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Post by williemeikle on Jun 25, 2009 21:19:40 GMT
Is over there ---> williammeikle.blogspot.com/I've recently been posting some old short stories, and otherwise I generally use it for publishing news and only the occasional rant.
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Post by williemeikle on Jul 6, 2009 20:02:03 GMT
Stock Taking TimeIt's been quite a start to the year on the writing front. Firstly Black Death Books produced a very sweet omnibus edition of my Watchers trilogy. On the novel side I sold - The Midnight Eye Files: The Skin Game, a new Derek Adams novel to Black Death Books
- Island Life, a hardcover reprint of my 1st novel to Ghostwriter Publications,
- Berserker, a Vikings vs Yeti short novel to Ghostwriter Publications
- The Valley, a cowboy in a Lost World short novel to Ghostwriter Publications.
Ghostwriter Publications will also be publishing an anthology of 20 of my stories, Flower of Scotland, along with audio-book and e-book versions of all the above mentioned titles. Also on the short story front, I have stories in several forthcoming anthologies - Cthulhu Unbound 2, from Permuted Press with a Jane Austen meets the Deep Old Ones story
- Creature Feature, from Ghostwriter Publications where I'm alongside Guy N Smith, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Dave Jeffery et al
- Gaslight Grotesque, from Edge Publishing with Sherlock Holmes facing a necromancer in Edinburgh
- Cthulhu 2012, from Mythos Books with a new Midnight Eye File
I've also had 4 chapbooks published with Ghostwriter Publications, and more on the way from there, including a Midnight Eye audio novelette There's also 3 more short stories coming in the UK newspaper The Weekly News, and one in the South African horror mag, Something Wicked On the screenplay front, - Fir3storm Industries in South Africa are in production of my script The 5
- Dark Window Films in London and Ireland are in pre-production of The Amulet
- And I'm in talks with a filmmaker in Florida for him to make The CopyCat Murders
I'm still trying to sell two novels:- - Hunters Dock - Ice Zombies take Manhatttan - The Concordances of the Red Serpent - a thriller based around alchemy and Scottish history And I'm working on a "Killer Crabs" novel for Ghostwriter Publications I can only hope the next 6 months prove to be as exciting.
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Post by williemeikle on Jul 20, 2009 16:19:05 GMT
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Post by williemeikle on Jul 31, 2009 13:11:16 GMT
Can I brag? Just a wee bit? The Watchers Omnibus made a top 40 list on Amazon UK. OK, it's a pretty obscure list, but I'll take it Number 38 ...with a bullet in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Historical www.amazon.co.uk/Watchers-Omn.../dp/0979988160
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Post by williemeikle on Aug 1, 2009 14:49:43 GMT
I find the writing life frustrating at times. Over last winter I wrote a supernatural thriller which I felt was some of my best work ever.
I started submitting with hope in my heart.
Thirty agents queried later, I've got fifteen no replies and fifteen form rejections ranging from "Not right for us" to my favorite, "I don't have the time."
Now I have a quandry. Do I go for trying more agents, do I go for one of the few publishers that takes unagented submissions, or do I just put it away and chalk it off. I'm loath to do the last as I love the characters and the story.
Hence the frustration.
OK. Vent over. Back to the grindstone.
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Post by williemeikle on Aug 3, 2009 15:53:21 GMT
Website updated with details of three e-books of my work coming this week and an updated bibliography www.williammeikle.com
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Post by williemeikle on Aug 5, 2009 18:08:34 GMT
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Post by williemeikle on Aug 7, 2009 15:58:19 GMT
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Post by williemeikle on Aug 22, 2009 16:55:08 GMT
I think I've burned out my novel writing mojo for the time being. Since this time last year I've written 5 novels in a burst of inspiration and perspiration that slightly frightened me... that's more than I wrote in the previous five years put together. I'm sitting on ideas for several more at the moment, but can't get started. So I'm going to change pace for a few weeks and work on a couple of short stories -- see if I can feel my way back towards the place I need to be to get the longer work started again. Then again, summer is almost over, and I seem to work better in the cold and dark anyway. Besides, it'll give my publishers time to catch up on some of the output
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Post by Jim on Aug 22, 2009 17:09:38 GMT
You know what novel I want you write.
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Post by williemeikle on Nov 25, 2009 15:50:14 GMT
I've always had a soft spot for William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki, and, after writing a Sherlock Holmes story for Gaslight Grotesque, Carnacki stories were inevitable. And the first batch will be here in time for Xmas. See my website ( www.williammeikle.com ) for individual details, but here is the nifty slipcase cover. The set contains three new Carnacki stories The Blooded Iklwa _________________ An old soldier turns up on Carnacki's doorstep with tales of a souvenir that is taking a bloody revenge for old grievances. Soon Carnacki has to contend with a malevolent spirit intent on blood. Can he identify the source of the attacks and stop the Zulu Iklwa? Or will his client be forced to suffer a death of a thousand cuts? The Larkhill Barrow ___________________ The military are testing a new weapon at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. But in doing so, they have wakened something old, something that brings a creeping fear to every man in the camp. Carnacki must call on all his experience to halt a terror that has been called up out of the Plain, an ancient darkness that will haunt your dreams. The Sisters of Mercy ____________________ Someone, or something, is murdering the residents of the Royal Hospital. Battle hardened old soldiers lie sick abed in fear for their lives... and their souls. Only someone with intimate knowledge of the powers of darkness can help them. Step forward Carnacki: Ghostfinder. The box will retail for 5.99 UKP, and will be available from The Penny Dreadful Company, in selected stores, and in the major online retailers. Purchasing details will follow on the publication date. Willie www.williammeikle.com
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Post by williemeikle on Nov 28, 2009 17:11:34 GMT
When I started writing back in the early '90s it was mostly short stories but as time passed my brain switched to longer forms and the shorts went by the board.
Lately that has all changed and the short story circuit has been re-opened. Over the past 18 months I've started to write more shorts, and have been getting some professional level sucess with publication in Wrongworld in the US, The Weekly News in the UK, ESLI in Russia and the Gaslight Grotesque anthology in Canada. I've also got another few coming next year in the Weekly News in the UK and in Cthulhu 2012, a pro anthology from Mythos Books.
This has spurred me on to write more and get a wider audience. I've got numerous short story chapbooks coming in the next few months from the Penny Dreadful Company that will be on the shelves of stores across the SE of England, and I've got submissions out to several pro anthologies.
All of this has rekindled something I thought was burnt out.
I've got my mojo working again.
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Post by Vaughan on Nov 29, 2009 0:09:17 GMT
Congrats - always good to read of someone else's success. I'll keep an eye out.
Things come and go, as you know, and nothing is truly new. So if you happen to hit at the right time....... well, you can "make it".
So well done!
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Post by williemeikle on Dec 5, 2009 13:30:35 GMT
A post on my Facebook wall got me thinking about just how much of my writing has been influenced by matters "Fortean".
I have a life-long love for weird shit, from the supernatural to little green men, from the Loch Ness Monster to the Mongolian Death Worm. It's only natural that this comes through in my writing, but it has slightly surprised me to realise how much of the cryptozoological aspect has crept into my work.
Just in the past year I have written about
- a lost valley in Montana hiding ice-age relict animals - Vikings fighting Yeti-like humanoid beasts in Northern Russia - a 16th century Scotsman facing "The Big Grey Man of Ben MacDui" - a "wyrm" trapped deep in a cave system in North Ayrshire - and a giant "killer crab" attack on Manhattan
My current work in progress is in a similar vein, a retelling of the ill-fated 1924 Everest expedition with added snowmen.
I also have an idea for a British army platoon in 1750s Canada meeting a tribe of bigfoot, a Viking vs Sea Serpents tale and I'd also love to do a Crusaders vs Minotaurs story.
I think I've got my inner 15 year old Ray Harryhausen fan to thank, but at least it's keeping me busy and off the streets.:-)
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Post by williemeikle on Dec 12, 2009 17:07:10 GMT
It's obviously time for my annual crisis of confidence.
I'm feeling twitchy and irritable, and that's never a good sign. The universe is trying to tell me something and, as usual, I don't want to hear it.
The writing itself has been going very well this year, with novels placed with Black Death Books and Ghostwriter Publications, and short story sales in several pro markets alongside the new Penny Dreadful Company chapbook venture which, if it really takes off, will get me a higher profile than ever before.
But... but... there's always a but. I said this at this time last year.
"I'm unsure about my eye for the market. I write what I want to write, producing books that I would want to read. But I'm a fifty year old man steeped in pulp fiction from an early age. I want the big deal, to see my books on shelves in shops all over the world. That's always been the dream, but my obsessions just don't cut it in the marketplace."
And a year on, that's still what I'm doing, still writing pulpy fiction that makes me smile.
The -big- dream is still far off, still the golden ring to strive for. I love writing, love the pictures that flow in my mind.
But is this all there is? Am I missing out by not pushing harder to write something that would reach a -much- wider audience? Have I allowed myself to get into a rut from which I'll find it hard to escape?
I'm not big on retreating into a shell and gazing at my navel, but maybe that's just what I need to do.
On the other hand, my Carnacki box set is due soon. That was something of an experiment for me. It'll be interesting to see what the critical reaction is, if any. That might give me some pointers as to a possible way ahead.
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