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Good News Everyone!

Hello all.  So glad to be able to share some more good news with you today: a short story of mine, “Mirror Twenty-Two” has been published!  It’s part of the online portion of the Haunted Waters Press ‘From the Depths’ magazine.

…And you can read it for free!  It’s a paranormal-military-action-horror.

“For our purposes, that little girl is no longer a little girl,” he said with measured calm.

I want to thank everyone that has subscribed to my blog.  It’s really nice to have a few people interested in my work.  I’m so, so grateful for your readership, and it’s nice that I can share some nifty things with you.  🙂

“Mirror Twenty-Two” by H.G. Bleackley

Hopefully I’ll have something more in this universe to share in the new year; I’m working with an artist to adapt another story into comic form.  I’m really excited about that one… And I really dig the world I’m building using short stories.  I think there might be something more there, something bigger.

Also, I’m adapting my latest novel into a screenplay, which I will start shopping around in January/February.  My screenplay chops are a little rusty, but it’s coming along.

So I’ll keep writing, and submitting, and sharing.

Thanks once again for reading.

Heidi out.

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Robert Browning followed me home after a movie last week…

…and keeps whispering in my ear.

All he says is this:

At times I almost dream
I too have spent a life the sages’ way,
And tread once more familiar paths. Perchance
I perished in an arrogant self-reliance
Ages ago; and in that act, a prayer
For one more chance went up so earnest, so
Instinct with better light let in by death,
That life was blotted out—not so completely
But scattered wrecks enough of it remain,
Dim memories, as now, when once more seems
The goal in sight again.

Sooo… What I’m saying here is go see Cloud Atlas.  3 hours, beautiful, and worth it.  I remain heartbroken that it is drastically similar to a project I’ve been toying with; it may have to wait for a while, until editors are through a phase of submissions inspired by the movie.

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Adding to the melee of ideas

I’ve been seeing a ton of great writing recently.  Not in print mind you, I’ve been woefully inadequate in my reading habits lately, but on screen.

Skyfall was just fantastic.  The direction was brilliant, the cinematography a veritable bath of candy for my eyes, and the script- well damn.  The actors of course brought it to life with gusto, but they couldn’t have done so without the words there to work with.  Javier Bardem took it and ran with it, to great, great effect.

Some possible spoilers (but amazing images) in an album of amazing shots from Skyfall.

Fantastic imagery.

Also, something you may not have seen, is a cartoon called Gravity Falls, which I’ve been hearing all all about and finally started watching.  It’s a) extremely well written b) cute c) hilarious d) all of the above.

I can’t wait to see Grampton St. Rumpterfrabble as the rousable cockswain Saunterblugget Hampterfuppinshire.

Here’s an episode to get you interested.  I hope it can get some more buzz so we can see more episodes; the writers on this one have got it goin’ on!

And then there’s Wreck It Ralph.  Amazing!  The script is just awesome.  I’ve never heard the term “Pixar Level Script” until I heard people all abuzz about this film.  And it’s true.

How awesome for Pixar to have put out such a consistently amazing product that it’s become synonymous with tight storytelling. Trailer below.

And now I’m off to the cafe to sit and think and drink awhile while I stir the pots that have been simmering on my back burners.  Recently my mind stove has upgraded from a two element deal to four.  :O!  This means I have to pick my next project?  I have multiples I could be pursuing?  Man oh man.  Well, time to go suss them out.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you get a chance to take in some amazing storytelling on the big or small screen!

Heidi out.

P.S. Cloud Atlas is next up on my list, and hopefully this week I’ll get to Seven Psychopaths as well.  It’s a good fall for movies! 

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“Why Stories Should Never Begin At The Beginning”: A Xpost by Chuck Wendig

Why Stories Should Never Begin At The Beginning.

He makes his point quickly, and he makes it well.

“The point is that I got to the fucking point.”  

Just give it a read.  It’s fast and it stabs right at the heart of the problem that oh-so-many writers experience, myself included.

I also have a counter to it though…

I loved this post and thought it was great advice.

That being said, this trend of starting right in the action, with you main character in the worst trouble of their life, has me of two minds.

On the one hand, it makes for compelling reading that draws you in lickety-split.

But on the other, what is happening to exposition, to showing characters how they are *before* they are fighting for their life? So often we’re dropped right into a compelling tale without having really any idea of *who* the main character is, what they’re like normally.

I’m hearing more and more editors and publishers saying you have to hook your audience on the first page, in the first paragraph, in the *first sentence*. Well ok, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to go back and give a little exposition after I bait the hook.

I don’t write my books like I’m telling the story to a friend in a bar, because that’s not what I’m doing. They’re reading a book. And if the story is compelling enough, I want them to be able to have the attention span to read what’s going on a little bit before my character is bleeding to death on the steps of the art gallery.

Thanks for reading.

Heidi out.

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The Breakfast of Champions

Well, my meat lovers pizza was a success.  It was… delicious.

Bacon, ham, and homemade sausage.  Caramelized onions.  Mushrooms.  It was great.

And did I mention cheese?  A bed of mozzarella with a topping of old cheddar?  Yeah.

The Breakfast of Champions.

Last night was Mediterranean, tonight is Hawaiian.

But first, rewriting a terrifying short story to tighten it up for submission to Dark Light 2.

Cheers guys.

Heidi out.

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Pals of the Pen Variety

I got myself some pen pals!  So far I’ve written two letters (hand written) on the topics of the destruction of mankind, and the colonization of space.  I’m expecting the first letters from two others, for a total of four pen pals!  I’m excited.

Well, the hunt for an agent is… happening.  I want to say going well, in that I’ve found several agents who I feel would really dig my book, AND who I’d like to work with.  So yes, in that regard, it’s going well.  As ever, the rejection letters are trickling in.  I had my fastest one ever today; 24 minutes!  It seems fast, but then, if it’s not right for someone, I’d rather know sooner rather than later.  🙂

I’ve been trying to get to know the agents I’m submitting to a little more before I contact them.  For some, it’s a bit hard if they don’t have a big internet presence.  They best ones so far have been agents with blogs, and that have done interviews.  My favourite has been Eddie Schneider, who did this fantasic AMA on Reddit a while ago.  That was really great to read, not just to get to know more about him as an agent!

Also happening on Reddit right now, is an AMA by author Michael J. Sullivan.  I have great respect for him; everywhere he shows up in r/writing he imparts so much wisdom, so many useful tidbits.  He answered a lengthy question of mine today! Thanks Michael.

On the non-writing front, The Walking Dead.  Is.  Fantastic.  I haven’t cried that hard during a TV show in quite a while; this last episode, “Killer Within” had me bawling my eyes out.  MAN.  What excellent acting.

I participated in the Reddit Halloween exchange.  My gifter sent me this:

Fun!  I sent my match some interesting candy, including White Rabbits, a Double Decker bar, and a few other yummies.  Oh, and a big fake spider.  >:)

DELICIOUS.

This years Reddit Secret Santa is live!  Sure to be a record breaker.

…You know what else is delicious?  Pizza.  I’m making a meat lovers tonight, from scratch.  Using sausage I made myself.  I’m excited.  And then tomorrow, a Hawaiian.  Then the next day, Veggie Mediterranean.  Gosh, pizza is awesome.

Pics to follow.  🙂

Cheers guys.  Thanks for reading.

Heidi out.

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Awesome! Now how do I work this thing…

Thanks to everyone who took my poll! I got a lot of responses. Now I’m trying to figure out how to make a pretty graph using the google docs data… I’ll get back to you when I’ve got it looking presentable. Cheers!

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Weekly Top Lists and Polls!

Hey guys.  Sorry I’ve been bad about updating; it just feels like I can only post “I’m working on it” so many times.  😉  But yeah, the manuscript is done.  I’m now waiting for my beta readers to get back to me, and their notes are trickling in.

I met with a high school book club on Monday, which garnered me 10 contacts in my target audience!  I’m extremely pleased but also nervous as butts.  Writing it is one thing, having other people read it is entirely another.  Good ol’ Alot of Doubts rearing his stupid ugly head again…

Onwards!  I have decided, to keep my posts regular, that I shall post a Top 5 list every week, with an accompanying poll for all you awesome readers to take part in.  I’m hoping this can get us all thinking and talking about our favourite whatevers!

Why top 5?  Well, top 10 seems overdone, and much too easy.  I tried to just do top 3, but that was far too hard!  I ended up with runners up, which defeats the purpose.  So, I have settled on a top 5.  Each choice pertains to my ‘elemental’ theme, with each selection relating to the ‘element’ I pair it with, if only esoterically, and often without explanation  Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and, sort of the runner-up category, Heart.

I was going to call it the EFWWH List, but that felt like tripping at the finish line.  So I’m going to go with “The Captain’s Five”.  Aside from the obvious Captain Planet reference, it sounds cooler, and more sci-fi.

So I give you, without much further ado, the first “The Captain’s Five” List and Poll!

The Captain’s Five:

Top Sci-Fi Novels

“Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card

This is a quintessential Sci-Fi read.  Compelling and extremely well written, it has characters that get under your skin, that get inside your head.  The story follows a boy bred for Battle School who must take charge and lead the other children as they prepare for another war with the alien “buggers”.  The whole series, and the shadow series from another character’s perspective, is at the top of the sci-fi food-group pyramid.

“The Hyperion Cantos” by Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons’ “Hyperion” and “The Fall of Hyperion” are just, absolutely, stunning.  Sci-fi at its best.  Set in the far future, the first book contains the stories of the pilgrims sent on the suicidal Shrike Pilgrimage to face a terrible being who contorts time and breathes death.  Beautiful and terrifying, it is full of wonder.
“Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

It may have been the timing of me reading this one, namely in the formative grade 8 adventures into more ‘adult’ lit, but this one really struck home.  I think my English teacher was rather horrified when I championed some of the ideas in the book.  Eugenics to steer the future of the human race?  What’s not to love!  Oh, maybe not the way they taylor the classes, people bred to be stupid, you know, for slaves.  0_O
“Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus” by Orson Scott Card

I know I know, two OS Card’s on the list?  Well, he *is* my favourite author.  And the two I picked are knight and day different.  Pastwatch goes about the business of studying humanity by peering back through time, literally spying on people as they go about their lives, unaware they’re being watched by the future’s anthropologists.  But when the earth reaches the tipping point where we’ll be unable to survive on it, Pastwatch embarks on a mission to save it by sending people back in time, to strategic places, to try and correct the mistakes of our past.  Absolutely fantastic.  This is my most lent, and most bought-as-a-gift book.
“WWW” (“Wake”, “Watch”, and “Wonder”) by Robert J. Sawyer

I think Robert J. Sawyer is brilliant at seeing the world, and telling us how it’s going to be.  Or rather, how it’s going to be if just this one thing happened.  In WWW, that one thing is a sentient being coming into existence in cyberspace.  It’s gripping, and asks some truly important questions on what it means to be human, and what our reaction to such a scenario is likely to be.

So, thus concludes the first ever Captain’s Five!  I hope you enjoyed it.  Mayhaps I’ve left you with a new book or two to find and read?  🙂

Now: take the poll!  Let everyone know what *your* favourite sci-fi book is.  Results published along with next week’s “Captain’s Five”!

…Please ignore “Sample Question 2″…  Ain’t nobody got time for that.  >_<