Current mood:	good
Current music:	Bon Jovi - "Lost Highway"

I live again...

On the internet I mean. My presence on the web has been minimal for the last six weeks or so, due mainly to the fact we moved house and it took an eternity to get the new place sorted out with telephone and broadband. Still, we got there in the end and are now the proud owners of our own house as well as two hyperactive kittens that spend their days wrestling and leaping all over the furniture. 

It took a few weeks to get the broadband sorted but it's now up and running, which is good because I felt like we were living in the Stone Age. It's certainly nice to be back in the 21st century. 

Anyway, back to the writing. The Ashes of Autumn is still with Aberrant Dreams, no news on that yet. The Watcher, as I've previously mentioned, will be appearing in Flashspec Vol 2 and this has just gone to press. Should be well worth the wait. There is a new website for the volume with a finalised list of what order the stories are appearing in. The Watcher is sixth out of thirty-four, which is pretty cool. Check out the website: http://www.flashspec.equilibriumbooks.com/volume2.htm

I've been thinking recently of writing a few short stories involving some of the characters from the novel I'm planning, just to help me get under their collective skins a little more and to keep the creative juices pumping while I flesh out the novel a bit. The first characters I wanted to tackle were Graven and Barusk, the two clansmen. I think I mentioned before that I was looking forward to writing about these guys. They didn't disappoint me. Over the space of a week I wrote a story called 'A Song for the Dead' which opens with the two guys on the run in a frozen forest from some pursuing skath (sort of like werewolves). Exhausted and with nowhere to turn, they take shelter in some ruins, waiting for the inevitable final battle. The skath however, refuse to follow and after a while depart. Graven and Barusk are initially confused, however the strange presence that lingers over the ruins offers a subtle clue...and when darkness falls, the pair discover why you really shouldn't go camping in the woods. At least not without an Axe of Mightiness +7...Graven manages to save the day, not with one his well-aimed arrows, but with an ancient song of olden days...

I'll be sending the story to Jelly, my faithful reading troll, and then will be looking to find it a home. I am thinking at the moment of trying Black Gate first; Howard did encourage me to send more material so maybe I'll take advantage of that. 

The writing of the story itself was really hard; I've often found that when you return to writing after a long absence it is a bit like banging your head against a brick wall. 

Anyway, I have a hundred and one things to do now that I'm back on the net, so I'll bid you all farewell for now. Hope everyone is keeping well and best of luck with all your endeavours.