TODAY I TURNED FOUR, AND KILLED ME A STUFFED TOY!

Happy birthday to our nephew Harrison, whose 4th birthday party we attended today. It's not every day your Mum bakes you a cake in the shape of a popular children's entertainer, just so you can carve a hole in his head!

I'm hoping Luscious bakes me one in the shape of Will Ferrell for my birthday, just so I can do the same thing......

POTATO POWERRRRRRR!

Remember the potato tower the boys and I built, just to see if it would work?

We knocked it over yesterday. Check out the booty:

Not bad for an experiment. We're going to build another one next weekend, and leave them in a bit longer. And soon we'll have an army of slave potatoes, ready to act upon our every command! Mwooohahahahaaahahaaaaaaaaaaacoughgaspsplutterchokegag.....

HANGIN' WIF MY PEEPS

What a fun weekend to be out and about with friends and family.

Friday night we shared our recently discovered Curry Restaurant Of Choice with fabbo duo Callisto & Cheshire, in the hopes of a spice-induced entry into the world for little Callicheshbub. No luck, but wine, laughs, conversation, and plate after plate of bloody lovely korma, butter chicken, mango chutney, papadum after papadum..... one day we shall gather you all and crowd out the 16 seat capacity and more.

Finished the night off by coming back to our place and gathering round the table for a game of Give Me The Brain, one of only two Cheapass Games games we own. If there is a funnier game to play in a group, I've yet to play it. We spent as much time bent over with our heads on the table, laughing until tears soaked the cards, than we did fighting over who had possession of the 'brain'. There's a rumour that the Cheapass Games guys may be coming over for Swancon next year. I hope so. I truly hope so.

Having the three Triffkids with us made the night truly memorable. They love being around our friends: they've just never met anybody quite like them, and you can see the kids just soaking up the personality on display. And having a chance to interact in such a wonderfully social atmosphere rewards us all. It doesn't hurt that the kids themselves are 3 of the funniest people I've ever met, and I love hanging round with them.

Then , on Saturday afternoon, we had the utter joy of catching up with Adrian and Michelle Bedford for coffee, where we were able to express our deep envy at the sexiness of Adrian's new book cover, and listen with unconcealed excitement as he hinted about his big writing news. Adrian has honoured us with a mention in the acknowledgements to his newest novel, and we're just happy to know that there will be a time when we can tell people "Oh yeah, we knew him when he was just a folk singer..." :)

Sometimes you forget how lucky you are to have good friends. It's people like Calli, Chesh, Adrian and Michelle who remind you.

SO PROFOUND IT SHOULD BE ON A T-SHIRT

So halfway through the card game, apropos of nothing, Oor Cassie drops this into the conversation:

You know, it's almost impossible to play Cluedo with only two people.

Almost?

DR WHO

Have any aliens sucked as much as the Slitheen? Okay, yes, but have any who sucked as much been given encore screenings, and proven so central to the plot arc of the series?

The Slitheen suck. No more Slitheen. Bring back the bloody Sontarans!

On a sidenote, my personal Badwolf theory: it's the Doctor, and the whole thing is a setup to haunt him for whatever actions in his past he's hiding from the others.

HOW THE HELL DO I RECONCILE THIS WITH BEING HAL CLEMENT?

As if you needed any more prove that these memes are retarded: first I'm a hard SF writer, now this?


FANTASY! - Mystical, magical mayhem! You feel the
urge to write of fantastic worlds that never
were and the beings that might live there. Are
they Lands of Wonder or adventures of Magical
Folly? JRR Tolkien and Tanith Lee are your
guides.

What Kind of Novel Should I Write?
brought to you by Quizilla

TICONDEROGA ONLINE ISSUE 4

Come one, come all Issue 4 of Ticonderoga Online is now, well, on line!


Stories by wily veteran Rob Hood and eager newcomer Ashley Arnold. An editorial by Russell Farr which has me dying to get to my issue just so I can disagree with him! Geoffrey Maloney interviews one of my favourite Australian SF authors, Trent Jamieson. Rusty B interviews Jonathan Strahan. No less than 8 reviews of magazines and books from here and overseas.

And all for free. which is exactly how much we get paid :)

ONE FOR TWO

Came home today to one acceptance and one rejection.

The rejection was from US magazine Cemetery Dance, which is a bugger because it's a US magazine, pays well, has a good rep, and I want to be in it. Durn.

The acceptance came from Antipodean SF, who will publish And Just Like That... in issue 92, due to hit monitors in January of next year.

I like what Ion Newcombe does with this ezine, and I nominate him for the Peter MacNamara Award every year. Whilst everyone I know in the biz seems to make a point of stopping each month to read the 10 flash pieces he assembles, and names like Sean Williams and Martin Livings happily support him by submitting pieces (Ion can't afford to pay, so getting names this big is a real coup), Newk himself remains largely unheralded, which is a bloody pity, imho.

Go. Read. Vote for your fave story. Go back again next month.

COMING SOON, TO A SMALL BOY'S MOUTH

Woke up this morning to find that Connor had sprouted two new teeth in his top gum, to partner the two in his bottom gum. There goes my habit of letting him chew on my finger for fun :)


10 SONGS I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT

I've been thinking a lot about music recently, so I decided to put together a list of the 10 songs I can't live without. Dunno: maybe it's a manifesto-without-manifesting or something, one of those mid-life crisis moments where you have to outline to yourself what's important to you so you can die without questions, or something. Maybe it's just that this whole decluttering thing is happening internally too.

Fer what it's worth, in no particular order. Not necessarily even my favourite songs, or even my favourite songs by the mentioned artists. Just the ones I can't live without. Naturally, like any good list I make, the list of 10 has 13 entries:

1. Don't Come Around Here Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
2. Wish You Were Here Pink Floyd
3. My Beloved Monster The Eels
4. Coin Operated Boy The Dresden Dolls
5. Wonderful Life Black
6. Desperado Alice Cooper
7. Boss Of Me They Might Be Giants
8. Hide Your Love Away The Beatles
9. Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me) Steve Harley & The Cockney Rebel
10. Away Away Weddings Parties Anything
11. You Can't Always Get What You Want The Rolling Stones
12. Whole Of The Moon The Waterboys
13 Chicago Sufjan Stevens

ELVIS HAS RE-ENTERED THE BUILDING

So here's the news:

There was another pre-trial conference on Thursday. Friends and readers will remember how I felt after the last one, having gone in expecting some progress and returned with difficulties and upsets galore. I did not go into this one feeling the same way. I was prepared to go nowhere, and settle in for another wait.

I don't know what had changed in the meantime.

We reached a settlement on Thursday, one that represents the best compromise possible, and enables me to look forward for the first time since 2001. Legally, it is best that I say no more, but in any case, the details are between myself, Luscious, and the various legal personages involved.

But, oh readers, the upshot for us all is this: I have returned to this humble page. There is still some paperwork to be signed, and details to be confirmed. In the meantime, slightly-altered-but-more-or-less-normal service has been resumed.

To whit:

ADRIAN BEDFORD GETS COOL THINGS

Marvel at the utter groovy coolness of the new KA Bedford novel!

When I grow up I want a cover just like it.

SHADOW BOX

In my time away, I sold a story. Yay me. For the benefit of those to whom this sort of thing remains a mystery, I should define that statement by saying I placed a story. See, you send a story out in order to be rewarded. That doesn't necessarily mean you get paid money.

In this case, all I'll get is an electronic copy of the electronic anthology. But sales will help my good pals Shane and Angela keep their excellent website Shadowed Realms going, and help the fledgling Australian Horror writer's Association grow. Which rewards me, coz I'm a member, and I love the ezine.

Each story is a horror flash, of no longer than 120 words. Min is called I Can Make You Famous.

The anthology will be launched on Halloween night (when else?). Go. Buy.

MY WIFE IS A CLEVER THING INDEED

If you've journeyed past Shane Jiraiya Cummings' blog recently, you'll be aware of the Fading Twilight collection: 4 dark fantasy stories by the lad himself, Martin Livings, Luscious, and me. (No, no payment involved, just a percentage of future royalties on sale. Don't ask, just accept that there'll be bugger all cash involved).

Luscious finished her novella today: 11 and a half thousand words, the first to get to the end of her chosen tale. As a comparison, Martin's halfway or so through, and I've done....uh.... 95 words.

Lot of weather we're having lately, innit?

Can't wait to read her story: Aphrodite, Aboriginal spirits, death, rape, revenge from beyond all sorts of graves.... just my sort of thing :)

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR

There was another pre-trial conference today. And it went well. I don't want to say too much, but I hope to report the end of the haitus soon.