Read 2020 - 62 - The Pretence by Ramsey Campbell

I worried that whatever book followed Frances Hardinge's 'A Skinful of Shadows' was going to struggle after the memory of that book. I needn't have worried. I very much enjoyed the intriguing The Pretence by Ramsey Campbell, a novella published by PS Publishing back in 2013. We probably picked this copy up at World Fantasy Con where it was released in 2013. It is shameful how long books have remained on my to-read-list.

The world was supposed to end at midnight. Only it didn't. Did it?

At first read, I thought The Pretence an Invasion of the Body Snatchers deal, but it was more about how real are we, and is all of this an illusion. It kept me intrigued throughout, there was a claustrophobic atmosphere to it. Highly recommend.

WIP Wednesday - Are you done, Kathleen Fair?

Or maybe that should be titled, 'There's so much missing here, Kathleen Fair'.

The novellette/novella is complete at 14,537 words. Hearts, men and mirrors have broken, but fair Kathleen is the most lost of all.

Now to let it stew while I contemplate what happens in the bits between the bits or decide to lob off other bits.

The above was achieved with a little help from my friend, Freedom. Dude is a pain in the ass at times with his tough love, but in the end, when the universe restores, I appreciate his tenacity.

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

My four-year-old nephew broke his dad's heart this week when he told him the cheapo bubble blower he received from a pre-school friend was the best present ever. You know after my brother had scoured the four corners of the flat earth for the present he really, really wanted.

I think we're all buying him cardboard boxes next year ;)

Finished the first draft of my novella, Barbed Wire Hearts, yesterday at 24,100 words. Hoping to bury my head in it today and next few days and get a decent portion of the next draft done. Of course, I may end up twittering as per usual but if you don't hear from me here, on twitter or on your blog, then I'm being a very good girl. Will make a change.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, June

Sales: 4 (sort of) - 3 were sales, and one was a FTL reprint, but I'm counting it (especially as so many wonderful people read it).
Publications: 3 (Necrotic Tissue, Sand & Flashes in the Dark)
Approx Word Count: (note to self - where's my calculator) 3066 words ahem! Excuse imminent
Total Word Count 2009: 122,961 words
Stories out in submission land: No comment
WIP: The Drawing of Dolls - 11,611 words (not counted in months count), The Horrifiques - 1045 words.

One flash story - Playing Card Walls - and one short story - Empty Box Motel - this month. I completed a rewrite of my first MG, 'Lucy Baxter and the Evil Emporium' and then upon finishing decided I hated it. There was no stomping on the manuscript only a hurricane enducing sigh. I then settled down (again) to work on my YA, The Horrifiques, only for Lucy Baxter to persuade me ,with a new title and an even darker, creepier slant, she would work well as a YA/novella, so I'm currently 11,611 words into that. We still don't know if we're YA, horror novella, or weird-unpublishable time waster, and Lucy insists her name is really Claudia.


In other news, check out Stuart Neville's fantastic competition to win a signed copy of his debut novel, The Twelve along with a limited edition signed copy of his short story collection, The Six. I'm in.

Theatre of Curious Acts

Let me introduce you to my NaNoWriMo project: THEATRE OF CURIOUS ACTS.

Oh, and by the way – I’m cheating.  The ‘Theatre of Curious Acts’ is a set of intertwined stories set over a century – three novellas and two short stories – all heading toward the same conclusion.  The basic premise is:

The Grim Reaper is a girl, her name is Olivia and her pale horse is a pirate ship.  When Daniel Cole, a shell-shocked WW1 soldier, is transported to the surreal otherworld where she resides, he ruins her and her sisters plans for the coming apocalypse.

So we have:

Part One: Shrapnel From a Broken Smile

A ghost story. It’s 2008, the once glorious ‘Theatre of Curious Acts’ is derelict and provides the perfect playground for a boy out to impress a girl.

Part Two: Paper Dragons

In 1918 a group of WW1 Soldiers head out to the Theatre of Curious Acts for a fabled ‘Paper Dragon’ show.  They are transported to a surreal otherworld where Daniel Cole and Swan Ecklund are beguiled by two sisters – Olivia and Blanche.

Part Three: (The man with) One Yellow Shoe

It is 1985 and Harvey Cadell (one of our soldiers from ‘Paper Dragons’) has returned to the theatre, which is now a cinema, to catch one last performance before he dies. And in the hope he will find a door back to that otherworld and some of his lost friends. Instead he meets The Collector of Memories and finds himself trapped in a movie.

Part Four: Monstrous Interlude

It’s 1955 and during the showing of a B-movie a monster escapes. It is up to ‘The Collector of Memories’ to put it back.

Part Five: Anticipating Pitchforks

Daniel Cole returns from the otherworld just in time for Armageddon. Oh, and he’s arrived on Olivia’s pirate ship and her sisters are following in their own transport: a zeppelin, a battleship and a train.