Damn, I'm feeling old. Most of the Christmas celebrations I've been involved in this year have seemed decidedly flat, with my main Christmas do from work ending with some drunken twat trying to start trouble in a pub in Newport. Luckily I had a couple of Big Mates with me - one glance from them and this idiot faded into the background. But after that I decided there was enough broken glass underfoot, enough drunken idiots, enough loud, bland music to drive me home by 8pm.
Maybe the fact that Tracey and I were going to watch Return of the King for her birthday the next day had something to do with the early finish (and if you haven't seen it yet, do. This is one film that lives up to and beyond the hype. It's brilliant).
Responsibility is a big word, and so it should be. Got a 5 month old son at home with a bad cold - he's not sleeping well, therefore neither do we - so priorities are somewhat different this year. I'm just hoping he's OK for the rest of the break. So my alcohol-based celebrations have been kept to a minimum this year, and family comes first. Which is as it should be.
Have a great Christmas, everyone. Next year will be an exciting one for me, in many ways. I hope you'll stick around to share it with me.
OK, here's another attempt to post the cover to the upcoming Night Visions 11 (thanks to Ariel for helping me out with this):
Don't send cards! Damn right. Don't know where the statistic came from, but I read that 1.7 billion Christmas cards are sent each year in the UK alone. That's the equivalent of 220,000 trees slaughtered, chopped down, cut up and mashed into paper, just so that people who don't normally talk to each other all year round can send 'greetings' to other people they probably aren't too bothered with anyone. Either that, or people you see every day - neighbours, work colleages - think it's more personal to write you a message in a cards covered with snowmen and annoying glitter rather than actually shakes your hand, give you a hug and share their greetings that way.
I actually know of people in work who keep a pile of cards in case someone gives them one. That way, they're ready to return the favour within minutes. Really Christmassy, huh?
This year Tracey and I aren't sending Christmas cards (well, one or two have already slipped through the net, but that's it). Instead we're giving a bit of money to charity. Not much, just a bit. And we haven't decided on a charity yet. But imagine if just half of those adults in the UK who normally send 100 cards to people they don't really like decided to do the same? 20,000,000 times, say, £30, that's almost a billion quid given to charities of all kinds.
Now that, my friends, is the spirit of Christmas.
I've just (this evening, in fact!) signed contracts with Leisure Books for three brand new novels. The books will be out in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the current titles are ODD FOLKS, ECHO CITY FALLS and BERSERK. ODD FOLKS will be first, not sure of the order of the other two, but these will be three very different novels. ODD FOLKS is weird urban horror, ECHO CITY FALLS is a very, very dark fantasy set in and beneath London (really looking forward to researching this one), and BERSERK is a sort of ghost story ... sort of.
More details here as and when they arise!
Didn't work! I'll try again later ...
...but it's been worth it. I'm going to try posting a cover image here in a minute ... but just in case it doesn't work, it's the cover for NIGHT VISIONS 11, a book I'm so excited to be in that my elbows have just exploded.
Somehow, in between working full-time, having two kids (both deciding that sleep is overrated), writing, eating and stealing the occasional bout of sleeping, I'm still managing to read. Not as much as I'd like to, but a little ...
Currently reading Jeffrey Ford's THE PORTRAIT OF MRS CHARBUQUE, and it's an absolute masterpiece. Ford is one of the most talented writers around today, and this book is set to be a classic. Magical, literate, stunningly imaginative, it's one of those books I love and love to hate, because every few pages Ford throws up ideas that make me think 'damn, wish I'd thought of that one'. His writing is beautiful. He's gone onto that list of writers that make me wonder why I bother. And that's a good thing.
I've also read a couple of novellas from Night Shade/Ministry of Whimsy. The Kage Baker novella THE EMPRESS OF MARS is a lot of fun, with serious messages hiding beneath the humour. IN & OZ by Steve Tomasula is a strange book, reminding me in some ways of Ballard at his most challenging. It left me thinking, that's for sure, and that's no bad thing.
On my To Read pile ..... well, about 300 books. How depressing. And exciting! I'm looking forward to going part-time in April so that I can spend a little more time reading.
Next one for me though, after the Ford, is UNTIED KINGDOM by James Lovegrove. James is a wonderful writer, very definite and meticulous, creating a beautiful style that mixes humour and wry observation to perfection. And this new novel sounds right up my dark alley ...
I'm coming to the end of what has been the longest, most intensive writing experience of my life so far. I began writing DUSK four years ago, when I produced a synopsis and a few chapters. It remained on my hard disc for a time while I fulfilled other commitments, though I'd tinker with it every now and then. And then Jason Williams at Night Shade read the sample ... and 18 months later, it's almost finished.
Nearing the end, I'm starting to get nervous. Will anyone like it? Will this get me a deal in the UK, where publishers consistently turn down my books because they wouldn't be able to sell them cos they're 'horror'? Is it any good?
Normal worries for any writer, I guess. I think it's OK. We'll see.
And now, back to work ... more consistent and meaningful blogging when that big 600 page DUSK baby is in the bag!
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