Sometimes you can like a story without really knowing why. Maybe its something to do with the transient nature of life and love I like about this, or maybe its just the excellent weirdness of the premise. On the Eyeball Floor by Tina Connolly
Author Archives: Damien Walter
Kicking the Video Game Habit
The other day my self discipline failed, and after weeks of craving I bought a video game. Addictions are never broken; they are only tamed. Eventually they will escape the leash and savage a passing pedestrian. For weeks I’ve been browsing the game shops, debating the for and against of giving in to temptation. ThisContinue reading “Kicking the Video Game Habit”
Submit to the Velocipede of E!
Take a break somewhere fantastic
As the final days of Hay fly by, and the first grey clouds of British high summer loom on the horizon, the mind turns to distant lands and far away places. But this holiday season forget the tawdry tourist traps and third world tours and take a trip instead into some of the fantasy worldsContinue reading “Take a break somewhere fantastic”
Unreal Reality
I’m working on a piece about my Top 5 ‘secondary realities’ this week. Imaginary cities, invented worlds, inspired gallactic vistas…from Tolkien’s Middle Earth to Asimov’s Foundation Universe, what are the most fascinating unreal realities and why? I have some idea what my top five are (I’m not giving them away just yet) but I wantContinue reading “Unreal Reality”
Horizon Sold!
I shouldn’t really blog about this until I’ve crossed the t’s and dotted the i’s, but I’m feeling reckless! After no little time on the market my short story Horizon has found a home at the new UK print ‘zine Murky Depths. No idea when it will see the light of day yet but willContinue reading “Horizon Sold!”
The Dark Elves Have It
Between pieces for the Guardian, reviews for the The Fix and various bits and pieces for the upcoming Clarion workshop I’ve had barely any time to do anything here on the ranch except occaisional posts linking out elsewhere. So today I’m going to update on writing progress which I’ve been pretty silent on recently. ThisContinue reading “The Dark Elves Have It”
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2008
P.E.Cunningham’s “Monkey See” in the June, 2008, Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a lighthearted heroic fantasy tale, complete with wizards, magic, and of course, a talking sword. Read more at The Fix
Boring old sci-fi
OK, I admit it, sci-fi is boring. After endless Star Trek re-runs, innumerable badly scripted Hollywood movies and a thousand video games with pixel-deep narrative, the once wondrous ideas of sci-fi have become yawn-inducing. Fortunately for me, beyond the world of tedious mass media sci-fi, lies the exciting world of literary science fiction or “SF”Continue reading “Boring old sci-fi”
The Alt. Report 2008
Alt.Fiction 2008 was, as predicted, fun, entertaining, enlightening and…expensive! Ticket to Alt.Fiction – £20. Various snack meals – £30. Too many excellent small press books and magazine subscriptions – £100. Getting to hear John Jarrold bang his fist on the table whilst telling us all that publishing is a commercial industry – £PRICELESS! I’ve seenContinue reading “The Alt. Report 2008”
Roll up for Alt.Fiction
The third annual festival of alternative fiction takes place this Saturday 26th April at the Derby Assembly Rooms, attracting goths, hippies, folkies, cyber-nerds, neo-pagans, sci-fi geeks, trekkers, real ale fans and people from dozens of other assorted sub-cultures – as well as plenty of ordinary folk – all united by their love of a goodContinue reading “Roll up for Alt.Fiction”
Don’t Abandon Hardbacks
Major publishers could be about to discard the hardback just as it becomes more valuable than ever When Claire Armistead reported the demise of the hardback last week, I wondered why publishers were tossing away one of their greatest assets just when they need it the most. It’s not every morning I awake with joyContinue reading “Don’t Abandon Hardbacks”
Damien Walter 