Continuum X.

Next weekend, Melbourne's Continuum will celebrate its 10th birthday. For those not familiar with it, "Continuum is an annual Melbourne speculative fiction and pop culture fan convention celebrating creativity across genre and media. From hard-edge science fiction to high-flown fantasy, comic books to film noir, high culture to sub-culture… we sink our teeth into it all!" This year the convention is also host to Natcon, the 53rd Australian National Science Fiction Convention.

I love Continuum - not only for the panels and spending time with interstate friends, but the whole atmosphere of being with like-minded people.

I'm really excited to be involved in the following panels:

Seminal British SF Friday 22:30-23:30 with: Cat Sparks, Rob Hood, Narrelle Harris, Steve Cameron

The Aliens Are Too Human! Sunday 10:00-11:00 with: Alan Baxter, Steve Cameron, Darren Sanderson, Bismuth Hoban, Stacey Larner

YA - Meet the Authors Sunday 14:00-15:00 Steve Cameron interviewing:
Jim C. Hines, Tracy Joyce, Mary Borsellino

Not doing anything next weekend? There's still time to join.

Back, Forward And Now.

A time of reflection this week. A time to look back at where I've been and to look forward to where I'm going.

I spent several hours on the weekend in StreetView, virtually walking the old neighbourhoods in Tokyo. During my time there I lived in three different places, and so it was fun travelling up and down the old streets, trying to re-find places I used to frequent, and looking at what had changed. It made me nostalgic, and now I want to go back and walk those streets for real. I want to open my senses and take it all in again, this time afresh. I want to see the people that still live there, and catch up with old friends.

I've spent some time talking with a friend about my writing, and how I haven't written much recently. There are a number of reasons for that, and I'm planning to overcome those obstacles shortly. I also spent some time talking with the same friend about career moves, about my transition and what it's meant to both me and my teaching.

I've also spent time thinking about my own goals, personal, writing and career-wise. I'd made decisions about where I plan to be in the future in each of those areas, and I've pretty much re-affirmed those this week.

And I've spent time thinking of a couple of friends who are currently facing battles of different types.

I've looked to my inspirations, both people I've met and those who have inspired me. Some were/are mentors, some are friends who have done incredible things (and continue to do so), and some are people who wouldn't even know their influence on me.

I chatted tonight to one of those people. She's just done some fantastic things in education. But she won't be recognised for it by anyone, apart from a few colleagues. She might even be criticised by some for having a job with short hours, long holidays and too many complaints. Yeah, I've heard that a few times recently, and it gets old real quick. Walk a mile in my shoes, and so on...

But I can't complain. Life here continues to be good, and I'm grateful for what I have.
Now all I have to do is stop procrastinating and get writing again.

Nicknames.

Do writers have nicknames? I know Hemingway was known as 'Papa', but nowadays?

I think I should have one. How about Lightning Fingers? Captain Keyboard? Blank Page Cameron?

Musicians love nicknames - especially those from a blues and jazz background. Canned Heat, for example, currently consist of Larry "The Mole" Taylor, Adolfo "Fito" de la Parra, Harvey "The Snake" Mandel and Dale Spalding.

I wonder if Dale feels left out?

Previous members include Bob 'The Bear' Hite, Alan 'Blind Owl' Wilson, Henry 'The Sunflower' Vestine, Mike 'Hollywood Fats' Mann, and Stanley 'The Baron' Behrens.

I've recently been teaching Holes (by Louis Sachar) to my students. The boys in the novel, all in juvenile detention, use nicknames rather than their own name to separate their prisoner selves from their outside-world selves. I spent some time discussing this with my students, who were generally proud of their own nicknames. I did feel a bit sorry for one kid who told me his own nickname, but probably didn't realise the real reason he had been given it.

When I was younger, most of my social circle (outside school) simply called me Cammo, a shortening of my surname. In High School, though, I was know as Soap. No, this had nothing to do with the hygiene of a teenage boy. There was a brand of soap at the time called Cameo. Cameo/Cameron - you can see where that came from.

In the Police Academy, my squadmates knew me as Kodak. (Cameron to Camera to Kodak). But since then I haven't really had a commonly used nickname.

I have one friend who calls me 'Small African Nation' (Cameron/Cameroon - get it?), or occasionally 'Acolyte Bill'. (A longer story there. He's a computer expert and became known as Guru Bob, although his name isn't even remotely similar to Bob. As his occasional sidekick, he made me his acolyte. Go figure!)

A few years ago some students started referring to me as Dr. C, or Cam Dog. I must admit I didn't discourage those. One student even started with Toyota (Cameron/Camry) but that never really caught on.

But after discussing Holes and nicknames with my students a few weeks ago, they approached me  this week with a new nickname they've chosen for me. Apparently while on an excursion, their bus passed a truck owned by Cameron Trucking.

I like it. And I love that they regard me well enough to create a nickname for me.

From now on, you may refer to me as Steve 'The Truck' Cameron.

Aaarrrgggggh!

Aaarrrgggggh! I know what I want to write in this post but the words just won't come out right.

I've been sitting here for the past hour writing sentences, deleting, writing more, deleting again, saving drafts, and it's all awful. More awful than usual.

I switched topics, tried a little on something else I wanted to write. No luck there. Same thing. I went back and looked at a different draft on another topic that I wrote a few days ago. Nope, that needs a bit of cleaning up and research before it's unleashed on the world.

I then came back to the new ones, and they're just not working for me. I can't put my finger on it exactly, they're just not saying what I intend them to say.

The frustrating thing is that tomorrow, or the next day, I could look at them again and sort them out in a moment. But for now...?

So these are the words that are flowing - a stream of consciousness as I sit here and sniffle.

I've been off work sick this week. Some sort of head cold. I'm doped up on a lemon and codeine drink, or something like that, and not really thinking straight.

Which, some would argue, is no different to usual.

Falling Short.

I am constantly amazed at how other authors sculpt words.

I read a wide variety of books - short stories, novels, series, non-fiction - across a variety of genres. And as I read, I find myself analysing whole sections, and trying to understand how the writer achieved certain effects. I've found this doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the text - I find it actually enhances it. The more I read, the more I realise I have to learn. And yes, I find it frustrates me from time to time. I'm filled with self doubts and feelings of writing inadequacy, but it's always followed by a determined optimism to learn and improve.

I'm currently writing a story that I really like. I like the ideas, the setting, the characters, but there are a couple of elements of storytelling I want to achieve that I haven't successfully managed to do.

But that's what the first draft is for. And the second draft will fix those parts, improve the story and the writing.

And hopefully, one day, all this will permeate my brain, and my first drafts will be closer to the second drafts.

Let's hope it's sooner rather than later.

Grain Of Truth.

Last week I listed a few podcasts to which I've started listening. Yesterday I suddenly realised I'd forgotten to include Grain Of Truth.

Grain Of Truth is a half-hour panel, quiz, comedy show created and convened by David Innes, with special guests who give speeches based on silly topics related to their field of expertise.

David is a good friend and colleague of mine. We've shared quite a few laughs, and at post-work drinks we've even gone as far as developing our own sitcom - complete with title, stereotypical characters, catchcries, and a theme song. Buy us a drink sometime, and if we remember the words we may even sing it for you.

David will tell you that he's not only amazingly talented, but exceedingly funny and physically agile as well. And who am I to disagree with that. Especially when I think he still owes me a drink.

Award Winning.

Congratulations to Eric J. Guignard on winning the 'Best Anthology' Bram Stoker award for his collection, After Death.

I am thrilled to have had my story, I Was The Walrus, included in this award winning collection.

Well done, Eric. And congratulations to all the other winners.

_________________________________________________

The winners of the Bram Stoker Awards® for 2013 were announced at the Awards Banquet on May 10, 2014, at the Bram Stoker Awards Weekend and World Horror Convention in Portland, Oregon. The winners for superior achievement in each of the categories are:

Novel
Stephen King – Doctor Sleep (Scribner)

First Novel
Rena Mason – The Evolutionist (Nightscape Press)

Young Adult Novel
Joe McKinney – Dog Days (JournalStone)

Graphic Novel
Caitlin R. Kiernan – Alabaster: Wolves (Dark Horse Comics)

Long Fiction
Gary Braunbeck – “The Great Pity” (Chiral Mad 2, Written Backwards)

Short Fiction
David Gerrold – “Night Train to Paris” (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Jan./Feb. 2013)

Screenplay
Glen Mazzara – The Walking Dead: “Welcome to the Tombs” (AMC TV)

Anthology
Eric J. Guignard (editor) – After Death… (Dark Moon Books)

Fiction Collection
Laird Barron – The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All and Other Stories (Night Shade Books)

Non-Fiction
William F. Nolan – Nolan on Bradbury: Sixty Years of Writing about the Master of Science Fiction (Hippocampus Press)

Poetry Collection
Marge Simon, Rain Graves, Charlee Jacob, and Linda Addison – Four Elements (Bad Moon Books/Evil Jester Press)

The following awards were also presented:

The Lifetime Achievement Award
Stephen Jones
R.L. Stine

The Specialty Press Award
Gray Friar Press

The Silver Hammer Award (for outstanding service to the Horror Writers Assn.)
Norman Rubenstein

The President’s Richard Laymon Service Award
JG Faherty