All quiet on the blog front. I have been writing. But I have to venture out in to the public eye in the near future, starting with: Novacon – I will be at Novacon in Nottingham tomorrow, for at least the afternoon. I’ve never attended the convention before, so excited to see what kind ofContinue reading “Places I Will Be”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
Word War Weird
In a moment of idle bravado, I agreed to a smack-down NaNoWriMo word war with fellow authors of weird fiction Gra Linnaea, Paul Jessup and John Klima. So far the score is… …and as you can see I am losing. (At the time of writing.) So cheer for me or something.
If you could teach a class of young people one idea from SF, what would it be?
UPDATE: I’m asking a few good SF writers the following question (answer below, and please add your own!) – If you could teach a class of young people one idea from SF, what would it be? Science Fiction is almost an oxymoron. We live in a society where science and the humanities seem to beContinue reading “If you could teach a class of young people one idea from SF, what would it be?”
Why Hollywood can’t get the hang of science fiction
If science fiction is a genre of ideas, is there any wonder Hollywood doesn’t get it? Look. There are are only two truly great science fiction movies. The first is Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, written in collaboration with Arthur C Clarke. The second is Blade Runner, directed by Ridley Scott and adapted from Philip K Dick’sContinue reading “Why Hollywood can’t get the hang of science fiction”
Damo’s NaNoWriMo Write-In
I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year. I have a Work In Progress and want the progress bit to happen faster. NaNo seems like a good focus for achieving that. My strategy this year is to throw myself body and soul in to the effort. To that end, I shall be at University of LeicesterContinue reading “Damo’s NaNoWriMo Write-In”
The value of reading, and the cost of ignorance
Yesterday I watched the great Bali Rai read a story aloud to twenty-thousand people at the Walker’s stadium at half-time of the Leice ster vs. Scunthorpe match. I’m not sure what the people of Scunthorpe made of it, but the football fans of Leicester loved it, and took away thousands of copies of the storyContinue reading “The value of reading, and the cost of ignorance”
My Love Sick Zombie Boy Band in Electric Velocipede Double Issue
Electric Velocipede have announced that issues 21 and 22 will be published together as a bumper double issue to be published in November. The TOC is below, and just happens to include My Love Sick Zombie Boy Band by (ahem) Damien G. Walter! MLSZBB was one of my Clarion submission stories, and benefited from detailedContinue reading “My Love Sick Zombie Boy Band in Electric Velocipede Double Issue”
500th Post – Are blogs good for writers?
Well. This is my 500th blog post. HHUUUURRRRAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Coincidentally, it’s also effectively four years since I started blogging. I opened my blog in April 2006, but did not really start using it fully until August that year, when I moved from Blogger to WordPress. Looking back at my first post, it was quite clear IContinue reading “500th Post – Are blogs good for writers?”
How big is SF fandom?
Whilst debating the possibilities of tomorrows SF magazines, I began idly wondering how big SF fandom really is. To give the question some parameters, SF fandom in this case means written speculative fiction, not mass media sci-fi. Once you add together all the cons, ‘zines, online and offline communities and all the other ways thatContinue reading “How big is SF fandom?”
There is an untapped audience for SF magazines
Will Ellwood continues our series of guest blogs from The Speculators writing group. Will writes short fiction with a hard edge that comments on contemporary politics and hacker culture. He is also a frequent contributor at the Whitechapel forums. I’m looking forward to seeing his story Freedom Fields in print sometime soon. *** There isContinue reading “There is an untapped audience for SF magazines”
Genres are the fossils left by movements
During a conversation between The Speculators writing group recently, we came up with this idea. Genres are the fossils left by movements. To explain. Movements are conversations between writers, conducted through stories. During the period of movement, writers are talking to each other, exchanging ideas and generally discussing how to move the art of fictionContinue reading “Genres are the fossils left by movements”
Thoughts on The Lifecycle of Software Objects
There is an intelligent question at the heart of Ted Chiang’s new novella, The Lifecycle of Software Objects. The story is set in a near future, where online virtual worlds have grown to such levels of sophistication that they are able to support genetic programmes which can imitate the behaviour of life. Initially marketed asContinue reading “Thoughts on The Lifecycle of Software Objects”
Damien Walter 