Australian Shadows Award, and some good news from Tangent Online

by | Feb 25, 2011 | Uncategorized

The shortlist for the 2010 Australian Shadows Award has just been released, and can be read here:

http://australianhorror.com/index.php?view=256

Basically this is the Aussie version of the Stoker, and has been recognising our growing pool of horror writing talent for quite a few years now. This is the second year that the Shadows have broken entries into three categories: Long Fiction, Edited Publication, and Short Fiction. Previously everything was lumped into one category, and not only has this move resulted in clarity for the awards given, but has suceeded in generating some really strong shortlists.

The added bonus this year is that several awesome folks can be found across the board, meaning that no matter who wins in *any of the categories*, I will most likely be cheering on a buddy or colleague. I’m so pleased for all these folks, and won’t write out a laundry list – you know who you are 🙂

In other news, ascendant Adelaidean Lisa Hannett has just scored herself a mention in Tangent Online’s Recommended Reading List for 2010.

http://www.tangentonline.com/news-mainmenu-158/1523-tangent-online-recommended-reading-list-2010

There may be other peeps on here but I was up late and my eyes are playing silly buggers. Well done, Lisa!

Confessions of a double-spacer

by | Jan 27, 2011 | Uncategorized

Oh yes, I’ll admit it.  I’m a dirty double-spacer, and everytime I hit a full stop, it’s automatically followed with a rapid tap-tap! of that big key on the bottom.  I’ve been typing like this since forever, the practise instilled into me during typing class at high school (yes, I did this, and yes, I was the only boy).  By all accounts this was a standard business practice, even during the early-mid 90s, and some folks in the class questioned this.  Not only was it part of the curriculum, it was in all the style guides and text books, and religiously adhered to.  So, when we all learned to type without looking at the keys, we also had the double-tap drummed into us, much like the protagonist in Zombieland.  And this was in the era where PCs were already widely in use, and the nascent internet was just kicking off, so I’m not a crusty old typewriter fetishist (okay, I’m that too, but that’s a revelation for another day).  I honestly didn’t even hear about the “OMG how dare they double-space” brigade until a few months back.

So yeah, nowadays some publishers are requesting that the extra space go the way of the dodo, and it’s even occasionally in the submission guidelines.  I’m pretty sure WordPress takes the space out, to protect me from myself, and I’m starting to run a Find+Replace before submitting my fiction to markets, replacing all instances of two spaces with one space.  It’s just another thing to think about, but I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it’s a bugbear for many folks, and I just have to take a concrete pill and harden up.

But…I don’t see what the big deal is.  Some folks see that extra space and assume that I also kick puppies and push old people down the stairs.  The double-space is completely invisible to me, and I personally never notice these supposedly horrific gaping chasms of white space in the average manuscript (which is *already* double-spaced vertically, with tonnes of room for comments and editorial jottings).

I’ll do it, but I think it’s bloody pedantic and I don’t mind saying so.

Because January is video game month

by | Jan 23, 2011 | Uncategorized

Some time ago, I came to the realisation that, if I wanted to be a professional writer, I was going to have to sacrifice my one great love, the humble video game. Given that I favour time-sucking strategy games and RPGs, this was a wise decision. However, all work and no play makes me a grumpy sod, so once a year I down tools and scratch that itch for a month or so. Last year it was Fallout 3 and all of the Thief games, this time around I’ve dusted off the PS2 and rented me some pixellated goodness. Given that the end of 2010 was frantic writing-wise, and that a huuuge stretch of writing is about to kick off, this is some well-earnt me time and I’ve loved every button-mashing minute.

Silent Hill: Origins

I’ve quite liked this series; its weird, moody atmospherics, the resource scrabble reminiscent of the Resident Evil games, and just a shade of old school survival horror, looking back to the original Alone in the Dark.  Good times.  This is a prequel of sorts to the Silent Hill series, but effectively it’s more of the same stuff – you trudge through a haunted hospital, a haunted loony-bin, a haunted theatre and then a haunted hotel.  Oh, and there’s another mirror world underneath all this stuff that is even creepier.  You basically need to hit up the walk-through if you want to finish this game in under six months, lots of puzzles and to-and-froing.  When I got to the haunted hotel, and saw how much stuff I had to do, I will admit that I ejected the disc in disgust.  That’s cool though, cause next up was:

Star Wars: Battlefront

Yay!  I’m in an X-wing, I’m in an AT-ST, now I’m a wookie!  Pew pew pew!  Great fun, drop it like it’s Hoth.

Civilisation IV

My long beloved time-sucking computer mistress.  This game has carved away perhaps a year of my life in total?  Worth every second.  Settlers make cities, cities make units, units make with the turn-based conquest.  I have all of the expansions for this, and must say I was never too enamoured of Beyond the Sword – it was just too busy, and with the addition of Espionage and Corporations, there was just too much going on for me to enjoy this game.  Micro-managers might dig that level of control, but I just want to jam a trireme full of vikings and just wreck someone’s shit.  So I’ve been cranking out Civ IV: Warlords, and a cool fantasy mod (Fall From Heaven) for the original Civ IV itself.

So I’ve officially had my gaming fix, and now I’m onto the outstanding submissions, doing some long-overdue edits, and I have a particular story up on the blocks for a complete rebuild.  Once that’s done, I’m going to stomp 2011 in the face, and exciting times await!