April Fools ... not

My faithful, reliable digital watch, which must be nearing its 20th year now, reliably and faithfully informed me this morning that today was April 1st.

I'd already spent 20-30 mins reading my favourite news sites, and I got this sudden aha! as I realised all the ludicrous junk I'd been reading was nothing more than elaborate April Fools gags.

So, I went back and re-read the stories, looking for 'Avril Premier' bylines, grinning to myself as I realised how I'd been taken in unawares.

I also implemented a few tweaks on the Hal Spacejock website, to confuse visitors. Some new images, a bit of code, upload the lot .. done.

Then I spotted the date in the corner of my screen. March 31. Oops.

I'm busy reverting the website and adjusting the watch as you read this ...

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

More good news

I found a parcel on the doormat this morning, and when I ripped it open I realised it contained four copies of Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch!

I've scanned the front and back covers, and put them online for your viewing pleasure:



Remember the cheeky business card I designed? My publisher went for it! It's right there on the back cover:

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Surprised and pleased

I was very happy to see the Andromeda Spaceways co-op pick up a Ditmar for "Best Professional Acheivement" last night. (The Ditmars are the Australian Science Fiction Awards, and they recognise excellence by Australians in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.)

There's more good news: We published Rick Kennett's story 'The Dark and What It Said' in ASIM #28, and he just scored the Ditmar for the best short story of 2007.

And more: Tehani Wessely, a founding member, editor of numerous issues, and the driving force behind the three ASIM best-ofs, picked up the Ditmar for best new talent.

Yea verily, we're rolling in recognition, and it feels great.

I also learned that Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts scored a Tin Duck for Best WA Professional Long Work, which is wonderful news. Big thanks to those who voted for the book, and I'm very grateful. (Series authors face several challenges, including stores carrying later books and not the early ones, the prospect of having a series dropped mid stream, author fatigue with the characters, etc, etc. A nice award right out of the blue sure helps dispel those concerns, and it's a very handy tool for sales reps when encouraging stores to order the next in the series.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Plot synopsis project

A couple of weeks back Joshua Palmatier suggested this project, in which published authors post a copy of the synopsis they used to actually sell their novel to a publisher. (Or in some cases, the document used to describe the book to the author's editor. There's a subtle difference.)

His post is here, so you can see the reasoning behind the project.

I'm posting the synopsis of Hal 3 - the document I used to show my editor what I was intending to write. We went back and forth a number of times, and while the finished book diverges a fair bit from this original outline, I must point out that reading this outline could spoil the book for you

So, if you're an avid Hal fan hanging out for Hal 3, don't read on. On the other hand, if you have no interest in Hal and just follow my blog for the writing and publishing tips, go for it! (Hal fans - dozens of writers have posted their synopses today under a similar title, so you'll be able to find others to read.)

Without further ado, here's the summary as presented to my editor:

Hal Spacejock Just Desserts original outline

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Interview with Paul Melko

Paul lives in Ohio with his beautiful wife and four fairly wonderful children. He is an active member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, where he sits on the board of directors as the South-Central Regional Director and is chair of the Grievance Committee.

Paul's fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Spider Magazine, The Year's Best Science Fiction, Talebones, and other magazines and anthologies. His work has been translated into Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, and Russian, and it has been nominated for the Sturgeon, Nebula, and Hugo Awards. TEN SIGMAS AND OTHER UNLIKELIHOODS is his collection of science fiction.



1) What fiction did you select for this collection and why?
TEN SIGMAS is a collection of my science fiction short fiction, all published within the last decade or so. The twelve stories first appeared in such places as Asimov's SF, Talebones, and Strange Horizons. The title story first appeared in Talebones #28, and was subsequently picked up by Gardner Dozois for his year's best collection.


2) Explain the title for my blog readers.
The title story "Ten Sigmas" is from the view point of a character who lives simultaneously in billions of universes. He's a normal distribution of all his selves. During the course of the story, he continually makes decisions that drive him farther and farther to the edge of the normal distribution, until he is so far away from the center -- ten standard deviations, or ten sigmas -- that he becomes unique again in his consciousness, just like you and me.


3) There's some overlap of stories between this collection and your first novel, isn't there?
My first novel -- SINGULARITY'S RING -- was released last month. It's the story of five teenagers that are actually a plural human who can share thoughts and emotions among themselves. Each chapter is from the point of view of one of the teens. When I first wrote the book, there were six humans in the composite human. Subsequent editorial decisions resulted in the sixth person being dropped. The collection includes the original sextet-based stories that became the novel, as well as the section cut from the novel and first published in Asimov's SF: "The Summer of the Seven." Also in this collection is the Nebula-, Hugo-, and Sturgeon-Award nominated story "Walls of the Universe." This story is the basis for my next novel, of the same title, coming out winter 2009 from Tor Books.


4) Why did you choose Fairwood Press to publish this collection?
Fairwood Press publisher's Patrick Swenson published in his magazine Talebones a number of my stories: six of them, in fact. Two of them are included herein. The sixth is in the current issue of Talebones, "Cankerman's Shower," available now. When it came time for me to publish my collection, there really was no choice except for Fairwood Press. Check out the other collections available from Fairwood.


5) Come on. Which story is your favorite?
All of these stories are special to me. How can you ask that? All right, "Ten Sigmas" is the story that is most significant to me. I still choke up when I read the ending. Yes, I'm a big baby.


6) Who drew the artwork?
Adam Hunter Peck drew the awesome cover. Check him out here: http://www.adamhunterpeck.com/


7) What are you writing now?
I've just turned in the novel version of "Walls of the Universe." My follow-up novel is set in the same universe as "Cankerman's Shower" and is entitled CANKERMAN'S TWIN. It's the story of a misogynistic remittance man with no scruples, traveling about the galactic empire, getting into trouble and adventure.


8) Where will you be next?
I'll be at Millenicon in Cincinnati March 14-16. Then I'll be at the Nebulas in Austin, Texas April 25-27. Over the summer, look for me at Marcon in Columbus, Confluence in Pittsburgh, and WorldCon in Denver!

Link to buy: www.fairwoodpress.com
Link to Amazon Listing

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

More on yWriter

yWriter4 is easily the most-searched, most-downloaded and most-used of my free software apps, and after a suggestion in a blog comment yesterday I decided to set up a Google Group for the program:

Visit the yWriter Google Group

It's a public group, so you'll be able to read posts even if you don't join. Hopefully people will use the thing as a source of yWriter info and tips, and maybe we'll even get some of that community spirit going.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

yWriter 4 review

Just had an email letting me know of the first major review of yWriter 4.

Lots of pros, a good score, and only two cons. One of the cons (no submission tracker) is irrelevant, since I already have Sonar in the stable. The other ... well, I don't believe in hand-holding when it comes to software ;-)

Anyway, take a look at the review for more.

EDIT: Don't miss the new yWriter mailing list.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Publishing diary #2

A couple of weeks back I promised to post about all the interactions with my publisher leading up to the launch of book four ... and maybe beyond. We're still a long way from release date (2nd June) so the posts won't be that frequent, but I do have a couple of updates for you.

Yesterday my publicist emailed about getting together to talk about the upcoming release, but thanks to my dodgy back I've had to put that off for now. I had a CT scan and xrays this morning, and it's still giving me a lot of pain. Anyway, I offered to chat on the phone initially, and perhaps we can have a meeting to discuss any points raised.

The other thing I discovered is that review copies of Hal 4 are going out. I've not seen the finished book myself yet, despite my casual hints, but I suppose I already know how it ends and I can't very well post an unbiased review. Anyway, I put in a word for Mary Koenig, who reviews for the WA education department. Their publication only comes out 2-3 times a year, which means long lead times. She obviously enjoyed the first three books so I'm keen to see her reaction to #4.

Speaking of fours, today was the fourth time I've driven my car since the Xmas holidays, so after the xrays etc I decided to make the most of the trip and went to visit the nice people at Dymocks Carousel. (The first drive was round the block back in February, when I was checking to see how my back would stand up to it. The second was to pick up an Atari 1040 STe, also in February, from a guy who contacted me via my website after seeing my emulators page. He just wanted it to go to a good home, and I now have it set up in my office. The third trip was last week, when my daughter missed her bus. But I digress.)

The reason for the Dymocks trip was to advise them about Hal 4 coming out, but they asked me about the book launch before I could bring the subject up, so we're good there.

Finally, I had nice email from one of the local Penguin sales reps, congratulating me on the upcoming release of Hal 4. Penguin distribute the books outside my home state, so this rep has no financial interest in the Hal books and can't even take orders for them, but that just made it even nicer to get her email. I know publishers can seem like faceless conglomerates, but little touches like that show there's a human side.

Oh, one more thing... I just spotted a familiar name on the Tin Duck (WA SF awards) ballot. Yes, Tehani Wessely, who put together the three Andromeda Spaceways best-ofs last year (details here), has been nominated for Best WA Professional Production. Go T!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Aussiereviews.com and Hal Spacejock 2 & 3

These reviews were posted late last year, and I somehow managed to miss them. (I had the pleasure of meeting the reviewer, Sally Murphy, at the All Saints' Kids' Lit festival in April last year, and I was happy to sign a copy of Hal Spacejock to her - right underneath the promo blurb for the book which my publisher snipped out of her first Hal review!)

Hal Spacejock Second Course reviewed here

"Often sequels to successful first books can be downright disappointing or repetitive, but this sequel is better than the first, with more development of Hal and Clunk as characters and an interesting cast of supporting characters, as well as a plot with twists and turns, and plenty of humour."

Hal Spacejock Just Desserts reviewed here

"Author Simon Haynes has found a formula that works, yet manages to make each new instalment sufficiently different to avoid it becoming predictable."

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Interview with Alma Alexander

ALMA ALEXANDER is a novelist whose work has appeared in thirteen languages and more than 20 countries worldwide. Her international bestseller "The Secrets of Jin Shei" is perhaps the best known of her adult books, but in 2007 she branched out into the world of YA literature with the release of the first book in the Worldweavers trilogy, "Gift of the Unmage", which has garnered a great deal of reader enthusiasm and critical praise, being compared to Susan Cooper, Madeleine L'Engle, and even J K Rowlings. "Spellspam" is the second book in the Harper Collins trillogy, released March 11, 2008. The third book, due in the spring of 2009, is entitled "Cybermage".


1) What was your inspiration for writing Spellspam?

Back in 2002 I went to my first-ever World Fantasy Convention. I had no plans to do any writing in the YA arena, but I wandered, at some point, into a panel on YA literature because it had a bunch of writers on it whose work I have admired - Charles de Lint, for one, and Jane Yolen. After about five or six minutes of chatter on the subject of YA, someone from the audience raised a hand and asked, "What about Harry Potter?"

And Jane Yolen sighed and said, "I was wondering how long it would be before that particular elephant walked into the room."

This was 2002 - Pottermania was in full swing. And I am sure they went on to discuss that, amongst other things, But I didn't exactly hear any of it. Because the next thing that came out of Jane Yolen's mouth was something about how she didn't particularly like the way that the Potter books treated girls. And I was off and running, making the acquaintance of Thea Winthrop - not the Boy Who Lived but the Girl Who Couldn't - and exploring the Last Ditch School for the Incurably Incompetent, to which she would be sent because she, born a Double Seventh, the sventh child of two seventh children and the most magical of entities, cannot do any magic. At all. At ALL.

Until everything changes...


2) Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?

Good grief, I read EVERYTHING. I blew through the kids' section of our library like a tornado, and there were always books in my house, and the rule was if I could read it and if it interested me then it was allowed. There were no restrictions. I grew up in language heaven. I could not possibly start naming all my favourite authors, the list would go on forever. I cut my teeth on authorless books - the collections of myths and legends from various sources. But when it comes to a few seminal influences - Tolkien, of course. The Narnia books. Roger Zelazny.

But also Henryk Sienkiewicz, Sigrid Undsett, John Galsworthy, Pearl Buck, Ivo Andric.


3) What is it about fantasy/science fiction that attracts you?

The fact that it allows for the telling of pure unvarnished truth, and because it's wrapped up in such a pretty tissue of lies and enchantment people seldom realise that the story they are reading is far more real and far more emotionally true than much of what they cling to in their "Real" worlds. I believe in fantasy. I have always thought there was a vast power in dreams.


4) Why did you decide to make Thea "incapable" of magic ?

Because everything has a price - as my Alphiri (a race of elves with the souls of Star Trek's Ferengi will take great pleasure in telling you). And this is a coming-of-age story, and coming of age means finding out what your values truly are, and how they shape who you are becoming. Thea's inability to to magic in the first book of the trilogy is a very important formative period for her.


5) What (besides writing) do you do for fun?

Heh. Reading.

Also, photography, embroidery, watching a few good shows on TV (currently - spring 2008 - "House", "Lost", "Men in Trees").

Travel.

Did I mention reading?


6) What sort of research did you do to write a book?/What kind of preparation do you do when you are writing?

That depends entirely on the book. "The Secrets of Jin Shei" and "Embers of Heaven" were extremely research-intensive - but then, they were historical fantasies based on and rooted in things that existed in our own world, and it was important. Even though the world I was creating was my own - to make it right, to make it true, even though I had to break the rules to do it - and for me to be able to do that I needed to know exactly what the rules were to begin with.

With the YA books, yes, there was research done. For "Gift of the Unmage" I read up on the Anasazi, and learned about the world creation myths and the elder gods of the Native Americans, the peoples who first walked the North American continent before the Europeans came. It imbues the books with a certain amount of mysticism which makes the books intrinsically American, as American as Harry Potter was English. But there were other aspects of the story that needed research, too, and for the third book I read up exhaustively on Nilkola Tesla, who is one of the major characters in "Cybermage".

I stir in all kinds of things into this particular YA brew - First World gods and tricksters, modern cutting-edge cyber-magic, Eastern European fairy tales, and pure invention (like the Alphiri, for instance). It was a wonderful writing experience.


7) What are you writing now?

The new project is an adult novel inspired by Byzantium. Vastly more complex and research-intensive than the Worldweavers books were. But it's time for another of my complicated, lush, vast, broad-canvas stories - and I've already waded into this one, and it is going to be GOOD.


8) Did you always want to write? Or did you stumble into it? How did you get where you are now?

In order, yes, no, and I stumbled blindly along what I thought were lots of different roads but there was only one, and it led here.

I grew up in love with words - it began with the influence of my poet-Grandfather who read me his sonnets from when I was five years old and it stuck, I never could shake language from me after that, I devoured books, and I started writing my own poetry when I was six or so. I wrote my first novel at 11 (and it was horrible, and thankfully doesn't survive). I won a national writing competition back home in Yugoslavia when I was 12. I wrote the next novel at 14, and you know, it isn't half bad if I went back and tweaked the 14-year-old-ishness out of some of it. I started publishing before I was twenty - but I didn't get a "real" book published until 1995, when I was in my early thirties, and I went full-time only eight years ago. But in the meantime I managed to earn an MSc in Molecular Biology, run an allergy society professional journal, do a stint as senior editor with an educational publisher where I produced text books in subjects as widely varied as Social Studies and Mathematics, got married... lived a life.

But I am, and have always been, first and last a WRITER. That has never changed. It never will.


9) What does a typical writing day look like for you? How long do you write, that sort of thing?

There is no such thing as a typical writing day. The one thing that all days have in common is coffee - lots of coffee - hello, my name is Alma and I am an addict. But the rest of it - if I am reading a research book, I am "writing" just as much as if I had my behind planted in a chair and my fingers on a keyboard. Writing is what happens in the mind, and for me it's a constant and ongoing process - putting actual words on a page is just the final installment of that process, the culminating act. THere are days when I will spend hours doing that, pouring out the words, writing up to 10 000 words a day. There are days I will go for a long walk and wrestle with a scene or a character until I can get to a point where I CAN sit down and let the words come. That's half the joy of being what I am. I have no "routine". I am responsible only to myself, my story, and my characters - and it takes however long it takes.


10) Where do you write?

In an office with a view of cedar woods, where deer occasionally come to my door to greet me and woodpeckers flutter around in the trees. I have a massive oak desk, my present to myself from the first check from "Jin SHei", and a library full of books at my back.


11) What is easiest/hardest for you as a writer?

Dreaming is easy. My stories... just come, and are already fledged, and fly away with me.

Rewriting... is horrible. It all mucks about with my instinctive sense of order, and screws around with the shape of my vision, and drives me demented. I know it is necessary, sometimes essential. I don't have to LIKE it..


12) This isn't your first book; tell us a little bit about what else is out there.

"Spellspam" will be my ninth published book.

I started out with a collection of three fantasy short stories - much like the Oscar WIlde fairy tales, "The Nightingale and the Rose", like that - which was published by Longman UK in 1995 and STILL brings me in a trickle of royalties to this day. That was followed by "Houses in Africa", an autobiographical volume describing my growing-up years in Africa, published by a small New Zealand publisher and now out of print. That in turn was followed by an epistolary email novel called "Letters from the Fire", written in collaboration with R.A. ("Deck") Deckert, the man I subsequently married. That, too, is out of print. But then came the "Changer of Days" books - published in 2001/2002 in New Zealand, and reprinted in the US in 2005 by Eos as "The Hidden Queen" and "Changer of Days"; and my big successes, "The Secrets of Jin Shei" and "Embers of Heaven", both published by Harper Collins in their English editions and by a plethora of foreign-language publishers elsewhere.

The YA books were next, with "Gift of the Unmage" in 2007 and "Spellspam" in 2008 and "Cybermage", my jubilee tenth published book, due out in 2009.


Visit Alma at her website, www.AlmaAlexander.com, and learn more about the Worldweavers books at their own site, www.WorldWeaversWeb.com. Alma also blogs at http://anghara.livejournal.com, and is a regular guest blogger at www.SFNovelists.com and www.Storytellersunplugged.com.


About SPELLSPAM:

When Email Attacks!

What would happen if the spam that accumulates in your inbox suddenly started carrying live spells - open a "Lose Weight Now" email, and you do, you drop pounds, you open the thing inadvertently twice and you turn into a wraith? Or a "Free GIft" email results in a subscirption to a magazine in Mandarin Chinese or a pair of Emperor Penguns delivered to your door?

And what happens if it is a grounding tenet in your world that the only thing actually impervious to magic IS a computer, and magical... SPELLSPAM... is frankly impossible...?

Welcome to Thea Winthrop's next adventure ... Spellspam

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Interview with Maria V. Snyder

Maria V. Snyder changed careers in 1995 from being a Meteorologist to a Novelist when she began working on her first novel, Poison Study. Published in October 2005, Poison Study won the 2006 Compton Crook Award, was a 2005 Booksense pick, and received a Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly.

Maria's second book, Magic Study was a 2006 Book Sense pick and a RITA Award Finalist. Her latest release Fire Study is due out March 1, 2008. While doing research for Fire Study, Maria learned that working with glass requires deft coordination, arm strength, tons of patience, and a good partner—she now has an extensive collection of misshapened paperweights, tumblers, and bowls.

1) What was your inspiration for writing Fire Study?

1A) I wanted to explore the uses and abuses of power in this book. Poison Study, which is the first in the Study series, concentrated on Yelena’s inner conflicts and her self-confidence, and only touched briefly on magic. Magic Study focused on discovering the extent and type of powers Yelena possesses. In the third book, I wanted to show the extent some magicians will go to gain power over others. Using magic to solve problems can be addicting, and, in Fire Study Yelena realizes how much she depends on her magical abilities. She must learn how to balance the use of her power with more mundane methods and to discover that completely turning your back on magic isn’t the right answer.

2) Where do you find your inspiration?

2A) It can be from anywhere. I get ideas from newspaper and magazine articles, from something I see on television, from something that comes up in conversation, from dreams, or from something my children say or do. I tend not to lack for ideas just time!

3) Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?

3A) Currently my favorite authors all have humor in their books. Since my life is so stress-filled and complicated, I’ve been enjoying light and fluffy reading with Mary Janice Davidson’s vampire series and her new mermaid series, Connie Willis is another favorite of mine, and I’ve recently discover the mystery/suspense thrillers of Harlan Coben. Growing up, I started with mysteries because that is what my mother enjoyed. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were my favorites before I graduated to Agatha Cristie, Dick Francis, Robert B. Parker, Barbara Vine, and Ed McBain.

4)Who has influenced you in your writing?

4A): I read a ton of mystery novels growing up. My favorite mystery author is Dick Francis and his books have influenced my writing style. I also use first person point of view and try to keep the story’s pace moving. My cliff hanger endings are a direct result from his books; I can never stop reading one of his books at a chapter break. My favorite fantasy writers all have strong female protagonists and interesting characters in common. Barbara Hambly’s books have a nice mix of action, character and humor - all essential elements to what I consider good fiction.

5) What is it about fantasy/science fiction that attracts you?

5A) As a writer, the attraction is in exploring new settings and characters and not having to worry too much about what is physically possible or not. I make my own rules about my world and, as long as I stick to them, can explore various problems generated by the unique setting and situation. As a reader, I enjoy traveling beyond my everyday world to a new place full of wonder and surprises.

6) Why did you decide to make Yelena a Soulfinder?

6A) The concept of everyone having a soul fascinates me. I never consciously decided to make her a Soulfinder, it just happened toward the end of Magic Study. My subconscious must have been working on it because even in Poison Study, when Yelena chooses to become the Commander’s food taster there is a moment where she is peering at her reflection wondering if she still has a soul. She felt so empty and used that she was sure her soul had gone, leaving behind a thin shell.

Being a Soulfinder also added conflict to the story. The Sitian people feared the power. Someone who has the ability to manipulate a person’s soul is serious business, especially since the last person with the power abused it by creating his own soulless army. So here’s Yelena – already an oddity by being raised in the northern lands of Ixia, conflicted over her loyalties between Ixia and Sitia and now has this ability which could condemn her before she even explores what she can do with it.

7) What (besides writing) do you do for fun?

7A) I love to travel with my family. Exploring new places and meeting new people and experiencing other cultures are wonderful for the writer’s soul  I also enjoy playing volleyball, reading and I dabble with photography.

8) What sort of research did you do to write this book?

8A) In order to write the scenes with Opal, a glass artist in the book, I needed to enroll in glass blowing classes. The teacher made it look so easy to gather a slug of glass. But when it was my turn – yikes! It was HOT! The big vat of molten glass was kept in a rip roaring furnace at a toasty 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. I held a metal rod, and, while squinting through an eye-melting orange light, I dipped the end into the thick goo and spun it, gathering a glob of glass onto the end. The incandescent glob glowed as if alive.

Once acquired, the slug then needed to be quickly shaped. Glass cooled at a rapid pace, and, even though heat waves pulsed from the slug, it didn’t stay pliable for long. My first paperweight was a misshapened blob. After hours of practice, my ability improved, and I created a paperweight worthy to hold down my next novel’s manuscript pages.

I learned that working with glass required deft coordination, arm strength, tons of patience, and a good partner—it’s a good thing I have a day job!

9) What are you writing now?

9A) I’m writing the fourth book based in the Study world titled, Storm Glass. Set five years after Fire Study, Storm Glass has a new protagonist and she’s the reason for the new series title. Storm Glass will be out December 2008. Here is the cover copy of the book:

“As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it’s time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan’s glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal’s unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap into a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she never knew she possessed...powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she’s ever known.”

10) Did you always want to write? Or did you stumble into it? How did you get where you are now?

10A) I started writing because of boredom! My first job after college was as a Meteorologist for an environmental consulting firm. The amount of work came in waves, and we were either extremely busy or very bored. During the slow times, I started writing a short story. Ideas were always floating around in my mind, but that was when I began using them. I submitted my first short story for critique at a writing conference in Philadelphia, and when the workshop leader gave me 7 out of 10, I thought that was pretty good for a first effort and decided to stick with writing for a while. After my son was born and I only had about one hour a day to myself, I had to decide what was important enough to spend that precious time on. Most days writing won.

11) What does a typical writing day look like for you? How long do you write, that sort of thing?

11A) I sit down at my computer after my children leave for school. After answering email and procrastinating for an hour, I start writing and only stop briefly for lunch and continue until my son comes home around 3:30 p.m. During the school year, I’m very productive, but once summer comes along I can only do revisions.

12) Where do you write??

12A) I write in my home office. My husband enjoys woodworking and he built me a great writing room with built in bookcases and a custom made desk. I keep a number of toys nearby to fidget with as I’m working out a problem in my head, and I keep weapons nearby to make sure when I write an action scene, I’m not describing something impossible.

13) What is easiest/hardest for you as a writer?

13A) Dialogue is the easiest and the most fun to write. I struggle with details. I tend to go light on details, preferring to focus on action and dialogue. Also describing emotions without using clichés is very difficult for me, finding something fresh is hard, but when I do—it’s like hitting the lottery.

14) This isn't your first book; tell us a little bit about what else is out there?

14A) The first and second books in the series are still available.

In Poison Study, Yelena starts her adventure in a dungeon, waiting to be executed for murder. She is given a choice of the noose or to become the new food taster for the Commander of Ixia—a military dictator paranoid of being poisoned. She chooses the job, and learns how to taste foods for poisons without dying. Life in the castle is full of hazards, the General, whose son she killed, wants revenge, rebels plot to seize Ixia, and Yelena develops magic she can’t control—magic which is forbidden in Ixia and punishable by death. As she searches for a way to freedom, Yelena is faced with more choices, but this time the outcomes aren’t so clear.

In Magic Study, Yelena is on her way to be reunited with the family she'd been stolen from long ago. Although she has gained her freedom, she can't help feeling isolated in Sitia. Her Ixian background has changed her in many ways, and her newfound friends and relatives don't think it's for the better. Despite the turmoil, she's eager to start her magical training. But her plans take a radical turn when she becomes involved with a plot to reclaim Ixia's throne for a lost prince, and gets entangled in powerful rivalries with her fellow magicians. If that wasn't bad enough, it appears her brother would love to see her dead. Luckily, Yelena has some old friends to help her with her new enemies.

Links to author:

Website address – www.mariavsnyder.com

MySpace page – www.myspace.com/mariavsnyder

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Interview with Jim C. Hines

Goblin War, by Jim C. Hines
Published March 4, 2008, by DAW Books

-----

Readers have dubbed Jim C. Hines the Goblin King. His third novel Goblin War has just been released in the U.S. His goblins are also showing up in France, Germany, Russia, and several other nations. The books have earned praise from the likes of Julie Czerneda, Ed Greenwood, and even Wil Wheaton, who called Goblin Quest "too f*****g cool for words!"

Q) What was your inspiration for writing Goblin War?

A) It's the unwritten law of fantasy. I had written two goblin books, but as a fantasy author, I had no choice. I Must Write Trilogies.

There were things I wanted to accomplish with the third book, of course. In the first two books, Jig is constantly struggling to protect himself from adventurers and heroes, not to mention his fellow goblins. This time, I wanted to bring that struggled to some sort of resolution. This is an all-or-nothing adventure. If Jig succeeds, he'll be able to keep himself and his fellow goblins safe for years. But if he fails, he's going to fail big.

There were other factors as well. Jig' and Smudge are a lot of fun to write about ... my readers enjoy him and wanted more ... perhaps most importantly, DAW was willing to pay me for a third book!

Q) Why did you decide to make Jig a goblin?

A) I wanted to take on the fantasy genre from the monsters' point of view. I've seen it done a few times before, Shrek being one of the more famous examples, but I never felt like they got it right. Shrek is really just a big, gross, socially awkward human. We never see anything about his family, his culture, or his background, and his motivations are completely human.

I also thought the tougher monsters had it too easy. Sure, anyone can survive an adventure when you're big enough to recycle armored knights and punch dragons in the face. So I decided to go with the underdogs, and you don't get much lower than goblins.

Q) What sort of research did you do to write this book?/What kind of preparation do you do when you are writing?

A) You wouldn't think a humorous fantasy would require much research. At least, I wouldn't have until I got started. But from day one, I was e-mailing a geologist for information on cave formations, looking up cooking sites to come up with good goblin recipes, double-checking armor and weaponry ... for Goblin War, I spent a fair amount of time trying to make sure my armies were using sensible formations and tactics.

Goblin War also required me to go back and re-read The Giving Tree. And no, I'm not going to explain that one.

Q) Are there any interesting scenes or ideas that didn't make it into the final book?

A) The biggest thing was a romance between Jig and one of his fellow goblins. I tried ... I really tried to make it work. I think I'm a pretty good writer, but I just couldn't pull it off. Maybe it's self-preservation, but my brain refused to go there. Much to the disappointment of my agent, who was hoping for a fourth book called "Jig gets Jiggy."

The first draft also gave Jig a magical elf cloak, a la Lord of the Rings, but I kept giving myself flashbacks to Harry Potter's invisibility cloak. Besides, invisibility would have made Jig's life far too easy.

Oh, and the scene where we learn that Smudge the fire-spider is gay didn't fly. I guess my publisher doesn't think the world was ready for homosexual spiders.

Q) What are you writing now?

A) DAW recently bought three more books from me in a new series. The first book is called The Stepsister Scheme, and should show up in January of 2009. I just finished revising that book, and have started on the rewrite of The Mermaid's Madness. The books are basically my response to the overcommercializiation of the fairy tale princess. My princesses come from the older fairy tales, which means these are some very conflicted characters with pretty dark backstories. I basically did a mash-up of those old fairy tales and Charlie's Angels.

Let's just say my version of Sleeping Beauty can kill you with a spoon.

Q) What does a typical writing day look like for you? How long do you write, that sort of thing?

A) I do most of my writing during my lunch breaks at work. Typically, a few minutes are spent actually eating, and then there are a few minutes of stalling and procrastinating before I dig in and start typing. 50 minutes or so isn't a lot, but I've found I can do about 5000 words in a good week, which allows me to write a book every year in addition to some short fiction.

These days, I'm having to make time in the evenings and weekends to keep up with deadlines. I'm glad the writing is going so well, but I also struggle to balance family, writing, and the day-to-day jobs like shoveling snow or fixing the zipper on my daughter's backpack.

Q) This isn't your first book; tell us a little bit about what else is out there?

A) There are the first two goblin books, Goblin Quest and Goblin Hero. All three are a lot of fun, particularly if you're a fantasy fan, because you'll catch a lot more of the jokes. I've also written close to 40 short stories. (Well, I've written a lot more than that, but I've sold close to 40. Big difference.) A fair amount of the short fiction is humorous sword and sorcery, but there's some serious stuff as well. I was quite happy to make the preliminary Nebula ballot this year for one of the serious stories, even though I got knocked out of the running for the finals.

Q) Who is your favorite author?

A) The answer changes from day to day, depending on my mood and what I've been reading. Today, I think I'm going to say ... Snoopy. His prose isn't always the greatest, but as an author, he's quite the inspirational little beagle. He never lets rejection slow him down, and he knows the most important thing is to drag that typewriter onto the doghouse and just keep writing.

---

Previews of all three goblin books are available at http://www.sff.net/people/jchines/Goblins/

Jim's blog is at http://jimhines.livejournal.com

Find the Goblin Series on Amazon.com: Goblin Quest, Goblin Hero & Goblin War

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Easy way to keep up to date

I'm not sure how many of you have seen iGoogle, but those of you running it will know you can add handy little applets, jokes and news to your home page.

Anyway, the point is I've set up links to the Andromeda Spaceways, Hal Spacejock and Spacejock Software news. Just click the buttons below to add a summary widget to your iGoogle page. (It's just as easy to remove them again, btw.)

Andromeda Spaceways:

Spacejock Software:

Hal Spacejock:

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Diary of a book release

I've covered plotting, writing and editing novels in detail, but I don't think I've blogged much about the process leading up to the launch. That is, from the minute you hand your baby over to the publisher until the day it, er, graduates.

So, I thought I'd start blogging about the process. It might only be two blog posts or it might be a whole series of them - that depends on how much I'm involved this time around. (And let me tell you, with the first book you're so involved the publishers start thinking they've employed you around the office.)

Anyway, the launch date for Hal 4 is June the second, and it's now mid-February. That gives me three months to cover, and we'll see how it goes.

Fremantle Press has a new publicist, Claire, after Scott was whisked away to New York for involvement in the film industry. So, best wishes to Scott ... and good luck to Claire ;-) I got an email from her the other day, and we're going to meet up to discuss publicity ideas soon.

And speaking of promo, I was pleased to get an email from a public library in Victoria. They like the Hal books and were writing to ask for posters and/or bookmarks to promote them. I already like their library and I've never been there. So, I fired an email off to Claire about posters and I packed up some bookmarks to send off.

Claire also got in touch asking whether I could present at a local writers festival (school age), which sounds interesting. I've said yes, so we'll see where that leads.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal Spacejock February Draw

Notification emails are on their way - if you think you're in the draw and you don't get an email, then your ISP is blocking me or your submitted email address is incorrect.

Remember, you can enter the draw here. Duplicates are fine, as are new entries with your replacement email address.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

New book reviews online

No, not mine. There's a batch of new book reviews up at Andromeda Spaceways. Enjoy!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Andromeda Spaceways Issue 32

Please feel free to distribute as widely as you can! Every bit of publicity helps the mag, and the mag ONLY exists to help new and established writers.

Also, when you buy a PDF copy of ASIM please be aware you're actually downloading your copy from the server in my office, right next to where I'm busy working on the next Hal Spacejock novel. Doesn't that give you a thrill? (If so, you really need to get out more.)

-- Andromeda Spaceways Press Release --

What are you giving your loved one this Valentine’s Day? Flowers and chocolates are so passé for the keen speculative fiction reader! Why not offer your sweetie the delectable Andromeda Spaceways #32 instead? When ingested by the eyes, doesn't hang around the thighs! What better gift could there be?!

Available for devouring in print and PDF right now, issue 32 - edited by Monissa Whiteley - has a firm outer coating by the delicious Dan Skinner, and mouth-watering insides from scrumptious authors such as Brian Dolton, Ian Nichols, Dave Luckett and Karen Maric. Other goodies are served up by D Gellen and M Owton, Damon Kaswell, Eugenie Edquist and Kent Purvis. To really put the icing on the cake, Tansy Rayner Roberts interviews the yummy Justine Larbalestier about her writing and Simon Petrie gives us a "Little Nut Tree".

ASIM #32 is available to purchase in print and PDF at www.andromedaspaceways.com and in specialty bookshops around Australia including our newest supplier, Gleebooks at Blackheath in the NSW Blue Mountains. You can also get a print or PDF subscription to ASIM online.

Go on, give your loved one what they REALLY want!

-- End Press Release --


Better dash, my server is making strange noises under the sudden load.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Software Update

A few updates on my free software ...

Sonar 3 was released as a beta a week ago, and so far I've not had any bug reports. It must be broken somewhere, so it might be time for me to announce the beta on spacejock.com

I'm in the middle of converting BookDB3, my home library software, to dotnet. It's running, including using the new xml database format, but the user interface needs a fair bit of work and for some reason drag/drop on my laptop touchpad just stopped working - but only in two programs.

I also turned to yWriter 4 and added a few features. First, project-wide notes so you can stick random bits of information into the program. There's a tab to the right of the scene listing, and when you click Notes the scene list vanishes and you get the note list instead. These features will be in the next release.

Second, yWriter has had a spell checker since version 3, but I keep getting emails asking me to add one. So, I've added a menu entry which downloads the dictionary, unpacks it to the right place, then unhides the spell checker menu items. I don't include the dictionary because it's not mine to distribute.

yMail is another app I've been tweaking. (It's an offline mail reader like Outlook Express, one which I first starting working on in 2003.) I've vastly improved the local file caching, making it a lot quicker, and I've also added a spell checker for mail composition. I've also built a response system which allows you to build canned responses to many questions (e.g. the answer to 'Will you add a spell checker to yWriter?'), and the feature is intelligent enough to scan the incoming question and pick the closest reply. Very handy for customer support, and it's helping with my backlog.

The other app I've been tidying up is yEdit. It's a text editor where you specify a word count (e.g. 500) and then start typing. The status bar shows how many words to go, which is a boon for people trying to write X words in a session.

By the way, I installed Ubuntu on my main desktop PC yesterday. Carved out a 10 gig partition and installed the thing in an hour or so, including all the updates and the essential installer from getautomatix.com. Then I set up compiz and, quite frankly, was stunned. Holding the middle mouse down and shifting the mouse left and right sticks your current desktop onto a big 3d cube, zooms out, and allows you to rotate to any of your other desktops. (Ubuntu has 4 by default, but I set up 8 for the fun of it.) Then, for amusement, I ran two AVI files in each desktop window and rotated the cube. The movies kept playing, and it was something to see.

Anyway, back to my software (but still on Linux.) I used automatix to install wine, and then installed BookDB, yMail, yWriter and yGen in rapid succession. Every one of them by double-clicking the exe file in Linux, and every one installed and ran perfectly. I got desktop shortcuts, a start menu entry for each, and all the features worked including installing updates over the net. The last time I tried Wine I spent two weeks frigging around with .config and reg files, so this was some eye-opener.

I'll repeat that ... install Ubuntu Linux, install Wine, and my apps all run without a hitch. Neat.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Hal 4 release date announced

Unfortunately the Australian release of Hal Spacejock 4: No Free Lunch has been pushed back to the 2nd of June 2008. I know a lot of you are keen to get your hands on this new book, and I apologise for the delay.

To whet your appetite I've put a completely unauthorise mockup of the cover online, without any permission whatsoever.

If they sue, arrest or chide me severely I'll blame you lot.

It's also time for another giveaway of the first book in the series. I'll do a draw in the next day or so, and you're welcome to share the contest link with friends/coworkers/family and also editors at UK and US publishers seeking a funny, ongoing SF series for their list ;-) (My agent is still shopping the series around, but these things take time.)

The link to the contest page is here. Duplicates are discarded automatically, so you're welcome to go ahead and submit again if you can't remember whether you entered or not.

I'm expecting at least three* entries this time, so have at it.

* a slight understatement.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Interview with Paul Melko

Fellow SFNovelist Paul Melko has a novel coming out tomorrow, and this is his chance to tell you why you should buy a copy.

1) What was your inspiration for writing Singularity's Ring?

This is all Lou Anders' fault. He was inviting authors to write stories for his upcoming anthology entitled Live Without a Net back in 2001. "Give me something where the internet and computers are not the be-all and end-all of technology. Give me something different," he said. "What kind of future would that be?" I wondered, thinking his anthology wouldn't find a lot of takers. Of course, my subconscious rolled the idea over and over, and by the next morning I had the genesis of "Singletons in Love." That story went on to be reprinted in Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction, and it became the second chapter of Singularity's Ring.

2) Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?

As a youth, I read to escape and loved a good science fiction yarn: Heinlein, Farmer, Harrison, Haldeman, and Panshin. These days, I'm reading more YA fiction as my daughter starts to read: Westerfeld, Rowland, and Tolkien. Just this last week, my son started reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It's been fun to re-read it with him.

3) Summarize the book for our viewers.

Singularity's Ring is set several decades in the future, and the world has collapsed in a technological cataclysm. Most of humanity has died or disappeared in a singularity event, and what is left of humanity is being shepherded carefully by Pod Society. Pods are an experiment in multiple humans: duos, trios, quartets, and quintets of humans that share thoughts and emotions among themselves. The environment is unstable and the world seems on the brink of another cataclysm. Apollo Papadopulos has been bred to fly a starship through the Rift, a remnant of the singularity event. Only forces don't want him to succeed. And, amazingly, someone has come down the space elevator from the supposedly empty Ring.

4) Why did you decide to make Apollo a quintet?

My protagonist is not one person, but five. Lou Anders didn't want silicon computers, so I created a biological computer: Apollo Papadopulos is five humans altered to think as one. As such, his thoughts benefit from the synergism of their network; he can make great intuitive leaps, understand things quickly, and come to more logical conclusions. Of course, there's a trade-off. You or I would see him (them) standing still, grasping hands for seconds at a time while he (they) come to consensus.

5) What (besides writing) do you do for fun?

Recently I took up Taekwondo. My children started last year, and it looked like so much fun, I joined them. I was right; it was fun. We're all blue belts. We've managed to not break anything in the house yet.

6) What sort of research did you do to write this book?/What kind of preparation do you do when you are writing?

Singularity's Ring is an adventure story that follows Apollo from the Rockies to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit to the Amazon and Congo. There's also, of course, an orbital structure, the Ring. The scope of the book allowed me to draw on the details of these exotic locales, as well as create a technological artifact that's larger in diameter than the Earth.

7) What are you writing now?

I just turned in the novel-version of my Hugo-, Nebula-, and Sturgeon-nominated novella "The Walls of the Universe." This is a parallel universe story in which one version of my protagonist tricks another version out of his life. Farmboy John Rayburn is cast into the multiverse, and tries to get home again.

Bio:

Paul lives in Ohio with his beautiful wife and four fairly wonderful children. He is an active member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, where he sits on the board of directors as the South-Central Regional Director and is chair of the Grievance Committee.

Paul's fiction has appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Spider Magazine, The Year's Best Science Fiction, Talebones, and other magazines and anthologies. His work has been translated into Spanish, Hungarian, Czech, and Russian, and it has been nominated for the Sturgeon, Nebula, and Hugo Awards. Singularity's Ring is his first novel.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Sonar 3 beta

Unfortunately I spent almost all of January immobilised due to lower back pain. However, thanks to my laptop and wifi connection I managed to use the time constructively, and I've not only converted the thousands and thousands of lines of code I use for all my software into VB2008, I also converted Sonar and added a bunch of new features.

* Resizable forms
* Colour coded lines
* Single data file in XML format
* Load, use, save as many different databases as you want
* 'Stories' now called 'works', so non-fic writers can use the prog
* You can double-click entries in any list to view details
* Text fields now have unlimited length
* List subs by work AND by market (e.g. a list of everything sent to F&SF)
* All lists can be sorted
* Sortable date columns for dates

etc etc

Now, this is a BETA version, and it will probably crash and/or lose data. People who download it will be existing Sonar 2 users who are keen to see where the program is going, and who don't mind trying various menus and forms in order to let me know of any problems.

There's a Sonar2 data importer built in, and you can have both apps installed at the same time without any problems. Importing your Sonar 2 data won't change the original files.


Installing

Because Sonar3 is a .NET Version 2.0 application, you'll need to install the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 if you don't already have it.

Best bet is to download and install Sonar3, then run it. If you get an error message about a missing runtime environment, you can grab the .NET Framework from the link below and install it.

Link to Sonar 3 install (about 800kb)

Link to .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86)

(If you're running 64-bit windows there's a link to the x64 version on the same page.)

Sonar 3 has a 'check for updates' feature under the Utilities menu. I'd use it fairly often ...

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Linux for 2008

I've been using Linux for over ten years now, running various flavours on servers and even a desktop or two. Ever year since about 1999 has been touted as 'the year of the linux desktop', but ironically it seems the key to Linux adoption isn't dependant on coming up with a 'better Windows' ... it's the falling price of hardware.

I've been reading about the Asus Eee PC with much interest, given the price, the features and the fact it runs Linux. A mini-laptop for under A$500 isn't a bad deal at all, and it's not surprising they're selling out of the things all over.

But what prompted THIS blog post wasn't the Eee or some new Linux feature. No, I just cleared the mailbox and amongst the usual junk mail was a catalogue for The Good Guys (a white goods retailer) There's a regular, everyday laptop on the front, an Acer Aspire 4315-100508CI with all the usual features. After rebate, the price is just A$499, which is a couple of hundred bucks less than I've seen any laptop selling for before now. And right there in the features it says 'Linux operating system'.

I'm not a Windows-basher by any means ... after all, I started using it several months before picking up Linux, and I earn a living writing Windows software. It's just that I love a good David and Goliath battle - the battling underdog with no chance of survival, the giant's look of surprise at an unexpected wound, then panic, then the reaction ... fun.

If nothing else, people looking to buy Vista down the track will be able to thank the Linux OS for a lower price ... perhaps.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

What I've been up to

Still have a bad back, still not mobile. I've been using the laptop and programming 12-16 hours a day, which is one way to keep the mind busy.

For the past two days I've been writing Sonar3, which is a refresh of Sonar2, my submissions tracking software. v3 has a new file format (XML), autobackups, improved forms and more. (Sonar1 and 2 were designed when 15" 800x600 screens were the norm, which is why all the dialog boxes are so tiny on modern screens.)

Apart from that I've continued converting apps to Visual Basic 2008, which involves learning a whole lot of stuff about the new graphics handling methods. yLaunch2, yGen2, yCopy2 are all complete and working, and on my own system I'm now using those live in place of the originals.

The problem with converting old code is that many of the tweaks and constructs no longer work. There are two ways you can approach a conversion:

1) Import the old project and set to work converting code in hundreds (or thousands) of places, rewriting everything which doesn't work

2) Still using the old language, take a copy of the project, bump the version number, and rewrite the code so it still works in the old language AND it will work in the new.

I was doing my conversions the first way, and the problem there is that you end up with two wildly different projects. During the conversion process I inevitably fix and tweak other things, until the new project has features not in the original. Then, if I add something to the original I end up with the opposite situation. And doing another conversion from the Improved Original involves losing all the new changes AND all the converted code.

This is what happened with yWriter, and it's the reason I abandoned the new conversion of yWriter 4 and instead wrote it in the old language. It wasn't wasted effort though, since every attempted conversion teaches me more about the new language.

Anyway, over the past couple of weeks I've been working the second way (hence Sonar3), and the difference is incredible. For example, when I imported yLaunch (a nifty little app, by the way) it only had seven errors to fix, instead of 300+. The result was a fully-working new version in under a day.

So, what next?

After Sonar3 I've got a pick of other projects:

Tweak yWriter4.
Write a new database for my charting software.
Discover how printing works in VB2008 (or rather, doesn't.)
Write BookDB3 with a new database format.

Fascinating stuff, eh?

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Another mad January idea

I've decided to offer my services as a programmer for hire, specifically with the idea of working on legacy Visual Basic projects (VB5 and VB6, although I've also designed and written major projects in VB3, VB4 and VB Dos .. even QuickBasic 4.5)

I'm not after a job, but I am interested in exploring the idea of contract work. Full details on the link above.

What prompted this? A comment on Slashdot, a discussion on SFNovelists, and a desire to continue working from home.

I mean, here I sit with over 20 years experience, and it's mostly going to waste.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Fantastic Planet top 50 bestsellers of 2007

Pinched from their blog:

1...Old Man's War, by John Scalzi
2...The Court of the Air, by Stephen Hunt
3...Temeraire, by Naomi Novik
4...The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds
5...Black Man, by Richard Morgan
6...Bad Case of Loving You, by Lainey Cairo
7...Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds
8...The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch
9...Fragile Things, by Neil Gaiman
10..Engaging the Enemy, by Elizabeth Moon

.

23..Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts, by Simon Haynes

Yay!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Helping hand

One of my new year resolutions was to try and help a few people in need, and I just found a great vehicle for lending a hand ... www.kiva.org

Kiva.org allows individuals to make $25 loans to low-income entrepreneurs in the developing world (microfinance). By doing so, individuals like you provide affordable working capital for the poor (money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc.), empowering them to earn their way out of poverty.

I just signed up and loaned a few bucks to Neba Ferdinand in Cameroon and Elen Suci and Normawati of Bali, Indonesia. Some of these folks are only asking for a $100 loan to start a new business, or to expand the one they're running now. (You can lend as little as $25, so a group of people can all chip in to help one borrower.)

Anyway, I've set up a Kiva profile, and if you have the wherewithal you might like to give Neba, Elen or Normawati a hand as well - or anyone else on the site, for that matter.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Christmas, Western Australian style

Went out with the family today, taking in a trip on the Swan River. We stopped off for a barbie and sunk a few tinnies too. It was a nice day out, and I've included a few pics below.

To those of you enjoying snow, sleet, rain, cold temperatures ... ha ha ha. Then again, we almost hit 46C on Boxing Day (115F) so you can laugh at that. (It wasn't that hot today, or we wouldn't have ventured outside.)

And greets to my eldest daughter, who turned 13 yesterday. Yes, we now have a teenager in the house ... fortunately, she's not the wild sort.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Merry Christmas to all!

Phew - two weeks weeding the garden, tidying the house & surrounds, buying stuff for xmas dinner (new folding chairs, food, etc), wrapping prezzies, hanging xmas decorations and lights, going to the dentist, more weeding, cleaning the pool, more cleaning ... I almost wish I was still slaving over my NanoWrimo effort!

Still, the turkey is defrosted in the fridge, the veggies are all peeled, cut, diced & whatever, and everything is ready for a great day tomorrow. We'll have around 20 people over for the day, and I'll be on the go from about 9:30 am, which is when I have to make my Special Stuffing (I just stuck the recipe on my website) Crumbled bacon, bread cubes sauted in olive oil, onion, egg, fresh rosemary and thyme ... last year it was so good people were passing up the turkey and tucking into the stuffing instead.

I'll put the turkey on at 10:30 am, since it's a 5kg size (about 11lb). I've cooked turkeys in our barbecue for the past 10 years, and this one won't be any different. When the summer temp is 38-40 degrees outside (over 105F) you really don't want the oven making things worse, so cooking on the BBQ is the solution. I use shallow oven trays and invert them over the hotplates and grille, then light the outer burners only (4 of the 5, leaving the centre one unlit.) The turkey sits in the middle, and the hood goes down. In our oven we usually roast at 180C, but the BBQ can hit 260-280 with 4 burners on full, so it's important to keep an eye on it.

The turkey will take 3 hours all up, and an hour or so into the cooking I'll put potatoes, pumpkin, whole onions and parsnips in to roast. These sit in baking trays, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. I usually wrap the pumpkin in tinfoil and bake it whole.

Half an hour later I add a huge metal stock pot containing peeled potatoes and lots of water - plus mint & salt. These will boil, and are ready by the time everything else is done.

Inside the house, in the nice cool aircon, we just have to steam the green veggies - brussels sprouts, peas, beans, etc. They only need 5-10 mins, and aside from heating custard and warming the christmas pud, that's the only cooking we'll need to do indoors.

I know I've missed some of the food (cured ham, for example, but that's just sliced & served cold) but these days I can cook a whole xmas dinner for 20-30 people on autopilot. I just make sure I have a spare gas bottle, and I check under the hood every 30 minutes to see whether anything is getting too well done. If so, wrap in tinfoil or reduce the heat.

Anyway, if I don't post again before the new year, Merry Christmas to everyone and I hope you have a fantastic time.

Cheers
Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Upgrading to the best version of Windows

Here's a comparison of XP and Vista, specially written for those stuck with the buggier of the two. (Non-computer types and the humour-impaired can safely skip this article.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Terry Pratchett

I have to say, this really sucks. Here's a guy who's given an enormous amount of laughs and good cheer to a huge worldwide fan base, and he's rewarded with a cruel blow like this.

I still remember the first time I heard of Terry Pratchett. I was an enthusiastic teen computer user, spending hours per day on my Sinclair ZX Spectrum, and one of the games I picked up was a computer version of The Colour of Magic. That must have been 1984 or 1985, and it's been wonderful to see his books hit greater and greater heights ever since.

Well, here's hoping modern medicine can pull off a miracle ... and a few experts in high-end brain chemistry wouldn't go amiss either.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Catastrophic Windows Failure ... ho hum

Another day, another refusal to boot. Switched on my PC at 7:30 am and it wouldn't go anywhere. Tried safe mode and it kept rebooting after showing the MUP.sys driver. Used Google from the laptop, found a zillion people with the same problem and about as many solutions. (This is the third time this has happened to me in the past 18 months. You think I'd have switched to Linux by now. If it weren't for certain games ...)

Anyway, I set up a second copy of XP on a spare hard drive, booted it, tinkered with the main C partition, no go. Fortunately (or rather, intelligently) my C drive is just Windows and Program Files - my 'My Documents' folder is on its own 5gb partition on a second drive.

So, I ran Paragon Drive Backup, took a snapshot of the broken C partition, then restored my latest snapshot dated October the 11th. Rebooted into my now-working, but outdated install, let AVG and Firefox and Microsoft and Adobe and Java all update themselves, sorted folders in the Program Files folder by date on my C drive AND in the backup snapshot, and reinstalled all apps I'd added to my system after October. Updated to OpenOffice 2.3.1. Restored my Firefox profile in the Documents and Settings folder. Rebooted to confirm it's all working.

Total lost time: around 5 or 6 hours. I have to pick the kids up from school in half an hour, which means basically the whole day is shot, and I've yet to answer a single email. Mind you, I'm lucky I can fix this stuff. For the average punter it would have been wipe and reinstall, perhaps losing all their data in the process.

Now, had this been a Linux installation I'd have booted from a live CD, manually edited the broken config file in a text editor (no registry on linux, thank heavens) and rebooted to a working machine. Net wasted time: around 5 minutes.

And Microsoft want me to upgrade to Vista? The hell I will.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Vanishing act

I've been so busy lately that blogging has been the last thing on my mind. What with getting Hal 4 ready, completing nanowrimo, rewriting Remind Me Please and yWriter 4, doing essential maintenance on the house etc, etc, I've hardly had time for a breather.

I owe emails to quite a few people, and I have a load of paperwork to get through. Bear with me ... it will happen. NanoWrimo and the new yWriter 4 application have both generated huge quantities of email on top of the usual load, which hasn't helped.

Oh well, at least the Xmas break is coming up.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

NanoWrimo progress

I really wasn't looking forward to NanoWrimo this year. I've been plotting, writing and editing Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch since April, and I only finished the final proofs early in November. I must have read the manuscript over thirty times, and the thought of starting another book immediately made me feel ill and very, very tired.

But despite that, I felt a strong solidarity with all those people embarking on their own Nano journeys, and from day one I never doubted I'd get there in the end. I took it easy, writing as much as I could each day and forcing out an extra 500 words here and there. I also put a lot of time into yWriter 4, which is probably the most user-friendly and reliable release of this app yet. (If you're one of the many thousands of yWriter users worldwide, I hope you find it as useful as I do.)

Oh, and I wrote myself a little text editor which allowed me to set a word count and then go at it, watching the count decrease in the status bar as I typed. I reckon that prog was the difference for me on many slow writing days.

So, without further ado:

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

What am I reading?

Marshal Zeringue of the Writers Read blog recently asked what I was reading and what I had on my TBR pile. Naturally, I revealed all.

Also, I just saw the CMIS Resource Bank website has a listing for all three Hal books, giving each a nice review and rating them as suitable for ages 13+. (This site is run by the Western Australian Education Dept, and I guess that explains all the wa.edu.au visitors to the spacejock.com.au site ... they can't all be after simple recipes.)


Snips from the reviews for each book:

Hal 1: "As might be expected, things start to go wrong and just keep going that way in this clever novel."

Hal 2: "The rich variety of characters and the very clever humour is attention-holding from beginning to end."

Hal 3: "The satire is great, the plot oddities continue to fascinate. Simon Haynes wants to write fifteen Hal Spacejock books. We are happily waiting."

I like how each review ends with a plea for the books to be turned into a TV series or a movie. (Although the phrase 'over my dead body' springs to mind. Hands up if you've seen a mainstream movie oozing with clever humour* lately.)

* Hey, that's how the reviewer described it ...

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

yWriter 4 beta is out

To celebrate handing in the final, final proofed manuscript of Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts I've released a beta of yWriter 4. The timing is awful, what with me needing to write 1800 words per day from now until the 30th of November, but what the hell.

(By the way, if I sent you a copy of Hal 4 for a cover quote, the final date of the 31st/Oct was wrong. Still have about a week to go.)

Anyway, you can import yWriter 2 and 3 projects into version 4, and you should read the warnings on the web page before running it.

(In short: When you open a yw3 file it's renamed to yw3.bak. Therefore, please make a copy of any project folders if you intend to open the contents in yWriter 4.)

Oh yes, and enjoy!

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

The lol phenomenon

I know my sense of humour isn't defective, so why don't I laugh at the lolcatz pics spreading across the net like wildfire? I feel like I'm missing the joke. Maybe it's the fact they're cutesy, or the fact many of the pics have dumb animals carefully arranged into staged positions so we humans can laugh at them.

So, what kind of lolcatz would make me laugh? Something clearly not staged for the camera, something where the pic and the caption tell two completely different stories, something with hidden meaning for those in the know, something which is not the same old run-of-the-mill cute. And something where I know I shouldn't laugh but I just can't help myself. (Yeah, I'm picky, but I apply the same criteria to my novels.)

Anyway, my ideal lolcatz is something like this:

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Ripper wrapper

Supposed to be getting my Nano words done and, more importantly, finishing the final proofing of Hal 4. So what did I do today? Amongst other things, I went to a concert my wife was playing in and wrote a system tray prog which wraps Video Lan Client (VLC).

VLC has this great transcoding mode you can run from the command line, so if you happen to have a DVD with home movies on (you know, a menu system plus several tracks, some of which are the ones you want), then my prog lets you view the DVD contents by track and playing time, tick the tracks you want and then rip & transcode them to much smaller AVIs in the background. It names them track by track, and does the whole lot one after another before stopping. (Incidentally, VLC is my movie-playing app of choice. Worth a download - and it runs on Windows, Linux and OS X.)

On a dual core CPU you can merrily do this ripping bizzo while foreground tasks run as fast as ever, which is sweet. And making it a systray app means no clutter on the desktop. For now there's a big kludge where the command line options are dumped into a text box, but ticks and checkboxes will follow. First I have to proof Hal 4 and finish my nano words for the day...

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Out of character

What happens when your major character gets involved in a situation where you suspect he'd probably act one way, and yet in the interests of entertainment you force him to do the opposite?

I'm having a fine old time writing a series of scenes featuring Hal, but they're not in character. Without revealing too much, he gets caught up with a military type, and they're trying to escape from a hotel which is under siege. Now, I'd half expect Hal to hang back, let the other guy do the work, and then nick off at the first possible moment. Instead, he's loaded to the eyeballs with assorted weaponry and is going for it like Arnie on speed.

The humour comes about because he's hung all these grenades off his belt .. by their pins. Now and then he loses one, yells 'Grenade', and in the ensuing destruction he fires off a few random shots to 'get' the person attacking them.

Nobody gets hurt, but the destruction is more and more impressive at every turn, and it's as funny as hell to write. Not only is he single-handedly destroying this hotel, but his military offsider has no idea it's Hal causing the damage.

I have no idea where this is all going, or whether these scenes will ever make it into a finished Hal book, but right now this novel is Die Hard meets Lost meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Fun!

So, what do you do when your own characters run amuck? Do you straighten them out and tell them to behave, or do you write on and see where they take you? (This is where series books can be tricky, because you've already established the character. However, that's no excuse for keeping them in a straight jacket ... just look at how much some characters changed over the course of BtVS or Angel, for example.)

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Beta versions!

I don't often blog about my software, but I know a lot of you are using yWriter.

Over the past week I've been altering chunks of yWriter3 to make the file storage a bit less extreme. Right now it sprouts text files like weeds whenever you do anything, and I wanted to tidy things up a bit. So, I wrote a version which consolidates all these additional files into the main chapters.ini, scenes.ini and so on. I also added features to the characters sheet, and tweaked a few other things.

Then I went much further, and rewrote the entire storage system to use XML files. This was a major change, so last night I dubbed THIS version yWriter 4, keeping just the smaller improvements for yWriter 3.

yW4 isn't available yet, but you can grab a beta of new improved yWriter 3 here. A couple of points: 1, you need yWriter 3 installed before you can run the beta - instructions on the page I just linked to. 2, make a backup of your current project folder, all of it, before running the new beta. Just drag and drop the folder to create 'Copy of ---'. Then, if this version of yW3 messes up on your system, you just reinstall the original, rename the messed-up project to 'Messed up ---' and rename 'Copy of ---' back to just '---' Once you've confirmed it's all running smoothly again, you can then delete 'Messed up ---' (In all of these examples, --- is the project folder, not the yWriter folder.)

Also, if you want to hold off messing with betas until AFTER NanoWrimo, that's probably a good idea.


There's another beta I've made available too: RMP. That one's here, and the same warnings apply. (Although in this case events.dat is all you need to back up, and RMP2 won't harm the original.)


As for yWriter 4... I'm now using it myself instead of yWriter3. What that means is that future development of yWriter 3 has ceased, and all improvements and extra features will go into yWriter 4 from this point on. I'm expecting to release a beta soon .. it's working fine, but I really have to deal with Hal 4 and 5 before I take on more work.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Here we go... getting into the zone

21,000 words into NanoWrimo and I finally hit that 'here we go' moment. It happens every time I start writing a novel ... one minute I'm on this side, writing on the laptop about things happening in an imaginary world, going through the motions and keeping the wordcount happening, and the next I feel the scenery blur around me and I'm in the other world. The characters are there, carrying on right in front of me, the place is real. From this point I can leave and re-enter whenever I want, and it's a whole lot easier to write the story.

Does anyone else get this? The Magic Portal to your Plot World which only appears when you've written enough to cover the entry price? Or maybe I'm just slightly odd.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Electonic Hal

I was browsing Dymocks Online today, curious to see whether the pre-release listing for Hal 4 had appeared yet. It hadn't, but imagine my surprise when I discovered they're selling an ebook version of Hal Spacejock book one.

Here, see for yourself. And have a giggle at the price while you're at it.

(I don't know whether their ebooks are available to buyers outside Australia, but if they are, then by my calcs an expensive Hal ebook is still half the price of a printed copy plus airmail.)

Oh well, I'm not sure Hal appreciated being digitised but I'm sure Clunk got a buzz out of it.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Odds and bods

Several updates today, before I get back to my NanoWrimo work. (I'm a whole day behind, but not for long.)

First, thanks for all the birthday wishes. It was the big 40 for me, and we had a nice BBQ in the hot Western Australian weather. (That means I cooked the BBQ outside in the heat while everyone else lounged around in the pool or sat under the aircon.) A very nice evening, and my steaks marinaded in whisky for 8 hours went down a treat. (After first going UP when I put them on the flames.)

Second, Nano progress: Lousy word count over the weekend, but 500 words here and there kept the thing moving. This morning I spent an hour plotting ahead, and another hour re-plotting some of the bits I'd already written. This after I discovered my 16,000 words to date have raced through the first half of the plot in about three chapters. Need to pace myself and develop things properly.

Third, Stephen Wrighton of No Krakana has posted an in-depth review of Hal 1. I'm not going to spoil the review by summarising it, but it's worth reading if you still don't know what Hal Spacejock is all about. Okay, perhaps one brief snip which I really liked: "It shows a grim understanding of both current culture in regards to software and how we interact with in on our PCs and the Internet, as well as an even grimmer understanding that companies will try to utilize such things whenever possible."

Yes, the books are funny ha-ha and Hal is a klutz, but I was pleased to see a mention of the satire which bubbles through the series.

Stephen's based in the US, and as with many of these reviews and comments, he includes the usual desire to see a US publisher take on the books ASAP. (Recently I've been getting a lot of those demanding that a British publisher take the books on, so I guess that's a nice change.)

All up, a busy weekend. Now for an even busier week...

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Nano progress days 7, 8 and 9

Wrote 1100 words on the 7th, 1000 yesterday and 550 so far today (although it's only 1pm.)

I'm hoping to do another 2000 today - enough's enough, and it's time to knuckle down and get ahead. I have a very busy weekend coming up and my publisher is posting back the page proofs of Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch for me to go over early next week, so I can't afford to let things slide.

Yesterday I designed & coded myself a little text editor which allows me to set a word count (e.g. 500) so that it can maintain a 'words left' count in the status bar as I type. I finished writing undo/redo and auto backup code for it today, and the 550 words was my first effort with it.

Oh, and today I also used Dragon Naturally Speaking to dictate the words. I think much faster than I type, which means I usually edit on the fly, rewording the next sentence in my head while I'm still typing the previous one. (I type about 60 wpm.) Throw in plotting and character creation on the run and you can see why I don't like distractions when I'm working.

Anyway, Dragon is okay but somewhat CPU intensive, and it lags a fair bit on my laptop. The desktop has a dual CPU and power to spare, but I can't dictate on that because we have an open plan house - too much ambient noise.

The other problem with Dragon is punctuation, especially in dialogue. I've decided to plough on without it, and I'll correct it later. (And correcting misinterpreted words is another whole ball o' fun.)

How's everyone else doing with their Nano efforts? Ahead? Behind? Anyone else using speech-to-text?

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Nano day 6

Nada! Zero! Zip! At least, that was the story until 10:20pm. You see, today was the day my editor and I had to discuss any last-minute changes to Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch. (That's book 4 in the series - I'm writing book 5 for Nano.) I compromised on a couple of things, she compromised on a couple more, and eventually we declared it done. I know she'd have liked a few more changes (sorry Janet!) but there's always something to tweak.

Anyway, I had a lousy headache after that so I turned to my favourite computer-based task ... programming. Yes, I spent the day converting the database in Remind Me Please to XML, writing an automatic converter for existing users, tidying up the custom alarm sounds bugs, fixing the delete-expired-events bug, and generally speeding it up. I really enjoyed myself, and it made a nice break from worrying about Hal.

Until half an hour ago. Then I realised I was 1700 words short of my daily target of 1700 words, so I typed like crazy and reached 1200 or so. I'll do the other 500 in a minute, just before bed.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

NaNo Progress day 5

*Zap* *kerpow* 1919 words today, 8750 total.

Hal and Clunk have just uncovered the truth about their passenger, and they're not particularly happy. They've also realised there's an opportunity for some easy cash, which has taken the sting out of their problem. It's just a pity they've yet to realise there is no such thing as easy in the Hal Spacejock universe!

During today's sessions I wrote around a couple of scenes which were leftovers from years gone by - they can go into the draft after Nano.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, because that's when Hal and Clunk meet a very interesting character. I don't know how to play this one yet, but often the character's age, personality and background don't really come out until the second or third draft, so I'm not too fussed at this stage. Even age and appearance are approximate - I just need them to play their part in the plot, and I'll sketch in the details and enhance them later.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Back cover blurbs

It's that time of the year again - no, not Nano, something far worse. I have to submit suggestions for the Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch back cover blurb!

I'm not sure whether you're aware of this, but my 'suggestions' for the first three books made it onto the back cover verbatim (go me), and I also designed the naff torn-out adverts for books one and three ('Space pilot for Hire' and 'Guaranteed Cheap') The card from my recent blog post ("the customer comes first") will probably be used on Hal 4, too.

Did I say how much I love working with my publisher, Fremantle Press?

Anyway, I wanted to come up with a blurb, so I turned to my wife for advice. She said I should just think of the funniest bits in Hal 4 and use something from those. Alas, the only bits I could remember consisted of the kind of humour which, taken out of context, would have my books delivered to school libraries in brown paper bags.

Even now I'm reluctant to raise them, so to speak. It'd be like pulling the naughty comments and gags from Blackadder and using them to promote the show - instead of being minor asides, people would think the whole series was wall-to-wall risque gags.

To me, the other important thing with a back cover summary is that it not reveal any of the plot beyond the early stages of the novel. Some books (and DVD covers) go way too far, giving away the ending and half the journey taken to get there. Spoilers, people! Hate them.

Therefore, the Hal summaries have to be enticing without being specific, funny without being filthy, and crafted so that people know what sort of book they're getting without revealing the plot.

The other thing I've tried to do is stay consistent across the books. Give the reader three things, mention Hal and Clunk, then include a second para with a hook and a bit of humour.

Okay, that's the preamble sorted. (Does that count towards my NaNo progress? Thought not.)



Here's an early attempt. It's much too wordy and not funny at all:


Hal Spacejock and Clunk are looking for a cargo job to settle their bills, and they find just the thing on planet Dulsuil. While Clunk signs them up, Hal visits the spaceport lounge for a quick coffee, and when an attractive young woman asks him out on a date he realises his luck has finally changed.

Yeah, right.

First an old rival swoops on Hal’s cargo job, stealing it away with a promise of top class service and a bigger, faster ship. And then Hal’s date turns out to be in law enforcement: yes, the young woman is really a Peace Force trainee facing her first – and possibly last – case.

Now Hal must choose: Take on his rival and attempt to win back the cargo job, or set aside his own problems to help the young woman in her dangerous investigation.

Whatever he decides, it’s No Free Lunch for Hal Spacejock!



Next up, version two. This one gives a bit more detail and attempts a bit of humour. You'll see three things from the book in the first para, Hal's reaction and a hook:


A cunning and persistant rival, a trainee officer sucked into a dangerous investigation and a planet with more bugs than a new operating system ... yes, even Hal Spacejock's unshakeable faith in his own abilities is under threat.
Will he take on the rival to save his own business, or set aside his problems to help the trainee with her first - and possibly last - investigation? Whatever he decides, it's No Free Lunch for Hal Spacejock!


However, the 'unshakeable faith' line isn't good enough, and I'm not happy about the three things either. I'll keep working on it.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

NaNoWriMo progress day 4

The Nano forums are up and down like a genetically modified mouse, but the writing goes on and on.

Today I extended the forest scene, threw in some nail- and shortbread-biting action and sent up three major films in a handful of paragraphs. "Make sure it hasn't got a sunroof!" - classic.

I've also ended up with a possible method of disposing of/freaking out the bad guys at the end of the book - but that's a long way off yet.

Tomorrow I'll leave the forest and get back to the actual, you know, plot. Hal and Clunk have to meet their client to collect payment, and that's when the fit hits the shan.

Footnote: Someone emailed me to ask that I stop promoting NaNoWriMo because the forums can't handle the load. Actually, the point is to write 50,000 words in November on your own computer, and whether the forums work or not really don't enter into it. Also, I seriously doubt my own modest efforts had much to do with the 139,000 people who logged into the NaNoWriMo forums on the 3rd of November. And if it's any consolation, the forums are much quicker tonight.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Nano 2007 progress

As usual, it took about 500 words before I'd abandoned the plot outline and segued into a much more interesting scene (which will then never appear in a finished Hal book, as usual.)

On day one I wrote about Hal & Clunk's new passenger, an old boy with a newly-purchased (but wrecked) old robot, who is promising to pay on arrival. He stands to inherit a large amount of cash, but has to present himself at the solicitors in time to claim it. Gotta love those deadlines.

Unfortunately the landing field is overflowing, and Hal and Clunk are told to land on the next planet and catch the ferry back. The alternative is to land illegally somewhere quiet. Hah. I love giving them these legal/moral choices, especially as Clunk is the legal & moral one, and Hal isn't.

On Nano day two I started on a farcical meeting between the various parties, with Clunk insisting on a democratic vote. Should they land illegally, or should they land elsewhere and catch the ferry? Guess which way the vote goes.

So, H&C drop off the passenger and agree to meet him outside the solicitors for payment. Then they go off to conceal the Volante in a nearby forest. In darkness.

They leave the ship and make their way through the trees, only to discover a five-metre-high electric fence with loads of warning signs on the other side. Oh dear.

Day three .. is today, and I haven't started yet.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)

Joss Whedon's new show

Article here

A quick skim of the plot & central character had me choking on my coffee. Yes, I know it's random coincidence, but it's pretty much identical to the antagonist's plot in Hal Spacejock Just Desserts.

Fortunately, the books have been in print for ages. Unfortunately, not in the US, where everyone will just assume I copied from Whedon. Damn.

Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)