Postmodern life is a confusing experience; certainties are fleeting, if indeed they can said to exist at all. This may go some way to explaining the utility of maxims, mottoes and totemic utterances; the enduring (some might say increasing) ubiquity of prayer and of song.

When the maelstrom of meaning and identity becomes to much for me to bear, I repeat a short simple sentence, a sentence which revealed to me the one deep truth at the centre of all the shallow lies of life:

Mister Cheap is the cheapest.*

Writing about music

I seem to be having a run of bad luck with interviews of late; I was supposed to have a chat with Ginger Wildheart on Wednesday afternoon, but his phone was switched off. Hoping for a reschedule on that one … which will arguably be a reschedule of the one that went horribly wrong back in December. Rock’n'roll, kids!

Manic punk-metallers Cancer Bats are playing in Brighton next Saturday, so I’ll be heading along to that with fellow Fictioneer and Easterconner (and all-round top chap and good buddy) Shaun C Green.

I’ve heard great things about Cancer Bats’ live skillz0rz, so if you’re in the area why not drop by the show as well? It’s a matinee (midday till 4), so public transport will be fine.

Album of the Week

Hands down, no contest – the sludge-pop-stoner-rock of Meanderthal by Torche; if you like your music heavy and hook-laden with a side-salad of fun, this one’s for you.

Writing about books

[Please insert your own have-you-hired-a-parrot joke here. Suffice to say that I haven't managed my free time as well as I might have liked in the last week.]

Freelance

It’s been a busy week for me over at PS Publishing, with lots of fresh cover art to post on the blog as well as the production and delivery of my first e-bulletin newsletter thingy (which you should have received already if you are on the PS mailing list).

The learning curve isn’t too savage so far; the only shock to the system is another burden on my time management skills – which, as can be seen above, are still in need of the equivalent of a bodybuilding crash-course, which is exactly what they’re getting.

Maybe one day I’ll write one of those self-help books about time management for self-made businesspersons:

How I Made My Career And Learned To Prioritise By Taking On Way More Work Than Made Sense To Anyone!

Hell, I’d buy a book with that title.

Futurismic

We’re about to buy our first story with me as Ed-in-Chief at Futurismic, which means I have to get the contract and payment arrangements in place – tricky, but very exciting stuff!

It’s also high time I hired some new bloggers; one of the last batch has drifted away completely due to having things to do beyond the internet (hah! I mean, what’s that all about?), and the other two have real world commitments that mean they can’t post every day. I reckon I’ve got room for two or three more smart folk …

… so if you or someone you know might be interested in becoming one of the Futurismic blogging team, drop me a line via the Contact form on Futurismic itself. Cheers!

Books and magazines seen

The seemingly-perpetual F&SF subscription rolls relentlessly onward with the arrival of the June 2008 issue … which has one of the most uninspiring covers I’ve seen in a long while.

Held up against Murky Depths #4 (which slipped into the post-box mere minutes ago), I know which one I’d grab off the shelves first:

No new books this week, though a parcel is pending from Royal Mail** which I suspect may be my first care package from Pete at PS … boutique literary goodies await!

The Symposium

I took notes through the Gresham College “Science Fiction as a Literary Genre” symposium yesterday, which was an edifying event - as well as a chance to hang out with the critical wing of UK fandom. But thankfully Niall has a full report, which saves me the embarrassment of trying to make other people’s ideas more coherent by processing them through my own brain***.

[ Stop the press! This just in - Chris Roberson is jealous of us all for going, but makes some interesting points comparing Stephenson's talk to the recent Clay Shirky "cognitive surplus" presentation. Worth checking out. ]

Although arranged by Gresham College, the event was held at the Royal College Of Surgeons in a very posh part of London (suits and ties a-go-go). They have a skeletal sloth in the hallway, which made me think of playing AD&D with a rather irreverent DM:

Dinner afterwards with many lovely people who I hardly ever get to see in meatspace. I drank too much wine; put it this way, it’s a good thing I didn’t have to go to the day-job today, as I’ve been paying the price. But it was worth it; a great day out.

[fanboy]Oh, yeah – you know your ARC of the Subterranean Press reissue of Stephenson’s Snow Crash? Is it, er, signed by the author? Hmmmm? No?

BECAUSE MINE TOTALLY IS!!!1! [/fanboy]

Coda

And so it goes; I’ve had a two-day working week at the day-job, but I’ve not gained that safety margin on my to-do list I had hoped for. More discipline required, perhaps … after a concerted binge of just not doing anything but writing review for a day or two. I want a week’s headway; that’ll mean I’m able to get my weekends back to myself and restore that “work-life balance” thing people keep telling me about.

Speaking of discipline, a certain lady of note at the post-Symposium dinner last night recommended gym-work and weight lifting in response to last week’s exercise question; the lady in question can apparently bench-press a surprising mass.

As mentioned before, a public gym is pretty much out of the question for me, but I may take her advice and speak to someone whose job it is to answer such questions. Luckily my circle of friends includes a personal trainer****, saving me the embarrassment of phoning around until I find one who doesn’t intimidate me.

So, hopefully by this time next year I’ll be a slim well-organised freelance superhero! Or something like that … I’ll settle for a busy freelancer who still gets to have days off for Symposiums without having to panic about his schedule, and who can tuck into The Friday Curry without remorse thanks to a sensible moderate exercise regime.

And speaking of The Friday Curry … would you look at the time! Hasta luego, amigos.

And even though I was quite looking forward to scouring piles of junk for hidden gems, I can't get too upset about the withering away of an industry entirely predicated on misery. Sure, something else will replace it - but even so. ]

[ ** I couldn't pick it up from the depot because it doesn't have my name on it, only the ridiculous name of my domicile [[The Hall Of Mirrors]], so I have to settle for redelivery sometime tomorrow between 7am and midday … which, Sod’s Law states, will occur at 11:45am, with me having waited around the house unable to do my Saturday chores and shopping. Selah. ]

[ *** Like that's ever going to work; even my “what I've been up to” blog posts have footnotes. Oh, snap! ]

[ **** Guy in question has biceps bigger than my thighs. This isn't something I have any wish to emulate; I mention it merely for the OMFG factor. ]

Set the controls for the heart of the stash! Here’s the keyboard guy of wig-out psych-rock space-cadets Pilgrim Fathers. He’s evidently not down with the whole “standing-up” thing:

T’was a good show on Wednesday night, with Pilgrim Fathers and the oh-so-controversial-no-really Gay For Johnny Depp* supporting the staggeringly good 65daysofstatic.

However, it seems that when I get sent to interview an act something bad happens to them - Pilgrim Fathers caught a flat tyre on the motorway that afternoon, and only arrived at the venue an hour before doors. Needless to say, the interview is being rescheduled …

Writing about music

The second week of full-time day-job mania has meant keeping up with The Dreaded Press has been a strain once again, but here we are at another Friday and I seem to have survived with deadlines and sanity (marginally) intact.

Album of the week was probably the audio insanity of iots by flu.ID - be warned, it’s not for the faint-hearted.

Writing about books

I have, somehow, managed to crowbar a first draft of the Severian Of The Guild review into my schedule this week**. The challenge will lie in making it plain that, while I personally found the crescendo of Biblical allegory to be incredibly wearisome and off-putting, I’m not the sort of person who thinks religious themes have no place in literature at all. Hoping to go over it a second time this weekend.

Finished reading Walter Jon Williams’ Implied Spaces last weekend; will be squeezing a VCTB review out as soon as schedule permits.

Freelance stuff

As some of you may have already noticed, the other aspect of my expanding freelance duties has been announced - I’m the new webgeek and online publicity personage for PS Publishing! Thanks to everyone who has already sent their congratulations, it’s very kind of you. I have an awful lot to live up to as I step into Darren’s shoes.

Of course, I’ll feel a lot more like I’m actually doing these jobs once I get back to having the time to get started on them*** … but still, yay me! More details on this when (a) I have them and (b) I can think straight.

Books and magazines seen

The Yen Press manga imprint continues to baffle with their polar-opposite themes; one book on raising an autistic child, the other a sniggering smutfest of obvious gags about a demon and a sexually-stereotyped Japanese schoolgirl who have accidentally swapped bodies. Go figure.

Also from Orbit comes a new Jeff Somers novel, The Digital Plague, as well as cookie-cutter vampire-shagger number fourteen from the high queen of vampire-shaggers … fourteen books? Empirical proof that quality and popularity are completely unrelated properties, if such were needed. Will nobody think of the trees?

I’ve been given an interesting non-fiction title for a long-deadline Vector review: Love And Sex With Robots by David Levy.

Promises to be an interesting read, that’s for certain. Robot-shaggers > vampire-shaggers.

Coda

Well, I’m exhausted. A fortnight of full-time work plus all my other commitments has worn me out thoroughly, and if it weren’t for the amazing ability of caffeine to prop up the otherwise unconscious, I’d not have made it through at all.

I was under the (sadly erroneous) impression that I had this coming Monday off work, but it turns out that isn’t the case - it will in fact be my final full day before my colleague returns from her holiday. Still, I can manage just one more day … though I feel I’ll be doing a whole lot of sleeping this weekend.

It’s either that or have some sort of breakdown; much like the ILLUMINATIONS episode, I’ve been gamely skating along the cliff-edge of my ability to cope under pressure, but I know that I need to rest properly or risk the consequences. I’m aware that learning (and testing) your limits is a good thing, but from where I’m sat right now I could do without it … at least for the next six months or so while I settle into the new regime of the freelance****.

But I’ll not complain - things seem to be going pretty well, and if hecticness is a symptom of positive change then I guess I can live with it. It’s just that I’ll live with it a bit better once I’ve had a long lay down in a dark room.

Anyway, enough of my jabber - I can’t think of anything entertaining or interesting to say. I’m going to take my aching shoulders and itchy eyes around the corner to fetch another Hard-earned And Much-anticipated Friday Curry Of Justice before steeling myself for a weekend of catching up with all the little things I’ve had to let slide this last fortnight.

I hope that you have a good weekend yourself … hopefully one blessed with weather somewhat less rotten than today’s, too.

Hasta luego, amigos.

[ ** I honestly can't remember writing any of it, which is quite scary ... but there it is in my Google Docs account. Home espresso makers are dangerous things, kids. ]

[ *** SRSLY. Sixteen hour days have been killing me. ]

[ **** So why do I still crank out a few pages of blather for FPB every week? Because routine is an anchor for sanity, basically. This actually relaxes me, and I can do it piecemeal. ]

It wasn’t what I expected to see on Sunday morning, that’s for certain.

Unlike a lot of other places, it was almost all over by lunchtime around these parts, and the majority of it had melted by mid-afternoon. But nonetheless a strange little bout of weather - especially for Velcro City, whose location and microclimate means it rarely sees snow at all, let alone snow that lays in early April. I have been finding it hard to deal politely with climate change denialists this week.

Writing about music

No gigs to report on this week; the schedule has not permitted me to go to any, as I’m currently covering full-time hours at the day job due to the other half of my job share being on holiday. Some good albums have passed through at The Dreaded Press, though - I particularly enjoyed The Alchemy Archives Vols III & IV by Thrice

.

Writing about books

Not a great deal of lit-crit action, for the reason stated above and a reason yet to be stated. Still subconsciously stewing the Book Of The New Sun piece, to some extent.

Other freelance-type gubbins

OK, so I can finally break some genuine news here. Many regular readers will already be aware that fellow sf-nal blogonaut Darren “Ariel” Turpin has been snapped up by Orbit to be their new web ubermensch. What may not be such common knowledge is that, thanks to Darren’s great generosity, yours truly has taken over much of his pre-existing portfolio of managed author websites, and another somewhat bigger client at the same time.

Yeah, you read that right. Proper paid freelance work on a regular basis! I am totally stoked.

Of course, Sod’s Law dictates that this would inevitably arrive in the same window of time as my full-time stint at the day-job and last week’s major computer failure* … so things have been completely batshit mental in this neck of the woods, and promise to remain so for the next week or thereabouts while I get myself up to speed with everything.

I’ll be introducing my new clients here at VCTB over the next few weeks, so I’ll not just rattle off a big list of them here and now. I’m all about the individual attention, y’see.

Books and magazines seen

No books worthy of mention this week. The trade paperback of Jeff Somer’s The Electric Church turned up from Orbit, but I’ve not read a single review of it that suggests I’d enjoy it, so that’ll be winging its way to the local library at some point (along with the vampire boffers, and the fantasy doorstops** my mother doesn’t want).

I did, however, receive the latest Talebones magazine - a publication which never fails to delight visually and will doubtless taunt me from the to-read pile over the coming weeks (as will pretty much everything, to be honest - that damned stack never gets any smaller).

Also, some poetry in the form of South Magazine (for which I must renew my subscription). Good stuff, though a little bit away from the material I tend to produce myself***.

And last but not least, the saga of the seemingly endless F&SF subscription rolls relentlessly forward with the arrival of the May 2008 issue. I’ve given up wondering now; as far as I’m concerned, they’re gifts from a confused universe to a man too busy to appreciate his good fortune.

Coda

So, hecticness and genuine revelations for you in this week’s FPB. Just to reiterate - I’m absolutely freaking chuffed at taking on my new roster of clients, as it’s going to give me a chance to show I can walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

And it’s only taken a year since going part-time-freelance to get here … which to be fair is longer than I originally expected, but at that time I was operating from a position of exceptional naivete. I’ve learned a lot - about writing, about website maintenance and building, and about business - since then.

On the subject of business, though, that one-year anniversary means it’s time for me to start doing my accounts for the past twelve months. *cringe* Luckily it’s mostly going to be a big list of outgoings … but hey, that’ll all change this time next year!

So that’s about your lot for this week; there’s been no Friday Flash from me because I’ve simply not had the time to work on any. I kinda feel bad about breaking the routine, but given the circumstances I think it’s fair enough for me to accept that, while I have done some creative writing this week, I’ve not had the opportunity to work it up to a point where I’m willing to share it. Once the dust settles a bit I’ll be back in the saddle, mark my words.

Right - it’s not going to be much of a weekend as far as rest is concerned, but Friday night is Friday night, and there are traditions that even us hard-graftin’ freelance types are obliged - nay, required - to observe. So I shall venture forth so as to procure The Friday Curry Of Justice … though not before bidding you all a thoroughly excellent weekend of your own.

[ * Note for geek types - Ubuntu really is as user-friendly as they say. I've had virtually no problems with it at all; certainly nothing that can't be served by a thorough search on the Ubuntu User Forums. The command line is a bit of a learning curve, but what's life without some challenge and development, eh? ]

[ ** To clarify, after receiving an email on the matter - I use "doorstops" as a literal term in this case, because the titles I receive that I know I won't read end up in an ever-growing pile that really does hold my living-room door open. I have no axe to grind about the length and size of novels, fantasy or otherwise. ]

[ *** This seems to be the case with most poetry mags I've encountered, leading me to conclude the fault lies with my work rather than the magazines. Bah. ]

We return to the original meaning of FPB because hey, look - one of my cacti has started to flower!

Looks like it’s the only one that will do so this year (my Christmas cacti haven’t even hinted at a late budding, worse luck), but one is better than none.

The weird bit is that this particular cactus is the one that has suffered the most from being knocked over and generally battered by bad circumstance, and came to me after having been sat in a Fratton garden for an entire British winter … the bad-boy just keeps on ticking. Respect, innit?

A bonus photo for those of you of the opinion that plants aren’t a sufficiently manly subject (even spiny phallic plants): here’s my growing collection of sound-mangling boxes through which I run my guitar.

I think the collection should cease growing for now, because the overdraft has suffered terribly. That said, I still need a delay pedal … hmmm.

Eastercon

So, if you’re wondering “why no pictures from Eastercon?”, the answer is simple - I just didn’t take any. I was far too busy watching or appearing on panels and hanging out with great people, and I’m afraid I don’t feel a jot guilty*.

Even listing just the highlights of the weekend would take a considerable amount of time, but it would be remiss to not mention:

• celebrating The Friday Curry with the Third Row Fandom crew, plus Shaun C Green and Paul “twice Hugo nominee for a Doctor Who script” Cornell
• China Mieville’s staggeringly good Guest of Honour speech
• Neil Gaiman’s relentless aura of nice-blokeness
• the Friday Flash Fiction workshop, and meeting all my fellow Fictioneers
• the embarrassing yet hilarious Sex & The Singularity panel
• Ian Sales falling off a chair
• Ian Watson telling me a story about kidney stones that will stay with me for life
• drinking, talking and getting lost in hallucinogenically similar corridors

Great stuff - many thanks to everyone who helped make it such a great event, both those I met and those I didn’t.

Writing about music

The Dreaded Press rolls on, with a bit of a gap for the bank holiday weekend. No live reviews or interviews lately, though I’m off to do one of each with Brit rockers Brigade this very evening.

The inward flow of albums has seemingly levelled out at a pace I can stay on top of without too much panic, and I’m gradually integrating TDP tasks into my daily regime.

I was very chuffed to find I got a link-back from Wikipedia for my review of the spectacular album Board Up The House by Genghis Tron - Wikipedia links give great SEO justice, and they’re like gold dust in the early stages of a site’s life.

Hopefully that’ll nudge me up a PageRank next time the updates go through.

Writing about books

As I explained at great length to a few people at Eastercon, the final phases of Book Of The New Sun became progressively more infuriating to read.

The biblical mirroring is a lot easier to stomach in the earlier stages, but the fourth book cranks the proselytising up to eleven without the benefit of the story moving well to keep it interesting.

Still not completely finished, but once I’m done I’ll not run short of things to say in the review, that’s for certain.

Meanwhile, roaring my way through the Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Vol. 2, which isn’t a bad selection at all, from my perspective.

For those who’ve read it already, I can say that I’m about two thirds through, and my favourite piece (as well as the one that has stuck with me constantly since reading it) is the shortest one.

The book needs to be finished and reviewed with the pending batch of print reviews for Interzone - by the end of this week, in other words.

I loves me a good deadline, I does.

Futurismic

I’ve got the next new piece of fiction for Futurismic in hand, ready to be polished and unleashed next week. I’ve also got a second non-fiction piece ready to roll, a one-shot guest column in the pipeline and a potential new columnist in the offing as well; all great news there.

What’s not so great is that it’s high time I started going through the old posts that were created on the previous CMS and adding tags to them. One of those “a little bit every day” jobs, I guess - you have to take the rough with the smooth in this publishing business, y’know.

Other freelance type stuff

Waiting on some details and confirmations, but there could be some great news in the pipeline in this respect. Watch this space.

Books and magazines seen

Well that’s it, I’m officially baffled. April’s F&SF has arrived, after I’ve ignored any number of renewal slips.

I think maybe their database has me down as a life subscriber or something, becasue I’m positive my sub must be over by now. Still, free fiction isn’t something to complain about. *shrug*

Nice apocalyptic cover, BTW:

No books have come in the post, but it would be churlish not to mention the titles I picked up at Eastercon**. I came away with:

• A Good Old-fashioned Future - Bruce Sterling (short story collection; I have most of these titles in other volumes, but I seem to be veering toward the idea of becoming a Sterling completist. Fanboy is as fanboy does, I guess.)
• Deconstructing The Starships - Gwyneth Jones (Cons are a great place to buy critical works, because you’ll rarely find them cheaper, even second hand. This has been recommended to me often, so I’m pleased to have a shiny new copy of my own for the bargain price of £11)
• Tourniquet - Kim Lakin-Smith (by the much-better-looking other half of the BSFA webmaster … )
• Roadside Picnic - Strugatsky Brothers (keep hearing people bigging this book up, and there it was in old-school paperback for just £1 …)
• Appleseed - John Clute (a novel by the critical legend, highly recommended by Shaun)

ILLUMINATIONS

Still pig-in-mud happy about the Friday Flash anthology. My mother’s copy arrived by post at her house yesterday, so she phoned me and squee’d a bit, which was a lovely moment.

I still have hard-copy versions available and will gladly sign them for purchasers; don’t forget you can get the PDF version for a donation of your choice at the Odd Two Out website. I can’t sign those, though, and they’re just not as totemic …

Coda

Well, that’s more than enough blather to make up for a missing week, I think. And anyway, I’d best get on - I need to grab and eat The Friday Curry (regrettably minus the Third Row gang and other fandom types this time) before trundling off to The Pyramids to do this interview.

And so with little extra ceremony I shall bid you all a good weekend - hasta luego, amigos.

[ * The absence of last week's FPB should make it plain that I didn't make much use of the laptop either. As it happens, I'm going to sell the thing and swap it for an Asus Eee, so if you're in the market for a laptop with a decent spec and one careful owner, give me a shout. ]

[ ** I'm actually rather proud of my restraint - as anyone who's been can attest, the Dealer's Room at a con is like a finely tuned machine for extracting money from sf/f fans. ]

The lighting at the super little Brighton venue The Freebutt isn’t very conducive to photography of bands in action.

Well, it would be more truthful to say that the combination of my low-end equipment and beginner shutterbug skills weren’t up to the task of capturing Dead Meadow performing without using the Auto Mode.

But unmoving objects are easier to deal with, and Dead Meadow’s silver-finished Ludwig drumkit (with psychedelic oilwheel projections on the kick skin) made a rather charming subject, if I do say so myself. I really must get around to buying a faster lens, though.

Writing about music

As seen above, I had the Dead Meadow show to write about, which also featured local psych-out heroes (and lovely chaps) You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All Turn Into Demons.

All in all, a great gig and night out with friends, and The Freebutt is now on my list of fantastically non-corporate venues that I wish were on the end of my street.

Writing about books

I’m still wrestling with the Wolfe; I got to a stage where it felt like I was reading fifty pages and fining myself closer to the front than I had been before, but I’m now into the last quarter.

It’s not that it’s bad, it’s that it’s colossal - and I’ve not had many chances to just sit down and blitz the bugger. I will defeat it this weekend, one way or the other**.

Futurismic

Everything seems to be ticking over fairly well at Futurismic at the moment; last time I checked we’d had 2000 click-throughs on “Uxo, Bomb Dog”, and I expect there’ll be more in a long tail (arf!) to come.

Next Monday sees the return of our non-fiction columns, or at least the first of them; I’ll keep you posted.

ILLUMINATIONS

Well, the cat’s out of the bag now, isn’t it?

Editing ILLUMINATIONS in a tiny timeframe was one hell of a task, but strangely exhilarating - not to mention further proof that I tend to perform at my best (or at least at my most focused) when under pressure.

There was very little corrective editing to be done - except a few massages and tweaks of punctuation - as we decided to leave the stories essentially the same as they had been when first published on our respective sites.

However, getting everything into the same format and typographical layout was quite a mission for someone who’d never had to do such a thing before. And then there was the real challenge - deciding on the order for the stories.

We decided to go with a sort-of thematic ordering rather than the obvious chronological alternative (or the clunky grouped-by-author option), which mean yours truly had to read them all through, tag them with themes and tropes, and attempt to assemble them into a sequence that made sense.

I can now reveal to the world the incredibly high-tech manner in which I handled this process:

Yup. Whole lotta index cards.

Anyway, as this didn’t happen this week, I shouldn’t be talking about it in FPB, should I? I’ve just been itching to waffle on about it, though, and it’s hard to stop now that I actually can. Eastercon attendees, beware!

Books and magazines seen

Thanks to the charming and erudite John Joseph Adams, I’m now receiving books from Night Shade Books - these made up part of my bumper post day from earlier in the week.

There are two of Liz Williams’ “Inspector Chen” novels, which I sincerely hope to make time for; Liz Williams being one of those authors who I was utterly uninterested in until I heard her talk about her work, and in whom I become more interested with each successive encounter***.

The other Night Shade title is the lushly-jacketed Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams:

“A novel of the singularity”, according to the front cover. So many intriguing books, so little time - I demand my Modafinil, damn you!

Also in the postbox this very morning was Interzone #215, featuring my reviewing team’s round-up of 2007 (ooooh, the controversy), as well as fiction from Greg Egan and personal favourite Rudy Rucker. Not to mention the big bug-critter on the front:

Coda

Bloody hell, this year’s flying past. This time next week, I’ll be at Heathrow for Eastercon … in fact, only two more days of work and a career development course in London to go before my long weekend starts. Just goes to show that keeping busy seems to be the best cure for mopiness and general winter blues, at least in my case.

Easter is turning into one of those nexus points in life, actually; the con makes it a landmark point in my fandom social calendar, of course, but this year there’s been the additional crescendo of putting together ILLUMINATIONS with the same target date, and this week my boss at the day job departs for maternity leave.

I’m slightly amazed I’ve survived, to be honest; there was a point about a month back that I seriously thought I’d bitten off more than I could chew and would end up paying the price. But here I am, still sane and still working. That said, I think I now know where my limits lie.

And speaking of limits, this seems like a good place to define one for this week’s FPB. It’s high time for a cold refreshing pint of lager while I wait for The Friday Curry Of Reward … which will be all the more solemn an occasion due to having to suspend the tradition for Eastercon next week …

… unless anyone can recommend a good curry house in Heathrow and has no other plans for the Friday evening, that is?

Anyway, enough blather. Have a good weekend, folks. Hasta luego.

[ * Auto Mode gets the job done, but results in photographs which [unsurprisingly] look as if their subject has just had a very bright light go off in front of them, which isn’t ideal. It annoys the performers too, natch. ]

[ ** I'm serious this time; I'm gonna nail that sucker. ]

[ *** In other words, I suspect she may be able to write fantasy that doesn't make me want to break things, and I really should give her the opportunity to prove me right. She was interesting at Eastercon last year, and at Picocon the other week. ]

Yes.

Yes, I can.

I have been spending money I don’t have on things that make loud noises.

You may tell me this is unwise. You may tell me this will not endear me to my neighbours. You will be ignored on both counts, oh yes.

Writing about music:

Work continues apace at The Dreaded Press; this week’s recommended listen is I Am The Golden Gate Bridge by Creature With The Atom Brain.

Scuzzy whacked-out junkie rock’n'roll with a big helping of weird - think Butthole Surfers on a bong-binge.

Writing about books:

Still ploughing through the Book of the New Sun, meaning I’m falling behind on the Great Baroque Cycle Reading Project (not to mention other titles to be reviewed).

Some sort of concerted binge effort may have to occur this weekend; I’ve already had to concede that if I continue analysing the book as I read it, it’ll be well after Eastercon before I finish.

There’s just too much symbolism, and I’m getting hung up on trying to decode it all. Time to treat it like a normal* reader, I think.

Writing about other stuff:

In addition to today’s Friday Flash piece, I sent another one (a New Southsea story, as it happens) off to a magazine called Pseudonym.

It’s not a paying market, nor a science fiction market, but it’s one of those labour-of-love arty/designy type of magazines run by a friend of a friend, and they asked really nicely for something, and they said I could send fiction rather than non-fiction, so … I figured why not.

I quite like the resulting story, and will probably post it here in weeks to come.

Futurismic:

I’ve been really chuffed with the responses to “Uxo, Bomb Dog”, and with the resulting traffic at Futurismic.

I’m also pleased to have discovered Project Wonderful, an ad network that lives up to its name and which will be discussed in greater detail here some time soon.

Books and magazines seen:

Just the one this week: Murky Depths #3 has arrived, like some spectre of guilt intent on reminding me that (surprise surprise) I still haven’t read the first two.

Still, things should settle down at the end of the month**, so I can get some backlog-clearing done on the reading front.

Coda:

This week has been mercifully relaxed by comparison to the last. While the above may not seem a catalogue of triumph on the achievements front, I’m quietly happy with the fact that I’ve done everything that needed doing.

I’ve also succeeded in getting up early every day - which really does wonders for the old productivity, with the side effect of making you almost physically incapable of typing by 10pm.

The universe giveth, the universe taketh away … still, I feel like I’m making progress with things, and that’s good enough for me, thank you very much.

There’s been no gig-going this past week, but I’m off to Brighton tomorrow night to see the superb stoner-bluesmen Dead Meadow supported by local wig-out psych-rockers You’re Smiling Now But We’ll All Turn Into Demons, which promises to be a great night out … provided there are no embarrassing invisible guestlist incidents, of course, so fingers crossed.

But those are bridges to be crossed when arrived at; the current span stands between my empty stomach and The Friday Curry Of Self-congratulation And Righteousness, and so I shall step forth on the path to culinary adventure!

Have a great weekend, folks. Hasta luego.

[ * For 'normal', substitute 'sensible'. ]

[ ** How many times have we heard this one before? ]

Looks like Futurismic’s not the only site having a rebirth - the Internet Review Of Science Fiction appears to have returned!

That’s great news … even if it does mean I’d better take those John Meaney reviews off the back burner. Ahem.

***

Not so much of a resurrection as a late arrival, but no less welcome for that, F&SF steps into the blogosphere also - though still as a subdivision of SF Site.

C’mon, guys, your own domain name isn’t that big an expense, surely?

***

It’s been impossible to go anywhere in the sf/f world over the last month without hearing various rumours and confidential “now, you didn’t hear this from me, but …” statements.

But as Simon Owens has blown the whistle already, I guess we can all talk openly about the forthcoming Tor Books social networking / free content site. It’ll be interesting to see how this one develops.

***

And I promise this is the last time I’ll beat this drum, because I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir, but … io9, come on, FFS.

Look, I know you’re a Gawker outlet, and I know you’re aiming for eyeballs, but surely after attending the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference, you can do a little better than “OMG we so LOL luk at teh funneh!!1!”?

Newitz is a pro journalist on science subjects, or so I thought - so couldn’t we have had a little more serious coverage with some “pranks” thrown in? Or is pandering to the preconceived public image of science fiction fans as nerdy versions of Beavis and Butthead part of the job description?

And I realise I’ve probably just contributed to the preconceived image of science fiction literature fans taking everything way too seriously, but there you go. Feel free to contact my lawyer.

[Having just finished this post, I realise that the title would have better been used on a short story, too. Bah. Happy bloody Tuesdays.]

Those of you who like my live music photography are in luck; those of you not so keen have probably been longing for periods with steady sunny weather wherein I have more time on my hands. Sorry!

This is the bizarrely-named Grog, singer and bass-player of a three-piece band called Die So Fluid:

Don’t be put off by the pseudo-goth fetish outfit; their music is straight-up chunky alt-rock, close to the metallic end as far as heaviness is concerned, and wow - she can really sing. Proper gutsy vocals, none of your Gwen Stefani schlock.

Go check ‘em out on MySpazz if you don’t believe me - great band, live and on record.

Writing about music

The results of my night out in Southampton last week can be seen above, at least in part; Die So Fluid [live review] were supporting My Ruin [live review], who I also interviewed.

The pictures of the My Ruin set were unfortunately awful, thanks to a combination of poor lighting, low-end dSLR, a push-and-shove mosh pit … and my lack of ability to compensate for all three of them. Life’s a learning curve, eh?

Another busy week for CD reviews, but there’s a sort of pang about it - by Sunday, I will have finished my last weekly batch of reviews for sites other than my own.

I’ll still be writing for Subba-Cultcha and Pennyblack on an occasional basis, but I’ve reached a point where I need to devote all my music writing time to The Dreaded Press. The work is coming in steadily, and I need to stay on top of it.

But in the spirit of assessing ones achievements, it’s pretty impressive to me that in less than twelve full months writing for those two sites I’ve managed to rack up over 250 pieces of work (if you include the ones yet to be published).

You’d be forgiven for not believing me - I find it quite astonishing myself - but you can see the proof as a list of items tagged with my name at del.icio.us.

Crikey.

Writing about books

Minimal once again; see above. Will hopefully pick up steam again; see above. I did manage to get the latest Interzone review offers list out of the electronic door, though.

I sent a re-polished edit of my review of McDonald’s Brasyl to Andy Sawyer at Foundation; he seems pretty pleased with it, and reckons it will only need further trimming if the other pending material is equally excessive in length.

I don’t know if you remember me whining on about how immensely frustrated I was at being unable to hammer that particular leviathan of a review into shape at the time*?

Well, here’s a lesson for my self-critical facilities - with some relatively minor edits, it actually read fairly well. Amazing what a distance of a few months can make - I now understand the fiction writer’s advice about leaving stories fallow before editing them.

Currently reading Gene Wolfe’s Severian Of The Guild, and enjoying it immensely - although I can see a lot of reasons it might infuriate others. It reminds me of Mervyn Peake, though, and it’ll take a lot of frustration to dull that particular shine as far as I’m concerned.

As for analysing it from a reviewer’s perspective, however, I have no idea where I’ll even start. That said, I’ve not even finished the first book of four yet.

Other stuff

Much to the great frustration of a vocal minority of readers who have actually made a point of asking me about it**, the Great Pending Announcement will not be made today - it will be made on Monday 11th, for reasons that should become clear when the announcement is made.

But the way forward is clear and unobstructed - or at least as unobstructed as it’s going to get. Keep watching the skies.

Books and magazines seen

Zero on the fresh literature front this week, with the arguable exception of some very smutty manga from Yen Press that has no real literary merit that I can discern.

Let me be plain - I’m in no way opposed to the sale of smut (I’d be a hypocrite if I were), but sheesh - either give it a decent plot or stop pretending, y’know? An absolute endorsement of the adage that something labelled “not suitable for minors” might as well be labelled “will only be of interest to minors, mostly male”.

The end of an era twice over, too - picked up the final instalments of Doug Rushkoff’s Testament and Brian K Vaughn’s Y: The Last Man.

Y:TLM is a great piece of science fiction, though I’m sure the film they’re threatening to make will strip all the good bits out.

To fill the small but poignant gap that my only two running comic subscriptions have created by ending, I’ve put a couple of Warren Ellis titles on order. Yay!

TTAcon

It is my intent to head up to the Big Smoke by train tomorrow for TTAcon 9, a gathering of folk connected to TTA Press, be they staff or readers.

It’s being held at a pub called Filthy MacNastys near King’s Cross on Saturday 9th February - full details at the TTA website.

If you end up going along and you see me there, please make a point of saying hello - it’s nice to meet people from the intarwebs.

However, my attendance or otherwise is dependent on me clearing a bunch of writing this evening and tomorrow morning … I’m pretty sure I’m going to make it, though.

Coda

Those interested in the results of my frugality experiments will be fascinated to hear that I haven’t spent any unnecessary money since this time last week (with the obvious exception, which was declared in advance anyway).

Still not smoking, no alcohol for seven days, minor but daily exercise, early rising. It’s uncanny; I feel like I’m living someone else’s life. Part of me hopes they’ll ask for it back real soon; the other part is trying to decide how it should arrange the furniture.

But as for now I’m busy busy busy, so I’m going to wrap this up and get on with my proper work. Well, right after The Friday Curry, that is.

Hasta luego, amigos.

[ * You'd be forgiven for forgetting, because I was beginning to sound like a scratched record or a particularly uninspired televangelist. ]

[ ** This actually happened. It was very flattering - and it made me realise that I'm not the only person in the world who needs to get out more. ]

I took this shot at the show I went to review on Monday; thanks to the bizarre lighting set-up at the venue, it came out far better than the shots I took of the band.

Those of you who haven’t subscribed to the RSS feed yet (ahem!) can read my review of the From Autumn To Ashes set over at The Dreaded Press, of course.

Writing about music

As seen above, I reviewed From Autumn To Ashes on Monday night, and had a chat with their prodigal bass-player also. It’s nice to get out of town for shows every once in a while, but it’s a pain when the venue is only near to a local-route train station and you have to leave before the end of the night to get the last train home.

I was supposed to interview Yan from British Sea Power on Tuesday, but their drummer screwed up his back on the eve of their tour, so they were too busy rehearsing with a replacement to do interviews. So I’ll be talking to them before the show on Monday instead (which is much more convenient for me, anyway).

And on Wednesday next week I’m off to Brighton to watch the incredibly awesome Explosions In The Sky play the first date of their tour - which will be a super night out, I’m guessing.

Add to that a growing stack of CDs to review, for TDP and elsewhere, and things are bustling on the music front.

Writing about books

Polished and re-submitted my Debatable Space review.

I’m probably a mere twenty pages from the end of Swiftly, so the note-writing stage will be next.

Still haven’t gotten round to writing a Halting State review (see section above); hope to remedy that situation over this weekend.

Books and magazines seen

No new books this week, though I suspect one (or even both) of today’s “you were out” cards from the Post Office may well be book related. It’s been a busy week for magazines, though.

First of all was February’s F&SF - I honestly think they’ve failed to take my name off the list or something, because I’m sure I received and ignored a renewal note back in the autumn. But still they come. Go figure.

Obsessed With Pipework #41 appeared mid-week, which is my fresh poetry intake sorted for a while.

And then the latest BSFA mail-out arrived yesterday, so that’s one Matrix and one Vector - the latter of which contains my review of Morgan’s Black Man, if you’re interested, as well as more material of a much more erudite nature from a horde of other contributors.

Notable by its absence, naturally, is Interzone #215. Posted last Thursday, and no sign of it here*.

Holiday!

Right, enough ranting. I should be in a mellow place, as today has been the first of a run of days off from the day-job**.

There’s no shortage of non-day-job work to be done, though - the next week will see me attacking a pile of tasks that I’ve been meaning to do for ages.

Included are a reworking of VCTB’s theme, the basic framework of my nameplate/portfolio site, a concerted effort to get ahead of myself on the album reviews … and something else that is still currently a secret project***.

Coda

But (as the advert used to go), it’s not all work, work, work. I went for lunch with my mother today, for example. And I bought a new bed - because that, ladies and gents, is just how rock’n'roll I really am.

And hey, guess what - STILL NOT SMOKING.

Indeed, almost everything has been going extraordinarily well so far this year, albeit with one notable exception that throws the rest into sharp contrast. But hey, nobody’s perfect - not even me.

So, time for me to sign off and head out in search of The Friday Curry and leave you all to your weekend pursuits, whatever they may be. Have fun, ladies and gents - hasta luego.

[* I suppose I should cut the Post Office some slack - after all, Velcro City is a bit of a provincial backwater, what with us only having one of the major sea gateways to the continent to set us apart from any other remote one-horse hamlet ... but seriously, eight days? For a magazine to travel across the birthplace of the penny post and the heart of the industrial revolution, a country that is dwarfed by  most American states? Twenty-First Century, anyone? Sheesh. ]

[** They got tired of gently reminding me that I can't carry my entire leave allowance into the next tax year, and suggested it was high time I used some of it. The timing was opportune (I have a lot of things I need to sort out), so I took it. No day job for me until Monday 28th! w00t! ]

[*** Yeah, look at me teasing again. I'm such a tart. And it's actually two something-elses, too. Heh. ]

OK, so yet another week where I have failed to photograph anything of interest. I blame … the weather. Yup, the weather. That’ll be the culprit. Damned weather.

So, digging in the crates (or rather the folders of images from my old phone that just got replaced), here’s some early morning Southsea rooftop action from a month or so ago:

I quite like mornings, from an aesthetic point of view. I’m just not very good at being awake during them. Selah.

Writing about music

Another moderately brisk week on the music front. I’ve actually had some promo stuff come through direct to me, which means The Dreaded Press is getting some output - not least of which being my promised review of Cardiacs.

So go take a look, and make a fledgling independent music hack really happy by subscribing to the RSS feed. Go on, won’t cost you nothin’. And that’s quality writing there - none of that comparative NME-style rubbish.

I submitted the typed-up David Yow interview, which went really well; I’m hoping that it’ll run this coming week. I’m also hoping that the really entertaining bits aren’t stripped out for legal reasons …

Music stuff in the pipeline this weekend includes going to review Electric Eel Shock on Sunday (yeah, I did them before, but this time it’s for my own site), and knocking together a set of questions for the main man Henry Rollins.

Turns out I’m doing the latter by email, which is somewhat easier from my perspective - I’m not often awed by musicians any more (years of working in a venue and seeing them off-stage cured me of that), but this is Rollins we’re talking about, FFS! I’m not ashamed to admit I’d probably end up jabbering crap if I spoke to him on the phone*.

So, if anyone has any questions for Hank, drop me a line or leave a comment below.

Writing about books

Well, look at me - I actually got another book review out of the door (or hard-drive) this week. So watch out at SF Site for my review of Adam Roberts’ Land Of The Headless. The most amusing thing about that review from my perspective is the fact that the entire thing was a monumental exercise in procrastination, because what I should really have been concentrating on …

… was my Interzone piece on Iain M Banks and his forthcoming Culture novel, Matter. However, much of the research-type stuff is already done (Dr “BigDumbObject” Bloomer can attest to the forest of post-its in my now-autographed ARC), and a concerted effort over the weekend should see me meet my deadline successfully.

This will be made easier by the fact that the rest of the reviews section for Interzone #214 is already edited and emailed (and beautifully laid out and typeset by Andy and his tireless TTA goblins, I believe).

Speaking of Iain Banks, though …

The BSFA Iain Banks interview

Yours truly made it out of Velcro City for a reason unrelated to music journalism for a change!

I took the train to London on Wednesday to wind up at Imperial College’s physics department, where the BSFA were holding an unusually well attended monthly meeting (hence the change of venue - it’s usually in a wee pub).

The reason for the big audience was the interviewee - Iain Banks, of course, who is much more of a household name than many other British sf writers thanks to his considerable output of ‘normal’ fiction.

The delightful Farah Mendlesohn was the interviewer, and asked some probing questions. Having met the man himself a few times before, I think I was a bit more prepared for the fact the he doesn’t really analyse his own work to a great degree.

He’s an entertaining interviewee, no doubt about it, but don’t expect deep incisive insights into how he goes about writing his amazing novels - again, Dr Bloomer at Big Dumb Object is on the case with a rough summary of the interview. I did record the talk, but it’s being transcribed for Vector, so I’m afraid I can’t share the audio as I hoped.

It was my hope to triumphantly blazon a picture of myself and the good Mr Banks on today’s FPB … but I plain forgot to ask for a photo, and time was scarce.

But I do have an autographed ARC of Matter. So nyah.

It was nice to meet some old friends and put faces to some internet names. Niall was there, obviously, as was Graham Sleight (looking very sharp in a suit, I might add, and quite shaming my scruffy self); the afore-mentioned Dr BigDumbObject; Derrick Lakin-Smith (cheers for the beer, Derrick - my turn next time); Duncan Lawie (cheers for the beer and the chin-wag, Duncan!); Dave “Banksonian” Haddock … and a number of new faces whose names have faded from my abysmal short-term memory**. If you’re reading, drop a comment below, and feel free to castigate me for my shoddy recall at the same time. It’s a wonder I have any friends at all, really.

Orbital - Eastercon 2008

First of all, I’ll mention that the PR2 for Orbital turned up this week. While not strictly a book or a magazine, it is an arrival of some note - not least of which because, as Gareth D Jones points out, the Friday Flash Fictioneer workshop*** makes an appearance in the schedules!

I might take this point to mention that I am in the process of attempting to organise some kind of Second Life link-up with Eastercon - so if you’re a regular reader of VCTB who frequents SL, or if you’re going to be at Orbital and would be interested in lending a hand (or some expertise, or better still a reasonably pokey laptop), please drop me a line.

Books and magazines seen

Magazines

Murky Depths #2 turned up on Monday. In case you’ve not heard of it yet, Murky Depths is a new idea in genre fiction print mags (as far as I can tell) in that it blends the (dark) fiction and poems with graphical presentation of various forms - comics, CGI and other artworks.

There’s an impressive roster of contributors (Jon Courtenay Grimwood in the first, and Richard Calder in both, for example), and although I’ve still not gotten round to reading the first issue I received, I’ve heard good things said about it. But why take anyone else’s word for it? There’s a free sample PDF available on their website, so go lookee.

***

Just scraping into this week’s FPB (by dint of arriving while I was at work) is issue #13 of the ever-charming Electric Velocipede, featuring cover art from the sf blogosphere’s lord of snark, Steve “My Elves Are Different” Wilson (who has a rather incisive summary of the zombie-like resurrection of the SFWA copyright debacle).

Yet another item to add to the ever growing pile of stuff I want to read but don’t currently have time for … good thing that The Holiday That Shall Not Be Named is just around the corner.

Books

No sf books this week.

A few more bits and bobs from Yen Press via Orbit, though - namely a couple of manga books involving busty schoolgirls, which are not any where near as saucy as they may sound. If Benny Hill had been pitched at teenage male otaku, this might be how it had turned out. Not really my demographic - if you’re going to send me manga with busty schoolgirls, I want full-on tentacle hentai. Call me jaded.

In with the manga was a rather cute little book that I couldn’t resist, though: The World Of Quest #1 by Jason T Kruse.

The cartoon work is modern and bold (mildly graffiti-influenced, I suspect), and the plot seems to flick all the switches that preteen kids like flicked. Children’s librarians everywhere, take note.

***

A distinctly non-sf book arrived this week which is worthy of note - an ARC of Nicholas Carr’s The Big Switch.

Nick Carr is one of the sharper tech journalists about, and has the ability to cut through a lot of the more inflated utopian evangelist waffle that the Web2.0 industry churns out. The Big Switch examines the evolution of computing into a utility from an economic perspective, and is pretty interesting so far (I’m about half way through).

How did I get a copy? I just asked … and totally forgot I’d asked until it turned up in the mail, because I expected I’d probably been beaten to it by an army of other webby types. Selah.

Expect a review when I’m done with it - the topic is pretty relevant to any short-range future sf, and may well have something to say about the online magazine debate.

Coda

Well, there we go, the weekend is here - and a very grotty one it looks like it’ll turn out to be, if the world outside my window is anything to go by.

Still, I’ve a veritable mountain of writing stuff to do, anyway, so I doubt it’ll affect me. I actually find it easier to write when it’s raining, though I have no idea why. Paging Dr Jung …

Anyway, enough of this banter - it’s time for The Friday Curry Of Increasingly Wide Renown And Great Justice. Enjoy your weekend, folks. Hasta luego.

[* Yeah, yeah, I can hear your thoughts. "No change there then ..." ]

[** As I warned them might happen - I habitually carry a pen and notecards for a very good reason, but they'd be of far greater utility if I ever remembered to, you know, use them.]

[*** I think my major contribution to this will be standing around and looking clever, because my fiction chops are distinctly little-league compared to my fellow Fictioneers.]