It takes some fairly standard science-fiction tropes and mixes them up a little to provide what I hope is an enjoyable little tale. It was also an interesting experiment in writing in the first person as opposed to the third, which I usually do. The result of the British Fantasy Societies short-story competition will be announced at the British Fantasy Awards ceremony, due to be held as part of Fantasy Con in York during September 2014. So unless it selected for publication (in which case there's a six-month moratorium subsequent to publication in the BFS Journal) my entry 'The Dead Don't Talk' will probably appear on the blog in October for your critical appraisal.
The other rapidly approaching deadlines that I have to deal with are the launch of my second novel Exiles on Friday 25 July (available to pre-order now which I may have mentioned on previous blogs) and the National Three Peaks Challenge on 26 and 27 July. It's going to be one hell of a weekend at the end of July.
There's been a bit of friction in the three peaks team this week on how we time the challenge. There are at least four widely excepted definitions in circulation and somewhat predictably the more macho members of the team want to use the most extreme and least flexible interpretation. I might go into this and some of the many other controversies surrounding the challenge (not the team) after the event. In the meantime please have a look at the teams page and consider sponsoring us.
There was also a bit of friction on the climbing wall this or rather nor enough, practicing for my autumn challenge for children in need this week, as I fell off on one occasion. Suffice to say the alpine harnesses used at the centre in question are not the most comfortable on the market and resulted in some rather embarrassing and somewhat tender bruising of more than just my ego.