Author: Nat

Apr 16, 2010 by

Ghost Stories

I screamed aloud mutliple times.

It’s easily the most frightening play I’ve ever seen.

It even satisfied the ghost geek in me, and I’m going to see it again.

I haven’t seen a negative review of it so far, and having seen it, I know why. I don’t explicitly believe in ghosts, and I think the mark of any good ghost story/film/play is that you do believe for the duration. It doesn’t matter that they don’t exist, it matters that you saw something and the character on stage didn’t and there’s creepy noises and things moving of their own accord and what the shit was that

We discussed afterwards whether it would tour. The technical stuff, my theatre working friend assured me, was doable, but it’s the way they do up the rest of the theatre that could cause problems. It’s made it to the West End though, so I suppose they figured it out. You see, you walk into a pitch black room. The only lights are the emergency exists (for legal reasons) and a string of lanterns. If you squint, you can make out police tape, and chalked numbers on the wall. You don’t know when it’s going to start, because the lights are already down.

There are three stories and a framing device, which naturally link together. When you leave, you’ll be looking for the links you didn’t notice originally. Your adrenaline will be up, and everything will seem faintly significant. You’ll want to talk about it, a lot, but you’ll worry about spoiling it for passers-by.

As I do you. Hence the vagueness. All I can say is if you ever get the chance to see it, do. I’m going to drag everyone I failed to the first time to see it in the West End. Well, everyone I’m comfortable screaming in front of!

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Apr 15, 2010 by

Link spree

I’ve printed out the contract for Loose Id, and I’m trying to get my head around the tax stuff. I’m actually quite fortunate in that th financial year has just ticked over, so I have plenty of time to work out whether I’ll hit the lower limit for declaring foreign earnings or not in the UK (£300), and what to do either way.

Anyway, I have been terribly remiss about links recently. I’ve currently got a couple of days off, to make up for the fact I’m working this weekend, so I’m treating this like a Sunday. Categories are going to get a bit lax here, so I’ve got so many built up.

Publishing

The Digital Economy Bill was passed in the UK in the ‘washup’ – the time when politicians force remaining bills through Parliament before it dissolves in the face of a General Election. People who actually use the internet and understand how it works are furious. The Orphan Works clause got dropped last minute, which a lot of people are very grateful for, but there are still huge problems with the sections on piracy and turning off people’s internet. There’s about a year before it comes into force, and over 6000 people have so far refused to recongise it.

And yes, my MP did turn up, and voted in line with the party whip. He’s very likly to get re-elected (this is a pretty safe seat) so he will be hearing from me about it.

Dear Author has been discussing the agency program many of the big publishers have signed up for, including the impending price battle, what’s going to happen to discounting, the end of loyalty programs, and the disappearance of books from Amazon.

The Smart Bitches and Dear Author have both got hold of the iPad, amongst many, many others. General consensus? It’s entertainment only, and it definitely entertains, but it’s not a great eReader and it’s pretty poor for ay kind of business. Internet browsing, movies, games and short reads – good for holidays, especially for keeping the younger ones present entertained while you’re arguing with immigration about the sand in your passport.

Interview with the Publisher of Baen Books, often touted as the print publisher who’s getting eBooks right.

Interest Piquing

French TV company replicated Milgram’s Prison Experiment, with same results.

Retrospective on young Van Helsings’ determined to tackle the Gorbals Vampire in 1954, blamed at the time on horror comics, but much more likely to be the result of urban legends and local myths.

Green Collar Economy, a site to help businesses go green.

Inspiring

Another exoplanet like our own discovered.

The ‘Hobbit’ island reveals a few more archaeological secrets.

Babies born to dance. Apparently it’s an evolutionary thing!

Procrastination

Badass of the week. Does what it says on the tin.

LibraryThing – it’s turned me into a competitive reader, though I’m mainly competiting against my To Read pile. I’m trying to keep it under 40. When I add a review, it pops up on my Mina Kelly facebook page too, which is handy.

In Monday Motivation, Writing
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Apr 5, 2010 by

still more quiet

I’ll try and get back to a regular posting schedule next week. No promises, since I’m in London next weeked, working the weekend after, and in Cambridge the weekend after that.

Anyway, I’ve prepped Julia Can’t to submit to Take a Break. I was actually inspired to do so by My Weekly’s March/April guidelines. I almost emailed it to them, but I know it’s more of a Take A Break / My Weekly story. I’m finally happy with the ending, and it’s come in at 700 exactly.

In order to submit it I’ve spent half my evening fighting my printer. It’s the first time I’ve had it out the box since we moved. Turns out I packed the wrong cable with it, so half an hour went on finding the right cable. I still have no idea what the cable that was in the box is for. I got it all plugged in and it printed a page and a half before jamming. Sorted it out, but the computer then decided it was offline. Turned the printer on and off a few times, no luck. So I went to see Kickass (which is intense, and not a comedy, and very good). Came back, turned printer back on. Still apparently offline. Turned laptop on and off. It registered the printer as back online, and I got printing. Only the ink catridges haven’t been used in an age. It cut off the bottom half of the bottom line of every paragraph. To stop this in the end I started putting full stops in between the paragaphs and setting the font to white.

Now all I’ve got to do is get some more envelopes. I think it’s just my luck lately. Submitting takes longer than it ought.

Anyway, Easter was nice. I slept through most of it, got drunk, watched the original Quatermass Experiment, had some chocolate, and cooked a roast dinner at someone else’s house (if I’d cooked it at mine I’d have been annoyed by my mistiming, but at someone else’s house it’s not my fault!). Saw The 39 Steps, a comedic play based on the Hitchcock adaptation of the book, with four actors playing all the roles. Really worth seeing if you get a chance. Next week I’m seeing Ghost Stories, and then the last week in April I’m seeing The Secret of Sherlock Holmes. Busy busy!

In Writing
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Mar 30, 2010 by

Sorry for the radio silence. I’ve been prepping Pluvial and Seeds (or, as the folders are called, Watch and Plantbaby. I sometimes need a run up on titles!) for Drollerie’s Ghost Story anthology. I love them to bits, but their submission guidelines were rather me complex than I anticipated. It’s taken me over an hour to prep them to go.

Next up is Julia Can’t, since a submission slot’s come up for one of the UK mags I think would like it. I’ve cut 150 words out of it (it was only 850 to start with) but I still need a kickier ending.

Anyway, some kind of massive link fest soon, I promise!

In Writing
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