Hello, oiks. I know you all struggle to function without irregular updates from yours truly, so get on your knees in supplication because HERE COMES INFO!
I'm currently editing ATTACK OF THE 50FT BOOK. It's an anthology filled with giant monster stories, for those of you who've been living under a rock in a cave on Saturn with your eyes stitched shut and wax in your ears. I've also started work on the cover, which should look pretty cool indeed.
The artist I've contracted for the cover to A GLITCH IN THE CONTINUUM (stories about time travel/alternate reality, that all involve something going tits up) recently provided me with rough sketch ideas and they're EXCELLENT. I can't wait to reveal the finished product! I'm also working on formatting this book right now, too.
Editing should start soon for THROUGH THE WORMHOLE, an antho I'm putting together with my chum and partner in rhyme BILL TUCKER - this one's stuffed with weird sci-fi that ranges from the goofy to the grotesque!
And finally, in the anthology department, I'm just waiting for the ISBNs for NO MORE HEROES, a shared universe superhero antho me and Bill put together. This one's been delayed by a few months now, so it'll be good to finally get it out there in the big wide world.
All these books are coming out via THE LIBRARY.
As much as I enjoy putting anthologies together (and getting an insight into the publishing business in the process) I'm rather looking forward to getting these ones out the way purely because I haven't had much time to concentrate on my own writing, and I hate the idea of losing any forward momentum (I don't think that's going to happen, but there's always that little fear).
I've been very lucky in that the last few stories I've written and had accepted were for invite-only publications, something of which I'm extremely proud - I've only being getting stuff accepted/subbing stuff since Feb '09, so to be at this 'level' already gives me a bit of a big head ;). I can actually feel myself getting better at writing, as nuts as that sounds. Of course, it helps that I've found a brilliant support network of other writers, and I'm always finding more. Too many to name, in all honesty, but you could start by checking out the blogs to the other people who follow me over there --> as well as clicking on a few of the links (not least Cafe Doom and the other writer blogs). [As an aside, I definitely could do with linking to some other cool writing places such as SHOCK TOTEM but I'll leave all that for the near-future]. As naff as it sounds, I don't think I'd be where I am without a lot of the help and support of the writers I've met online (and in some cases, in real-honest-to-goodness-flesh), so thanks. You know who you are, you chumps!
In other news, every time I go in Blockbuster to rent a DVD whoever serves me actively tries to make me change my mind. I could understand if I was picking up SyFy Originals or Asylum knock-offs, but the last few films were THE LAST EXORCISM, BURIED and MONSTERS. The Last Exorcism was genuinely creepy, though I think it blows its load at the end (I like the ending but it doesn't exactly flow. But then maybe that's the point...); Buried was excellent, ballsy and deeply claustrophobic even when watching it on a household telly in a well-lit room; Monsters was good, well-shot, but overall underwhelming. Perhaps due to the "shoestring" budget, more than likely to do with the script, which felt a bit obvious.
I do, however, firmly believe that what the director/vfx artist/jack-of-all-trades Gareth Edwards has created is one hell of a calling card of his talents, and a clear indication that you don't need $squillions to make an effective film. You can arguably make a better film, but then that's pretty obvious. In any case, with all three films, the staff at Blockbuster proved themsleves to be grossly uneducated. You can have an opinion, but when you're calling something like Monsters "shocking" (as in 'shockingly bad') you need to get some sense in that coconut of yours, sunshine.
Last but not least, I'm steadily beavering away on an aforementioned 'phobia' story, that should be pretty cool once it's done and dusted - I'm linking it to/setting in the same universe as my Jonny Cave stories, which makes me feel stupidly giddy for no apparent reason. I'm also working on a million other stories, including a few that mess with the idea of alternate realities (hint: they don't actually exist as 'alternates') and one that is taking its time to scramble out my brainpan but is very strange indeed, and involves killer bird creatures and British daytime TV.
And that's ya lot! I've been Wayne Goodchild's fingers, typing his thoughts onto your screen. And you've been your eyes, reading them. Well done, you.
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