the gods have ways of
telling you things
when you think you know
a lot
or worse -
when you think
you know
just a
little.
(Charles Bukowski, the day the epileptic spoke)
Wise words from someone else…
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Two Stories, Free to Read
This morning, I’ve added two very different stories to my Recommend Reading list. They’re both online and free to read, so if you’ve got a little time and want to read some quality fiction, click on the links below.
Always, They Whisper by Damien Walters Grintalis (publisher – Lightspeed; genre – dark fantasy/horror)
Rag and Bone by Priya Sharma (publisher - Tor.com; genre – alternate history/horror)
You won’t be disappointed…
Interzone #246 & Black Static #34 available, and another story acceptance
The latest issue of Interzone (#246) is now available to buy from TTA Press. Here are the stories (in order of appearance):
THE MACHINEHOUSE WORKER’S SONG by Steven J. Dines
TRIOLET by Jess Hyslop
SENTRY DUTY by Nigel Brown
THE ANGEL AT THE HEART OF THE RAIN by Aliette de Boddard
THESEA AND ASTAURIUS by Priya Sharma
THE CORE by Lavie Tidhar
CAT WORLD by Georgina Bruce
Follow the link above to check out the interior artwork and the rest of the contents. My involvement aside, I think it looks great. But if SF isn’t your thing (and horror is) then Black Static #34 is also available now, with fiction by Nina Allan, Joel Lane, Ilan Lerman, Andrew Hook, and Sean Logan. The line-up and interior artwork for the new issue both look fantastic. As a reader, I cannot recommend this magazine enough.
Which segues rather nicely to my next announcement…
My latest effort, a dark novelette set in a care home, MEN PLAYING GHOSTS, PLAYING GOD, has been accepted for Black Static #35, due for publication in July. This will be my second appearance in the magazine, following THE THINGS THAT GET YOU THROUGH, which appeared in #31 at the tail end of 2012. The timing is perfect (once again) - because I’ve been dithering with the latest project and losing faith. Time to pick myself up and get moving again.
Artwork for “The Machinehouse Worker’s Song”
Hot on the heels of the Interzone cover (art by Jim Burns), here is the incredible interior artwork for my contribution, THE MACHINEHOUSE WORKER’S SONG. The artist is Wayne Haag, whose film credits include: THE LORD OF THE RINGS; THE FIFTH ELEMENT; SUPERMAN RETURNS; and the forthcoming THE WOLVERINE. He also worked on the science fiction television series, FARSCAPE. Wayne has created two oil paintings for the May/June issue of Interzone, the first of which you can see below. If you click on the image, not only will you be able to enjoy the painting in more detail, but you should be able to read the opening of my story. Copies can be purchased from TTA Press.
Interzone #246 cover
Here’s the cover of issue #246 of the UK’s leading science fiction magazine, INTERZONE. Out next month from TTA Press, it features stories from Aliette de Bodard, Georgina Bruce, Priya Sharma, Jess Hyslop, Nigel Brown, Lavie Tidhar, and yes, me (a 6,300 word tale, THE MACHINEHOUSE WORKER’S SONG). The cover painting was created by Jim Burns.
Toothache and Inspiration, or, Where My Ideas Come From, Part II
Yesterday, I delved a little into the process by which new ideas arrive. I described my latest idea as WATERSHIP DOWN meets POST OFFICE meets…something else. Well, after waking up with toothache (not for the first time) this morning at 5am, I lay in bed and watched the story slowly unfold in my mind. It wasn’t quite like a movie as you see it in the theatre, more like the disjointed footage seen only by a film’s editor, but I began to form an impression of where the story wanted to go. The “something else” or missing ingredient, I discovered, was “post apocalyptic story.” In high concept terms, that’s THE STAND or such like. Once I had this aspect of the tale, the plot began to spool through my mind until I had no chance of ever getting back to sleep. So, I staggered downstairs and fired up the laptop. Fifteen hundred words later, I have the blueprint for my next story, THE SOUND OF CONSTANT THUNDER.
It is the kind of story idea that excites me, the kind that arrives as a gift. It is almost as if it wants to be written. It’s preternatural, but at the same time completely natural. It’s a beautiful thing.
All there is for me to do now is write the words, put them in the correct order, and pray I don’t f#ck it up.
Where My Ideas Come From
Since my return to writing short fiction last year (following a three year hiatus in which I finished my novel), I have found the process of getting new ideas spookily consistent. An idea invariably comes to me either while I am writing the current story or right after its completion. I’m not one of these writers who walks around with a thousand of them jostling for attention inside my head. Yes, I have other ideas, usually in note form and stockpiled in a box somewhere, but recently they’ve all arrived at precisely the right time. Which is: Just When I Need Them.
Take the new one, for example.
At the time of writing this blog post, it is shaping up as WATERSHIP DOWN meets POST OFFICE meets…something else. The inspiration struck on Saturday, while my wife and I were out walking in Salisbury. When we crossed a bridge over the river Avon, I saw below us, on the river bank, a number of (what I assumed were) rabbit holes. I stopped. I took it in. I walked on. During the next few hours, I thought about the road traffic noise and what it must be like for those rabbits in their holes, how it must drive them insane sometimes. Right there. The spark. And all going well, THE SOUND OF CONSTANT THUNDER should end up being my next project. The bones need a little meat still, but that should come, if the pattern continues, while I am putting the finishing touches to my current project, a love story with a dark, supernatural twist called MEN PLAYING GHOSTS, PLAYING GODS.
I know. I probably shouldn’t question or analyse inspiration and the origin of ideas, but after many years of writing, the process – if it can be called that and not simply good fortune – still amazes me.
