Flash

I've been writing a lot of flash fiction lately. Flash stories tend to be less than 1000 words, although the definition varies. I've been keeping to a 750 word limit because I've been taking part in a comp organised by my online writers group. The challenge is to write five flash fiction stories in five consecutive weekends, then spend the intervening weekdays scoring and critiquing the other entries. The tough part is writing to prompts, and the prompts are not revealed until Saturday morning – and that means Saturday morning in the US. Here in the UK Saturday morning happens to be 2-30 in the afternoon, so really I only get a day and half to think of an idea, write the story and post it. It's great practice for working to deadlines.

The whole thing has been a lot of fun and I've had the chance of reading some cracking good stories, and it's a safe place to experiment with things I wouldn't want to try in an open market. By and large I've done okay. We are now four stories in and I'm holding position mid-table. That was until last weekend. The results are in for last weekend, story four, and I got creamed. Crashed and burned. I won't say where I came because I want to retain my anonymity. (It is a good thing the comp is anonymous. Nobody knows who was responsible for the horror of last weekend. Not yet, anyway.) I think I'll ease up on the experimentation, now. It kind of dents your self-belief. But I dont reely care. Im imune. I have a tuff skin. I know I can stil rite good.

So now is the eve of the fifth and last weekend. I'm scored on the best out of three, so story four has to be forgotten, put aside, cast from memory. This is it, the last chance to climb up the table. But here's the rub. I have a busy weekend coming up, with an anniversary party on Sunday followed by a late night train journey down to London. Chances are the two hours I get on the train are going to be the only two hours I'll get all weekend. So there. That's my excuse. My fallback position.

I will let you know what happens, unless, of course, I come last. In that case I won't mention flash fiction ever again.

Why Mike with a J?

I've covered this before, but now it might be about to become topical again.

I started using the Mjke spelling once it became obvious that I was never going to have a "Mike Wood" presence online because of the plethora of politicians, historians and sports stars who all managed to lay claim to the conventional spelling first. I took the decision to use Mjke for my by-line but then a bunch of stories were published under the Mike spelling, and suddenly it didn't seem such a good idea any more.

Well, I've gone through something of a publishing drought, lately, so maybe now is a good time to re-brand. Also I found I'd written a lot and then had become lazy about sending the stuff out, so I've had a bit of an admin splurge of late. It seemed a good idea to look at everything before it goes off, and change the by-line.

So there we have it. I'll stick with Mjke on all the new stories. I rather like it. It has a Scandinavian feel. Kind of exotic.

Christmas Stuff

I'd like every day to be Boxing Day. Feet up on the sofa, laptap on my lap, couple of hours writing, eat some leftovers, read a bit, watch a bit of classic 50's SF on the telly... It will end soon and I'll back into what is traditionally the hardest three weeks of my day-job year. (And this year is set to be the worst ever)

But I'm not going to worry about that now, I'll just enjoy this while I can.

Here's a run-down on the Christmas gifts:

I am in awe of my wife, Sarah, and her ability to buy gifts. She is not a SciFi fan but she is supportive and knows what is hot. She gave me "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe" by Charles Yu. I am 50 pages in and already this is a strong, runaway contender for my Best Novel Hugo vote. (I love the cover, too, with all the little ray guns.)

What else? Well she bought me a stack of DVD's – fifties SF classics: This Island Earth, When Worlds Collide, The Day the Earth Stood Still (the proper one with Michael Rennie, not the rubbishy remake). Okay so some are a little thin in places, but I love them all the same, because I grew up with them. It's interesting that I hadn't realised that This Island Earth was filmed in colour. I thought it was in black & white. This must be because last time I watched it I had a black & white telly. It will probably be the same with HD. I won't get an HD TV until our steam model expires, and I reckon there's 20 years left in her yet. I just need to find a good valve stockist.

So, next on the agenda, make some tea (because Sarah worked her socks off in the kitchen, yesterday) then another classic DVD. And time for another 1000 words before bed.

I LOVE Boxing Day.

Spooky Robot Dog

Okay, so this is quite old tech, 2008 would you believe? but I hadn't seen it before, I've been watching it again and again and I'm kind of spooked out by it. Is this really a robot? Or is it two guys rehearsing for a role in panto. (If it is, they're very good.)
Here's the thing - if this was 2008, what can it do now, at the back end of 2010? It's the bit on the ice that gets me. This is artificial intelligence! Here in the UK we've had a bit of snow and I've already been on my arse, twice, crossing the car park at work.What does that say about biological intelligence - mine at least?

Ray Gun Revival

It’s always good when a new magazine/webzine comes along. Even better when a good friend is heavily involved. So I’m pleased to be able to give a plug to Ray Gun Revival, appearing soon, on a computer screen near you. It’s weekly and it’s fun and it sounds like just the tonic for these dark and economically depressed times. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what they have on offer in the first issue. Enough from me, here’s what they have to say for themselves:

www.raygunrevival.com

Ray Gun Revival (RGR) is an online magazine dedicated to fun stories, grand escapism, and good old sensawunda. RGRl provides just that, a throwback publication that revisitsspace opera and golden age sci-fi. Their stories focus more on character development than hard science and sail all the wide-open waters between science fantasy and harder SF. Think of the original Star Wars stories, Doc Smith's Lensman series, the Warlord of Mars tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Think of everything from John Carter and Gully Foyle to Kimball Kinnison and Han Solo. They are bringing out the deepest elements of what has traditionally been rather superficial fiction and updating them for a new generation of fiction enthusiasts.

Moving On

Photo credit: Stephen Whalley and LA Productions/BBC.

This week I've been on the telly as an extra in the BBC series called Moving On. (I'm the one with the arm up in the air.) My role lasted about seven seconds. It took us an entire day on set to do our part, so I see now why films have such large budgets. We ate a lot of doughnuts, too. It was a good plug for the Merseyside Big Band, though, and I'm hoping that, as a result, we get a few more music fans coming along to our regular gig at Maghull Town Hall on the 25th. November.

Here's some more photo's:

 Photo credit: Stephen Whalley and LA Productions/BBC.

This one shows off my ex-Writers-of-the-Future Tux, recycled and put to good use whilst helping to keep down the cost of the BBC licence fee. 

Photo credit: Stephen Whalley and LA Productions/BBC.

And here's the whole band. What a fine collection of manhood.

Moving on was produced by LA Productions for the BBC and starred Hannah Gordon and the late Corin Redgrave.

Bristolcon

Ah, Sunday morning, and Bristolcon is over. It's been a brilliant con and I'm sad that it has come to an end so quickly. Highlights: watching fantasy writer Juliet E McKenna chucking fantasy writer Joe Abercrombie all around the room in a Martial arts display, filling the notebook with ideas during the Future Science panel, and of course meeting lots of friendly people who love SciFi. It was especially good to meet up with Adam Colston again, one of this year's WOTF winners. He kindly passed me a copy of his WOTF 26, and although I've already read it on my kindle (a terrific read it is too) I was chuffed to bits to get a hard copy, and signed by Adam.

Well done to all the organisers, a slick and friendly event – can't wait for next year. I will certainly be coming.

And now for breakfast (I love hotel breakfasts) then off up the M5 to Birmingham for the 'Simply the Best' art show at the NEC, where Sarah has a painting on display. (It's the one that was recently in 'International Artist' Magazine - available at WH Smiths and all good magazine sellers throughout the world).