under another sun

Lorraine and I woken by the flappy monster, a monster we have heard for the last few days. We have now worked out that it lands on the roof, and then seems to chisel persistently at the roof tiles like the worst kind of poltergeist. Up eventually, after coffee in bed, and I was surprised and delighted to find that my short story The Inheritor , set on Guernsey, has been accepted for publication in Supernatural Tales . Felt greatly boosted by this. The editor, David Longhorn, had a recent bereavement and I thought that the submission had melted away. Luckily not. The day spent in a lazy way by the pool, reading, sleeping and a wee bit of Euchre. Toby finishing off The Leopard by Lampedusa, set on Sicily, and Lorraine starting Montalbano novels also set here. In the evening we went out to Noto, parked in our usual place after an impromptu tour caused by a road being closed. Walked across town to find a pizza restaurant, recommended to us by Tina, in a sunken garden. It was cal...

Waiting for my brief from Paris to come through, and just about to chase them at the end of the day. Then it occurred to me to look at my spam folder and found it there from Tuesday. Gah. Especially as I had made Val a favourite on my mail folder. Means I looked a bit of a chump when I had to fess up to the French and will now have to work over the weekend to catch up to deliver it on Monday. Otherwise not a day of high drama. I worked on The Inheritor , which is still a tantalising few squeaks away from being ready.  Walked into town and bought a battery for my watch. Walked home under threatening clouds. Over lunch I watched the last of the first BBC series on iPlayer of A History of Ancient Briton by Neil Oliver, I'd been looking at over the last week or so. Interesting stuff. That early patchy history is something I find fascinating. His journey around sites in Britain and Ireland is fascinating, and reveals a civilisation and early industry that shows that the Ancient Bs wer...

Woke up this morning with the solution to the problem of a short story I have been rewriting called The Inheritor. My subconscious has been doing lots of this nocturnal sorting out for me. I simply rewrote the story today, and also sent off a proposal to a US agent about my children's book. My watch battery ran out  and I looked at my wrist 100 times, and I popped along to the gym. Chatted with Betty about her new business/acting wheeze she is starting with a pal. Really excited for her. In the evening down to the Grand Central for the launch of a new poetry magazine, called Finished Creatures edited by Jan Heritage. Lots of poet pals there, including Robin, Sarah, Stephen, Charlotte, Jeremy, Janet Sutherland, Catherine Smith, I also met Charlotte's colleague Lizzie who edits Viva Brighton. The readings were fine, but I didn't seem to be able to tune into it all tonight. Great to see everyone though. Charlotte, Sarah and I got chips afterwards and went our separate way...

Worked hard all day, finishing The Inheritor , my new horror story on which I was making 'a few final changes', which turned into three days of fiddling. It is set in Guernsey, and again was taking a half finished story I had, and then completely reworking it. Nice to be thinking about the island even if disturbing things are happening there in my story. I have sent it to an appropriately named American publisher called The Dark Magazine . All I know is that I am greatly enjoying writing these horrific things. Made a soup, which was weirdly brilliant from chicken stock, butternut squash, leeks, a few greens and a bit of onion, chilli, and ginger, plus tarragon, turmeric, and cumin and dancing. All this against a national crisis. A vote of no confidence in the Maybot, which she won. The zombie leader staggers on towards the biggest act of national self harm I have ever witnessed. Off in the evening to meet Anton who took me out for a bite to eat and a few beers. A nice nig...

Woke up worried that Lorraine wanted to move to London, as she had been insisting on it in my dream, although she denied it in real life. Otherwise a sense that things were moving forwards a bit again. Spoke to Fi at the Chiswick agency, and arranged to go up to London on Friday morning and the extent of the job. It only seems a two-dayer, but that is nevertheless welcome indeed and I will get to chat with Matty Boy and Slug too. Also I signed off my accounts. I had a reply from the accountant from 1AM, with news of what my tax bill will be this year. Thankfully not as steep as I had feared it might be.  In thanking him, I advised an early night. Otherwise I went virtuously to the gym, and worked hard on completing my horror story, The Inheritor. It is shaping up really well I think, and I have a very neat ending to it now. Lorraine working late tonight, it being a governors meeting, so I snuck off and got myself fish and chips, which I enjoyed a good deal, and watched Larry San...