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12 Books in 12 Months

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Captain America vs. Science

Last night we saw Captain America, which was jam packed with SCIENCE.  Very unspecific science, admittedly (what was actually in Dr Erskine’s serum?  Other than a substantial quantity of schnapps), but science nonetheless. 

OK, maybe I’m overselling this.  It’s not science exactly, more a vague approximation of it.  Perpetrated by Dominic Cooper, of all people.  Seriously, of all the actors you could cast as a brilliant American inventor, you go for the dude from Mamma Mia who can’t do accents. Continue reading “Captain America vs. Science”

Science Fiction Brainstorm

Click to embiggen!

When in doubt, brainstorm.  Turns out I’ve sucked up a lot more sci-fi in my time than I first thought – not all of it entirely sensible.  Does anyone else out there remember The Tomorrow People?  The early 90s version featuring Todd from Neighbours, not the original 70s incarnation with Peter Davison.  The vaseline-edged corners of my mind remember it as being pretty good.

Anyhoo, having reminded myself I actually do have a reasonable amount of genre knowledge, I scribbled out several pages of plot and character ideas, and now some chapters are forthcoming.  Isn’t the creative process magical.

Inky Fingers Minifest (Thar be Monsters)

I have received the following missive on the subject of the very first performance at the Inky Fingers Mini Festival.  It sounds entertaining, and I for one will be heading along to find out more.

HELLO.

On Monday the 8th of August at half past of the twelve, in the downstairs boudoir of The Forest Cafe, in Edinburgh, comma, myself and Mr James Anderson (Apprentice Tailor) shall be performing unto you a historical presentation regarding – I just saw a chicken, go me – a historical presentation regarding an unexplored nugget in the Edinburghian Fish’n’Chip Emporium that is Time.

‘The Life and Times of an Edinburgh Monster’ is a title that, in hindsight, gives away quite a lot.

Continue reading “Inky Fingers Minifest (Thar be Monsters)”

Writing Science Fiction

You probably know the drill by now, dear reader.  It is the first of the month, so I am discarding book 7 like an old belt with no buckle and beginning afresh on book 8, my Sci-Fi opus.

I was provocatively poor at science in school, sitting Standard Grade Physics and Chemistry for no real reason that I can recall (I think most of my friends were doing it) and wishing later that I’d done Biology instead because at that level it seemed to involve a lot of writing, something I am good at, as opposed to learning equations, something I am bad at.  For this reason you will not be getting a hard sci fi book out of me, because any attempts to be technical will be about as convincing as John Yates in front of the Select Committee.  Furthermore I have the eternal lack of research problem, which always makes avoiding cliches a challenge.  Still, I haven’t let it stop me any other month and I shall persevere this time too. Continue reading “Writing Science Fiction”

Royal Wedding #2

Today in Edinburgh (my place of residence since June 2008) there is a totally exciting royal wedding.  That horse riding royal one is marrying a rugby player (who may also ride horses, I don’t really know).

According to my sources (Twitter) a group of people from the Highlands have been camping near Canongate Kirk since 2pm yesterday in order to catch a glimpse of the happy couple.  The wedding is at 3pm today.  For my part, I am sitting in the flat listening to Andrew Collins and Josie Long on BBC Radio 6 Music, eating cold pizza and trying to work out a realistic word count target that I can reach before midnight tomorrow.  When the bell tolls 3, meanwhile, I’ll likely be on my way to Perthshire.  Different strokes for different folks.

Continue reading “Royal Wedding #2”

A Reading

Yesterday was the busiest I’ve ever had on the 12 books blog, which is lovely, so I hope people liked it enough to come back.  If you are visiting for the first time and would like to know what on earth is going on, you can read a quick overview on IdeasTap or a slightly longer evaluation of the journey so far on Mslexia.

Meanwhile here is a reading from book seven, which you may remember is aimed at kids and is about a grumpy wizard called Snooky Jim, a slightly batty cat lady called Amelia Trousers, and a young lad called Chris who is well brung up and usually eats his greens.  I wrote this yesterday and have just done one take, so it’s literally just me reading off a bit of paper.  But it’s pretty short, so that’s a bonus…  And anyway if you don’t like it you can’t be mean cause it’s my birthday, so there.

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