Another weekend spent primarily tossing in the trash stuff that nearly two years ago I spent weeks writing. The great purge continues, and I’m now about 2/3 of the way through the manuscript. To date, nearly 11,000 words and 65 pages have been tossed. I have one more chapter that requires a major rewrite (which means most of it will probably go) since it’s from the point of view of a character who no longer gets a POV, and after that it should be relatively clear sailing. I’m hoping that by the end of the week I’ll have a new version of the manuscript to print out. Then I’ll try to find a one- or two-day period when I can sit down and read the whole thing beginning to end to see what damage I’ve inflicted on the book (or, conversely, what damage remains to be inflicted).
I also watched another five or six episodes of Season Two of the new Doctor Who. This isn’t a science fiction series—it’s a horror series, make no mistake about it. There are ghosts and werewolves and a special appearance by the devil, and even when the show is nominally about aliens the tales are terrifying. I have only one more left to go.
This is my week to contribute to Storytellers Unplugged. Look for a new essay from me on Thursday. I haven’t written it down yet, but I know what it’s going to be about, and I’ve jotted a few notes. I’ll probably start it tomorrow morning.
Here are the contents for Mike Heffernan upcoming WW2 horror anthology, A Dark and Deadly Valley. It’ll be released through Silverthought Press sometime late this year in hardcover format. John Skipp is handling the intro and Alex McVey the interior illustrations.
THE WAR
- “After Dunkirk” by TM Wright
- “The Coventry Boy” by Graham Joyce
- “The Honor Guard” by Paul Finch
- “In the Dark the Deep” by Steve Vernon
- “Simple Equations” by Jeremy Robert Johnson
- “The Night is an Ally” by Scott Nicholson
- “Come Unto Me” by Elizabeth Massie
- “And the Worm Shall Feed” by Harry Shannon
- “And They Will Come In The Hour Of Our Greatest Need” by Brian Hodge
- “At Angels Sixteen” by Larry Santoro
- “The Black Wave” by Brian Keene
- “The Devil’s Platoon” by John Everson
- “Sturm und Drang” by Bev Vincent
- “Hiroshima Falling” by Weston Ochse
- “Doorway to the Sky” by Cody Goodfellow
- “A Judgment Call for Judgment Day” by Scott Edelman
MEMORY
- “Blossoms in the Wind” by Rick Hautala
- “The Gypsy Camp” by Mort Castle
- “Warbirds” by David J. Schow
- “But Somewhere I Shall Wake” by Gary A. Braunbeck
I also watched another five or six episodes of Season Two of the new Doctor Who.
Lucky bastard. It’ll be ages before I get to see it.
It debuts on SciFi network at the end of September.
So I just discovered! That’s awesome!
New Doctor Who rules. It’s an extraordinarily successful reinvention of the old show, while still retaining enough of the spirit of the old show to make it entertaining for long-time fans. I think that’s especially the case with Tennant in the role, and I hope he sticks with the show for some time to come. I anxiously await the Christmas special. My only gripe is the long gap between seasons.
Wow that sounds more like reconstructive surgery rather than a trim. Good luck!
The first season of Who lost me. i will have to try the second season. It sounds intriguing.
So far, my only experience of the new Doctor is all-at-once. I don’t know what it’s like to watch it as a weekly series. I watched seven episodes in the past three days!
What lost you about it? I thought it rawked.
The motivation for the girl staying with the Doctor seemed false.
Mayhap it was more when the episodes were scheduled. I probably would enjoy it more watching the DVD boxset.
I sort of found it the other way around. I never understood what Rose saw in Mickey, and her affinity for the man who can sweep her off her feet and take her away from a life of drudgery seemed very believable to me.
I will give it another shot.