It’s a particularly special day when the Captain of the Starship Enterprise is knighted by the Queen of England. From Levar Burton’s (Geordie LaForge) Twitter page, we get this exclusive picture: .
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Books By Alan
Click on book covers for reviews, previews and purchase options.
RealmShift
A race against time and the Devil
"RealmShift is phenomenal. If it’s not already on your bookshelf it should be."
MageSign
Believe in the blood 
"a gritty tale of blood rituals, mystery, and mysticism… grabs hold of the reader and doesn’t let go"
The Darkest Shade Of Grey
You can tell the story.
"...stunning supernatural noir..."
Ghost Of The Black
"Everything about it is bang on"
Write The Fight Right
“The best way for a writer to learn what’s really involved in brawling, short of going down the pub and starting something.”
Awards
Patrick Stewart knighted
Ooh, right in the brand
So yeah, this does nothing for my personal branding. But it’s a very kind gesture nonetheless, and I’ll take it in the spirit it was intended. Maybe it can be beautiful in the way that arterial spray from a swiftly rent throat is beautiful. These things are little more than glorified chain letters, morphed...
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Australian Shadows Awards winners announced
From Horrorscope, the Australian Dark Fiction Web Log, we have the winners of the Shadows Awards. There are three categories. The winners are: Long Fiction: Slights by Kaaron Warren (Angry Robot) Edited Publication: Grants Pass, edited by Jennifer Brozek & Amanda Pillar (Morrigan Books) Short Fiction: Six Suicides by Deborah Biancotti (A Book of...
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“Battlefield Earth” officially the suckiest movie ever
This month, Battlefield Earth, an absolute bomb of a movie based on the novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, won the Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie, for “Worst Movie of the Decade.” J.D. Shapiro, the film’s (first) screenwriter, who also wrote the screenplay for Robin Hood: Men in Tights, has subsequently written an...
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My prolixity recognised at last
You know, it’s true that if you just crap on about rubbish for long enough, people will eventually start recognising you for it. You’ll become a trusted source of crap. Well, that’s me. The very kind Tony Noland over at Landless has awarded me a Prolific Blogger Award, after getting one himself. See, that’s...
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Locus Online 2009 Recommended reading list
The latest list of recommended reading from Locus Online has been announced. You know I’ve been rattling on for months about Paul Haine’s awesome novella, “Wives”. Well, that’s on there, as is Margo Lanagan’s novella, “Sea Hearts”, from the same anthology. And, in fact, the “X6″ Novellanthology itself is listed. So yeah, you really...
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Aurealis Award winners 2009
The Award ceremony happened in Brisbane last night. I was very sad not to be able to get up there for it, but finances are only so elastic. I was greatly heartened, however, to discover a great little Twitter party happening as the Awards were announced. I got to vicariously enjoy the ceremony by...
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Tweet and google word of the year and decade
Further to the interesting discussion following this post, I was interested to read today over at Visual Thesaurus that “tweet” has been named the word of the year and “google” (in its verb form) has been named word of the decade. Given that Google are actively campaigning against the use of “to google” as...
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Preditors & Editors Readers Polls
My second book, MageSign, is listed in the Preditors & Editors Readers Polls honouring print & electronic publications published during 2009. If you could spare a moment (and if you’ve read and enjoyed the book, naturally) I would love your vote. You have to find it on the list, click the button, add your...
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Pretentious spam arsehole of the week
I got this spam comment today: Well, the article is actually the best on this precious topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your future updates. Saying thanks will not just be enough, for the great lucidity in your writing. I will at once grab your rss feed...
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Goodies in my post box
I love to receive interesting things in the mail. I love to get new books. I love to be in books. So imagine my joy today when I received four books in the mail – three contributor copies of Seizure Issue 4, featuring my story Deep Sea Fishing and my copy of Horn by...
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On awards and prizes
Further to my previous post here and a quick chat about the Aurealis Awards that it triggered on Farcebook, the ever sage Angela Slatter drew people’s attention back to a post she made on her blog in October. As a teaser for her post, I present this: Gore Vidal famously said “Whenever a friend...
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Aurealis Award finalists announced
Sadly, I didn’t get a nomination, even though I had a couple of bits entered this year. I wouldn’t ever expect to win against the kind of competition there, but a nomination would be nice. I would say, “Ah well, next year”, but there may not be a next year for the Aurealis Awards....
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I came second in Karen’s flash comp
You may remember a little while ago I asked you to go and read a few flash fictions and vote for mine if you liked it? Here’s the post in question. Well, you’re all crap because I didn’t win. However, to look at it another way, you’re all brilliant because I came second. Turns...
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Nameless, the Paul Haines Challenge
This is something I’ve been meaning to get around to looking at for ages and I’ve finally followed up on it. The Australian Horror Writers Association has put together a very interesting challenge that involves horror, loads of great writers, a competition and a bit of philanthropy, plus a great prize. You can’t argue...
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The Word
Welcome to the website of author Alan Baxter.
I write dark fantasy, sci fi and horror, ride a motorcycle and love my dog. I also teach Kung Fu, hence the Warrior Scribe tag above. A friend once referred to me that way and I liked it, so it stuck. Learn all about me and my work by clicking About Alan just below the header.
Our world is built on language and storytelling. Without stories, we are nothing.
The Word is a place to learn more about me, my stories and the words of others. Click the links along the top for all kinds of stuff, search the sidebars for loads of other stuff, click on book covers for reviews and previews, enjoy the blog and don't be shy to share your words, in comments or send me an email:
alan [at]alanbaxteronline[dot]com
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