I, Zombie
By Al Ewing
"My name is John Doe. I’ve been dead for ten years."My name is John Doe. I've been dead for ten years. I have no heartbeat, no breath, no smell, just cold, clammy flesh animated by something I don't understand. So I sell my dead flesh to the highest bidder. If the price is right, I'll kill for you, steal for you, or save your life for you. There's no mystery you can't hire me to...
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Eighth post is here.
So, yeah, some more costumes for you. Pretty cool, I thought.
Part ten here.
Sixth and final post last night is here.
So we hit a bar in Rye last night to have a bit of a drink and get down. Here's us around the table.
Not me, obviously. I'm holding the camera.
The taxi driver recommended it to us. We walked in and Brian Glover shouted at us to keep off the moors and stick to the path.
Well, he didn't, really, because he's dead and that would have been creepy. Also awesome.
Seriously, it was quite a nice pub and they were quite friendly.
The DJ was extraordinary. He'd brought about fifty CDs with him and was all "yeah, come up and let me know any requests!"
Fifty.
So we went up and asked, but even trying to be as cheese-friendly as we could, we had about a 30% hit rate. His face fell every time we asked, but he was so happy every time he could help. It was kind of half-DJ, half-Spaniel.
So now it's Day Two of the con (Day Three onsite). Tired, bleary, slightly hungover.
Living the dream, baby. Living the dream.
Eighth post, for those reading the whole thing in order, is here.
Fourth Post is here.
Check these out. They got girls on stilts wandering around freaking people out.
Mmm... giant, terrifying women in fishnets.
So the Second Post is up on the Solaris blog.
And the con is in full swing. We're selling books - Paul Kane's Arrowhead and Broken Arrow are quite successful today, as are Scott Andrews' Lee Keegan books - chatting folk up, and pottering about.
Our very own (and 2000 AD's) Al Ewing has been up for a comic-writing workshop along with 2000 AD's Leigh Gallagher, talking up the audience and getting them to call out plot ideas while Leigh drew.
The ideas posed a bit of a challenge, in the end; they ended up writing a story about Dredd investigating an MP who bought porn on expenses, only to discover that the porn was poisonous.
Hm.
At any rate, above is Al rocking the mic like a born MC, and below is Leigh getting his penmanship on.
Fourt post is here.
Hi all,
Then we unloaded the van and had another pint.
Then we went to find our chalets and had another pint.
Then we wandered around Camber looking for a fictional restaurant, gave up, grabbed some supermarket pizza and came back for another pint.
Limped out of bed at around 8.30 (or so; some got up earlier than later), sorted the boxes a little and saw these guys.
Do you suppose convention stormtrooper guys turn up, see other convention stormtrooper guys, and think, "Oh my god! Somebody else came dressed as the same thing! I'm going to just die."
No?
Whatever.
Breakfast at some horrifying cafe where the woman made us fix her lights before we were allowed to sit down - this is actually true - and back to set the stall up.
More as the day progresses. I'm really just in it for Tom Baker.
The second post is here.
...what the f*ck is wrong with these people?
A couple of scientists in France have experimented with allowing robots to evolve skills like co-operation and hunting.
"The researchers described 'spider' hunting techniques among the bots in which hunters would lie in wait for prey (which in this case, fortunately, consisted of other robots)."
Yeah, for the time being, assholes.
The one thing we had over the relentless titanium-clawed harbingers of our destruction was evolution. We were better than them, and had a reasonable chance of remaining better than them over the generations as they crushed our children under their terrible feet, until one day a man would rise as a leader to overthrow the metallic overlords, to a sound-track by Guns 'N' Roses. Now, one of them will probably rise up to fight him, and it'll have lasers.
In the meantime, the US Army has equipped robots with actual guns. Some 3000 of the psychotic little bastards are actually in use now. I don't care if you've given them a cute name like "SWORDS." Don't get them used to being armed! Seriously, did South Africa teach us nothing?
I give up. Clearly, as a species, we want to eaten by blood-drinking, lamprey-eel-brain-controlled, intelligent, climbing, gun-toting machines. I'm stocking my bunker now. We'll see who's laughing/receiving a court injunction when Skynet goes live.
In other news, we're heading off to the SFX Weekender shortly. If you're coming, be sure to swing by our table. Otherwise, I'll be slinging up Tweets and blogposts over the course of the next few days.
See you soon!
David
We're heading off to SFXWeekender tomorrow!
This time tomorrow I'll be driving a huge rental van somewhere along the M25, shouting at other drivers, The Bloodhound Gang blaring out of the stereo.
Then this time Friday, Jonathan Oliver, Paul Kane and I'll be nobbing with the stars of science-fiction and fantasy, getting on down and generally having a good time.
If you're coming, make sure and drop by the 2000AD/Abaddon/Solaris stand and say "hi." We'll be chuffed to chat.
I'll try and sling Twitter (@AbaddonBooks) and blog posts up periodically over the weekend.
Cheers,
David
It's official. "Exemplary" is the new "awesome."
Seriously, "awesome" is getting a bit long in the tooth, isn't it?
"Exemplary." You know it makes sense.
Hi all,
Slightly delayed, but The Abaddon & Solaris Books Pocast is here! Point your iTunes to this link, or search "Abaddon" (or "Solaris") in the "Search Store" box at the top-right corner of iTunes, to download what is already being called* the most influential podcast of 2010.
Thrill as the editors and staff at Abaddon Books and Solaris Books - two of the fastest-rising stars of Fantasy, SF and Horror publishing - have a lovely cup of tea. Wonder as we chat about our books, other people's books, the state of the industry, and whatever random crap pops into our heads. Er... Glow as we ruthlessly grill special guest authors, listen to readings, and hear convention reports and special announcements.
The first podcast, The Abaddon & Solaris Books Podcast #1: Evil Fish Demons!, featuring the roguishly-charming, ruggedly handsome and debonair David Moore and Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Oliver - author of our current release Twilight of Kerberos: The Call of Kerberos - is available now. This is literally the most important thing that has ever happened; missing it will make the rest of your piteously wasted life a hollow, wretched sham.
Did I go over the top just now? I'm never sure where to pitch these things. Never mind.
Download it. Listen to it. Let us know what you think.
Awesome.
Cheers,
David
*by my mum.
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- Not on iTunes, and have sworn to end your life rather than download a single Apple application? Here to help! Just point your RSS client here to download the feed without putting a penny in Steve Jobs' pocket. Keep an eye on the blog for updates, in case we change the host or something crazy like that.
- Bewildered by the term "RSS" and unsure what all this means? No problem, ignorant Luddite! Just follow the exact same link, click on the link to the mp3 of the episode you wish to hear, and you can listen right on your browser! Everyone's a winner!
So... would you believe that the iTunes page tells you they review each new podcast before it goes live, but not how long it takes?
I mean, surely they have people for this, yeah? Steve Jobs, I'm looking at you...
We sent it in first thing this morning, hoping that we could proudly announce it had gone live sometime in the afternoon, but not a sniff so far. Hopefully it will go live before we go home, but if not, we're sorry we got your hopes up, and we hope you enjoy it tomorrow!
Watch this space...
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