a year and it's minute. You wonder how they fit everybody in! On top of that, it can get a little tedious being told endless variations of 'this is the desk s/he wrote so-and-so at' and 'this was the pen they used'. Everybody says 'ooooh' in a suitably impressed way, but there's not much more you can say or do.

However, there are a few places I'd love to see. One is Bateman's, Rudyard Kipling's former home, which I've seen on television and which looks fascinating. Then there's Virginia Woolf's houses: Knole where she was born, Charleston where she lived with Duncan Bell and various other artists and writers in a sort of commune, and Monk's House where she had a holiday home. And finally, if anyone ever opens up any of Daphne du Maurier's former homes I shall be there like a shot, because she's my hero when it comes to writing.

Has anyone else visited any interesting writerly abodes? Were they interesting? Did you get to see anything more than The Desk, or The Chair, or The Pen?

The Boyfriend From Hell...

No, this isn't something better-kept-secret from my personal life. I had some lovely news this morning - From The Asylum have accepted 'The Boyfriend From Hell' for their forthcoming anthology Things Aren't What They Seem.

FTA are an online magazine who publish print anthologies - sometimes of the best stories from the zine, and sometimes with a specific theme. This is one of the latter, with all the stories focussing on the idea of 'aliens amongst us'. 'The Boyfriend From Hell is a short short about a boyfriend with anti-social habits who turns out to be something different - and there's an extra, unexpected twist!

I don't yet have any details on when the anthology will be published but I'll post them on here when I do.

'Radgepacket 2' released early

I've just had some really exciting news - 'Radgepacket - Tales from the Inner Cities Volume 2' from Byker Books has been released early, complete with my story 'Rock and a Hard Place'. Originally it was due to launch on 2 March, but Byker have had an advance order made up and it's available to buy from their website (for a measly £5.99) right now!

My story is a darkly humorous gritty urban tale about an ageing rock star pretending to be gay in order to sell more records, with unexpected and hilarious results.

I haven't read the other stories in this volume but the first anthology was a hoot, full of stories that were noir but with a humorous or quirky twist, and very entertaining.

You can find much more detail including an excerpt and a link to Byker Books' online catalogue at my website.

And, um, woot. :)

New free story

If you want to read the latest free story by yours truly, pop along to Flash Me! Magazine where the January 2009 issue has just gone live, complete with 'This Life Sucks'.

This little tale about a disillusioned vampire was based on a news story about some dustbin men discovering a fully functional, empty coffin propped up next to somebody's dustbins one morning! Nobody could work out where it had come from and it made such a surreal 'truth is stranger than fiction' story that I just had to write about it. 'This Life Sucks' is the result.

"This would be his last night in this form. No more biting, no more sucking, no more taking of innocent lives. No more lurking in the shadows and hiding from the sun; from now on he would be a creature of the light."

I hope you enjoy the story.