Damien Walter

Vinegar Peace by Michael Bishop

StarShipSofa narrates Vinegar Peace, a SF story wrote by Michael Bishop for his son Jamie Bishop who died two years ago at the Virginia Tech shooting.

Night Time Logic

At Clarion, Kelly Link taught us about the logic of night and dreams. Lessons learned at Clarion can take some time to sink in. This one has seemed very relevant to me this week.

Right people. John Klima, editor at Electric Velocipede has recently become a father for the second time (congratulations!), but unfortunately now also finds himself the sole earner in his household. But to every cloud is a silver lining, because John has decided to sell off all remaining stock of Electric Velocpede #13 (among other things)Continue reading “Limited Edition Damo”

Damo and the Sofanauts

I’ve been a massive podcast fan since I bought my first iPod. I’ve always been a sci-fi fan, but podcasts like Escape Pod, I Should Be Writing and The Dragon Page introduced me to a whole new world of SF. I’ve been listening to Starship Sofa since the early days, so today I was reallyContinue reading “Damo and the Sofanauts”

A Booker prize for editors?

Editors are important. That much is certain. To put it simply, they decide who does and does not get published. And in the high courts of publishing that so many authors aspire to enter this makes them judge, jury and all too often executioner. But are they creative? Read more

Learn to write with Damo

Fancy spending 5 (or possibly even 10 weeks) learning to write speculative fiction with me as a tutor? If you have survived the terror of that prospect or even think it might have some merit and are within shouting distance of Leicester, then the course advertised below may be for you.

Husbandry by EJ Fischer @ Strange Horizons

If you only read one work of speculative fiction today, make sure it is Husbandry by E J Fischer (if you read two, read Husbandry twice). Its a wicked zombie story with more than a little to say about the state of modern realationships. Strange Horizons have once again displayed the presence of mind toContinue reading “Husbandry by EJ Fischer @ Strange Horizons”

Food, San Diego, Clarion

There are seventeen other people in the world who know the slightly sick feeling I experienced when I read these words in the search terms used to find my blog just a few minutes ago: Clarion San Diego Food As I type eighteen new Clarionites are preparing to embark on the potentialy life changing experienceContinue reading “Food, San Diego, Clarion”

Hollywood must read the Turkey City Lexicon

***WARNING – SPOILER ALERT*** I’m about to give away the ending of Knowing, the new Nicholas Cage vehicle from director Alex Proyas (who over a decade ago brought us the much superior Dark City). So, if you don’t want to know the entirely predictable end of a film that could have been so much more,Continue reading “Hollywood must read the Turkey City Lexicon”

What makes a Hugo nominee tick?

I’ve been lucky enough to interview both Charlie Stross and Cory Doctorow in the last year. To celebrate their nominations for both the Hugo and Prometheus awards, here are the two interviews again for anyone who missed them. I learned a lot from doing both interviews. Charlie has an insight into what science fiction isContinue reading “What makes a Hugo nominee tick?”

To self publish or to not

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about self publishing recently. I’ve been considering two projects that might be described as self publishing. And I’ve been looking at how self publishing fits into my professional life as a literature development worker. And I’ve just been following a thread incited by a Facebook status update fromContinue reading “To self publish or to not”

Hugo Nomination for Weird Tales!

The Hugo nominations are out and my two of my favourite magazines, Interzone and Weird Tales, have been nominated! Both receive a nod in the semi-pro zine category. Good luck to Andy Cox and Ann Vandermeer both. Electric Velocipede also scoops a nomination for best fanzine, so good luck to John Klima. The John WContinue reading “Hugo Nomination for Weird Tales!”