Mystery is the doorway to fantasy. Dark forests, far away galaxies, roads that wind into the distance: any space that allows our imagination to play without the interference of mundane reality can be a portal. And there are few places more expectant with mystery than cities. Every road, building and doorway is a new unknown.Continue reading “London Gothic”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
The Density of Words
At anywhere between 80,000 to 150,000 words or more the average commercially published novel might seem like a huge space to fill. I know the idea of creating that many words is often intimidating to my writing students, who may never have written more than 2-3 thousand words on one story in the past. ButContinue reading “The Density of Words”
SF & Fantasy need to stop being so damn eager to please
“It just seems to me that, from Ballard to Herbert, SF was on a mission to invent and explore unknown fresh new psychologies. It was a fascinating, daunting task. We were on to something- and we lost the nerve to do it.” There’s nothing less interesting than something which only exists to please you. AndContinue reading “SF & Fantasy need to stop being so damn eager to please”
The Tao that can be told is not the true Tao
I’ve been re-reading the Tao Te Ching this week, inspired to return to the ancient text by my review of Ursula Le Guin’s selected stories for my Weird Things column at The Guardian. The text is one of Le Guin’s favourites, and a life long influence over her writing and philosophy. I first read itContinue reading “The Tao that can be told is not the true Tao”
Ursula K Le Guin : stories for the ages
The power of Le Guin’s work will surely guarantee it an audience for centuries to come. A century from now people will still be reading the fantasy stories of Ursula K Le Guin with joy and wonder. Five centuries from now they might ask if their author ever really existed, or if Le Guin wasContinue reading “Ursula K Le Guin : stories for the ages”
Beta Readers wanted for Lost Things
I am working on a fiction project called Lost Things, and am quickly reaching the point where feedback from readers would be useful and constructive. If you have a little time to spare, and would like to see what I’m working on before anyone else, then email me at damiengwalter@gmail.com and I will get backContinue reading “Beta Readers wanted for Lost Things”
An open letter to Ed Miliband on sci-fi and post scarcity
Comrade! The party conference season is all but over. Our leaders have delivered their vision of our future. We expect reactionary ideas from the Tories, while the Liberal Democrats make policy commitments they can later apologise for having ever committed to. But a leader on the progressive Left needs a vision of progress. And I’mContinue reading “An open letter to Ed Miliband on sci-fi and post scarcity”
My Kitschy Predictions 2012
The Kitschies are among my favourite speculative fiction awards for the simple reason that they give awards to very good books. Last year I nailed A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness as the winner. So this year I’m going to take a wild stab at predicting the whole shortlist (!) How will I do? BlackbirdsContinue reading “My Kitschy Predictions 2012”
British Fantasy Awards 2012 Results
The British Fantasy Awards have been announced. I was happy to be invited to be a judge this year. It was fun, and I got to read a bunch of good books. or re-read in many cases! Here are the winners: Best Novel (Fantasy): Jo Walton’s Among Others Best Novel (Horror): Adam Nevill’s The RitualContinue reading “British Fantasy Awards 2012 Results”
Social media only makes critics more influential
Here’s a not widely discussed fact. Some of the established publishers we now recognise were set up in part as elaborate tax dodging ruses by wealthy people whose real business interests were elsewhere. A little publishing house could run at a loss and still help make a profit by reducing the tax bill. And ifContinue reading “Social media only makes critics more influential”
How to work with theory without snuffing out your creative spark
I spent much of the last weekend live-tweeting from Weird Council, an academic convention on the writing of China Mieville. Many clever people were in attendance, many clever things were said. I only understood about half of them but felt quite good about getting that much. As a good friend of mine says, if moreContinue reading “How to work with theory without snuffing out your creative spark”
Live-writing challenges the writerly ego…which is a very good thing
The rules were simple. Keep to the scheduled study hours, always wash your mug, and under no circumstances touch the coltan. So far Aidan had kept a clean sheet on all counts. Now he was planning to commit the only serious possible infraction. And that did not mean coffee rings on work surfaces. Aidan’s RockContinue reading “Live-writing challenges the writerly ego…which is a very good thing”
Damien Walter 