Well, it’s been a quiet August on the blogging front, partially because work’s been very hectic (in particular, some fascinating drug legalisation crusading – more details here), partially because my tech time has gone on other projects (which should lead to major changes to the blog this autumn – watch this space, as they say),Continue reading “Carry On’s lavatorial masterpiece”
Category Archives: Escapism
Breaking the past, escaping the past
What to say, what to say? The perennial problem of blogging – but sometimes, an entry writes itself, and tonight is one of those nights, because I’ve been reading Steve Cockayne’s marvellous, green-haunted novel, ‘The Good People’. It’s about a boy called Kenneth Storey, who – it seems – either has a rich fantasy life,Continue reading “Breaking the past, escaping the past”
Becoming Norma Desmond
Out and about on Wednesday night (at an event run by the estimable Poet in the City, which everyone should know about – they do fantastic poetry events round the City of London), and, as it does in pubs, the conversation turned to fantasy and sf. As it also does when you’re around people-whose-genre-is-literary, someoneContinue reading “Becoming Norma Desmond”
Dreaming nations
Well, a fascinating couple of days at the conference, not least for some very interesting insights into the sometimes wildly fantasised views that the American and British political classes have about their respective countries, and their place in the world. First of all, the US. Advertising maven Keith Reinhardt works in various ways with theContinue reading “Dreaming nations”
Going out in the summer
Well, holidays are beginning to kick in – I’ve got today and Friday off, and then the whole of next week. Today’s an editing-short-stories day; next week is Green-Man-then-editing-novel-week. So, this week and next week, I’m going to be posting intermittently, rather than every day. Happy Holidays all! Hope you have a good rest ofContinue reading “Going out in the summer”
Our needs, character needs
Well, a slightly distracted post today, as I’m at home, working on a re-draft of the novel. It’s coming together nicely; so far I’ve chopped out about 10,000 words. Key changes so far are to get rid of the very slow moving opening chapters, and sharpen up the ghostly hermaphrodite from another dimension that’s aContinue reading “Our needs, character needs”
Slaying Bob from HR
Was still pondering yesterday’s post about weakness / achievement gaps in genre fiction when I went to read SF Diplomat, where Jonathan McCalmont is fascinating on the content of fantasy: ‘Why does fantasy prefer to dwell on saving a morally simple world instead of making the best one can in a more realistic one?’ He’sContinue reading “Slaying Bob from HR”