Disclosure Before reviewing Owl Dance, I just wish to acknowledge that its author, David Lee Summers, is someone that I like and regularly interact with via social media. In no way does this fact impact the impartiality of my review. I also wish to state that I purchased the ebook myself and am therefore under no obligation towards the author. Initial Comments To be honest, Steampunk is not something that
Hi all, Just letting you all know that my short horror story “Eighteen Steps” is now published in Thief, a micro-publication by Tribe Media. An online version can be found at
On Monday I listed my writing goals as: finish reviewing and editing my short story “Restored” Identify possible buyers for my short story Identify next most viable short story idea I have now finished reviewing “Restored”. My wife, upon reading it, felt that I needed to give some clear indications of what transpired in the story. This is because my chief character changes bodies three times within the story without
One of the tasks that I set myself for this week was finishing the first draft of my short story called “Night Terrors”. The good news is that I succeeded, but not as I quite expected. Okay, let me explain, and note that there will be spoilers should you ever choose to read this tale. My initial notion for this tale was a horror story where a woman wakes during
Hi all, Just a brief update: the short horror story that I submitted to Thief has been accepted by the editorial committee. Yippee! Apparently, it is now being sent
Possessed of a writing frenzy, my second short story in as many weeks has been sent off. I have sent it to Lamplight Magazine. As with last week’s short story, it’s now just a matter of waiting to see whether they accept it. My biggest concern about my story is that it is not speculative fiction, but rather a dark reflection of current society. Here is their call for submissions
Now that I am back to being creative, my first endeavour
So I sit here with Scrivener open, contemplating writing (contemplating writing is always so much easier than actually writing) and my mind falls to my world of Shade and maps. Should I map my world? Then I remember that I had contemplated this three years ago and even written some posts in which I used Bryce and Photoshop to create a maps of the chasm city of Shade. Wow! So
So I am writing. Typing away furiously. I’ve just hit 180,000 words. And then it all comes crashing down with a single realisation – I’ve stuffed a part of my world-building. So how did I do this? I’ll try to answer that in a spoiler-free manner, just in case I ever finish this novel or you ever read it. I have a race of magic users (well, kind of). They
During my months of vision impairment I spent a lot of time frustrated by my inability to write each day. During that time, now many months past, I found myself listening to podcasts on the topic of writing. All these months later a few things stand out. Firstly, a lecture by Stephen King. Oh – I listened to lots of his lectures and talks and interview – but yes, one stood out. In it
