07:37 GMT, Thursday 4th November. Sat at my desk, a churning mix of blue sky and ragged dark clouds are throwing stormy light in through the glass canopy behind me. Life support is blowing warm air across my bare legs; I’m wrapped in the woolly embrace of Starsky and have a big mug of strong tea beside me. Clan of Xymox is playing by choice, on vinyl, conjuring memories of a life and a world 21 years and 320 miles distant.
I’m enjoying a moment of relative quiet and calm. I’ve got a potentially tough few days ahead of me.
Yesterday, 3rd November, I published my fifth novel, Dog Eat Dog is born. A new release in science fiction & fantasy. Very much a soft launch. New fiction: a story set within the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn. There are zombies although within the story, the term is seen as a misnomer generated by popular media of survivors. And, as with much of my writing, there’s a far reaching influence of some Cthulhu Mythos nasty: a Great-Old-One and Servitor Race combination I created for the Yellow Dawn world. I’ve not seen a copy of the book yet so I’m trusting it’s a-okay. Should get to see it next week. Meanwhile, press release here
So that’s all good.
But, I’m approaching anniversary of my mum dying, or rather, of watching the final days of my mum starving to death. I’ve been fending off memories that have been bubbling up over the past few days, shoving them back down with a mental force of will, but I reckon very soon it’s going to hit me full force. Pretty grim. And a horrible reminder of the massive gap that has been created in my life by her absence.
I’m also starting to read the blog entries I made during the whole experience this time last year. Part of the process, I guess. Rememberance.
I’m flying to Newcastle tonight. Part of me is saying, WTF! Why are you going? There’s a family home of 30+ years with the guts, heart and soul ripped out of it. An empty vessel that’s just going to be a freezing and haunting remdinder of everything that’s now gone. Hmm.
There are friends there. Good friends. So that’s why I’m going.
And to build and burn a bonfire with Pete, next door. Those who know me will know why, and know the story.
So Dog Eat Dog is done and dusted. Lots of marketing ahead which I’ve started and am enjoying; actually reaching out to people, to humans, and saying “hello” rather than being tucked away inside this room at the top of a house with a lofty view of a city and rolling hills.
I’m going to delay launching Living In Flames, the novel I wrote between July and September this year.
It means I’ll soon be able to turn my attention back to Yellow Dawn. I’ve been scouring RPG forums and blogs looking for critiques on the game, to help me build up a bug list of things I need to improve. Found a fantastic one by Mornwraith on RPGNet yesterday. I’m hoping to approach some people on UK Roleplayers and my long time favourite Yog-Sothoth dot com. I’m also looking for people to support my vision and carry it forward, out into the blogosphere and the wider web beyond. So busy months ahead. It you’re into Yellow Dawn and want to monitor progress with the next stage, then bookmark this link, and please feel free to participate.
Talking of zombies. I went to Bristol’s Zombie Walk last weekend. The Dead Will Rise. Bloody excellent. I think there was about 3,000 zombies turned up. Pics and videos (including a great one of zombies dancing to a zombie rock band playing Ghostbusters theme) on this link here.
Braiinnsssss
Finally, I’m giving away some of my work at the end of the month. If you want to grab a chance to win, follow this link.
That’s it.
Djr
