First, I’m plugging some friends.
Mythic Resonance is the first anthology from the folks behind The Specusphere, a terrific online Aussie science fiction zine.
A couple of friends have stories in it and they’re both ON THE FRONT COVER – Alan Baxter and Donna Maree Hanson. I can’t talk to Alan’s, but Donna’s story is sad and spooky and brimming with outrage and is a great read.
Congrats also to Margo Lanagan, whose Sea Hearts was launched in Sydney last night (boy, have I been waiting for that book!). And to Tansy Rayner Roberts, whose third book of the Creature Court trilogy is now out (boy, have I been waiting for that book too!).
And congrats also to Twelfth Planet Press, and in particularly Peter M Ball, whose book ‘Horn’ got a starring role in this week’s episode of Outland. Well, not a starring role – I had to go back to look again to see it, but it is there and that is SERIOUSLY cool.
I’m enjoying Outland – not just for the show itself, but for all the cool smart things it’s doing that I’m not getting myself (sooo not a good nerd) but I’m finding out about and saying to myself ‘Hey, that’s very cool and smart’. That means I can trust John Richards and Adam Richard to deliver and so I can relax and enjoy. I love having that feeling about a TV show.
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So the news of the week in Chez Murphy has been the arrival of the boot! I’m borrowing my aunt’s walker boot for the six weeks I’m supposed to have my ankle immobilised. Considering how much better my ankle was doing just from having it strapped for five days, I’m anticipating that the boot is going to do a good job. It’s very heavy. It’s tall, so I have to wear shoes around the house or I’m lopsided. I haven’t taken it for a big run yet but I’m due to do the grocery shopping today, so I’ll see how it goes. I won’t be able to drive in it, but it doesn’t take too long to get on and off, so I think I’ll handle it that way.
Writing wise, the focus of this week has been editing Much Ado About Love. Actually, that title will have to go, because it’s been used for a documentary, so I’m on the search for a title that links in with the Shakespearean base of the book and also describes it. Oh, yay.
I’m pleased with how the book has come out. Plot wise, it doesn’t seem to require much tweaking and there’s very few scenes that need adjusting or removing. I’ve added just one so far, and I’m almost done. I’m thinking the reason for this is two fold – a) romance plot is much simpler than urban fantasy with romance plot and b) I planned this book out before I started, pretty much to the point of writing a sentence or two describing each scene, so I’d already done a lot of thinking before I started writing.
The book ended up not completely matching the plan – learning about the characters as you write, having them direct the action does tend to mess with the plan a bit. But still, knowing where you’re headed and having something to look up when you stop cause you’re not sure what happens next – that proved to be invaluable, it seemed.
It will be ready to be read by folks later today, so if you’re interested, give me a yell.
Otherwise, I’ve been doing a lot of admin and promotional work, both for myself and for Conflux. It’s been hard to keep track of all the things that need to be done – I need to develop a system so that I can collate and dump everything in the one place to be dealt with. Thought will be put into that.
