Aug 3, 2011 by

Happy Birthday, Tease!

So today is the one year anniversary of Tease‘s publication! It’s been a mad year, and I’ve loved every minute of it. I think we shall have ourselves a little celebratory competition, shall we?

Where do Barnabas and Tease meet?
(a) The beach
(b) The town
(c) The moor

Answers can be found in the book (obviously) but also in the extract over at Loose Id’s website. Comment here with your answer and an email I can reach you on.

But what do you get if you win? Well, let’s see what’s in my little goody bag, shall we?

A seal pup sponsored in your name at the National Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, Cornwall (you can pick your pup here!)
A short storywritten just for you about Barnabas and Tease (e or print-out, it’s up to you)
The Secret of Roan Inish (which I reviewed here)
A charm bracelet with seal and easel charms
And if you haven’t already got it, a copy of Tease

You have until August 10th to enter!

In Competition
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Aug 1, 2011 by

Motivation Monday

Ellora’s Cave is launching their own ereader (more info here). I don’t buy as much from EC as I used to, but I have to admit I kinda want one. If only it’s wasn’t only being sold at a convention on a continent I can’t get to.

The Telegraph is ordered to pay £65k after publishing a review that alleged a non-fiction book had made up some of its interviews (and here’s the Telegraph’s own article). I’m a little disappointed that the reviewer in question wrote ‘An Education’, which is one of my favourite films of recent years.

Dyslexie, a font for dyslexics. I don’t know how well it works, but my sister’s dyslexic, so I’ll forward it on to her and see what she thinks 🙂

So DCnU has attracted a lot of attention for its sexism, which I linked some articles about last week. Some positive things have come out of this, though. For a start, DC have pulled a couple of project off the back burner to try and look like they’re listening to their fans. SDCC also gave us the Gender Bent Justice League. Still a good demo of how sexist the current DCU (scroll down to see the boys) can be, but also much more awesome.

(oh, and hey, this Wednesday? One year anniversary of Tease’s release. Keep your eyes peeled for a competition!)

In Monday Motivation
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Jul 25, 2011 by

Motivation Monday (somewhat depressing edition)

Apple’s put it’s new app rules* into effect. Google’s app is gone and Kobo and B&N have pulled their buy links. Amazon’s latest update pulls the Kindle store links (though I don’t know what happens if you don’t download it). There seems to be confusion amongst users, who think this move is something the individual stores have initiated.

A man declared ‘fit for work’ by Atos dies of the condition they insisted shouldn’t stop him from finding employment. Which pretty much says it all, really, doesn’t it?

If DC’s new universe is disappointing you as much me (it’s whiter, maler, and targeted almost entirely at the audience they already have), you know what makes me feel better? Superhero Girl. Wonderella. ps238. Got any recs yourselves?

*If an app links to an online store it must also sell the items through the app, and Apple gets a 30% cut. This hits booksellers particularly hard due to the agency agreement the big publishers have forced on them, which means the publishers get 70% of every sale in return for being able to set the ebooks’ prices (which seems kinda lose-lose for the booksellers to me, but I guess it would be an even bigger lose if the publishers stopped supplying them with books altogether). End result: any books sold under the agency agreement through an ipod/iphone/ipad app nets them precisely no money, if not less.

In Monday Motivation
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Jul 10, 2011 by

London Film and Comic Con

I’ve never been to a convention before. Film Festivals, yes, but not a full on convention.

I’m not 100% sure I see the appeal, unless you’re a serious collector. I’m not sure, personally, if I’d pay money to go and, um, spend money. But I’m definitely in a minority there, judging by the queue that was still pretty epic when I arrived, halfway through the last day of the con.

I was there to help Jess Meats at her booth, selling copies of Child of the Hive. She managed to shift three quarters of what she took with her over the course of the weekend, which was awesome. We took it in turns to wander around (Jess less so, on account of all the signing she had to do 🙂 ) and I did end up coming home with some DVDs for all my skepticism. I was tempted to get an autograph off Clive Barker, but I’d run out of cash at that point, as had all the ATMs in a ten minute radius.

Personally, I’m a completist rather than a collector. There were tons of autographed photos, rare dolls, hard to find boxsets and vintage comics. And, hey, they looked awesome. But I’d rather have a complete set of cheap books than a single expensive book. What I did pick up that look awesome where ads for a couple of webseries – Blood and Bone China and Mind’s Eye.

What I did love was all the costumes; I could guess the comic ones but I hadn’t realised how out of date I was on my anime until I realised I was failing to identify Sailor Moon amongst all the other sailor suited senshi. I completely get the desire to go and show off your awesome costuming skills.  Overall I did  enjoy working at the con – it made for a good balance between looking at things for sale and selling things to people looking at them! – but I don’t know if I’d buy a ticket for one. It’s kind of like an agricultural show in that respect: it’s entertaining and I’m glad for the opportunity to go, but it’s not actually where my interests really lie.

It’s weird, realising you’re just plain not geeky enough. Especially when you just finished a draft for a space opera erotica.

In Uncategorized
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Jul 10, 2011 by

And the rest of Cornwall

You’ll be glad to know that the rest of my holiday wasn’t quite as faily as the beginning, though it had it’s moments. The tap water turned yellow, at one point. I was seasick for the first time in years (which I suspect may have had more to do with the sangria than the sea). I got rained on a lot.

My ster and I agreed my birthday treat would be a surprise, even if it was fairly obvious I’d guessed it a month before. And I’d guessed right: The Minack Theatre! We went to see The Death of Sherlock Holmes (that bit was a surprise – I deliberately didn’t check what was on).

The whole thing was brilliant. It’s an incredible place, with the sea behind the stage, and the amphitheatre naturally amplifies the noise so they don”t need mikes (which has the added effect of making laughter from the ‘stalls’ sound like canned laughter). We were at the front of a ‘wing’, where we were put because my sister and her boyfriend had brought an epic picnic hamper with us. So. Much. Food. And champagne! And homemade cake! With candles to blow out! It did start to rain just before the show started, but really, rain is what tells you you’re definitely outside. It did cause some problems for the cast towards the end, as doors stuck and paper-based props disintegrated, but they battled on.

The day after, my sister and I went to Falmouth, where our gran used to live. Falmouth is still my archetypal seaside town, and those childhood holidays are why Tease is set in Cornwall. In the evening we went to Carn Brea Castle, a medieval hunting lodge converted into one of the quirkiest restaurants I’ve ever been to. Despite the fact my sister and her boyfriend have only been a couple of times the owner greeted them like serious regulars. We had the steak, based on previous experience. Definitely the right choice! Beautifully cooked. After dinner we went to a local pub to watch the Boogaloo Dudes and danced our little socks off.

For my last morning we went to a charity rally, which was fun if a little odd. There was a wild west re-enactment (that wasn’t very… good), steam engines in action, and a lot of stall holders mainly engaged in selling secondhand books to each other. Still, there was a bouncy castle, which is something I haven’t kicked about on since I was a kid. No wonder kids are skinny! It’s so much hard work to get around on a bouncy castle.

I’m staying with my parents in Surrey for the next few days. Well, sort of. I’m mostly running back and forth to London. They’ve currenly acquired a dog (my step-dad’s mum’s), which I was distinctly unimpressed with when I arrived, on account of being a bit phobic of dogs (was bitten as a baby). But it’s slowly winning me over. I’ve never liked a dog before. I’m not really sure what to do about it.

In Holidays and Courses
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