Unexplained Podcast

I am absolutely loving the Unexplained podcast by Richard MacLean Smith. Highly entertaining and thought-provoking.

Typing Burns Calories

Yes, we writers live a sedentary life. But hope shines eternal...

According to LiveStrong, citing Harvard Health Publications, whilst typing you burn the following calories in a thirty minute period:

• 125lb/9st - 41 calories 
• 155lb/11st - 51 calories 
• 185lb/13st - 61 calories

If you're wondering how many calories typing burns for your specific height, weight and age, there's also an online calculator.

Haunted Futures

Just finished reading the latest anthology, Haunted Futures, from my publisher Ghostwoods. It got a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

You can't see far, and the footing is uncertain at best. Ghosts and phantoms stalk the haze around you, and their chittering will lead you astray. There are no maps to this territory, but sometimes a brave soul strides out ahead into the haunted shadows. Those who return to the campfire of the now often bear tales of the visions seared into their minds while they were out there, in the mists.

We have scoured the earth for these most daring of travelers the ones who have ventured out into the future and returned wraith-laden. Fifteen of them agreed to share their stories. Their enthralling accounts will seize you, and you might find it difficult to fight free of them afterwards, but any risks are overshadowed by the dazzling wonders that await. So muster your courage, and dive into the pages. Haunted Futures of all kinds await you, with open arms and suspiciously toothy smiles.

A collection that spans a huge breadth of styles and concepts. 

A couple that really stood out for me:

Greenwood Green by John Reppion: This one wins the award for 'creepy-arsed shit.' Extremely atmospheric. A young gardener helping to keep the graves trimmed at a long-forgotten cemetery, goes in search of an abandoned railway house which appears as 'a great cocked hat amid the mouldering bricks and twisted iron rib-work; the mortal remains of some gargantuan witch from a Brothers Grimm nightmare.' It's got everything: bumps in the night, disappearing pathways and even a scarecrow. What more could you want? Stayed up late at night to finish it, then couldn't sleep. A place straight out of Hookland.

Spy Drug by Greg Stolze: I'm going to be honest. I can be a bit of a skim-reader with anthologies. I take some convincing into a story, and sci-fi more than most. When I started this one, I was reluctant. It's based around a drug which gives you super-sleuth capabilities: the ability to lie, know when others are, and piece together clues you would usually miss. You get the gist pretty quickly, and I wasn't wholeheartedly with it - seemed a bit far-fetched (said the woman who writes about shamanic dreamworlds, ayahuasca and blood-lusting conjurers). I'm not sure what switched. Possibly just Stolze's style pulling me in but, by the end, this was the story I most wished there was more of. The implications caught up with me and he left it on an annoying cliffhanger. What if the drug were tainted? What if you picked up on all the clues, but jumped to all the wrong conclusions? What then? Highly entertaining.

Mercury Teardrops by Jeff Noon: Purely for his writing style. It's unusual and deliciously poetic. Plus it broached a subject I do find particularly enticing: the idea that we will soon be integrating technology with our bodies. Enhancing our physical capabilities. Really loved the descriptive and gave the far future a really human edge.

A really interesting read, and I loved Alex Acks's assertion that 'There are no haunted places. Only haunted people.'

You can listen to interviews with some of the authors online: Tricia Sullivan, SL Huang, Alex Acks, Felicity Shoulders and Lynnea Glasser.

Little Sister Music

After the sad death of Greg Trooper earlier this year, my lovely friend Suki has set up Little Sister Music to promote Americana and Roots music in South East Wales. Tickets for their inaugural gig, Jess Klein & Mike June, are on sale for October. It's a work of passion, so please give all the support you can.

Scientifically Speaking

Tried a little experiment. Stopped reading the news for a week. Only allowed myself to read the Science & Environment sections. Wanted to see if it had an effect on how I felt about the world. I usually get my news through RT and BBC, I enjoy the juxtaposition of bias. I don't have a telly, so I just read it online.

Years ago, when it was much harder to get online, I went for long periods without any international news. I really liked that. Most of the stuff that is news here in Rwanda and East Africa never makes it into the Western-dominated media, and most of what happens over there doesn't affect life here. It had to be something either really important or interesting for someone to come up and tell you about it, like when Michael Jackson died. It gave news a sense of value, that someone had taken time out of their day to mention it.

Only reading the science articles has been interesting. Beyond the information about climate change and pollution, there's a lot more hope in the world than you expect. A lot of medical advances, space exploration and new things being found. Certainly gave me fodder for meaningful conversations.

The weird thing is, I have gone back to reading news again. Not for any reason other than I enjoyed the gossip. It really brought into contrast how much of a gossip column the BBC has become - every article is sensationalist: rape, murder, politics, but not for any useful political analysis, just who rolled their eyes at whom. Even a student stealing a traffic cone made most-read news one week. Though I wince constantly that the Beeb, in their desperation to create 24/7 rolling news, has surpassed The Grauniad's reputation for spelling errors.

It's been an interesting experiment, but I've discovered I'm not immune to tittle-tattle.

Shufflepuck

I have done no writing at all over the past few weeks - world of workly chaos. However, I did find time to play shufflepuck with Howl. He usually wins.

Tunglið

Liking these guys' style:

For Tunglið, how you publish is as important as what you publish. Named after the Icelandic word for the moon, the tiny publisher prints its books in batches of 69 on the night of a full moon. So far, so weird. But keen readers must also buy their books that same night, as the publisher burns all unsold copies.

Read the full article and find them online.