Yes, it's been a while. My work has moved from Parramatta to the city, taking a large chunk out of my day in travel time (I hope to convert this to writing time, but it's hard to write a novel with a stylus). The new work environment is trendy, corporate, and cold. Not in the temperature sense, either. I can't write in lunchtimes any more. Or critique. Or anything except listen to the trendy Nova radio station play their eight frigging songs over and over.

What else has happened/is happening? Let's see:
-I turned 35. That's about halfway to death, best case. It also isn't anywhere near as old as it was when I was in my mid 20's. In fact, the younger ages just appear to be much younger.
-We're expecting our third child, due in July. No it wasn't a bloody accident, thanks for asking.
-Ben is about to turn four. He's maturing by the day. One minute he'll surprise me with his selflessness and servitude, the next by his ability to lie.
-Matty (1 1/2) is becoming a mischievous little prankster. It's so hard to keep a straight face when he comes running up to you, does something he knows is wrong and runs off cackling insanely.
-The Aurealis Award shortlist has been released. I found it a bit of a yawner, with all the usual suspects. The exception is Steph Campisi with her great story Why The Balloon Man Floats Away (heh heh- eat over-capitalisation!).

Who knows when I'll be able to post again? Maybe when I get another job.

Wow! TangentOnline.com has reviewed Shadowed Realms Issue 11 and this is how they described my story:

Steven Cavanagh's “Finding the Words” took first place in the 2006 Australian Horror Writer Association's Flash Fiction Competition and is easily the most powerful piece in issue 11 of Shadowed Realms. While technically horror, it’s a touching story of a man laying his daughter to rest. Cavanagh’s style is fluid and uses sense imagery to ground the reader in reality. It’s touching and it's tender and it's heartfelt, something I’m not used to seeing in horror.

This should get my motivation back. Something a writer MUST do is disconnect themselves from reviews of their work, but I have a lot of trouble with it.

Zombies multiply

Permuted Press has made the official announcement that they will be releasing BOTH and Undead 2 and Undead 3 anthology (have these guys been chatting to Robert Hood?)

While this is exciting news for undead fic fans, my story has been moved to book 3, tentatively entitled Flesh Feast. Being in a book 3 doesn't look quite as good on a biblio, IMHO, but they're publishing my story so no complaints :)

Hit the announcement link for squishy, runny cover art and a full list of contributors.

Finding the Words is Published

After an extended delay, the overworked folks at Brimstone Press have released the special double issue of Shadowed Relams, featuring my award winning story Finding the Words!

BTW, Brimstone have updated their site and included sub guidelines for Black Box! I'm already in it, having won Shane Jiraiya Cummings' Snakes on a Plane comp (see last post). It's only 120 words, so I don't want to hear your lame excuse for not finding the time to write. Send your creepy, lice-infested words to Shane now!

(now for my lame excuse for not finding the time to write)
I haven't written for weeks, due to that danged Real Life (and that pesky motivation leech, the Terrible Review). I *will* write today, even if it's utter crap and only a sentence.
I *will* write tomorrow, too. And the day after that...

Oh, and if you haven't read Nicole's RSI-inducing Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival, go have a look. Our community is vibrant, wise, bitchy, insightful and a whole host of adjectives I don't understand but am willing to learn.

Australian Dark Fantasy & Horror 2006 edition and Book of Shadows volume one are now available for pre-order at Brimstone Press! The latter includes my story from Shadowed Realms issue 6, Moving Dad (second place winner in the 2005 AHWA flash fiction competition).

Speaking of pre-orders, someone contacted the Infinitas Bookshop recently, asking for a copy of my novel.

Trouble is, I don't have one!

They'd read one of the stories I'd written for the Infinitas newsletter, By the Numbers, and assumed it was extracted from a novel.
I've been asked a few times if I'm going to extend or serialise that story. Maybe I should find out what happens next.
Still, that's what I call a pre-order :)

Snuck onto the plane.

Cool! As Steph added in the comments below, I won the Snakes on a Plane comp!

That's the third writing competition I've won this year!

I'm slooowly creeping along on my novel. I'm currently working out how to blow the windows out of a shopping center in Seattle and jump onto the monorail roof.

Hmm, I wonder if that last sentence will register me in some kind of homeland security database.

Worms on a Helicopter!

Over at the blog of Shane Jiraiya Cummings, he's put up a simple writing comp. The winner will be published in Black Box, the sequel to Shadow Box.

120 word horror story, with the theme of the tackiest movie title of all time: "Snakes on a Plane". Check out my entry while you're there. I tried to get some depth of character in, and snuck in references to Samuel L MoFoJackson, Black Box itself, and what I hope is an innovative take on the snakes.

Still Moving

Another review of Moving Dad just popped up at Australian Specfic In Focus (scroll down to it), by Talie Helene. She writes:

“Moving Dad” is Steven Cavanagh’s Second Place winning story – beginning with whimsical familiarity, moving to poignancy. A lovely slow reveal, blurring the line between the infirmity of advanced age, and the shambling corruption of undeath. An exploration of a universal horror – the realisation of the mortality of the father – I won’t spoil the ending, but Cavanagh kicks off beautifully into an even deeper horror in the last line. Fantastic dialogue in this one too.

It's good to see someone who really got the central concept (the similarity between how we treat the old and how we treat the dead). Very nice of Talie to say such kind words. Poignant? Hell, wait till she sees Finding The Words! Pop them tear ducts right open, it will.

Hmm, speaking like Yoda, I was.
Digressing, I am.

Fastest rejection in the west

I got word of new market Clarkesworld Magazine from the Horrorscope Blog, and thought I'd send 'em a story.
A rejection was back in my Inbox, with quotations and detailed reasons for the rejection within an hour! For those who read this and don't write, the normal procedure is to wait a year and then nag them.

The rejection was polite, professional, and made me feel like I'm a kindergarten kid going for the Pulitzer. The further I go as a writer, the further I have to go.

Just got an interior art sample for Street Smarts. The artist wanted to know what I thought, and some pointers on fitting the characters with how I pictured them. This is the second time an artist has brought my characters to live, and it's such a buzz. It's great art, too.

Things to do before I die: con someone into making a movie of something I've written. Even if it involves a Jedi, a Sith and a forest.

By the Numbers published.

The August Infinitas newsletter has just been released. It includes my story By the Numbers. Click here for a free read!

Well, I'm Staggered

Soooooooold!

Permuted Press has just picked up my zombie story Street Smarts for the sequel to their much loved Undead Anthology.

For this one I set myself a challenge. Could I write a short story for the zombie genre (a genre that's been gnawed to the bone) and still make it original enough to get paid for it? Wait, let's make it harder. What about a classic zombie, streets-full-of-staggering-dead story?

I guess I could. I'm assuming that the market isn't awash with publishers who'd buy anything, but Permuted Press certainly know what they're doing and the first antho got some great reviews.
When it comes out it'll be available on Amazon, I'll let you know.

Eek!

A couple of previous posts in this blog were kindly offered some drinks, fell asleep and woke up far out to see as members of Her Majesty's Navy.
In other words, I made it into this month's Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival!
It no doubt has some good points. I've said something that someone thinks someone else might want to see. Or laugh at. It might lead someone to think "hey, that's the guy that wrote Save Galaxy Fast/Elf Esteem/Moving Dad/etc etc", and they'll remember it in 2023 when my first novel comes out. Maybe making the Carnival is on an obscure list of things to do before you die, I don't know.
What I do know is that I've been writing comments on here thinking that about four people read them, two of those being personalities of my own. I feel like a ton of guests have burst into my house and I have underwear lying all over the floor.

So, you're all welcome to stay, just sit down on the (brush brush) lounge, mind the mess and I'll... uh.. clean up.

Little story lost

I've written a horror short called I Saw (it has four meanings, not that the reader will get that). It's extremely Australian, and features a lot of detail about the bush where I grew up.
I don't know where to send it.

-I could send it to Dark Animus, but they're a few centuries behind on their slush.
-I could send it to Aurealis, but although their site adds news, nobody seems to know if the market is alive.
-I don't think I could send it overseas, it's too Australian.
-It's too long for Shadowed Realms.

Perhaps I should hold onto it for a little bit. Brimstone Press seem to be starting new projects all the time.
Any ideas?

Submitted Home Cooking to the Macabre anthology. I think it has what it takes, but may be a little short for what they're looking for. Kidneys crossed.

I look like a writer.

Hell, I even look like a successful writer. Okay, so I've had a handful of publications in small press stuff and anthologies that appear spine-out in four bookshops across the country. But that's okay because this arrived in the mail.

<--
The first prize for the Australian Horror Writers Association's 2006 Flash Fiction Competition!

It's quite an honour, the AHWA are a great bunch of guys who do an awful lot for dark fic in Oz. Needless to say, it went straight to the pool room. Or would have, if our tiny house was big enough for something posh like a pool room. Actually, it went on the wall of our kitchen/dining area/computer desk area/main thoroughfare, where we stick little Ben's works of fine art. It's between a doctor's stethoscope (milk bottle lids, straws and a bit of egg carton) and a cellophane/paper plate jellyfish.

So I look like a real writer now, right? Is that what one looks like?

So you can behold Cat Sparks' seven Ditmars, or ogle Richard Harland's Golden Aurealis, but if you really want to feast your eyes, look at my wall.
It has a cellophane jellyfish. Bloody good one, too.

Random happenings

1) Always nice when you walk into a bookshop and the owner says "hey, I heard you won the competition at Conflux!"- and he was told by a publisher.

2) Sold a little story to said bookshop, By the numbers.

3) Currently having critted a story called Home Cooking which I plan to submit to the Macabre Anthology. I didn't think I'd have a story ready, but one leaped into my head last weekend. The market closes reaaaly soon. Crit, my Prose Nest friends! Crit like the wind!

4) I'd submitted a zombie story to an antho a while back, and just got a reply. Now as any writer will tell you, a market replies with either
A: Yes, or
B: No.
But these guys said
C: Make changes X, Y and Z with more emphasis on Q, and then send it to us again. That doesn't mean we'll take it.

First time for everything I guess. But their suggestions were all good and hey, they're the customer.

Looks like I found the words

My story Finding the Words Won the Australian Horror Writers Association's 2006 Flash Fiction comp! I came second last year.

Special thanks to my critique group The Prose Nest, who put on white gloves and ran their fingers over the mantlepiece, and made it a stronger story.

Interestingly enough, there were fewer entries this year. I thought aussie dark fiction was a boom genre??

Back in yer box

While I haven't been visited by the Black Dog of Depression for quite a few years now, the Purple Puppy of Self-Doubt is an irregular visitor. The little mongrel tends to run away with my writing motivation, and tugs at it like buggery when I attempt to take it back.

But yesterday I was handed that holy talisman sought after by all newbie writers, the Rolled Up Newspaper of Affirmation.

-Girl Power finally sold, to ShadowSword Magazine. They said it was 'well done and amusing'. Good to find another market that doesn't sneer down its literary nose at humour (well, humor actually. It's also my first international sale).

-I'm on the short list (ie top 4) for the Australian Horror Writers Association's 2006 Flash Fiction comp! That's the comp in which I came second last year. This year they're only awarding a first prize and four commendations, so I've already equalled last year's effort, using Kenobi's Certain Point of View (patent pending).
My story is Finding the Words. That's the one where, for the first time, I cried while writing. As opposed to crying before re-submitting :)
I received an invitation to go to Conflux, but unfortunately there's been a death in my wife's family and the funeral is on that weekend. My story takes place just after a funeral, which is kinda wierd.

Oh, and the Outcast has been reviewed over at the Horrorscope blog. Save Galaxy Fast! gets one of those reviews that merely describe some of the story and don't really pass judgement on it, apart from saying that one concept is 'cute'. It doesn't list it among the weak stories, so I guess I'm happy with that.

I haven't written a word for weeks. This is for three reasons:
1) Insert standard western society 'really busy' blurb here.
2) I've been researching and planning for a new YA sci-fi novel.
3) A run of rejections and a couple of negative reviews have sapped my motivation. Yes I know they shouldn't and all the reasons why, but when you try really hard only to be dismissed as making a 'slight effort', it does make you question your ability.
So it was good to get two positive signs today. One was an email by a new writer saying how I'd made my mark on the australian horror scene, the other was a little fact I stumbled across: I'm on the 2005 'Year's Best' recommended reading list!

So if I can just remember to bring my danged flash drive to work, I think I'll try to write in lunch breaks again. Maybe some of my critique group remember who I am...

The Long Dry

Well, I knew the bubble would burst some day, and it has. I've just had yet another in a long stream of rejections. At the beginning it seemed like everything I submitted was snapped up instantly.
Have statistics caught up with me? Has my writing turned to crap? Motivation is plummeting.

Still, my original plan when I started all this was:
1) See if I can write a story that someone would want to read (tick)
2) See if I can write a story that someone would pay me for (tick)
3) Do that a couple of times, to make sure it wasn't a fluke (tick)
4) See if I can get anywhere in a writing comp (tick tick)
5) Have a go at a novel.

So, I guess it's time to turn my attention to reeeeeallly long stories. I find this very hard to do because I can't waffle, I only get teeny bits of time to write, and I don't want to wait a year or more to find out if it was all a waste of time. However, this is the next logical step in stretching myself as a writer.

I've already tried twice to write a novel. Both times, my crit group thought the first two chapters were excellent and the third one sucked. This made me give up until I got another bright idea for a novel.

Teeny voice from shoulder: "Stop being such a WUSS! Believe in yourself!"
Teeny voice from other shoulder: "Listen to that Disney-philosophy dork! Ha! As if you could do as good a job as (successful author/acclaimed author/the spec fic clique)".

If only those voices would shut up so I could write.

Told ya. ASIM just gave me a "just not by us" for Hot Discs.

I've written a little 750 worder, critted it at my online crit group, and sent it to the Andromeda Spaceways 3 month critique system. It's a mechanism whereby they take a couple of days to tell you "your story is publishable", and 3 months to tell you "just not by us" :)

Weeding has just been published in the Infinitas newsletter. Good to have my name out there as a comp winner, and it's a timely plug for Outcast.

Girl Power was rejected again. I thought it was one of my best, dagnabit! The first editor didn't even read past the first page, because it had a dragon in it. Funny thing about turning a trope on its head: you have to actually mention it first!

I Win!!

Boy, what a couple of weeks. Spin Doctor is published in AntipodeanSF, Save Galaxy Fast! is born unto the world in Outcast (okay, it hasn't been officially released yet, but people are buying it), and (drum roll please):

I just won the Magic Casements festival writing comp!

My story Weeding took it out, from 150 entries! On Saturday I attended the festival (thanks to the hard work of my supportive wife), met lots of people like Richard Harland, Chris Barnes, Robert Hood and Robert Hoge, chatted to lots of people I'd met the previous week like Cat Sparks, Gillian Pollack, Kaaron Warren and Nicole Murphy, then got up in front of them all (eek!) and read my little 500 words. Felt a little like getting up at the ARIAs and singing a Play School song, but a few of them (Chris, Cat, Robert H) took the time to catch me afterward and tell me how much they liked it. It's not very often I'm a winner at something (I can't remember the last time, actually), so it was good to have a moment that can shut my self-esteem voices up for a while.
The festival was great, I picked up a couple of pointers and found out a couple of unexpected things. For example, I've caused more real-life death and witnessed infinitely more blood and guts than some of the best horror writers in the country. The joys of growing up on a farm.
This should lift my writing out of the doldrums. Onward!

Spin Doctor has just had a favourable review over at the HorrorScope blog.

They said:

“Spin Doctor” by Steven Cavanaugh is a charming little story with an interesting premise. See if you can read this and not smile next time you go to do your laundry.

Gotta be happy with that.
I'm starting to realise another reason why authors use pen names. If your name is hard to spell, it can make it hard for people to find your stuff.

Laughs at Pre-Launch Launch Lunch

Saturday morning I got up to catch the train to Canberra, the sound of flatulent sparrows in my ears. When I reached Strathfield, the Canberra train was 3/4 of an hour late. This was just enough time to completely negate seeing Chris, Christy and Alex in Canberra- I had to call them and tell them not to worry about it :(

So after some neck-wrenching sleep I found myself in our nation's capital and caught a cab over to the launch. I met Nicole Murphy, Kaaron Warren, Cat Sparks, Donna Maree Hanson, Ross Hamilton, Mik Bennett, Kylie Seluka, Lily Chrywenstrom, Gillian Pollack and a large side order of CSFG. The food was great, the atmosphere was warm and breathable, and the artwork was bloody awesome. Had a good chat to the artist, Brian Smith.

Several of us went out to dinner that night. I was struck by the community feel of the CSFG, they really believe in giving each other a leg up.

And I got my hands on the anthology! It's a beautiful thing, and I couldn't stop reading it. The stories are all so different. It's like riding a roller coaster in the dark, you don't know where you'll be pulled next. There's something for everyone, from the surreal to the thought-provoking to the primal to the just plain FUN. Thought I await the reviews with some nerves, I know everyone will love it.

It's been a dry time writing of late. That pesky real world keeps intruding. I need a plan to eradicate the danged thing once and for all.

Spin Doctor has just been published at AntipodeanSF. Not a stellar piece, I just played with some character interaction.

The day after tomorrow I go to the Outcast party, and meet my friend Chris Hore's 5 month old. I'm not sure if those two events are combining. I think if little Alex gives a review of Outcast it would be "yum!"

Just got a rejection. It was done tactfully, and it was from the surreal-or-the-highway crowd which isn't me anyway, but it hit me at a bad time. This story has been rejected twice now, and I thought it was a cracker :-(
That was followed up by stumbling across a negative review of my first story, Elf Esteem. The reviewer thought it had been written only for the punch line- I didn't think of it until the end! She also threw in phrases like "tedious","go nowhere","very familiar ground","awkward" and "uninteresting". My current state of depression really needed that. Other reviewers loved the story so I shouldn't take it to heart I guess, but I'm not exactly bursting with motivation right now.

Two good things though:
-I can just afford to get down to Canberra for the Outcast pre-launch party.
-Someone emailed me to say they found my flash drive! I'd say it's Restored My Faith In Human Nature(tm), but if human nature was that good this wouldn't be a remarkable event, would it?

I've received a copy of the illustration for Save Galaxy Fast in Outcast. It's very cool, and really captures the personality of the protagonist. Amazing to see a character you've created brought to life in another medium. It must be so cool to have a movie made of your story.

It's almost time to launch Outcast. Circumstances have conspired against me making it to the official launch at Conjure.
-We've ordered some new lounges and don't have as long to pay them off as we first thought.
-Then some new neighbors moved in and demanded a new fence (which we were obliged to go halves in). Half a grandish bye-bye.
-Then some of the local little darlings took some time out from tagging walls to put a rock through our loungeroom window. Three hundred bucks to fix (and before you ask, it would have cost us three hundred bucks via insurance).
-Then the kids got sick. As any parent knows, you open your wallet to the chemist and tell him to help himself (after revolving door doctor visits).
-Then part of my tooth fell off.
Will bark like a dog for food.

The pre-launch launch party in canberra is only a couple of weeks away! Maybe I can make it to that, if I can afford to put my family up in canberra overnight. The last few experiences we've had with canberra hotels have NOT been pleasant.

Finally got around to using my 133t programming Skilz to sex up some of my sites. The header, Story button and the fiction list header were all hand crafted while staying back at work waiting for a slow chugging process to finish.

I just counted the submissions I have out there. There are 6! That's either a sign that I'm getting more productive, or editors are getting slower.

The other day I was at the Infinitas Writers Group. We'd critted a story and nobody else had brought one. I said "that's okay, I have my flash drive with everything I've ever written! I'll just print one from that", and produced a ribbon from around my neck... with nothing on the end of it.

Everything I've written. Gone.

...luckily I'd backed everything up less than a week before, and new crits are always with my group at Authors By Design. Still, somebody out there has all my stories and a few photos of my kids.

Strange comin's and goin's

Since my last post I have:

-Submitted Hot Discs (formerly Hot Pursuit) to ASIM . It's already gone through reading rounds one and two (they have a GREAT slush system) and it's waiting to be picked up by an editor!

-Submitted Girl Power to Strange Horizons Not sure if it's their cup of tea, but we'll see.

-Submitted Street Smarts to an american Undead anthology (the sequel to the one shown on their site).

-Completed the rewriting of Weeding, my entry in this year's flash fic contest at the NSW Writers Centre.

-Finished chapter 1 of the novel (again!)

-Created a flash trailer (movie style) for Outcast, that will appear on the CSFG web site soon. You can see a cut-down version HERE.

In other news:

-It looks like Christian Girard will unsheath his pen for the NSWWC flash fic comp!
-Outcast is now available for pre-order!

Outcast cover

I've been allowed to show you the cover to the Outcast antho.
I love it (especially the full version, with more of the plain)- it conveys a sense of loneliness while obviously implying spec fic. Tell me what you think.

Seedy Rom

I thought I'd tinker with something different so I've just finished Street Smarts, a 1500 word Romero Zombie number. It's very hard to write a Rom Zom and get it fresh enough to be accepted anywhere, so I saw it as a bit of a challenge. I haven't read much of the genre so anything I come up with has probably been done to death, but I'll see. I've just put it up for crit.

I'm also getting things moving on my novel again. The planets realigned and it's moving.

It's now submission season again. I have at least 4 stories ready to go out. Fly, my pretties!

Ups and doubts

Pardon Me, Coming Through was just rejected. They said it was well written, but thought it was an alternate history! This in spite of so many words about parallel dimensions. Oh well, I'll try and beat the reader over the head a little more.

I'm also getting frustrated with writing humour. It's far more subjective than say, drama. What leaves one person rolling on the floor merely raises the nose of another. If your work goes through one crit group, then another, then a slush reader, then an editor, then their assistant, and EVERY ONE of them gives you a kill list of the jokes they don't like, what's gonna be left at the end? How on earth did The Colour of Magic ever get published?

Things are also hotting up with Outcast. They just requested my bio, contracts will follow soon and in a week or so they'll be unleashing the awesome cover artwork. I'll add it here as soon as I'm allowed.