Spellmaking

Haunters Release Day

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Thu, 24 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Haunters by the multi-talented Thomas Taylor is released as a paperback today. It's a supernatural YA adventure and a wonderful read.

I'm especially attached to the book as I was an early beta-reader. Back then it was called The Ghost Effect and it was already a whole lot of fun. It's great to see it finally hit the shelves.

As part of the celebrations and to help spread the word, Thomas kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the book:

Can you tell us the premise of Haunters?

David discovers he is a dreamwalker – someone who can travel to other places and times through his dreams, taking the form of a ghost as he does so. A rogue dreamwalker called Adam travels back to the year 1940 to use that same ghostliness to cause the death of a boy called Eddie, a boy who will grow up to be someone important in our own time. Killing Eddie will leave Adam powerful in the present, and only David can stop him. But David has a terrifying personal stake too – he’s Eddie’s grandson.

Haunters is an inverted ghost story, where it’s the living who are the ghosts, and the dead who are being haunted.

Who's your favourite character in the book?

Although I like both my main character, David, and my villain, Adam, probably my favourite character is Petra. She is the experienced dreamwalker David develops a crush on, but she is also a tragic figure with a dark past. She introduces David (and therefore, the reader) to the world of dreamwalking and stands by him no matter what. But she is destined to pay heavily for this by the end.

Are there any thoughts of a follow-up?

Yes. And no. Haunters was deliberately written as a standalone book that could become the basis of a series. There is a second story partially plotted, but right now I’m working on something very different.

Time travel plot lines are fiendishly complicated, and I’m quite enjoying time away from them at the moment. However, that other story keeps coming to mind and demanding attention, so let’s see.

If you had to pick five keywords to tag the book with ...

Ghosts, Time-travel, History, Power, Dreamwalking

Which do you prefer - writing or drawing?

I wrote a blog post about this recently. The two are very different, so I like to alternate between them. I’m still trying to marry the two up, and I have another book coming out soon -- a comedy – with illustrated chapter headings. Doing both in a single book is immensely satisfying.

Thanks, Thomas! If anyone wants to read Haunters, it's available from Amazon here. Just be careful what you dream about ...

Free Giveaway: 140 and Counting

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Sat, 19 May 2012 08:19:00 +0000

140 and Counting is a sparkling and wide-ranging collection of tweet-length stories and poems published by Upper Rubber Boot Books. It pulls together some of the best bits of the first two years of Seven by Twenty magazine (including, um, my own piece Human Statue).

You might like to know the book is currently available as a free download here at Goodreads (until May 28th). You can grab it in epub, mobi or PDF formats. If I were you I'd go grab it and read it. But obviously I'm biased ...

100RPM: Cover Art Work

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:08:00 +0000

As you may recall, I had a 100 word story accepted a while back for Caroline Smailes' 100RPM anthology: one hundred short stories inspired by music videos on YouTube. All money collected by the book will go to the One In Four charity, who provide support and resources to people who have experienced sexual abuse and sexual violence.

The anthology is now ready to go and scheduled for release on May 31st. It'll be a Kindle eBook with an initial price of 99p. The very lovely cover artwork is now available:

Cool, huh? My own slight contribution notwithstanding it's a great collection of stories. I'll let you know when it's available.

Another SF Haiku Sold to Abyss & Apex

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:45:00 +0000

The lovely Abyss & Apex have been in touch to accept a second SF haiku to go with the one accepted back in March. Happy, happy. This will bring my tally with the magazine up to two short stories and two poems.

In other news I've updated my profile picture on my blog, on Facebook etc. As you can see I've gone from "bookish" to "assassin". The sinister effect is lessened a little if you know the picture was taken by my daughter while we waited for the Celebrate a Dream Come True parade at DisneyWorld ...

Mysterious Mane Plaiting

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:34:00 +0000

This appeared recently in our local police crime report:

It has been reported to us that a Welsh cob pony has had its mane plaited overnight. We have, over the years, had several reports of horses found with their manes plaited, although we have never had any reports that the horses have subsequently been stolen.

There has to be a story in there somewhere...

World Fantasy Convention 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:02:00 +0000

So, the April A to Z blogging challenge is over. That was fun. I think... It all got a bit overwhelmed by the Hedge Witch news but I more or less kept up.

Meanwhile, I've signed up for World Fantasy Con in 2013 as it's going to be in England for the first time since 1997 (in Brighton, in fact). So that's exciting.

This will actually be my first convention and I really have little idea what to expect. I mean, will I have to dress up as an orc or an elf or something? Or if I do that will I be the only one?

Anyone else going?

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: Z is for Zoetrope

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

And finally, Z is for Zoetrope

Zoetropes are those cylinders with vertical slits cut into them and a series of static images on their inner surface. You spin the cylinder, look through the slits and see an illusion of movement. We take moving images for granted, of course, but zoetropes must have seemed like magic when they were first demonstrated.

The word is derived from the Greek: zoe = life and tropos = turn, so the meaning is more or less "wheel of life".

Here endeth my A to Z Blogging Challenge posts! Phew. I hope you've found something interesting or amusing among them. Thanks for dropping by.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami Verdigris Worm Xanadu Yggdrasil Zoetrope

Write1Sub1 April Check-In

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

It's Write1Sub1 check-in day. I'm posting updates on my short fiction and poetry output here as well as over on the main Write1Sub1 blog.

Most exciting news this month is obviously Hedge Witch getting a publisher. Did I mention that? Short fiction progress has been made as well, though ...

Written

A Ring, a Ring o’ Roses (SF, short story)
ComStar-88b (SF, flash)

Submitted

A Ring, a Ring o’ Roses (SF, short story)
ComStar-88b (SF, flash)

Accepted

Pens (flash, 2011) by Metazen

Accepted/Published

A Late Night Call (Twitter, 2011, $) by Nanoism

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: Y is for Yggdrasil

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

Y is for Yggdrasil

In Norse mythology/cosmology, Yggdrasil is the name of the vast tree around which earth, heaven, hell and all other worlds are arrayed. It is generally considered to be an ash tree, with branches and roots extending into all known realms.

The word is usually said to mean "Odin's Horse", deriving from Yggr, meaning Odin and drasill, a horse.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami Verdigris Worm Xanadu Yggdrasil

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: X is for Xanadu

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

X is for Xanadu

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

Thus starts Xanadu, the 18th century poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. And, of course, we don't know how the work finishes because Coleridge was interrupted by 'a person on business from Porlock' while he was desperately trying to get the lines in his head down on paper.

I'm sure all writers will know that feeling well. Sometimes it feels like we're surrounded by the person from Porlock's modern-day equivalents ...

Xanadu, incidentally, was a real place: it was the name of Kublai Khan's summer capital in China. Coleridge had just been reading about this the night before. And taking opium ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami Verdigris Worm Xanadu

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: W is for Worm

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

W is for Worm

Like thing, worm is one of those little words that has accrued lots of different meanings. Obviously it can refer to a whole series of distantly-related animals. As well as true worms, for example, the word is used to refer to larvae, centipedes or even snakes.

The most familiar worms - earthworms - have been around for around 120 million years. They're an invaluable part of our ecosystem. Charles Darwin studied them at length and found that they turn over the top six inches of the soil (dirt) every twenty years. Earthworms play a vital role in maintaining soil fertility.

To a speculative fiction writer, two other senses of the word are hard to avoid. In fantasy books, "worm" is obviously another word for "dragon". Smaug is referred to as a "worm" in The Hobbit. Sometimes the word is even used to refer to the devil.

A modern meaning more likely to crop up in an SF story is worm as in a species of computer malware. In computing terms, a worm is distinct from a virus. A worm doesn't need to attach itself to some other piece of software as a virus does. It exists mainly to replicate itself across a network (such as the Internet).

The word derives from the Old English word wyrm, a word I really like.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami Verdigris Worm

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: V is for Verdigris

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

V is for Verdigris

Verdigris is the blue-green patina formed on copper, brass or bronze when it is exposed to air or water for a long time.

The word derives from the Old French phrase verte grez, meaning green of Greece. Why Greece? Actually, that's not clear. It could be because verdigris was used as a pigment by artists and so would presumably have been employed by Greek painters in antiquity. Or perhaps not.

Still, it's a nice word. Hard to imagine a gothic novel without it ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami Verdigris

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: U is for Umami

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

U is for Umami

WHen I was at school we were taught that the taste-buds on our tongues could discern four basic types of taste: sweet, sour, bitter and salt. Science now says there are in fact five basic tastes. The fifth is called umami. Umami means a taste that is savoury or meaty - specifically the taste of glutamates. The term was officially identified at the Umami International Symposium in Hawaii in 1985. I am not making this up.

Umami is a loan-word: the Japanese umami means something like pleasant savoury taste. All major languages have just borrowed the word unchanged.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing Umami

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: T is for Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

T is for Thing

The most common meaning of thing is pretty obvious. A thing is, well, just a thing.

But in Old Norse the word also refers to an assembly of the people. People gathered at a thingstead to discuss new laws in what was, effectively, the first form of democracy. The oldest parliament in the world is Iceland's Althing. The oldest continuous parliament in the world (since Iceland had a break) is Tynwald on my own Isle of Man. Tynwald basically means "field of the thing". Which, now that I think about it, would make a great title for a story ...

The more common English word "husting" also dervies from this meaning of thing.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth Thing

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: S is for Shibboleth

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

S is for Shibboleth

A shibboleth sounds like it could be an Outer God from the Cthulhu mythos ("Iä! Shibboleth! The Black Goat with a Thousand Young!") or a mystical stone in an Indiana Jones movie ("Behold! The Shibboleth of Akran!") or maybe, I don't know, a fizzy, boiled sweet ("A bag of lemon shibboleths please, mister!")

But, of course, it isn’t any of these. It refers to a word or a phrase that indicates belonging to a particular group. A code word used only by members of that group. It originates from the Hebrew, where it originally referred to an ear of corn. But it was a difficult word to pronounce for some cultures, and so was used to test whether an individual belonged or was an imposter.

I almost went for "syzygy". Maybe next year ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök Shibboleth

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: R is for Ragnarök

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool.

R is for Ragnarök

The twilight of the gods in Scandinavian mythology, when Odin, Thor, Freyr, Loki and Týr meet their final end.

I think there's something rather glorious and terrible about a world-view in which just about everyone is doomed to die in one final cataclysmic battle. Although, after the battle, you'll be pleased to know, there are a few survivors and a peaceful new world dawns. So that's nice.

The word is derived from ragna, the gods or the ruling powers and rök, meaning fate or an ending.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark Ragnarök

Fantasy Novel Hedge Witch has a Publisher!

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Great excitement today here at Spellmaking Towers. I can finally reveal the news I've been dying to tell you all for some time: my fantasy novel Hedge Witch has a publisher. Morrigan Books are to release the book in 2013.

I'm absolutely bloody delighted. It's a book I love and it's wonderful to know others like it too.

Their press release is here. I've never been the subject of a press release before. How exciting is that? I can't resist quoting from it. Sorry. Indulge me.

Morrigan Books is pleased to announce the addition of Simon Kewin’s novel, Hedge Witch, to our e-book line in 2013. This is Simon’s debut novel, furthering our commitment to offering the best in innovative dark fiction from exciting new talent. We think you’re going to love it as much as we do.

I've been talking to Morrigan for some time, polishing up the manuscript and so forth. But finally it's official and I can tell the world. I can actually start using phrases like "my publisher" in conversation ...

No solid release date or cover art yet. Over the next few months I'll be working with an editor on a final draft of the book. But that's all for the future. Right now I'm just basking in the glow ...

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: Q is for Quark

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

Q is for Quark

Quarks are elementary physical particles: building-blocks that combine to form the protons and neutrons that in turn make up atoms. I love the fact that the existence of quarks was inferred before there was any observational evidence for them. There are, in fact, six types or 'flavours' of quark, whose names are delightful in themselves: up, down, strange, charm, bottom and top.

The name is actually taken from James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake, in which this line appears:

Three quarks for Muster Mark!

Among other things, also a sort of cheese and, most importantly of all, a Ferengi character in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium Quark

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: P is for Pandemonium

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool ...

P is for Pandemonium

These days, a word that is used to mean wild uproar, disorder or chaos. Its original meaning is pretty clear: pan means all and demon means, well, demon. So pandemonium means all demons or, specifically, the place of all demons.

Milton coined the word in Paradise Lost, where he used it to refer to the capital city of Hell itself. Pendemonium was designed by the architect Mulciber and built by the demons in only an hour.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian Pandemonium

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: O is for Ophidian

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool.

O is for Ophidian

Another word I thought I knew the meaning of but didn't. Something to do with the underworld? Ophidian actually means of or relating to snakes. The word derives from the ancient Greek word ophis, meaning, simply, a snake. In modern biological classification, snakes belong to the suborder Ophidia.

I guess I was getting mixed up with Orpheus as in Orpheus in the Underworld ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous Ophidian

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: N is for Numinous

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool.

N is for Numinous

Such a lovely word. For quite a while I didn't know what it meant and assumed it was maybe something like luminous. Or maybe numerous. I like the way our brains try to fill in like that. But in fact, the word means mysterious, awe-inspring or supernatural. It comes from the latin numen, meaning divine will.

You can also say "numinosity". Now there's a good word to drop into the conversation today ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim Numinous

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: M is for Megrim

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool.

M is for Megrim

A "megrim" is an archaic term for a migraine: bad headaches that are often associated with nausea and disturbed vision. I think I like the word because it sounds like it's a mythical creature: some sort of demonic being that lurks in the shadows and inflicts pain and suffering. Beware the Megrim! And, yes, I do suffer from migraines myself ...

Oh, and it's also a sort of fish.

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine Megrim

Metazen to publish Pens

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:03:00 +0000

Just heard that Metazen are to publish a flash fiction piece of mine called Pens. It's going to be going live in June. This is an offbeat, surreal sort of story written as part of Write1Sub1 last year. Yay!

In case you were wondering, this is not my "M" post. That will be along tomorrow. Nice coincidence though ...

Have a great weekend all.

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: L is for Labyrinthine

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool.

L is for Labyrinthine

A pleasingly convoluted, serpentine word. Obviously, "like a labyrinth".

Did you know that, strictly speaking, labyrinths are different from mazes? Mazes have branches and forking paths while labyrinths are a single, winding path. So you can't get lost in a labyrinth. I don't know what Theseus was up to.

Mazes are puzzles but the point of a labyrinth is to make the long and possibly symbolic journey to the centre, contemplating your steps along the way ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa Labyrinthine

The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge: K is for Kappa

noreply@blogger.com (Simon Kewin) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0000

My posts in the The Blogging From A to Z April Challenge are all about interesting words. Words that are weird, intriguing, poetic or just plain cool.

K is for Kappa

Kappa is the tenth letter of the Greek alphabet - pretty clearly where the modern letter K comes from.

But a Kappa is also (among other things) the name of a fabulous beast: a sort of water-sprite in Japanese folklore. Kappas are troublesome or downright evil reptilian creatures that lurk in ponds and rivers. Perhaps their coolest feature is the bowl-shaped indentation on the tops of their heads. When they are away from their pond or river, this bowl has to remain full of water at all times, otherwise they freeze and can't move.

So, if you ever find yourself pursued by a rampaging Kappa, just make it spill the water out of its head and you'll be perfectly fine.

See, don't say I never give you useful information ...

Archaeopteryx Blunderbuss Chthonic Dreadnought Entropy Fulgurite Gargantua Humbucking Ichthyic Juggernaut Kappa