Submissions require an author bio. I struggle with this. I look to others for inspiration. Some people include a half page of whimsy, at which I cringe, and have no publication credits, because they have not published anything. Others have a stream of credits, and of course, I can’t emulate that. Some list all the […]
My story ‘Good Boy’ has been published by Pseudopod. Here is a link, it is about 19 minutes in. I wrote many things over many years. I have boxes of notes and drafts. Occasionally I’d submit stories and collect rejection slips. Life, laziness, children, career, fear, all got in the way of taking things further. […]
The bus arrived at my stop last evening, and I ended reading ‘The Adjacent’ by Christopher Priest at “He learned to dance, to recite, to work marionettes…”. This morning, flicking through The Guardian, I read in the obituaries “My friend Frank Mumford … had a career as a marionette master spanning eight decades”. Then unprompted my son walked […]
One post says to stop writing if you have something else you’re more passionate about doing. Lord knows I do. I want to watch television and drink. It won’t be easy. I have to get a TV. – Cathy Douglas Love it! You should click here and read the post.
Though they were both well known for knocking out hard hitting rhymes and dancing madly in harem pants, there is no question that M.C. Escher will always triumph over MC Hammer. Firstly, M.C. Escher can hypnotise you from beyond the grave via a self portrait, whereas MC Hammer isn’t even dead yet. He has a […]
Talentless, I am surrounded by skilful musicians, all of whom I hate deeply. (Is it a character flaw that my two greatest motivations are avoiding embarrassment, and jealousy?) Here are Yetis with ‘Dangerous’, and our nephew Tom, a lovely boy, is the drummer with his eyes stuck shut. (I’m sure there is ointment you can […]
“Who you gonna call?” Supernatural cycling incidents are obviously a greater concern and more common in Germany than I realised.
My wife’s phone rang at 3.19am. It confused me, because my alarm does not make that sound. Mostly asleep, I thought of the time when the noise would stop, and I could submerge myself completely. My wife was obviously also not conscious. “What’s that?” I asked, innocently. “My sister is trying to call me.” “Oh.” […]
Thanks to Jonathan L Howards tweeting for the most hits ever here: Next covers the #JohannesCabal books get, I want on the backs: “Warning: Contains High Levels of Smart Arsery” Happy to be of service, especially when one considers the ways people are usually of service to his character, Herr Cabal. If you haven’t read […]
Despite myself, despite (or because of) the smart arsery of the humour, I have enjoyed the three published volumes of the adventures of Johannes Cabal, Necromancer. Each time I have said, ‘Enough’, only to go crawling back for another serving. Noticing the third edition was published in 2011, more than enough time to have allowed […]
Nobody is looking 