Archive for the ‘General’ Category

An Unusual Tie-In

Posted: July 27, 2009 in General
Tags: , ,
0

I really enjoyed the first season of ‘Castle’ (as much for the humour as for Nathan Fillion), and am looking forward to the second one – and as a hopeful author would love to have the success that Richard Castle has on the show.

Now I hear that there is to be a highly unusual, yet quite funny tie-in to the show. ‘Richard Castle’ (Nathan Fillion’s character) is to be releasing the novel, Heat Wave, that he was penning on the show, which will be starring Nikki Heat, the character based on Kate Beckett (as played by Stana Katic).

A fictional author writing a novel about a fictional character based on another fictional character? Its almost so surreal its genius.

Welcome To the Mist and Shadows

Posted: July 22, 2009 in General
Tags: , , , ,
2

WELCOME TO MY WORLD

This website is part writing journal, part blog and part repository of stories both of adventure and fantastical in nature.

As a writing journal it tracks projects I am working on, their progress, ideas, updates and all other things writing related.

As a blog it features things of interest to me; sometimes they will tie in with my writing, other times not.

As a repository of my stories, it provides links to my stories of a variety of types, ranging from flash fiction to novels, though mostly short stories and novelettes for now. It also contains a wide variety of genres within the sf/f field – sci fi, steampunk, gunpowder fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery fantasy, epic fantasy, urban fantasy and more.  They can be found in the Pure Escapism part of the website.

What is in the name you ask? It ties in with the main setting of my writings and, while hints and references may have cropped up in some of the stories, the true meaning behind it is a mystery for another day.

Enjoy your visit and please feel free to browse and comment.

Upcoming Changes

Posted: July 19, 2009 in General
4

I’m hoping to make a few adjustments to the site int he next day or two – in reality I’d like to do a complete overhaul, but the tools on the free hosted wordpress site are a bit limited for that, and as a poor starving writer moving to a hosted site is a bit much at the moment, not to mention not really knowing where to start.

But for the changes. A new tab has appeared on the page, as may have been noticed – The Worlds of Mist and Shadows. Nothing in there yet, but I will be adding pages in there over time, exploring the worlds of my writing, their origins, histories, peoples and cultures, to give some background to the various stories that crop up.

I’m also going to give the whole Pure Escapism page and contents an overhaul. I’m going to stop doing them as volumes and post them all as single story releases with their own pages – and give them another thorough editing. Compendiums of stories will return later on, but only after I’ve built up a catalogue of stories to choose from.

Fantasy Authors On Twitter

Posted: July 4, 2009 in General
Tags: , ,
0

Brian Rathbone has, on his website, a list of fantasy authors who twitter. Both published and aspiring. And editors, podcasters, publishers, ezines and the like.

If you want to get on it, or are just interested in finding new people to follow, the full list is here.

Getting The Numbers Right

Posted: July 2, 2009 in General
Tags: , , , ,
0

In building realistic fantasy worlds, one error that people sometimes fall into is not getting the number right.  By this I am mostly referring to populations and armies.

Often the numbers involved are based more on modern times and not what could be expected for the equivalent time frame.  Million man armies just did not exist, no matter what the Dark Lord may want.

Populations were small, and predominately rural, living in small villages and involved in farming.

Armies, except for rare instances, mostly numbered only in the thousands.  Tolkien is one that gets this right, at lest for the good guys.  Their forces only number in the thousands, even at the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Hornburg and the Black Gates.  Of course the Uruk always number in much larger numbers…

I came across a couple of interesting article on the web dealing with these matters, and offering helpful advice on dealing with realistic numbers.  They will certainly help me in my world building and writing.

Medieval Demographics Made Easy

Keeping Your Fantasy Armies A Little Less Fantastic

Interest Driven By Word Of Blog

Posted: June 29, 2009 in General
Tags: , ,
2

In the past week I’ve read two articles about how more often blogs and twitter are now driving interest in books and sales.

The first was a post from Alan Baxter, talking about comments he’d seen in a post by the agent Nathan Bransford.

The second came via a link via twitter. in a post from Follow the Reader, asking whether Twitter and Blogs really drive book sales.

It is hardly surprising really when you think about it.  In the old days you often relied on word of mouth from family and friends about new books, music, movies etc and whether they were worth seeing or getting.

Now days your circle of friends tends to be much larger and more connected via blogs, forums and of course twitter.  It is not surprising that more people are getting their recommendations from it.

It is certainly something worth thinking about – and something I am slowly trying to build on, to garner interest in my works via these media and hopefully, at some stage, build up some type of critical mass.

Tauren Druid Form Video

Posted: June 29, 2009 in General
Tags: ,
0

WOW.com has just put up a video of the World of Warcraft Tauren druid forms, both bear and cat, for viewing.

It comes in at 10 minutes and shows all the various colours available.

Can’t wait to try them myself.

Fantasy Fans Arise!

Posted: June 27, 2009 in General
Tags: , , ,
2

I’ll admit it. I’m a fan of fantasy. The books, the movies, the games. I’ve always been a fan, even when I didn’t know it. I was proud to admit it through my schooling days, and still am.

Yet we aren’t always taken seriously.

So I was pleased to come across the following post – Let’s stop sneering at fantasy readers. Good advice.

As a reader first, and now hopeful writer, it has always been my genre. I’ve tried dabbling in other genres, but always returned to it. Most of my favourite books are fantasy books. Tolkien. Gemmell. Pratchett.

And while my writing is often fantasy with some twists and variations, it is still proudly planted in the fantasy genre.

And that is the way I like it.

Free Fiction Online

Posted: June 27, 2009 in General
Tags: ,
0

Just came across this site (possibly via twitter – can never keep track of what linked to what anymore) called Free Fiction (Online).

Basically it is what is says it is – a site dedicated to seeking out and sharing all the free fiction that is around on the ‘net.

Worth keeping an eye out on I think.

Scifi/Fantasy Writers’ Day

Posted: June 23, 2009 in General
Tags: , , , ,
2

It appears that today, June 23rd, has been named SF/F Writers’ Day, as I discovered in this post by Alan Baxter. I’m with Alan on the placement of the apostrophe for the title. 🙂

So for all of us writers of sci-fi and fantasy out there, have a great writing day.

Older Entries
Newer Entries