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Next weekend I'll be attending the second BristolCon, a small convention held in Bristol. I enjoyed EasterCon so much this year that I didn't want to wait until next Easter to get together with the other authors, artists, publishers and others who you can meet at cons.
I'm looking forward to another enjoyable day.
I've been reading the latest issue of Jupiter magazine this week, entitled Hermippe after Jupiter's 30th moon. In his editorial, Ian Redman makes the point that when he started publishing the magazine, he thought 63 moons will be plenty. Now he's half way through them and the last dozen or so still haven't been named! Thirty issues is an impressive number for a small press magazine and I still enjoy reading each issue.
My first comic script, a single page story entitled Frozen, was accepted by Murky Depths magazine some time back. Its appearance has now been confirmed for issue #15 and the artwork will be by Mick Trimble.
I'm really looking forward to seeing how my script is translated into pictures. It's always a thrill to see an illustration drawn to accompany one of my prose stories, but this time the whole thing will be somebody else's interpretation of my vision.
Meanwhile I've submitted a 2-page script and I'm still tinkering with a 6-page script that I wrote up a while ago.
The galley proofs have arrived of World Wire Web, my story that is due to appear in Nature magazine. There's a fantastic illustration of a steampunk gadget to go with it. If the scheduling is the same as it was for my last story in Nature, then it should be appearing in the next couple of months.
The anthology Quantum Genre on the Planet of Arts is to be published as an e-book by Paraphilia Books in the near future. The original publishers closed down last year some time, so although I'm disappointed not to be getting a physical copy of the book, I'm please that my story Fluctuations will be getting a second airing. This is a revised version of one of my earliest published stories and one that I've always been particularly proud of.
This is one of the first translations of The Gondolier that was done. It was under submission for a long time. I never heard back and it was overlooked until now, although I have included it in the Celtic polyglot version. So here it is, The Gondolier in the language of my relatives.
Y Gondolïwr
Torodd trwyn du fy ngondola yn esmwyth trwy ddŵr llonydd y gamlas. Roedd y llong lefn wedi fy ngwasanaethu’n dda am lawer blwyddyn, yn cludo teithwyr trwy ddyfrffyrdd y ddinas, dan ofal cenedlaethau o’m cyndadau.
Roedd yr haul yn machlud dros yr hen ddinas, yn troi’r dŵr yn ruban inciog rhwng yr adeiladau tywodfaen. Cymerais anadl ddofn o awel oeraidd yr hwyrnos.
Oes yna harddach le na’r ddinas ryfeddol yma yn llawn camlesi? Wrth i’r bad orffwys i’w hangor, syllais lan yn fodlon i wybren dduog Mawrth.
Y Diwedd
Translated by Lili Fach
Having been converted to appreciation of the graphic story form by Murky Depths magazine, I have acquired 2 graphic novels to review for SF Crowsnest. These will be the first I've read since TinTin and Asterix!
Lots of anthology-related things going on this week and last:
My first novelette sale, to a semi-pro anthology.
The first author for The Immersion Book of Steampunk has signed their contract. I've also seen three more stories for the anthology.
The first anthology that I became involved with, which has yet to be anounced, is being finalised. Permissions are being sought from the authors to reprint their stories.
I've been sent a story for the third anthology I'm editing, which also has yet to be anounced. Still a fair amount of work to do on finalising the details of that one.
I'm looking forward to making further anouncements.
News from Argentina today. Two of my flash fiction stories, Launch and Frozen,that I submitted along time ago and were lost somewhere over the Atlantic, are due to be published shortly. The translator now has them and is curently rendering them into Spanish. They will appear along with several of my other flash fiction stories on either Quimicamento Impuro or Breves No Tan Breves, depending on the length.
My first novelette has been accepted for inclusion in a forthcoming semi-pro anthology, the name of which I'll anounce when I've checked with the publishers, just in case they're planning a big anouncement of the whole TOC.
The Journey Within is a steampunkish,Victorian SF adventure story involving an expedition to the Himalayas, the British army and the Royal Society. At just under 10,000 words it's the longest story I've written single-handedly.
Several months after the Quantum Genre anthology was cancelled when the publisher closed down, the editor has found another publisher who is interested in the project. A reprint of my story Fluctuations was due to appear in the anthology, so it may yet see the light of day.
My review of Writers of the Future - The First 25 Years is the first non-fiction review I've done and doesn't fit into the three review archive catagories I've already got. Here then is a new review archive catagory that will be linked from the side bar. I don't expect this one to fill up very fast.
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Doctor Who - The Complete Guide by Mark Campbell
Writers of the Future - The First 25 Years
Gap Years passed 60,000 words this week, that's 2/3 of the way there. The writing is going fast and smooth at the moment. I'm not entirely sure I'll finish by the end of the year now though; January 19th is looking like the finish date. Can't squeeze any more writing time out of the day without foregoing sleep.
