13 posts tagged “pseudopod”

So, Indigenous Species didn't make it. Apparently it was well received, but it wasn't funny enough. Buggrit.

When I get back to my place I'll look for somewhere to send it.

Okay, I've got time and motivation. Here's a real blog entry.

I've been absolutely swamped with stuff recently. This, needless to say, is good, but it is also tiring and less-than-ideal when it comes to blogging. This is why I've been neglecting my Vox.

I've had to read a lot of books for uni. Time-consuming. It also leaves me almost fed-up with reading--which is why it took me such a ridiculously long time to review Dead Men and Women Walking for Flames Rising.

I haven't heard anything back from Pseudopod, but I wasn't expecting to. It's only been a few weeks.

I'm currently plotting a novel with Matthew, as well. It'll be a cyberpunk novel heavy on mythology. The research has been extremely fun and very interesting. Once we're done working on the GC sub, we'll get back to that. So far, it's looking quite promising.

This week I'm also proofreading an upcoming novel for Permuted. I'm actually really looking foward to that--I've been wondering for months when this particular work was going to be released, and now I'm basically getting a sneak-peek. Awesome.

I'm also reviewing another upcoming Permuted title for Flames Rising, which is, again, awesome.

Also, I got a 'special thanks' on the legalese page of the other novel I proofread for Permuted--Empire. Weird idea, but fun nonetheless.

When the stores open again, I'll be buying a microphone for yet another project. Me and a friend from the Permuted Boards are recording an audio version of Eric Shapiro's excellent novella, It's Only Temporary. It'll debut on Library of the Living Dead, and we're hoping to get it on Podiobooks afterwards.

So yeah, that's why my updates have been few and far between recently, and why I've taken this past weekend off. My brain is slowly recuperating. Aah, brain.

I realised that I hadn't sent anything off in forever, so I subbed Indigenous Species to Pseudopod. It's the best story I have that isn't intended for a specific pub, so off it went. It says they're more interested in tragedy than comedy, and that they'd prefer something without standard horror tropes such as zombies.

And I've sent them a funny zombie story. Still, I'm hoping that the tone will be enough. Also, I'm hoping that they'll just accept it because it's a funny zombie story. How can you not like funny zombie stories?

Also, after seen Mad Tante's post, I'm considering trying Script Frenzy this year. I have no idea why. I have no interest at all in scriptwriting, because, frankly, I suck. And I like description.

But I'm considering doing a Susan & Mitchell script, because I love writing their dialogue. Also, I'd just be writing it for me, so I could throw in as many giant sloths and Lovecraftian horrors as I wanted.

Hmm.

I buy at least three new books every month. Sometimes I buy new books, if I find something by an author I particularly like which I won't find anywhere else. Mostly, however, I pick up stuff at the local second hand book shop for next to nothing.

Still, I'm a student, and I can't afford to buy too many new books. Unfortunately for me, I read books at a quicker pace than I can actuall buy them. I'm not suited to libraries - I misplace things all the time, and sometimes I'll read a book in parts, spread out over a number of months.

Also, I like being able to read before going to bed. Until recently I didn't have a bedside light, so when I was getting drowsy I'd have to put my book down, get out of bed and walk across the room to turn my light off. Not pleasant in the winter, when the cold will wake me up.

The ideal solution to this is free audiobooks, and luckily for me, there's a large number of high-quality fiction podcasts available right now. It's these podcasts that get me through my gym hours, long train journeys, and hours before sleeping.

Recently, I've been listening to a lot of Scott Sigler's novels. I found out about his fiction through listening to Pseudopod: his story, Bag Man, was featured on their very first episode.

So far, Scott Sigler has released four complete podcast novels: EarthCore, Ancestor, Infection (now known as Infested) and The Rookie. He's just started on the latest one, Nocturnal.

Although the novels are quite disparate, they all have a number of things in common. The most prominent one: monsters. These are monster novels. In Ancestor there's genetic experiments, in all the others there's aliens. The other common denominator is solid storytelling.

I, for one, have really enjoyed these novels. No, it's not Willa Cather. But it is entertaining. Whenever I start on a Scott Sigler novel, I listen to all the episodes in one or two days, because you're just left wanting more. I purposely didn't start listening to The Rookie because I knew that I would get frustrated by the wait. I am actually following Nocturnal now, but that was because I'd rather wait a week at a time than half a year.

Oh, and if you're not usually into monsters / aliens / whatever, don't be put off. I enjoyed the hell out of The Rookie, which is about an intergalactic American football tournament. I don't mind aliens, but I detest American football. I still won't watch it on tv, but I certainly wouldn't mind reading another book about it. Providing there's aliens, of course.

Less than 12 hours after sending it off, I got The Cape back from Podcastle. It was a rejection: the editor who reviewed it wasn't able to really engage with it because too much of the action was in the flashbacks.

This is, without a doubt, the most constructive criticism I've ever got. It's kickass.

I'm going to try to restructure it, so that it's in (roughly) chronological order, polish it up and send it off to Pseudopod, because it does contain elements of horror. Or did I already send it there? I'll have to check. My mind is like a sieve.

This entry will be much more structured and succinct!

I've just noticed that I sent off Subscription to Cross-genre Cthulhu merely 3 days after The Cape! And that particular anthology is supposed to have a similar turnaround to Escape Pod. So I actually have two stories I can get antsy over!

Also, if I'm getting too optimistic, or if you just want to hear more from struggling writers, please go an listen to I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty. It is made of awesome. Mur Lafferty was, until recently, the co-editor of Pseudopod, the awesome horror fiction podcast. She also did and does a lot of other things, but they seem irrelevant to my blog, no matter how awesome they are.

I just looked at the ads in the vox.com/compose sidebar. One is telling me that God loves me and that He has A Wonderful Plan for my life. This is only feeding my unfounded optimism, even if I am an atheist.

So, I've been staying with my parents for the past week. I don't have a laptop, so the only computer I've had access to is my dad's, and I hate it with a passion. It's slow and full of bugs and the keyboard annoys me to no end.

 Because of this, I've written bugger-all. I've plotted out a novel and received a rejection from Pseudopod (for Bobby) but aside from that, I've spent most time watching Royal Ascot, listening to audiobooks and sleeping at strange hours.

 Oh, I've also met Marijn's kitten, and he's adorable. He attacks and investigates and bites everything (except for me) and when you see him stalk the air conditioner and then run away, you just want to pick him up and squish him.

 Except you don't, because then he'll bite you.

 Anyway, I've got to get my behind into gear - I've only written one of the three scenes I need to do for Script Frenzy, and I found out this week that I'm off to Rock Werchter next Thursday. So, for me, June just got a hell of a lot shorter.

 I'm off back home tomorrow though, so I'll do my best to bang out the next two scenes.

 I still can't believe that I thought it was last week. I was convinced that next Friday was the 22nd - but no, that's this Friday. Tomorrow, to be exact. What a mess.

 Add on to this the recent disorder in my head - personal stuff coming a hell of a lot quicker than I expected. That, in combination with my hormones and finally quitting my meds has had my head all weird, which also explains for the fact that I haven't been productive recently, even when in Leiden. I'm just getting my head around it, so I guess I'll be okay once I'm back in Leiden.

 Oh, and one of the more awesome side effects of finally stopping my meds is that my appetite has decreased exponentially. Can something decrease exponentially? Well, I don't care because you get the idea anyway. The result of this is that I've been losing a lot of weight, which is nice, what with me being single and everything. Also, it should save me a fair bit of money when I go to Werchter - I do believe I can live off of fruit biscuits for four days, so I'm pretty much set. I'll just stuff myself with fruit and vegetables this week to compensate for the looming unhealthy festival food.

 Also, I got my exam results from uni today - I passed every single one of this semester's exams, and I am now the proud owner of 48/60 ECTs. This means I've passed this year, and I only have to retake two courses to get my first year certificate and all that jazz.

I've been compulsively checking Escape Pod for the past week, because Steve Eley announced on the last episode that he would be informing us of the new podcast soon - the long-awaited fantasy-orientated spin-off.

So, soon there will be three kick-ass podcasts with quality speculative fiction. This makes Leah a very happy bunny.

But, it's Wednesday, and there's still no word on the new podcast. I guess he'll be announcing it in tomorrow's episode, but yeah, I'm very excited. Not because I'm that into fantasy - I'm more into horror, in case you hadn't noticed - but because this means there's going to be another quality story narrated every week.

It isn't very often that I hear a story on the Escape Artists Inc. podcasts that I don't like. Even if the story itself doesn't appeal to me, there's usually some very good narration, or at least an interesting intro and outro.

Also, I'm curious as to who will be staffing the new podcast - I'm only just getting into the whole fiction podcast scene, and I really have no idea who Steve has recruited.

Aaaah excited.

I'm going to wait for EP to get back to me on the story they currently have - The Cape - and then I'll send them TSP. I think TSP would work well in audio format - I wrote it as if it were something I was telling someone, rather than an actual short story. Also, I think that The Cape is more suited to Pseudopod than Escape Pod, so I'll send that off to PP once I've heard back on Bobby.

I'm about halfway through a new short story featuring Susan, Mitchell, a monster and a fair bit of violence. Oh, and some tea. I wanted to work on it tonight, but I'm shattered. I've been helping a friend paint her new bedsit the past few days, and it's quite knackering.

I shouldn't complain, really. One of my neighbours has been doing archaeological digs for the past week and a half and he has another week and a half to go. I have a big load of nothing planned, except for getting that room painted, meeting up with Len to get the remaining 2/3 of our script plotted and hanging out with Leontine tomorrow. Not exactly strenuous.

Oh, and I've got to go down the temp agency. I have three months of freedom stretching out in front of me, and I would like some monies. I want to buy books and clothes and subscriptions to fiction magazines. The latter wish is quite expensive, what with me living in Dutchland, but I'm sure I'll manage.

Bugger this, my head feels like it's full of something fluffy yet heavy.

I have just sent Bobby, the Not-quite-dead Rabbit off to Pseudopod.

When I reread and edited it, I discovered that it wasn't quite as crappy as I remembered. This came as a pleasant surprise. I think it may well be the best thing I've written to date, if not second-best (after The Cape).

So yeah, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed.