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The good morning, good night thread

Started by Ed, October 22, 2007, 03:49:05 AM

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Geoff_N

My first article was The Criminal Propensity, which I wrote whle a teen and knew nothing but it was published and quoted in seminars - haha.
My first published fiction was a joke without a proper title.
My first (unpublished) novel was and still is called Convolvulus so I suppose I could have that as an avatar. However, Neil Marr pointed out to me on the old BeWrite forum, where our Ed was called Blunt, that using your real name as used in your published works, increases awareness of your brand while using an avatar hides it.

starktheground

Ha! I love everyone's "screen names," but Convolvulus takes the cake.

Grill: That site was created by a friend of mine, and has become one of my favorite places. I like the little noir nuggets. And I try to read one thing every day (that isn't horror or mine), so it comes in handy when I'm short on time.  :afro:

Russell

I've used 'OfAllTheBars' as my screen name in places where I've not used my real name.  It's a nod of course to Rick's line ("Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine") in Casablanca (the best movie ever :cheers:)." I changed it to 'OfAllTheBars' rather than 'OfAllTheGinJoints' because the latter is too long for Twitter, however, I never use that Twitter account sticking to the pathetically inventive name of '@russellbowman' instead.

Geoff_N

Noooooo, Ray Bradbury has died this morning in LA. I recent;y re-read Fahrenheit 451 and found it remarkably 'modern' in writing style. My only claim to having met him is that my postman has. RIP Ray B.

marc_chagall

Sad news. First thing of his I ever read (in my early teens) was 'The Small Assassin'. It made one hell of an impression. Went on to read many others of his works, but that collection of stories remains my favourite.

starktheground

Aww. The man was one of a kind. He left behind some beautiful writing. I remember reading him, Orwell and Huxley when I was a teenager and feeling like I had discovered some great secret club. 

delboy

Very sad news. Many of his short stories are amongs my favourites of all time.

Derek
"If you want to write, write it. That's the first rule. And send it in, and send it in to someone who can publish it or get it published. Don't send it to me. Don't show it to your spouse, or your significant other, or your parents, or somebody. They're not going to publish it."

Robert B. Parker

Russell

Yes, sad. I was listening to Bradbury 13 on Radio 4 extra only a few weeks ago. All were great short stories and one or two just a bit too spooky for late at night.

Ed

I guess this is one way of dealing with a slush pile:

QuoteThank you for submitting to White Cat Magazine. We are currently full and releasing stories from our slush pile so they may seek other markets. We will reopen submissions January 1st 2013.



Best of luck,



White Cat Magazine staff

Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 6:16 PM :shocked: I had forgotten I sent it :scratch:
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

Geoff_N

I know many of you are into rock bands - and are actually in them. One of my online scrabble pals is based up here in the North West and has a kind of Folk Rock band, The Portlands. Here are they

http://youtu.be/-QX-mG7y7Go

are they any good? I liked the change in pace in places and, of course, the discgraceful irreverance...

starktheground

The lead singer has an interesting voice. It reminds me of Jack Black.

Geoff_N

I had one of those embarrassing moments when I had to go to the hospital office and admit I'd lost my car parking ticket I'd already paid for. She didn't believe my explanation: I had too many things in my hand when I opened the boot (trunk) in order to throw in my rucksack. Yes my rucksack because I was just the chauffeur for my wife today and I had to carry a drink, newspaper, nearly-finished-copy of Charles Stross Atrocity Archives, etc) and when I closed the boot, the card had gone. I re-opened the boot, searched rucksack, boot, ground, my pockets everywhere. It had vanished - at least from this universe. Hence it had gone through a fold in the space-time continuum and so is now in either another universe, this one but a million years ago, or hence. When I tried to explain the mathematics, she gave me a free pass out.

desertwomble

http://chaucers-uncle.weebly.com/

www.paulfreeman.weebly.com
 
Read my most recent winning Global Short Story Competition entry:
http://www.inscribemedia.co.uk/assets/october-ebook.pdf

Ed

I had a parking nightmare myself, yesterday. A delivery driver turned up at work who reckoned he couldn't get his little lorry (truck) down the drive. I told him he was the first of literally hundreds of deliveries, from artics to flatbeds, that couldn't make it down there. Nobody else has had a problem. He blamed the lorry. Right, yep, of course it's the lorry's fault :idiot: So anyway, I had to go and get a van and bring it to the lorry to unload it. While transferring the large boxes (three fill the back of a transit van) one of the lids popped open as I lifted it into the van and the corner of the lid hit me square in the eyeball. I was afraid to open my eye -- it hit so hard and solidly I thought I might have gouged it. New heavy duty cardboard with crisp hard edges you can cut your fingers on vs eyeball. Not good. I could still see, but I had cut/grazed the white of my eye, and it was bleeding.

I finished what I was doing and then consigned myself to the fate of wasting the next four hours in hospital. Typically, when I got to the hospital, they had changed all the local parking to residents only, with tow away signs. The hospital car park was full, with four cars queuing to get in, unmoving. I did a couple of circuits trying to find somewhere, but fifteen minutes later I still hadn't found a space and the queuing cars still hadn't moved. Thick bright double yellow lines all over the place. But I noticed a section of pavement (sidewalk) that was about ten or twelve feet wide, so I mounted the kerb and parked there -- what choice did I have? I spent the next three hours (quicker than expected) in casualty (a&e) expecting to come out to a wheel clamp or at least a ticket, but I was lucky. I would have vehemently contested it anyway, but it would have been one more pain in the rear I didn't need.

The eye didn't need any stitching. I came out with a tube of antibiotic ointment and a lingering feeling of abject boredom. It's more painful today, as you might expect, but I can put up with it. I just thank my lucky stars it wasn't worse.
Planning is an unnatural process - it is much more fun to do something.  The nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise, rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression. [Sir John Harvey-Jones]

fnord33

Wow. Congratulations on the lack of eye stitches. I didn't even know that was something people could get. I've had a few eye mishaps, usually trying to tame my yard. Onne time I got an eye full of heavy duty paint thinner. Oddly none of it seems to have done any harm. Turning 30 on the other hand...     
Life is an entanglement of lies to hide it's basic mechanisms. - William Burroughs