All quiet on the eastern front

I haven’t been posting much lately – a little bit of non-speculative fiction life demanding some attention, a little bit of creative blockage, a little bit of laziness (never a factor to be under-estimated). So, let me bring you up to speed on what has been going on:

• Ion Newcombe over at Antipodean SF accepted one of my very short stories (97 words long in fact). The story is called Hindsight is a Bitch and was originally written for one of the launch events for the In Fabula Divino anthology that came out earlier in the year. It didn’t win that particular event, but I’m proud that it found a home at Antipodean SF.
• Speaking of Antipodean, this month’s release (issue 180 June 2013) is a cracker, including a bonus 1,600 word piece by Jason Fischer and Martin Livings (two names that if you don’t know, you should!) as well as 6 flash fiction pieces, 2 50-worders, 3 book reviews and even a piece of poetry. Nuke has been busy. Make sure you check it out. (If you’re reading this post after June 2013, a link to the archived version of issue 180 can be found here).
• In other news, Sean the Bookonaut is re-lauching the Galactic Chat podcast, and he has asked yours truly to be involved. Stay tuned for more details, but hopefully you’ll soon be hearing my dulcet tones across the podcasting airwaves with interviews of speculative fiction authors, artists and community members. My fellow interviewers, Sean, Alex and David are all much more qualified/interesting than I, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to contribute in some small way.
• My writing has been going slow – very slow. I have two stories that I’m shipping around the traps – one of which got a very nice, personalised rejection recently (much better than my normal form rejection letters!). A third story is about 10,000 words and is not quite there yet – my characters aren’t engaging enough. Damn them and the horse they rode in on. Apart from those, I have the half constructed skeletons of another three stories that should be in the 4,000 – 10,000 range when I’ve finished with them. If I ever finish with them. Writing can be slightly depressing sometimes!
• I have 7 reviews up for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013, with my 8th review (Asymmetry by Thoraiya Dyer) to come hopefully this weekend.

I’m definitely going through one of those “life gets in the way” patches at the moment. I am up to date with nothing and no one. I owe a couple of people critiques of their work (I’m mainly talking about you Lyn – my pace is glacial at the moment). I’m not writing anywhere near as much as I should be. Even with the Kindle taking most of the load, my to-be-read shelf of physical books is overflowing. The less said about my short story reading the better.

Still, you know what they say. Something about darkness and dawns. Attending the Aurealis Awards ceremony and talking to some great people there gave me a much needed kick up the bum. And hey, there’s a long weekend stretched out in front of me. And I finally tracked down a copy of Jason Nahrung’s The Darkness Within. Things could be a lot worse.

Author: mark

A writer of speculative fiction and all round good egg. Well, mostly good. OK, sometimes good. View all posts by mark