Damien Walter

Neil vs. Colbert

The leader of my tribe on the Colbert Report. I’m so happy.

It being late Sunday evening, I want to throw a question out into the void and see what comes back. Geoff Ryman often rolled out the term ‘broken backed’ when he was teaching at Clarion. Geoff meant it not as a general term for a bad story, but as a specific term for a goodContinue reading “Brokeback Tales”

Art and Things

The super beautiful Art and Things magazine have told me they want to publish my short story Momentum. It really is very beautiful publication. I feel all cool and trendy now!

Mirrorshades

John Klima sticks his neck out and nominates his top 10 most influential SF / F anthologies over at Tor.com. It’s a list that makes me want to read more, as do the the comments. But I was surprised to see my most influential anthology went entirely unmentioned… Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology was the bookContinue reading “Mirrorshades”

Far Eastern tales of whimsy and malice

I’ve been avidly reading (and listening) to Eugie Foster’s perfectly formed fairy tales in short story form since I started reviewing for The Fix (which Eugie edits). They have appeared in some of my favourite venues including the Drabblecast and Realms of Fantasy (sadly no longer with us). Now they have been collected together inContinue reading “Far Eastern tales of whimsy and malice”

Watchmen rocks!

So…I’ve seen it. My considered conclusion…f@$king brilliant!! My favourite film reviewer, the good Dr himself, Mark Kermode, absolutely panned it in his review on Friday. I think he must be getting a bit long in the tooth because he completely missed the point. Yes its stupid and flippant when it shouldn’t be. Yes the actingContinue reading “Watchmen rocks!”

Clarion applicants…batten down the hatches!

Clarion classmate E J Fischer recounts his last minute application to the worlds greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy writing workshop @ UC San Diego. If its any encouragement to those of you who barely scrapped the deadline, it seemed that almost everyone in the class of 2008 applied at the last minute (and now ofContinue reading “Clarion applicants…batten down the hatches!”

Eighteen Memories

Megan Kurashige does her Clarion class a great service by posting a list of our favourite novels. In Week Three of Clarion we were asked by tutor Mary Anne Mohanraj to each contribute one favourite title to the list and this is what we collectively arrived at:

Philip Jose Farmer, rebel against reality

Philip José Farmer, who passed out of this world yesterday, was among the last of a generation who emerged from the revolutionary literature of science fiction. Along with contemporaries including Robert Heinlen, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick and and Kurt Vonnegut, Farmer dedicated his life to writing stories that forced their readers to confront andContinue reading “Philip Jose Farmer, rebel against reality”

A Story of Courage, Tenacity and Dedication

Here in the UK we once had a prime time children’s TV programme called Record Breakers. On said programme, the now sadly departed Roy Castle would play the trumpet over the theme song whilst a chorus of gospel singers (I may be exagerating, but this is how my memory remebers it) sang the shows catchContinue reading “A Story of Courage, Tenacity and Dedication”

Pedants’ cumupence

Stephen Fry delivers a long deserved slap down to pedants everywhere in the latest episode of his podcast series. My favourite moment is when Fry compares pedantry to sins like sloth and gluttony; a natural human response but one to be roundly discouraged. Also listen out for Fry’s cal for a new term for CCTV.Continue reading “Pedants’ cumupence”

The next generation of sci-fi writers

There’s a wealth of talent out there – so who will be the SF and fantasy authors of tomorrow? The Guardian’s recent quest to catalogue the 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read scoured the vast galaxy of tales told under the banner of “science fiction and fantasy”, and boiled them down to a few dozen ofContinue reading “The next generation of sci-fi writers”