Author Archives: Damien Walter

Where are science fiction’s superstars?

I’ve been following the unfolding debate about the decline of science fiction over at Mark Charan Newton’s blog, and recently added my own response: Hmm…I think your insight into the industry is strong Mark, but actually I think you are over complicating the problem facing SF. I pin it on something much simpler…the Michael JordanContinue reading “Where are science fiction’s superstars?”

Why I find things beautiful

I am listening to Prophecies by Philip Glass. I find it very beautiful. Especially the break around 8:45. It gives me those special shivers that come from things that are beautiful beyond comprehension. On my last flight out to California I got a glimpse out of the window as the flight came in over greenland.Continue reading “Why I find things beautiful”

Are the interwebs destroying reading?

The other thing about colds (I’m pretty sure this a bad cold and not flu but that’s purely an assumption. I’ve never really known the difference between the two. So I’m either manfully resisting the the flu germs, or caving into a common garden cold like a wuss) hmmm…where was I? Oh yes, the otherContinue reading “Are the interwebs destroying reading?”

Show me the risk taking writers

Colds do two things to me. They make me bad tempered in a grouchy kind of way. And they make me want to take shelter from all things in a book. Today I hid out in the audiobook of Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (Read very well but not by Bradbury unfortunately. Note to authors:Continue reading “Show me the risk taking writers”

Writing Sci-Fi Short Fiction

I’ll be teaching a five week course in Writing Sci-Fi Short Fiction here in Leicester from 12th January. I was recently challenged to come up with reasons to attend this course on Twitter. My answer? By the end of five weeks you will have written, edited and submitted a complete short story. And I keepContinue reading “Writing Sci-Fi Short Fiction”

Speculations

I’m live blogging from The Speculators writing group here in Leicester. We are sitting in silence, writing. I’m taking a few minutes away from working on The Hundredth Master of Ninja Assassin. Writing in a group is one of my favourite things. The Speculators meet every Wednesday and write for two hours (with occasional outburstsContinue reading “Speculations”

Keep them doggies rollin’

I’ve developed a taste for finishing things. Finishing things has long been my problem. Of Heinlein’s Rules, number 2 is the one I break time and again. There are reasons. I’ve been learning to write, many of my unfinished stories will stay that way because I’ve learned what I needed to learn from them. AndContinue reading “Keep them doggies rollin’”

At the heart of the maze i will find

I finished a rewrite of Clocks over the weekend. The result were many corrected misuages of the noble apostrophe and a new title ‘At the heart of the maze i will find’, the lower case i being a deliberate feature to fox autocorrect software. I’m starting to reach a pattern with titles, where the usualyContinue reading “At the heart of the maze i will find”

Clocks, bookshops, gothic fairies and Wolfes

I finished a new short story this evening. Its one of those stories that isn’t so much written as grown. Its been sitting on my desktop for a year. Every so often I add anything from a few lines to an entire paragraph. I think of this as writing by accrual. The story builds upContinue reading “Clocks, bookshops, gothic fairies and Wolfes”

Writing Industries Conference 2010

I’m organising the second Writing Industries Conference (having organised the first one in 2008). A chance to meet agents and editors and get information from the horses mouth about the writing industries. If you are in the East Midlands region or happy to travel a little way, then take advantage of our early bird ticketContinue reading “Writing Industries Conference 2010”

Ask not what your ‘zine can do for you

I spent most of this Sunday evening planning out a talk I’m giving tomorrow on the subject of The Entrepreneurial Writer. Part of this talk could be called ‘How to get ahead in the cut throat egotistical world game of being a writer’, but mostly I am talking about how writers are important to communities,Continue reading “Ask not what your ‘zine can do for you”