Guess who's back?

It has been a long time between drinks on the old blog but that age old nuisance called life got in the way quite a bit in the last few years. Yet, here I am, returned to my old stomping grounds to find that it has not diminished with age or faded into blog obscurity but still going strong. I am renewed and reinvigorated to start again and to post some new stories for you all and to see where it all may lead.

Though I have been away from the blog it does not mean that I have been lax in my writing. On the contrary I have been as busy as ever and have written many pieces for your enjoyment. Some of the older ones have been revisited and edited for a greater flow of story and in time the older ones will be replaced with their new identities.

So let’s restart, resume and begin this journey anew. And just like I am back as is this little critter in The Goat Came Back.  

21 Today, well soon. To Robbie.

Happy Birthday to a young man whom I have known for his entire life. Well damn near anyway. For this time around I dedicate this posting to Robbie Parker, soon to turn 21, I can’t remember being that young. I really can’t!

For you Robbie, seeing how I can’t be down there for your celebration, I present to you this story. I understand that it is an open page and anyone can read it but when you read it you can say that this was is dedicated to you.

And it is kind of a dark story and doesn’t really have a happy ending so don’t take it as a precursor of your life… actually it’s not the best story for a guy who’s just entering the best years of his life, it’s probably a bit of a downer.

Oh well, hopefully you think it’s a good story and makes you want to make sure that your volume is thick with mis-adventures when you wander alone in the library of the damned looking for An Open Book. Bwah hahahaha.

Back From Whence I Came

It has been a long time between drinks for my Blog. I think that after getting the first volume out of my trilogy I just needed a break. So I took one.

The problem was getting back on the horse. It wasn’t a case that it had thrown me and I was scared to get back on, it was a case that I was just really saddle sore and needed to recover for a while.

Well I have done that, and at the start of the year my apathy to the written word faded like smoke through the trees. I suddenly felt the need and the desire to write again and to write a lot. The gears in my head were churning out ideas faster than I could put them to paper and the characters and events were unravelling faster than I could type (not that that’s hard).

So here we go, writers block be damned. I have gone back to the simple things in life. Stories to make you wonder, stories to bring fear, stories that I have fun writing and I hope you all have fun reading. So take this one as this year’s first offering: The Last Thank You.  

It’s been a long road.

It’s been a little over ten years since I first sat down and envisioned the story that would (happily so) consume the next decade of my life. It started out as scribbles and a few drawings and nothing like the adventure that it turned into.

The story suffered from several notable setbacks ranging from floppy disc breakages, hard drive meltdowns, the inevitable writers block, a very large amount “I hate this damn story”, some shonky editors and publishers and numerous other things that delayed it and set it back but everything really drove me to this moment and this version of the story; something very different from what I started to write ten years ago and something, in my opinion, much better and worth the wait.

It didn't start out as a trilogy, in fact I specifically didn't want it to be a trilogy, but the story grew and the characters grew and in the end it got very big and complex and, under some competent advisement, I changed my mind and cut my beloved story into three.

Now available through the Published Works Page is the first book in my Zicastor Trilogy: Weapons of War. Soon it will be available worldwide. And that’s a fairly daunting prospect for a fellow like me.   

DING DING DING-A-LING DING DING DING-A-LING DIIIING

Well it's almost here! My book I mean, not Christmas...though it's hard to believe that's around the corner too!! 

No flash fiction this month, instead I've been trying to iron out some issues with relation to the formatting and cover of Book 1 of the Zicastor Trilogy.  In making a few changes I came to think that perhaps I should give my readers some insight into the background of the book. You will see after reading the Zicastor Trilogy that it is quite different to the written work you see me produce now.  There is good reason for that....

Zicastor was written over 10 years ago.  In fact my partner clearly remembers being on the phone to me while I discussed the concept for the work with her.  She recalls that she was in the bath at the time marvelling at the little bump of her stomach that was to be our son....then just a peanut and now about to turn 12 years old!

The full Zicastor story (all three parts) has been with me and my family through many big changes.  It kept me warm when working in -6 degree centigrade nights as a Security Officer in Canberra.  It kept my mind employed so I wouldn’t think of the ghosts that roamed building 1 and 2 of the Defence building – when doing 2am Breach Control rounds of Campbell Park offices!

So, as you can imagine, I've developed my style of writing quite a bit over 12 years.  I read Zicastor now and think how differently I would write it...but why would I change it? It has already been through so many changes – edits and having to split it.  The words, as they are, are imbedded with the events of my life over that period: The birth of my son, the purchase of our first house, the death of my mother and brother and moving from one side of Australia to another.  So, I'll let it be.

I hope that the book will be up before Christmas and if not, you might consider buying a little Christmas present for yourself.  A number of printed copies will be made available immediately (as opposed to the e-book and print on demand options) and I will make available some signed copies for those that get in quickly.

Keep checking the new "Published Works" page for the links for purchase which will be made available soon. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.  I will talk to you in the New Year.

Return of the Blogger

Okay, I know that it has been a long time between drinks for the old blog. There have been some technical issues, some holidays, plenty of work and some slacking (let’s be honest).

But here we are again and it’s full steam ahead with some good news to start us off. If you read, and liked, the excerpt “Dark Halls, Dark Duties” from my fantasy novel, which I posted here earlier, then you’ll be happy to know that the full book from which that chapter was taken will be available to you soon in an E-book format.  This will be book 1 of what will be the Zicastor Trilogy. There will be plenty more news as this develops and I’ll keep you informed every step of the way.

Now onto today’s story (because I can’t post without a story, it’s just wrong). What I have for you this time continues the tale of one of my darker characters: Steven and what happens One Night.

Words from the Outback

Well this time around I have a valid excuse for my lack of blogging. I have just recently returned from a mammoth 4 week trip around the Northern Cape of Queensland, sadly it was for work only but still it was an awesome experience and I got to see tons of Australia that many people just never get to see.

Which brings me to today’s story. It’s a bittersweet tale that I thought up on the many hours spent driving through the Australian bush. It has been described as having a Dreamtime feel, so perhaps it was subliminally supplied by one of the Aboriginal communities that I got to see along the way.

Seriously, in truth, it’s nothing so precious.  I’m sure you know that anyone who has gone on a long road trip in Australia will see the unfortunate creatures that do not survive the crossing of a road. As I saw at least one dead animal for every two kilometres of road outside of townships, on a trip nearly 5000 kilometres long, I was forced to wonder about how deeply the emotions of the animals run when a family member or mate is taken.

Some common Australian animals are used in this story. I have used Aboriginal names for them. There is a glossary at the end of the story to help. 

Enjoy The Road!

Literary Week or: How do I Survive Public Speaking?

Ahh, so here we are again. And what is that we are up to this time around?

Well... June 4 – 10 is Literary Week here in Australia and to celebrate my writers group, Writers in Townsville society (WiTS - you can visit their blog at witsnq@blogspot.com) are helping to celebrate by conducting a performance reading at a local gallery. This simply involves a group of us each standing up and reading a short story aloud to a group of complete strangers.

Nerve wracking to say the least.  I have jelly knees already.

But seriously, to help celebrate the week and the love we all have for reading and writing we will soldier on and fight our standing in front of a crowd demons.

And this, dear friends, brings me to the topic of today’s short. We all decided that our stories should reflect on a specific tree that is connected with our life in Townsville. Only being here for four and a half years limited what I could do, my childhood trees are a thousand kilometres away and have long since been bulldozed, and so what could I write?  Well, read on good people and you might learn about my feelings for a couple ofTownsville trees close to me. 

This is written in a gothic style, just for something different.

An Aprils Fools Blog

So what’s the joke... that this is a trick and there is no story? No, I couldn’t do that to you, faithful blog reader.  And I hope you won’t consider this month’s story a joke!

I do have something awesome for you this time round. I’m sure that I say that all the time, but I have to, right? Who else will?!

If you can remember back to November I mentioned a short story that I had written and was hopeful to make a series of it. This story has opened a world for me where there are several directions in which I can go to help serialise the world that the main characters live in. The directions not only include plot lines and character developments but also the whole genre can be redirected at this stage. Thoughts that I have entertained include all out horror/survival or a serious turn around to a more soap opera saga style.

Maybe you can decide for me?

Well, here is that story for you.  I have titled it ‘In the End’

All Quiet on the Blogger Front

Well, it has been a long time between drinks hasn’t it and I’m sure you were all ready to give up hope and believe that I’ll never blog again.

Wrong!!

But I freely confess that I have been more than a little slack when to comes to keeping you updated with all my latest stories. So what do I have for you today, well that’s going to have to wait for now because I’m going to take a little time here to bid my farewells to one of Townsville’s great writers.

My friend and one of my inspirations, Hettie Ashwin, is leaving our sleepy little town and heading even further north than what we are already. Over the years Hettie’s drive, knowledge, conviction and pure zest to write has been an inspiration for me to write more than ever before and try harder to get my work out there for the general public to see. It was Hettie who taught me how to create and manage a blog and that lesson has landed me here today. So, as you could guess, it is with a heavy heart that myself and all those that Hettie has inspired, I’m sure, bid her a fond farewell and best wishes on her travels. You can find Hettie’s work at her blog hettieashwin.blogspot.com

So what do I have for you today? Well today is a little different from every time before because I don’t have a short story for you. No, today I’m going to let you all read the first chapter of my novel. The book is titled Zicastor and my plan is to get it out to you all later this year. So watch this space and enjoy ‘Dark Halls, Dark Duties’.

Don’t worry, the short stories are still coming too...I’ve got one tucked away which I might throw up next week.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers.

Ah, the joys of Christmas in North Queensland; the weather is always 32 degrees centigrade, the mangoes grow larger than emu eggs (well some of the mangos off our own tree anyway) and are so plentiful that you can see them falling off trees.  The rain comes down so hard that you can’t see three feet in front of you or even hear the person sitting next to you as they scream out “The rain is heavy, isn’t it?”

That is a brief glimpse of Christmas in North Queensland and in truth; it’s not that bad it just takes some getting used to.  The good bits are just like any other Australian Christmas.  That is, homemade slip n’ slides, kids laughing, hopefully only a little sunburn, the bell of the Ice-cream van, the smell of fresh-cut lawn, Christmas BBQ’s by the pool, cold beer and prawns.

So what has Santa bought for you today, well, it’s hardly a Christmas story, and I just don’t think I could write A Miracle On Any Street.  If I wrote a Christmas story it would probably turn out like Gremlins.

So what have I got for you then? Well, in all honesty, it’s not my favourite, I had a great idea and then had a lot of trouble putting my thoughts to paper, but it has been well received and so enjoy: Steven. 

The Marking of Time

Where...Oh where does the time go? It is the question that has plagued mankind for centuries and it is a burden that is on the writer.  At least the slack ones like me. But in my defence I had a fantastic week of writing a story that, if it is well received, I am considering making a series of.

Ohhhh, I hear you say. Cool, I hear from you.

 Yes it is cool and it is a venture that I have not tried nor even really thought of before. I am hopeful for my new story but that is not the story that I’m going to present for you today. Today’s story has a familiar flavour but the genre is not something I have tried before and it was well received at a recent reading so I’m presenting it to you for your own appraisal. So with no further ado I present to you “How I lost my pants.”

See, now you’re interested already.  

Excuses, excuses, excuses... and Writers Block.

Apparently I seem to come up with a lot of excuses as to why I don’t update my blog more often or as to why I don’t write as often as I should.  Well excuses no more; I’ll just write as regularly as my mind and fingers enable me to.

So as I sit here and type at my computer and wonder what I’m going to write. Writers block assails me and my mind drifts to thoughts like; how does a man who drives a snow plough get to his work in the morning?

Writers Block is a curious phenomenon and I have fallen prey to its vile clutches time and again. I have sat at my computer and typed vigorously for hours on end and then stopped...felled by one word I can’t seem to remember and then it’s gone, that magical writing spree as dead as winter grass and me left with just the faintest memory of what it was I was going to write.

“How do you fight writers block?” I hear you ask.

It is a struggle. The battle can take mere minutes, hours, days or in the case of one of my stories...years. This story was one that I struggled with for days. I knew the start, I knew the middle, and I even knew the ending. But I was trapped by a series of sentences that slowed me right down and left me fighting Writers Block until the very end.

So for your Halloween story and for those of you who love Halloween (you know who you are) I present to you ‘Ocean’s Apart.’  

Tomorrow Never Comes.

I was going to post this tomorrow. I said that yesterday. And here it is: Today.

What?

Well. What a few weeks it has been. Queensland Writer’s Week was a huge success and a big congrats to everyone involved especially Carla, of the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre, who organised the whole thing in only 4 weeks. Personally I can’t wait for the next one.

So what’s been happening that has kept me away from you; my wonderful audience. What is more important than you? Well simply it was the writer’s week. So much to do, which meant a swag of late nights and takeaway dinners.  And, of course, I’ve been hammering away at those keys. Producing quality work to grace the pages of this blog is not an easy venture. Oft times I have a fantastic idea for a story and start to turn that thought into words and then...something goes horribly wrong and what I have written is hardly worth the time wasted in thinking of it. In the past week, though busy, I have managed to thrash out a couple of shorts.  However, for now they will remain with me until I feel completely happy with them.

Maybe those that go horribly wrong can be salvaged and re-written; maybe they need a tweak here or there; or maybe I just need to delete and start all over again. It’s not easy sometimes but when it works, you can look back at it time and again and really appreciate what you have done. Even if no-one will ever see it other than you. Thank god, I say, for the internet and for blogs because here is one such gem that I personally believe is one of my best. You may read this and note that it has a similar theme to Fallujah and Alone, but this came first. It is many years old, was written on an electronic typewriter, before the current medium and though short, tells a story that can raise many questions to its end. So enjoy Starship Down.

Queensland Writers Week

Hey Y'all, as they would say in the deep bayou's of the south. This week is Queensland Writers Week and I will be participating on Wednesday the 12th in a group interview hosted by the Townsville Writers and Publishing Centre http://www.twpc.org/ . Hope to see you there and check out the website for all the events that are taking place.

Due to computer malfunctions and internet problems and stupid conferences, I was unable to post a story for you this week.

"NOOOOO!!!" I hear you scream or maybe that was just a convienent curlew in the backyard. But I will be back this week with a story for you. I may even post it tomorrow.

And now for something completely different.

Well kids it’s been a long week and this is coming a little late due to slaving over household renovations and a small dose of ‘meh’ on my part.

“Are we coming to the end?” I hear you say. “Is this ‘meh’ boredom or even an excuse to elongate the process because he’s running out of stories?”

“NEVER!” I scream back. Perhaps a little too loudly. Even as we speak I’m churning out pages of awesomeness the world has never seen.  Are you laughing at my display of perhaps ill timed confidence?

Laugh away then...on the other side of your face!! Stories flow from me like water over Niagara Falls and someone is bound to love one of them!

So onto today’s story. It’s a little different to what you’ve read so far. This is a true story that I heard from a work colleague which I just had to write down with my own little spin. Cocky and Needle in this story are based on actual pets. Cocky being the focus of the story and Needle being based on my grandfather’s dog. Every Australian can identify with Wally, the stern faced Aussie farmer with the soft heart.

And with the hope that it brings back some childhood memory of characters that you may have known, enjoy.

A long literary party!!

Well here we go again. Where will it end? Will it end? Or is it just a long literary party with no end to its glory. I don’t know and nor do I want to either. As long I can churn them out I’m going to place them here for all to enjoy or hate or look at with mild indifference.

This is my homage to HP Lovecraft. The creatures that he creates are fantastic, bizarre and truly scary. He is the only author that has ever really scared me as I have read his work. With this story I tried to create beings that would live in Lovecraft’s mind; they may not be as horrifying as the ones Lovecraft could envision, but they are certainly bizarre.  I have thrown these creatures and my poor protagonist into a story that is more my style of writing.

So without further ado this week’s story is a dark and twisted tale of horror; is there any other kind?

Has it been a week already?

What a week it was. I learned that I should stick to writing and steer well clear of touching things with engines!

It’s difficult to find time to write with life getting in the way, so I’ve pulled this story, Tylyn, from the archives. It was originally written over twelve years ago, loooong before I even owned a computer. While difficult to read my scrawl it was eventually transferred to electronic medium.  Recently I tweaked it a little and sent it off for a short story competition.  And that’s where that story ends – while no luck in that comp, it hasn’t swayed me from writing.

The plot is one of the oldest in history but I’ve tried to twist it by telling it in a narrative of flashbacks and present day, merging together

This time round we’re delving deep into outer space where, as far as Hollywood is concerned, untold dangers await. Why change a good thing!?  Amidst the confusion of a hostile alien invasion two friends fight side by side to stem the tide of the alien advance. While both battle the enemy, one is forced to fight his feelings as the woman both men love is put in harm’s way.

A new week, a new story

Well, by now you've all had time to peruse my first two short stories posted last week. I hope you enjoyed them? Someone asked me just how did Fallujah end; well it's up to your own interpretation. I won't go on in case you haven't read it yet and now feel intensely curious and have to read it for yourself.

This week’s story is one of the few times when I’ve woken up and remembered my dream of the previous night. This dream was so vivid in my head that I had to write it down. I remember being the third person in this story watching it from the sidelines as the Invisible Man, unable to stop the killer or even shout a warning for the poor victim (but I’ve said too much).

So read on, you’re curious aren’t you? It will only take a second (no, really it will!). I once heard that dreams only last an average of seven seconds so it can’t be too long, can it?

I’d love to hear whatever feedback you have, so please leave a comment and if you’re so inclined become a follower.

Thanks to all you avid readers and supporters.

My new Blog!

OK, so now the blog is up and running and there are two heart-wrenching, bowel-churning, stories up there to let you all know just what I’ve been up to for the last few years.

Which honestly hasn’t been much.

But still get in there and read them and keep coming back because as I write them they’ll keep appearing here and you never know how deeply one might affect you.

You might weep. You might laugh. You might want to kill me for writing such tacky rubbish but either way I have elicited an emotion from you and isn’t that the greatest thing that anyone can do for you.

No. I didn’t think so either.

Start reading!