Freaksville is Coming Along Nicely

Hi Guys,

 

 

Just thought I'd write a short post to tell you that, no, I haven't been just simply sitting on my arse, twiddling my thumbs all this time. (Just some of it!) In fact I've been busy writing two different novels - oh the perils of being a pantster! 

The first is "A Ghost Of A Chance" which is about an astral traveler in a steampunk world who discovers all the strange troubles his talent can get him in. At the moment I'm a little bit blocked on it, which is why the second book, "Freaksville" is coming along a little faster. Freaksville is an urban fantasy set in New Zealand about an engineer trapped in a community full of nyads, dryads and - you guessed it - faeries. It also skirts the boundaries between urban fantasy and urban sci fi which means it may end up being classed as science fantasy. (Oh, it also has a six legged cat!)

But what I really wanted to talk about was a new art program I've recently discovered. And maybe I'm a little behind the times, but it is wondrous. It's called Deep Dream AI, and as the name suggests, it actually has an AI generating images for you based on how you describe the image you want. And it is stunning! It does beautiful pictures, though it has problems. Number one unfortunately is that it can't do wings, which is why I had to tinker a little with the image above. (And there's more to do yet - this is just a draft!)

What blows me away though, is that the computer generates these images all by itself based purely on a few words you give it. Now that truly is science fiction!

Anyway if you've got a few spare moments, I'd recommend hopping over to the site, and taking a look. It has a limited free offer - probably about fifteen or so images you can experiment with - but unfortunately after that you have to pay. But it's well worth just seeing the brave new world of computing arriving in front of you.

(I just hope AI's don't start writing books - or I'll be in trouble!)

Other than that, I really haven't got a lot else to report. But as usual I wish you guys all the best. And as always, be good or don't get caught!

Cheers, Greg.

Byson Darious: The Man, The Myth The Unicorn!

 Hi Guys,

Happy New Year all. (Yeah, it's been a slow start to the year for me!) 

But I've been busy. Ever since I finished the first draft of Bound off around Christmas, I've been more or less head down in the book, editing and revising. A book that grew out to a hundred and seventy one thousand words! Every time I thought I was done, I realized there was just a little something more I needed to add. Still finally - yesterday - it's done.

Bound is a light-hearted epic fantasy about Byson Darious, an apothecary trying to live a simple life, but whose family seem to want to drag him into their own troubles - or get him to dig them out of them. And mixed in with that Byson has his own secret - that he has bound himself to a unicorn to gain a little more magic of his own. Naturally that has it's own unexpected consequences! But in the end, as the world is falling into ruin, it may be the very thing that's needed - naturally!

Anyway it's gone up and I'm glad. I'd almost begun to think for a while that I would never finish it. Now I can turn my thoughts to other things for a while - like getting the back yard cut back some more. A lot more. And solving the riddle of the ages - why when I threw out lawn seed on a patch of ground a few months ago, did only clover grow? I think it's magic! A curse. Or the cats did it - which is fairly much the same thing!

Also I have another pile of books in various stages of completion waiting for me to finally get round to finishing, and as usual I have no idea which I want to get to first. But I suppose there's no shortage of them to throw myself into. (That's a good thing, right?!)

Anyway I hope all of you are well and enjoying life in 2023. And as always be good or don't get caught!

Cheers, Greg.

So I Can See Again!!!

 Hi guys,

So the good news is I got through the cataract surgery on my left eye, and it went sort of alright. Sadly I've got something called negative photopsia in the eye, which is something I'd never heard of. It's basically a black border on the outside of my vision, but which will hopefully go away in a few months. If not optomotrists have a cure - sort of. It's called wearing glasses with thick black rims until you stop noticing! (And no, I'm not kidding!)

The bad news is that I got my vision changed to far sight, which makes it difficult to read the computer screen. In short I need reading glasses. 

 And the really bad news is that now that I can see again - I'm starting to see all the typos in my latest books! Bugger! (Guess what I'm going to be doing over the coming month!!!)

But with my new and improved vision in one eye, I finally managed to complete another book - The Keeper - which is a change from my usual fare. It's a straight detective. (Actually when I listed it on Amazon they let me put it in a category called Female Sleuths which seemed to fit perfectly.) So no magic, no spaceships just a crime - and a whole lot of lions! (Also a lot of very bad language and some poor jokes!)

Don't know why I decided to complete this book now, but it's been sitting on my computer for a couple of years and I suddenly felt the need to go back to it. That's the way we pantsters roll I suppose.

Anyway, I'm finally back at it now that I can see the computer screen from more than six inches away. I don't think I'll be able to get Bound out before January - it only needs a few more chapters, but then come the revisions and edits. (And that doesn't include the fact that I might get side tracked again!) But at least my writing speed is up to normal again.

Hope you're all doing well etc, and if you are looking at cataract surgery, do check out negative photopsia - it's actually quite common.

Cheers, Greg.

Out Of Darkness

 Hi Guys,

Yes - Farry is finally published. It only took two years, give or take, got a new title - Out of Darkness -, and got rewritten half a dozen times! It also increased in size by 70 thousand words!

But some books are difficult - and this one has been a nightmare. The main problem has been the ending. I've had to rewrite it so many times to find the one that worked best. (Which sounds odd when there were only two possible endings - Farry was either going to end up with his former wife or his girlfriend - but there you have it!)

Still it's done and I still have a little hair left on my head!

But one thing I do have to say is that this is quite a heavy book. It starts off in a very dark place, which is why the ending was so tricky to write. I couldn't have my main man begin in such a bad place and end there as well. Yet given where he'd started it was always going to be impossible for him to find a perfectly happy ending. (Oh the problems of authors - always having to do the best we can for our characters! It's a heavy responsibility!)

Anyway I'm glad to finally have it finished so I can move on to something else - something lighter. And in the meantime I can wait for my eye surgery which shouldn't be too far away now. Really looking forwards to having someone come at my eye with a knife! And it'll be both eyes in time!

But that's life for me at the moment. I hope all of you are doing well, and best of wishes to any of you caught up in Hurricane Ian. It sounds really bad and I wish there was something I could say to help. But all I can really say is keep your chins up. I'm sure things will work out in time. They normally do even when things seem darkest.

Cheers, Greg.

 

 

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Conway - Ancient Space Travelling Humans In The Tropics Space Opera - On The Way.

Hi Guys,

Thought I'd let you know that I haven't been completely bone idle this past month or so. (I tried to be, but people and especially the cats wouldn't allow it!)

So this is the next book coming off the press - probably very shortly since it's already been through it's main revisions and edits. It's another ancient humans  from the stars space opera book - I sort of like that theme - with a few tweaks from other books. It may be slightly heavier than the Barton Villa books, and it's somewhat cynical about governments and rule (I'm just feeling that way a little lately!)

But the cover from 123RF looks glorious. Wierdest space craft I've ever seen and I love it! Actually it's supposed to be a shuttle - a futuristic steampunk space shuttle?! It took me a fair bit to get it looking like that by the way. This is the original image I purchased:

 

 

The original brilliant image is by 3000AD

And this is the first time ever the AGFA filter in Photoscape has actually been useful for me! But it gave me the start of the green grass. Then I had to use practically every other filter there was to bring up the colour and vibrancy and add some sky. It took me ages. But I love the result! It's not bad for a blind man! (At least until my cataract surgery in a few months!) 

But here's the thing - why shouldn't space craft be colourful?! Especially alien ones?! Why do they have to follow the set layout of colours and shapes - mostly metallic cylinders with pointed noses and stubby wings that the world seems to dictate? I'm not sure what the design language of this image is - kitchen utensil perhaps? - it looks to me like on of those old style loose tea brewing spoons - but I hope 3000AD has a few more of these coming!

Anyway the book is on the way, and hopefully not long after that I'll be able to actually see the computer screen again!

Cheers, Greg.

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It's out!!!

 Hi Guys,

Just to let you know, A Farmer's Tale is finally out! And man - this one has been a struggle! Not only did it keep growing and growing - I think it has finally ended up at 170 K - a lot of the time I spent writing, rewriting and then immediately unwriting it. I don't know how many revisions it's had. And then it had multiple edits while my eyes tried to commit suicide in my head!

But it's finally done and I feel good about it. Hugely relieved too - there were times when I doubted I would ever get it done. And now I'm sitting here wondering what to do next - is it finally time to take up drinking? (I've been watching a youtube film reviewer a bit lately - the Drinker - and he makes it sound like so much fun!)

A Farmer's Tale is an epic fantasy set in a world with multiple races and realms, most of them just a tiny step away from the traditional ones, and of course some demons - different ones for each race. I also tried to get rid of the idea of an uber powerful villain in this one. There is one - but he's no James Bond type Doctor No and you barely get to see him. He also does what he does for understandable if not acceptable reasons. I wanted this story to be less about over the top mad men and the battle to defeat them, and more about the struggle to survive what they've unleashed.

The other theme I made use of in this work was that small things, minor magics, could in time bring about the most terrible consequences. It's just a matter of adding that spell in the right (or wrong) place.In that it's not so much different to a disease. Just think of all the times and places in history where a disease like small pox has been introduced to a new population - and then see the absolutely horrible outcomes. Maybe it's not a nuclear bomb going off, but in time the results may actually be far worse.

Anyway it's out, and I'm exhausted. So I hope you'll all enjoy the book, while I'll enjoy a good long rest - and maybe a beer!

Cheers, Greg..

A Farmer's Tale

 Hi Guys,

Good news, for once. I just polished off the first draft of a new book - A Farmer's Tale. So hopefully it should be out in the next month. 

 The odd thing about it is that A Farmer's Tale wasn't one of the half dozen or so books that was on my to do list. It was something that I'd half written and then put aside meaning to complete, years ago. But then a couple of weeks ago I just suddenly felt the need to pick it up again. I suppose that's just life as a pantster!

The book is an epic fantasy - yes I'm returning a little bit to my writing roots, and it's a little bit like Maverick. It's centered around a guy called Arven who really isn't a wizard at all. He's a farmer with a few spells as he regularly tells his fellow mages. There are no wizards! (Which in his world is fairly accurate. There's also no staffs, spell books or flying broomsticks either. And spells are cast instinctively with no one knowing what the words that come out of their mouths or the gestures they make, mean. They just come to them. And magic is learned more or less by copying one another.) But as he is informed by the faen (faerie) Queens when everything turns to custard along with his life, he isn't meant to know the answers. He just knows the right questions to ask!

Anyway I'm deep into the book now, losing sleep as usual as the writing bug bites. But I thought I'd let you know that there is hope on the horizon. Oh and that image up top (which I love!), I might alter it a bit but it's the cover.

So best of luck with everything guys. And as always be good or don't get caught!

Cheers, Greg.