The B.O.M.B. - before our time

I've been thinking about the first manuscript I finished, The Bane of Monkeys' Bladders, which I wrote with a couple of friends of mine.

I guess you could call it 'lad-lit', although I would argue it was just a bunch of shit that happened (I think I'm paraphrasing someone there).

It started as letters between me, Derek and Dave, and then the letters were compiled into a manuscript. And then the ms was re-written about 60 million times.

When you think about it, it was really a blog, before there was such a thing.

And on the website (I think this is possibly the only website devoted to a book that has never been published) there's a set of audio files, taken from a tape Derek and I made to send to a friend in Italy.

In reality, a podcast, before there was such a thing.

Even now (despite the cringing) it's funny... to me at least.

Comic of the week: Bob the Postal Worker

I'm thinking we can all use a laugh after the Socceroos' exit from the World Cup.

(Comic by Gary Kemble)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Super-schmaltz

I will stop writing about Superman soon, I promise.

I just wanted to add that I started watching Superman: the movie the other night.

On the whole, considering I haven't seen it since I was a kid, it stood the test of time.

But I can't believe the poem Lois Lane recites in her head as her and Superman go for a fly.

It is so bad!

Here's a taste...

"You can fly!
You belong in the sky!
You and I
Could belong to each other"

Excuse me while I vomit. If you're a masochist, you can read the whole thing here.

Superheroes: comical, mythical, real

We had a good response over on Articulate to our post about whether or not Superman is still relevant.

I thought it was funny how some people wrote about him as though he's a real person...

"Being Superman is no walk in the park. He's the ultimate orphan - he last of his species. He looks human but isn't, and that must eat at him every day. His enhanced hearing and sight mean that the evils of the world are impossible to hide from. And his 'truth/justice' stance makes it impossible for him to ignore them."

On the strength of the response (and also because I managed to get my hands on the 'special edition' of Superman for a $10!) I did a Movie Minutiae on the original movie.

It's interesting how back in the late 70s they had a huge discussion about the size/shape of Superman's codpiece. Sort of makes you wonder if the Superman Returns codpiece controversy is manufactured.

Currently, in my intray I've got an email interview with Troy author Simon Brown and publisher Russell B Farr, which will be interesting when I finally get to it (work is looking a bit hairy writing-wise over the next couple of weeks). For those who don't know, Troy is a collection of short stories that each take a different angle on the Trojan War.

And I've also got to transcribe an interview with Nick Earls, who I met last week. I caught up with Nick before he sets off on the publicity trail for his new book, Monica Bloom, and the film version of 48 Shades of Brown, which is headlining at this year's BIFF.

Editors beware!

The other day I realised I had 19 short stories kicking about, getting under my feet and generally causing a nuisance of themselves.

So, in the past couple of days I've sent stories to Shadowed Realms, Dark Recesses, Aberrant Dreams, Ripples, Strange Horizons, Bright Lights Multimedia, Aurealis, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Specusphere and Espresso Fiction.

Now all I have to do is sit back and wait for the money (read: rejection slips) to come rolling in!

Old news

I've decided to try using a blog to keep my news and publishing credits up to date, rather than updating a html page.

You can find my old news here.