Tatto For You

Apparent Technology Luddite warning! (though, in such a medium as a blog this is a nice irony) One of the problems with digital is it is very hard to archive long term, which will bemuse future historians I think. We've had computers in the mainstream for how long now? Maybe 30 years tops; and how many operating systems have we gone through? My the original files of my old stories written on my parents Amstrad 664 [TM] are gone, baby! The only version of them extant, printed copies. One day - and maybe the youngest of us here will be alive when it happens, but I am thinking a couple hundred years time - they may well come to the conclusion that paper is the most advanced step for (especially long term) storage of information. I certainly think the complete digitisation of the world is not as necessary as the digitisers would have us think... but that is just me. No one ever seems to think it necessary to really ask "Just because I can, does it mean I should..?" Having s...

I thought it would be simplest to show you the very beginning of Lamplighter . I will make some comment on each version but will let them speak for themselves - my hope is that when you click on an image it will show it at a better, more readable size. Please, ask any questions you like. As you can see my initial beginning was markedly different from what we now have in the book. My first thought was to start the very next day from where Foundling left off. I am glad that I did not. The where to begin a story is one of the big challenges in writing. Apart from this, other problems clear to me (now, at least) are a/ that Grindrod is unrealistically harsh & b/ the excessive use of capitals for his voice. Next is the proper beginning to the story; it is bloated and clumsy - but that is the nature of my first drafts for you... The comments on it are made by the fair hand of my publisher, Dyan Blacklock. The change from first to second draft is hard work but seeing the better, tighter ...

Well, it is near two weeks since the peep of the year and have you heard anything from me..?! I am very chuffed to break silence (as it were), do as others have done and post up a shortlist from the up and coming Cybils Awards in my own chosen genre, Fantasy & Science Fiction : Cabinet of Wonders written by Marie Rutkoski , Macmillan Graveyard Book written by Neil Gaiman , HarperCollins Magic Thief written by Sarah Prineas , HarperCollins Savvy written by Ingrid Law , Penguin USA Airman written by Eoin Colfer , Hyperion Curse Dark as Gold written by Elizabeth C. Bunce , Scholastic Explosionist written by Jenny Davidson , HarperCollins Graceling written by Kristin Cashore , Harcourt Hunger Games, The written by Suzanne Collins , Scholastic Wake written by Lisa McMann , Simon & Schuster ... and (*drum roll*) Lamplighter written by some weird fellow surrounded by notebooks in a darkened room, Penguin USA. A true and dare I admit astonishing honour - (watch for my over-...

Taylor - by email - asked this recently: "I have a question that has been rankling at me for a bit as I've become immersed in Monster Blood Tattoo, and it is this: In a world as monster-ridden and monster-phobic as the Half-Continent, why do people tend to have a negative view of lazhars, skolds, scourges, and any kinds of terotologists? I realize people might be a bit afraid of them due to their powers, but, for example, why does Felicitine refuse to allow Europe to stay at the Harefoot Dig? Or why, when Europe comes to see Rossamund at Winstermill, do most people "habitually disapprove of her trade"? It always seems that people are disdainful of those who have altered themselves for the protection of the Half-Continent, and in a land where showing the slightest bit of sympathy for monsters gets a person exiled or worse, this seems a bit narrow-minded of the population. What do you think?" To which I responded: I think you have hit the nail firmly on the head ...

Well, that was a (tongue in cheek) offering last post. Could it be possible? Would it be probable? If ever they married I would expect Sebastipole to get eaten at the end of the wedding night like some poor male praying mantis. Monday had a question (similar to one I received via email from Nick Nitsch of Nashville): "What kinds of music are most prevalent on the h-c?" Such a topic is indeed not distracting but fundamental to my conception of the H-c - there is a beautiful piece by Strauss (the younger I think) Invitation to a Dance which though actually truly too new, has been an abiding inspiration to me. Monday rightly deduces that there are regional and social differences, but in the main when I think music for the Half-Continent I think late Baroque (as it is called in our world) and early Classical - Handel, Vivaldi, Bach, counterpoint and the private chamber ensembles merging with and developing into Boccherini , Mozart, Haydn - essentially what is sometimes called...

Today in the Queen's Birthday Holiday and I would like to say Happy Birthday! to our dear Queen, bless her and the fact we get a day off here Oz. On a lighter note ;) I found this review thingy over at OF Blog of the Fallen the other day and just wanted to share because I so love it when a fellow soul is on the same wavelength - don't we all... Oh, and I am as yet to have breakfast.