Alan Baxter - Warrior Scribe » The Word – According To Me

Behold the Midnight Echo shiny and the story of a title

alan — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:38:17 +0000

My contributor copies of Midnight Echo Magazine, issue 9, landed in my post box this morning. So shiny. I’m very happy that my story, The Fathomed Wreck To See, is in this one. The issue had a Myths & Legends theme and my story plays with the siren/mermaid mythology. But, as is so often the case, it’s really a story about love and loss and people.

This Is Horror, that wonderful UK blog of all things dark, said about my story:

Alan Baxter’s ‘The Fathomed Wreck to See’ delves into the mythology behind those beautiful, yet deadly, creatures known as Sirens. Dylan is slowly drinking himself to death on his boat after the recent loss of his beloved Catelyn. He’s also dying from cancer, so things couldn’t get much worse, though when he meets a beautiful blonde woman on the docks things start to look up. The woman, however, is not what she appears to be, and Dylan soon finds himself in a whole heap of trouble. Baxter’s story is one of love, loss, and rejection, and it’s a beautiful addition to this issue.

That review by Adam Millard, so thanks Adam!

They did an in-depth review, with something to say about every story, so you can read the full review here.

In case you were wondering, the title of this story, “The Fathomed Wreck To See”, is a line from Gregory Corso’s poem, “Seaspin”.

“To drown to be slow hair
To be fish minstrelry
One eye to flick and stare
The fathomed wreck to see –
Forever down to drown
Descend the squid’s conclave
Black roof the whale’s belly
Oyster floor the grave –

My sea-ghost ride
And slower hair
Silverstreaks my eyes
Up up I whirl
And wonder where –

To breathe in Neptune’s cup
Nudge gale and tempest
Feel the mermaid up
To stay to pin my hair
On the sea-horse’s stirrup –”

(CORSO, Gregory (1960))

Get your copy of this fantastic issue, either as a big glossy magazine or a very fine ebook, from Midnight Echo Magazine’s website or from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

I won the AHWA Short Story competition!

alan — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:47:41 +0000

Well, I actually co-won in a dead heat with Zena Shapter. The Australian Horror Writers’ Association (AHWA) runs a competition every year for both short stories (1,000 to 8,000 words) and flash fiction (up to 1,000 words). You may remember that last year I was a judge along with Felicity Dowker and Jason Fischer. I thought I should really enter the competition that is run by the association I’m a member of and that I’ve judged in the past, so this year I entered both the short story and flash categories. I couldn’t be happier that my story, It’s Always the Children Who Suffer, was picked as a joint winner with Zena’s story, Darker. I also scored an Honourable Mention in the Flash category. Pretty bloody good all around!

Here are all the winners and HMs:

SHORT STORY WINNERS:
Alan Baxter, “It’s Always the Children Who Suffer”
Zena Shapter, “Darker”

SHORT STORY HONOURABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order):
Cassandra Newman, “Divorce Granted”
Ron Schroer, “Lustbader”
Shaun Taylor, “Open Windows, Closed Doors”
Noel Osualdini, “Skin”
Sam Howard, “Wee Willie Winkie”

FLASH FICTION WINNER:
Tim Hawken, “Moonlight Sonata”

FLASH FICTION HONOURABLE MENTIONS (in no particular order):
Noel Osualdini, “Night Escape”
Mark Farrugia, “Palatable”
Mike Pieloor, “The Itch”
Alan Baxter, “Under a Wing and a Prayer”

Martin Livings, the competition manager, did a great job. The comp is judged blind, so all stories go to Martin first and he strips them of all identifying marks so the judges get nothing but a story and judge each one on merit alone. Martin also figured out some stats on the competition. The stat I was most pleased to see was the Entries by Gender one. In a field so historically dominated by male writers, it was great to see not only a joint decision with a man and a woman picked as the short story winners, but according to Martin’s stats, entries were split male/female as 58% / 42%. That’s not bad and it’s great to see. Australia has a fantastic tradition of women horror writers (Kaaron Warren, Angela Slatter, Joanne Anderton, Felicity Dowker, et al), and it’s great to see that reflected in stats like these.

Lastly, I want to thank my four year old niece, Malina Cootes. We all know that kids come out with the weirdest shit, and my winning story was inspired by something Malina said, as reported to me by her mum. She woke up one night, very upset from a nightmare. When her mum went to comfort her, Malina said, “There’s a dream in my bed!”

And a story was born. And it won the AHWA Short Story competition. Thanks, Malina!

The three winning stories will be published in a future issue of Midnight Echo magazine, so I’ll be sure to let you know when that’s out.

Now excuse me while I Snoopy Dance.

365 Shorts – second update

alan — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 02:35:49 +0000

So, back on December 10th I posted this. In a nutshell, I set myself a challenge to read 365 short stories during 2013. And I expected to fail. I made a small change to the rules, deciding to start my year on December 1st, 2012 and run till November 30th, 2013, to make sure the end wasn’t lost in the Xmas/New Year madness.

At end of February, the first quarter of my year, I’d read 153 stories. If I want to make 365 stories in a year, I need to average just over thirty stories a month, or about 93 stories every quarter. I was well ahead of schedule at that point.

I’m about a week behind on reporting here, but I’ve just added up for the second quarter of my year. Technically the second quarter is up to the end of May, so it’s a bit off as it’s now the 7th June. Not bad, all things considered. I’m not quite up to the same rate as the first quarter, but I’m still doing quite well. I’ve updated my ongoing record of stories read here.

In the first quarter, I totaled 153 stories read in three months Dec 1st 2012 to February 28th 2013.

For the 2nd Quarter (plus a bit) – March 1st 2013 to June 7th 2013 – I’ve read 103 stories, bringing the total for the year so far up to 256 stories read between December 1st 2012 and June 7th 2013.

Given that I needed 186 stories at this point to make my total, I’m still ahead of schedule. I might make it yet.

Keep an eye on the page here to see what I’ve read so far. I’ll update it again after another three months. Of course, it can fall apart at any time, so if you never hear about this again, don’t remind me!

How about you? Are you playing along at home? How are your numbers so far?

365 Shorts 2012/13 – My reading so far.

SFWA, sexism in SFF and missing the point

alan — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:13:50 +0000

I really wanted to avoid posting about this. So many other people are addressing the issues very well and I don’t really have much to add. If you’re not sure what’s happening, suffice to say that two old guys who are members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America wrote a piece in the official publication, the SFWA Bulletin, that is astounding in its prehistoric approach to gender and dealing with justifiable complaints. If you want a good breakdown of what happened, Foz Meadows does an excellent deconstruction here (and she includes many relevant links). And honestly, if you throw a virtual dart anywhere near the SFF community online at the moment, you’ll hit something to do with it.

I’m not a SFWA member, although I think I do qualify. I can’t actually be bothered to check. Suffice to say that I’m not really interested in being part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, as I’m a British-Australian writer. I really wish they would change that A to stand for Association, as they are a global entity in most respects and it would be great to see that reflected in the name. But that’s not the issue here.

It’s also worth mentioning that on the whole SFWA does excellent things and is a great organisation. The current President is John Scalzi and he’s a stand-up guy who is definitely on point when it comes to pretty much any issues rife in the community today. As a result of the Resnick/Malzberg debacle, Scalzi immediately went into action and did two things:

1. “authorized a task force, headed up by SFWA Vice President Rachel Swirsky, to look at the role of the Bulletin within the organization moving forward”;

and

2. “as the person who by our bylaws is responsible for publications, I took responsibility for events and opened up a channel for people to comment and criticize”

Those quotes are from his official presidential statement here. He made them the other way around, but I want to concentrate on the responsibility issue, so I quoted that one second.

That response is an excellent start. And Scalzi goes on to reiterate and clarify how much he’s taking responsibility for the article. He talks about how he didn’t give it a thorough read for content (and as he’s not the editor, that’s no surprise). He says, regarding the lack of checking, “This did not happen. I as publisher gave the go-ahead – and once again, the responsibility for the event, and the offense it caused, falls on me.”

You can read the extensive explanations and apology in the presidential statement I linked above. But this is all missing one really fucking significant point. At no point has any mention been made about Resnick and Malzberg, the men who wrote the offensive article.

It’s all very well Scalzi taking responsibility and apologising, but he’s only really apologising for publishing it. Where’s the apology for writing it? Where’s the promise that Resnick and Malzberg are going to be counselled by the organisation for whom they wrote on just why they’ve upset so many people. If SFWA wants to be seen as responding well to things like this, it needs to try to change the archaic attitudes of the men who are being so offensive. And while it’s unlikely those people will change their perceptions, the attempt must be publicly made. An apology from those people for writing the offensive article would mean a lot more than the apology by the president for publishing it.

It’s quite possible those people have apologised and I’ve missed it. I couldn’t find such an apology. It’s possible the organisation has said it will hold them to task for their offensive article, but I can’t find that either, nor is it part of the official presidential response. Unless an apology is made for the content, SFWA are seriously missing the fucking point of all the outrage. I would really like to be proved wrong here, so please point me in the direction of that proof if you can. I’m quite prepared to accept that I might have missed something.

A Killer Among Demons is now ‘e-vailable’

alan — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 03:45:00 +0000

I stole that blog post title from Angela Slatter, who I share the table of contents with in this fantastic anthology. The antho is called A Killer Among Demons and it’s out now from Dark Prints Press. That table of contents is pretty awesome:

Stephen M Irwin – ’24/7′
Angela Slatter – ‘Cuckoo’
William Meikle – ‘Truth Decay’
Alan Baxter – ‘The Beat of a Pale Wing’
Marilyn Fountain – ‘The Intruder’
Greg Chapman – ‘A Matter of Perception’
Chris Large – ‘New York, New York’
SJ Dawson – ‘The Tape’
Madhvi Ramani – ‘Angel’s Town’
Stephen D. Rogers – ‘Grievance Visitation’

And that fantastic cover is by the incredibly talented Vincent Chong.

Here’s the description:

10 tales of paranormal / supernatural crime from some of the world’s best authors:

A man finds that revenge may cost you your soul, in an endlessly repeated day… A missing girl case leads to a cult being discovered, of malnourished beings that feed on flesh… A man drives a corpse around on its road to redemption… A ghostly intruder won’t let an ex-lover rest… Dirty detectives pay one last visit to a demented dentist… Mysterious deaths are solved by a grievance visitation… A mobster’s secret weapon is discovered, a turf war hinging on magic… A spirit possesses victims to find their killers, but discovers the devil himself… A detective finally unleashes the spiritual powers he’s tried to ignore, conjuring the demise of his world… And a makeshift surgery helps those afflicted by the drug of Musik…

Can you guess which one is mine? Seriously, I can’t wait to read the rest of these and I’m very proud to be a part of such a cool book. The ebook edition is available now and you can pre-order the print edition, which should be out any time now. All the details here.

New Dark Rite review

alan — Thu, 30 May 2013 04:27:13 +0000

Things have been pretty quiet around here for a while, for which I apologise. I’ve been flat out with many things lately and it’s always the blogging that suffers at those times. After all, the writing is the main thing and everything else comes secondary to that. Anyone who tries to tell you differently is stupid or lying. Write!

Ahem.

Anyway, just thought I’d drop in and as I’ve nothing much else to say right now, thought I’d share this new Goodreads review of Dark Rite:

This is a novella at the end of the day, and works perfectly in that form. The story fits the format well, and keeps the pace cracking along from first page to last, and can easily be read in one sitting. To be honest you’ll want to, as once you get started this is a difficult book to put down.

I’d recommend this one for fans of early Stephen King and Richard Laymon and anyone who wants a good creepy horror.

Got to be happy with that! Have you got your copy yet? Click on the book cover to the left for all the details.

Right, I’m off to get more writing done. Catch ya later.

Site slightly bolloxed

alan — Sat, 25 May 2013 12:19:13 +0000

Apologies all. This site is going through a theme upgrade and there’s going to be a few glitches along the way. Hopefully it’ll all be fixed up ASAP, but we’re only human. Well, barely human.

Everything should still work even if things look a bit wonky.

I’m interviewed by Terry W Ervin II

alan — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:05:19 +0000

Terry Ervin is the author of books like Flank Hawk and Blood Sword. He was kind enough to invite me over to his site for an interview. I talk about books, horror, martial arts, collaboration, the Monkey TV show, what I’ve already written and what I’m working on now.

You can find the interview here. Hope you enjoy it.

Dreaming of Djinn in the house

alan — Mon, 20 May 2013 05:10:46 +0000

Look at the pretty shiny. Those are my contributor copies of Dreaming of Djinn that arrived this morning. Edited by the brilliant Liz Grzyb and published by Ticonderoga Publications, this is an anthology of stories inspired by The Thousand and One Nights. Isobelle Carmody says of the book:

To open Dreaming Of Djinn is to open a jewel encrusted box full of exquisite and mouthwatering delicacies.

This sensuous and truly mouthwatering collection melding the modern and the ancient with the strangeness of speculative fiction, is a treasure trove of originality and exotic magic.

It will ravish your senses as it transports you to a world of flying carpets, powerful ifrits, exotic foods and above all, dancing as deadly as it is beautiful.

Sounds pretty sweet, right? It features my story, On a Crooked Leg Lightly. I would highly recommend this book, and not only because I’m in it. There are 18 stories in all, from a wide variety of authors:

18 stories by:

Marilag Angway “Shadow Dancer”
Cherith Baldry “The Green Rose”
Alan Baxter “On A Crooked Leg Lightly”
Jenny Blackford “The Quiet Realm of the Dark Queen”
Jetse de Vries “Djinni Djinni Dream Dream”
Thoraiya Dyer “The Saint George Hotel”
Joshua Gage “The Dancer of Smoke”
Richard Harland “The Tale of the Arrow Girl”
Faith Mudge “The Oblivion Box”
Havva Murat “Harmony Thicket and the Persian Shoes”
Charlotte Nash “Parvaz”
Anthony Panegyres “Oleander: An Ottoman Tale”
Dan Rabarts “Silver, Sharp as Silk”
Angela Rega “The Belly Dancing Crimes of Ms Sahara Desserts”
Jenny Schwartz “The Pearl Flower Harvest”
Barb Siples “The Sultan’s Debt”
Pia Van Ravestein “Street Dancer”
DC White “A Dash of Djinn and Tonic”

Go get some!

Aurealis Award winners and lessons learned

alan — Sun, 19 May 2013 04:20:39 +0000

Last night was Australian speculative fiction’s night of nights, with the Aurealis Awards Gala presentation. The third and final time in Sydney (next year it moves to Canberra) and what a night it was. It’s always a party, where writers, publishers, readers and more all frock up, drink too much and enjoy the presentation of prizes to the best of the best in Australian spec fic.

In some ways, last night might have been called the Margealis Awards, as it was a bumper night for the wonderful Margo Lanagan. But no one could be more deserving and no could be nicer and more humble while desperately trying to claw her way out from under a pile of awards as big as the Rydges Hotel. She took home no less than four Aurealis Awards last night to add to all the others she’s won this year. And she deserves them all. She also offered some very sound advice, drawn from the success of Sea Hearts: Don’t marry a seal, as it will only end badly. And be nice to all the witches in your community.

Let’s be honest, that’s sound advice we can all take on board.

Kaaron Warren also had a great night, taking the Aurealis Award for Best Horror Short Story for Sky, which means she’s won the Ditmar, Australian Shadows and Aurealis Awards this year, all for the same story. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s ever happened before.

Both Kaaron and Margo are studies in stupendous talent being justly rewarded, while remaining about the nicest people you could imagine.

I also learned last night that event MC Scott Westerfeld’s name is WesterFELD when I would have bet money before that it was Westerfield. Colour me surprised.

I also learned that Nick Stathopoulos is the new Ray Harryhausen, thanks to the screening of his short film, It Grows. If you get a chance to see that, you must!

I learned that Cat Sparks can’t pronounce the name of her publisher, but there’s every chance that was wine induced momentary tongue-tiedness.

Scott WesterFELD also made a great speech pointing out that spec fic rules about every form of media out there, and Kate Eltham, utterly worthy recipient of the Peter Mac Award, pointed out that Aussie spec fic is a tribe of the greatest kind. But those last two things we already know.

I’m so proud to be a part of this tribe and inspired by the talents of all the lovely people who make it what it is.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners. Here they are, with the winners in bold:

2012 Aurealis Award Winners

FANTASY NOVEL

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (Random House Australia)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (Tor UK)

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)

Flame of Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier (PanMacmillan Australia)

Winter Be My Shield by Jo Spurrier (HarperVoyager)

FANTASY SHORT STORY

“Sanaa’s Army” by Joanne Anderton (Bloodstones, Ticonderoga Publications)

“The Stone Witch” by Isobelle Carmody (Under My Hat, RandomHouse)

“First They Came” by Deborah Kalin (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 55)

“Bajazzle” by Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press)

“The Isles of the Sun” by Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press)

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

Suited by Jo Anderton (Angry Robot)

The Last City by Nina D’Aleo (Momentum)

And All The Stars by Andrea K Host (self-published)

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Ambelin Kwaymullina (Walker Books)

Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin)

The Rook by Daniel O’Malle y(HarperCollins)

SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORY

“Visitors” by James Bradley (Review of Australian Fiction)

“Significant Dust” by Margo Lanagan (Cracklescape, Twelfth Planet Press)

“Beyond Winter’s Shadow” by Greg Mellor (Wild Chrome, Ticonderoga Publications)

“The Trouble with Memes” by Greg Mellor (WildChrome, Ticonderoga Publications)

“The Lighthouse Keepers’ Club” by Kaaron Warren (Exotic Gothic 4, PS Publishing)

HORROR NOVEL

Bloody Waters by Jason Franks (Possible Press)

Perfections by Kirstyn McDermott (Xoum)

Blood and Dust by Jason Nahrung (Xoum)

Salvage by Jason Nahrung (Twelfth Planet Press)

HORROR SHORT STORY

“Sanaa’s Army” by Joanne Anderton (Bloodstones, Ticonderoga Publications)

“Elyora” by Jodi Cleghorn (Rabbit Hole Special Issue, Review of Australian Fiction)

“To Wish Upon a Clockwork Heart” by Felicity Dowker (Bread and Circuses, Ticonderoga Publications)

“Escenade un Asesinato” by Robert Hood (Exotic Gothic 4, PS Publishing)

“Sky” by Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls, Twelfth Planet Press)

YOUNG ADULT NOVEL – JOINT WINNERS!

Dead, Actually by Kaz Delaney (Allen & Unwin)

And All The Stars by Andrea K. Host (self-published)

The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf by Amberlin Kwaymullina (Walker Books)

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin)

Into That Forest by Louis Nowra (Allen & Unwin)

YOUNG ADULT SHORT STORY

“Stilled Lifes x11” by Justin D’Ath (Trust Me Too, Ford Street Publishing)

“The Wisdom of the Ants” by Thoraiya Dyer (Clarkesworld)

“Rats” by Jack Heath (Trust Me Too, Ford Street Publishing)

“The Statues of Melbourne” by Jack Nicholls (Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56)

“The Worry Man” by Adrienne Tam (self-published)

CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through words)

Brotherband: The Hunters by John Flanagan (Random House Australia)

Princess Betony and the Unicorn by Pamela Freeman (Walker Books)

The Silver Door by Emily Rodda (Scholastic)

Irina the Wolf Queen by Leah Swann (Xoum Publishing)

CHILDREN’S FICTION (told primarily through pictures)

Little Elephants by Graeme Base (author and illustrator) (Viking Penguin)

The Boy Who Grew Into a Tree by Gary Crew (author) and Ross Watkins (illustrator) (Penguin Group Australia)

In the Beech Forest by Gary Crew (author) and Den Scheer (illustrator) (Ford Street Publishing)

Inside the World of Tom Roberts by Mark Wilson (author and illustrator) (Lothian Children’s Books)

ILLUSTRATED BOOK / GRAPHIC NOVEL

Blue by Pat Grant (author and illustrator) (Top Shelf Comix)

It Shines and Shakes and Laughs by Tim Molloy (author and illustrator) (Milk Shadow Books)

Changing Ways #2 by Justin Randall (author and illustrator) (Gestalt Publishing)

ANTHOLOGY

The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror 2011 edited by Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene (Ticonderoga Publications)

Bloodstones edited by Amanda Pillar (Ticonderoga Publications)

The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year Volume 6 edited by Jonathan Strahan (NightShade Books)

Under My Hat edited by Jonathan Strahan (Random House)

Edge of Infinity edited by Jonathan Strahan (Solaris Books)

COLLECTION

That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote by K.J. Bishop (self‐published)

Metro Winds by Isobelle Carmody (Allen & Unwin)

Midnight and Moonshine by Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter (Ticonderoga Publications)

Living With the Dead by Martin Livings (Dark Prints Press)

Through Splintered Walls by Kaaron Warren (Twelfth Planet Press)