thargoid5

Been awhile since I posted. Have been busy. had Christmas, fixed my car, did some writing, got a new job. Also got a payrise. all in all, an extra 12k over my old job. happy times. too bad its all going to the mortgage still....

Gave 'Coercion' a final edit then sent it out for publishing. 'Blazing! Adventures' agreed to publish it and pay me for it.

I did a final edit on Soontill and sent thatout to Analog Science Fiction and Fact. I don't really expect them to say 'yes' but there is no harm in dreaming. onlyc ost $13 in postage ;) I think it is the best written story I have done yet and will keep sending it out until someone accepts it.

My online story Saga I have been working on with others at www.alioth.net has stalled. To fill in the gap I started writing a story about my same character, but a couple of years before the online story. the first rough draft is almost done. its about 12000 words now. will be about 15000 when finished.

I've also has several short stories and articles published in 'Canta', the magasine of the University of Canterbury.

In non writing news, I spent some more time on my car, in the air intake area. Not happy with how she is driving. Feels starved of air, the car is trying too hard. Made a heat shield out of aluminium and shaped it like a funn around the back of the air filter. also did some ducting to the side of it to bring in fresh (ie cooler) air. tightened up the throttle cable and played with the spark plug leads. I cleaned the mass air flow sensor and then sprayed some cleaner into the throttle body. All in all, its running better than it was before, but its not a particularly exciting engine, so I shouldn't expect too much from it.

Another dark cold day in Wellington. I still havent brought any wet weather gear, cos where im from, rain is the exception, not the rule.
stupid hilly city....

My car failed its warrant. this is after i spent $330 on new tyres. the front left strut is leaking. i had it replaced 3 years ago. had a look. cant see any leaks! Wheel alignment is also stuffed, so thats coming on friday. just what i need: $1000 warrant of fitness just before christmas. Tis the season i suppose.

Havent done much writing, but got back into rewriting my short story Soontill. I got further critiques of my story. The majority of people really enjoyed it, but it had a few short falls: 'show not tell' and characterisation. Thought I had better look up what 'show dont tell' means and was quite suprised that YES, i was actually doing it quite wrong. Its funny how the websites with writing instruction tell you how to 'show not tell' and struggle to show. the examples never really seem to help me write my own, but im trying. I have written back stories for my main two guys, so hopefully that will help in my rewrite. Im cutting out some of the initial parts, before they go through the Gateway. Its not like theres boring parts, the whole story is action, but i guess the action after the gateway is more important, which is a shame cos i had some really neat scenes near the beginning i wanted to keep. I guess thats the name of the game though.

11 days till the summer hols, and then 5 days of work after thatn then i start my new job. woop woop! more money and something that might actually stimulate my mind instead of slowing killing me.

We can only hope...

Sri Lanka dives to 63/5 under Bonds wiltering attack. Good stuff. He is some kind of deity, that Bond fellow.

Which reminds me, saw the new Casino Royale last night. very different. very dark. the new bond is one cold fish.

works well :)

In the land of writing, I got my short (10k word) story critiqued and there was a mixed response. Some really loved it; a fast paced action story that carried them away. some were more critical of characterisation and 'show dont tell'. Im happy with the way the story is at the moment, but padding out as suggested will make the story longer. im therefore thinking of cutting the initial chapter and a half down al ittie bit. some very exciting sequences in there, but although they are fun and exciting, they are just getting from A to B, doesn't actually move the plot along. probably best if they go.

Also, my hero seems to absorb a little too much damage and not relaly feel it. suffering from Bruce Willis syndrome i guess. Can't be a bad thing, can it? ;)


the Elite story at www.alioth.net is going along nicely. A bit of a conflict between two other writers, but we worked together to resolve it. their conflicting story arcs were combined and made to work. de Havilland is in the thick of things as always. Stenson is still hanging on by a thread. The last few posts I have done with Stenson have been small, him simply trying to keep up with the criminals. He isn't really making much progress and so he is losing his fun. I need to get him into the thick of things, but everyone else is in the thick of things, so it'll start getting a little crowded and becomes a little unrealistic if everyone happens to be in the same place at the same time. Will have to figure osmething out...
or just kill him...he's not my main character anyway ;)

Well the Elite online story has been re-collated into a bigger and badder PDF system by Selezen at: http://www.hughesd.co.uk/elite/content/hpa2.asp

he is doing an awesome job - it is up to date as of today.

Finally finished my short story Soontill. Well, when i say finished, I mean completed the second edit and submitted to a critique group to see what they think of it. Once i have cleaned up any problems they find, I'll be looking for a buyer :) hopefully it sells!

not much happening in the real world. Got a new job offer and a mint as pay rise (10grand) though its twice as far from home, so more travelling. have a mortage so i'll just have to deal with it. Also got sick for some reason. Not really the kind of thing I would do, but there you go.

Well it's been awhile since I last updated this site, and quite a bit has happened.

Firstly, I took my girlfriend to melbourne, then looking out upon the art centre and Yarra river, with the setting sun in the background, I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. she said 'Of course', which threw me; I was waiting for a 'Yes', but it was just as good.

totally suprised her, which was good, though I thought it would be obvious, and we had been going out for five years, so as she wasn't waitng expectantly, maybe she had given up waiting :)

Bathurst has come and gone. the biggest day of the year. And quite disapointing. Steven "I blame others for all my screw ups" Richards spilt oil in front of Cameron McConville, who speared off at the beginning of the Esses into the wall and backwards into the sandpit, ending his and Greg Murphys day.

Bitterly disappointing, on top of the first corner crash of Mark Skaife.

I am a holden man, but still a fan of Lowndes, so mixed reactions to the win. Still i enjoyed the day. Who can say no to cars going around in circles for 8 hours?


Onto writing news.....

I entered a story into the Sunday Times / Random House short story competition here in New Zealand. My story was called 'Coercion' and was about a poor shop owner, who in a fit of anger chased after the hooligans trashing his store. unfortunately for him, they were connected to organised crime and he found himself forced to help the mafia, through allowing them access to his building for deals. One deal goes awry and he ends up in prison where crooked cops inform him to stay quiet or lose his familiy (which he had hidden away, but to no avail) On transfer to 'downtown' he escapes, and with police on his tail, finds the mafia people and his wife being kept prisoner. Happy ending all round.

I normally don't have success with these competitions as the judges always seem to go with boring /bland stories about nothing. well I mean they are character driven stories, but they are either about nothing, a reflection on the narrators past or something insignificant. I could never write that kind of stuff, but 'Coercion' was a lot more mainstream than what i normally do (Sci Fi) So i thought i was in with a chance.

No luck. didn't even make the long list. Was a bit bummed about that.

I have written a short story, well 10000 words ish which is based in this science fiction universe I had made previously for the large novel I have written. Its in its editing stage and I plan to send it off to E-Zines when its finished, and hopefully someone will like it.

I joined a group called Critters (www.critters.org) which is basically you send in a story and others read it and give you fresh perspective on whats wrong with it, using constructive critism. has been good for me so far. While basically everyone thinks my stories ar ehigh paced and exciting, they do lack in some other areas, which I have to work on.

Have decided to go back to the drawing board for my big novel. cut it up, rehash it, start from scratch, i decided to redo it from the bottom up. Make it more 'real' and so forth.

The online multi-author story arc still continues on www.alioth.net. Alot has happened since last time and the story is becoming quite tense. Of the 3 original Mosser clones, only one is left, who has teamed up with my first character, but only because Mosser can protect my guy. They have returned to the Azure Sunset to find the recently killed Mosser # 2, killed by two new guys who have joined the story recently. Unlike the first HPA Saga, this one is more wide reaching, invovling more of the Elite universe and due to the unplanned nature of the posts, is more instinctive, unpredictable and exciting. I am really hyped about where its going. Its fan fiction, so it doesn't have a future, but I am currenlty compiling the story parts together into a single volume. Once its finished, i plan to clean it up and then change the universe the story is in (such as ship names etc) then we can make a real story. the possibility is there.

Well I've added a few more entries to this multi person story arc that ive been contributing to at www.alioth.net. I've taken my main character to the point where he is now waiting for another of the characters to come and find him, as he has the information one of them is looking for. Of course the character looking for the information (Well there are three of them: Clones) have another lead on the information, so whether they will actually meet up with my character or not is uncertain, but thast the beauty of unscripted and unorganised story writing with others.

We'll see what happens!

Now I've got some spare writing time, so I'm going to start on some new writing. A new novel possibly, or maybe some serial short pieces. My name is currently in print, but only in my University Magasine. I would like to expand on this.

Will keep you posted.....

It takes a special man to find humour in death, violence and racism, but thats ok. Humour, to me, has always been about escapism. The mood of the world getting you down? Cut a joke at the worlds expense! If you laugh at anything, including yourself, you've got mental armour that can get you through anything.

Try this guy. James, "Danger" Squires.
www.orphan.co.nz

this guy is F'ing brilliant. His comics define my sense of humour. It is as if they are tailor made to suit me.
Goddamn awesome. I love them.

Its not classic humour taking the piss out of something, or parodying something, such as The Farside where Dr Holiday and the boys show up at the 'Okilidokily Corral' and the owner telling them they have the wrong place.

No, this is more brutally blunt. Its often so stupid, its only funny cos its so dumb. But there in lies its genius.

Imagine a giant floating head, telling his servant to get him a semi colon. The servant turns to a second servant and is like 'i so dont know what that means' and the second servant says 'be honest with the floating head. i am sure he will understand.'

the servant tells the head the truth, he gets all angry and says: "Insolent fool! i will let you live on one condition: Bring me an ampersand!"

That humour could be to subtle for some of you.
I couldn't stop laughing for an hour when i read that...though i was drunk at the time.

If thast not your style, imagine two fellas confronting a real ugly dude:
Guy 1: "We dont care you're ugly.
Guy 2: "No, we just care about whats inside!'

Ugly man: smiles.

Guy 1 & 2: "Gold!" (complete with hands thrown in the air and big wide smiles. In the next frame they proceed to guy the ugly man and all this shiny metal falls out.

Sick you say? Classic I say.

Anyway, go to his website.

I have been reading Frank Herberts 'Children of Dune', well still am: thirty pages from the end. Leto Atreides has just transformed himself into something other than human.

But the focus of my thoughts isn't what Leto does, but what he thinks, or really, what the author is thinking.

this is a slow book.

When i can normally zoom through a piece of text, this book is so slow, that after half an hour, i can find ive barely covered ten pages.

What is wrong?

I'm going to assume its not me:) I think its mainly due to the contect. There is a lot of thinking going on, alot of internal monologue, characters thinking about stuff. lots of stuff. crazy, out of this world stuff.

Herbert can fill up an entire page on Leto's description of the spice induced world he travels through with 'planes of existence' and 'collisions of reality' etc etc.

I think its just too many random words thrown together. it takes too much computer power to put all these crazy words together and try and understand what Herbert is saying. It becomes a chore instead of an enjoyment. I dont give up on books, so i am struggling through, but it is hard.

I have Karen Traviss' Triple Zero on my bookshelf. I saw it for the first time in a NZ book store about two weeks ago and bagged it staight away, and am quite keen to read it, but gotta finish this current one first!

I have some authors who write such fast paced stories and i think i'll just keep going for a bit, then find half the book gone. Late at night, i'll just keep going till its finished.

These authors are the likes of Lee Child (starring Jack Reacher) and Matthew Reilly (starring, among aothers, Shane Schofield).

These guys are brilliant. Reilly is on the unbelieveable side (ie physics) but it is so much fun you tend to overlook it and just go along for the ride.



----------


I havent done any writing in a few days. Went up north to Auckland for the weekend and now its back to work (yay :( ) I'm going to try and fit some in. Next up is a segment for Kim Stenson. He is going to finally plug a few holes and make a few connection in his case.

Well thats all for now.

Later

the second part of the multi-story collaberation that I and others have been working on has been PDFised and is availble at:

http://www.hughesd.co.uk/elite/content/files/documents/Deathwreaker_HPA2_2.pdf

That brings it up to date so far. I'm not sure what the other authors are planning exactly..I mean i kind know some stuff, but not the details, but somewhere along the line things are going to combine up and it'll be all on!

Kim Stenson and Vasquith de Havilland all have detailed personalities and backstories, each with their own problems, vices, traits etc. I know where they are going to end up and how they are going to get half way there. Still working on the rest ;)

Later

-John

Just got my live journal.

Nothing to write about. woop woop. I can feel this is going to be a waste of time.

I am currently writing two stories. One I am writing as a science fiction novel, which i hope to get published, the other is a fun story, part of a group writing effort for a multi story arc piece set in the elite universe. It is being published piece by piece, by me and the other authors at www.alioth.net

My other story, naturally, is top secret. I am currently in the second edit stage, though I am waiting for my english graduate sister to give it a once over before I keep going.

fast paced science fiction adventure with sizzling action sequences. I dont deal in stereotypical heroes though. Screw Han Solo for a joke. I love the man but i'm not going to copy him. the best kind of hero is not a great man or even a special man, but an ordinary fellow who does extroadinary things in extroadinary times.

Many stories deal with events that 'can change the fate of the world'.

boring! who cares about that. the world has been threatened so many times you expect it to be saved every time.

But the stories can change the fate (and living status) of the heroes in their corner of the universe. Hopefully my characters are exciting enough and you like them enough that you will actually care if they live or die :)

I'll update as I make progress. check out: http://www.hughesd.co.uk/elite/content/files/documents/Deathwreaker_HPA2.pdf

my characters are Vasquith de Havilland and Kim Stenson. Warning: the editing process has been somewhat overlooked in this story, but hey, its still readable!

-peace out

John



Peace out.

-John