Martin Livings

Beware teh cute!!!!

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:12:15 GMT

We have a rock dove that's set up a nest in one of our hanging potplants, right outside our bedroom window. Below is the laest photo of what lies within its mysterious confines...

(click for full gallery)

Confused news is confused...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:10:24 GMT

Oh, and... Tony Abbott??? Tony freakin' Abbott??? This is the man who'll lead them to glorious victory at the next election??? I don't think so, guys...

With one day to spare...

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:50:50 GMT

50050 words!

Go Martin...

Go Martin...

Go Martin...

Go Martin...

Go Martin...

Go Martin...

The book isn't done, mind you. I think I'm probably a quarter of the way through the story, though it's difficult to tell at this point. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But I think I'll take a brief break from it, catch my breath, and have a think about where it's going to go next.

Still... go me. :)

Stokery goodness...

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:34:32 GMT

Currently over at Sinister Reads, they're profiling some Aussies who've been recommended [1] for the HWA's Bram Stoker awards, basically the biggest awards for horror in the world. The latest post, HERE, covers two of my favourite LJ buddies, felicitydowker and ashr501 for their long fiction. It also includes what I think is a funny quote:

His most recent story, The Message, appeared in Midnight Echo #2, a story which award winning author Martin Livings said “… ‘jeez, I wish I’d written this!’”

"Award winning"! I have to laugh at this. Felicity's already won more awards than I've managed in twenty years of doing this, and I guarantee, if Andrew hasn't beaten me already, he will very soon. Still, I have to enjoy it, as it's the only chance my name will be mentioned in a post about recommendations for the Stokers. :)

Nice one, guys... not to mention kaaronwarren being recommended for Best First Novel, something which I clearly think is worthy.

[1] - "recommended" isn't the same as "nominated", or even "on the preliminary ballot", I should mention... it just means that one or more HWA members have recommended the work for an award. I think it takes five for the prelim.

I done did a review, y'all...

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:03:01 GMT

Wow, my first formal review for many years [1]... I hope it turned out okay! And if not, sorry kaaronwarren!

http://www.asif.dreamhosters.com/doku.php?id=slights

[1] Some might remember that I used to do this quite a lot. Specifically, from 1992 to 1996, issues 10 to 23 of Eidolon. Damn near ruined my ability to read for pleasure for about ten years afterwards, I might add. This time around, it was an unsolicited review of a book I bought for myself. I don't think I'd ever go back to reviewing anything given to me, unless I got to choose it!

NaNoWriMo, Day 5

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:22:47 GMT

Yeah, I'm not doing these every day this time around. Just from time to time.

NaNoWriMo Day Five
Target: 8330
Written: 10103
Position: +1773

So, the ten thousand word mark falls by the wayside, one-fifth of the way to 50K. And yet there's no way I'm one-fifth of the way through Mister Phoenix. In fact, it's barely started. It's the weirdest thing I've ever written, or perhaps the most normal. This is most decidedly not a genre novel; no monsters, no aliens, no faeries, no gore [1]. Just... characters and situations, and exploring them. So it's the ten thousand word point, and my narrator is really only just meeting Mister Phoenix himself, and still has no idea who or what this mysterious man is.

Usually, when I'm doing NaNo, I'll write a short chapter a day, tweo thousand words. I am writing two thousand words a day, that's a comfortable amount for me to do in my tea breaks, lunch break and sometimes a bit after work but before I get picked up by my sweety, but they're not chapters. In fact, I haven't written any chapters at all. It's all just one big flow. I will divide it once it's finished, give it some structure, but for the moment I love the fact that I don't feel the need to aim for a chapter resolution every two thousand words, I can just let it take whatever shape it chooses. I think this might be quite a long book, though I have no idea at this stage exactly how long, since I really don't know what's going to happen in anything more than a vague way. A hundred thousand? At least. Two? Three? Could be. Who knows? Basically, it'll be as long as it wants to be, in the end.

This is a whole new novel writing experience for me. A novel writing experience, you might even say.

[1] Well, okay, maybe a little gore... I gotta be me, after all!

New story and reviewy goodness!

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 08:34:05 GMT

It seems the gods are conspiring to keep my spirits up on the first day of NaNo... firstly, Antipodean SF has released its latest issue, including my story, "Zero Point", one of my increasingly-rare forays into SF stories. So, yay me!

And secondly, The Specusphere has released a new issue, and in it is a plethora of reviewy goodness, including:

Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror Volume 3 - "Other particularly strong and disturbing pieces included... There was Darkness by Martin Livings..."

And:

Midnight Echoes Issues 1 and 2 - ...the final piece, “Piggies” by Martin Livings, would have been earmarked as my personal favourite despite its short length, had I not just eaten when I read it. It quite literally left my toes curling and helped maintain the lingering feeling of uneasiness I had developed in reading this anthology.

It's great to see Specusphere start to really take on Australian horror, it's been a little lax in doing so, but with felicitydowker there carrying the flag for us, I'm sure we'll get even more reviews in the future!

NaNoWriMo, Day 1

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:56:12 GMT

NaNoWriMo Day One
Target: 1666
Written: 1964
Position: +298

NaNoWriMo's coming up!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:44:45 GMT

And with it...

Memo to brain: shut the hell up!

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:58:23 GMT

So, yesterday on Facebook, I bragged to mikandra that I wasn't going to plan anything to write for my NaNoWriMo this year, just go with the flow. Nothing in mind.

Yeah.

Then I went to bed and continued reading kaaronwarren's Slights, struck by the voice and style she's using in it, a personal, rambling Palahniuk-esque flavour. It reminded me of how I once intended to write a book I've been thinking about for some years now, a non-genre novel called Mister Phoenix. I've tried to figure this book out dozens of times over the years, but could never crack it.

I turned out the light, closed my eyes, tried to go to sleep.

Then Mister Phoenix appeared before me, almost complete. I saw the entire book, from the opening line to its conclusion. I saw the characters, the voices of the characters, the method of the storytelling. And I saw that it just might work.

It's hard sharing a bed with a writer, just ask my sweety. I leapt out, ran to the study, and frantically typed some notes (not too many, mind you!) before they faded. Then I went back to bed.

Today it's not quite as clear as it was last night, but it's still there. And it's a book and a style that will benefit from the quick-fire method of NaNo, it needs to be a stream of consciousness, entirely subjective and as unstructured as I can bring myself to be [1].

Now I have to wait a fortnight for NaNoWriMo to start. I can hardly wait!

[1] I'm a ridiculously structured writer, it's one of my worst flaws. Before I start a book, I usually decide how many chapters I'm going to write and how long each will be. Kind of kills the spontenaeity of it, huh?

Wot I've been watching...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:30:27 GMT

So, I've had a few days of holidays on my own. I decided to go on a bit of a movie and TV binge, catch up with a pile of stuff I've been meaning to watch.

So, movie-wise:

Saw V - pretty much what I expected, not significantly better, worse or even different to Saws II through IV. Watchable enough, though, I suppose.

The Midnight Meat Train - nice build-up, lame ending. Still, not too bad. But I'm getting really sick of digital blood and gore in movies, it always looks so ridiculous. Stick with makeup, guys, it looks so much better, even the cheap stuff.

Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds and Feast 3: The Happy Finish - genuinely demented films. It's kind of nice to see horror movies taking themselves not even one iota seriously. The creatures in this have every bodily fluid imaginable, and they're all shown here. Yes, all. They even rape a cat. Ridiculously gory and stupid, obnoxious and gleefully offensive, and yet... how can you hate a series of films that finishes with a Mariachi singer recounting the plots of all three movies in song???

AS for TV, I've watched:

Dollhouse: Season 1 - I've heard such mixed reports about Dollhouse, so I've held off watching it until now. And you know what? I liked it a lot. Not my favourite Whedon, not by a long shot, but it's highly watchable and enjoyable, and deals with some big issues, albeit often in a superficial manner. And Eliza Dushku is a lot better in it than I was expecting. The girl can act. Neat, and definitely worth continuing to watch until it inevitably gets cancelled at the end of season 2.

Torchwood: Children of Earth - I hate Torchwood. No, seriously, I loathed the series. It was only on glowing reports from other people that I obtained this, and even then I didn't get around to watching it until now. But you know what? The first four episodes were some bloody gripping TV. This is what Torchwood should have been from day one, an adult version of Doctor Who, not just one that uses swearing and smut to simulate adulthood. Actual heavy issues dealt with, difficult moral decisions, characters that are neither good nor evil, just... practical. Very nice. Fell apart completely into pseudoscience technobabble at the end, mind you, but that's Davies for you. Still definitely worth the journey.

Not bad for less than a week, huh? Now, of course, my sweety is on holidays with me, so we won't be watching quite as much, I suspect. But it was nice while it lasted. ;)

Stirrings in the silence...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:51:26 GMT

Yes, I've been quiet, mainly because (a) I'm on holiday, and (b) my Internet has been shaped. Oh, and (c) I've got no real news to speak of. But it's early on a Saturday morning and I'm blearily awake, thanks to the unseasonal heat and strong winds outside, and jennifer_brozek has just posted the table of contents for the Close Encounters of the Urban Kind anthology from Apex Books, and there's my name, smack bang in the middle. Not to mention petekempshall too. No, really, don't mention him, he's already getting a swelled head. ;)

The ToC is currently looking like this:

Alma Alexander - I Am Sorry for Talking So Rarely to Strangers
Erik Scott de Bie - Racing Lights
Richard Lee Byers - End of Life
Nate Crowder - Frames of Reference
Ivan Ewert - Waterheads
Robert Farnsworth - A Late Night Snack
Pete Kempshall - Dead Letter Drop
Carole Johnstone - The Invitation
Rosemary Jones - Two Out, Wendigo
Martin Livings - Lollo
Eric Lowther - It Came from the Backseat
Ramsey Lundock - Tea Cups & Saucers
Shannon Page - The Hippie Monster of Eel River
Joshua Palmatier - Mastihooba
Jennifer Pelland - Headlights
Rick Silva - Roadkill
Jeff Soesbe - Green Tears on Black Velvet
Eddy Webb - Gloomy Sunday

Once upon a time, I'd pretty much know every single person who's in a book with me, by close reputation if not personally, and mostly personally. This one's a bit scary, even more so than Grants Pass. I feel like I've walked into a party and realised I don't know anyone there. Gyulp!

Can't wait to read it, though! That's the main reason I submit to books, in the hope of getting a contributor's copy to read! :)

That's all. Back to the peace and quiet of holidays.

Too true...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:46:49 GMT

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Honorable Mention!

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:15:44 GMT

More writing squee... thanks to editormum, I found I'd scored an Honorable Mention in ellen_datlow's Year's Best Horror for 2008! One day I'd love to get an actual reprint in there, of course, but considering the competition, I'm pretty frickin' chuffed to even get noticed.

The list of fortunate Aussies is dutifully posted HERE. Congrats to us all!

Close Encounters of the Contents Kind...

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:21:29 GMT

So, being too impatient to wait for jennifer_brozek to announce the official line-up, I searched the blogosphere, and found a few other authors and stories that will also be in the Close Encounters of the Urban Kind collection. The ones I've found so far are:

Pete Kempshall - "Dead Letter Drop" (nice one, petekempshall!!!)
Nathan Crowder - ""Frames of Reference"
Shannon Page - "The Hippie Monster of Eel River"
Erik Scott de Bie - "Racing Lights"
Jeff Soesbe - "Green Tears on Black Velvet"
Ivan Ewart - "Waterheads"
Jennifer Pelland, "Headlights"
Eddy Webb - "Gloomy Sunday"
Joshua Palmatier - "Mastihooba"
Martin Livings - "Lollo"

Big congrats to all the lucky ones above, and I can't wait to see who else got in! Though I'm genuinely shocked that jaylake didn't scrape in... apparently not for reasons of quality, just suitability, but even so, I'm stunned...

Does a little happy dance...

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 05:57:35 GMT

Well, jennifer_brozek wasn't kidding when she said she'd get back to people in October... I just found out my story "Lollo" has somehow made it into her Close Encounters of the Urban Kind anthology!

I think that's officially my first purely international sale! Yippee!

WOTF congrats! (and musings...)

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:15:17 GMT

Big congrats to mikandra and felicitydowker on their honorable mentions in the most recent WoTF quarter!

http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com/2009/09/3rd-quarter-first-set-of-honorable.html

And, additionally, how did I only just hear that jasonfischer WON the previous quarter???

http://wotfblog.galaxypress.com/2009/09/2nd-quarter-winners-announced.html

Almost makes me reconsider my tenuous moral objections to the competition, it does... which, in turn, is just my easy excuse for not entering and getting ignored by it! :)

Not that I'm probably eligible anymore... according to the rules:

4. The Contest is open only to those who have not had professionally published a novel or short novel, or more than one novelette, or more than three short stories, in any medium.

Although, technically, I don't think I've been professionally published, since their standards are:

Professional publication is deemed to be payment, and at least 5,000 copies, or 5,000 hits.

Ah, who am I kidding? I ain't no writer of the future. Hell, I'm barely a writer of the present! Step aside, old man, and let these young whippersnappers with talent and drive through. ;)

Writerly things...

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:41:08 GMT

Two writerly things have caught my eye today. Firstly, the good news that the wonderful folk over at twelfthplanet have accepted a story of mine for their Spec Fic for Kids project. It's not an area I write in very often, so I'm over the moon that they liked it. It's actually a really old story that I reworked, one I wrote for my niece many, many moons ago. It'll be great to see it in print, and love the fact that Twelfth Planet are exploring such previously largely-ignored demographics as this. It's so good to see some SF aimed at people who aren't necessarily white adult males (yes, including me! I'm a member of an oversaturated market target audience, deal with it!).

Secondly, I notice a new horror market in Australia has just opened for submissions here:

http://www.blade-red.com/submissions/

I especially liked the guideline:

Try to avoid the overused cliches like senseless revenge, cookie cutter serial killers and predictable monsters.

Based on this, I think I might have to write a story for them titled "Senseless Revenge, Cookie Cutter Serial Killers and Predictable Monsters". The possibilities are already whirling dervishes in my twisted mind... *g*

In honour of the day...

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:34:33 GMT

Vote for me! :)

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:53:45 GMT

I made the finals in jaylake's Flash Fiction competition! Woo!

Go read the stories, then vote for the one you like best, whether it's mine or not. The more people who vote, the truer a result we'll see. Of course, I'd prefer if you voted for me, but only if you genuinely like mine best. Honest. :)

http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/15/flash-fiction-open-voting-poll/

People in glass houses...

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:00:57 GMT

...shouldn't talk about how "dumb" an actress is, then misspell "Hitler"...

Proofreading FAIL...

Thursday flash fic...

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:38:46 GMT

From the challenge laid down by jaylake HERE...

Tradition
Martin Livings, 2-9-2009

“Do you remember the first time we came here?” I ask.

Sarah laughs. “Of course. It was eight years ago today. We sat on this very bench, you and I, and watched the black swans for a while.”

The river laps at the rocks with a singular lack of enthusiasm, like a child eating broccoli ice-cream.

“It was our first date,” I remind her, and squeeze her hand. “We’d sent each other love letters for months beforehand. We’d finally found the courage to meet up.”

“Yes,” she breathes. Her brows furrow. “And then he arrived.”

The man in the brown overcoat and blue hat. Old, smelling like piss and beer. Unshaven and unwashed. “He flashed us,” I say. “Showed us his shriveled prick.”

“And we did what came naturally.” Her smile returns. “What anyone would do.”

“Well, perhaps not anyone,” I say. “We’re not exactly conventional, now, are we?”

Sarah giggles, stretches her legs.

The man on the ground at our feet emits a muffled bellow through the gag in his mouth, his wrists and ankles bound. He is well-dressed, beneath the ratty brown overcoat we’ve put over him like a shroud. The blue hat has faded over the years, and many of the blood stains never came out.

He looks nothing like the old man from eight years ago.

He looks exactly like the old man from eight years ago.

We stand, Sarah and I, and kneel beside the helpless man. The blades we carry glitter in the late afternoon sun. There’s no sound, save the soft splashes of the waves on the rocks, the pitiful moans of the man in the blue hat. Our excited breathing. My heart pounds, as it does every year.

I look into Sarah’s eyes. She looks into mine. We raise our knives.

“Happy anniversary, darling,” I murmur.

“Happy anniversary.”

The blue hat tumbles to the rocks, and the river’s waters run red.

Shards: Damned and Burning

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:34:59 GMT

If you haven't downloaded Shards: Damned and Burning by Shane Jiraiya Cummings yet... why the hell not??? I just read and enjoyed it in a single easy sitting. It's free, it's cool, and it's a neat taster for the full collection, Shards, which you should then go and order. Unless, y'know, you're girliejones and loathe flash fiction with a ferocity that burns the soul. But if you like flash fiction, especially horror flash fiction, then get out there and get it!

Plus, y'know, if that's not enough to tempt you, original artwork by ashr501. C'mon!

No more deadlines... for a while...

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:57:34 GMT

So, I've now sent my story off to Close Encounters of the Urban Kind. I have no idea if jennifer_brozek's gonna like it, but it's done, which is the main thing. And it also marks the last of my deadlines for the time being.

I think I'll take a short break from writing. It's been pretty intense, writing these last two stories, both very different from one another. I'm very satisfied with how they both turned out, though. We'll just have to wait and see if the editors feel the same way!

Hmm, wasn't I meant to be writing a novel, not short stories? Ah well...

*hangs up his quill and parchment for a little bit*

Midnight Echo Issue 2

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 05:17:01 GMT

I just finished reading issue 2 of Midnight Echo, the horror e-mag from the Australian Horror Writers Association, of which I'm proudly a member. I really enjoyed the first issue, despite being in it, and this one was very good as well, though perhaps not quite as enjoyable for me as the first. Maybe it's because there were more style-over-substance stories, a few of which came across as somewhat stilted and pretentious. But that's probably just a personal taste thing.

I had two favourite stories in this issue, two standouts in my eyes. The first was "The Message" by Andrew J. McKiernan (ashr501), which I think had one of the best setups I've seen in short fiction, a simple and effective premise that immediately grabs the reader by the throat. And it follows through on that early premise-promise, dares to tackle some big issues along the way, and ends with no small amount of reader satisfaction. Genuinely creepy. I love reading a story where I'm thinking "jeez, I wish I'd written this!"

The other story that I loved was almost the polar opposite of Andrew's deep, dark tale. "Sole Provider" by US author Chris Reed really isn't horror, or even horrific. What it is, though, is gross and laugh-out-loud funny. After the story before it, which I found rather turgid and obtuse, it was like a breath of fresh air, or perhaps a cheerful fart to the face. A classic.

Now I have to wait for issue 3... damn...