Ok, so not completely offline... need the stress relief...
And, as expected, holiday cover has already driven me beyond batty... seems to get worse every time they go...
On the bright side, waiting for tenants to finish moving out (dudes! you knew what time you had to be out... the appointment was booked months ago!) and waiting for them to turn up (ditto!) does give plenty of time to catch up on the for-fun reading...
So I've managed to read both Shirley Jackson's Haunting of Hill House (v. good, though not quite as scary as I'd been led to believe. Great storytelling, though.) and Stan Nicholl's Orcs Omnibus... a comment on the BFS forum said the books were improved by having them all together in the omnibus edition, and I agree... but then, most series are better if you can binge read them...
Anything else not biz related I haven't had a chance to look at in great detail yet... got an offer for help for the next batch of H&N submission reading, which is fab. (Thanks mate!)
Sorted out piles of things that need dealing with... (including the shock revelation that the income tax self assessment deadline was 30th September! Yipes! Missed that one...)
Had to wake up briefly to deal with some complete arse and their totally incorrect claims and rants... which just gets a tad wearing...
Robin Hood eppy 2 was marginally better than eppy 1. Which isn't saying much. Good god, people, it can be done miles better than that...
Saw a trailer for eppy 2 of Torchwood (yay!) on Youtube somewhere - looks fun!
Had a frantic moment when I thought I'd broken the business mobile... (the boss'd kill me!) but seems to be working ok now...
Hating the Reading roads with a passion... they've started fiddling around ready for this reworking of the IDR they reckon they're going to do (idiots!) so a couple of main access roads have now been bus-lane-ised and there's only one route out of Reading. Which is a terrible road. Terrible. And if you want to get to Caversham (where one of our other main agents is based... also there's a not bad independent bookshop that way...) there's, like, 1 decent road to use now... and of course everyone uses it... and getting to the agents in Reading is almost as nightmarish as finding parking for them...
I'm a Wokingham girl, me. Really. Despite quirks in the address, Lower Earley is technically in the Wokingham district. (Don't ask me what that's about... we pay taxes to Wokingham, but Royal Mail has us down as Reading...) And it's a lovely little town (used to have my market stall there... and hated it as no bugger ever spent anything! And I'm a lousy saleswoman. Y'know, if you don't want it, I'm not going to force you into it... ) and the roads and the parking is nice and civilised.
Just give me the amazing power of teleportation and my life would be sooo much easier... :->
15 October 2006
11 October 2006
Hold that thought...
Shall be completely offline and not even haunting the usual online places for the next week due to reasons of:
a) necessary finishing off of outstanding catch up work... (almost beaten the submissions!)
and
b) it's that horrible time of year when I get sole charge of the family biz while everyone else nicks off to Lanza-grotty for some sun... (honestly, they already did a week back in, what, May was it? 2 in one year's just greedy!)
...not that I mind the people going off on hols bit... it's the bloody estate agents and landlords and tenants and rebellious staff and emergency last minute we need it first thing tomorrow morning jobs... and having to answer calls from 7.30am to 8pm, 7 days a week...and the paperwork... god, you wouldn't believe the paperwork... keeps you working til late night, gets you started early morning ... drives you utterly mental... and I do not want to be spending my evening arguing with a tenant about why they have to pay for the whacking great hole they kicked in someone's wall because the estate agent is too chicken to do it... or explaining over and over to the landlord why they can't charge the tenant for a new carpet because of a couple of minor marks on an ancient and already ratty pre-existing floor, because the agent is too chicken to do it... (hmm, a trend emerges...)
Chanting for a quiet week... (oh please, oh please, let it be a quiet week this time... nothing like the bloody chaos of the last time... quiet... calm.... quiet... calm...)
Shall be completely offline and not even haunting the usual online places for the next week due to reasons of:
a) necessary finishing off of outstanding catch up work... (almost beaten the submissions!)
and
b) it's that horrible time of year when I get sole charge of the family biz while everyone else nicks off to Lanza-grotty for some sun... (honestly, they already did a week back in, what, May was it? 2 in one year's just greedy!)
...not that I mind the people going off on hols bit... it's the bloody estate agents and landlords and tenants and rebellious staff and emergency last minute we need it first thing tomorrow morning jobs... and having to answer calls from 7.30am to 8pm, 7 days a week...and the paperwork... god, you wouldn't believe the paperwork... keeps you working til late night, gets you started early morning ... drives you utterly mental... and I do not want to be spending my evening arguing with a tenant about why they have to pay for the whacking great hole they kicked in someone's wall because the estate agent is too chicken to do it... or explaining over and over to the landlord why they can't charge the tenant for a new carpet because of a couple of minor marks on an ancient and already ratty pre-existing floor, because the agent is too chicken to do it... (hmm, a trend emerges...)
Chanting for a quiet week... (oh please, oh please, let it be a quiet week this time... nothing like the bloody chaos of the last time... quiet... calm.... quiet... calm...)
07 October 2006
More Fcon blather
So one of the (as yet unnamed) GoHs we were relatively sure of getting, probably won't be able to (ironic, given that the date we chose was because that was his only free weekend next September... )
So now we argue about who else to get in, and it's fun and it's frustrating and just how do you choose who'll make the best guest?
There's economics... you want a guest that will tip people over from 'meh' to 'ooh, just got to go to see X' so you want someone bordering on interstellar...
But what if the author you really adore isn't quite interstellar? How do you decide who's big and who isn't?
What if the not so interstellar one will be better entertainment?
And then there's keeping balances. Between horror and fantasy. Between
the ones that might possibly be at Fcon anyway and those that wouldn't. Between the ones you love and the ones you've not heard of but rumour has it they could be good.
And then there's the interesting point of non author guests. If we're really to cover the full lot what about comics guests or artist guests or media guests or editor guests? There's a limit to the amount of people we can afford to have a GoHs, so do we go for a bunch of authors, or delicately balance the authors with the others?
And that's without the tricky business of overseas guests...
So one of the (as yet unnamed) GoHs we were relatively sure of getting, probably won't be able to (ironic, given that the date we chose was because that was his only free weekend next September... )
So now we argue about who else to get in, and it's fun and it's frustrating and just how do you choose who'll make the best guest?
There's economics... you want a guest that will tip people over from 'meh' to 'ooh, just got to go to see X' so you want someone bordering on interstellar...
But what if the author you really adore isn't quite interstellar? How do you decide who's big and who isn't?
What if the not so interstellar one will be better entertainment?
And then there's keeping balances. Between horror and fantasy. Between
the ones that might possibly be at Fcon anyway and those that wouldn't. Between the ones you love and the ones you've not heard of but rumour has it they could be good.
And then there's the interesting point of non author guests. If we're really to cover the full lot what about comics guests or artist guests or media guests or editor guests? There's a limit to the amount of people we can afford to have a GoHs, so do we go for a bunch of authors, or delicately balance the authors with the others?
And that's without the tricky business of overseas guests...
05 October 2006
Flying visit...
Just a quickie, as I'm mid submission reading (hallelujah!) - so expect to see the Slushblog updated in 2 or 3 days...
So Fcon again (what? I'm a girl obsessed, I know!)
We've got confirmation and are announcing the first 2 guests and MC....
GoHs: Michael Marshall Smith & Stephen Jones; MC: Peter Crowther.
And we've got 2 more GoHs in the pipeline, plus a possible extra one, maybe, possibly...
(We weren't going to have so many for next year... but you know how these things go, they snowball... gonna be a great lineup, and that's without some of the attendees we know are going to be there but can't announce yet!!)
And the website has already been updated with the first lot of details (gotta love that picture of Pete... it's something about the hat...) but if you have any suggestions, complaints, general comments or the like, please pop over to the BFS board as that's where you'll get the quickest and best answers!
Random girlie blather...
...so, apparently, the reason my feet were absolute murder over Fcon was because my old trainers were past it. Discovered I had a whacking piece of plastic sticking up through the inner sole... (no, I don't know why I didn't notice it before either...) so this week have had to go through the torture of buying new shoes... I hate live shopping if it's not for books. I especially hate shoe shopping because unlike most other things, experience proves it can't be done online because sizes are just too variable... was going between size 6 to size 8 depending on the shoe and the shop.... and it really couldn't be put off as I only own the one pair of shoes...! So 4 shops later, finally found the perfect pair. Phew. That's me good for another 6 or 7 years then!
Just a quickie, as I'm mid submission reading (hallelujah!) - so expect to see the Slushblog updated in 2 or 3 days...
So Fcon again (what? I'm a girl obsessed, I know!)
We've got confirmation and are announcing the first 2 guests and MC....
GoHs: Michael Marshall Smith & Stephen Jones; MC: Peter Crowther.
And we've got 2 more GoHs in the pipeline, plus a possible extra one, maybe, possibly...
(We weren't going to have so many for next year... but you know how these things go, they snowball... gonna be a great lineup, and that's without some of the attendees we know are going to be there but can't announce yet!!)
And the website has already been updated with the first lot of details (gotta love that picture of Pete... it's something about the hat...) but if you have any suggestions, complaints, general comments or the like, please pop over to the BFS board as that's where you'll get the quickest and best answers!
Random girlie blather...
...so, apparently, the reason my feet were absolute murder over Fcon was because my old trainers were past it. Discovered I had a whacking piece of plastic sticking up through the inner sole... (no, I don't know why I didn't notice it before either...) so this week have had to go through the torture of buying new shoes... I hate live shopping if it's not for books. I especially hate shoe shopping because unlike most other things, experience proves it can't be done online because sizes are just too variable... was going between size 6 to size 8 depending on the shoe and the shop.... and it really couldn't be put off as I only own the one pair of shoes...! So 4 shops later, finally found the perfect pair. Phew. That's me good for another 6 or 7 years then!
03 October 2006
Eeuurrggghhh...
I am that Shaun of the dead zombie...
Gosh, where did last week go? Fcon recovery only happened yesterday, as everything between then and Fcon is a blur of slipping in and out of consciousness (apparently it's the M.E. relapse - happens every so often. Bah. Humbug. I spit on your M.E. relapse. When I have the energy.)
And now we're talking about next year!! Venue is confirmed as Britannia, Nottingham. Date is confirmed as 21st - 23rd September 2007 (did I say this already here?) and we've got 1 guest and the MC confirmed, are waiting to hear back from guest 2, and are discussing guests 3 and 4. Guest 3 is someone most have been nagging us about for years... guest 4 is a wee bit unusual for an Fcon - if we can get him.
The official announcement will be made in a couple of weeks, I think. Once we've heard back from at least 2 of the outstanding guests...
And if you want to have a nosy and what people thought of Fcon check out the BFS forum thread here - http://www.marieoregan.net/bfsdiscuss/index.php?topic=806.0 where someone with improper use of awake time has dug out blog links and the like for peeps that talked about Fcon... (ok, so it was me...) There's links to Juliet & Clive's speeches too.
-
So with Fcon both gone and upcoming nicely covered for the time being, onto other things...
Prism & DH STILL at printers! Will have to check to make sure they haven't sent them to Finchley as well... (They (the printers) been taken over by someone new and there seems to be a few teething problems... so may have to find a new printers! Arrgh! They used to be so good too...)
Next Prism will now be 1st week of November (ish - have to carefully time it to come between the Prism/Dh mailing and the Xmas mailing) - with Fcon report and reviews and columns from James Barclay and Mark Morris and hopefully a debut author section. Would also like to do a complimentary old masters type section so authors published about 15 years or more ago can have a wee bit of exposure. Sort of a who's been an influence and why type thing - (useless at explaining it - Juliet managed to wrap it neatly up at the AGM but can't for the life of me remember what she said!) Want to have a review of one their books plus a short blurb on their influence either on the genre or on someone personally - or if they're still alive, a short interview! (volunteers to write one please speak! Or send something in on spec.) And the new mantra is - please remember that DH is the place for the longer features etc. - Prism only gets the really short stuff as we're news, reviews and the odd views! Zat is the law!
--- BFS bit ends!
All things Bradan...
So now that all that is under control, I can finally get to grips with all this other outstanding stuff... and you know how this goes so a little more bearing with me... there's Ish 8 to finish off, the subs, the emails, the odd outstanding stuff that I thought I'd sorted but obviously hadn't...
And, seriously chaps, if anyone wants to volunteer to help me out with the mag, let me know. No money will change hands, alas, but if someone with a quirky taste in fiction wants to help out on submissions reading & replying ... I'm waiting to hear from you!!
I am that Shaun of the dead zombie...
Gosh, where did last week go? Fcon recovery only happened yesterday, as everything between then and Fcon is a blur of slipping in and out of consciousness (apparently it's the M.E. relapse - happens every so often. Bah. Humbug. I spit on your M.E. relapse. When I have the energy.)
And now we're talking about next year!! Venue is confirmed as Britannia, Nottingham. Date is confirmed as 21st - 23rd September 2007 (did I say this already here?) and we've got 1 guest and the MC confirmed, are waiting to hear back from guest 2, and are discussing guests 3 and 4. Guest 3 is someone most have been nagging us about for years... guest 4 is a wee bit unusual for an Fcon - if we can get him.
The official announcement will be made in a couple of weeks, I think. Once we've heard back from at least 2 of the outstanding guests...
And if you want to have a nosy and what people thought of Fcon check out the BFS forum thread here - http://www.marieoregan.net/bfsdiscuss/index.php?topic=806.0 where someone with improper use of awake time has dug out blog links and the like for peeps that talked about Fcon... (ok, so it was me...) There's links to Juliet & Clive's speeches too.
-
So with Fcon both gone and upcoming nicely covered for the time being, onto other things...
Prism & DH STILL at printers! Will have to check to make sure they haven't sent them to Finchley as well... (They (the printers) been taken over by someone new and there seems to be a few teething problems... so may have to find a new printers! Arrgh! They used to be so good too...)
Next Prism will now be 1st week of November (ish - have to carefully time it to come between the Prism/Dh mailing and the Xmas mailing) - with Fcon report and reviews and columns from James Barclay and Mark Morris and hopefully a debut author section. Would also like to do a complimentary old masters type section so authors published about 15 years or more ago can have a wee bit of exposure. Sort of a who's been an influence and why type thing - (useless at explaining it - Juliet managed to wrap it neatly up at the AGM but can't for the life of me remember what she said!) Want to have a review of one their books plus a short blurb on their influence either on the genre or on someone personally - or if they're still alive, a short interview! (volunteers to write one please speak! Or send something in on spec.) And the new mantra is - please remember that DH is the place for the longer features etc. - Prism only gets the really short stuff as we're news, reviews and the odd views! Zat is the law!
--- BFS bit ends!
All things Bradan...
So now that all that is under control, I can finally get to grips with all this other outstanding stuff... and you know how this goes so a little more bearing with me... there's Ish 8 to finish off, the subs, the emails, the odd outstanding stuff that I thought I'd sorted but obviously hadn't...
And, seriously chaps, if anyone wants to volunteer to help me out with the mag, let me know. No money will change hands, alas, but if someone with a quirky taste in fiction wants to help out on submissions reading & replying ... I'm waiting to hear from you!!
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