Clinton vs Obama: game on

I heart US presidential elections. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it - perhaps early exposure to Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 is responsible. Whatever the reason, I always savour the long months of an American presidential election campaign. The wrangling, the ebbs and flows of support, the analysis, the polls, the speeches, the pivotal moments on the trail, on the stump.

The most fun is to be had during the primaries where various states decide which candidate they favour from the two main parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. Fringe candidates can become contenders while front-runners can stumble and fall. This year's contest is particuarly fascinating because no sitting president or vice-president is in the running, throwing the field wide open.

The Democrats have got the Big Mo, and look the most likely party to take the presidency when the election finally happens in early November - but which Democrat will succeed? Former first lady Hillary Clinton was the presumptive front-runner for months, but Barrack Obama swept past her to claim the first victory in the Iowa caucases last week, Clinton only managing third.

Polls suggested he held a lead of up to ten points over Clinton in yesterday's New Hampshire primary. Expectations were being lowered that Hillary would be beaten again. Such was the pressure, she came close to tears on the trail - and seems to have inadvertantly won the hearts of female voters. They went resoundingly with Clinton, delivering her a surprise victory over Obama in New Hampshire. [John Edwards is the third Democrat candidate, and seems out of the running.]

If Obama had won New Hampshire, he would have owned the Big Mo and likely left Clinton facing a long, slow painful defeat. Instead Clinton's win puts her right back in the race, guaranteeing more fun and games at least until early February when 22 states simultaneously go to the polls in primaries. If neither Clinton nor Obama win a decisive victory there, the race goes onwards.

The dream scenario for me is a tied primary race that takes the contest all the way to the Democratic Party Convention. [If you want to see what that looks like, watch the last ten episodes of The West Wing season six on DVD - cracking stuff.] Why the dream scenario? Because it extends the fun and the interest.

If the Democratic race is about two main candidates, the Republican race is a sprawling bunfight of epic proportions. John McCain was considered dead and buried last summer - no money, few supports, no prospects. Yesterday he won the New Hampshire primary, bringing his campaign back from the dead. Who else is in the Republican race? Huckabee, Romney, Rudy, that actor who said 'Russkies don't take a dump without a plan' in The Hunt For Red October and several others.

The Republican race is almost anybody's still to win. With no presumptive candidate yet emerging, it's hard to see the Grand Old Party discovering unity in time to win the election. Whoever does triumph from the GOP, they face one crucial decision - how to compaign against Obama or Clinton. The former will be America's first black candidate in a presidential election campaign, the latter America's first female candidate in a presidential election campaign.

Dare the republicans go negative? If so, when? Do they play the race card if Obama is the candidate? Tricky, but possible. Dare they play the gender card against Hillary? That could be suicidal, as women represent far more voters than minorities. That's not to say women will automatically vote for Hillary - far from it - but female-bashing won't help the Republican cause if Clinton gets the nomination.

Like I said, there's plenty more twists and turns to come in this campaign, even after the candidates have been chosen. Clinton's win in New Hampshire last night has guaranteed that. Bring it on!

A pleasant surprise courtesy of BlueCat

BlueCat is a renowned screenplay contest held in America that attracts entries from across the world. The main annual competition is for feature-length scripts, but last year the organisers decided to run a supplemental contest with three categories - feature screenplay, short screenplay, and video/written pitches. The winner in each category gets an all-expenses paid trip to Los Angeles in March this year with a week of screenplay development at the BlueCat Lab and some prize money, plus there are production fund awards for runners-up.

I submitted my short film script Danny's Toys and promptly forgot all about it, until an email hit my inbox this morning. Seems Danny's Toys has been chosen as one of 51 semi-finalists in the short screenplay category. No idea how many people entered or what the competition was like to reach the semi-finals, but it's always nice to be mentioned in despatches. The winners will be announced next month, so fingers crossed.

[Not] In Front of the Children

There's a new phenomenon about to burst across broadcast TV called child-safe repurposing. [Ugh, what an ugly phrase that is.] The first case in Britain is Torchwood. The first series of this Doctor Who spin-off was full of swearing and sex, banishing it to life beyond the watershed [i.e. only safe for broadcast after 9pm]. There were some grumblings about creating an adults-only spin-off from a hugely popular family drama, but there will always be people grumbling about something.

The second series of Torchwood starts next week and is still aimed at adult viewers. However, midway through the 13 episodes the cast will be joined by Martha Jones, a former companion of the Doctor and role model for small girls. If you vastly exaggerate the facts for fun, it's a bit like transplanting Tinkie-Winkie from the Tellytubbies into Sex and the City [with Prada supplying a new magical handbag, no doubt]. Give eight year olds enough reason to watch Torchwood and they will.

So a solution has been found - a edited, child-safe version of Torchwood will be broadcast at 7pm several days after the post-watershed incarnation. The BBC gets to recycle the material and satisfy any crusading moralist who might be getting on their high horse. Across the Atlantic [where the term repurposing was coined], another adults-only drama is also getting the sex and swearing removed for a wider audience.

Dexter is a gripping thriller about a serial killer who works as a blood forensics expert in Miaimi [curiously, he never bumps into Horatio Caine or anybody else from CSI: Miami]. First broadcast on the cable network Showtime, it featuring sex, swearing and no shortage of violence. With the Writers' Guild strike having burned through most broadcast networks' stocks of new drama, the likes of CBS are casting around for quality drama to fill their schedules.

Step forward Dexter, cut and pasted into a more family-friendly package for broadcast from February 17. Two other cable drama series, Monk and Psych, are also going mainstream, although neither of them is likely to upset any moralists. Indeed, Monk is so family-friendly BBC2 often broadcasts it on Sunday afternoons [and most entertaining it is, too].

Any other candidates for clean-up and crossover appeal? The Sopranos is already getting a lesser extreme airing on A&E in America. Thankfully, the days when British broadcasters attempted to show films like The Taxi Driver or Beverly Hills Cop without swearing, sex or violence are behind us. Grud forbid anybody every tried to broadcast Reservoir Dogs in a child-friendly form; it would only last five minutes.

My novels #13: Operative Vampyr

FIENDS OF THE EASTERN FRONT: Operation Vampyr [Black Flame, 2005]

Russia, 1941. The mighty German army is smashing its way through the crippled Russian defences. Idealistic your German soldier Hans Vollmer joins the front on the eve of the invasion of Russia, unaware that darked things than the enemy stalk the battlefields. When he is saved from a Russian attack by a Rumanian platoon, led by the mysterious Lord Constanta, his relief is short-lived.

Why do they never see the Rumanians during the day? Why do the Russian dead wear expressions of complete terror? Why are their bodies drained of blood? What unholy bargains has the Fuhrer made in order to win this war?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fiends of the Eastern Front was created in 1980 by Gerry Finley-Day and Carlos Ezquerra as a ten-part serial for iconic British comic 2000 AD. The hybrid of war and horror genres made the strip stand out among the weekly's usual sci-fi thrillers, but it remained unique in the comic's long history.

Fast foward quarter of a century and Black Flame's then editor, Jay Slater, phoned me to ask if I was interested in adapting the short-lived story into a potential trilogy of novels. Jaw's a massive WWII buff and was excited about the possibilities. I wasn't convinced it was possible to turn 44 pages of comics into nearly quarter of a million words of prose, but it sounded an interesting challenge.

I'd read Fiends, thanks to a collected edition given away free with an issue of the Judge Dredd Megazine, but didn't hold the life-long nostaglia for the quirky strip possessed by those who read it on first publication. When I re-read the story to see what elements could be adapted, I found it entertaining but chock full of holes.

It's never clear why Constanta and his vampire enter the war beyond a mistrust of Russians, let alone why they would switch sides to fight with the Russian against the Germans as Rumanian forces did in 1944 [and as happened in the strip]. In comics form Fiends jumps whole years of the Eastern Front conflict and essentially follows a single, lowly rifleman with the Wehrmacht. Novelising the comic version wasn't going to work, I needed to find my own approach to the material.

Before Jay's phone call I knew nothing about the Eastern Front battles of WWII, beyond passing mentions in the 60s US sitcom Hogan's Heroes. Over the next year I immersed myself in the many, many, many elements of that theatre of war. It quickly became clear a trilogy of novels would never be enough to cover the sprawling war and all its key battles - I needed to be selective.

Finding a structure that would make each book a satisfying read yet build over the series to a gripping trilogy was essential. I decided to replicate certain elements of the original strip in the first book, taking the German point of view. But Jay was eager to include tanks and planes as well as riflemen, so I invented three brothers, one serving in Panzers, one flying a Stuke and one on the ground.

The launching of Operation Barbarossa made an obvious start point, and the end of 1941 when the German insurgency stumbled in the Russian winter suggested itself as a good place to end the first novel. In the original strip the viewpoint character spends years finding out about the vampires before he rebels against their presence.

My viewpoint characters needed to made the same discoveries and decisions, but in a much tighter span of time. So I researched the stages of the invasion and how they would interlock with my plotline. Indeed, my abiding memories from Operation Vampyr are researching - scouring bokshops and the internet for background info about the war, the warriors, the battles, the strategies, the weapons, the life.

It may seem perverse to take such care in being historically accurate when writing a story about vampires in WWII, but I felt it was important to get all the little details as accurate as I could. Nailing the background and context somehow seemed to make the incredible that little bit more credible.

Crucially, I needed to identify a motivation for the vampires - what did they hope to gain by entering the war? Once I had that, plotting and writing the book became so much easier. Nevertheless, Operation Vampyr was not an easy write. All that history, all that detail was a massive drag on the process. I spent far too much time worrying about getting the technicals details right, sweating the small stuff.

I haven't read the book since it was published, but I guess all my efforts paid off. Operation Vampyr has been translated into Spanish, it sold thousands and thousands of copies in the US [despite having not a single American soldier in it] and thousands more have borrowed the book from British libraries. It's out of print now, but you can get it and the other two books from this trilogy as a big, fat omnibus edition.

My new PLR Top Ten - 2006/2007

Every year a wonderful organisation called the Public Lending Right sends registered authors a statement indicating how many times their books have been borrowed from British libraries in recent times. To compensate scribes for the lost sale, the PLR pays out 5.98 pence per loan [roughly 12 cents in American money]. If your total from your registered titles is less than one pound, it gets held over until the next year.

There's also a maximum payment threshold of £6600, to prevent the likes of J K Rowling and other immensely popular authors draining the PLR's coffers. In total 23,942 authors are getting payments next month for the most recent PLR period [July 2006-June 2007], with 242 scribes getting the maximum amount.

I’m a minnow in such matters, but thanks to a steadily growing backlist of books [26 and counting] my new statement is nearly double what I got this time last year. I’ll be sent a nice three-figure sum in February, thanks to two things – more people are borrowing my books from libraries, and I’m getting more books published.

The four novels I had published during the 1990s are now defunct in libraries, and my programme guide to The Sopranos is fast disappearing from shelves as well, six years on from publication. My hardcover history of iconic British comic 2000 AD, Thrill-Power Overload, was published just too late to make it into libraries.

But most of my tomes were borrowed at least 100 times according to the PLR and two title got taken out more than a thousand times each. My first Fiends novel tops the listings for a second year in succession, but the other two books in that series are rising to challenge it. Here's my top ten tomes for July 2006 - June 2007 (with previous year's placing in brackets):-

1. (1) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Operation Vampyr (published Oct 05)
2. (-) Fiends of the Eastern Front: The Blood Red Army (Apr 06)
3. (-) Fiends of the Eastern Front: Twilight of the Dead (Jul 06)
4. (8) Nikolai Dante: Honour Be Damned! (Mar 06)
5. (2) A Nightmare of Elm Street: Suffer the Children (May 05)
6. (3) Nikolai Dante: Imperial Black (Sep 05)
7. (9) Ripped From a Dream: The Nightmare on Elm Street Omnibus (Oct 06)
8. (-) I Am The Law: The Judge Dredd Omnibus (Oct 06)
9. (5) Nikolai Dante: The Strangelove Gambit (Jan 05)
10. (7) Doctor Who: Amorality Tale (Apr 02)

Bubbling under: The Complete Inspector Morse 2nd Edition (4th last year), Doctor Who: The Domino Effect (6th last year) and Fiends of the Eastern Front Omnibus (published Feb 07).

Star performer has to be my Fiends of the Eastern Front trilogy – it seems you can’t go wrong combining vampires and Nazis. I suspect the omnibus collection of all three novels will become a hardy perennial for a while, nearly cracking the top ten despite only being published in last few months of the PLR year. Hopefully Fiends of the Rising Sun will prove just as popular, it came out in July 2007.

A new, third edition of my Morse book is due out this month or next, so that should supplant the second and first editions, borrowed a total of 320 times in the period 06-07. Freddy Krueger has served me well in libraries [horror wins again], but the biggest surprise is repeat appearances by all three of my Nikolai Dante novels. None of them sold well, but they’ve proved popular at libraries with a total of more than 1500 borrowings – go figure.

Finally, thank you to everyone who borrowed one of my books from a library this past year, nearly 8000 of you. I hope you enjoyed the stories I had to tell. Support your local library, it’s a brilliant resource. And thanks to the PLR for finding all this out and disbursing all these funds. It's a nice post-Christmas bonus for me, but for some authors it's their major payday of the year. Long may it continue!

2007 - my year in review

Time for my annual appraisal of the year past, a necessary precursor to setting goals for 2008. I figure it's best to learn from my successes and my failures, so I can build upon solid foundations and try to avoid repeating past mistakes. Let's start with novels. My 17th and 18th novels were published in 2007, and I wrote my 19th novel [due for publication in December 2008]. My work also featured in four omnibus collections, but that's largely irrelevant in the greater scheme in things.

Novel #17 was A Murder in Marienburg, my first foray in the fantasy world of Warhammer. Novel #18 was Fiends of the Rising Sun, a WWII horror tale planned as the first in a series based around Japanese vampires and the battle for the Pacific. I spent February 2007 rewriting the book, throwing out a 35,000 word sequence that didn't fit and replacing it with new material.

My editor told me not to worry, I could transplant the lost chunk into the second book in the series. But by the time Fiends of the Rising Sun was published, publisher Black Flame was shutting up shop with no new commissions forthcoming. Such is life, but it's a shame the Fiends series got stymied by this as the books seem to have an enduring appeal, judging by my library lending statements [that's a post for tomorrow].

I spent much of November and Deember writing novel #19, A Massacre in Marienburg, my second Warhammer tome. I'm waiting to hear back from the editor how that's gone, but have hopes of a third book in my Marienburg series. With 19 novels under my belt, I'm looking to venture into new territory with my 20th tome. The roundness of that novel calls for something special, a fresh start. Guess that's a job for 2008.

Radio - 2007 proved to be something of a wash when it came to radio drama. I had plenty of good intentions but never found the time to turn these into reality. One thing I did do was intensive research into a historical period planned as the setting for a radio play idea I've been nurturing for years. Having done the background work, it's well past time I got on with developing the play. Another job for 2008.

I'd also like to develop some newer ideas for radio. It's a brilliant place to develop as a broadcast drama writer, hone your skills and storytelling crafts. Adding more radio drama credits also enhances your chances in other areas, plus it's just a brilliant medium for which to write. Emerging writers have far more input and involvement with their work on radio than most other storytelling media.

Courses - finished my screenwriting MA, and attained a distinction for the whole post-graduate course. Even got the university medal for my efforts. Have to admit I'm feeling the absence of the course now it's over. The chance to interact with other, like-minded writers on a weekly basis was a boon, and losing that has left a gap in my life. Emails and phone calls are great, but I pine for human contact.

Loved the Script Factory's Storylining for Continuing Drama workshop, but was less impressed by the same organisation's TV Forum. I'd crawl over broken glass to work in storylining, doing that workshop felt life I'd discovered my natural metier. Alas, sotrylining job openings are few and far between. My day at the Emmerdale storylining workshop only served to underline my enthusiasm for the job.

The TAPS continuing drama workshop in Cardiff was an energising experience, and one I wouldn't mind repeating this year, given the chance. I also managed to blag my way into a workshop for script readers held by Scottish Screen, and learned a lot from that experience too. I'll definitely be looking for more learning experiences in 2008, but financal constraints mean I'll need to pick and choose carefully.

Getting a job in TV - had my heart broken a couple of times trying to get a foot in the door with particular shows. I'd get a glimpse of the promised land, a lot of positive noises and encouragement, but still found myself shut out at the end of 2007. So be it. I've got another opportunity on the horizon and there will be others. Genius will out, but bloody-minded persistance gets you a long way too.

Competitions - stunned myself by winning a first place in the 2007 Page International Screewriting Awards with my short film script Danny's Toys. Still feels like the world's biggest fluke, though it had opened a few doors and gotten me attention I'd never have attracted otherwise. I've been working that win for all it's worth. Now I need to write some more scripts worthy of sharing a portfolio with Danny's Toys.

Getting an agent - lots of positive noises, no offers from my agency trawl in the final quarter of 2007. A degree with distinction and my award for Danny's Toys got me read, but that wasn't enough to lift me out of the pack. More killer scripts required, and more proof that I'm worth representing, a writer who can make it as a professional in the industry. I need more broadcast credits - job for 2008.

Finally saw my history of iconic British comic 2000 AD published in the summer of 2007. It was a joy to hold Thrill-Power Overload in my hands, the capstone of six years of effort and a career of involvement with British comics spanning nearly 18 years. The TPO book felt like something of a full stop, but there are plans for a revised paperback edition at some point, so there are epilogues ahead in 2008.

Revised The Complete Inspector Morse for a third edition to be published early in 2008, and also contributed to the Inspector Morse weekend on ITV3 in April 2007. With the spin-off series Lewis attracting big ratings, the legacy of Colin Dexter's creations continues and that's good news for my book. It's funny, but several of my non-fiction tomes haved proven to be far more enduring than my novels. Perhaps that should tell me something about where to direct my energies in 2008 and beyond?

Comics - write another handful of issues for Egmont's Phantom comics, hopefully with more to come in 2008. Found myself devoting more time and energy to these pulp fiction tales, due to my efforts to learn more about the craft of storytelling. In the past I'd simply have cranked these out, counting on my natural yarn-spinning instincts to carry the day. Now I think about them a lot more. I hope that's for the better, but sometimes wish I could just embrace the pulp a bit, have fun with them. Something to embrace in the year ahead.

Journalism - write several interview features for the Judge Dredd Megazine [my three-part interview with Alan Grant is a doozy]; and a lot of features and reviews for new genre monthly Death Ray. Enjoyed flexing my journalist muscles in 2007, but not sure how much time I'll have for that in 2008. Time will tell.

Income - this cratered in 2007, thanks to all the time, energy and cash I poured into my quest for storytelling knowledge. The past year was probably my worst financially since 1991. It'd be nice to have money in my pocket and a bank account not permanently at the edge of its overdraft during 2008. But breaking into broadcast drama is not an overnight process, and requires plenty of sacrifices. I guess that means I won't be getting rich anytime during the year ahead.

London calling for Law & Order

Variety's reporting plans for a London-based remake of venerable US cops and shysters drama Law & Order. Made by Kudos for ITV, the new show will use tweaked versions of American scripts, relocated to the British capital. They'll have plenty of material from which to choose, as close to 400 episodes of original flavour Law & Order have been produced across the Atlantic. The commission isn't set in stone, according to Variety, but negotiations have been ongoing for a year.

It's been common for Brit dramas to get a US remake, with varying degrees of success. Blackpool infamously became one of 2007's worst flops when remade as Viva Laughlin, while Life is Wild [the American redo of Wild at Heart] struggled to find much traction before the writers' strike halted production, but others have had more success. British remakes of US dramas are rarer, though a few sitcoms have crossed the Atlantic. Will UK audiences will embrace Law & Order: London? Time will tell.

Happy new year wherever you are

For those in places like New Zealand, it's already 2008 as I type these words. For those of us on this side of the international dateline, we're still lingering in 2007. Wherever you are, I'd like to wish you a happy and prosperous 2008. You'll have to forgive the lack of activity here at Vicious Imagery, I've been letting my brain take a well-earned rest after an active 2007. But I'll be back with my resolutions in the next few days, once 2008 is in place all over. Until then, stay safe.

Morphing montage - women in art

Morphing montage - women in film

Last year's resolutions - hits and misses

The end of 2007 is accelerating towards us with undue haste and alacrity, so it's time for a look back at the new year resolutions I made twelve months ago - a reality check before I put together my fate-tempting hopes for 2008.

1. Blog every day - didn't quite manage that, but certainly surpassed 1000 posts in total on this blog. I think the total's closer to 1200 by now.

2. Complete my screenwriting MA, ideally with distinction - achieved. Even got the university medal, a first for any student at Screen Academy Scotland. It's nice for the ego and looks good on a CV, but hasn't done much for me otherwise. Alas, I work in a field where winning a university medal is entirely irrelevant.

3. Write no novels between January and June 2007 - achieved, but I spent February rewriting a novel left over from 2006. I wanted to concentrate on other things for the first half of 2007 and did so, February aside.

4. Write a novel between July and December 2007 - achieved. Finished A Massacre in Marienburg on December 14, so snuck that one in under the wire.

5. Worry less about money and concentrate more on writing. Did my best to fulfil this but it wasn't easy. My income's been cut in half the last few years, as I've set aside paying work to pursue my dream of writing broadcast drama. So far, that hasn't paid off monetarily, but I'd like to think I've made some progress otherwise.

6. Get another radio play commissioned - nope. Too busy with the MA, the mentoring project, and numerous other screenwriting courses and workshops last year. Simply didn't have time to develop ideas for radio.

7. Get a TV drama broadcast credit - nope. This was definitely a case of aim high and you might hit something, if not your original target. I was hopeful of getting a credit by writing or becoming a storyliner or script editor. Alas, none of these has some to pass - yet. But I ain't giving up, not by a long chalk.

8. Finish the mentoring project with a good calling card script - achieved. Lots of people have read and complemented me on Taking Liberties. But I need more calling card scripts to prove myself a worthy prospect.

9. Finish the MA with a strong, feature length script to my credit - nope. Instead I wrote another 60-minute TV drama calling card script. My planned feature was not coming together, so I set it aside. For emerging writers in the UK, the best hope of getting work is on TV - yet the vast majority of scheme, workshops and showcase opportunities revolve around features. So I still need to write a good feature.

10. Get an agent - nope. I've been trying the last few months but no success, yet. Will probably let this lie for a while, try and acquire some more credits before having another run at the agencies. Need to make myself more enticing as a client.

11. Take proper holidays - nope. In 2006 I managed a week off in June and that was about it. 2007 proved no better, with a week off in - you guessed it - June and that was about it. Again. That situation will change in 2008, as I'll be away for three and a half weeks visiting New Zealand, seeing my family for the first time in five years. Can't wait for a real chance to unplug and relax, away from work.

Phew, that was quite a list I set myself for 2007. Five definite successes, five misses and one that's a bit of a score draw. Not a bad ratio. Now to ponder what I want and need to achieve in 2008.

It's not easy having a head the size of a planet

Got a new hat for Christmas but it's a tight fit, especially as I have a head the size of a planet. Honestly, my bonce is enormous. Even when I was 11 and a school trip took our class to an oil refinery [it was all glamour at my school], they couldn't find a hard hat big enough to fit on my head. So finding hats that fit is a real problem for me, let alone anyone trying to shop for me.

What else did I get? Books, CDs, DVDs and a selection of Kiwi provisions - peanut slabs, chocolate fish, and bottles of that great New Zealand delicacy L&P. All in all, a great haul and one that will keep me entertained, informed, and indulged for days, weeks and months to come. So here's a clip from NZ to illustrate the wonders of L&P and a bizarre fashion incident known as Stubbies.

bubbles for breakfast on Christmas Day

We have a Christmas tradition - a bottle of vintage champagne with breakfast on December 25th. The breakfast varies from year to year, but the champagne is a constant. Once you've imbibed the bubbles, the day passes in a gentle, smiling bliss. Today the Laurent Perrier 1999 has been opened and drunk, lunch is being prepared and presents have been opened in a frenzy of torn paper and happy surprises. Vicious Imagery wishes you the happiest of days and prosperous 2008.

No snow on the drokkin' logo!

Christmas covers are something of a poison chalice for titles like iconic British science ficiton comic 2000 AD. It's never easy to strike the right balance between twisted imagination and twee festive frolics. Some years the editor ignores Christmas altogether, other times they embrace it too much and the result's an unsightly mess. Me, I always had an aversion to snow appearing on the logo, and would have preferred to concentrate on content over contrivance [call me Scrooge].

It's probably a consequence of growing up in New Zealand where Christmas came at the start of summer. British Christmas comics usually turned up three months after the fact, because they arrived on a slow boat [probably coming via China]. As a result, I read the Christmas issue round Easter, when efforts to embrace the festive spirit seemed bizarre and inane. All of which is a roundabout introductionn to my five favourite Christmas covers from 2000 AD's early years. Enjoy.

Counting the Beat - The Swingers

She's A Mod - Ray Columbus & the Invaders

Hey Ya - Wellington Int'l Ukulele Orchestra

Galactically Hot Women of original Star Trek

Some bloke with far, far, far too much time on his hands is creating an online archive of all the hot women featured in the original series of Star Trek. Dig those haircuts, love that eyeshadow - Amy Winehouse, eat your heart out. Here's five of them.

Traditional things in the Bowie household

The Art and Business of Adaptation

Mead Kerr has announced a new screenwriting seminar for March 2008, this time tackling the topic of adaptation. Sadly for me, the dates clash with a trip back to New Zealand I've had booked for nearly a year. [This always happens - I missed the last of Adrian's Edinburgh seminars because I was also away on holiday. Sigh.] Anyway, my loss is your gain as that leaves a seat empty, so here are all the details.

THE ART AND BUSINESS OF ADAPTATION

This weekend will provide you with all the tools you need to find and adapt work for the screen. Guest speakers ranging from screenwriters, novelists, producers and publishers will share their experience of finding, optioning, writing and selling work. Just a few of the areas we will cover are...

1. The Author
When is your book, article or blog suitable for adaptation?
How can you publicise your work to the film and TV industry?
Selling the film and TV rights to your work.
Adapting your own work for the screen.

2. The Producer
When is a book, article or blog suitable for adaptation?
Finding material for adaptation and establishing relationships with authors,
journalists, agents and publicists.
Negotiating the film and TV rights.
Hiring the screenwriter.

3. The Screenwriter
Creating a pitch for the job and your take on the work.
The adaptation process - finding the screenplay within the material.
Working with the producer and originator of the work.
And much, much more!

This is a brand new course and as always we will be providing the most up to
date, career building advice, a relaxed and friendly networking opportunity
and excellent speakers and panel members.

If you have not already attended one of our courses do some research by
googling the tutor Adrian Mead and also check out the testimonials on our
site - http://www.meadkerr.com

Think about this statement from Screen International: "...adaptations make up around 80% of the projects currently being made." Faced with these kinds of statistics it is obvious that if you want a career as a screenwriter you need to do this course.

DATE: Sat 15 - Sun 16th March
VENUE: EDINBURGH city centre (TBC)
COST: £120 incl VAT and Lunch

BOOKING DETAILS: To request a booking form or further information send us an e-mail - info@meadkerr.com - testimonials can be seen at the Mead Kerr web site - http://www.meadkerr.com

Ghosts appear and fade away

Captain Jack Harness is Super!

Rest of the day off

Definitely gone demob happy as I've fulfilled my last deadline for 2007, hence the late post today. It's worth mentioning I'll be doing a cull of links on this blog between now and Hogmanay. Anybody who hasn't bothered to update their blog for more than a month will be vanishing. I need fresh content and I need it now. In the meantime, here's the video for a groovy track called Rest of the Day Off.

New Line, Peter Jackson make Hobbit, not war

It's been announced Peter Jackson and New Line will work together to adapt JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit for the big screen. Plans were unveiled yesterday for a two-film version of the beloved The Lord of the Rings precursor, with Jackson leading the creative team - but he won't be directing. Helming committments on The Lovely Bones and collaborating with Steven Spielberg on Tintin means another director will take charge of both films.

Likely choice for the job? Spiderman helmer Sam Raimi. [That sound you hear is a bazillion geeks exploding with joy across the globe.] The plan is to shot both films in New Zealand back-to-back, just as was done with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Those blockbuster movies made Jackson, his creatives partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, his Weta companies and New Line a ton of money. But disputes over money led to acrimony.

There've been efforts recently to rebuild bridges, looks like those efforts have been successful. Having Jackson et al on board for The Hobbit always felt necessary, so the adaptation could blend seamlessly with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But does The Hobbit need two films to tell its story? Tolkein's book for children is no longer than any of the three books that became a trilogy of movies.

Are two films artistically justifiable? Or is this just another example of filmmaker bloat [something that made Jackson's King Kong an underwhelming effort, IMHO] and squeezing the most money out of a beloved book? Guess we'll find out in 2010 and 2011, when the two films are due in cinemas. Ironically, it may be another fantasy film adaptation that sealed the deal on The Hobbit.

New Line has recently released The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. New Line had hopes it could create another blockbust trilogy of films, following in the footsteps on The Lord of the Rings. But The Golden Compass has flopped in US cinemas, making a fraction of its production budget.

There's more greater success internationally for the movie, but prospect for further features in the series look doubtful. This relative failure and yesterday's announcement The Hobbit may have no connection. If so, it's just a happy coincidence for fans of Jackson's take on Tolkein. Whatever the reason, fingers crossed the Kiwi magician can recapture lightning in a bottle.

My novels #12: Imperial Black

NIKOLAI DANTE: Imperial Black [Black Flame, 2005]

In this riotous tale of the near future, Nikolai Dante is cuaght by the Parliament of Shadows: a cabal planning the overthrow the Tsar. He is given a stark choice - do the cabal's work or face execution. Decisions, decisions...

The Russian rogue is team with beautiful assassin Mai Tsai, and sent to the Himalayas where a lost mountain fortress hides a secret weapon. But nobody has ever found the Forbidden Citadel and returned alive. Meanwhile, the Tsar's notorious Imperial Blck regiment - renowned for their cruelty and brutality - also searches for the citadel. This deadly army is led by Ivanov the Terrible, a ruthless sadist who has an old score to settle with Dante.

The snow runs red with blood as Nikolai fights for his life on the roof of the world!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now that back covr copy definitely sounds like something I'd like, featuring as it does a lot of allitertion [though not by anxious anchors placed in perilous posts]. This was the second of my three Dante novels. Having played things for laughs in the first, I decided to go a bit darker and more serious with this book. The character's stories in iconic British comic 2000 AD oscillate between romps and bleaker tales, so I wanted to reflect that in my prose version of the character.

Of course, that didn't prevent plenty of humour creeping into the finished tome. I seem to recall an extended chase sequence in the opening chapters with Dante fighitng off an attacker armed only with a metre-long double-ended phallus for protection, and he also has to swim across an indoor pool of warm sake. There's plenty of other hi-jinks among all the blood and thunder.

The title for this tome was created by another author who had pitched a Dante novel to Black Flame. The book was solicited to the trade but the writer didn't get contracted, so I was asked to adopt the name for my novel. I didn't mind as it provided a title for the bad guys' regiment, but still feel kind of bad about being given a slot promised to another author - sorry, Andrew.

Not much else to say about Imperial Black. I was writing a new novel every three months at this point, so the experience of writing them all blends together. This particular book is out of print, but you can buy all three of my Dante novels in a big fat omnibus edition appropriately entitled From Russia With Lust.

It's official: A Massacre in Marienburg

Publishing imprint Black Library has spilled the beans, so I can now confirm that my 19th novel will be A Massacre In Marienburg, due out December 2008. It's my second Warhammer tome, following on from A Murder In Marienburg published earlier this year. I can't give away too many plot details, but it's safe to say the survivors from the first book return in a story that puts the war back in Warhammer. The book's title might give you a hint about what happens next.

I finished the first draft on Friday, and I'm pleased with the results. But writing the climax of a novel while performing five nights in pantomime? Not so clever. I was absolutely drained by the end of the week. Happily, typing THE END on Friday gave renwed vigour and the last two nights of the show were a blast. Lots of positive comments about the show, and a crackerjack script by Nicholas Pegg. The fact we put the show together in six weeks makes the achievement all the more remarkable, a tribute to the hard work of the cast and crew - especially wardrobe mistress Denise.

Spent yesterday decompressing from the stresses of recent weeks while watching the third and [sob] final season of Veronica Mars on DVD. It's always a strange sensation when a show ends. You've devoted so much time and energy to the production, it's absence leaves a whole in your life for a while. But plans are already afoot for the next show, most probably a musical hitting the stage next May.

This week I've got various bits and bobs of work to achieve, along with Christmas preparations to tackle. But by Wednesday I'll be letting the tightly wound spring in my psyche wind down a little. I've been going peddle to the metal since this time last year, with just one week off in June to recuperate. Looking forward to a meaningful rest, and giving the creative well refill with ideas over the break.

Video classic: Is Europe a country?

12 days of Christmas: warning - contains Toto

Vote Chuck in 2008

At last, a British channel has had the good sense to buy the new US comedy-drama Chuck for broadcast next year. Alas, that channel is Virgin 1 and not available to backward types who don't have access to satellite, cable or digital TV yet. Sigh. It's more of a boys' show than, say, Ugly Betty [as this picture demonstrates] but is still a lot of fun.

The newly launched series proved enough of a hit in the US to get a full season order of 22 episodes, despite the ongoing writers' strike. Some 13 eps were made before the dispute closed down production, but only 11 have been broadcast across the Atlantic thus far. Anyway, I recommend Chuck if you like entertaining, popcorn television with a little bit of heart and a lot of wit.

Hollywood awards season kicks off

December launches a flurry of awards, principally for film, but TV also gets a look in with some accolades. Critics associations in various US cities are naming their favourite films, directors, actors and screenplays of 2007. The Coen Brothers' latest, No Country For Old Men, is getting a lot of traction.

Julie Christie is fast becoming a lock for a best actress nomination come the Oscars and Ratatouille will likely be battling Persepolis for best animated feature. The elephant for all these discussions is the ongoing writers' strike. It's already laying waste to TV schedule across the Atlantic, and televised awards shows will suffer too if the strike drags on into the new year - as seems likely.

In the midst of all this, the Writers' Guild of America has announced it nominations for the best TV of 2007. Top dramatic series are Dexter, Friday Night Lights, Mad Men, The Sopranos and The Wire - can't argue with any of those choices. It's a sign of the strength in US TV drama that the guild could have filled those five slots several times over and still be acclaiming quality programmes.

Best new series? Damages, Flight of the Conchords, Mad Men and Pushing Daisies - not a dud amongst them. I'd have been tempted to add Life to the list, but that's just me. Kudos to the double nod for Mad Men, it really is that good. Watch out for the series when it appears on the BBC next year.

My novels #11: Suffer the Children

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: Suffer the Children [Black Flame, 2005]

From your worst nightmares strides Freddy Krueger, the fedora-wearing, razor-glove-wielding legend of the big screen! In the first in a brand new series of further adventures, the cult icon that is Freddy once again prowls the dreams of the teenagers on Elm Street.

When six volunteers test an anti-insomnia drug, they get much more than they barged for when they are thrust into the dream realm - a playground for the bastard son of a hundred maniacs.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I grew up watching the Hollywood slasher films in the 80s, and Freddy Kreuger was always my favourite. The films showed wit and visual flair I felt were lacking from Friday the 13th movies. Several notable writers and directors got their break on Elm Street movies, and I saw every Freddy movie at the pictures when it was released. When Black Flame said it was looking for authors to write Elm Street novels, I had my proposal submitted in record time.

It took eight months for franchise owners new Line to approve the synopsis, but they didn't ask for anything to be changed [others were not so fortunate]. I was busy writing other books for Black Flame, but set aside time in my schedule for the Elm Street novel, quietly looking forward to spending some quality time with the finger-knife maniac with the red and green striped jumper.

When the time came to write this tome, I had one apprehension. None of my previous novels had been longer than 80,000 words, and this was commissioned as 95,000 words. Doesn't sound like a lot more but trust me, it is. Still, I was confident my carefully constructed synopsis would carry me through. Normally I'll take up to 5000 words to write a synopsis for a novel.

Imagine my horror when I printed out the plotline and discovered it ran only 1200 words, barely covering four sides. Thin? It was verging on anorexic. Somehow I had to turn these too few paragraphs into 95,000 words of gripping, terrifying prose. Yikes. I stuck a sign on the wall above my computer [it's there still]. There are three phrases on it - Describe Everything, How Does It Smell?, and Use All Five Senses.

In the absence of a detailed plot roadmap, I needed to delve into how everything looked, tasted, sounded, felt and smelled. [A lot of novels ignore smells altogether, even the prose is almost the only storytelling medium that can evoke a smell in the mind of the audience, outside scratch and sniff panels.] I would explore the feelings and fears of my teenage cast. I would describe the hell out of everything.

Amazingly, it seemed to work. Suffer the Children was something of a highwire act without a net, but I survived and the book's a rattling yarn. Elm Street fans can be a possessive lot, all with their own ideas of what makes a good Elm Street story and what doesn't [I feel the same way about Doctor Who]. Judging by reviews on amazon.com, some loved this novel and some hated it.

Nobody seemed to notice the influence of Stephen Kind's Firestarter on the drug testing sequence, nor the debt my plot owed to Peter Jackson's unmake Elm Street screenplay - not even New Line. I loved tormenting my cast of American teenagers, and grew quite fond of my main protagonist Alex, tough she certainly suffered at my hands. I felt I owed her some sort of redemption.

So I set to work planning a new Elm Street novel, one that worked in its own right but would also bring her back and give the character some closure. I submitted a pitch with the working title House of 100 Maniacs, exploring why Freddy always kept coming back to the same home on Elm Street. It was a Krueger rife on classic horror films like The Haunting, almost all set inside one building.

I was going for taut, claustrophobic storytelling, with a cast of characters would die one by one, augmented with all sorts of twists and turns. My editors at Black Flame liked the proposal, and sent it across to New Line. The film studio licensing people also gave it the thumbs up, but poor sales on the Elm Street books meant I never got formally contracted to write the book. Such is life.

On strike in the countryside

Across the Atlantic the Writers' Guild of America is on strike in a bitter dispute over a whole bunch of issues. But like most strikes, it can be boiled down to one key issue - in this case, writers want an equitable share of revenues from use of their work over the internet. [If you want more about the strike, I recommend the blog United Hollywood.] The centrepoints for picketing strikers are Hollywood in Los Angeles and, to a lesser extent, New York. Go online and you'll see plenty of footage of strikers walking the line, keeping their protest in the public eye. But what about writers who don't live in LA or NY? Where do they go to picket?

I've been on strike twice in my career, both times where I was a journalist in New Zealand. Back then union membership was compulsory in NZ [I've no idea if that's still the case], so if the leadership said you were going out on strike, out you went. The first time I was working in the Hawera branch office of The Daily Newspaper, a morning paper in the province of Taranaki. There was no picket line, and certainly no media coverage of the strike - because the news media were the ones on strike. Even if there had been coverage, it wouldn't have featured us.

Being on strike in the countryside is essentially like being unemployed. You don't go in to work, you've got nothing to do and no money to spend. We were paid weekly at the time and I didn't have any savings, so it was case of scraping by on whatever was in the cupboards and ignoring any bills that came in. We didn't have the internet, or DVDs or computer games - hell, we didn't have a computer in the house I shared. [Yes, we did have electricity and the wheel, thanks for asking.]

So we spent a lot of time listening to records or reading books, anything that didn't involve spending money. From memory, the strike was about exemptions - management wanted more senior staff to be exempt from future strikes, whereas the union didn't want that as it would make future strikes less effective. We were striking about the terms and conditions for future strikes - at least, that's how it seemed to me.

Anyways, it went on for eleven days before some kind of common sense prevailed and we went back to work. Just as well, otherwise I was faced with driving five hours - with limited cash and even less petrol - to stay with my parents until the dispute blew over. Being on strike in the countryside when you're broke? Not that much fun.

The second time I was on strike only lasted a day and a half. By then I was working at the biggest paper in New Zealand, based in the country's biggest city, Auckland. That strike was about the introduction of new technology, such as direct inputting for reporters and the adoption of desktop publishing technology. That time I got to vote at the strike meeting and learn about such arcane terms as Father of the Chapel. The strike was so short it felt more like 36 hours of unpaid leave. Most of that we spent in the pub, if memory serves.

Now I'm freelance, there's no such thing as going on strike. Membership of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain is not compulsory, so a strike to match the US dispute is unlikely ever to happen on this side of the Atlantic. Besides, the public broadcasting remit built into several of the key networks in Britain precludes the hardline negotiating tactics seen in the US. Happily for UK writers, our guild has already negotiated rights and payments regarding online usage.

What did you write about the war, daddy?

Still doing the dance of the seven deadly deadlines, so no time for lengthy blog posts. Instead, why don't you go read about the script Hollywood considers the hottest unmade screenplays of 2007. A few of them are in development or slated to be made, but some may never seen a screen [silver, TV or computer]. There's a lot of war and espionage tales being told, or there were before the writers' strike. [Thanks to Alex for the link to the article.] If I get time tomorrow, I'll try to recall the two times I've been on strike.

Miss Push? Let me introduce you to Mr Shove

Busy busy busy busy busy. It's dress rehearsal day for the local pantomime, so that's a minimum of six to eight hours in the theatre today as we run the show twice. Also need to get some shopping in for the week, eat food so I don't tip off and have a bath. Plus I'm finished a novel and writing two script reports for different agencies. Like I said, busy busy busy busy busy.

At least the forecast snow didn't arrive yesterday, that would've only added to the chaos. I love snow. Growing up in New Zealand, I didn't see snow till I was 20, so it'll always has novelty value for me. But it would be helpful if it didn't arrive for another week. Must dash, things to go, thighs to slap...

Professionals who perform like amateurs

I'm involved with a local dramatic society and it's pantomime season. We're strictly an amateur outfit, putting on shows for fun and entertainment, but we try to be professional in everything we do. Alas, this sometimes brings us into contact with professional organisations who perform more like stumbling amateurs. Honestly, sometimes you have to wonder how they stay in business.

For example, we decided to hire a backcloth for our show. I chose the cloth from a professional company, phoned in my order, confirmed it by email and our treasurer paid in advance and on time. Every detail was agreed: which cloth, to what address it should be delivered and on which two days it should be delivered. It was meant to arrive Thursday this week, but didn't. I phoned the professionals.

Yes, the cloth has been despatch, it will be with you today [Thursday] or tomorrow [Friday]. Fine. Fast forward to Friday - still no cloth. Phone the professionals, who in turn phoned the professional couriers they use to deliver theatrical cloths. The couriers say the cloth has been delivered, but not to my address. No, it went to the Biggar Little Theatre - a place that doesn't exist.

It was signed for by a man whose name I don't recognise. Oh, and it was left at reception - of a place that doesn't exist. I point out the fallacy in this, so the professional hire company call back the professional couriers. The story changes. Now it seems the cloth was left at a particular business at a particular address in town, where the couriers used to deliver our cloths five years ago.

Alas, this is another fallacy. The particular address has since been pulled down, and the business has moved to another location and changed hands. Fine. A series of phone calls by me uncovers the fact that the cloth went to a third address, arriving a week early and was signed for by a man with no connection by our amateur company. So the professional couriers have not covered themselves in glory.

After detective work, I track down the man with the cloth and he goes out of his way to deliver to my home - the place where it was meant to come in the first place. Fine. This morning I take the cloth to the venue and unroll it in preparation for hanging, because tomorrow [Sunday] is dress rehearsal day - the last chance to practise with the cloth in place before opening night.

Alas, the trifecta of cock-ups is complete. The professionals have sent us the wrong cloth. We asked for a ballroom cloth with a code ending in 99. They sent us a cloth depicting a terrace on the Med, with a code ending in 98. Congratulations, professionals! You delivered a cloth to the wrong address, on the wrong day - and it's the wrong cloth. I'm not sure if this could have gone worse.

Professionals? They don't deserve the name. Give me amateurs any day; at least they aspire to perform in a professional way.

My novels #10: The Strangelove Gambit

NIKOLAI DANTE: The Strangelove Gambit [Black Flame, 2005]

It's 2672 AD, in a future where the Russian revolution never happened, and Nikolai Dante is the most wanted man in the Empire. Fifty million roubles have been put up as reward for his capture. Any sensible man would be hiding off-world, but the swashbcukling rogue enjoys living dangerously!

Fighting to stop a terrifying weapon being unleashed by a shadowy doctor, the only thing that stands between Dante and success is a finishing school full of beautiful young ladies. How can the carousing scoundrel resist the temptation?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For those who don't know Dante, he's a character from iconic British sci-fi comic 2000 AD. Think Flashman meets Hans Solo and you've got the essence of this delightful creation by Robbie Morrison and Simon Fraser. I was editor of the comic when the strip was being developed in 1996, though credit for commissioning Dante must go to my predecessor John Tomlinson. When Black Flame agreed to published novels based on 2000 AD characters besides the ubiquitous Dredd, I leapt at the chance to take Dante from four-colour thriller to pulse-pounding page-turner. Fortunately, Robbie agreed to let me borrow his characters.

The result is a trio of novels that among my favourites from everything I've ever written, three non-stop romps full of bawdy antics and breath-taking hi-jinks. The Strangelove Gambit launched the series, borrowing a riff from Ian Fleming's novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service as Dante goes undercover [and between the sheets] at a finishing school for beautiful young ladies. The Russian rogue is in his element, leaping from boudoir to battle in this espionage comedy-thriller. Fellow scribe Jim Swallow describe the book as James Bond meets Carry On and he's dead right.

All three of the Dante novels borrow their first narrative sentence from an Ian Fleming novel - in this case it's Casino Royale that provids the opening. Every chapter features a Russian proverb, all of them genuine adages gleaned from pouring through a book containing more than 10,000 such proverbs. The Strangelove Gambit was originally to be called The Faberge Experiment, but worries about infringing trademarks require a new title.

This novel was written in the blazing hot summer of 2004. The firt half went well and, once I'd found the right authorial voice and settled into my stride, proved a hoot to laugh. Another job interrupted my efforts, leaving me in the perilous position whereby I had to write the final 42,000 words in six days. These proved to be the hottest days of the year, of course. And the week the council decided to dig up the footpath outside my house. And the week the house was being painted by two men in a cherry-picker with its engine rumbling away in the background non-stop. All of which meant I couldn't shut the freshly-painted windows to block out noise.

It's a measure of my flinty determination and how much I was enjoying writing this book that I met my deadline with an hour or two to spare. These was my third novel in quick succession for Black Flame, but I was still feeling fresh and enthusiastic. I already had my next two commissions lined up with the published, one of which I'd been waiting eight months on the synopsis getting approval.

I've got a lot of affection for The Strangelove Gambit and all the Dante novels. They contain my funniest writing and some wonderful moments, but a lot of the credit for that is due to the original creators who came up with such a delightful premise and cast of scoundrels. Borrowing was always a joy, never a chore. Sadly, the Dante novels didn't sell through well in bookstores, but I treasure my copies of the three books and the omnibus edition, which is still available. Go buy it now!

Sometimes you have to decide it's their loss

It's all too easy taking rejection to heart. You get turned down for something and it feels like a personal slight, as if your work or your potential has been denigrated. But you can't rely on the opinion of others to determine your self-worth - that way lays the path to madness. As a writer or any kind of creative individual have to take responsibility for your work, your career and how you feel about what you're doing. Place too much stock in the opinions of others and it'll drive you crazy.

For example, I had a meeting on Tuesday. I won't get into the specifics, but it seemed to go well. Lots of common ground was found, possibilities were floated and I left feeling positive about the future for that particular project. Yesterday I got an email saying I hadn't it to the final round for consideration on something I've been working towards for two years. I abandoned work for the day, knowing exactly what effect the rejection would have.

Getting your teeth kicked in with a rejection is a lot like coping with grief. You get the classic stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. So I spluttered with disbelief, swore a lot for ten minutes, binned the rest of the day to get over it and felt sorry for myself. This morning that rejection is history. There's I can do about it, better to move on, pursue other opportunities. Sooner you get the grieving process over, the less it'll eat your soul creatively.

My novels #9: Kingdom of the Blind

JUDGE DREDD: Kingdom of the Blind (Black Flame, 2004)

The world's greatest cult comic book star, Judge Dredd, is back on the beat in Mega-City One. Senior Judges from around the world are gathering to sign an important treat and security in the city is tight. Notorious crime boss Jesus Bludd has evaded justice for decades, but now he's prepared to step out of the shadows for the first time and seize control of the Big Meg. For Dredd, it's a race against time before Bludd completely destroys the city.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Blah, that's how I feel about this book. The tired, lacklustre back cover copy reprinted above? Blah. The recycled cover art, a piece I'd commissioned myself for 2000 AD as a pin-up? Blah. The novel itself? Blah. I don't think this is my worst written book, but I'd want good money before I bothered to crack the spine and read it. When Black Flame first started publishing novels based on iconic British sci-fi comic 2000 AD, I pitched a bunch of Dredd ideas. Having used the best of these for my previous effort, I didn't want to write any more. I'd done my time in the Big Meg, I was ready to move on.

Alas, my plans to adapt Russian rogue Nikolai Dante from four-colour thriller to pulse-pounding prose were still awaiting approval, as was the Freddy Krueger tale I wanted to tell. End result? I found myself writing a fifth Dredd novel, simply for the money. That's not enough motivation in my experience to devote more than a month of your life to staring at a computer screen, creating a new story. It was having your teeth pulled while trying to get blood from a stone. Hateful.

In the end I sprinkled the novel with as many soft core sex scenes as I could get away with [and a few more that got removed by the editorial team of the time], simply to sustain my own interest. But I swore I'd never, ever, ever write another Judge Dredd novel - and so far I've stuck to that. Fortunately for me, Dredd novels just don't seel, so it's unlikely I'll ever neeed go down this route again. Avoid.

Sarah Jane audios in Big Finish Xmas sale!

Two years ago I was lucky enough to write a series of four audio adventures featuriing former Doctor Who companion Sarah Jane Smith. This was long before the character was given her own TV series, The Sarah Jane Adventures, which has just featured a cracking run on the BBC. Now Big Finish has included my quartet of Sarah Jane stories in its Xmas sale, for the bargain price of only £20.

That's four hours of gripping audio entertainment, all directed with aplomb by John Ainsworth. Take advantage of this limited offer, or find out more about the individual stories by clicking the relevant title - Buried Secrets, Snow Blind, Fatal Consequences or Dreamland.

My novels #8: Bad Moon Rising

JUDGE DREDD: Bad Moon Rising (Black Flame, 2004)

It's Friday the 13th and a bad moon rises over Mega-City One. With weather control off-line in Sector 87, the heat is rising along with tension and the crazies are out in force. In the midst of this madness Judge Dredd is drafted in to enforce the law during the busy graveyard shift.

But, when human xenophobes strike against an alien ghetto in Sector 87, things get a whole lot worse and the tension spills onto the streets! With the City-Def squads turning vigilante and sliens with psi-powers running around, Dredd must stop the riot before it engulfs the whole sector!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You know what? I'm not sure I'd ever bothered to read the back cover copy for this novel until just now, when I had to re-type it for this blog posting. Yikes, that's not good writing. Normally for a novel I write a version of what I envisage as the back cover copy during the pitchng process. It's a wonderfully succinct way of demonstrating to commissioning editors how the book could be sold to potential readers and buyers. I'm sure I did that for Bad Moon Rising, but I sure as hell didn't write what ended up on the back cover of the book.

Anyway, on to the novel itself. In 2003 Games Workshop had built a growing publishing empire based upon its Warhammer and Warhammer 40K fantasy and sci-fi gaming brands. The company decided to get into licensed franchise fiction, and negotiated with US film studio New Line the rights to publish original novels and novelisations based on New Line movies. They also struck a deal with computer games developer Rebellion to publish original novels based on characters published in the iconic British science fiction comic 2000 AD [which Rebellion owns]. Games Workshop even set up a special imprint to house these two lines of books, called Black Flame.

I can't remember the details of how I got involved with Black Flame - being a hungry freelancer, it's likely I approached the new imprint for work. I've always wanted to write a movie novelisation, having read so many of them while growing up. Black Flame already had authors lined up for its initial batch of New Line tomes, but needed authors who could write for the 2000 AD line. Since I've got previous in that area [three Dredd novels for Virgin Books in the early 1990s], I was a good fit.

In truth, I had no urge to write another Dredd novel. I'd done that ten years earlier and didn't want to retread old ground. But I got the feeling returning to the Big Meg for one last visit would win me favour with the commissioning editor, and it had been a while - maybe I had one last Dredd novel left in me? The result was Bad Moon Rising, not a bad little yarn. I was hooked on the TV series 24 at the time, so I adopted a version of that storytelling format, with the events of each chapter taking place over the course of an hour. It gave the story momentum and forced me to structure my plot with care and attention.

I haven't read the book since I wrote it, but my memories of Bad Moon Rising are positive, so I guess it's probably alright. What I really want to do was spread my wings and tackle other characters, something that might stretch me more as a writer. I'd put in a proposal for A Nightmare on Elm Street novel, but that was stuck on a desk at New Line, awaiting approval. I was also interested in writing Nikolai Dante novels, having helped develop the character when it was first launched in 2000 AD. But that would have to wait until the imprint got on its feet.

Here's a fact that struck a nerve on Bad Moon Rising. Ten years earlier I'd written my first novel, a Dredd story called The Savage Amusement. Virgin paid me £3000 for the book, including an all-rights buy-out, so I got no royalties. for subsequent books I renegotiated my deal to take a smaller advance but with the added incentive of royalties.

The Black Flame deal was simple: £3000, no royalties, and an extra 5000 words required for the manuscript. Ten years after my first novel, I was back writing Judge Dredd and getting the same money for more work. It felt like I wasn't making much progress as a writer, either creatively or financially. Despite that, Bad Moon Rising wasn't a bad book. Wish I could say the same of my next novel.

Ten groovy posters for Michael Caine films

Deadlines loometh, so here are ten favourite posters for Michael Caine films, in no particular order. I've tended to pick images from the 1960s and 1970s, because the graphic design elements are strongest and most eyecatching in that period. Gotta say, the 1980s is not a great period for film posters, at least not for movies starring Michael Caine - and let's not even talk about the 1990s.

Don't blink, or you'll miss December too

Not quite sure where the year's gone, but apparently it's December as of yesterday. Before you know it Christmas will be upon us, followed by Hogmanay and then it'll be 2008. Reminds me of the time I misplaced 1992. I was writing a cheque for some bill and couldn't for the life of me remember it was 1993, not 1992. I mean, it's not like I don't remember bits of 1992. That was the year I switched from freelancer to full-time employee, going on staff with Egmont as editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine. I stayed on staff for eight and a quarter years, before quitting to become freelance again.

Now it's December, the pre-Christmas crush comes into full effect. Most creative industries effectively shut down from a few days before the public holiday to a few days after January 1st, depending on when dates fall in relation to weekend and the like. While certain people will have to work some days in that period, the bulk of editors and commissioners are on holiday. As a consequence, material needs to reach them at least a week before they vanish on holiday, or else it simply won't get read. Parties, hangovers and regrets all impinge on reading time.

If you're freelancer, there's a simple fact that pervades life - if you're not working, you're not earning. Royalties and residuals are lovely, but you can't depend upon those until they're already in your bank account. So the festive season can leave a big, fat hole in freelancer finances. It's anyway between two and four weeks where if you don't already have commissioned work to do, you won't be getting any new gigs to pay the bills. Often you won't have a deadline until the end of January, which means you won't see fresh money until the end of February.

So November and December are all about ignoring your Squirrel Nutkin urge to go out and party. Freelancers need to be working, they need to be earning and they need to be stockpiling some money. Bills don't stop coming due, just because it's Christmas, and there's all those presents to buy as well. To cap it all off, the Inland Revenue expects a large payment from freelancers at the end of January. If you haven't been putting money aside, the next eight weeks can become a mad scramble to find the funds that'll foot the taxman's bill. Save now, or regret later.

All of which means there's a lot of freelance creatives working this weekend - and I'm one of them. Wrote five thousand words yesterday, and I need to produce a similar amount today. So, it's time for a spot of breakfast, a bracing cup of coffee and a long day of staring at the computer screen until my eyeballs bleed. Wish me luck.

New Zealand film trailers

Stumbled upon a site devoted to providing links for online trailers of New Zealand films. Not all the links work, but those that do offer a fascinating snapshot of different stages in the development of Kiwi cinema, from primitive early efforts through to the current era when the likes of Peter Jackson can take home 11 Oscars. If you want to see what New Zealand arthouse looks like, try the trailers for two Vincent Ward features, Vigil and The Navigator.