Artist In Residence update

Managed to have a meeting with the headmaster at the school on Tuesday. The job means working one day a week 9 - 4, which includes an after school club too. I'm really excited about this as it's a great school and the kids have been really interested in what I have been doing so far - and making nice comments (I'm a Leo remember and a mug for a bit of praise). Although the money isn't brilliant it'll mean I won't feel so guilty about Liz supporting us (which she actually can't do on her money) and will allow us a bit of a breather. One day a week isn't going to affect Murky Depths either - that's a most important consideration. Initially this will be for one term (up to Christmas), but hopefully it'll work for both the school and me and it becomes a regular appointment. Starts inSeptember - I'll keep you posted.

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Artist In Residence
Current mood: Chuffed
Category: Chuffed Jobs, Work, Careers

. . . Well, that's the job that's just been offered to me - although details are yet to be discussed - at a nearby junior school. I've been working on a mural there for the last few weeks (one day a week only). They know I don't want a full-time job, can't let Murky Depths slip, so hopefully it'll help to keep the balifs away!

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Christmas gone

Christmas was going to be a lonely affair for me and Liz but it didn't turn out that way. April and Jason came up on Saturday leaving Reggie with us while they went off house hunting in the neighbourhood - they'd arranged four viewings. They stayed over that night and waited for Ricky and Frankie to arrive the next day before they went back to Harlow.

We love our kids so it's always good to see April and Ricky and their partners and it looks as if New Year's Eve isn't going to be quite either with all but Ricky and Mark (now living in Australia) - and there's some doubt over Nikki too.

But back to Christmas. It wasn't just busy with relatives but workers too. We were supposed to have a new wood-burning stove fitted Friday and Saturday but they had been very busy so they'd slipped a day. I was also chasing up a telly supplier on Friday too and eventually cancelled my order with them and switched to two other suppiers who amazingly arranged delivery on Christmas Eve so we did have the new telly over Christmas.

We took Ricky and Frankie to Boston on Saturday and I ended up buying a new electric guitar at a shop that was closing down and saved myself nigh on £100!

Christmas day came with a couple of graphic novels, which I'll tell you about another time, but I tried out one of my other presents today: A Forerunner 201. Now, when I was running well, I'd have killed for one of these, but of course they weren't around then. All you had was a fancy stopwatch that maybe had a 100 memory. Well, this baby has GPS! Instead of setting your watch to bleep when you've been running for x minutes it'll bleep when you've run x miles; I set mine for the single one. And you know I said my route was just over six miles? Well, it's actually 5.87. I'm looking forward to using the software but strangely it comes with a serial port instead of USB to I'm going to have to buy an adapter to mary my route to Google Earth. Yes, you can do that.

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Last few months

Jesus, is it that long since I blogged here?!

Well, lots have happened. I've jacked in my job (sounds quite sudden but I handed in my notice end of June - had to give three long months). Moved house; out to the flood plains of Lincolnshire so I'm not too impressed with the American negotiators at Bali this week. But maybe they realise we've just completely fucked up the world and we may as well make the most of it while we're alive 'cause our children's children are really going to be pissed with us.

If you've read any of my blogs you'll know my knees are pretty well fucked and the specialist said I should do all my long runs on the bike. In other words don't run, which I didn't for a couple of years. But if I don't want to be a total blob running is the only way of keeping the fat off - not that I can run that often. But I have found a nice route that's mainly off road and it's straight out my door. It takes in some of the ancient sea walls and then along the main see wall and back again in a circular route. Sea wall is a bit of a misnomer really because you can stand on it and look out to sea and actually not see the sea at all - it's just an overgrown bird's haven. We've been here nearly three and a half months and the only time we've seen the sea was when we made a trip up to Skeggy to see what it was like - I'll tell you what we thought if you're interested.

So, the run takes about an hour, which is probably around six miles at my current ability. Once upon a time, and on roads, that would have been a nifty ten miles. My best time for that distance was 58:06 at Maidenhead. Those were the days.

The wildlife is pretty sparse but I've seen a few weasels - well at least that's what I think they are, they're quite small - and a heron feeding at our pond down the bottom of our garden - and I'd wondered where our really big fish had gone! Been out on the bike only twice, Liz not once, not even with me on the tandem. I've shown her a shorter running route though and she's started to use that.

The OU Creative Writing course also started in October, but I was franticly trying to get Murky Depths 2 ready for the printers so I'm a little behind on the Literature score. I'm yet to get back into my writing stride with Murky Depths seeming to take up all my time. How did I manage when I was at work? Well, Issue 1 probably took me about nine months to put together, wheras I'm committed to putting out one a quarter. Matt Wallace was my backbone for Issue 1 and some of 2 but Anne Stringer has been a gem recently and deserves her co-editorship. We're taking stories now for Issue 5 and beyond.

We have plans for the new house and will be having a wood burner installed next weekend. The big change will be adding a first floor over the downstairs bathroom to make us an on-suite and extending part of the front to create a nice entrance hall. Then there's the back - but more about that another time.

Both my daughters from my first marriage have been up to see us. They're not so far away as they used to be, but when they come to see us now they travel North instead of South. Daughter April has been up with Jay too and both would like to move up our way; housing is so much cheaper. Looking forward to Christmas. Liz and I were going to be on our own but our son Ricky and his girlfriend Frankie are coming up and we're really looking forward to it now, not that we didn't mind being on our own. New Year is going to be manic though as April has invited the rest of the family up for the Eve although Ricky will be back in Bristol by then. We were down there for Ricky's graduation the other month and visited my brother Tony in Bleedin near Weston.

Well, that's the quick version of the last few months. Sorry to have bored you.

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FantasyCon 2007

My first FantasyCon. It was to be my way of saying hello to the small press stalwarts such as Pete Crowther (PS Publishing) & Chris Teague (Pendragon Press). Sure , there are lots more I can mention, such as recent addition Steve Upham from Screaming Dreams who kindly allowed me space on his table after I'd cocked up my booking. So Steve gets a special thanks. But Chris in particular was very supportive and gave Murky Depths a plug whenever he could, including a panel he was on.

We arrived Friday around 6 pm after getting somewhat lost in Nottingham looking for the Britannia Hotel venue which is centrally places just a few minutes walk away from the city centre. A rather glamorous and seemingly overdressed woman we spied as we booked in at reception made Liz wonder if she'd packed the right gear.  We later met said woman in the bar with he husband and struck up a weekend friendship which resulted in an agreement to share a table at Eastercon next year.

You may have heard of Paigan Stone (AKA Sam Stone) who was hounded out of her teaching job by a local politician and the media after she had published a "controversial" vampire novel . Gabriele Caccini: The Vampire Gene - Book. Well, that's who our new acquaintance was. Sticking up whatever finger, or fingers, you choose to imagine at the "system", she had flaunted her beauty and cleavage to publicise her work and was secretly hoping that Golancz might be there to snap her up.

But backtracking a few steps we first of all settled in and headed for the dealer room and found Steve Upham who had bagged the best-positioned table directly in front of the doors as you entered. We set up our little corner and grabbed dinner in the restaurant.

One guest who particularly impressed me was Terry Brooks who brought a down-to-earth approach to a panel that wallowed in vainglory - maybe they were just nervous being in the presence of such an established fantasy writer. Interesting to hear his pronunciation of Shanara to be so different from what you normally hear in the UK.

New publications were giving the opportunity to announce their wares during Saturday afternoon and it was only then I realised I was the only magazine present; everyone else was promoting their books. I was nowhere near as elequent as some publishers whose antics would have won them oscars elsewhere but at least I had the chance to vocalise briefly on what Murky Depths is all about. 

Sales picked up during Saturday afternoon, not that this is the kind of convention where you should expect to do great business. With it's high membership price it isn't going to attract many fans unless a couple of huge names are present. It's mainly about mixing with others writers, publishers and artists and in that respect it succeeds brilliantly. Les Edwards, who produced the front cover for the Murky Depths Promo Issue 0, is a great supporter of the small press and hasn't allowed his success to alienate himself from the grass roots. He shows an appreciation for the efforts of publishers and was more than willing to sign all the copies I had with me of the Promo Issue 0.

How the majority of visitors can stay up so late beats me. I fell asleep twice during the mammoth raffle on Saturday night. But we picked up three prizes, one being a copy of Weird Tales that was published back in 1954!

Somehow during the weekend I missed the results of the short story competition. I doubted that any of my stories stood a chance but you always hold a secret hope. Anyone know who won?

Just a few more weeks and Murky Depths will be airing at the International Comics Show in Birmingham. We'll be doing some special offers there too, like we did at the weekend. Speaking of comics, since Warren Ellis discovered Murky Depths our website hits have rocketed and since Sunday we have picked up four more subscription. Might not sound much to you but with an ambitious target of one hundred subscriptions by the time Issue 2 is published every one counts.

Will we be going to FantasyCon next year? You bet. And we'll only be a fifty-minute drive away rather than the motorway-clogged three that we had to navigate this year. Would I recommend it? Definitely, if you're an artist or writer. Not so much if you're a dealer, but table prices are so cheap it doesn't really matter. It's the networking that's the plus.

To all the people we wanted to say hello to but didn't there's always next year or one of the other conventions. We'll be hitting as many as we can. See you there.

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Marriage
Category: Romance and Relationships

My daughter announced she was engaged the other week with a super fuck-off diamond ring. I mean BIG, man!

Went to see a wedding venue today (the whole package) which looked really cool. Out in the country. Louds of space, and a little farm cottage that takes up to 20 people to stay over with its own bridle sweet.

Take a look at The Reid Rooms.

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The ultimate steampunk fantasy?
Category: Writing and Poetry

I bought this book two years ago but thought I'd lost it. It came to light a couple of weeks ago in my bedside cabinet of all places! Here's what I thought:

China Miéville's Iron Council has such a wealth of imaginative and fantastic happenings that it seems there can be no more possible impossibilities to write about. For me it was the best of the Bas-Lag trilogy though others disagree. The unlikely seems normal and believable, the impossible, a surprise yet described in a way that paints vivid pictures in your mind. Grammatically it challenges the English language in places and no doubt annoys the purests who quote "correct" usage. In places I too found senrtences odd and difficult to follow but it is describing a world like no other, where diverse races, both natural and created, exist side by side. The unusual is normal and the line between the sane and insane is like the monitor on an EEG machine. The stresses of surviving in this world where magic and science are one and the same are constantly reminded. One wonders how humans ever managed to be here. But where is here? It seems to be a dumping ground for the natural and supernatural, where time and matter are rent and recreated in an unstable world, but where a familiar hierarchy of government oppression and squalor make similarities with our own world. Amidst all this there are moments of love and tenderness, heroism and betrayal, humour and terror. It's a world in which you can become completely lost. Loose yourself.

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Amusing enough for a blog

If you're not from the UK you might not appreciate this but I think you'll get its drift:

A major flood hit on Monday evening .

Epicentre: Rotherham, England.

News of the disaster was swiftly carried abroad by the town's 35,000 racing pigeons, as victims were seen wandering around aimlessly muttering "fookinhell" and "chuffinnorah".

The flood decimated the town, causing £30 worth of damage. Several priceless collections of mementos from the Balearic Isles and the Spanish Costa's were damaged beyond repair. Three areas of historical burnt out cars were disturbed.

Many locals were woken well before their Giro arrived. Radio station RotherFM reported that hundreds of residents were confused and bewildered, still trying to come to terms with the fact that something interesting had happened in Rotherham. One resident, 15 year old mother of 3, Tracy Sharon Braithwaite said: "It was such a shock, my little Chardonnay-Madonna came running into my bedroom crying. The twins, Tyler-Morgan and Megan-Storm slept through it all. I was still shaking when I was watching Kilroy the next morning". Locals were determined not to be bowed, as looting, muggings and car crime carried on as normal.

So far, whilst the British Red Cross has managed to ship 4000 crates of Sunny Delight to the area to relieve the suffering of stricken locals, rescue workers searching through the rubble have found large quantities of personal belongings including, benefit books, jewellery from Elizabeth Duke at Argos, and bone china from Pound-stretcher.

Can You Help?

Please respond generously to our appeal for food and clothing for the victims of this disaster.

Clothing is needed most of all, especially:
· Fila or Burberry baseball caps
· Kappa tracksuit tops (his or hers)
· Shell suits (female)
· White sports socks
· Rockfort boots or any other product sold in Primark

Culturally sensitive food parcels are harder to put together, but your efforts will make a difference.
Microwave meals, tinned baked beans, ice-cream and cans of Colt 45 or Special Brew are ideal.

Please do not give anything that requires peeling.

Remember:
· 22p buys a biro for filling in compensation claims
· £2 buys chips, crisps and a blue fizzy drink for a family of 9
· £5 will pay for a packet of B&H and a lighter to calm a child's nerves

Urgently required: Tinned whippet food. Bones for Jack Russells

Please do not send tents for shelter. The sight of such posh housing will cause residents to beleive they have been forcebly relocated to Sheffield

6:57 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Lifestyle change
Current mood: excited
Category: Life

The lifestyle change begins.

I hand in my notice today. Three months I have to give, so end of September is when I finish.

Our offer for a new home in Lincolnshire was accepted on Wednesday - just a couple of hours after we viewed the place. We'll be putting our existing home on the market shortly but have a mortgage accepted in principal for the new house so we don't have to sell up first.

Scary but exciting.

12:07 AM - 7 Comments - 7 Kudos - Add Comment

ME, OU & MD
Category: Writing and Poetry

Well, nearly at the end of my Approaching Literature course with the OU. The three-hour exam is this Monday. Haven't done half as much (hardly any actually) revision as I should have done but I feel quite relaxed about it (at the moment). Murky Depths is still taking up most of my free time (sorry, Liz!) and Issue #1 is coming together with the intention of sending it to the printers before the end of June, but I'm still waiting on a couple of adverts and two illustrations (one of which I may well have to do myself) so it could be July before it goes to bed.

I received episode three of Richard Calder's "Death and the Maiden" the other night and it just gets better, it's wicked! (Yes, I really am working on Issue #3 already.) Stan Nicholls has agreed to let us publish his slightly longer than the Murky Depths' guidelines "SPOIL" in Issue #2 and #3 and Geoff Taylor's work will be gracing the cover of Issue #2. Richard Calder is probably going to be illustrating the cover for Issue #3. Geoff's contribution has more of a traditional fantasy feel whereas Richard's is . . . well, Richard's.

Issue #2 is virually full as far as prose stories are concerned but we are still looking for a short strip on the comic front. There'll be an interview in Issue #2 with Darren Douglas whose strips in Violent I absolutely love.

Why have I posted this here instead of the Murky Depths MySpace page? Well, after my last posting you may have thought I was considering suicide. Far from it. Liz and I are looking for a big lifestyle change and it's going to happen sometime this year. We're both excited about it and also a little apprehensive (maybe not Liz so much).

I'm dying to see the first issue of Murky Depths in print and hope that I don't loose too much money on the first issue and that I can acquire a distributor (although they take a hefty whack of the cover price) - which, once I've sent out Issue #1 to all the subscribers, is what I'll be aiming for.

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