Cutesy

Have I mentioned that I cannot stand a cute rejection? It doesn’t make me feel better, and it makes me think I wasn’t taken seriously. I dislike them even more than normal rejection. At least I am used to normal rejection. Cute rejection is worse than chirpy morning people. I think I like rejections that aren’t […]

Grappling with the time available …

Duncan Felton is going to run out of time. He has, with designer Finbah Neill,  created/edited/assembled/published a calendar based anthology, The Grapple Annual from scratch, carving the parts, bolting them together, and all I can say is, hats off to him. Who does that? Each entry is related to a different day of the year. […]

WHATEVER YOU DO, STOP WRITING

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.  

Grappling annually

The interestingly named “The Grapple Annual” (Roy Slaven and HG Nelson come to mind) have announced their forthcoming publication, and the announcement includes that my short story, “The Penultimate Report of Sergeant Burns” is among the contents. (Perhaps that is the incentive I need to write some more, and blog some more. I am far […]

“My Life as a Lizard” published

Crossed Genres Magazine have very kindly included my story, My Life as a Lizard, in their latest edition, which is very exciting for me. If you are interested, click on the link to the story, which is also included on their website. Each month they have a New Author Spotlight, which is a short interview […]

School camp

The school camp was held in another universe. The cabin was small but the huge moon pouring through the window swelled it with liquid light. I could not sleep with the drilling of mosquitoes. I could not sleep this far from home. I had to lie in the tedium, desperate for the hours to pass. […]

Lucky Number 113

Just worked my way through 113 e mails, quite liked this one 🙂 Hi David, Thank you for submitting your work to XXX, and our apologies for taking so long to provide you with a response. We were saving the acceptance emails until last. Yes, congratulations! We’d love to publish your story, pending the editorial […]

A million good reasons to read Aurealis magazine …

Perhaps I exaggerate slightly.  On making my way through the latest edition, I came across the following: Next Issue Aurealis appears ten times a year. Every month except January and December. The next issue, Aurealis #68 will be published in March 2014 featuring: “Icarus” by Tara Calby and “Avoiding Gagarin” by David Stevens I knew […]

International Burns Day

I thought that it must have been International Burns Day with the victims on parade, their different scars on display. Marks I had not seen before. Hair up, showing pigmentless flesh below the ear. Flashmark along the arm. Puckered skin running down the rear of a shoulder. Are these the marks that all lives leave, […]