Well it’s not BAD news, I guess?

GOOD NEWS! My story “Witch Hunt” has been shortlisted for the next round of reading for the Weirdbook “Witches” anthology!

What’s currently in submission #5

It’s been a few months since the last update (back in early May!), here’s what stories are currently out in submission.

What’s currently out in submission?

Write Now (subbed to Anthology of Quitters)
The Catch (subbed to the were-traveller (PhotoFlash))
The Concentration Camp (subbed to Persistant Visions)
The Dionesian Wave (subbed to When You’re Strange (CASFWG))
Witch Hunt (subbed to Weird Book)
Departure Date (subbed to Darkfuse Magazine)
The Legend (subbed to Third Flatiron Strange Beasties)
Muse (subbed to Strange Horizons)
Summerland (subbed to Chiral Mad 4)
Even Stevens (subbed to AE)
Go West (subbed to Flash Fiction online)

That’s 11 stories out in the wild at the moment.

Camp NaNoWriMo July 2017 details

I’ve been working on my ideas for this, fleshing the story out a bit.

My feelings are that the story is moving towards novel territory. So 50,000 words or a touch more.

The initial feeling was I was doing five chapters of 10,000 words each but breaking those down into 4 sub-chapters, each of which was 2,500 words long. Basically this was to break a long chapter down into something managable.

I don’t think this is going to work, as the piece currently stands.

I’ve got something to write about for each of the five different chapters the book takes place over (each chapter basically being a year long). I’m not sure if each of those things can run to 10,000 words but there are other things that I can use as filler material.

Currently the goal has been set at 40,000 words which I think is totally do-able without any need to stretch what I’ve got. If I think I’ve got enough once the option to change the goal is available, we’ll see how the actual writing is going.

Six Too Few started out as a short dream which I woke up from. I didn’t immediately write it down. In fact I avoided writing it down over 4 days until I finally reached the point where I had to get the damn thing out of my head.

And now it’s set to potentially be a novel. Mind you, I said that about “On Reaching The Beach“. And that died on its arse within less than a week.

I’m honestly excited about writing this story. Everyone I’ve spoken to about it, I felt enthusiastic telling them the outline. I’m deliberately not counting what I already wrote, so when the Camp starts it’ll be interesting to discover how much I wrote for the opening.

In my own eyes, I’m going to try and stick to the NaNoWriMo ethos and reach my goal before the end of day 30. I’ll try to find out what the exact rules are before the start of day 1.

I’m not sure if I’m going to blog during the Camp period. We’ll see.

Wish me luck!

Camp NaNoWriMo July 2017 heads-up

Almost all the notes for “the Assassin story” are typed up.

To help people track it, the current working (non-spoilery) title is “Six Too Few“.

THIS IS NOT THE ACTUAL TITLE!

Please DONT ask plot related questions. Merely setting the maths question to people gave away a ton of info I’d rather have kept in my head.

I’m going to be writing this as Camp NaNoWriMo for July. As yet there is no fixed length for the story despite me already setting a goal on the Camp page, this is subject to change and may get shorter or longer.

I know how long the book takes place over, and that entire time WILL taken place within the context of the piece. If I can write enough, it might (with emphasis on the word MIGHT) become a novel. I still haven’t made a hard decision here yet!

I’ve probably already got the same amount of notes I had for Impossible Lean which did run out of steam towards the end. With the world I have and the things that happen in the main city, I honestly believe there is enough material to write 50k and not feel like I padded it out.

July is a 31 day month so I am not sure how the regular NaNoWriMo rules apply with the extra day.

I still need to decide if the seasons of the world do follow ours, with longer nights and temperature changes too.

Examining The Twilight Zone, Future Trade

I’d never seen this before.

Clyde Hayes asks that age old question, are you happy with your life? Or is the grass greener on the other side of the fence?

So what’s the problem?

Martin Donner is stuck in a terrible life. His wife hates him, his kids don’t know he exists, and his boss treats him like dirt.

How does he try to overcome this?

Lured in by an internet banner advert (this was the 2000’s era reboot of the show) Donner goes to Future Trade, a place that promises a better life.

What mistakes does this episode make?

We’re told Donner is seen in the previous owner’s body. The glass between the bedroom and the swimming pool piss on that statement.

Ways to fix Future Trade?

1) Say it’s your new life, but only for a set period. 24 hours, a week, a month, a year. Make it seem less amazing that Donner has seemingly lucked out.

2) Have his new girlfriend be in the same boat he was before he went to Future Trade, and she’s been to Future Trade too. She uses the drugs & Peruvian mask to swap bodies with him, leaving him a women in a man’s world.

3) Have Donner be able to pull himself out of the deal before he dies.

4) Have Donner’s donor body be suffering from a bad heart, so he gets the high life for a week then dies of a heart-attack.

5) Have Donner massively fail in his new life, losing everything his donor worked for. Have him end right back up working the same job he was at the start.

I like the idea of it being his life for a set period (maybe a year), I’d combine that with the idea that he’s terrible at being the new man and ends up right back where he started. If you wanted to add insult to injury, throw in the bad heart at the end so he comes off way worse than he even started out.

 

The Haze By Ray Daley [poem]

The Haze By Ray Daley 10/6/17.

It’s easy to get bewildered or flustered,
Your mind goes like custard, but don’t taste as good.
You don’t recall every last detail like you once could.

It’s easy to fall in a spiked pit of doubt, You just can’t get out,
But you feel like you ought, Your tries come to nought.
Trying picking your battles, just win ones you’ve fought.

That’s why, I say with a sigh, It’s easy to get bewildered or flustered,
Your thoughts thick like mustard, but don’t taste as good.
You wish you were younger, that’s understood.

Trying thinking, not drinking, your mind’s simply sinking,
Your memories are blinking away, like fifty a day.
They’re gone and forgotten, your brain has gone rotten,
The truth it be told, You’re just getting old.

THE END

Guest, A Poem

Guest, A Poem by Ray Daley.

9/6/17

I’m the one that’s living at the bottom of your garden,

In a little wooden box that’s labelled “TEA“.

No-one else is living at the bottom of your garden,

The only person living there is me.

There’s cabbages and lettuces, there’s many types of fruit,

I’ve being there so long now, I feel I’ve taken root.

Because I’m the one that’s living at the bottom of your garden,

There’s nowhere else I’d really rather be.

THE END.