the_beast_lj

Well, Sam's book went on sale at the beginning of September. I'm not usually into vampire stories but Sam puts a new twist on the mythology.

If you're in Manchester on 23rd November make sure to stop by Waterstones at the Trafford Centre as Sam is doing a signing there from 12 midday (when the shop opens).

I recently advised a writer to stop sending us submissions. At least until he'd worked on his craft quite a bit more. I'll give him his dues, he had sent us eighteen stories. My other editors and I had done our best to comment and make suggestions but they all seemed to fall on deaf ears. His flow of stories stopped, so he was either taking my advice or, more likely, I thought, he was pissed off with me. But then I received a new story from him claiming my last mail had been that spark of realisation that would change his way of writing for ever (all I'd done was explain the difference between showing and telling). But heh, the story was worse than ever! We gave him far more time than he deserved, yet it was time completely wasted. No wonder magazines use templates for their replies.

There's a cheeky little link here. But it runs out on 11th May, 2008.

Manned the Murky Depths table all last weekend. Didn't sell a great deal but managed to network with a few writers and artists not to mention renew previous friendships amongst the comics small press.

Had TwentyToSix Books on the table next to us which was Tony Garcia and his wife Elaine from the US. It's always good to have someone to talk to when the crowds thin out - I think having the England European Cup game and the World Cup rugby semi-final on the Saturday didn't help the crowds and maybe hangovers affected the punters on the Sunday. However, this is only the second year this has been run and this year the venue was the Thinktank - in my opinion an excellent place to hold the show - so I think it will go from strength to strength.

Not sure where we'll be appearing next but it's looks as if EasterCon could be one to watch out for.

My first FantasyCon. It was to be my way of saying hello to the small press stalwarts such as Pete Crowther (PS Publishing) & Chris Teague (Pendragon Press). Sure , there are lots more I can mention, such as recent addition Steve Upham from Screaming Dreams who kindly allowed me space on his table after I'd cocked up my booking. So Steve gets a special thanks. But Chris in particular was very supportive and gave Murky Depths a plug whenever he could, including a panel he was on.

We arrived Friday around 6 pm after getting somewhat lost in Nottingham looking for the Britannia Hotel venue which is centrally places just a few minutes walk away from the city centre. A rather glamorous and seemingly overdressed woman we spied as we booked in at reception made Liz wonder if she'd packed the right gear. We later met said woman in the bar with he husband and struck up a weekend friendship which resulted in an agreement to share a table at Eastercon next year.

You may have heard of Paigan Stone (AKA Sam Stone) who was hounded out of her teaching job by a local politician and the media after she had published a "controversial" vampire novel . Gabriele Caccini: The Vampire Gene - Book. Well, that's who our new acquaintance was. Sticking up whatever finger, or fingers, you choose to imagine at the "system", she had flaunted her beauty and cleavage to publicise her work and was secretly hoping that Golancz might be there to snap her up.

But backtracking a few steps we first of all settled in and headed for the dealer room and found Steve Upham who had bagged the best-positioned table directly in front of the doors as you entered. We set up our little corner and grabbed dinner in the restaurant.

One guest who particularly impressed me was Terry Brooks who brought a down-to-earth approach to a panel that wallowed in vainglory - maybe they were just nervous being in the presence of such an established fantasy writer. Interesting to hear his pronunciation of Shanara to be so different from what you normally hear in the UK.

New publications were giving the opportunity to announce their wares during Saturday afternoon and it was only then I realised I was the only magazine present; everyone else was promoting their books. I was nowhere near as elequent as some publishers whose antics would have won them oscars elsewhere but at least I had the chance to vocalise briefly on what Murky Depths is all about.

Sales picked up during Saturday afternoon, not that this is the kind of convention where you should expect to do great business. With it's high membership price it isn't going to attract many fans unless a couple of huge names are present. It's mainly about mixing with others writers, publishers and artists and in that respect it succeeds brilliantly. Les Edwards, who produced the front cover for the Murky Depths Promo Issue 0, is a great supporter of the small press and hasn't allowed his success to alienate himself from the grass roots. He shows an appreciation for the efforts of publishers and was more than willing to sign all the copies I had with me of the Promo Issue 0.

How the majority of visitors can stay up so late beats me. I fell asleep twice during the mammoth raffle on Saturday night. But we picked up three prizes, one being a copy of Weird Tales that was published back in 1954!

Somehow during the weekend I missed the results of the short story competition. I doubted that any of my stories stood a chance but you always hold a secret hope. Anyone know who won?

Just a few more weeks and Murky Depths will be airing at the International Comics Show in Birmingham. We'll be doing some special offers there too, like we did at the weekend. Speaking of comics, since Warren Ellis discovered Murky Depths our website hits have rocketed and since Sunday we have picked up four more subscription. Might not sound much to you but with an ambitious target of one hundred subscriptions by the time Issue 2 is published every one counts.

Will we be going to FantasyCon next year? You bet. And we'll only be a fifty-minute drive away rather than the motorway-clogged three that we had to navigate this year. Would I recommend it? Definitely, if you're an artist or writer. Not so much if you're a dealer, but table prices are so cheap it doesn't really matter. It's the networking that's the plus.

To all the people we wanted to say hello to but didn't there's always next year or one of the other conventions. We'll be hitting as many as we can. See you there.

My Creative Writing OU course starts this weekend (it's the third module in my Literature degree). Trouble is we're moving house next Tuesday and I'm going to be offline for a week or so (it's an online course!), not to mention being unable to check the Murky Depths' submissions.

Could it be that a writer's dream to have their name in print doesn't extend any further than that?

I'm surprised that a few of the writers who appeared in Murky Depths #1 haven't screamed to the world that they feature in its pages.

So does seeing your story in print mean the journey has ended? I think not. It should be as much our job, as writers, as it is the publishers to promote the magazines our work appears in. Surely we not only want as many people to enjoy our work as possible, but we also want the magazine to survive. If the magazine doesn't sell no one gets to see our stories and another publishing opportunity dies.

I guess that would be when we walked the West Highland Way.

http://www.murkydepths.com/pdf/star.pdf

Ok, maybe not. But I suppose getting a mention in the local paper is better than a slap in the face or a kick in the goolies. Didn't get any extra hits on the site (well, possibly one, as I did get a sale from a guy in my home town which suggests something more than coincidence - he didn't go for a year's subscription though).

It might be a testamony of how many people actually read the local free paper!

. . . a short apocalyptic story. Was going to be for the Apex Digest contest but I'm already up to 2,500 words so that idea is out the window. I'll keep it under 5k though.

I've started reading Murky Depths #1 on the train and tube.

"Haven't you had enough of that?" you may well ask.

Yes, and no. But I'm just hoping somebody is going to say, "Excuse me. Do you mind telling me what you are reading?"

I'm getting back to my writing by tinkering with the half dozen unfinished stories that are sitting on my XDA. Can I still write? Could I ever write? Two published stories do not convince me.

Murky Depths

Trying to get back to my writing after finishing Issue #1 of Murky Depths. I've only finished two short stories in the last year! But Issue #2 is beginning to take over and Issue #3 has half its allocation of short stories already, but with semi-retirement coming up (that just means I'm chucking in my reasonably well-paid job to concentrate on earning a living where very few people do) I'm hoping to be able to churn out some interesting stuff.

I'm also intending to keep this a little more up to date.

Well, most of my saleable stories are sitting with the BFS's FantasyCon07 competition. A whim of mine. I'll be there at Nottingham anyway in September - my first FantasyCon - so it'll be interesting to see who takes the short story prize. I won't be holding my breath, although however bad your work is there is always a glimmer of hope that someone will find your stories entertaining. If I secretly didn't believe that I wouldn't be writing.

The only other short story I have out is with Trevor Denyer's Midnight Street. I haven't sent him anything since 2004 but I met him the other month at a BFS meeting so I thought I'd give him a try again. I've only finished two short stories in the last year, due mainly to my work on Murky Depths. I'm really pleased with the way Issue #1 has turned out and, though biased, believe it is worth £6.99. I'd much rather see my own stories printed in a quality mag like Murky Depths than in something like Fiction although they, like a lot of fanzines, seem to be taking the PDF route. But then, they're not also artists like me. And Murky Depths is, to me, a work of art - in every sense.

Received my cheque from Fiction yesterday for my short story "Sam". I can't wait to see their first issue.

. . . has been almost non-existent of late. Murky Depths submissions, and my OU coursework, amongst the norms of a working life, seem to be taking a big toll on my creative work. The stories are still buzzing around in my head but they're not reaching the paper. I want to retire!!

. . . to new UK-based magazine Fiction.