Sharyn's Archives

We've started sending out the contributor copies of In Bad Dreams Vol 1. and now it's less than 70 hours til the actual launch.

 Less than seventy hours? How did that sneak up so fast? Well, it has, and I'm also on some fun sounding panels on Sunday and Monday; How to hire henchmen - a guide for the overlord; Scrolling through the story - past, present and future of webpublishing; and  Arrggghhh! The worst heroes in sci fi and fantasy.

I am really looking forward to this weekend.

Thousands of Robert Jordan's fans are mourning the passing of the author who had a huge vision, but faced an incredible battle with one of life's nastier illnesses. We'd just like to offer his family our condolences.

[Link: http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/]

The dreaded author question "Where do you get your inspiration from?"

A friend of mine says she gets her inspiration from everything, because then everything is tax deductible. Another gets hers from song lyrics. Some write to music that matches the scene, others need solitude and quiet for the muse to flow.

 So, knowing that we are all different, why am I so disturbed to find that most of my recent story inspirations come from the news pages?

I'd love to know what visitors to our site are reading. So I've created a thread in the General Discussion, devoted to this topic.

Over the years I've found I tend not to take a lot of notice of reviews, I read speculative fiction and so few reviewers seem to be genre readers themselves, this generally means I rely on other genre readers for a heads up to a good new author, or even an older author who's work I may have missed.

While the rise of sites like ASif! and ozhorrorscope have finally gotten genre readers reviewing for genre readers, I still find it an intriguing process to find out what the people around me are reading. So, if you haven't already, register for our forum, and tell me what you're reading. 

I have a pet peeve in my dark fiction reading. I am sick of reading vampire and werewolf novels where these supernatural creatures, gifted with preternaturally enhanced senses, can only seem to hear, taste and smell blood.

I want writing that engages a reader's senses. If there's a feast, I want to smell the food, and see the steam rising off it; if there is a snowy winter scene, I want it nose-numbingly cold. Draughts should rustle the tapestries in castles, and I should be aware of the pervading odour of mould and damp.

So I'd like to introduce visitors to Eneit Press to Dr Gillian Polack, author of Illuminations, blogger of food history, a medieval historian, and teacher.

Dr Polack will be running our first short course for writers, Writing with the Senses, from the  28^th October - 25^th November. In this course you get the flexibility of working at home at your own pace, plus feedback from your fellow students, and time to talk to your tutor in a small class environment.  The biggest drawback to distance learning is the student's isolation. Our courses are designed to combat that isolation, and help writers to polish an area in their work.

And, to celebrate the launch of In Bad Dreams Volume One at Conflux 4, those who sign up at the Eneit Press table will get a 10% discount on this fun, and tremendously helpful course. You may never look at the world you've created quite the same way again.