Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

To everyone who reads my blog I'd like to wish you all a

And I hope 2008 brings you all that you wish for!

SF GEEK?

Tried this test after seeing a link from the Whispers of Wickedness site and scored 86

	I received 86 credits on The Sci Fi Sounds Quiz How much of a Sci-Fi geek are you?
Guess the Sci-Fi Movie Sounds hereCanon powershot

I'm a Grandpa again :)

After almost eighteen hours of labour my daughter gave birth to her third child this evening, whoohoo!

Raphael was born by caesarian and a month premature and weighs in at 4lb 9ozs.

I'm the first non-Amazonian to post his bookshelf!

Omnivoracious, Amazon's blog is doing a weekly banner feature of readers' books and I'm the first non-Amazonian to have his bookshelf up there! I've also been asked to write a few words about my selection, however, being a writer (of a kind) I've got a tad carried away and sent them a short story (almost) so it remains to be seen if it all gets posted. Anyway, should you want a peep at my ramshackle shelf and what I tend to read then click here before the bookshelf falls down (I'm useless at D.I.Y.) The banner shows a small part of the bookshelf if you click on my name on the right it takes you to more blurb.

Japanese to butcher Humpbacks

Against Western protests the Japanese are setting sail for the Antartica to hunt for Humpback whales which up to now they have refrained from slaughtering. However, as they have decided that the whale population has recovered enough to warrant a managed catch they are going to include Humpbacks so that they can 'study' and therefore help 'preserve' them... yeah right, in their stomachs?

The Japanese kill more than 1,000 whales a year in the Antarctic and also the Pacific Ocean utilising a loophole in the 1986 international moratorium that allows catching whales for 'research'. Only Norway and Iceland defy the moratorium outright.
But this year, Japan is expanding the catch to harpoon 50 humpback whales.

They also plan to kill 50 fin whales -- the world's second largest animal after blue whales -- as well as 850 smaller minke whales.

It will be the first time that Japan has hunted humpback whales since an international moratorium on the species took effect in 1966 due to overhunting. The former Soviet Union also defied the moratorium through the 1980s.

I drive a Mazda 6 and will probably change my car next spring for a new one, I will definately NOT be buying another Japanese one, I know this is a small token of protest but if more people spoke out perhaps Japan would wake up and smell the reek of disapproval that only they seem oblivious of.

If you want to lodge a complaint then this is a link to the London Embassy for Japan :- Link

Hot off the press! Joe Abercrombie's answers and secret identity!

Having the feeling that Joe is the sort of guy not to turn down a challenge I wasn't surprised to receive his answers to my five questions (some of which were a little risqué) and find that they were answered with poise and assurance. Here are the questions and Joe's answers:

1/ Joe, if you had the power to ban one single type of garment worn by humans on the earth today, which would you choose?

Why do I do this? Why?

1. Caps worn with the bill in any direction other than forwards.

2/ Joe, have you ever tried lighting one of your farts? If yes, why? If no, why not?

2. No. I once saw someone else burn himself quite badly attempting it. Not on the fart, incidentally, but on the lighter.

3/ Joe, if Megatron had a fight with Godzilla who do you think would win?

3. I think these two are both misunderstood, and would resolve their differences peacefully.

4/ Joe, if you were chosen to be the first human to meet an alien that had landed on Earth would you prefer to take a Desert Eagle Automatic with you are a Welcome to Earth sign?

4. I'd say the desert eagle, except I know I could never handle a .50 magnum. So gimme the sign. At least I could hide behind it.

5/ Joe, have you ever had a back, sack and crack wax? If yes, was it all you imagined it to be? If no would you consider having it done?

5. No need. I am entirely hairless, like an albino slug.

Thanks Joe

footnote:

Now the more observant reader out there will have noticed Joe's last answer where he compares himself to an albino slug, strange you might think considering his photos show him with a head of hair and a stubble-covered chin, could they be images of a stand-in?

Below is an artist's impression of what Joe could really look like...

Five Questions For Joe Abercrombie

After seeing the five questions that Joe Abercrombie (he of The Blade Itself and Before They Are Hanged) was asked by Ken on Neth Space and his answers I wondered if he'd be up for me asking him five questions as I reckoned I could field five off-the-wall questions which would challenge him more. However, I made the mistake of asking him on his blog if I could ask him five questions... he said 'of course you may put questions on your blog. I don't promise to answer them, though.ha ha.'
Bah! that'll teach me to be more accurate with what I'm writing. However, I'm going to post the five questions anyway and see if he responds, they are all profound, thought-provoking and are here:

1/ Joe, if you had the power to ban one single type of garment worn by humans on the earth today, which would you choose?

2/ Joe, have you ever tried lighting one of your farts? If yes, why? If no, why not?

3/ Joe, if Megatron had a fight with Godzilla who do you think would win?

4/ Joe, if you were chosen to be the first human to meet an alien that had landed on Earth would you prefer to take a Desert Eagle Automatic with you are a Welcome to Earth sign?

5/ Joe, have you ever had a back, sack and crack wax? If yes, was it all you imagined it to be? If no would you consider having it done?

There, as I said, all profound and in perfectly good taste...

Halloween Street Festival Bridgend

Paid Bridgend a visit over the week-end where they were holding a Halloween Festival and I'd been invited to read one of my creepy stories at the evening get together. However, public speaking isn't one of my strengths so I declined but I did wander around the various stalls in the city centre and stumbled across this weird tent with some strange people selling books in it. They dragged me in a forced me to smile for a photograph.

From the left: Chris of Pendragon Press - Me (Bob Lock) - Steve of Screamingdreams - Frederick another author.

Halloween Estronomicon

Ok, the pdf of Screamingdreams' Halloween Edition of Estronomicon is live! Yes it will jump off the page and eat your face, here:
Eat my face!

Estronomicon Halloween Issue

Screamingdreams has released the Halloween Issue of Estronomicon and it's free here: OOPS! the link I had here was for the authors only, so they could check their drafts, hehe. When it's ready for release I'll re-link it, for those of you who already downloaded a copy, I hope there aren't any errors and you don't go selling them on Ebay if there are.... :-)

There are some great stories to read and excellent graphics to view, Steve's put together yet another fine Ezine, well worth a visit and it's all free. Hope you enjoy my story, let me know if you do or don't.

Well done Argentina

I haven't updated my blog in a while, mostly because things have been slow and there hasn't been much news. I have enjoyed The Rugby World Cup, especially the Argentinians who brought a refreshing uplift to the series. They had a well-deserved third place and I think would be a formidable team should they ever get the opportunity to play in The Five Nations Tournament.

Other news: Got a horror short story coming out in the Halloween Edition of Estronomicon from Screamingdreams. It's called 'Here we go again' and I'll link it once it's published.

The Empathy Effect

Well, got the first draft done of 'The Empathy Effect' it's a novella of about 44,500 words (thats about 155 pages I guess) and is more of a 'slipstream' story than 'Flames of Herakleitos' which was a dark/sf/fantasy novel. It's a story about a manic few days in the life of Cooper Jones who is a young man living in today's Swansea. A bit of a loner, ground down by a sense of shame (for not doing enough to save a school friend when he was a youngster from being brutally murdered) he seeks solace in drinking himself into oblivion every night. Add to that he is a Traffic Warden and the fact he has a strange 'power' which enables him to 'sense' what people are feeling, sensing, believing, even their desires or emotions. His power, however, is erratic and manifests itself when he least expects it, this leads to a pretty chaotic lifestyle which only gets worse when he gets setup as the fall guy in a robbery, kidnapping, murder and a dog-baiting ring.

Can Cooper stay sober enough to extricate himself ?
Can he save his girlfriend from a physcopath?

Can he stop the dog he's baby-sitting from savaging his family jewels?

Can he finally get some control over his empathic powers?

Perhaps, but first he has to save himself from drowning because someone's bound him to a lower stanchion of Mumbles Pier... and the tide is coming in...

As I've said, it's the first draft, perhaps when I've edited it a couple of dozen times it might get a little thicker or even thinner, but hopefully all the typos will be cleaned out.

Then all I have to do is find someone willing to publish it, hopefully because it's a little more 'mainstream' than straight fantasy or science fiction it might be easier to find a home for it.

Here's the opening, see what you think:

THE EMPATHY EFFECT

Chapter 1 June 13th 2006

You’d think if anyone of all people could have seen it coming it would have been a guy blessed with the ability to imagine oneself as another person or even feel that other person’s emotions. That guy that could thereby foresee the probable outcome of the other person’s actions before they occurred.
Well, you would, wouldn’t you? I’d think so too and usually I do foresee these actions. Nevertheless, when you see me trussed up like this – and bear in mind its not even Christmas yet so the possibility that I’m impersonating a turkey awaiting the oven should be discounted – then it doesn’t leave many alternatives to think about, does it?
Oh, now you are thinking, perhaps he’s a sadomasochist. He’s the type who gets off being wrapped to one of the support legs of Mumbles Pier with industrial strength cling film whilst the incoming tide laps gently around his crotch and his friend’s little dog – which he was taking care of – has been thrown into the water with a brick attached to its collar. Or you might think he’s the type who enjoys being told that his girlfriend has been made to swallow a stomach full of rat-poison-filled condoms, wrong again. Could I be filming the next James Bond Blockbuster? Check it out. Is that a camera over there? Is it capturing the simulated horror upon my face as I act out Bond’s cliff-hanging opening scene as a scantily clad, nubile young woman surfaces between my legs with a wicked smile and a knife between her teeth then cuts through the wrapping and saves me?
Then roll the opening captions!
I wish!
Some human beings have the capacity – some say through a gift, I say through a bloody curse – by means of a sophisticated and imaginative process, to be able to place themselves in another human being’s position and therefore sense how they feel, act, or react. This capacity, whether or not you want to go with the ‘gift’ word usually has its roots set deep within the recipient from an early age, and through time, develops as its host matures, regardless of the fact if the owner of this gift nurtures it or denies it. Don’t ask me how it works. I don’t have a clue, but work it does. Perhaps the ‘gifted’ have that little extra which normal humans lack. I’m not talking about magic or anything like that. No, I like to think it’s more along the lines of recognizing emotions in others on a finer scale than ‘normal people’. Perhaps we see facial expressions, body movements, even the tone of a voice; I’d even go as far as saying the way a person smells can give the likes of someone like me an insight into how that person is feeling inside and how he or she will react to certain stimuli. So, if you want me to put a finger on what it is I do, or perhaps feel, then I can’t answer you because it’s just as much a of mystery to me now as it was twenty-something years ago when it first manifested itself.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I haven’t wandered around all this time in the dark not understanding or seeking to understand why I’m different. I’ve been prodded and poked by the best. Doctors, psychiatrists, priests, you name ‘em, I’ve been poked by ‘em. They all more or less come out with the same word for me.
My name is Cooper Jones, and I’m an empath. Oh, and yes, the water is now up around my neck and I am going to start drowning soon.
See?
I told you I was empathic…

New Covey Awards Result & Neil Gaiman Result!

Sadly 'Flames' was extinguished in The New Covey Awards for best cover art by Aleka Nakis' 'Eyes of the Dead' congrats to Aleka. Many thanks to all who voted for Steve's artwork, much appreciated.

However, I had a bit of luck with a competition in The Guardian by winning a runner-up prize in a Neil Gaiman comp of a copy of his film tie-in book 'Stardust', received the confirmation email today from Becky Fincham, Publicity Manager for Headline Publishing Group.

Thanks Guardian and Headline :)

Vote for 'Flames' Book Cover

Steve Upham of Screamingdreams is the artist that designed the cover for Flames of Herakleitos and is in the running for an award for best cover on this site: Covey Awards I'd appreciate anyone reading my blog to take a trip over there and voting for him, the reward is just kudos and a winner's icon to add to his website but it would be nice for him to get some recognition for the cover :)

Fiction-Online Ezine (Story of mine there)

Stuart Tracey the editor of the webzine FICTION ONLINE has published a SF short of mine 'Do We Not Bleed?' in their September issue #4 and the download of the whole magazine can be found here : download and it's free! It is a PDF file so you'll need a reader like Adobe. This issue is a fat 29 pages long and has other shorts from : Sarah Hughes - Gareth L Powell - Andrew Knighton. It also has book and game reviews. Stuart is still open to submissions so if you have something you think would catch his eye go take a look at his site.

Are you Bionic?

Found this little test thingy, shows if you are Bionic or not:


See What You're Made Of - Visit The Official Site

As you can see I'm only 41% Bionic, so that must be my capped teeth, my reading glasses and my Borg Hearing Aid...

D'oh!

Found this site last night and I have to say the resemblance is remarkable!

http://simpsonizeme.com/

Insight into Small Press Publishing

Steve Upham of ScreamingDreams Publishing has done a great PDF ezine regarding the trials and tribulations of adding a print publishing side to his Ezine Estronomicon. It's a free PDF and well worth a read here is the link: Free PDF You'll need Acrobat or something to read it.

Two books worth reading!

I don't usually review or recommend books on my blog, but I do have Library Thing down the side to show what I'm reading or have read etc. However, I've just finished two books which I'd like to endorse to anyone who enjoys a fast paced fantasy and they are:

The Blade Itself

and

Before They Are Hanged both by Joe Abercrombie

Although I normally read SF, Neal Asher, Gibson, Reynolds, Richard Morgan, etc etc, now and then I enjoy reading something in the fantasy genre, could be because in my younger days I played D&D turn based board games with a gang of drunken friends and had some great times, could be because I like MMORPGs too and they are mostly fantasy-based. Anyway, it was a joy reading these two books and I have a feeling that Joe might have delved into the D&D & MMORPG worlds now and then too. Both books are of the non-stop page turning variety and should be read in sequential order, the third, and I think final book is due out March 2007 ( a long time to bloody wait!)

His characters have a flair to them that has you rooting even for the nastier of the bunch, take Glokta the torturer for example. A character that was once the best swordsman in the land but now crippled through being tortured himself. Glokta has embraced the only skill left to him, inflicting pain, seeking out confessions (whether or not the person has done it!) with an expertise born from an intimate knowledge of suffering, you can't help but like him!

Logen, the barbarian who seems to have death sitting on his shoulder, wherever he goes bodies are usually left in his wake, broken, torn and always bereft of life (and that's not only his enemies, his friends can also end up the same way)

There are loads more of well-drawn characters within Joe's novels and even if you are not a fantasy genre reader I'd still say give these stories a try, you may become converted!

Some more stuff published

Had some more of my work published lately, firstly had a poem of mine - 'The Grapes Of Wrath' published in the summer issue #15 of Whispers of Wickedness Magazine (also have a short story on their website)

And the other good news is I had a set of four SF/SFF haiku printed in Hahaku a collection of senryu-scifaiku with a smile, edited by Teri Santitoro and published by Sam's Dot Publishing, and best of all I got paid for them! A free copy of the little book and $5.