Been pondering what to write about today, as it’s been a pretty distracted day, and for some reason I feel the call of Leigh Brackett and Ray Bradbury… in fact, of Planetary Romances. There’s a wonderful point of connection between the two writers. In one of ‘The Martian Chronicles’ stories, ‘Night Meeting’, the Human protagonistContinue reading “Nostalgia for an age yet to come”
Category Archives: Short stories
Storyville
Much excitement at allumination central, as Trevor Denyer over at Midnight Street has confirmed that my short story ‘Ghosts’ (dealing with the problems involved in exploring haunted orbital nuclear missile platforms solo) will be appearing therein in late ’07 / early ’08. I’ve got a few other stories out there, looking for homes; my post-Continue reading “Storyville”
Lovecraft’s tentacles
In an introduction to a Lovecraft collection, China Mieville points out that H. P. Lovecraft introduced tentacles – and indeed the squamous in general – into horror fiction. That squamousness signifies a wider fascination with negotiable identities. One of the key tropes of Lovecraftian horror is that your place in the cosmos – indeed, theContinue reading “Lovecraft’s tentacles”
M. R. James the dramatist
And one more thing about M. R. James; he wrote his stories to be read out loud, and they still perform incredibly well. Come Halloween – or indeed any other cold, dark, spooky night – it’s well worth getting a few friends round, sitting down in front of the fire, and reading him to yourContinue reading “M. R. James the dramatist”
Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! And a nice cup of tea…
Writing daily here’s been a very interesting exercise, if only because it’s made me ponder writers I’ve got a lot out of it and think about why I’ve found them so engaging. But I haven’t written about two of my great teenage obsessions – M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft. MRJ’s ghost stories – and EdwardianContinue reading “Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! And a nice cup of tea…”
Year’s Best Excitement
Oh and – after last week’s Arvon happiness, and the weekend’s Infinity Plus thrills, even more excitement at Allumination Central! Heather Lindsley‘s rather excellent short story ‘Just Do It’ is now out in ‘Year’s Best SF 12’, where she joins luminaries including Liz Williams, Alastair Reynolds, Cory Doctorow and Michael Swanwick. It’s in the shopsContinue reading “Year’s Best Excitement”
Virtually published, really knackered…
Much excitement on my return from Yorkshire to discover that my short story ‘Golden’ (first published a couple of years back in The Third Alternative) is now up on Infinity Plus, here. And of course the course in Yorkshire was just fantastic, more on that when I have reactivated my brain…
Loving the Gerard
Returning to Gerard de Nerval briefly. I was obsessed by him while I was writing my book, and I think he’s someone that – if you’re fascinated by the fantastic – is well worth checking out. His work covers a very broad range, from vividly evocative reportage of nineteenth century Paris to (quite genuinely) unhingedContinue reading “Loving the Gerard”
Radio Lovecraft
Interesting looking Radio 3 documentary on H.P. Lovecraft here. Can be listened to until the 17th June, includes comments from Neil Gaiman, ST Joshi, Kelly Link, Peter Straub and China Mieville.
Digital Mezzotint
Hit the Faust gig on Sunday night with Heather, Dave and Tara, and Rich – met various others there but more importantly grooved to excellent Faustmusik! Room too packed to move, until the smoke bomb cleared it. We had of course been softened up by Jean Herve Peron’s chainsaw and angle grinder, and Zappi’s powerContinue reading “Digital Mezzotint”