Concept Sci-fi Issue #5

...is now out!



(LGT magazine's home page, where you can download the 'zine for free!)


From their newsletter:
In this issue, you can find short fiction from Lawrence Buentello, Dylan Fox and Jonathan Lowe, plus an interview with Lou Anders from Pyr SF, Andrew Males' /88 Miles Per Hour/ Column and the next article in [editor Gary Reynold's] "Beginning Writing" series which this time focuses on controlling the pace and flow of your fiction.

One of those names looks familiar...

It's amazing to see Mind Games along side all those other pieces, treated like it's an actual piece of fiction and not something that I made up on my computer.  I hope I never lose this painful embarrassment-cum-joy I get when I see one of my pieces in print.  The six-year-old me who wanted to be a writer more than anything else in the world is so proud right now.

Weather it Matters

The weather has been beautiful today. I wilt like a lettuce leaf on a hot grill in the heat and the cold makes me crave creature comforts I don't have. Today, the sky was crayon-blue, there was an occasional cloud and the sun was getting in some early practice for August. The wind was cold, but very light. It was the sort of day where I could wear jeans, a t-shirt and a jumper, and tie the jumper around my waist if I got too hot. It was my sort of day. It's just a complicated series of events coming together in a particular way, and it they just happened to come together on my birthday. There's no real reason for it.

I realised that at some point. It's a special day because the weather is lovely and my friends and I are working in our garden. The next time the weather is beautiful and I'm happy to be where I am, I can have that same warm sunburst of realisation: There's no reason for it, it's just happened. The universe hands us moments without telling us sometimes, and if you're too busy looking for them you'll miss them. As the hippies used to say, 'be here now'. I think that's the lesson for my twenty-ninth year.

My SO brought me a shamanic drum. She played it for me so I could meet the drum's spirit. I'll admit I felt horrifically self-conscious, even though there was just her and me. I mean, a drum's spirit? It's all a bit, you know... BBC 2. The spirit I met was a blackbird. According to some reading I've done, the blackbird leads us through change and helps us realise a creative and spiritual awakening. It's also a very shy spirit who feels self-conscious in groups. If we have patience with each other, I think we're going to get on well.

Ngaio brought me a stack of books and I have a cheque from an aunt who thought I was a year older. The cheque is going to be spending money for the next few months, and the books are going to be some new herbs for the casserole of my mind. The best thing about other people buying you books is that you'd probably never read them otherwise. It's like finding a new coloured pencil in a set you've been using for years.

I've also written a short bio for Concept Sci-Fi. For the record, I hate writing bios and I don't photograph well. Accepting these things and saying, 'oh, sod it then' can be liberating at times.