2009 Resolutions

This is a risky post because it is about good intentions rather than realistic projections but hey ho. In 2009 I hope to:

Complete writing the Xaghra’s Revenge fantasy novel, polish it and send it my agent.

Sell more short stories.

See our science fiction magazine, Escape Velocity, take off and soar into orbit.

See my writer friends, Gladys, Brian, Mark, Terry, Jen, Gareth, Les, Ben, Cafe Doomsters, Silky, Lanaia, and many others have success in their creations.

Reboot my painting interests – watercolours, not decorating.

Hug my family, and make my knee pain go away!

Libraries

This week Chester library takes possession of two copies of Exit, Pursued by a Bee.

I am registered with the Public Lending Rights folk so that in the long run I get a tiny bit of royalties when borrowers in the sample counties borrow my books. For that to work I need my books to be in those libraries.

A few friends have filled in forms or otherwise persuaded their local County libraries to buy a copy of Exit. I’ve reciprocated and filled in a reader suggestion-to-buy form in Chester for their books. If you live in Cheshire, look for Peter Tomlinson’s great fantasy books. It has always worked even though it can take 6 months for the library acquisition person to get around to ordering them. It seems very few readers go to the trouble of suggesting books for the libraries to buy so often the librarians are happy to agree.

I wonder if you would go to your main library and see if there is such a book purchase suggestion form or if not, if you can leave a note for the librarian. They’d need this info

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Author: Geoff Nelder

Title: Exit, Pursued by a Bee

Published by Double Dragon Publishing Inc.

ISBN: 1-55404-594-0  

List price £10.99

Year of publication: 2008

Genre: science fiction

Availability: through Gardners and online booksellers

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If you need a reason for the purchase, my friends have said such things as Geoff Nelder is a new science fiction author and the library has no copies of his books. He is a member of the BSFA and the Society of Authors.

The Grail

View to the Cheshire hills from my bike near Penyffordd

My fault for not checking but a nice surprise to find my short horror story, Witch’s Alien, was awarded third place in the winter competition at The Grail. This is a forum for mainly literary writers, many of whom I know from other forums such as Cafe Doom and Bibliophilia.  So what did I do with my prize money? Paid for my 2009 subscription! Congratulations to Patsy and Rachel for coming first and second in the Grail competition.

For the first Sunday for four weeks I was able to do a 30 miles cycle ride to Pontybodkin and back to Chester without rain, without slipsliding on ice and no fog! See the photo I took enroute. So I was able to rotate my legs and think of subplotting in my Xaghra’s Revenge novel in progress. Nearly finished, only a month or two to go.

on the blog talk radio

Aaarrggh! I was invited to talk about both Exit, Pursued by a Bee and Escape Velocity magazine on an internet radio show tonight. I was more nervous than a goldfish in a shark tank but Magdelena Ball was expert at making her intervees feel at ease so it went well. I had to read an excerpt and then natter to her about the book, science fiction and the magazine. I quite enjoyed it after all. Strange topology to think that I was in the UK, Maggie is in Australia, and the program is recorded in NYC! For those who enjoy listening to a slow soft Gloucestershire accent the archived version is  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/bc/compulsivereader/2008/12/08/Interview-with-Geoff-Nelder

frosts and words

Last week I’d originally planned to have a writers away week in a log cabin in Wales. Having discovered that my wordage increases with distance from my house chores, I’d organised the 90 miles trip via my Dawes Super Galaxy touring bike staying at the Ffynion Wen Youth Hostel before dark on the first leg. However, the weather forecast promised deep frost, and snow during the journey and since I’d top 850 metres my cogs would be likely to fall off…

So I travelled with my wife instead. Photos are
http://www.geoffnelder.com/plastalgarth/pt.html
While shivering in the cold Plas Talgarth apartment, I did read a couple of books to review - A comic science fiction novella, Bark! by Darrell Bain – very amusing too – how could it be other with the star being an ADHD minature dachshund that saves Earth from an inadvertent alien invasion. Find Bark! here

I also read an intriguing take on the Pied Piper of Hamelin legend. Piper is written by established author, Helen McCabe. Helen doesn’t hold back from the dark side in her well-researched interpretation and her skillful writing makes the chilling pied piper character real enough to induce nightmares. I’ll post a link to my review in a later post.

Brian Withecombe At the Eleventh Hour a tale of the end of the First World War, has been published by Chipmunka Publishing and is a fascinating fictional insight into what it must have been like to be a soldier on the front line in the last moments of the first world war. I hadn’t known that fighting continued even after the Armistice was signed, in order to squeeze any land advantage.

Finally I returned home to find a package from Gladys Hobson. I held the honour of doing a minor touch of editing to her anthology of mainly Ulverston stories published as ‘Still Waters Run Deep – Stories of hidden  depths. link here  The blurb, written by me says:

“Don’t be fooled by the writings of Gladys Hobson. She appears like a harmless mature woman and so you settle one afternoon to relax into her stories. Then in goes the hot poker and you find the goings on in Ulverston, ignited passion, and Cumbrian emotions. The wicked are saved by pseudonyms, the innocent by their ignorance. This collection is a jigsaw of zeal and a genuine feel for landscape.” Good job, Gladys.

Incidentally, both Gladys Hobson and Brian Withecombe are with me as former clients of the sham literary agent, Christopher Hill. See how in spite of adversity we triumph!