I've been busy over at Storyslingers organising a geofiction competition, fictional worlds event and exhibition of fictional maps. Here's just two of my personal favourites:
Winner, Jeffery Bebee: http://jeffreybeebe.com/?v=collection&collection=4
Map of Western Refractoria
original: inks on watercolour paper
Jeffrey Beebe,
b. Indianapolis , IN
Lives and works in NYC , USA
Kvraagetaan
original: coloured ink on 60 sheets of black paper
Juli Martà Casals
b. Barcelona , Spain
Check out the rest of the winning and shortlisted entries over on the Storyslingers blog. This collection of various geofiction is (to my knowledge) one of the first in the world.
We've also hosted authors Jaine Fenn and Susan McLeod (both published by Gollancz) who came to talk about their work and experiences in the world of professional authorhood. We may have a blog post coming about that talk, keep checking back at the Storyslingers blog.
Talking of which, that's where I've been blogging recently, so if you're ever wandering what I'm doing, chances are you can find out over there.
(image by Dan Morison, go over to kickstarter and look at his awesome forthcoming tabletop card game, The Agents. Pledge a little money to the project and you get to be one of the first owners of this game along with the stretch goals, which are fast unlocking because the project is very popular)
I'll be moving to Bath in October to start an MA in Creative Writing, so looking for a place to live is top of my list right now. On a recent house-hunting trip I popped over to Bristol for the preview of Antlers' new show Spatial. Check it out this week, it's worth taking a look - the show continues until the 10th of August at Temple Studios, near Bristol Temple Meads station. Antlers is a roving art gallery representing some really talented young artists.
Earlier in the month I went to London to see another art show: http://www.fleeceshow.com/ which was excellent.
photo by Matthew Heaton-Blankley
And I've been invited to co-organise another story slam at Bridport Open Book Festival, so keep a look out for that - it'll be on October 16th at the Beach & Barnicott, It's an open mic event. Judges include YA author Katherine Kelly, Julie Musk - editor of Roving Pree and flash fiction expert - Gail Aldwin of What the Dickens Magazine et al.
Also, I attended Winchester Writers Conference, Neil Gaiman's launch of the Ocean at the End of the Lane (my good friend Jennifer K Oliver wrote about it on her blog: http://jenniferkoliver.livejournal.com/56388.html
And I went to Chalke Valley History Festival, which was fantastic. Storyslinger Amanda Thyme wrote a review for Do More magazine http://www.domoremag.com/Dorset/All+Towns/News/News+-+Festivals/Chalke+Valley+History+Festival/33419.html
Who needs to write a blog when you can link to all your friends' blogs?
(image by Jennifer K Oliver: http://jenniferkoliver.livejournal.com\)
