Good afternoon, Taylers! It's been a while since I've posted any news and there have been some interesting things happening so here's an update.
Mycelia Publication and Cymera Festival Reading
Firstly I'm very excited to announce that my short story 'Golden Lights' has been accepted for publication in Mycelia, a printed publication dedicated to the weird and wonderful!
Published by Scottish independent publisher Hedera Felix, its a collection of fiction and visual art and will be available to buy from 3rd June from www.hederafelix.com. In addition to a Glasgow launch of the book near the end of June (I'll put up the date for this as soon as it's available), Hedera Felix will also have a stand at the Cymera Sci-Fi & Fantasy Writing Festival in Edinburgh which takes place from 7th-9th June at the Pleasance Theatre. I've been invited to perform a reading of Golden Lights on the Sunday around 1pm, which will be nerve-wracking as it'll be the first time I've ever done such a thing. There'll be a short Q & A as well which terrifies me. There's nothing like being put on the spot in front of several hundred people... Here's hoping people only ask "What is the fastest animal on earth?" or the like instead of enquiring about literary ambitions or how I get my ideas. "What's your favourite cheese?" is always a classic.
But tangents aside, please come and enjoy the festival and buy this lovely book. For more information on Hedera Felix and Cymera you can visit www.hederafelix.com and www.cymerafestival.co.uk.
As for Golden Lights, it features a prominent character from Boxhead (Marx), but I'm staying tight-lipped about the rest.
Boxhead Update
If you've been wondering what's happened to the elusive book, there's been a few stumbling blocks. In January I submitted a synopsis and the first three chapters to Luna Press as they were accepting open submissions, but was informed several weeks later that it had not been accepted. This was obviously disappointing but it hasn't discouraged me from writing and the process itself was actually a very valuable experience.
The chapter by chapter synopsis (as requested in the brief by the publisher) proved very revealing as, once written, I realised that my sci-fi story turned out to be hardly very sci-fi at all! I don't mean rocket ships and lasers, more that it didn't explore certain themes about future technology that I wanted it to. I had a choice: I could either retro-fit what I'd already written to try and shoehorn in more theme, or effectively write it again.
The turning point came when I read on over-edited chapter and it was just a mess... like three or four different songs all stapled together all with different sound qualities and sample rates. The ending wasn't right and there were certain things that had always bothered me (to do with characters and plot), so, after many thoughtful showers and contemplative late night drives home, I decided to begin again and started a new first draft about a month ago. Yes I know, new first draft, but I felt it important to create a flow from the start. I've not completely started from scratch. Most of the ideas are the same and there are still some parts that really work, but going by what I've written in the past few weeks rewriting it from the beginning as a complete draft is the way to go. Being turned down by Luna Press has ultimately worked in my favour as it's given me a much better perspective of what needs to be done.
In short, after a bit of a crisis, I've started again and it's going well.
I'm aiming for a completed first draft by the end of September. But fear not! Between now and then I'll be posting plenty of Boxhead-related content to keep you amused: character interviews, side-stories, etc.
And finally...
www.MidnightTayles.com is now go! You love it you tart.
The Hashtag Area
Reading: Tales From The Forlorn Hope (William Moss)
Watching: Clear & Present Danger
Listening to: Escape From Television (Jan Hammer)