Two New Stories Out Now
Well, not that new, I guess. One of the stories – The Line – was the second I’d ever written. But I reworked and rewrote the damn thing over a year as I felt the central idea was worth pursuing …
Writing Fiction: Year Two in Review
2014 was my second full year of writing fiction. It was good to me. In fact, it exceeded expectations.
My goals were as follows:
1) 60 short story submissions,
2) with two sales, one of those being a professional sale …
The Morality of The Matrix
Neo, Trinity and Morpheus were mass murderers.
This realisation came to me as I re-watched The Matrix recently. It’s still a fine film, no doubt, which stands the test of time. Slick, stylish, philosophically intriguing, with some fantastic set-piece action …
Santa Claus – A Bearded Despot Revealed
He goes by many aliases: Kris Kringle, Saint Nicholas, Hagios Nikolas, Joulupukki, Nicholas of Myra, Sinterklaas. He’s the jolly bearded man bearing gifts; the herald of good will and joy; an icon for the young; an ally to the old …
The Writer’s Training Regime Part 2: The Short Story
Trying my hand at short stories was the single best decision I made when I started writing fiction.
A couple of years back I started a novel – like just about everyone else does when they decide to take up …
Interstellar: A Masterpiece (or no more comforting lies)
While cinema gets bigger every year: bigger budgets, bigger battles, bigger explosions, and a bigger box-office, the ideas and ambition of the medium steadily get smaller. The idea that cinema can be a transformative experience, the notion that movies can …
Not a Bang, but a Whimper: Re-Thinking the Apocalypse
The apocalypse is easy. The zombie plague, the uncontrollable pandemic, the meteorite hitting earth – these are the easy catastrophes. They are dramatic, tragic, and most importantly, no-one is responsible. The catastrophic event is merely a plot point, an a …
George R. R. Martin’s Sister: the Economics of Being a Writer
It’s the perfect storm for the struggling writer: average author income is collapsing, social mobility is in decline across nearly all wealthy countries, and inequality is on the rise. These structural changes are leading to an inescapable reality: it is …
Fiction sales: Interzone and Grimdark Magazine
I’m very pleased to have found a second sale to the excellent Interzone magazine. The full title of the story is: An Advanced Guide to Successful Price-Fixing in Extra-terrestrial Betting Markets. It’s probably the weirdest one I’ve ever written, …
The Writer’s Training Regime: The Con
Writer’s conventions have powerful utility for the aspiring author. I suspect they are pretty damn helpful for seasoned writers, as well.
I recently spent a long weekend at Conflux, the annual speculative fiction writer’s conference held in Canberra. I’ve been …