The Long Line

Fur-trimmed coat, dyed blonde hair that brushed her elbows. Legs closeted in tight leather and denim, slyly parted in invitation. The girl was leaning against a motorbike — his motorbike — with such casual indifference that he almost smiled.

Almost.

He let the diner door close behind him with a loud jangle of bells. The streets were empty, but they often were in this small town. He walked over, asked where she was headed. A faint breeze breathed life into the drying puddles at their feet.

“Anywhere but here,” she drawled. Perfect voice, low and smoky. Must have taken weeks of practice.

His tongue traced the outline of his teeth. “Anywhere at all?”

The shrug gave her away. Too innocent for those clothes.

He couldn’t resist playing her game. Leant forward, arms on either side of those long, long legs. Let his breath draw a line across her cheek. “You think you’re ready?”

The shiver said no. Her mouth said yes.

This was how he loved her: nervous, indecisive, a flower on the cusp of bloom. If she came with him that frailty would be lost forever.

He leant closer still. Stubble grazed her delicate cheekbone. “You get those clothes in a brothel?” he whispered.

The heat of her blush warmed his cheek. “I… I thought you’d like them.”

He drew back, let the cold wind seep back into her bones. “Not on you,” he said. She deserved better. One last long look. He breathed in the curve of her jaw, the honey-warm eyes. He should have left town weeks ago.

“Take me with you,” she begged.

He shook his head, gently pulled her off the motorbike. Slung a leg over, got the engine rumbling. “You don’t have what I want,” he said, wistful. “Not any more.”

And then, because he had to be harsh, because he had to be cruel lest she spend the rest of her life pining for him, he lied: “I only sleep with virgins.”

By the time he left town she was just a name, another name on a long list of heartbreaks.

Posted in Fiction | 6 Comments

Red Herrings

His beard is a disguise.

People see the dark skin, the thick hair, the traditional clothing, and come to all the wrong conclusions. But it is his beard they notice first, the thickness of it, its length. It is the first of many red herrings in his appearance.

Hiding behind its thick, curled tangle are gentle cheeks, a sad smile, soft lips that mouth poetry on the underground.

He’s clutching two open notebooks, one on top of the other. His nails are rough-ridged and cracked but he holds the pen delicately, copying words from one notebook into the other.

The words themselves are another red herring: words of pain and suffering, of loneliness and anger, carefully misspelled to feign ignorance.

He needs these — the beard, the words, the disguise — because without them, he is nothing, no one. Just another man on the tube, another forgettable face.

Posted in Fiction | 12 Comments

Interview on Free Book Reviews

Free Book Reviews is a blog that reviews indie books, interviews indie authors and generally talks about whatever amuses them in the literary world.

Yesterday, Free Book Reviews posted an interview with yours truly. I discuss poetry (and Gabriel Gadfly), horror, chocolate, and other things I can’t remember saying.

Some choice excerpts:

FBR: Why do you write?

Me: Because not to write is to despair; I simply cannot imagine life without it.

There’s an immense satisfaction in crafting a story, in finding the right turn of phrase, in seeing the little characters in my head come to life. But there’s an even greater satisfaction in having my work read, and finding that others, too, can fall in love with my worlds. Sharing the joy of writing and reading is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

FBR: Did researching and writing Hungry For You teach you anything or influence your thinking in any way?

Me: It’s made me appreciate horror as a genre — I’ve come to realise that horror is more than just gore and guts. There’s a lot to be learnt about the human condition in extreme situations; I think people really show their true nature when faced with life or death situations.

FBR: What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Me: I think my greatest strength is that I believe nothing I write is sacred.

It can always be improved, rewritten, changed. I want to tell the best possible story, and if that means cutting out 30,000 words and writing new stuff, I’ll do it.

You can read the rest of the interview here.

Posted in Hungry For You, Other bloggers | Leave a comment

Win a Kindle! and Other Short Stories

Just kidding, no short stories involved.

As you may have seen over on the 1889 Labs blog, we are giving away a Kindle Fire to one lucky reader.

To enter, simply join the 1889 Labs mailing list by December 31st at the latest.

If you join by December 15th, you’ll also get a bonus prize!

That’s right: you’ll get a FREE e-copy of our latest release, The Destructibles by IsaKFT. I’ve read and edited that techno-thriller, and let me tell you, it’s pretty great.

If you like thinking about net neutrality, newsmedia conglomerates ruling the world, and the underdogs fighting back, this is the book for you.

If you sign up by the 15th you’ll also get up to 50% off of selected 1889 titles, including my ever-lovely Hungry For You.

Plus, you know, as editor-in-chief, I’m the one writing the 1889 newsletters, so it’d be an extra way for you to keep tabs on me and stuff. :-)

What are you waiting for? Sign up now.

Posted in News, Other bloggers | 2 Comments

Fancy being on the radio?

Not literally on top of a radio — that would be silly.

As you may know, I’m the director and host of Webfiction World, a bi-monthly podcast dedicated to e-fiction which has been running since June.

Halfway through the show, we have a reading slot to give listeners a reprieve from my insanity brilliance, with of course credits & links to the author.

We’re looking for more readers and stories to showcase each episode.

Are you an author?

Do you have a:

  • Short story or stand-alone excerpt (any genre),
  • Max 1500 words,
  • Works well for readings,
  • Have freely available fiction online;
  • You’re the author and/or can give us permission to perform/record?

Then please drop a line in the comments!

If you already record readings of your own stories, you can also submit the audio file directly to us — please ask for details.

We also have a bunch of readings that need your voice to bring them to life. We send you a story, you whip out your mic and record it, and then your reading features on our podcast, with a credit to you of course! Interested? Please drop an email saying so to webfictionworld [at] gmail [dot] com

NB Obviously we can’t guarantee 100% that your readings/excerpts will be used, or when if it is. But most likely we will — don’t let this disclaimer dissuade you!

Posted in Other bloggers | 16 Comments

The Burning Need to Write

“When I was a young teenager, I had a childhood friend, called Eileen Barnetston, who wrote fan fiction — although she didn’t know what that was at the time as it hadn’t been invented yet.

Eileen was a fangirl extraordinaire. And a very good one too. What she wasn’t was a writer.

So I’m saying you can’t learn how to write by copying other writers?

Hell, no. That is how you learn it. Well, at least how you learn to do it well. What you can’t learn is a burning need to say something. Nobody teaches you that. Absolutely no-one. Ever. No discussion.”

- Stone, Chancery. How To Write The Perfect Novel: A tongue-in-cheek guide to certain literary success, pg 116-117.

(For my thoughts on the book itself, see my review on Goodreads.)

Posted in On writing | Leave a comment

Hungry For You on Ebooks of Horror

Hello and welcome to the latest issue of Procrastination Daily!

WTF is Ebooks of Horror?

For today only, zombie love anthology Hungry For You is featured on Ebooks of Horror — head over now to see what the fuss is all about.
Part of the Gossamer Publishing group, Ebooks of Horror is a blog dedicated to featuring and promoting indie horror authors. Authors are welcome to contribute excerpts of their work, guest posts or interviews.

Yes, YOU can be a BLOG COMMENTER!

Start Today – No Qualifications Necessary
I’d like you to be my blog commenter. If you’ve enjoyed Hungry For You, please take 30 seconds to leave a comment about how awesome it is. Let other readers benefit from your great insight and undead humour. Spread the zombie love disease. Find your soul mate. Do it now!

FORBIDDEN Knowledge For Serious Writers

Are you an indie author? Do you dream of having your novel showcased online? Gossamer Publishing is an initiative to help promote and educate authors within the self-publishing community. Check them out to promote your work for free.

ZOMBIES! Does decay matter?

Amazing new cream produces results in minutes! No surgery required!
Don’t let your transition to undead life rot you down. Dr Harte’s magical cream will delay the onset of wrinkles, cataracts, and limb loss! Applies in seconds, lasts for hours!
Call 666-666-666 for a free quote.

(…okay, I am done being silly.)

Posted in Hungry For You | Leave a comment

Seven Reasons To Use Writing Prompts

“Every writer I have ever met has an almost pathological predisposition to procrastination.” – Adam Maxwell, Lost the Plot?

NaNoWriMo has begun. Hundreds of writers are staring at pages or screens, countless words hovering in their subconscious, waiting to be written. It’s write, or die. I’m fairly relieved to once again not be taking part.

Maybe you’re one of the fearless crowd taking on this vertiginous challenge. If you are, I salute you. It’s not for me.

Yet writing marathons such as NaNoWriMo have their upsides: for one, they’re the best cure for an ailment that plagues nearly every author in my acquaintance, including myself.

This ailment is, of course, procrastination.

So what can the doctor prescribe for a procrastinating author like me, who is severely allergic to writing marathons generally, and NaNoWriMo in particular?

Ta da! Writing Prompts!

The reason writing marathons kick procrastination in the butt is because they give you a time constraint: you have no option other than to write, so away you go.

But writers of delicate constitution such as myself can benefit from the softer approach of using writing prompts, which — rather than constrict your time — simply give your muse a little nudge out the door.

Not convinced? I procrastinated by coming up with the following list:

7 Reasons To Use Writing Prompts

  1. Defeat the dreaded white page. Do you freeze up at the sight of a blank page? Put a writing prompt in big bold letters at the top and voila, blank page is no more.

  2. Improve your craft. Practice makes perfect. Writing prompts make great ‘homework’ assignments; I like using them to quickly flex my writing muscles when I don’t have enough time for a full-blown writing session.

  3. Create an ideas box. Mine’s more of a messy pile, but keep those prompt-inspired scribbles in a box somewhere. You never know when you could reuse that material, and often reading through old scribbles helps inspire new ideas.

  4. Explore new territories. Get outside your comfort zone. An unusual prompt can take you down unexplored paths and encourage you to explore new writing styles and genres… and you never know what gem of an idea you could discover.

  5. Focus your mind. Rather than spend ten minutes getting ‘in the zone’ to work on your masterpiece, use those minutes to freewrite from a writing prompt. It’s a good warm-up to get you into the writing mindset before you work on a project close to your heart.

  6. Increase your creativity. Writing prompts make you question the world, developing your skill to see ideas in absolutely anything. Soon you won’t need to go looking for writing prompts — they’ll come looking for you.

  7. [Your reason here]. Yes, I couldn’t think of a seventh reason, although I’m sure there is one. Why not give a girl a hand?

Ultimately, it is not really the content of writing prompts that matters, but how they can be used to help overcome procrastination. Administered properly, writing prompts improve your craft and creativity, and can help develop more regular writing habits.

What about you? Do you use writing prompts? Why or why not?

Writing prompt resources: Lost the Plot? by Adam Maxwell; Seventh Sanctum; 3 Word Wednesday; Daily Photo Prompt… there are thousands!

Posted in On writing | 3 Comments

Zombies, Double Rainbows, Russian Chocolate… and Prizes!

No, I haven’t gone insane.

You can find all those things over at Her Book Self, where lovely book blogger Lisa is hosting an interview with yours truly.

The subject of the interview is, of course, Hungry For You, with a few asides on working for 1889 Labs, my current projects, and how much of a scaredy-cat I am.

Oh yes, didn’t I mention PRIZES?

Hungry For A Giveaway!

For a chance to win a copy of Hungry For You, leave a comment on Her Book Self.

Want extra entries into the giveaway? Leave a comment on this post, too!

Anyone who comments on this post will ALSO win a free e-copy of Belonging, so make sure to leave a valid email address!

So what are you waiting for?

Leave a comment below to claim your copy of Belonging, then head on over to Her Book Self and comment there, too. The giveaway closes on October 31st so get those fingers typing!

Posted in Above Ground, Hungry For You, My projects, News, Other bloggers | 11 Comments

Conquering The Mess

I woke up this morning feeling overwhelmed.

My writing to-do list is obscenely long. Every single item on it is overdue. The desk is obscured by clothes and knick-knacks. The laundry basket is overweight. And the dishes in the kitchen sink are like sullen children sat for far too long in a bathtub.

There is clutter everywhere.

If you’re anything like me, clutter causes stress, weighs you down, and makes you even more unproductive — which only makes matters worse. But finding the time to declutter can seem impossible. How do you conquer the mess?

As I am a list-fanatic, my first reaction — after a good ten minutes of lying in bed feeling sorry for myself — was to grab a paper and pen, and start writing a list.

List #1 – What To Declutter:

  • The entire house
  • Computer
  • Writing commitments
  • Editing commitments
  • Website

The above list only made me feel worse. The problem is that it’s too general, so I didn’t know where to start and felt even more overwhelmed/stressed.

The only item on the list that I could easily tackle — my website — was the only one I managed to fix. (Cue compliments from you readers on the streamlined site design.)

My mistake was focusing on WHAT needed to be done, rather than HOW best to do it. So I started a second list.

List #2 – How To Declutter:

  1. Start small. Tackle one shelf, one cupboard, or one overflowing email inbox at a time. The mess didn’t happen overnight and it isn’t going to disappear overnight.
  2. Be unsentimental. If it hasn’t been used in a year and probably won’t be used in the next, throw it away.
  3. Be charitable. Can’t throw something away that’s still in good condition? Donate it to charity — a guilt-free way to get rid of clutter!
  4. Make quick decisions. Sorting and re-sorting will take forever. Trash it or keep it!
  5. The ‘maybe’ box. Anything on the fence gets put in a maybe box with a sell-by date. If that box isn’t opened by the sell-by date, everything inside goes into the bin.
  6. Create a system. Not having one is like trying to shovel snow while it’s still snowing: the clutter will just keep coming back.
  7. Celebrate victories. Cue pat on the back for doing the website!

There you go. I’m feeling better already!

What about you? Do you have any suggestions to add?

Posted in Ramblings | 5 Comments