Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Coming Soon ...

I don't know what I was thinking, believing that I could get anything done this month. Between the heat and the distractions inherent in the school holidays it's been impossible to concentrate - I've pecked at a short story or two, but my mind's not been in it.

People who are better organised and more motivated than me have been moving other things along, however, so here's some news of forthcoming attractions.


As you can see, Close Encounters of the Urban Kind from Apex Publications now has a cover. The book itself is out in a few months, and pre-order information will be available soon.

Meanwhile Alisa at Twelfth Planet Press has just released a table of contents for her upcoming anthology Sprawl (the commission I landed earlier this month). It's not a final list, apparently, but so far the details are:

Liz Argall - Seed Dreams (comic)
Peter Ball - One Saturday Night, With Angel
Deborah Biancotti - Never Going Home
Simon Brown - Sweep
Stephanie Campisi - How to Select a Durian at Footscray Market
Thoraiya Dyer - Yowie
Dirk Flinthart - Walker
Lisa Hannett - Weightless
Pete Kempshall - Signature Walk
Ben Peek - White Crocodile Jazz
Tansy Rayner Roberts - Relentless Adaptations
Barbara Robson - Neighbourhood Watch
Angela Slatter - Brisneyland by Night
Cat Sparks - All For Love
Anna Tambour - Gnawer of the Moon Seeks Summit of Paradise
Kaaron Warren - Loss
Sean Williams - Parched (poem)

Looks like it'll be a good one ...

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Closing Scenes

So today saw the final sign-off on the final tale in Scenes From The Second Storey. Amanda Pillar and I have been working on the edits since August, on and off, and it feels great to get the last story in the bag.

Now that all thirteen tales have been edited it's time to farm the complete manuscript out to the proof readers, in case we've missed anything. Of course, I think it's a very strong collection now, as it stands ... but then I would say that, wouldn't I?

While we're waiting for the fresh eyes to do their work, it's on to the next job. For me, that's a couple of stories I've had on a low simmer since just before New Year. Think one of them's about ready to go ...

Saturday, January 02, 2010

January 2 Commissions 1

It's fast out of the traps for 2010, with my first acceptance for the year landing in my inbox this afternoon. As usual no details until there's an official announcement, but it's nice to get off to a flyer.