Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Contemporary
I drew this years ago when I was drawing with pen and ink a lot more. It seems to fit with the idea of Jacob’s Naked Aquarium.
Inspired by Ian Miller’s art – especially his Hollywood Gothic, I drew loads of fish. This must be from later on in that period, when I was being less imitative – not quite as mechanical as some of my others. I will track down something more mechanical for a future post.
Since Jacob’s Naked Aquarium is one of my favourite stories, and I would love people to read it, I’m going to post graphics over the next few days to promote it. Cheeky?
This is a computer graphic I did a while back. Still a draft really – more variation needed in those fish shapes.
My magicpunk story Jacob’s Naked Aquarium appears in issue 390 of Bewildering Stories.
While all my stories feel like favourites, this is something different and extra – I feel more attached to this one than some others. I look at it now and can see a few rough edges, though some of those have been neatly smoothed by some great editing from the Bewildering Stories team.
Is magicpunk a sub-genre? It’s not a “magic realm” story, though it exploits magic. It’s not “steampunk”, though it has elements of that – no computer technology as such. But it’s some kind of mix between the two. Oh, does it really need a genre label – can’t it just be a story?
Funny doodle – I think I’ll grab one of my old fish drawings and put that here to look a bit more classy.
Well, with the excitement of the publication of the first part of my novel still hovering, I found loads of energy over the weekend to write.
I got busy with my dieselpunk serial. I completed the tidied up the ending of the first draft last night. I will work on a couple of other stories over the next few days, then tear into revisions on the dieselpunk piece. Somehow in the midst of that I managed a rough cover for my Lame Goat Press chapbook – more on that later this week.
I’m having another quick retreat in a couple of weeks – heading away for three nights in a cabin: just me and the laptop. I’ve got a bunch of outlines and beginning drafts for flash stories I’ll be working on.
And I’m prepping for another Pecha Kucha night – doing some creepy slides to go with Zombie-Eyed Girl which I’ll be reading aloud.
And then, of course, there is tutoring prep – reading and re-familiarising myself with the lectures and readings. Must make some time to create some new music too. Love to be busy.
The serialization of my science fiction novel The Rotated has begun at Infinite Windows. The novel is a near-future thriller – probably best described by Infinite Windows editor D. Tannenbaum:
“What if you had a device that would let you rotate out of our world into alternate dimensions? What if an organization, shrouded in darkness and conspiracy, wanted to control you and your travels? What would you do? How far would you go to protect yourself and your loved ones?”
The novel is based on my flash fiction piece The Rotated which first appeared in the June 2009 issue of Infinite Windows.
The current issue also includes my flash fiction story “Apollo 19” – a very different tone and feel, and pace, to The Rotated, but it still probably has my “voice”.
Thanks to Dan – who has been a great supporter of the work, encouraging me to develop that original story – and Shane for taking the novel on, and to Peter Parkinson who read and gave me feedback on drafts.
Theodore Gray – The Elements: a visual exploration of every known atom in the universe
I guess it sounds kind of geeky to get excited by a book which seems as pure science as this. Okay, busted. It’s cool on several levels.
Firstly it devotes at least a double page spread to pretty much every element, with photos of examples from the author’s collection, and descriptions of their practical applications. Osmium? There’s a tiny piece at the end of a decent record player needle. Americium? Smoke detectors. Some of the elements don’t exist practically – with short half-lives they quickly break down into other elements (the geek in me loves that), so for some elements there are pictures of wonderful crystals which possibly have occasional atoms of the element (like the thorite possibly containing an atom of Francium). Some pages have no photo simply because there’s just none of the element around – those which have only really been created in minute quantities in laboratories, and do very quickly break down.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, Gray is an excellent writer. For what could possibly be a very dry and academic listing, the book is filled with humour, self-deprecation and political insight. Many elements are toxic or radioactive and we’ve learned about them often through unfortunate results. While it might seem now obvious that repeatedly licking the tip of a brush used to paint radium on watch-faces, as people did in factories manufacturing the watches, it wasn’t so obvious then (early 1900s), and Gray relates the stories with gentle humour and grace. Gray’s way with words and laconic style makes this book more than interesting.
The wonderful online science fiction magazine Alien Skin has just published its final issue. They’ve been around for eight years and personally I was lucky enough to have a Fibonacci poem and a flash-fiction story (Time of Death) published by them. Understandably, running a magazine takes a lot of effort and the publishers are off to focus on other endeavours. As a paying market, they certainly would attract lots of submissions.
There are still some other online science fiction publishers to try with your short stories and flash. Some of my favourites include:
Infinite Windows
Antipodean Science Fiction
365Tomorrows
also
Bewildering stories
Static Movement
Duotrope also provide a fantastic searchable database of publishers, so take a look there for more publishers.
I’m a confessed Duran Duran fan and though I probably prefer their output while Andy Taylor wasn’t in the band, it’s still intriguing to see behind some of the machinations and tribulations within the band, and understand the history. Taylor is generous about his former bandmates, acknowledging their work without him, acknowledging that some frustrations were at least partly due to his own interests or behaviour. I’m not sure if this was ghost written, but it is surprisingly well constructed, even if there are a few too many exclamation points.
Whew. Can’t post today, just to gosh-darn busy with having a life. Such as it is.
The remarkable Pulp Metal Magazine has just published it’s latest issue, including my flash story Zemogorgon (scroll down – it’s the last story on the page). This is a kind of dark magical fantasy, set in a fairy realm. Not the usual kind of thing from me perhaps, but I hope you enjoy it.
Sean Monaghan - Writer 