Displacement Activity

InkTears Flash Fiction Competition 2013

2013-05-20T08:19:00.000+01:00

Stories of up to 500 words may be entered into the InkTears flash fiction competition. There's no theme specified. Entries may have been previously published provided the author owns full copyright. The competition winner gets £250 plus there's a range of runners-up prizes and online publication opportunities. The competition closes 31st July 2013. Full rules are here and the InkTears homepage is here.

The Short Story competition 2013

2013-05-17T06:00:00.000+01:00

The Short Story website's 2013 short fiction competition is now open to entries. Fiction of up between 1,000 and 4,000 words may be entered. There's no theme, though the competition organisers specify in the rules that they're not accepting science fiction, fantasy or writing for children. There's a £300 first prize. Winners will have their fiction featured on the website. The competition closes 15th September 2013. The competition website is here and there are full rules and some guidance notes here.

Movie catchup: Haywire (Steven Soderbergh, 2012) and Drive Angry (Patrick Lussier, 2011)

2013-05-16T06:00:00.000+01:00

A DVD catchup night the other evening. First a re-run of Haywire, which I'd kinda assumed I'd written about before on the blog, and a first showing for me of the Nicolas Cage-starring Drive Angry.

Haywire (2012, directed by Steven Soderbergh)

It's fair to say that I like Haywire. A lot. Part of this is down to the fact that I get Steven Soderbergh's moviemaking style. It's kinda hand-in-pockets, sorta confident, a wry way of making films. He's his own cinematographer, has an arsenal of actors willing to work with him again, he respects his audience, likes a cool jazzy soundtrack, plus he's got a composer's eye for editing and a conductor's ear for audio.

The story's a load of fluff, of course. A private security contractor is double-crossed into taking the fall for a hit, so they go on a rip-roaring rampage of revenge.

Okay, so far, so B-movie. Except everyone here's bringing their A-game, not least the elliptical screenwriter Lem Dobbs. Oh, and the star isn't the male action hero du jour, but MMA (that's mixed martial arts to you) fighter / actress / model Gina Carano.

Having someone (male or female) who can sell the action in a post-Bourne Identity world is crucial. Here, there's no need to cut away from close-up to stunt double, because the star is the stunt performer. Soderbergh films in medium to long shot throughout, taking his cue from Jackie Chan movies. We want/need to see the lead in the frame, full-body. And we do.

Over and above everything else, what gets me is the professionalism on display. An action movie that isn't dumb. A thriller that's not obvious. A female star who's treated as sexy but not as a sex object. A novice who's pitted against relative Hollywood royalty (Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum) but who's not patronised. A film that's crunchy, but not explicit.

Haywire isn't for everyone (and at no point does anyone actually go haywire). It's an art movie for action fans, or an action movie for casual cineastes. As such it might not please that many people. Ah well, it pleases me, and that's all that really matters.

Drive Angry (2011, directed by Patrick Lussier)

The Nicolas Cage movie is now almost a genre of its own. The former indie star who'd occasionally freak out in a vaguely arthouse kinda way turned mainstream action hero turned cinema-release-but-rental-mindset-maven: latter-day Cage films teeter between Jerry Bruckheimer spectacle and Skid Row grubbiness, with maverick directors and odd supernatural script overtones along for the opportunistic ride.

Happily, Drive Angry is defiantly in the "guilty pleasure" market.

Cage is John Milton (and why oh why [rhetorical] is there invariably a character with that name in this sort of film these days?) is an escaped-from-hell bad boy seeking Billy Burke, a satanist who's snatched a child - the film doesn't really make it clear if the kid is Cage's kin or not - and wants to sacrifice the infant to raise Hell on Earth. Or something.

Cue a Deep South 3D road movie that gleefully ticks all the motel / redneck cops / sweaty locals / Elvis impersonator / tart with a heart cliches it can remember, with a sweet dollop of folk-memories of 70s flicks like The Devil's Rain and Race With The Devil on top.

Naturally it's brazen derivative nonsense, but there's strong support from Amber Heard, David Morse and a spectacularly offbeat William Fichtner, plus a one-scene cameo from the criminally-underused and always welcome Pruitt Taylor Vince.

There's bags of nudity, blood and 3D-friendly stuff being chucked at the screen (not that I got the benefit of that watching it in 2D on the TV).

Drive Angry is not art, no sir, but it knows what it is: medium-budget exploitation with a borderline-bankable star who's unafraid to go over the top in the name of sleazy entertainment. Some nights, folks, that's as good as it gets.

Reading update: The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland

2013-05-15T06:00:00.000+01:00

Since Company of Liars came out in 2008, I've been a big fan of Karen Maitland's dark novels of bleak medieval mayhem, often infused with aspects of the fantastical. The unwelcome possibility of magic lurks here. The Falcons of Fire and Ice is both a development and continuity of themes that have continued in The Owl Killers and The Gallows Curse.

A development, in that we're not in Middle Ages England any more, but instead we're offered a continent-crossing tale. From Iberia to Iceland we journey: a quest to find a pair of rare falcons. The continuities reside in Maitland's treatment of themes and character. At one level this is a straightforwardly monomythic/hero's journey structure, but all of the novel's characters are complex, psychologically plausible, well-motivated, and are intimately concerned with the secrets they keep from each other.

The Falcons of Fire and Ice isn't always an easy novel, but it is a rewarding one. The paperback edition I read is backed with extensive supporting material and contextual notes, which I found really useful for getting to grips with subjects from sixteenth century Portuguese attitudes to Jews who'd converted to Christianity, fleeing the Inquisition to aspects of Norse mythology. Recommended.

Totally For Women Let’s Get Writing Competition

2013-05-14T06:00:00.000+01:00

This competition calls for prose fiction from women writers. Entries of up to 1,00 words on the theme of 'snapshot' may be entered. The first prize is a day ticket to the York Festival of Writing. The competition closes 5th August 2013. More details? Here.

Bookmarks Short Story Competition 2013

2013-05-10T06:00:00.000+01:00

The Bookmarks Literary Festival s running a short story competition. Stories of up to 1,500 words on the theme of 'home' may be entered. The competition closing date is 4th August 2013. There's a first prize of £50 in book tokens. The organisers are also operating a competition for younger writers (8 to 13 years), with the same theme, but with a word count of 500 to 750 words. Again, there are book token prizes. More details may be found at the Festival's homepage under the Short Story Competitions tab at the top of the page.

Writing update

2013-05-09T08:35:00.002+01:00

I got a nice email yesterday asking my to check out the site for the Bath Short Story Award, which I'd entered a story into back in February. Oo. My entry's been short-listed. Can't tell you which of the ten short-listed ones is mine (the stories are anonymous on the site until the awards are finalised next month and it'd be wrong to break that) but it never fails to be a good feeling when you get somewhere, anywhere - longlist, shortlist - for a piece of short fiction entered into a competition.

So, what's stopping you? Enter a competition. Or send a piece off to a magazine. Better than that - do both. Then go back and do some more writing.

Exeter Novel Prize 2013

2013-05-08T08:15:00.000+01:00

The Exeter Novel Prize is a new novel writing competition for unagented writers who are not under contract to a publisher. The first 10,000 words of your novel manuscript (the word count to include a 500 word synopsis) should be entered by 31st October 2013. There's a £500 first prize. There's no restriction on genre. The winner will be selected by agent Broo Doherty from a short-list of six - the unsuccessful short-listed writers will each receive £50. More details may be found here and full competition rules are here.

Reading update: Dark Winter and Original Skin by David Mark

2013-05-07T06:00:00.000+01:00

DS Aector McAvoy is the lead in David Mark's series (book three is on its way) of Hull-set police procedurals. McAvoy is big, Scots, gentle, easily embarrassed methodical, in love with his former traveller wife Roisin. He's also tenacious, tough and something of a mystery to his colleagues, not least because he's recently been involved in the back-story busting of a senior copper. Rumours abound about McAvoy.

Dark Winter and Original Skin throw us wholeheartedly into the seamier side of life. Council estates, traveller communities, dogging sites, sex parties and drab boozers. There's a neat sense of control throughout on display as we juggle plot and character elements. Mark's cast feel well-rounded, observed, real. They've also got depths to them which may well come to the fore in forthcoming novels.

What we also get is a well-judged sense of place. There's some novelty in using the Hull (and Grimsby, in the first volume) locations, but they work well also in imparting tone and mood to the writing. Plus, the level of observation is fantastic in places. The books are as Hull as chip spice.

This is meaty adult stuff with lots to recommend it. Think a more accessible David Peace and you wouldn't be a million miles away. Recommended.

Next up? The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland, then Rome: The Art of War by MC Scott.

What I've watched: Trance and Dark Skies

2013-05-06T11:22:00.003+01:00

I'm running a little behind schedule here, as both Trance and Dark Skies were seen a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, apologies for that. Mind you, I've not had a chance to go to the cinema since, so it's not as though I'm sat on a pile of unreviewed movies. With the cluster of early summer tent-pole releases about to break on UK shores, I'll have to get some viewing hours under my belt, or resign myself to DVD catch-ups in a few months time...

Trance (2013, directed by Danny Boyle)

Trance is a movie you have to go with. If you surrender to it totally, then you're in for a pretty thrilling, violent, sexy adult ride. If for one moment you start to second-guess or question the flick though, then the bubble bursts pretty quickly.

So the schtick is this. Auction house worker Simon (James McAvoy) is the inside man on an art heist being coordinated by Franck (Vincent Cassel). But when the heist goes wrong and Simon forgets what he did with the snatched painting after receiving a whack to the head, he goes to hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) to try to retrieve the lost memory. And that's when things start to get really tricky.

Trance is a glossy good-looking entertainment and nothing more than that. It makes no sense whatsoever and relies on the audience swallowing not only some of the chunkiest coincidences in recent cinematic memory but a hidden set of back-stories and motivations that may well have your eyes out on stalks. You'll either chuckle at the swaggering audacity of it all, or you'll shake your head at the daftness on display. No middle ground here.

Dark Skies (2013, directed by Scott Stewart)

Dark Skies is an alien abduction thriller, played commendably straight by Keri Russell and with a lovely downbeat cameo from the great JK Simmons as a conspiracy theorist beaten down by the struggle to get the truth out there. Much of the architecture (and some complete scenes) of the film is lifted from previous generations' supernatural-themed movies like The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror and Poltergeist.

So we go through the usual tropes: a struggling family copes with initially insignificant odd events leading to their ostracisation from the community, run-ins with authority and eventual realisation of what they're dealing with. There are a couple of effective shock moments, but the central premise is too well-worn (swapping spooks for alien greys isn't the big deal the producers seem to think that it is) and the supposedly twist reveal at the end is badly misjudged. A couple of dropped plot points indicate that this is a movie whittled from something larger.

On the upside the subject matter is at least treated seriously and the performances are generally fine (though Josh Hamilton is done no favours by his character being written as one of the whiniest assholes in years), but there's nothing new here.

Curry Mallet History Festival short story competition 2013

2013-05-02T09:05:00.000+01:00

Stories of up to 2,500 words on one of three themes: "the reunion", "the journey" or "the letter" may be entered into this competition. Closing date is 18th May 2013. There's a £100 first prize, plus runners-up awards on offer too. More details may be found on the competition website.

Listen Up North Emily Davison Writing Competition

2013-05-01T06:00:00.000+01:00

As part of a range of centennial events commemorating suffragette Emily Davison, Listen Up North is running a writing competition. Letters, prose, a blog entry or a poem may be entered. Details on what's called for may be found on the competition website, where there's also some hits and tips as well as an entry form. Entries close Friday 10th May 2013. There's a range of publication and performance opportunities up for grabs, as well as prize including a short break in Northumberland and £100 in cold hard cash. More details? Here.

Reading update 30th April: John Yorke and David Gibbins

2013-04-30T08:41:00.000+01:00

Two books read this week: the new David Gibbins archaeolological thriller, plus a new book on storytelling from John Yorke:

Pharaoh, by David Gibbins: I was sent an advance proof copy (thanks, by the way). Years ago I'd read Gibbins's first novel - Atlantis - but hadn't read any since. Pharaoh, as its title suggests, is based in Egypt, and intercuts between the present day where underwater archaeologist Jack Howard and his high-tech team follow a series of clues towards a fabled treasure opportunity, and the mid-1880s, where a British Army sniper has been sent to the besieged city of Khartoum with a message for General Gordon and with a particular set of instructions. Pharaoh is the first in a continuing adventure cycle (we're left on a cliffhanger) and there's plenty to enjoy, particularly if you like a mix of history and contemporary antics, plus an abundance of geeky insights into everything from the mechanics of diving to bullet trajectories. There's an emphasis on the Victorian back-story which might unsettle some (though I enjoyed it) and there are a couple of anomalies (a Dad's Army running joke - possibly unintentional, but distracting all the same - and a weird anachronistic insistence that people knew about adrenalin in the 1880s) but for the main this is zippy action fun with plenty of detail and the promise of more to come.

Into The Woods: A Five Act Journey Into Story, by John Yorke: an overview of the primacy of structure in storytelling. Yorke, drawing on his experience as a BBC and Channel 4 executive and with references across a range of mostly film and TV examples, discusses why structure is necessary to story. He charts the monomyth, various act-based structural designs, Jungian archetypes and the idea of story beginnings and endings mirroring each other. Together he provides a coherent and convincing explanation of why structure matters. In brief, story is structure, and structure is story. It's the shape of narrative that gives story its power. This isn't a how-to book (and there's plenty of chirpy dismissal of those who write supposedly foolproof how-to books contained here), but it's a why book, and one that takes time to look over the landscape of narratology from Propp and Campbell to the likes of Christopher Vogler. If you're interested in storytelling, you need to read this book. Simple as that.

Next up, and already started, is Dark Winter by David Mark, first in a Hull-set series of crime procedurals.

Bradt / Independent on Sunday Travel Writing Competition 2013

2013-04-29T06:00:00.000+01:00

This annual travel writing competition is open to all writers resident in the UK. The theme for 2013 is 'A Narrow Escape'. Entries must be based on personal experience relating to the theme. Minimum length is 600 words, maximum length is 800 words. The closing date for entries is Sunday 2nd June 2013. First prize is a holiday for two in Croatia, plus a paid writing commission form The Independent based on that holiday. The best piece from a previously-unpublished writer will also be awarded a a travel writing weekend break. Full details may be found here.

D.H. Lawrence Heritage Short Story & Poetry Writing Competition

2013-04-26T06:00:00.000+01:00

From the competition website: "To celebrate the centenary of Sons and Lovers, D.H. Lawrence Heritage is hosting a writing competition. The competition’s theme is ‘My Background’ and entrants can write a short story, poem or prose piece using their own background or locality as inspiration. There are two categories, under 18s and over 18s and entries should be no longer than 500 words."

The competition closes 31st May 2013. The first prize in each category is a Kindle Fire. Full details may be found here.

What I've been watching: Jack Reacher and GI Joe: Retaliation

2013-04-25T08:20:00.001+01:00

As with the books thing (see Monday's post) rather than post up individual reviews, which seems increasingly mechanical and 'official', I'll do a weekly round-up post of what I've watched. In the main this'll be cinema releases and observations on first viewings of things I've not seen before, though I'll doubtless wander off the point at some time. A couple to catch up on to begin:

Jack Reacher (2012, directed by Christopher McQuarrie): as the internet has gone over ad infinitum, the modestly-proportioned Tom Cruise plays man-mountain Jack Reacher, a zen drifter and ex-military policeman who travels across the US getting into all kinds of anti-authoritaran scrapes. The swap of physicality for star power is an interesting one - there's a kind of equivalence there to be exploited - but it doesn't quite work. Part of this is down to Cruise doing another version of his latter-day resourceful tough guy act rather than bringing anything new to the show, and part's down to the script's downplaying of the macho fantasy aspects of Lee Child's Reacher novels. The source material is watered down here, and there's no getting away from that. This should be brutal, slightly disreputable entertainment, and it's just another franchise thriller. That said, the action is OK in a 12A/PG-13 style, there's a professional sheen over the whole thing and there are a couple of neat supporting turns from Robert Duvall and Werner Herzog.

GI Joe: Retaliation (2012, directed by Jon Chu): Umm. Things blow up. Very good used of 3D and there's a well-handled surprise early on. Franchise viagra (see the Fast and The Furious movies for details) Dwayne Johnson beefs things up a little, though with the addition of him and Bruce Willis to the franchise, this very much feels like a kids' version of The Expendables. The plot, which more or less continues from the first in the series, is a frippery to generate an action scene every few minutes. The stunt-work and choreography is generally well-handled, but none of it means anything, so it's hard to get involved. There is, though, a very neat set design shout out to Dr Strangelove at one point, which made me chuckle.

Spread The Word Writing Prize 2013

2013-04-24T08:16:00.001+01:00

This competition is for London-based writers only; a short story of up to 8,000 words on the theme of "ritual". There's a £1,000 first prize on offer. The closing date is 15th July 2013. More details may be found here and here are the full competition rules (opens as a .pdf).

Lancashire Authors' Association "Story in 100 Words" competition 2013

2013-04-23T06:00:00.000+01:00

This annual flash fiction competition is for stories of exactly 100 words. Simple as that. The competition is open until 30th June 2013. The competition page doesn't specify a first prize that I can see, though last year it was £250. More details are available here.

What I've been reading

2013-04-22T06:00:00.000+01:00

I've decided to mess around a little with the formality of the book and movie reviews that take up a chunk of the blog. Part of this is because I don't have to write the book reviews I was doing as part of the Phd (as I've submitted the manuscript and dissertation) and part because they were feeling a little too stuffy and formal. So I'm binning that approach and instead will post up approximately weekly recaps of whatever it is I've been reading and watching. So here we go with the first of these, which'll cover what I've read in the last week or so.

Intrusion, by Ken McLeod: a super-sharp near-future thriller, constructed around a personal morality dilemma. McLeod weaves a number of contemporary concerns together (surveillance, terrorism, vaccination, genetic modification, the value of individual ethical/moral standpoints as opposed to those constructed in the shadow of religious and/or party political affiliation). A clever and pertinent novel that just happens to be from a renowned SF writer.

The Final Sacrament by James Forrester: third and final novel in the Elizabethan thriller William Harley trilogy by historian Ian Mortimer, writing under his middle names. A solid ending to the series, though you need to have read the first two in sequence to get the most out of the book.

The House of Rumour by Jake Arnott: A hugely entertaining rip through the late twentieth century, as filtered through the eyes of a Californian SF writer. Elements juggled together include Rudolph Hess, Aleister Crowley, the Moon landings, West Coast satanists of the like of Anton Le Vey and Scientology-ish movements. A clever, confident and cinematic novel, making connections like an Adam Curtis documentary.

The Devil's Paintbrush by Jake Arnott: A night and day with Aleister Crowley. In 1903 Paris, occultist Crowley encounters disgraced Army officer Hector McDonald. McDonald has been accused of homosexuality and is facing a court martial. He is uncertain what to do. Crowley senses adept potential in McDonald and takes him under his wing. A light, though compelling and non-judgemental novel.

I'm in the middle of Pharaoh by David Gibbins. On the pile of stuff to read (in no particular order): Ash by James Herbert, Rubicon by Tom Holland, Rome: The Art of War by MC Scott, Martyrs and Mystics by Ed Glinert, Dark Winter and Original Skin by David Mark, The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris, The Falcons of Fire and Ice by Karen Maitland and The Legacy of Eden by Nelle Davy. Next up, though, will in all probability be Into The Woods by John Yorke.

Prada writing contest 2013

2013-04-19T06:00:00.000+01:00

Fashion house Prada has opened a writing contest. Stories of between 4,000 and 8,000 words (guidelines rather than rules) are called for. The competition closes 18th June 2013.There's a first prize of €5,000. Full details may be found here and here (opens as a .pdf).

Aesthetica Creative Writing Competition 2013

2013-04-18T08:12:00.001+01:00

The 2013 Aesthetica competition is open in two categories - poetry and short story. Poems should be no more than 40 lines in length. Stories should be a maximum of 2,000 words. Both competitions close on 31st August 2013 and each offers a £500 first prize and publication. More details are available on the Aesthetica website.

Mslexia Women's Novel Competition 2013

2013-04-17T06:00:00.000+01:00

The Mslexia Women's Novel Competition is open to novels in any genre written for adult or young adult readers by previously unpublished women novelists. Non-fiction and fiction for children under 13 isn't eligible. Entries must total at least 50,000 words. The closing date is 25th September 2013. There's a £5,000 first prize. More details? Here.

Guardian International Development Journalism competition 2013

2013-04-16T08:26:00.002+01:00

From the competition homepage: The Guardian International Development Journalism competition 2013 is searching for enthusiastic writers who want to demonstrate their journalistic abilities by examining international development/global poverty issues.

write a feature of 650 to 1,000 words by Sunday 12 May 2013 on an aspect of global poverty deserving greater media exposure. The 12 best writers will be selected from a long-list of around 40 entrants, all of whom will have their articles published online on The Guardian's website.

The 12 finalists will be flown to a developing country to research a new assignment. The finalist pieces will then be published in a Guardian supplement in November 2013. Full details can be found here.

Times / Chicken House Children's Fiction competition 2014

2013-04-15T09:30:00.001+01:00

The 2014 Times / Chicken House Children's Fiction competition is for novel-length children's fiction (word count: 30,000 to 80,000 words, for readerships between 7 and 18 years). Entries should be previously unpublished and original; entrants should be unagented and unpublished.

Entries should include a covering letter, synopsis and plot plan with the completed manuscript. The closing date is 1st November 2013. The prize is worldwide publication, agency representation and a £10,000 royalty advance. Full details may be found here and there are hints from Chicken House managing director Barry Cunningham here.

VS Pritchett Memorial Prize 2013

2013-04-12T11:35:00.001+01:00

This annual short story competition is now open to entries of unpublished fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words. The competition closing date is 13th June 2013. The winning author will receive £1,000 and the story will be published in print and online. More details and an entry form may be found here.