Story Sale

Top news: I have sold a story to the excellent British crime fiction mag Crimewave. This is published by TTA Press, also responsible for the renowned horror/slipstream mag The Third Alternative (now known as Black Static). Years ago I got a story published in The Third Alternative, so this is like doing the league and FA Cup double, albeit several years apart. Of course, TTA Press also publishes the legendary Interzone. I guess that would be like the Champions League or something. But I'm not likely to win that. Anyway, the story is YOUR PLACE IS IN THE SHADOWS. I'll give you a prod when it's out.

This has made me want to write another bunch of short stories. And I would if I didn't have so much else going on, writing-wise. I'll let you know about some of that soon enough.

Nothing you ain't seen before, but...

...see it again:

NAKED WRITING: A Manifesto

I admire writers who write with their balls out. Your balls, they are not those things down your pants. They are the things that allow you to write from within, and not filter it through some theoretical idea of popular opinion. Your balls allow you to write human stories and not approved material. Your balls are not concerned with wrong- or right-headedness. Your balls are you.

I admire writers who write with their cock on the block. Your cock, it is not that thing down your pants. It is your public reputation, and the idea of yourself that you want to project. He is the Sid Vicious you see in the mirror, not the Phil Collins that everyone sees when they look your way. Safe writing is the kind that does not take risks. It is concerned with making the reader think that the author is nice, or at least not hate him or her. You should risk that wrath.

I admire writers who write with their arse on display. Your arse, it is not that area down the back of your pants. It is the thing that (sorry) makes people laugh. This is about putting in a joke when you're not sure if it's the right moment. This is about deriving mirth from questionable sources. If there is humour there, it must be funny. Why deny it? Suppress gallows humour and you end up with sick jokes circulating via email and no one knowing who started them (until it all blows over... and then everyone claims them).

I admire authors who write with their tits out. Not sure why, just sounds like a good idea.

Out in the midday sun

Got a bit bored watching the overly technical boxing display of Floyd Mayweather Junior last weekend? Here's yer antidote!

Mr Lenin, awaken the boy

Hey, me here. Been a bit quiet here of late. Here are three random facts for you:

1. The appendices to Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell's FROM HELL take much longer to read than the novel itself.

2. There are lots of little black and red beetles everywhere. What are they? Never seen the little buggers before. Are they aliens?

3. 28 WEEKS LATER is out next week. Or this week, or whatever. Personally I'm not sold on fast-moving zombies. There is something creepy as hell about relentless shamblers. Fulci's have the edge on Romero's.

4. Beating a late-career Oscar De la Hoya proved nothing. Pretty Boy Floyd should have faced up to Ricky Hatton at light-welter. Or Miguel Cotto. Not one of these big-name proven losers. Mayweather comparing himself to the Sugar Rays is a joke. Robinson faced everyone. And dispute the outcome all you like, but Leonard put it all on the line against the steamroller that was Marvin Hagler.