Time and Space

School holidays here at the museum… Ug. And I am here in the only relative silence and wifi access I’m going to have all day to send a message out to the rest of the world.

Time is linear.

Argue if you want, but if I sell you a ticket to go to a show and you go to that show 2 hours early, please do not be surprised if they don’t let you in. Don’t be annoyed when they point out that you are, in fact, 2 hours early. Don’t treat that person as if they’re a Nazi, because they aren’t. They’re just not as dumb as you.

And don’t say “oh, is that how we do it” when the situation is explained to you. We’re going from left to right here, guys, top to bottom, A to Z, from midnight to midnight in the same direction as we did yesterday…

Hello Blog – you poor shunned thing

So, I admit it.  I ignore the blog.  Duh.  I’m going to make an effort NOT to, in future, but that’ll mean that blog posts will sometimes be short and lame and mean nothing to anyone who isn’t me.

In my internet wanderings, I found a letter written to Billy Joe of Green Day from the parent of a fan who said (in part) that she (the parent) didn’t approve of the language or content of some of their songs.  His response is pretty awesome.  I’ll quote my favorite part:

“I don’t write music for parents, grandparents, or eight year olds. I write for myself and I’ll say anything I damn well please. That’s the difference between you and me. I do what I want…. You do what you’re told. “

You can read both sides of the snail mail conversation at Letters of Note.  Now, I can get back to a short story (the first I’ll have written in something like a year) full of support groups and devil boxes and a girl with a keyhole tattoo at the nape of her neck…

Tales from the “Door”

So here I am at Scienceworks, rostered at the “Door” for the next hour or so.

Imagine a place you want to go. Now put a person in front of you who wants you to already have a ticket in order to get in there. That’s the Door, and it’s about a third of my day. It’s as close to First Contact as I’m ever going to get, probably, and customers often play their part in my culture clash/alien life scenarios.

Encounter 1

Them: Do we need a ticket to come in here?

I: Yes you do.

Them: Is it this one? (Proceeds to show me the ticket that EVERY visitor gets upon general entry to the museum)

I: I’m sorry sir, that’s not the one. (Unspoken: Why would they pay me to take a ticket from you that everyone gets at a desk that is nine steps away from me? Why is it not clear that I am sitting here as a visual clue that SOME people will not be allowed access to this space?)

Encounter 2

Them: Is that an iPad?

I: Yes it is.

Them: Can I have it?

I: Has that ever worked on anyone before? And no.

Encounter 3

Them: Is this where the dinosaurs are?

I: (shouting over the roar of a 1/4 scale Apatosaurus that is plainly visible behind me) Yes.

Them: (Cupping their hand to their ear.) I’m sorry?

I: (Pointing at the beast and speaking louder still) The dinosaurs are in there, yes!

Them: Oh. Well we were looking for the Planetarium. (Wanders off…)

Something cool

Looks like my story “Jumbuck” from Aurealis has the honour of being named in the Recommended Reading List that Ticonderoga Press just put up on their website.  Cool, huh?  I’m particularly pleased to see so many friends on the list as well.  One big happy family…    Also, it warms my heart to see “Jumbuck” get a little attention.  It’s the only real Aussie thing I’ve ever written, and I’m quite proud of it!

 

A little bit of news

Firstly, chapter 28 is up and ready for readers over at www.arizonaafterwards.com – Have a look.  Moved beyond the halfway point last week, which is always nice.

Secondly, I’m up to page 135/262 on the YA novel, which is just past halfway there, too.  The end needs more work than the beginning, though, so the ratio of work done vs. work yet to be done will swing in the other direction.

Thirdly, got the Galleys for “Where We Go To Be Made Lighter” which will be included in The Year’s Best Fantasy & Horror, which should be available soonish.

And, what are we up to, Fourthly, found out on Friday that my story “Letters of Love from the Once and Newly Dead”, which won last year’s Australian Horror Writers Short Story Contest has been selected for inclusion in the 2011 edition of Award Winning Australian Writng.  I’m really proud of this story, which (I think) looks at all this Zombie stuff from a different angle.  Chris, I say to myself, what would be more scary than a Zombie coming for you.  Well, I say back, what if they DON’T come for you.  How can I make that even more frightening?

Go here if you have a Kindle (or the Kindle app) and an extra $2.99 that you’d like to trade for this story and 13 others…

So, it turned out to be a big week…

Yep.  Put my first collection of short stories on the Amazon Kindle store and finalized the Table of Contents for the second one, which will be ready in a few weeks.  If you’re interested, feel free to have a gander over at Amazon and see if it sounds like something you’d be interested in reading…

Oh yeah, the dangers…

Clearly, part of the problem with blogging at 6:30 in the morning is that I am not capable of thought before approx. 1 in the afternoon.  That’s why I didn’t list any dangers in a post partially about the damgers of “knowing” where you’re going.  Here’s the main danger, at least for me.

My thoughts drift in the direction of an Arizona Afterwards sequel…