First Book launch event

On Thursday we had the launch of UNSW’s annual anthology, aka UNSWeetened 2014. I had a story that managed to get into it, which was very much awesome.

The night passed away in a blur of cheese, wine, crackers, signings and lots of discussions about books. It was pleasant, being able to chat to fellow book lovers, ranting on about own our stories and passing the anthologies along to each other to be signed. Yes, it was at university and I’m not exactly having people sleep overnight outside the bookstore to get hold of their copy, but it was fantastic to experience what would hopefully be the first of many events such as these. There’s artwork to go along with each story (some of the stories in the collection are very, very good), and they got sold off to a silent auction for charity. Also, I was told by many people that my work reminded them of Game of Thrones/GRRM, but that was probably just the wine.

I’d like to get hold of some photos (there was a guy taking far too many of them), but I haven’t as of yet. I’ll post ’em if I do get them. In the meantime, a pdf/ebook version of the anthology should appear online soon, but if you, like me, prefer the feel of dead trees, you can pick one up free of charge at the UNSW bookstore. Or, if you’re unfortunate enough to know me in person,  I can give you one myself.

That’s it for now…

 

 

Fantasy author of the day on Reddit!

It seems that I’m fantasy author of the week on reddit. It would be greatly appreciated if you could pop along to visit, have a mug of ale, and even leave a question/comment for good measure.
Seriously, I would really, really appreciate it. I’ve been waiting for this for months now. I’m in Thailand as I type this, but I’ll do my best to answer questions by people who I’m sure will turn up…eventually.

Anyway, do come and visit!

The link is here…

Honourable Mention from Writers Of the Future contest!

So, I sent in this little science-fiction short story in somewhere. Where, may you ask? Only the biggest writing competition in the world. The same one that shot people like Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind) to fame. I knew I was up against heavy odds. So then, after a bit of correspondence, I got this in the mail….

 

CCF08072014_00000Yep. An Honourable Mention.

I already knew I’d gotten it and was going to get something similar in the mail, but it hasn’t really hit home for me just how awesome this is. Until now, of course. I’ll be framing it somewhere. It’s my first major award, and I hope that it won’t be the last.

A special thanks to Alan Baxter, Mark Lawrence and Robin Hobb for their support and encouragement, particularly to Alan and Megan (Robin’s real name) who I met at Supanova 2014 here in Sydney. They’re awesome people, and their encouragement and urging to never give up did a lot for me.

The story that won, A Dome of Chrome, is scheduled to release in Issue 23 of On The Premises Magazine on July 12.  I’ll be in Thailand at the time. Yep. That’s my way of celebrating. (not really, I’m going there to visit my friends, who will be forced to read this story and savour every morsel.)

What I’m watching/reading now

In in between my endless exams, story writing and taking the dog for yet another walk, I’ve been doing one or two things…such as…

Game of Thrones: Season 3

With Season 3 having finished a few months ago I’ve been eager to re-watch some of the episodes, particularly the latter ones. Of course, watching “The Rains of Castamere” with my friends at university and seeing them squeal in shock (hint: I’ve read the books already) gives me some sort of sadist pleasure. I’ll be posting a blog the entire Season later. So moving on..

I’ve been reading these….

Far too much pointless swearing and a little hard to keep up on who you’re actually following in the narrative, but still good so far.

I seriously need to find out why everyone is raving about this. I got my copy signed when I met the guy at Supernova. Not bad, huh?

In in between my endless exams, story writing and taking the dog for yet another walk, I’ve been doing one or two things…such as…

Game of Thrones: Season 3

 

Writing at Uni

One of the best things about university is that you’re told, no, commanded, to let your imagination go free. Work as hard as you can; achieve whatever you can. Publish, research, propose, discover, conclude, produce theories, launch websites, yada, yada, yada. It’s great stuff.

The negative part?

You’re hemmed into a specific method of doing something – such as writing. You can write what you want, but it has to be about this [insert random topic here]. You can have whatever colour you want, as long as it’s black. You know what I mean? Sure, I love some of my classes, (and hate others) but as a writer I feel that we aren’t given enough freedom. While others might write about themselves or their lives, I’d rather write about alternative universes, aliens, magic, the future, and whatever else comes to mind. It’s partially because my life isn’t that interesting, but it’s also because I feel there’s more to literature and university than complying by the rules. In some boring lectures I think about a new short story and by the end of the 2 hours I have about 1.5k of words down. Probably not something I should admit, but whilst university is a great place to expand your mind, they should allow you to think freely in how you do so.

 

Anyway, enough of my ranting: I’ve got some studying to do and some lectures to attend, although my mind will likely be elsewhere….

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