Nano day 4

I had a lousy writing day yesterday - I'm seeing my accountant on Thursday, and I have to take all of last year's figures with me. That means sorting through the typical shoe box full of receipts and statements, entering everything into a spreadsheet and coming up with subtotals in all the different categories.

It's hard to concentrate on fiction writing when you have that much fun awaiting your attention, and so on Monday I only managed 800 words or so in between the spreadsheet chicanery. I'd just got into the swing by 11:30pm when my wife pointed out we had to be up at 6:30 am to get youngest off to band practice. (Thanks to daylight saving, 6:30am is a body-clock time of 5:30 am. I don't function at all before three coffees and/or 10am, body clock or otherwise.)

Oh yes, and yesterday I also spent half the day writing an HTML-based print routine for Remind-Me-Please 3, because I recently upgraded my wife's PC from v2 and she was the first to notice the new version didn't print anything when she clicked the buttons. (I tried telling her the printer was out of paper, it was all down to Windows XP, she wasn't clicking the buttons in the right place, etc, in the hope she'd ask me about it after the end of November, but in the end I confessed there was no actual code behind the buttons.)

Today, after a massive six hours of sleep, I've managed 3000 words before 3pm. I did this by ignoring most email, my accounts spreadsheet and other niceties of civilisation. I did get the usual three coffees in, and I'm surviving on a diet of mini Snickers, Mars Bars and Bounties... all the loot I bought for Halloween trick-or-treaters, which nobody tried to claim.

Anyway, I'm about to tackle the accounts spreadsheet again, which is a pity because I was really into the writing. It was one of those days where I could half-convince myself I could write one 90,000 word draft a month.

Maybe later I'll get another thousand words in. And not just on my blog.

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

Hal Spacejock Website

I've just updated the main Hal Spacejock site with a new front page (6 covers! Woot!), pages for Hal 5 and 6 (now with even more FAQ), news pages for them both (pathetically empty), and a few additional bits and pieces.

Check it out

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

Hal Spacejock books 5 and 6

I just got off the phone from my publisher and they've verbally confirmed Hal Spacejock book 5 for November 2009 and Hal Spacejock book 6 for November 2010.

After that, who knows? I have more plot ideas than I can possibly use, and I still love the characters, so it's really down to the publisher and the book-buying public.

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

International Backup Day

I'm unilaterally declaring November the 3rd International Backup Day, or IBD for short. Grab a blank DVD, memory stick or removable hard drive and take a copy of your important files, right now. This is doubly important if you don't know how to do a backup, or have never bothered.

JA Konrath recently posted about various backup and restore methods, so head over there if you're uncertain about the whole concept of storing a copy of your data.

If you're not sure whether it's time to backup or not, consider this: If your PC died tomorrow, what would you lose?

You might like to post about IBD on your blog if you believe backing up is important.

Windows users: At the very least you should take a copy of your 'My Documents' folder - right-click on it, select properties and note how many gb it takes up. You'll need a memory stick at least 10-20% bigger than the total, so 3gb of files will require a 4gb stick or a blank DVD. 500 megs of files will fit onto a CD.

If you have a lot of data, I recommend an external USB hard drive. Just remember not to leave it connected to the power or the computer when not in use, or a lightning strike will take it out along with all your other gear. If you DO pick up a 500gb drive, don't waste all that room. Make folders called Jan-Dec and schedule a monthly backup into the relevant folder.

If funds are tight you can pick up an empty 3.5" USB hard drive enclosure and fit an old 10 or 20gb drive. That's equivalent to 20-40 DVDs, which is masses of room for the average user. If you have a huge collection of digital camera pics, consider how much you've saved on film and developing, and put a tiny portion of that cash towards a backup solution.

Personally I'm a backup freak, with a dedicated 200gb partition containing automatic daily, monthly and yearly snaphots of My Documents, two dozen external hard drives, backups on two completely different computers and a pocket full of memory sticks. But you don't have to go that far.

Finally, a free backup app you might find useful. (Windows only)

Official International Backup Day page

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

Helpful NanoWrimo links

This year marks my fourth NanoWrimo, and barring any disasters I intend to maintain my 100% record. For those wondering whether Nano is any use ... Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch contains a lot of ideas, characters and actual writing from a couple of my earlier Nano efforts, so the answer is yes.

The benefits of Nano are many, from thirty days of mad writing with no worries about the quality of the prose, to the understanding of family who you'll finally hear saying things like "No, he can't come to your election victory celebration. He's WRITING this month."

So, on to Nano 2008. This year I've plotted Hal 5 and will be writing a substantial chunk of the first draft. I've not written a word of fiction since Nano last year (in itself a damn good reason for me to sit down and do it again), so I suspect it's going to be a bit of 'right you, into the deep end' for the first few days. I'll live.

Enough of the pitch. Now I want to share a few links:

My Nanowrimo daily progress forms, Nano tips and the unique one-day-catchup form are all here.

yWriter4 for Windows is here. (Your mission is to install it and learn how to use it before the 1st. Ha.)

The Nanowrimo forums. They usually melt down for the first 5-7 days, but after that about 60-70% of Nano hopefuls have packed it in, and everything moves smoothly again.

Once you've signed up for Nano (and you'd better hurry), the Regions page allows you to specify your geographical location, and will then give you a link to a forum where you can meet up with nearby Nanoers. E.g. my region is "Australia & New Zealand :: Perth :: South", and we're already planning meet-ups and word wars with "Australia & New Zealand :: Perth :: North"

Finally, my NanoWrimo profile is here. If you want to run a word war widget with me, just copy and paste the following to your blog/website, replacing the [ and ] with < and >, and the ID with your own NanoWrimo ID (number, not name. It's the last part of the URL when you access your user page on NanoWrimo's site.)

[img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/NanowrimoUtils/WordWar/84789-ID.png" /]

See you in November ;-)

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

Nano '08

I worked my way through the Hal 5 plot over the weekend, and managed to escape without changing more than 95% of it. This was prompted by the ever-closer NanoWrimo 2008, which starts in just over 10 days.

I didn't quite get yWriter 5 ready for this year's NanoWrimo, but yWriter 4 looks like it's popular enough already:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3027032

I'll be using yWriter 5 myself during November, ready or not, and will use NanoWrimo '08 to write a large chunk of Hal 5 and also debug yW5 at the same time. (No coding allowed until after the daily wordcount is complete, of course. That's my reward #1. Reward #2 is GTAIV PC, which is coming out mid-November.)

Anyone else participating in NanoWrimo? If so, feel free to add me as a writing buddy/contact/virtual punchbag/word war opponent:

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/84789

See you on the 1st!

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

Arty

With her permission, I'd like to share a self portrait my eldest daughter has been working on for the past couple of days:



1. She used the Gimp open-source art package
2. She drew it freehand with the mouse

(She usually works with pencil and pastels, never directly on the PC.)

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

Hal Spacejock 4 review

This one slipped past my search filters somehow. It's a write-up/summary of Hal 4 in the Sept 2008 Midwest Book Review. (It's on their site under the Internet Bookwatch and Wisconsin Bookwatch sections. Hal's a slippery fellow ...)

Anyway, the review starts as follows:

With his gift for satire, science fiction author Simon Haynes is the Australian Terry Pratchett.

Cough splutter blush.

In evidence I submit "No Free Lunch", a rollicking SciFi showcasing the adventures of that square-jawed, square-shooter spaceman Hal Spacejock.

That's part's right.

"No Free Lunch" will leave science fiction enthusiasts eagerly looking forward to the next thrilling, quirky, and humorous adventure of Hal Spacejock, interplanetary entrepreneur!

Which is a problem, because the books still haven't been picked up by a US publisher. So, you can look forward to them but you can't actually buy them in bookstores and such.




Looks great, wonderful reviews, but You Can't Have It.

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

Interview with Mindy Klasky

Mindy Klasky is the author of nine speculative fiction novels, including MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL, the third volume in the Jane Madison series, about a librarian who discovers that she's a witch. You can learn more about Mindy at her website - www.mindyklasky.com - including reading chapters from each of her novels.



Available at Amazon, Powell's and most online and bricks-and-mortar bookstores.

Why this book? What made you want to write this story?

I started writing the Jane Madison series because I wanted to play with a world that was light and fun, with a clearly defined supernatural influence. (I had just finished the dramatic, dark, magic-less Glasswrights Series, along with a trunked novel about a world-destroying conspiracy of evil-doers who torture children, murder scholars, and do other depressing dastardly deeds.)

Despite the lighter tone, Jane confronts some serious questions in the books - most often about the nature of friendship and family. MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL was specifically sparked by my interest in how friendships change over time, particularly as we get older and more settled, losing some of the angst that cements some ... younger relationships. I think that it's the perfect conclusion to the Jane Madison Series, wrapping up loose ends, while letting readers envision a future for their favorite series characters.

Which authors inspire you? Has that changed over time?

I have always enjoyed authors who build incredible characters, giving them realistic plots through which to navigate. Over time, my list of favorite authors has evolved to include more Young Adult authors (such as Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld.) I find myself veering away from authors who take political stances that I find distasteful, particularly when their politics stray into their storytelling. (Orson Scott Card? I'm looking at you!)

Why genre? Is there something special about science fiction or fantasy that draws you to write in the field?

I love the opportunity in genre to answer the "what if" questions. I could certainly write a searing indictment of contemporary culture, drawing on "ripped from the headlines" stories about spousal abuse, abandoned children, tortured prisoners, etc. I find it more intriguing, though, to structure my inquiries in speculative terms. Readers free themselves to think more broadly when the framework for their thoughts is patently impossible. Jane Madison readers can ask themselves about their relationships with their mothers, grandmothers, best friends, and romantic interests without needing to cut too close to the emotional bone. Readers are less defensive and more expansive when they are freed from the direct constraints of the real world.

What do you find most interesting about Jane Madison?

Jane is a bundle of contrasts and insecurities. Usually, she knows what she should be saying and/or doing; she just doesn't remember to state those words or take those actions in the immediacy of the moment. (Her judgment is even more impaired when the men of her dreams are around....) I enjoy structuring Jane's foibles - mostly because she is, at heart, an educated, eloquent, strong woman who acts in her own best interest and in the best interest of those around her. (That action becomes even more challenging in MAGIC, when Jane meets her true love, only to find that "the course of true love never did run smooth.")

You're a writer. What else are you? What are your interests? Hobbies?

I've been a lawyer and a librarian. I'm a wife, a daughter, a sister, and an aunt. In between juggling all of the professional and familial hats, I am an avid reader, a cat-wrangler, a baker, a quilter, a movie-watcher, a Boston Red Sox fan, and a scrapbooker. (Basically, I can't just sit and watch TV; I need to have something in my hands. I get most of my quilting done during the World Series.)

Did you have to do any special research for this book? What did you need to know in order to write it that you didn't know before? Do you have some special preparation you do for writing?

For each of the Jane Madison books, I've conducted a lot of "spot" research, doing quick online searches for information about specific crystals, individual runes, and other magical paraphernalia. Jane and her best friend often quote Shakespeare, challenging each other to identify the play, act, and scene. I usually start out knowing the quotation, but I need to research the specific reference. MAGIC is heavily tied to Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, so I re-read the play in preparation for writing this volume. I can't write without a live connection to the Internet (although I have to restrain myself from checking my email every twenty-seven seconds!) In the rare times that I've tried writing without an Internet connection, I leave myself cryptic notes (e.g., "Find Stomach Crystal.")

I see a lot of food, especially baking, in this book. Is that something that really interests you? Or is it more driven by the needs of the story?

I've always enjoyed baking, although I am almost always dieting. Creating the Cake Walk bakery gave me a chance to indulge my sweet tooth in low-caloric ways!

This fall, my baking interest is going to grow beyond the four corners of the Jane Madison series: I'm launching a charity calendar that will include some of the Cake Walk recipes, along with favorite recipes from a variety of paranormal, urban fantasy, and mystery authors. All profits will go to First Book, a charity with the mission of getting underprivileged children their first books to own. (Details will be posted on my website shortly!)

Jane's best friend, Melissa, goes on numerous disastrous first dates throughout the series. Do you have your own share of first date disasters to tell?

Every one of Melissa's horrific dates has a seed of truth in one of my own first dates. (In one horrific year, I went on 28 first dates - a record that convinced me that I was perfectly happy to live the rest of my life alone. A couple of years after swearing off dating, I logged on to match.com (in response to prompting from my concerned, married brother.) I reluctantly completed my dating profile, clicked on "match" and the first profile that came up belonged to the man I married 17 months later.)

What are you writing now?

I've started a new urban fantasy series, the As You Wish Series. The first volume, THERE'S THE RUB, will be in stores in October 2009. It's about a stage manager who discovers a magic lantern with a wish-granting genie inside. Alas, her wishes don't go precisely as she plans....

Anything else that we should know about you, your writing, and the Jane Madison Series?

In addition to selling the Cake Walk recipe calendar, I am raising money for First Book by auctioning off a stunning, handmade necklace-and-earring set inspired by the Jane Madison series. The glass jewelry was created by a prominent librarian and jewelry artist specifically for this First Book fund-raiser. Details (including pictures of the incredible themed jewelry) will be posted on my website on October 1; the auction will close on October 31.

Thanks for taking the time to ask these questions! I hope that people will stop by my website and/or email me any questions at mindy@mindyklasky.com.

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

Hal Spacejock Book 5 ...

... is a goer. Just spoke to my publisher and it's full steam ahead for a (hopefully) 2009 release.

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

New Hal 1 review

Just spotted a new Hal Spacejock review, this one on the Contrariwise blog. One particular comment caught my eye:

The story is fun and fast-paced, a great book for a quick read or for a younger reader who can appreciate humor, slight cursing, and poop jokes.

Go the poop jokes, that's what I say!

It’s an entertaining read, and I recommend it for anyone who loves deadpan narration and a few hours of frivolous fun in a science fiction world.

Don't delay, go read the rest of the review and see whether you agree with it. If you don't know whether to agree or not, download Hal Spacejock, read it, THEN go and debate the review.

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

Ebook piracy - is it really a problem?

As you may know, my publisher agreed to release the first Hal Spacejock novel as a free ebook in open, non-protected txt/rtf/html formats. Anyone can download it, read it, share it.

If you listen to some authors (and most publishers), this is akin to handing out blank cheques - a sure-fire way to destroy the book-selling business.

Personally, I'm convinced that ebooks are nothing more than preview trailers for the main feature. Sure, some people will read an ebook all the way through, but they're in the minority. And if they do read your novel from start to finish on a cramped little screen I guess that means they're enjoying the thing, which suggests they might recommend the work to others ... some of whom will prefer paper over pixels.

I don't have any sales figures to back up my 'ebooks damage you not' claim, since the first book recently sold out of its second printing (a third is planned) AND the ebook coincided with the launch of Hal 4. There was a spike in Hal 1 sales, but that hit a wall when the stock ran out.

However, I do have one very interesting fact to share. I recently drew three more winners in my monthly Hal Spacejock competition, and in the email which went out to everyone I explained that they could still download the first book for nothing. So which book did all three winners select, given a choice of Hal 1-4?

A copy of Hal Spacejock book one - the same title they can download for free.

Three people is hardly a big sample, but I was surprised even one winner chose the first Hal book. Why pick that one when the full ebook version is just a click away? Why not pick the second so they get two Hal novels for the price of one?

It does show that an ebook was of very little interest to the lucky winners, and that maybe ebooks aren't paperback-destroyers they're made out to be.

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

Query Project

I recently agreed to participate in Joshua Palmatier's Query Project, whereby a bunch of published authors reveal the sekrit handshake they used to get published, get an agent, etc. (You'll find links to a bunch of other posts at the bottom of mine. Follow them all for a different perspective!)


My route to publication was a unconventional, to say the least, and was mostly bereft of query letters, submissions and - let's be honest - common sense.

You can read the full story on my website, so I won't go over that again. Instead, I want to concentrate on the query letter I used after Hal Spacejock books 1 and 2 had been published, and immediately after I handed in the final manuscript for Hal 3.

Around this time (late 2006) I thought two things: one, that a prestigious US agent was shopping my novels around over there and two, that a major UK publisher was still considering them in England.

The catalyst for me approaching my current agent was this: the discovery that the US agent had written to my publisher six months earlier to say that the US publishers wanted to see the books do well in the UK before they'd be interested, due to the british style of humour. Somehow this message got lost, and when I heard about it I leapt into action.

Since the UK publisher was still (I thought) considering the books, I dashed off a quick query letter to the John Jarrold literary agency. John's based in England and I felt he would be ideally located to apply the thumbscrews over there. Immediately after clicking send I rang my publisher to explain what I was up to (they have world English rights to the Hal books, so any sale would be a sub-licensing deal), and I was still on the phone to them when John's reply came back, asking to see the first book.

A few weeks later I heard that the UK publisher in question had already decided against the book six months earlier, and had written to my current publisher to say so. That message also didn't get through. Despite this setback, I signed with John Jarrold and he's represented me ever since.

Anyway, this is a copy of the query letter I sent John Jarrold. Comments are in red.

Hi John, [Hey, I live in Australia. Formality is for Poms]

I'm the author of an SF/Humour series which is currently selling through bookstores across Australia and New Zealand. (The Hal Spacejock series, published by FACP - http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/ - and distributed by Penguin Australia - http://www.penguin.com.au/) [I felt it important to mention this up front. We're not talking self-published.]

I was born in the UK and moved to Australia aged 16, so the humour in the books is more Red Dwarf, Black Adder and Hitchhiker's Guide than Crocodile Dundee. [There's some bloody awful aussie humour around. Not Mick Dundee, necessarily, but it ain't Home & Away with a laughter track either.]

The first book was a Dymocks best-seller for three weeks on release, [So it's not a complete dud] and the second title has been out for just over three months. [So it's not had time to become a complete dud]. Book three entered production last week [ditto], and will be published across Australia and New Zealand in January 2007.

Earlier this year [IMPORTANT US AGENT] of [BIG US AGENCY] contacted me through my website [he'd heard about me via one of his clients, but I didn't mention that] and offered representation, but Fremantle Press have World English rights so I passed his query on to them. He showed the books to a number of NY publishers, without any result, [I didn't mention that I'd literally discovered this an hour or so earlier, a whopping six months after the fact] and Fremantle Press is now going to ship the books to the US where they will sell as imports through the existing distributor, ISBS. ([IMPORTANT US AGENT] said there would definitely be interest if Spacejock did well in another market first, but then you could say that about any book.)

That brings us to the UK, and the purpose of this email. Tom Holt was kind enough to give me a cover quote for the first book ('Better than Red Dwarf', amongst other nice lines), and on my suggestion Fremantle Press sent a copy of Hal Spacejock to [Big UK Publisher]. I don't want to leap boots-first into any negotiations, but I did wonder whether there's anything here for you.

To my knowledge, [Big UK Publisher] haven't decided one way or the other. [Absolutely true. Neither myself nor the publisher had heard a thing] I know these things take time, but I believe the earliest they could have seen Spacejock was October '05. [Nearly a year earlier]

I can't ask you to represent me for these books, since Fremantle Press already have World English rights, and any deal would be between them and a publisher. What I did with [IMPORTANT US AGENT] was to put him in touch with Ray Coffey at FP and they proceeded from there.

The situation is complicated by the fact [Big UK Publisher] are already looking at the first book - assuming it didn't fall down the back of someone's desk. [It hadn't, but I would eventually discover that the reply had]

I should mention that I'm currently writing the fourth book in the Hal Spacejock series, with two more planned after that. My contract with FACP only covers the first three with no option clause on any further works, and [stuff deleted].

On the writing side I've seen several of my stories in print (including one alongside Tom Holt in Andromeda Spaceways), and I won an Aurealis Award in 2000 for a short story. After that I turned to novels. [Never hurts to mention publication credits & awards. The Aurealis is Australia's premier spec fic award, but I didn't bother explaining. A quick Google search will show whether an award is notable or not.]

Hope I didn't go into exhaustive detail in my email. I wanted to lay the details out without taking up too much of your time.

Incidentally, although I live in Western Australia I was born in Croydon, [etc, etc, we're almost family, me ol' mucker, etc, etc]

[This is where coincidence plays a part. JJ wrote back to say he'd worked in a public library near Croydon in the 70's, and a couple of emails later we established this was the exact same library my mum used to take me to every week when I was a kid ... in the 70's. In other words, he was one side of the counter and I was the other!]

Regards,
Simon Haynes


There you have it - one query letter (or rather, email). It worked for me, and you'll find a bunch of others here:

Paul Crilley
Chris Dolley
Diana Pharaoh Francis
Gregory Frost
Simon Haynes
Jackie Kessler
Glenda Larke
John Levitt
Joshua Palmatier
Janni Lee Simner
Maria V. Snyder
Jennifer Stevenson
Edward Willett
David J. Williams

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

Does this mean I'm weird?

I love election telecasts - or rather, I love the ABC (Australia) ones. Come the Federal or WA State Election night I'll be glued to the PC, TV tuner card locked to the ABC and munchies & make-work at the ready.

Yeah, make-work. I'm not daft enough to watch the election coverage without SOMETHING to keep me busy. Tonight I'm packing Hal Spacejock fridge magnets & bookmarks for the hundred or so people who've requested them recently. (Follow the link to get yours - I'll even pay the postage within Australia.

Anyway, the coverage starts in about 45 mins, I have stacks of magnets, bookmarks and printed envelopes at the ready, and then it's on. Later in the night I'll have a second TV window open so I can watch the Formula 1 qualifying, so it's just as well I have two eyes.

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

Boring old hall cupboard? Not here.

I've just spent a busy week or so shifting the burglar alarm & network ports & file/webserver into the hall cupboard, freeing up the spare bedroom. The cupboard is on a corner, with a wall on one side and the door in the front.

Last night I was watching an old ep of Doctor Who and it hit me. Brilliant idea. I turned to my wife & said 'I'm going to turn the hall cupboard into a Tardis.'

She said 'Okay.'

You can see why we've been married 17 years.

Now, I wonder what Pantone colour Police Box blue is?

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

Way behind schedule

I had it all planned out - 200m of new cat 5e solid core cable, wife & kids out for the day, everything ready to go. By the time they got home later I intended to have all 8 network ports rewired through the walls (dbl brick) & connected to the server gear which will soon reside in the hall cupboard instead of taking up the spare bedroom. I'm replacing the old paired cat 5 with 5e as part of the process.

So I start pulling up the first of the old cables, and the join breaks. And two hours later I'm still trying to fish the bloody end with a string & weighted hook, something I've done many, many times over the years with ease. It doesn't help that the waste pipe for the aircon runs along the top of the cavity, nor that the roof is in the shade & still damp, nor that the sunlight is in my eyes and the torch has no appreciable effect.

I've paused for brekky & a coffee now, and then I'll get that sucker pulled up the cavity if I have to use levitation.

For the rest, I'm going to solder the bloody joins in a lump. Watch THAT break.

Edit: 30 seconds after posting this I hooked the network cable on the first attempt. See, it DOES pay to whinge aloud.

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

Interview with Lara Morgan

Lara Morgan is the author of Awakening, The Twins of Saranthium Book One published by Pan Macmillan's Tor imprint on September 1 this year. Awakening is a fantasy novel set in the hot lands of Saranthium where the pact between serpents and humans is failing and the rumours of the return of the banished god of the serpents, Azoth, leads twins Shaan and Tallis into a journey they may not survive. It's good versus evil but one in which the lines between become increasingly blurred.

Awakening is Lara's first book and took over ten years to see the light of day which she thinks is not bad in the overall scheme of things. Lara has a BA in English, has travelled to many odd places and has been a gallery assistant, arts project manager and the consulting editor of a newspaper. She lives in Geraldton, Western Australia.

What was your inspiration for writing Awakening?
I started it so long ago it's hard to remember! But I don't think it was any one thing, the story grew very slowly from a small seed and changed a great deal along the way. I think one of the things I find most inspiring though is how people cope with being thrust into extraordinary circumstances and I like to explore that in the book. The characters have to deal with quite a lot.

Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?
Some of my favourite books growing up are still my favourite books now, such as The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Narnia Chronicles. I was also addicted for a while to the Famous Five and I was wildly into Sidney Sheldon in my teens but that's a different kind of fantasy all together! Now I'd say one of my favourite authors is Ursula Le Guin. I never tire of reading her Earthsea books and am always amazed by her ability with language, she just writes so beautifully. I also love Isobelle Carmody, Sara Douglas, JV Jones, Scot Westerfeld, Fred Vargas, Donna Tartt, Juliet Marillier, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Mark Twain, Geraldine Brooks ...the list goes on and on.

What is it about fantasy/science fiction that attracts you?
I think it's the attraction of a world less ordinary, a reality less mundane than the one I inhabit. I was always the kid who believed in fairies and was convinced there was something living under my bed at night and I don't think I've ever really grown out of it, I've just moved on to wanting to write about it and create my own strange worlds. I also think good fantasy and science fiction can go just as far in exploring the nature of humanity as any literary novel and I get as much satisfaction from reading someone like LeGuin as from reading Hemmingway, if not more.

Why did you decide to make Shaan and Tallis twins?
The twin idea came about because of the mythic significance of twins and also because of the powerful connection twins have, even when they grow up apart, and that is very important to the story, especially for Tallis. He feels a strong sense of something missing from his life until he finally meets his twin. And Shaan as well even though she wasn't as aware of it. Then again, I'm not entirely sure I decided to make my characters anything. I really feel that most of the time they are telling me what is going on and who they are, almost as if I am writing their history. It's as if Shaan and Tallis and their story already exist and I'm just the typist elected to jot it all down.

What (besides writing) do you do for fun?
Browsing in second hand bookshops - in fact I'm trying to convince myself it's a kind of sport. Travelling, especially to places with ruins, walking on the beach and of course reading, reading, reading garnished with an addiction for watching science fiction tv shows: Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, Buffy, Supernatural etc etc. I'm a total sucker for anything mildly speculative.

What sort of research did you do to write this book? What kind of preparation do you do when you are writing?
I spent some time reading about weapons and ancient civilisations but I don't do a great deal of pointed research unless I get stuck on a particular detail while I'm writing, such as how big a sword should be, the logistics of a serpent flying, or something like that. I researched the anatomy of dinosaurs for the serpents. Any preparation mostly consists of me making sure I have a cup of tea handy - it's like a ritual I find it hard to get to work unless I have tea.

Shaan really wants to become a serpent rider, to be one of the elite warriors that patrol the skies. Would you like to do that too?
I guess I would like to be some kind of powerful warrior woman who can command serpents in theory - except that I am really quite short and afraid of heights and I think that could be a tiny problem. Basically most of the characters in Awakening are braver than I am - especially Shaan, she doesn't run away from a fight whereas I would be the one hiding behind whatever large metal object I could find trying to offer a diplomatic solution.

If you were Shaan or Tallis and found out you were descended from a maniacal god and had to surrender to an already decided fate, what would you do?
I think I would probably head straight for the nearest inn and down a lot of Cermezian wine - but then as I said I am not as brave as either of them. Although it would be quite handy to have Tallis's powers. I don't think I'd mind that.

What are you writing now?
I'm working on book two of the Twins of Saranthium trilogy.

Did you always want to write? Or did you stumble into it? How did you get where you are now?
I've written since I was in primary school but I didn't consciously decide I really wanted to be a writer until my late 20s, despite studying creative writing at uni. I thought for a while I'd be a journalist but realised I didn't like politics enough to do that. It was after returning from seven months overseas in 1997 that I got up one day and decided to write a book and it snowballed from there - although very slowly. I wrote stories, collected rejections and dabbled away at this book until in 2003 when I entered the Women's Weekly short story competition and won. That really changed everything. I got noticed, went to a writers festival and was asked to submit a story for Penguin's Girl's Night In 4. After that I had something to put on my resume. I wrote another book, this time a young adult sci fi novel, and got a mentorship through Writing WA with Isobelle Carmody. That sci fi novel hasn't been sold yet but not long after that I tried selling Awakening to various agents and was picked up by Curtis Brown - my agent was actually a judge on the Weekly competition and remembered me so I think that really helped - and by the end of 2007 Awakening and the rest of the Twins of Saranthium trilogy had been sold to Pan Macmillan. So it only took about ten years!

What does a typical writing day look like for you? How long do you write, that sort of thing?
I wish I could say I write all day like some kind of female Bryce Courtney but the reality is I make tea and spend quite a chunk of time staring at what I wrote the day before and trying not to get distracted by the internet before I really get down to writing. I usually write about four hours a day, six on a good day, and try to aim for 2000 words, but I don't always make it. I comfort myself by remembering that sometimes James Joyce only managed seven words a day ( or so it's rumoured). This is especially important on days when I've done more deleting than creating. If I get really stuck I will write long hand or just try jotting down notes for the next scene so I at least have something to work with.

Where do you write?
Usually sitting at my desk straight into the computer and often cross legged because I can't reach the floor, which results in painful bouts of pins and needles and a reminder to myself that I should invest in a foot rest.

What is easiest/hardest for you as a writer?
The easiest is imagining how the story will progress and the hardest thing is writing it. I often have trouble with the logistics of fight/actions scenes and making sure it isn't just stilted detail and dialogue is like pulling teeth with a set of Barbie's plastic tweezers. I find writing a character's interior monologue and describing surroundings the least difficult.

This is your first book; tell us a little bit about what else is out there.
This is my first book but I have written another, a much shorter book for young adults, which is yet to be sold and as mentioned before I have had a short story published in Girl's Night In 4, but under the name Lara Martin.

What is the purpose of fantasy/science fiction, if any?
I think the purpose is the same as any other form of writing: to try to make sense of humanity and what we do, albeit in a slightly different setting. I also think in some aspects it is just really, really entertaining and a great way to escape from this mad world we've created, because god knows sometimes you just want to be taken somewhere where you can't see the pile of dishes you haven't done today!

Thanks for the interview, Lara!

Awakening is available through Dymocks, Pan Macmillan, Leading Edge Books and many other bookstores.

Lara also has a myspace page and will have her own website soon.

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

Retro Remakes comp

For the games programmers amongst you ...

Retro Remakes is the home of those old 8- and 16-bit games you used to love, translated to modern machinery. If the words Lunar Jetman, Uridium & Quazatron mean anything to you, then you'll know what I'm on about.

Anyway, they're having a competition for the best remake of Sep-Dec 2008, and I've donated a set of signed Hal Spacejock novels (1-4) as one of their prizes. If' you have a half-finished conversion you've been meaning to tidy up, maybe this is your chan

(Thanks to Shane Hockings for suggesting this in the first place.)

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

Interview with Kat Richardson

Kat Richardson is the author of the Greywalker parnormal detective series. UNDERGROUND, the third book in the series, was released August 5--it's her first hardbound book and she's very excited about it. You can learn more about Kat and her books by visiting her website (http://katrichardson.com/) or blogs (http://katrich.wordpress.com/ or http://katatomic.livejournal.com/)


1) Why this book? What made you want to write this story?

I had a couple of things I wanted to do: I wanted to write a "monsters in the sewer" adventure and I wanted to expand a little on the character of Quinton, Harper's mysterious tech-geek friend in the Greywalker series. So I combined the two interests into one book and this was the result.


2) Which authors inspire you? Has that changed over time?

Oh, it's definitely changed over time. My tastes change, and there are always new writers coming on the scene who surprise and excite me. I love classic writers of excellent English, like Shakespeare, Austen, and Kenneth Graham as well as their contemporary colleagues like Patricial McKillip who make language a joy. I also really admire groundbreakers like William Gibson, Richard K. Morgan, and Ken Bruen. I'm a total fangirl of quirky writers like Cherie Priest--and she only lives a few miles away!--Liz Williams, Jasper Fford, and Victor Gischler. I've let a lot of writers drop off my reading list for lack of time, not lack of interest.


3) Why genre? Is there something special about science fiction or fantasy that draws you to write in the field?

I like the "what if" that underlies SFF. It's a challenge not only to style, craft, and story but to raw imagination. It's the quintessence of invention and curiosity that drives humans to strive. If it were not for "what if" would Gallileo have invented a telescope to look at the stars? And you see where that led.


4) What do you find most interesting about Harper Blaine? her various adversaries? Why these characters?

I lover Harper's toughness. I don't just mean that she carries a gun and talks like Sam Spade; it's her sheer drive to keep going in the face of any and every adversity that makes her intriguing. She had a nice, settled life that she's worked hard to build and when it was suddenly upended, she hated it, but she rolled with it and keeps on going. She's learning more in each subsequent book about her abilities, but also about herself and what really drives her and what ultimately satisfies her. Her adversaries change in each book but in the end there is always the problem of making peace with herself and living with her challenges.

I have to say that my favorite of her adversaries is yet to be fully revealed. I'm working up to it in a future book. Suffice to say, he has a plan and it is Not Good. But writing about it should be tremendous fun.

As to why these guys... Well, they just seemed like the right group to complicate Harper's life.


5) You're a writer. What else are you? What are your interests? Hobbies?

I'm a former magazine and technical editor, so I'm kind of an English and History geek, but I'm also fond of sailing, computer games, swing dancing, ferrets, target shooting, and motorcycles. I used to work at a renaissance faire as a dancer and actor. I've read the Sunday funnies for a radio service for the blind. I work on the Northwest regional board of the Mystery Writers of America, and before I got into journalism in college, I majored in vocal music. I'm also a bit of a science geek: I love to read physics books and biology, I used to write technical course material about diamonds for the Gemological Institute of America, I hand-code my own website (which explains the very plain design), and I poke my nose into all kinds of tech-y subjects whenever I have the time.


6) Did you have to do any special research for this book? What did you need to know in order to write it that you didn't know before? Do you have some special preparation you do general to writing?

UNDERGROUND required quite a bit of reading as well as interviewing. I spent a lot of time in my library reading about local Indian tribes and legends, local history, local architecture, and then I tracked down the historian for Seattle's underground tour and picked his brains, too. Research is one of the things I love about writing--I always find some weird detail I hadn't thought of that can be useful. I've found information on crimes, earthquakes, people--even buildings--that have turned out to be fascinating and useful. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 made it into GREYWALKER, POLTERGEIST utilized information and locations from Washington's most notorious mass murder, and the collapse of a building in Pioneer Square in 1897 became an important clue in UNDERGROUND.

7) I see a lot of information about the homeless in this book. Is that something that really interests you? Or is it more driven by the needs of the story?

It was more story-driven, but I have to admit that after doing the research, my awareness of the homeless, and the situations that surround them, has gone way up. Some really have given up on getting out of their situation--it can be really bleak and crushing--but most are trying very hard to re-enter the mainstream, to get jobs and homes and stop living on the street. There are some surprising grass-roots organizations out here--like Peace for the Streets, Women in Black, and the Coalition for the Homeless--trying to help these people get off the street and back to living lives that aren't haunted by a constant state of fear and hopelessness and raise the awareness of people like me.


8) So, if you were Harper Blaine and someone introduced you to a zombie, as happens UNDERGROUND, what would you do?

Me? I'd freak right out. I am so much not Harper Blaine. Babbling... yeah... that would be my most likely response.


9) What are you writing now?

I'm working on Greywalker #4 which has just been retitled VANISHED. It's a continuation of the arc that started in GREYWALKER and it will wrap up a lot of questions as well as posing some new ones to be answered in Book 5.

I'm also working on an SF Police thriller novel I'd like to finish and sell and I'm noodling with a bunch of other ideas. But that's pretty much the way all writers are--noodling constantly.


10) How did you become a writer? Is this what you saw yourself growing up to be? Or did it take you be surprise?

It was a bit of a surprise. I'd always wanted to be a singer or a dancer or maybe an ice skater--very girly. But when I was heading for college, I realized I'd been writing all my life--my first short story was written for a class when I was eight--and I thought that was a huge clue that maybe I should just do that, instead of being a music teacher.


11) Do you have a writing routine? Talk process for a moment, how do the words get on the page?

I do and I don't. I start with ideas either under a deadline or something that has just jumped to the front of my brain and won't shut up. Then I try writing it out for a while. Eventually I get stuck and have to fall back and outline. After that I can usually go ahead, although I've been known to write up to four outlines of 35 pages or more each before I can comfortably finish a novel so it's a bit more complicated than "I just write." I write my novels with a Mystery structure where timing and placement of clues is vital, so what I'm really doing when I outline is working out ahead of time a lot of the issues that would normally come up in revision. That doesn't mean I don't revise, but it's not usually too heavy. With shorts or novellas, I tend to just jump in with an idea and thrash around, revise a couple of times, and then finish it up and ship it. I don't have much of a routine per se, I just get up, clear off the housework and paperwork, mess around until I feel like I've wasted enough time for one day, and then write until I can't stand any more, or I've reached a good stopping point. And I write pretty much every weekday and do things like this interview on weekends.


12) Office? Closet? Corner of the living room? Do you have a set place to write? A favorite? How does the environment you write in affect your production? Your process?

I don't have much space, living on a sailboat. I just plop myself down on the dinette bench, pop open my laptop and work. I like being at home where I can blast music, look after our geriatric ferrets, or pace around and talk out the dialog aloud, so I'm not really comfortable in coffee shops or libraries. I do occasionally have "playdates" with Richelle Mead and other SFF writers in the area whom we've started calling "Team Seattle" where we sit in her living room and work because we're too embarrassed to let the other one see us not working.


13) Is there anything you especially like to work on in a book? Anything you hate?

I hate writing sex scenes, which is why I never do them. There's one in UNDERGROUND and it was the worst thing I ever had to do. Ugh! I'd rather write an action sequence, or even revise, than do that again! What I love is making the past come alive, letting the setting and the ghosts flow out--that's just too much fun!


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

Right now, only the Greywalker series: GREYWALKER, POLTERGIEST, and now UNDERGROUND, but I have a werewolf Christmas short story coming out in an anthology in October called WOLFSBANE AND MISTLETOE that was edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner. A Harper Blaine novella will be out in January 2009 in the collection MEAN STREETS and I'm really looking forward to that, since the collection is just four of us from Penguin's fantasy noir side: Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, and Thomas Sniegoski.


15) Do you see fiction as having a purpose? Generally? How about your own work?

My work is mostly entertainment, but I hope that readers do occasionally see the depth of history in it, and the way in which human beings shape their worlds by what they believe--good or bad--as much as by what they do. That's a bit of a recurring theme in the books, along with the idea that you can control and shape your own life, no matter what gets thrown at you.

In general I think fiction should sneak ideas into our heads--not bludgeon us. It pretends to be entertaining, but it should tickle our minds to thought, if possible.


I'm excited that the UNDERGROUND is out in hardcover and I hope it does the series proud. It's been an interesting book to research and write and I'm looking forward to seeing it "in the wild" at last. It's a Roc book, so it's available from major booksellers all over the US, Canada, and the UK and you can get one online--I'll even sign it if you ask--from one of my favorite independent booksellers: Seattle Mystery Bookshop, or find an independent bookseller near you, or order from Barnes & Nobel.

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

Interview with Gregory Frost

Gregory Frost is the author of, most recently, LORD TOPHET, the sequel to the acclaimed fantasy novel, SHADOWBRIDGE (both from Del Rey Books). Shadowbridge is a world dreamed into being, as its creation story--included in the first volume--makes clear. It's an accretion of our myths, legends, folk and fairy tales but they've all altered in the translation somewhat, and taken on lives of their own. Everything in Shadowbridge thus sounds familiar and alien at the same time.

1) What was your inspiration for writing these books?

The answer is, there's no single inspiration. The idea of this world of bridges was one I kicked around for years. I talked it over with other authors, like Michael Swanwick who threatened to steal it if I didn't do something with it (nothing like that sort of terror to push you into action). One inspiration might be Gormenghast. Another is surely M. John Harrison's Virconium stories. And Hadawy's translation of The 1001 Nights. The Trelawney translation of The Ocean of the Streams of Story by Somadeva. But you won't find any direct reference to these things. Samuel R. Delany has a concept he calls "received language" and to a degree, I think that's what happens with all of us--we absorb, we receive, and bits and pieces accrete, and this thing emerges. It's original, it's us, but it's also all this stuff we've read, seen, heard, thought about. This is one reason why as a writer you absolutely must read beyond your narrow genre or you're going to be boring.


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

Roger Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Fritz Leiber, Walter M. Miller, Mikhail Bulgakov, Homer, T.C. Boyle, Donald Westlake, Jack Williamson, Kelly Link, Shirley Jackson, Ian Fleming, John Irving, Alexandre Dumas, Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Rafael Sabatini, Herman Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Chandler, Carlos Fuentes, Julio Cortazar...I don't know if this is anything like a definitive list, but it comprises the names of writers whose work I treasure and can come back to time and again and be rewarded.


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

I think, as a kid, it was the 'gosh-wow' factor. Fiction that took me away from where I was, and at the same time sort of wryly commented on where I was. I loved its strangeness, its otherness. Really, I wallowed in reading it. I never thought I would be writing it.


4) How did you come to make Leodora your protagonist?

When Mr. Swanwick threatened to run off with my world, I immediately went out and wrote a story called "How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost His Toes." I created the "Coyote" figure for all of Shadowbridge, and in the frame of that tale created a storyteller named Bardsham (which is a Shakespeare joke of sorts--the faux bard). Bardsham was based on a real shadow-puppeteer I'd met. But when I came to the prospect of a novel, I didn't want to write about him. At some point, I arrived at this vision of a girl, Leodora, standing on top of a bridge support tower, high above the city, and looking at her world. What I said about about things coming together out of all the material you read, things you see...I don't know where she came from, where that moment came from. The view from Arc de Triomphe, or from a railroad bridge I'd climbed as a kid, or looking down from the Palatine Hill in Rome? I have no idea. Maybe it's all those things at once. But it pushed the book in a direction, and the rest unfolded from there.


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

I've been an avid cyclist for (shudders to admit it) 38 years. This is the first summer, in fact, in all that time, I haven't been on a bike (I had a serious leg injury last fall and I'm still working that off). I studied aikido for ten years, under the tutelage of sf/fantasy author Judith Berman. Used to sing in three garage bands (not at the same time of course). And I tremble to admit it, but I like to read research.


6) What sort of research did you do to write the Shadowbridge books?
What kind of preparation do you do when you are writing?

Frankly, every book requires a different amount of and sometimes entirely different kinds of research. I got hooked on that element back in the 1980s, researching for TAIN and REMSCELA, which comprise the retelling of the Tain Bo Cuailnge and subsequent events in the life of the Irish hero Cu Chulainn. A lot of sociological research into bronze-age Celts went into those books. Research into Druids, and into mythology. Shadowbridge has been more of the same, but now it's not just one branch of mythology, it's all of them shoved in a blender and pureed. But my first novel, LYREC...I did no research at all. That book came, whole-cloth, out of my head. I heard Jeffrey Ford say the same thing about The Physiognomy, too--to my amazement. He just invented that world and ran with it. Didn't do a lick of research, and those three books are just sodding brilliant.


7) How much of you goes into the characters? How much is Leodora like you?

They're all me, aren't they? Villains, heroes, heroines, lovers and fiends. She isn't "like" me. How could she be? She's herself. I think that writing fictional characters is akin to acting. You adopt the role of the character and try to inhabit it while that person's on stage. Then you try to become the next character, and so on. To a degree you have to know these people before you pick up the pen and write (sorry, I still use a fountain pen so that's my metaphor). You have to know what motivates. You have to know at the very least what they want. Even if they want nothing at all--wanting nothing is a state of being. It tells you something about the character and how she'll react. It sounds horribly pretentious, but it's not. It's ridiculously basic. Creating characters is understanding on some intuitive level what they want right now.


8) What are you writing now?

A supernatural mystery (no, there are no frickin' vampires in it, so stop asking now). Contemporary, and set on the Main Line outside Philadelphia. As far from Shadowbridge as one could get...which is no doubt why I have no career at all. I just can't stay in one place long enough to concoct a series.


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

I thought I wanted to be a comic book illustrator. I wrote and drew comics all through junior high and high school. Showed them to nobody, really. But I'm not one of those who says "Oh, yeah, I popped out of the womb knowing I was going to be a writer." Great, man. Love ya. Not me, I had no damned idea at all.


10) Why genre? Is there something special about science fiction or fantasy that draws you to write in the field?

I think it's hard-wired into me. The first book I can remember ever choosing on my own from the library was a retelling of The Odyssey. I grew up on Captain Midnight and Superman and The Twilight Zone and Commander Cody. And comic books. I was utterly fantasy oriented, and story ideas when they come are invariably fantastic or horrific. I don't think in terms of "people paralyzed by angst at recognizing the human condition." Sorry, just not my cup of hemlock.


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

That would depend on where I am in the book and whether or not I know what the next part looks like. First drafts are hard, and crappy and fragmented. Revisions just seem to last forever. Different parts of the brain and different processes, and so different lengths of time. But I now write far more often in coffee shops than I would ever have thought possible.


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

Before this was FITCHER'S BRIDES, a reworking of the Bluebeard line of fairy tales. The serial-killing husband. Dark, nasty, and great fun to write. There's a collection of short stories out from Golden Gryphon Press called ATTACK OF THE JAZZ GIANTS & OTHER STORIES--I've been publishing short fiction since 1981. I mentioned already the early novels. There's also a science fiction novel, THE PURE COLD LIGHT, that was a Nebula nominee back in the mid-'90s.

The Shadowbridge books are available pretty much everywhere, but I recommend purchasing them through Powells.com simply because I support independent booksellers.

If you want to order Shadowbridge, go to http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9780345497581-0
If you want to order Lord Tophet, go to http://www.powells.com/biblio/2-9780345497598-1
If you're interested in Attack of the Jazz Giants go to http://www.powells.com/biblio/61-9781930846340-0
If you're interested in Fitcher's Brides, go to http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780765301956-0

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

Signed copy of Hal 4 up for grabs

For your chance to win a signed copy of Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch, as well as some rather good prizes*, visit http://www.aboygoesonajourney.com

* Did you see what I did there? ;-)

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

Interview with Jackie Kessler

HOTTER THAN HELL is the third book in the Hell on Earth series (August 2008). Don't be fooled by the "paranormal romance" tag on the spine; this book is, perhaps, a love story, but it's much more urban fantasy than a romance. For one thing, there's no traditional happily ever after. For another...well, no, that'll do it. Unlike the first two books in the series, HOT stars the incubus Daunuan (pronounced "Don Juan," sort of).

Jackie Kessler is the author of the Hell on Earth series, published by Kensington/Zebra Books. She's also written numerous short stories and is the coauthor of the upcoming BLACK & WHITE, a dystopian superhero novel to be published by Bantam Spectra in 2009. Jackie lives in Upstate New York with her Loving Husband, two Precious Little Tax Deductions, two geriatric cats, and 8,000 comic books. She's not really a succubus, and despite all the rumors, you'll never catch her stripping on stage. For more about Jackie, please visit her website. And remember: love your inner demon.

1) What was your inspiration for writing HOTTER THAN HELL?
I knew that I wanted Daun to have his own story. After the events in HELL'S BELLES and THE ROAD TO HELL, I had a good idea what it would be. Heh, heh, heh. Daun's still pissed off at me.

2) Who are your favorite authors and books now and when you were growing up?
Now: Neil Gaiman, Chris Moore, Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine, George RR Martin.
Then: Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis, JRR Tolkien

3) What is it about fantasy that attracts you?
There's something about the nature of Good and Evil that fascinates me. Maybe it's because the two are so close to each other. Maybe it's because the dark side has cookies. But man, it's that burning drive to fight against the forces of darkness--or, from the other end, to blot out the light of the world--that is compelling. Give me the dynamic villains, the tortured heroes.

4) What (besides writing) do you do for fun?
Fun? Fun? What is this "fun" of which you speak? Hmm. I enjoy reading, long walks on the beach, the sunset, kissing in the rain...Wait, is this getting too personal? Okay, then: good music, good friends, good wine. Me = happy.

5) What sort of research did you do to write HOTTER THAN HELL?
Among other things, I did a lot of research on Mozart--who plays an important role in the story. Fascinating man.

6) What are you writing now?
The fourth book in the Hell on Earth series, HELL BOUND. The protagonist/POV is back to Jesse, the former succubus.

7) Did you always want to write? Or did you stumble into it? How did you get where you are now?
I used to want to be a comic book artist. Then I wanted to write comic books. Then, once I was in college and started taking creative writing courses, I realized that I wanted to write books. Or, really, book: I had this one idea, and it was going to be my Great American Novel. So, er, 20 years later, that book still isn't published (although a version of it is currently on submission, eek). But I have three novels and one novella published, with three more novels and one novella to come in the next year. Life is good.

8) What does a typical writing day look like for you? How long do you write, that sort of thing?
Usually, I get the bulk of my writing done first thing in the morning, before the day job, or after the Tax Deductions are in bed for the night. When I'm on a deadline, a pot of coffee is my best friend, and I'm lucky to be in bed before 1 am.

9) Where do you write?
My home office. I can (and do) write on the train, when I'm traveling from Upstate New York to NYC. But I prefer to be at my desk, on my computer, with the Internet right here to distract me. Wait, no, not that last part. Er, next question...

10) This isn't your first book; tell us a little bit about what else is out there.
The first two books in the Hell on Earth series focus on the former demon Jezebel. The first book, HELL'S BELLES, is the story of why Jezebel runs away from Hell, as well as her adventures hiding on Earth as a mortal stripper and falling in love, while avoiding the demonic bounty hunters on her trail. (Sex, strippers, demons -- what's not to like?) The second book, THE ROAD TO HELL, continues the story: now Jezebel (known as the human Jesse Harris) needs to return to Hell to save the lives of those she loves. (If she'd known love was this tough, she would have remained a demon of lust.)

HOTTER THAN HELL summary:
Daun loves his job: seduce a lot of mortals, bring their souls to Hell, party at the best interdimensional pub this side of the Astral Plane. But when the King of Lust makes him an offer he can't refuse, Daun has to give up all the tricks of his trade to properly befriend—and bed—Virginia Reed, a woman who's meant for Heaven. If he can get her to love him for the incubus he really is, and if he can avoid the rogue demons that are hell-bent on destroying him for reasons unknown, Daun will become the First Principal of Lust, second in line to the King. But Daun learns that love is more than a four-letter word, and that maybe, just maybe, demons really do have feelings after all...

You can buy HOTTER THAN HELL at Amazon.com, and all good bookstores.

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

Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre mini-con

The Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre SF Group is planning a mini-con for 21 September. The group's first mini-con, held in 2006, was an outstanding success, with several score people attending. The panels, readings and inexpensive lunch all contributed to the day’s success, and this year's effort pormises to be even better.

Confirmed panelists include Adrian Bedford, Janet Blagg (my editor), Lee Battersby, Lyn Battersby, Hal Colebatch, Stephen Dedman, Russell Farr, Simon Haynes (me!), Elaine Kemp, Alisa Krasnostein, Martin Livings, Dave Luckett, Ian Nichols, John Parker and Tehani Wessely.

The one-day mini-con, which starts at 10.00am, will be held at the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers' Centre, Old York Road, Greenmount, Perth. Gold coin admission, lunch available.

(From Horrorscope: http://ozhorrorscope.blogspot.com/2008/08/news-katharine-susannah-prichard.html)

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

Reactions

Not sure whether anyone else does this, but if I drop something my instinctive reaction is to try and cushion the fall with my foot. I've saved many a mug, glass and bowl like this, but there is a downside. A few years back I managed to save an old 5 1/4" floppy drive with my bare foot, which then needed stitches. The cost of the medical treatment worked out to be three times the value of the disk drive, and I would have been well ahead had I just let the thing smash into the floor instead.

(My wife does something similar, only SHE managed to save a carving knife with HER foot, and I think that weaned her off the practice. The kitchen looked like a scene from Saw VI - Utensils Fight Back.)

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

Hal 5 FAQ

I just updated the Hal 5 page on the Spacejock.com.au website, adding a bunch of Frequently Asked Questions which keen Hal readers might find interesting.

You're welcome to ask more questions in the comments. I'll pick some out and answer them on the page.

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

Conflux virtual mini-con

Just a reminder that the Conflux Virtual Mini-con "Prepare to Dream" will take place this weekend on the Conflux website: http://www.conflux.org.au/forum

For a full list of guests and appearance times visit this page. (I'm on at 4pm AEST.)

AEST = Australian Eastern Time

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

Couple of things

First, I just signed the petition against age banding of books. This is a battle being fought in the UK, but you can bet Australia will be next. (There's nothing we love more in this country than a good classifying, preferably administered by half a dozen overlapping government departments.)

I don't intend to go into age banding here, but if you don't have a clue about the problems it might cause, visit the site above and find out.


Second, I just noticed Planet Fantastic's Bestselling Books of All Time, and the first three Hal books are all present. (Hal 4 was their #1 bestseller last month, so it's a bit soon to expect to see it in a list covering over three years of sales.)

First, this is the top ten:

1...Temeraire, by Naomi Novik
2...A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin
3...Thud!, by Terry Pratchett
4...Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman
5...Never Seen by Waking Eyes, by Stephen Dedman
6...Black Powder War, by Naomi Novik
7...Judas Unchained, by Peter F. Hamilton
8...Shadow Box, edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings
9...Knife of Dreams, by Robert Jordan
10..Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

then the Hal books take up these positions:

#25...Hal Spacejock, by Simon Haynes
(...)
#57...Hal Spacejock: Second Course, by Simon Haynes
(...)
#86...Hal Spacejock: Just Desserts, by Simon Haynes


Congrats to everyone on the list.

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

Hal Spacejock thuds down in Scotland

Sarah Wise from The Creaking Shelves Bookshop in Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland, was so determined to see Hal Spacejock available in the UK that she ordered in a whole batch of Hal books to sell through the shop.

Due to freight costs they're a little more expensive than locally printed titles, but she's cut the price as low as she can without actually losing money on each book.

You'll find her blog post about the arrivals here, including a link to the shop's website and ordering info.

If you live in the UK and have been hanging out for Hal, this is your best chance to get hold of the books. I know it's a cliche, but stocks really are limited and some of the copies have already been pre-sold.

EDIT: I forgot to mention they're all signed copies.

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

Animated lunacy

(This is what my 10-year-old daughter put together after school tonight. Shared with permission.)



I've just lent her my SLR and a cable release for the sequel. I'm half expecting Guineazilla.

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

Hal 4 bangs down in the States

Powell's books are showing Hal Spacejock: No Free Lunch (book #4) in stock, and that means Amazon should follow suit within the next day or so.

No news on overseas publishers, I'm afraid. There are frequent rumbles from all points North, but I reckon most are due to those famous lunches we hear so much about.

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

Review & Plane

First, US Fantasy/humor author & occasional Andromeda Spaceways publishee Jim C. Hines reviews Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch. No spoilers here ... you'll have to drop by his blog to find out what he thought of the book. (While you're there, why not add him as an LJ friend? You get writing tips from a multi-published author PLUS goblins. What more could you ask for?)

Second, I've put the plans for the world's deadliest paper plane online. This thing nearly killed me when I was a kid, and it's still the best thing I've ever done with a sheet of paper.

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

New review of Hal 1 & 2

We Read Science Fiction just posted their review of Hal Spacejock books 1 & 2. (The blog author discovered the books via the download version of Hal 1, and requested the whole series for review purposes.)

Couple of snips from the review:

• Australia's Simon Haynes successfully lampoons the bedrock of science fiction themes and doesn't take himself seriously. At all.

No kidding!

• First, you will need to read these books with an open mind and an understanding of why they were written to enjoy them. If you try and take them too seriously you'll hate them, but if you grok Hal, you'll love them. Second, they are great for teenagers who you want hooked on SciFi. Remember that if you don't have the mind of a teenager.

I've seen a couple of comments around the place from people who tried to take Hal seriously, and it wasn't pretty. Fortunately, the other 99.99% of the population still has a sense of humour.

One of the most interesting comments in the review was that Hal 2 was a lot better than Hal 1. I hear that a lot (usually followed by 'Hal 3 is better than Hal 2' and 'Hal 4 is better than Hal 3'), but I really don't mind at all. Getting better as the series goes along means I'm growing as a writer, and my goal of fifteen Hal novels isn't completely loopy. (Oh sure, people laugh at my bold claims now...)

Anyway, feel free to descend on the We Read Science Fiction blog and comment on the review. The site encourages this sort of reader reaction.

(You'll also find a lot of other book reviews - perfect reading for a lazy weekend.)

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

Comp of interest to WA parents, teachers & librarians

Just thought I'd give you advance notice of a competition which will appear in the West Australian early in August. Teachers & librarians ... perhaps a chance for a class effort? Parents ... get your kids reading!

ED! Magazine in The West Australian are giving primary and secondary students the opportunity to win the complete set of Hal Spacejock novels by Simon Haynes.

The competition involves writing a 150-word review of any book in the Hal Spacejock series. It doesn't matter whether the review is based on the free ebook of Hal Spacejock book one or any of the other books in the series. I'm guessing 150 words is approximate, too.

The best entry will be published in ED!

So, you might like to keep an eye on the ED! supplement of the West Australian for entry details.

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

Newbie's guide to publishing

JA Konrath's all-inclusive writing book - over four years in the making, filled with more than 750 pages of tips, tricks, and advice. And it's 100% free.

You can read more on the freebie and download your copy via this post on JA Konrath's blog.

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

Conflux virtual mini-con

Conflux will again be holding a virtual mini-con on the weekend of August 2 and 3. What’s a virtual mini-con, I hear you cry? Well, it’s an online convention, a gathering of friends and fans that follow a program to spend an hour chatting with a special guest. Best of all, it’s completely free!

(Taken from here - visit for more details and the full list of guests.)

I'm happy to be participating, and my guest slot on the forums is 4pm EST (2pm Western Australian time and - wake up! - 2am in New York.)

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

More on openings

Blogging super-agent Nathan Bransford just wrote about flash-bang starts, slower starts, and the point in the novel by which time SOMETHING has to be set in motion. Worth a read for everyone who participated in the comments on my blog over the past couple of days: You've got 30 pages, pal.

(That's 30 pages of double-spaced 12pt Times, each of which is roughly equivalent to a page in a published novel. If you're counting single-spaced pages you only have 15.)

Out of interest I dragged Hal books 1-4 off the shelf and checked to see what I'd managed to throw at the reader by page 30. In each case they've hit the end of chapter two and several plot threads have been set in motion. Since I make a point of finishing just about every chapter with a hook of some kind, it's likely they'd want to read on to see What Happens Next.

So, regarding the opening scenes of Hal 5, it looks like I can build it up and introduce all the plot elements in my usual fashion, as long as the boulder is rolling downhill by the end of chapter two. No sweat!

How about you? Are the events leading up to page 30 of your manuscript enough of a hook to keep your readers interested? (And yes, Fantasy authors, that twelve page prologue with the Entire History o' your Universe is included in the 30, even though I've never read a prologue in my life.)

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

Interview with David Louis Edelman

David Louis Edelman's debut novel Infoquake was released by Pyr in 2006. Barnes & Noble Explorations called the story of cut-throat software entrepreneurs in the far future "the love child of Donald Trump and Vernor Vinge" and later named it their SF Book of the Year. The book was also nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best Novel, and Edelman was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer on the strength of that novel. Infoquake has just been re-released in mass market paperback by Solaris Books with a fancy new cover by Stephan Martiniere.

This week, Pyr is releasing book 2 of David's Jump 225 trilogy, MultiReal. The book continues where Infoquake left off, and has already been called "a thoroughly-successful hybrid of Neuromancer and Wall Street" by Hugo nominee Peter Watts.

BIO: In addition to writing novels, Dave has also programmed websites for the U.S. Army, the FBI, ExxonMobil, and Rolls-Royce; taught software to the U.S. Congress and the World Bank; written articles for the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun; and directed the marketing departments of biometric and e-commerce companies. Dave is well-versed in PHP, Ruby on Rails, WordPress, ColdFusion, HTML, Javascript, XML, and CSS, and is an expert in web usability, web design, search engine optimization, and writing for the web.

1) What was your inspiration for writing Infoquake and MultiReal?

Infoquake and MultiReal are two parts of a story I started writing in late 2000 about my dot-com experiences in the '90s. I'm a marketing guy and web programmer by trade, and I saw a number of crazy things during the dot-com bubble. Mostly I was interested in the personal dynamics -- how charismatic schemers like my protagonist Natch convinced so many people to invest in so many worthless companies.

So in 2000 and 2001, I wrote a novel titled Jump 225.7, which you might call a far-future satire of the dot-com era. I literally finished the first draft of it on September 10, 2001. Then suddenly the next day, satire seemed the wrong way to approach the story I was trying to tell. So when I started rewriting it, the story became much darker and more serious in tone. I tried to ask all the big questions about capitalism, about Western society, about human nature and greed and what the long-term prospects of the species were. The end result was the Jump 225 trilogy, starting with Infoquake and continuing with MultiReal.

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

Growing up, my favorite author had to be J.R.R. Tolkien (unless Stan Lee counts). I'm sure I read the whole Lord of the Rings saga (including The Hobbit and The Silmarillion) half a dozen times. Then in adolescence I fell in love with Kurt Vonnegut, with a special reverence for Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse-Five. College brought John Barth to my attention, and I've been running the biggest fan website for his books since about 1996 or so. If I had to name my favorite author since college, I'd have to pick either William Gibson or Thomas Pynchon.

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

I think for me it's the ability to rethink absolutely everything about the world, down to the smallest nanoparticle. I'm a worldbuilding addict, so I like being able to examine and reconfigure the politics, the history, and the sociology of my world to suit the story I'm trying to tell. For the Jump 225 trilogy, I considered all of those things and more -- I even got down to the level of thinking up new building materials and trying to invent ways that people would move goods from place to place in the absence of trucks and an interstate system. I can't really think of any other genre you can do that in.

4) Why did you decide to make Natch a software entrepreneur?

When I started writing the Jump 225 trilogy, I followed the axiom of writing what you know. I'd worked for several high-tech start-ups run by young, charismatic, slightly unhinged software entrepreneurs. And so that's who I started with.

The supporting characters are also based on character types I'd met in dot-coms. Horvil is the heavy-set, brilliant engineering guy who prefers to run things behind the scenes and leave the politics to the boss. And Jara is the serious, no-nonsense marketing woman who has something of a love/hate relationship with the company.

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

I'm incredibly boring. I read. I putter around on the computer and tinker with my websites. I watch a lot of movies, and I keep up with the news. I'm looking forward to having children so I can have the excuse that I'm "spending quality time with my family."

6) What sort of research did you do to write these books?

Infoquake is heavily concerned with biologic software (or "wetware," as it's sometimes called). I know something about software, but I know very little about biology or physiology. So I certainly had to do some basic research into how the human body works. The main technology behind MultiReal also involves quantum physics, so I had to beef up on that a bit too. I admit that I don't tend to delve very deeply into the subjects that I research; mostly it's just your basic Wikipedia and Google searches, combined with long involved discussions with subject matter experts I know.

7) Natch is a compulsive workaholic. Are you that way too?

Absolutely not. I'm actually not very much at all like Natch or Jara, the two main protagonists of the novels. Although I suppose I do share certain characteristics with them. If I had to name a character who was closest to me in temperament, I'd have to say Horvil, the fat cheerful engineer who's always putting up with Natch's crap.

8) The political factions in the Jump 225 trilogy are divided between governmentalists and libertarians. If you were a character in the books, which would you be?

A lot of people who've read Infoquake assumed that my sympathies lie with the libertarians, because that's where Natch's sympathy lies. But I'm definitely more conflicted in my politics. I like to pick and choose among the different parties and philosophies. I have some definite liberal tendencies but a number of conservative ones as well.

You'll discover in MultiReal that the political situation is much more nuanced than Natch makes it out to be in Infoquake. The central government, which really seems like the epitome of evil in Infoquake, is a conflicted organization itself with some do-gooders working in the fringes. And the libertarians are full of self-interested schemers who'll stab you in the back.

9) What are you writing now?

I'm currently about 80,000 words into Geosynchron, the third and final book of the Jump 225 trilogy. I'm a very slow writer and I write a million drafts, but I'm hoping to finish the whole thing by the end of the year.

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

Yes, I always wanted to write, ever since I was a little kid. I wrote my first "novel" when I was about 6 years old, and I spent much of my childhood building up a pantheon of superheroes with my brother. I studied creative writing in college at Johns Hopkins, and tried to write a novel in my early 20s. It wasn't until I had given up on the writing and spent half a dozen years in the trenches of high tech that I came up with an idea that I could follow through on. And that was the Jump 225 trilogy.

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

I've never been very good about setting a concrete writing schedule. Maybe that's why it takes me so long to finish anything. I typically work about three days a week at my part-time web programming job, and then write whenever I have the free time and the inclination.

12) Where do you write?

I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I'm one of the guys you see sitting there at Starbuck's with his laptop for hours on end. For some reason, I find it easy to write with background chatter. But when I'm not writing there, I'm sitting on my couch at home with one dog on the back of the couch behind my head and one dog nestled between me and the armrest.

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

The hardest thing for me as a writer is discipline. I have an easy time coming up with great ideas, and I find it very easy to sit down and start pecking on those first few paragraphs. But then I quickly burn out. If you're ever going to finish anything, you need to be able to batter your way through those burnout times, and I have a difficult time with that. And then I'm so rarely satisfied with what I write, it always takes me to forever to finish.

More about David Louis Edelman: http://www.davidlouisedelman.com

More about Infoquake: http://www.infoquake.net

More about MultiReal: http://www.multireal.net

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

Backstory vs Buildup

You all know the in media res rule: start your novel in the middle of an action sequence, throw the reader in the deep end, make your first sentence, your first page, your first chapter as gripping as possible and fill in the details as you go along.

I know the rule too, but I have one or two problems with it.

First, I think it's relevant when you're trying to hook an agent or a publisher. You need to stand out from the crowd, and the attention-grabbing opening does that. Of course, if you DO secure a publishing deal there's plenty of time for rewrites ;-)

It's also relevant if you're trying to hook new readers (and who isn't?) If someone is scanning the first page of your novel in a bookstore, deciding whether to buy, don't you want to hook them in?

Well yes, but I have to confess I've never stood around in a bookstore reading the first page of anything. I'm drawn to new books by the spine (maybe the author's name rings a bell, or the title sounds promising), the front cover if it's face-out (title & author again, the cover art & any visible blurbs), or the fact the bookshop staff have just pressed the thing into my hands.

Once I'm holding the book I'm only interested in two things: the back cover teaser, and blurbs. These can be on the back or printed inside, but they DO influence my decision to buy. If there aren't any blurbs but the teaser is good, I'm in. If there are lots of positive blurbs from authors or reviewers I'm familiar with, that's also a plus but I won't buy a heavily-blurbed book if the teaser doesn't interest me.

You'll notice that none of my purchase decisions are based on the quality or style of the writing - for that I put my trust in the author, their editor, and the publisher.


The second problem I have with the 'action opening' is this: The author now has to fit in all that lovely backstory, and since it's already happened, it often boils down to characters telling each other things they already know just to bring the reader up to speed. Alternatively you get a flashback or three, sometimes lasting the entire novel, and you wonder why the author didn't just set the novel in the flashback era so the thing could play out in real time.


The third problem I have with in media res? It can play havoc with pacing and tension: You get a big BANG and then pages & pages setting up the hissing fuse. Me, I like to start with the hiss.


I'm not blogging about the problems with big openings because I think they're always the wrong choice ... hell, no. It's just that I like it when things start perfectly normal and gradually go wonky, so that by the end of chapter one (or perhaps chapter two), the freight train is rushing towards the rockfall or the helpless spaceship is drifting towards the asteroid field. Ideally you want the reader spotting things before the characters do, which not only has them anticipating problems but also willing the characters to spot them, discuss them and deal with them.


So, what prompted this blog post?

A couple of weeks ago I began plotting Hal 5 in my usual fashion, introducing the characters, the location and the setting before piling bigger and bigger problems onto the hapless characters. The plot grew and grew, until the spiderweb covered many pages.

Then, just this morning, I decided to play with it. I took a copy of the plot and started dragging & editing branches in Freemind to see how it would look if I started the book further in than usual. And, having made all those changes, I've ended up with a ton of stuff filed under 'backstory' which would normally be the first chapter or two of the novel. That's why I'm here, posting about it, because I'm weighing up the pros and cons, and trying to decide whether to stick with it or fall back on my comfortable opening chapter or two.

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

Wonderlands

Wonderlands is a new social networking site for Fantasy & Spec Fic writers, readers, fans, etc. At first I thought 'oh no, another one', but after seeing it posted and reposted on several blogs belonging to writers, editors and agents I'm acquainted with, I caved in and signed up.

You'll find me here. Hope to see you over there!

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

Ebay stuff

I've listed my entire collection of Asimov's SF on ebay in multiple lots, if anyone's interested. There's also a bunch of other SF mags, some books, a couple of Tintin comics & a large amount of UK Tiger/Scorcher/Roy of the Rovers comics.

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

Incubation times

This post was prompted by recent discussion on Nathan Bransford's blog, in which the following question was raised: what do you feel about authors trying to keep up with a book a year, or more, to satisfy their publisher and their readers? (paraphrased from memory)

Personally I believe the author should demand enough time to finish the book properly. Problem is, a book isn't a roll of toilet paper or a loaf of bread ... it's an artistic endeavour, and it's finished when it's finished.

Over time, most authors find a schedule they're comfortable with, and provided they stay on track they can write novels to that deadline. For me it's about 8 months from start to finish, and when you add in the publisher's side of things that's about one book every 14-16 months. (Hal 4 was the first book I've written for this publisher from scratch, and having done that one I'm confident I can repeat.)

This doesn't allow for writers block (Pah! No such thing!) and backtracking heavily to fix those major cock-ups we suddenly unearth near the end of the novel. That's why we invented extensions.

Just out of interest, these are the time scales for each Hal book, from my writing the very first word to their appearance in the shops with Fremantle Press:

Hal Spacejock: 11 years
Hal Spacejock Second Course: 4 years
Hal Spacejock Just Desserts: 4 years
Hal Spacejock No Free Lunch: 1 year (with a 1 month extension)

Hal 4 is a bit of a special case because I wrote the first bits of the novel in 2004, and also wrote two versions of it for NanoWrimo in 2005 and 2006, but so little of those efforts made it into the final version it was effectively written from scratch.

There's also quite a bit of overlap in the figures, because I started Hal Spacejock book 1 in 1994.


A long gestation period can give the writer time to dot every i and cross every t, to shine and polish until every single word belongs. Although if you believe this you clearly haven't read Hal 1. Even after all those years of editing and polishing, I can still open it to any page and see things I'd like to change. That's the sort of education you get from writing three or four additional novels.

Also, by the time you finish your one-book-a-decade half the book reps have moved on, stores don't remember you and fans have all found another writer to idolise.

On the other hand, writing a novel in 8 months can lead to consistency - plot, character, dialogue ... even the writing. You're not blending passages you wrote a decade ago with sentences you just crafted last week. There's a certain attraction to single-mindedly pursuing one goal over a relatively short time span, excluding minor distractions like your health, earning capacity, and your family.


So which is really better? Which do readers prefer?

Yesterday there was a reply to one of my recent posts which said something along the lines of 'Hal 4 has less of the one-line belly laughs than earlier books in the series, but it's my favourite so far' (Paraphrased from memory)

I think this is true of most comedy series (apart from the 'fave so far' bit - that varies), and there are several reasons for it.

First, there's the fact the author has probably been chasing a publishing deal for years, and during that time he/she has been tinkering with the novel in question. (What you should be doing is writing the next - and I did, twice. But that still doesn't prevent tinkering every time a new rejection or four lands in the mailbox.)

Second, to stay original and fresh with each book means NOT repeating yourself. Gags, dire situations, one-liners, plot points .. Personally, I err on the side of caution, avoiding anything which has echoes of earlier books. You tend to lose the freewheeling, carefree, have-at-it nature and become a bit more precise, and with each Hal book there are less irrelevant side trips just to fit in a funny scene I couldn't let go. Scenes are written to fit the plot, because I don't have time to let my brain wander too much ... or if I do, I'm happy to save it for a later book in the series, which was a luxury I didn't have when writing book #1.

Finally, with each book you want to grow as an author. You don't want to throw away a hard-earned readership with an artsy renegade volume of second-person stream of consciousness with no punctiation, but you don't want to put out the same-old, same-old either. For example, one of my goals is to fold one or more genres into each Hal book. Hal 1 was SF humour with satire. Hal 2 was an alien civilisation and corporate evildoers. Hal 3 was espionage and goverment coverups. And for Hal 4 I dug deep into the bucket and came up with mystery, crime, romance, horror and a bit of police procedural. (I wasn't sure whether it would be the last Hal book, so I threw everything in.)

By the way, whether No Free Lunch is the last Hal book or not depends on whether enough people buy a copy next time they're browsing in the local store. I'm working on Hal 5 now, but there are no certainties in the publishing game, whether you write one book a decade or three every year.

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