Every creative gets this question sooner or later: those asking think it’s the most natural thing in the world to ask about this ‘mysterious’ process. Those questioned, however, can’t help wondering where don’t you get ideas?! The truth is inspiration comes from the oddest things (that’s why we carry notebooks) but it can also be…
Category: inspiration
Art as Influence
You might be surprised to hear that the Chastity Flame series (recently referred to as Fifty Shades of James Bond by one reviewer :-D) derives a lot of its inspiration from art. While the immediate influences are of course Mr Fleming’s secret agent and Peter O’Donnell’s Modesty Blaise, the story begins in front of the…
NoirCon, Brigadoon, Writerage, and Two Hard Boiled Eggs
I realise I never got around to finishing the write up of Noircon. Life intervened. There was that September that would never leave! And then the October that barely shouted hello as it scarpered past. And now we’re past the midpoint of November and eek! So much to be done — thus, I need to…
The Next Big Thing
I got tagged by my pal Vic Watson to talk about my ‘next big thing’ (i.e. work in progress), so here we go: Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing What is the working title of your book? White Rabbit. Where did the idea come from for the book? A couple of things: I…
New Release: Unquiet Dreams
“Unquiet Dreams is the long, deep plunge in the coldest quarry in the woods; the lingering look under the rotting wood at all the writhing life there; the stare into the abyss until one realizes something is staring back.” ~ S. R. Bissette, creator of Tyrant, Taboo, Teen Angels & New Mutants and illustrator of…
From Alba to Albany
By the time this posts, I should be on my way via planes, trains and automobiles (not to mention the bus to the airport in Edinburgh). It’s hard to believe my fantastic year has drawn to a close. Needless to say, I have no wish to leave Scotland and already have my ticket back. My…
Tuesday’s Overlooked A/V: The Hitch-Hiker
Ida Lupino’s film noir debut, available free thanks to the Open Culture site. If you don’t know about them — well, there goes your productivity for the day. Books, audio and films galore. The RADA-trained English daughter of a stage comedian became best known for her increasingly dark films, no less than when she turned…
Re-Imagining the Olympics
The 2012 Olympics are over. If you weren’t in the UK you might not have been aware of just how transformative these two weeks were. That I’m even talking about it is evidence enough. Like many of my geek and writer friends I’ve often found myself in the position of fighting against the popular attention…
Profiled at Eden Baylee’s Blog & News
I am profiled over at Eden Baylee’s blog today. Drop by and say hello to find out what lurks inside my mind lately. I suppose it’s the usual sort of thing, but Eden has some interesting questions that I have not had in an interview before, so maybe you will learn a few new things…
History Witch: Anglo-Saxon Death
I think the impulse that defines an academic nature is that one responds to difficult moments by turning to the past to see how others have coped with similar times. So still reeling from unexpected grief, I turn to history as I contemplate the ways we deal with the inevitability of parting from those we…