http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php Litopia Writers Colony is a community for some of the most outstanding writers on the Internet en Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:07:18 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.litopia.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=87 Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:57:59 GMT I'd got that kevlar vest. Now the rats are carrying knives and they are not afraid to use them. I'm all up for believing in malign planetary influences right now, that is for sure... ]]> oscuridad http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=87 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=86 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:38:01 GMT On top of work and planning a wedding and trying to get published I have added another level of stress to my life.I decided to give up smoking today. Well, I decided a while ago as each cigarette was making me gag and I can feel lung cancer looming behind me. Today was the day that I went to see... On top of work and planning a wedding and trying to get published I have added another level of stress to my life.I decided to give up smoking today. Well, I decided a while ago as each cigarette was making me gag and I can feel lung cancer looming behind me. Today was the day that I went to see the friendly NHS lady, who gave up 20 years ago and has the dubious pleasure of sitting through a procession of interviews with weak willed fools with the most antisocial of vices. Honestly, I don't know how she does, it has to be both painful and mind numbingly boring listening to the pathetic litanies of soon to be ex-smokers.

Clutching a prescription for nicorette lozenges I left the building and promptly lit a cigarette. Not the start I was hoping for, but just turning up felt like an achievement in itself. The D-day is set as saturday and friends and colleagues have been warned to expect a barrage of abuse and mood swings for the next few weeks.

Can't wait.

I'm writing it here, in black and white, so there is no getting away from it. It is a solid and undeniable fact now. Published as it is to the web. ]]> jamiemollart http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=86 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=85 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:01:37 GMT Wednesday's headlines are here:

http://writereport.blogspot.com ]]> Donna http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=85 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=84 Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:44:03 GMT Tuesday's writing and publishing news is here:

http://writereport.blogspot.com ]]> Donna http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=84 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=82 Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:16:04 GMT Friday's writing and publishing news is here:

http://writereport.blogspot.com ]]> Donna http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=82 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=81 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:59:06 GMT Just in case anybody EVER pops in, here's an opening (mercifully short) to a SF story aimed at older teenagers. Feel free to comment or even just boo:

I sat in the tallest spire in a city that reached the sky and looked out the slitted window. Airships glided past through brown clouds.

“The first thing to know is that magic does not exist,” said the Invigilator. “There is only cause and effect. One thing follows another, or does not. That is science, not magic.”

I knew I had to concentrate. My life depended on it. But I had always had trouble concentrating in classrooms. That was cause and effect, too.

“There are things that have an effect. Things like this Scrier. The common herd out there would call it it magic, but that is because they don't know how it works or, more importantly perhaps, how to work it.”

The Invigilator's voice had the peculiar, lecturing tone used by teachers to pupils from the Great Loch to Middlesea and, for all I knew, beyond that too. I fixed my eyes on the Scrier, more to keep from staring out of the window than because of any interest in it. I had seen dozens of the things before.

It looked like any other Scrier to me; a big polished wagon wheel filled with slightly fogged glass.

“It is a tool, nothing more, like a Rack or a Dicer. You will learn to use such tools, but they are not magic.” The Invigilator gave a slightly apologetic cough, signalling that he was about to make a joke. “You might say then, that the fact that something works proves that it cannot be magic.”

I chuckled along with the other six boys. No girls here, of course.

“Some of the more powerful scientific methods will sound to you like magic. Loop Theory, the Law of the Observer... wait until we get onto Exception State, that one will really make your eyes water. But the difference between what we do here and what takes place out there in the Bazaars and Temples is this: regardless of theory, we use what works, and by that I mean what works every time, if done properly. We don't use illusion or guesswork or intuition. We find out what works, and we do that by experiment.”

I felt the urge to close my eyes and let the voice drone over me. My eyelids actually fluttered with the effort of keeping them open. This would never do.

“You seven have one thing in common,” said the Invigilator. “The only thing that separates you from the all other grubby boys that throw stones at the official carriages and scribble obscenities on the Barrack walls is this: the wisdom and mercy of the Regent himself.”

At the next table Beagle was all alert attention. He was a big, red-headed lad.

I looked forward to killing him. ]]> Colin http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=81 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=80 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:45:26 GMT Hello! This is exciting. I can talk to the world from here, always assuming the world pops in for a cuppa. Now I have to think of something to say. Hello!

This is exciting. I can talk to the world from here, always assuming the world pops in for a cuppa.

Now I have to think of something to say. ]]> Colin http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=80 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=79 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:25:35 GMT Thursday's writing and publishing news is here:

http://writereport.blogspot.com ]]> Donna http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=79 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=59 Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:56:45 GMT Saw some post on cold hard cash and it started me thinking about those early days when food and shelter seemed like reasonable goals. Anyway, As I am wont to do while laboring at the 12 hour a day job, I wrote these lines in memory of my post college days -unemployed post college days - Back... Saw some post on cold hard cash and it started me thinking about those early days when food and shelter seemed like reasonable goals. Anyway, As I am wont to do while laboring at the 12 hour a day job, I wrote these lines in memory of my post college days -unemployed post college days -

Back then:

I was so broke that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men brought a broom an a dust pan;
I was so poor they added two extras o’ - I was poooor;
Money talked but mine was mute;
I was so broke I couldn’t get a loan from Satan;
I was so broke the cockroaches evicted me;
A penny saved was a penny earned and that’s one more penny that I had;
I wasn’t lower class, I was unclassifiable;
I once had a job walking around the street with a sandwich sign but got fired because I ate it;
I was so hungry I ate my moustache;
I was so behind on my bills the electric company put out a hit on me;
To make my food last longer I actually added water to my water.
I wore the same outfit for so long that it finally was confuscated by HAZMAT;


Now that’s broke ]]> worldper http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=59 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=53 Wed, 21 May 2008 15:53:52 GMT My blog is on an external site and for reasons beyond my tecno-phobic abilities, the RSS feed is vomiting somewhere in the memory cache - I think.

Anyway, here it is: http://www.worldper.com/blog.html

And if you're interested, there is more on my website:http://www.worldper.com ]]> worldper http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=53 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=52 Sat, 17 May 2008 13:55:14 GMT can't get any worse.. hey, guess what? ]]> oscuridad http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=52 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=49 Sat, 10 May 2008 14:28:30 GMT wahey! the sun is shining. When I woke up all I could hear was deafening birdsong. Met friends, mooched about. Its still sunny. Today has been sooo much better than I though it might be. Don't know what tomorrow will be like, but today is a good day.. so far. ]]> oscuridad http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=49 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=44 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 19:25:57 GMT Hi,

I've moved my blog. If you want to check it out you can find it here. It's a bit sp**** at the moment but that'll change :toung: ]]> SeaSerpent http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=44 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=43 Fri, 07 Mar 2008 11:31:35 GMT I seem to be doing nothing but wait at the moment, apart from write more stuff to send out and then... wait :cheesy:

Waiting for several Agents to come back to me - waiting for that one who's been sitting on my full for the past six months to actually reply to one of my queries (well maybe I'll just give up on him as a bad job)

Waiting for editors at various short story venues to reply - one's had a story for over a year now...

And waiting for three short stories that are due out 'sometime' this year to finally appear.

Waiting... Waiting.... ]]> SeaSerpent http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=43 http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=42 Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:43:20 GMT you get a new boss - who thinks your every word is farted from Satan's very own backside. Life, eh! ]]> oscuridad http://www.litopia.com/forums/blog.php?b=42