CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

1415-1515: Mashpunk—Does steampunk play well with others? with Louise Curtis, Conor Bendle, Marilyn Pride and Rik Lagarto Panelists (from left to right): Louise Curtis, Marilyn Pride, Rik Lagarto The panel started out by giving a couple of broad definitions for steampunk, and then went on to discuss some other kinds of ‘punk’ I hadn’t heard of: trenchpunk and dieselpunk. Examples of steampunk novels included Mortal Engines and Lark Light by Philip Reeve, World Shaker by Richard Harland, Blaze of Glory by Michael Pryor and Leviathan by Scott Westerfield. The panel also went on to discuss favoured steampunk tropes and moved into the main focus of what genres would best get along with the steampunk genre. 1515-1615: Other entities—Fantasy beyond dragons, fairies, kings and queens with Katie J. Taylor, Lily Mulholland and Tor Roxburgh The discussion opened with what creatures they had chosen to write about and why. All had chosen creatures that were ‘off the beaten...

Day 1: Those of you who know me, know I don’t do high volumes of people well… but most people can’t pick it. Until I’d attended three days of convention, I didn’t fully understand this about myself either. Day 1 was the first time I’d been to a public event in a number of years. It was wonderful. Full credit should go to the Conflux 8 organisers and panellists for putting this event together… and I am very much looking forward to Conflux 9, early next year. Now, on to Day 1: 0910-0950: The Opening Ceremony FILDENSTAR! Oh, wait, first there was Jack Dann opening the convention and welcoming us, paying respects to the traditional landowners of the ACT region, and THEN introducing Fildenstar, a pair of performers who brought us speculative songs like Ghost Butterfly Ships . Memorable. 1000-1100: What makes a good fantasy/sf/horror story with Sue Isle, Ian McHugh and Alan Baxter This panel discussed the different elements that writers should pay attention to, if t...

Conflux 8 was the first writing conference I’ve been able to attend in a long time—a very long time. I’d like to thank the organisers for the wonderful experience they put together for those who were able to attend, and to thank those who sat on the panels during, and ran the workshops prior to, the convention. I am looking forward to seeing what they do for Conflux 9 , now. Conflux 8 ran over two days, with a day of workshops run the day before the convention opened. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend three of the workshops and many of the panels, although discovered I was a bit short on stamina by the time late afternoon arrived, so I didn’t attend the afternoon or evening sessions. Pre-con workshops were very, very good, and I regret I couldn’t clone myself or use a magical device to attend more than the three workshops I managed. I also regret not taking out my camera and photographing those I could attend. To recap: Workshops—Friday 28 September 2012 I know ...

Current Projects This week I completed the following work on my current projects: ·          RomanceNovel1A: Added 2,000 words, completed novel; ·          DarkFantasyNovel1A: Added 6,000 words to the rewrite; and ·          DarkFantasyNovel1B: Revised the first 3 chapters, a total of 7,000 words. Publishing and non-writing Tasks This week I completed the following tasks related to independently publishing my work: ·          Updated blog 8 times ; ·          Re leased the large-print version of An Anthology of Dragons on CreateSpace/Amazon . This week I completed the following tasks related to developing my art and writing skills: ·          The terribleminds flash fiction challenge (See Poem32—The Novice and the Damn...