What's Been Happening? Yup, Lots of STUFF!

It has been a while and I have been neglecting my blog terribly! So, so sorry for the lack of updates. As we all know life can get busy and crazy and unexpectedly weird...more on that later.

Here are a few important updates, firstly a release of another anthology. This one is from the Christchurch Writer's Guild and it's called SPECTRA! AND IT'S SO PRETTY!

It's a collection of stories poetry and art by us local Canterburians and is available in paperback and ebook, so check it out.

Second update: After finishing the first draft of Once Were Angels I have put the manuscript down for a while to get some distance. Since then I have been playing casually with two connected science fiction novel ideas. The first one is called Bring Back The Clowns, and the second is PTFO. If you are a gamer then the second title will probably stand out.

Finally my third update- related indirectly to above actually.
 The Prisoners Of War Clan.
Over the last few months my life took an unexpected turn when I met a group of online gamers.  We banded together and became the Prisoners of War battalion, captured entirely by the game Battlefield 1. As a group, we aim to foster a professional, safe and fun gaming community for all our members while supporting our elite forces as they enter the professional E-sports Arena. I'm proud to be involved and am extra proud to now call this once random bunch of New Zealanders and Australians friends. They are a phenomenal group of individuals.  PTFO is a novel that I will be dedicating to them and their awesomeness...

So this is us...




We will be live streaming future battle events, some of which my gaming  alter-ego Iced Donut NZ will be involved with, so subscribe and watch out for updates.

That's all for now.

Once Were Angels Part two

I promised a little more from my current WIP Once Were Angels.  This novel is becoming a little bit special. Yeah, I'm actually enjoying working through the revisions on the first half ( ha! there's two words not usually found together 'enjoying, and revisions'). I'm using Camp NaNoWriMo (starting April ) to  finish it up, then after a few more tidying sweeps-- Alpha readers! Anyway here's is a little more from OWA's draft files.

Excerpt


“This place is rather grand isn’t it? Prettyish. All a nice, big show.” She murmured, looking out the window toward the crystal-bright sun and the city basking in its light. Omega's ivory spires towered, aglow with radiant majesty almost as if they were seeking to outshine the sun itself.

“But what is it really like?” The question was a sideways avenue, to what she really wanted to know-- why would Odez ever want to leave this? But she left that question unspoken. The silence stretched a time until his almost muted answer cut the space between them. “It’s quite grand and its inhabitants quite blind to anything but its grandness."

The System of Worlds, as prescribed by the Archon-See,
rulers of Omega

“So they don’t care about us humans then?”


“They care to the extent that the System works and that Omega is safe.”


“The System?”


“It’s complicated.”


“I’m smart.”


“I’m sure you are.”


“You know I am.” She mused slowly, a half smile tripping across her lips.

“I should let them explain things to you then.”


“I don’t trust them.”

“You don’t trust me either.” Odez countered softly, his eyes suddenly a little bit darker, a little bit dangerous.


“No.” She whispered, “You got me there, Dez. But you seem the lesser of two evils right now.”


“You should sleep first.”

And right on cue her body responded to his words, like it was some sort of hypnotic suggestion. The resonance of his voice perhaps. Her eyelids felt sluggish and the pressure of her hands upon the window got heavier as she leaned into it. “Maybe you are right?”

As she turned away from the spectacle of Omega City she noticed the slump of Odez's shoulders, the darkening around his eyes. It was almost as if she was feeling his exhaustion rather than hers. She wasn’t the empathetic type, never had been, but then this connection (or whatever it was) was deeper than her own will, beyond her control. As they walked back into the bedroom, their shoulders brushed together and that accidental closeness seemed like the most natural thing in the world.


Those strings, she thought. I wonder if there’s any way to snip them before this gets complicated.

NaNoWriMo 2015

It's that time of year again. NaNoWriMo is upon us! 

When the clock ticked over to November the 1st, people from all over the world embarked upon the exciting (and at times arduous) quest of writing 50,000 words in 30 days.

This is my 4th time participating in the event.  I find NaNoWriMo to be the perfect motivation to get new novels started or existing ones finished. My full drafts usually end up being between 80- 120, 000 words, and at least 50,000 of those words are written during NaNoWriMo.

If you would like to know more about this fan-dangled-fun-dangily NaNoWriMo thing and what it stands for, then check out http://nanowrimo.org.

Even better (in a fit of spastic spontaneity) why don’t you sign up? Join us! 

 Joooin Usssss!

Now here’s some Lemons (unrelated)…

So if you have always wanted to give writing a go and enjoy challenges that have the potential to eat your soul? And yeah those plot bunnies can be mighty fierce sometimes. Ye-ouch!

I’m not selling this very well am I? Nope...

Hey I gotta be honest it’s hard reaching to that 50K, sometimes you have to frigging bleed those words from your raw finger-stubs... and yeah, some of those words will definitely suck (I’m talking from personal experience).

That being said, all you need to do is write 1666 words a day for 30 days. That doesn’t sound too bad does it? All you need is some general idea for a story and the rest should come.

Nothing coming to you? Hey if you don’t know what to write about or how to start there are plenty of story prompt generators out there.

Here’s a few links that might be fun/ or useful.

Need a Plot? How about adopting one from here! http://nanowrimo.org/forums/adoption-society

If you're stuck and need an item, a motto, a planet, or a fancy drink check out...http://chaoticshiny.com/ It's oh so fun— If you are looking for something really wacky, this is definitely the place to go.

http://writingexercises.co.uk/plotgenerator.php The plot generator here gave me some interesting results and the good thing about it is that you can re-roll certain elements until you find something that works.

Most importantly don't worry about getting it perfect first time (that just doesn't happen). NaNo is designed so you get that story, or at least part of the story out of your head and onto paper. The revision and editing comes later (or as my case much later). This first draft  (in the words of the wonderful Terry Pratchett) is basically just you telling yourself the story.

And that’s my little NaNo chat for 2015. Have a great November, and if you are partaking in the NaNo madness may many-a-word be with you.

Join usssss...

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Visions II: Moons of Saturn

I'm thrilled to announce the release of Visions II: Moons of Saturn. This is the second book of the Visions Series, this anthology features: Tom Tinney, W.A. Fix, Thaddeus Howze, Ami Hart, Bonnie Milani, Jeremy Lichtman, S.M. Kraftchak, Timothy Paul, Tom Olbert, Amos Parker, R. E. Jones, and Duane Brewster.

 NASA’s Cassini mission has captured stunning images of Saturn with its mesmerizing rings of ice and rock, its 53 officially named moons and in doing so captured the imaginations of science fiction writers around the world – ripe with the promises of colonization and mining opportunities the Saturn System presents endless visions for mankind’s future. These twelve authors have presented their visions, as rich and diverse as the reality of Saturn and its moons themselves.

My own offering to the anthology is a story called Refuge. Fira, one of the survivors of the Raq-Ni Melt spends his days exploring the ventilation system on the Titan Flotilla. He finds comfort and safety in those small spaces. One day he discovers something. This discovery puts in motion a series of events that could ultimately influence humanities destiny. 

 Refuge is mainly a character focused piece. I found myself enthralled as Fira's story unfolded beneath my fingertips. This story feels very true to myself and I simply adore my character Fira. I really hope you enjoy reading Refuge as much as I enjoyed writing it. 

Check it out here:
Link:Visions II: Moons of Saturn