Author Archives: Damien Walter

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”

Writing on the Hoof

Writers do not live in sync with the rest of humanity. Normal people have free time. Writers have time when they should be writing. This weekend I have been trying to combine the two. I’ve been on a tour of the new cultural institutions around my city, including the Fabrika independent arts centre, Phoenix SquareContinue reading “Writing on the Hoof”

Is Madmen Science Fiction?

Now work with me here. I know its a leap, but I’m starting to think that the hit television show Madmen is a work of science fiction. I’ve been geeking out over Madmen season two for the last fortnight. And when I say geeking out, I mean obsessing. Having watched season one three times (friendsContinue reading “Is Madmen Science Fiction?”

Name the best science fiction titles

You should never judge a book by its cover, but should you judge a story by its title? If the recent success of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is anything to go by, then for many readers today the answer is yes. Seth Grahame-Smith’s bestselling mash-up of Jane Austen and George A Romero became oneContinue reading “Name the best science fiction titles”

Leicester vs. Nottingham

It’s just over mid way through NaNoWriMo and my home city of Leicester are down 1,101,763 words to 1,471,111 against nearby Nottingham. Come on Leicester…just write fish over and over again! I made the sane choice of not doing NaNoWriMo this year, I have another writing target that takes precedent which I will reveal atContinue reading “Leicester vs. Nottingham”

Best SF of the Noughties

Sarah Crown over at The Guardian book blog today asks readers for their top books of the noughties. Unsurprisingly my picks are quite speculative in nature, and there are so many that I eventually gave up trying to list them all. It was also complicated by the fact that many of my favourite books readContinue reading “Best SF of the Noughties”