alan

Tuesday Toot is a semi-regular feature here at The Word. An invite-only series of short posts where writers, editors, booksellers and other creatives have been asked to share their stuff and toot their own horn. It’s hard to be seen in the digital morass and hopefully this occasional segment will help some of the...
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I woke up this morning (Sunday) to a few congratulatory messages from friends and discovered that my story, Punishment Of The Sun, from the Dead Red Heart anthology published by Ticonderoga Publications, was included in Ellen Datlow’s Honorable Mention list in The Best Horror of the Year #4. I’m so pleased with this news....
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The Australian spec-fic fan-voted Ditmar Awards are now open for nominations. Any active fan or member of Continuum can vote. Continuum is the Melbourne SF convention, which is this year’s NatCon, and will be happening in June. The Ditmars are always awarded during the annual NatCon. You can vote electronically here: http://ditmars.sf.org.au/2012/nominations.html and electronic...
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It’s a funny old game, this writing business. I was lamenting a couple of recent rejections this morning, feeling misunderstood and cheated. You know, the usual egotistical, self-obsessed writer angst kind of thing. It always passes, but we all fall prey to it from time to time. This morning I didn’t get to wallow...
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Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is a horror film with a mixed heritage. It’s an American story, written by Matthew Robbins and Guillermo del Toro, directed by comic book artist Troy Nixey and filmed in Mount Macedon and Melbourne in Australia. The setting, perhaps in a hat tip to H P Lovecraft, is...
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It’s a little bit later than we hoped, but I’m very pleased to say that the audiobook edition of RealmShift is now available. You can get it from audible.com here. It’s a full and unabridged narration and runs to nearly thirteen hours. It’s narrated by Matt “Bentley” Allegre and he’s currently working on MageSign,...
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Tuesday Toot is a semi-regular feature here at The Word. An invite-only series of short posts where writers, editors, booksellers and other creatives have been asked to share their stuff and toot their own horn. It’s hard to be seen in the digital morass and hopefully this occasional segment will help some of the...
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One of the best things about the modern world of publishing is that there is more good stuff available, and it’s easier to get hold of, than ever before. Small press and boutique publishers are springing up everywhere and, along with indie and self-publishers, they’re giving the “big six” more of a run for...
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I’m very proud of this story, and it’s now up at The Red Penny Papers in its entirety. It’s a novelette in four parts, totalling about 18,000 words. I’m also very pleased to announce that it will be the first in a new range of novella and novelette ebooks from Red Penny Papers. They...
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I got a good parcel in the post today. My contributor copy of Mythic Resonance arrived. It’s even got my name on the cover. Very nice. The blurb reads thusly: Ea, master of Apsu, the great water beneath the earth; Gelert, the faithful hound; Medusa and Herakles; sirens, valkyries, fairies; Leonardo Da Vinci and...
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I’m pleased to present a guest post today from Jennifer Williams, where she talks about the way writing often seems to have a life of its own. I hope you enjoy it. – Alan The Copper Promise Where did it come from? How did it go from a small thing to a big thing?...
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Tuesday Toot is a semi-regular feature here at The Word. An invite-only series of short posts where writers, editors, booksellers and other creatives have been asked to share their stuff and toot their own horn. It’s hard to be seen in the digital morass and hopefully this occasional segment will help some of the...
Read More »

Paul Richard Haines 8 June 1970 – 5 March 2012 I’m writing this with tears running down my cheeks, and they’re tears of impotent fucking rage as much as sadness. I may make very little sense over the next few paragraphs, but I can’t do anything else, so I’m writing this down. Excuse me...
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My serial novella, The Darkest Shade Of Grey, is being published in four weekly installments by The Red Penny Papers. It’s free to read online, so get on over there and check it out. Episode 1 is here. Episode 2 is here. Episodes 3 and 4 will be published over the next two weeks....
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I’m very happy to be able to officially announce this new venture. Myself and writers Andrew McKiernan and Felicity Dowker have put together a new website, to fill a void in the Australian dark and weird fiction scene. Since the untimely demise of Horrorscope, there’s been a gap where good dark and weird fiction...
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