A review of Aurealis Magazine #44 has just been posted over at Suz’s Space, covering the issue which contains my 2nd jesusman story, “gunning for a tinkerman”. She says:
“All of these stories were top quality. There were a couple that stood out and screamed “write a sequel, write lots of sequels” as the worlds were just so good and while the characters might not have been likeable I certainly wanted to know more of them. Jason Fisher and KJ Taylor, I’m talking about you. I’m not saying the other stories weren’t as good, but they stand on their own and don’t seem to need anything else around them, they are complete by themselves. But Fisher and Taylor have written stories that not only stand on their own two feet but would also go well in an anthology of stories about their particular worlds.
gunning for a tinkerman by Jason Fisher is a wonderful little post-apocalyptic story where tinkermen have run the gamut of being wanted for their skills to being a dying breed who are both wanted and reviled in the same breath. I would like to know more about this world and more about the people in the world. It’d just be extra cool to have a story from someone else’s point of view so we can see how the tinkermen and their roles have changed.”
So yeah, someone really pissed me off today. I wanted to call them out on their shabby behaviour, but thought better of it. Life being too short, such behaviour being unprofessional etc. Karma just dictates that you should try and let certain things go, learn to avoid the same situation in future, and eventually time will erase or mitigate any damage or insult done. If nothing else, you can add to your repertoir of wry cautionary tales.
When these moments come along, all you can really do is crank up the Portsmouth Sinfonia, and let your angst float away on a tide of godawful orchestral manglings 🙂
It’s a truly horrifying time for Queensland, and the flood is a bona-fide disaster of arse-kicking proportions. Like everyone else I’ve been devouring the news sites, clicking on maps of the affected areas, and worrying about friends and family near the flooded areas. It’s really sad to see such a beautiful city cop the brunt of this riparian smack-down.
Tehani Wessely of Fablecroft has put out a fundraiser to help those affected by the floods, an e-book edition of her new anthology After the Rain. More info here: http://editormum.livejournal.com/266883.html
The Ideas File Is A Bleedingly Obvious Idea
As a writer, if you keep getting distracted by cool new ideas that take over from whatever project you’re currently working on, start an Ideas File. Dump all the salient info into this file, and forget about it. If it’s still capturing your imagination when you’re ready to start your next project (even if it’s 6 months later), it’s probably worth writing. If it doesn’t rock your socks, it was not meant to be. But at least you got your other stuff done and didn’t get derailed. I should have started one of these things 2-3 years ago, instead of bounding from idea to idea like a hyperactive kitten.
Elliptical Rider:
There is now a great big stonking piece of exercise equipment in our living room. Toddler Fisch “assisted” in its construction, and by all accounts it is a very cool new thing with moving pedals and big handle thingies. Goodbye, spare tyre 🙂
Pimping my peeps:
Fellow WOTF winner and allround good guy Steve Savile has put the word out that his novel Silver is now $2.99 in e-book form, and I’m happy to do my part to endorse and pimp such a groovy book. I devoured this book in a couple of days, and can’t recommend it highly enough. Good fun, a great thriller that had me from start to finish, and he out-Browns Dan Brown. I don’t normally read this genre but if I enjoyed it, anyone can. It can be found at the following links:
Is very very good. Since signing up to this website (and rediscovering public transport) I have absolutely smashed my way through a stack of books. There’s just something about being accountable with your reading, and being able to easily score/review a work. I used to throw the occasional “I love this book” on the old LJ blog, but this is arguably a much better way of managing one’s reading.
Seriously, it was a good year. Work was good, this writing gig started to come together, and my beaut little family kept me sane and smiling. Lots of great stuff came my way last year, including several exciting writing opportunities, the trip to America for Writers of the Future, and the production of just under 90,000 words – not bad considering I thought I’d been somewhat slack on the writing front. Early in the year I set myself a bunch of goals as per the awesome Booklife, and achieved 95% of what I’d set out to do (not counting the unfortunate scuttling of the-novel-formerly-known-as-Candlecraft). Still, the good bits of this project have been recycled for use elsewhere, so I haven’t wasted a word.
Here’s a list of my publications, sales, and achievements for 2010 – now that I look at it, it was quite a busy year. I’m hoping that 2011 will be just as exciting, that I continue to keep my passion for writing, and have a tonne of fun telling cool stories! Anything else is a bonus really 🙂
