A vignette I wrote on the train home from our weekend away.

Old Flame

The train wasn’t full, but there were enough people on board to be annoyed by quite easily. The thrum of MP3 players and tinny ringtones provided an unpleasant chorus to the hum of the train itself.

I’d had a lovely week. Dull, but lovely. Brighton. Nice simple break, spent walking and visiting restaurants, with the occasional bout of sitting on a bench looking wistfully at the sea as if I was in a montage from some old film. First time I’ve been anywhere since the divorce, and I had needed to get away. It felt odd booking a single instead of a double, but it was something I would have to get used to now.

The typical male holiday paperback (politics, courtrooms, car chases and the odd gunfight) wasn’t really holding my attention and thus I had taken to watching the world pass by and sipping at my lukewarm bottle of overpriced spring water.

We pulled into a station. I’m afraid I don’t really remember which one, but it was small and functional and rural. Pleasant enough. The next train along was sat waiting to leave, and as we settled beside it I saw familiar eyes glance over from an unfamiliar face.

Time hadn’t been all that kind to her (to be fair it hadn’t been that great to me either), but she was still as beautiful as ever. The moment of recognition was a strange thing- Is it you? Is that middle aged thing really you?

There was no doubt. She smiled and I smiled back, memories reawakened and shared. Promises that we never got to keep as teenagers.

The two children that sat with her seemed lovely, smart and clean. A sandy haired boy and a younger girl had those same eyes, and were busying themselves with books and crayons. They seemed nice, well behaved, unlike the brats on my train that were causing their parents all manner of grief.

She was obviously very proud of them, and as we began to pull away from the little station she clutched their small hands and smiled at me softly. Something in her expression. An apology? A recognition of what we could have had?

Perhaps an acknowledgement. Things change, but we still remember the days that shape us. Some things I never want to forget. As they shrank away from me I smiled back and offered a brief wave.

As we sped up and went on our way once again, I watched the world go by and wondered what the next station would bring.

Oh yes, this is nice.

All packed and ready to go away for the weekend with Claire. A day at work must be done before that though, but afterwards we're diving on a train and escaping for a couple of days. It is very much needed. Should get this new story written on the train journeys ;) Looking forward to a walk around St Anne's, and some time away from everything with my lady.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

PS cool things in the pipeline again :)

Am underway with the new story for the special edition of Across The Seas of Mind, which as mentioned before will be available in hardback. All the proceeds will be donated to the S.O.P.H.I.E. campaign.

The new story is a solemn SF piece called The Wake of Dreams and follows the journey home of the last survivor of a space-based catastrophe. Along the way, he discovers that he is being accompanied on his journey by something, or maybe someone, incredible...

The Forever Guardian- Episode 2 is available now!

The download, as before, is FREE. I hope you enjoy it.

Well I did intend on having the second episode of The Forever Guardian complete and released today, but alas the majority of the text is on my laptop, which is back at the flat. Oops! I will instead turn my attention to some of my Powerplay reviews. From my stack I'll do the Prong CD, a prog-rock album called Expedition Delta, and... Billy Idol's best of. Hee hee :)

I still have that new story to finish for the hardback release of Across The Seas of Mind too.

If I have time, I shall get another few hundred down for the FG novel, before heading out to lose myself in an art gallery for a while and stock up on nice things from Tai Sun before meeting back up with Claire. This evening we are going to the Showroom to see Brief Encounter, which we've both seen a few times (C knows it off by heart) but it'll be nice to see on the big screen. We are having a bit of a Tim-and-Brian-from-Spaced cultural exchange, so I'm going to dig something of a genre classic out that Claire hasn't seen. I'm thinking maybe Brazil.

Being out tonight means I will of course miss Rose Tyler's return to Doctor Who, but I shall see that asap.

Time to put my rock ears on and pass judgment on the hard work of musicians immeasurably more talented than myself for a while ;P

I like the free zombie face changer over at the website for Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD far too much.

( Zombie Hex )

I feel a new icon coming on.

Well that was unexpected. I'm at Mum's house checking on things while she's away and my grandma just turned up with my Uncle Tim, who is visiting from Canada and off to a conference. It was lovely to see them, and my grandma was very taken with my book. I swear the picture of her reading it wasn't staged. Great to see Tim. I've always thought alot of him, and indeed all of my Canadian family members.

( Myself, my gran with my book, and my uncle )

Having them tell me they are proud of me felt wonderful.

back to what I was doing- off out in a minute to visit the Graves art gallery before meeting Claire.

Well my father visited last night, with my stepmother. It was the first time they'd met Claire and it went well. My cooking seemed to be palatable, and there was chat and laughs to be had. Its been so long since I last saw my Dad that he didn't know I write for a national magazine. I gave him a copy of the current issue and CD and he seemed very taken with it. I get so little free time lately that yesterday felt like a tiny holiday. I went somewhere special with Claire and generally had a beautiful day. Only managed 600 words on the novel but even *I* need a breather once in a while. Not looking forward to the long day I have ahead of me. I want to sleep and write, and this morning is distinctly bereft of bacon butties in bed. Such is life.

There's more I should write about this past week, but I want to get a few hundred words of my own down before leaving for work.

Currently reading China Mieville's Un Lun Dun, and am absolutely loving it. Nowhere near as wordy and drawn out as his other work, and the pace of the story is fantastic. The inventiveness of the world he has created is amazing, like Neil Gaiman writing the stories of Philip Pullman. Really enjoying it.

www.theforeverguardian.blogspot.com

One post up so far. Its about time I stopped talking about it and actually got it out there. Episode 1 is out, and part 2 is well underway.

At long last, the novel I have slaved away on in various forms for over a decade is coming. I am going to be releasing it episodically, in print, download and podcast formats. The print and downloads are NOW AVAILABLE. whats more, the download is FREE!

Check it out...

THE FOREVER GUARDIAN: EPISODE ONE

Just posted: How New Media is helping Genre authors

I'm really into this stuff right now. I find it fascinating.

Nicked from geekers:

Goth Cruise- the movie- trailer

That looks kind of interesting :)

Today I pretty much refused to do anything. My day off got off to a rotten start with TWO buses in a row both having their windscreen wipers fall off in the middle of the bloody rain. I pretty much had to walk all the way back to base camp as seemingly everything that passed either said 'Sorry- not in service' on it or simply sailed past without picking anyone up. Grumpy Hex all morning, thanks to that. I refused to venture back out into the soggy fray and hid under a duvet. Intended to out things on ebay but I just wanted sleep. My head is still hurting now. I did sort some things to give to charity/throw out. As soon as the rain stopped, the builders returned and thus I had to escape. I took my pounding headache and joined Claire in the Dev Cat, where there was merriment, ladies knitting, and some very fine ham and leek Pie.

It is amazing just how much a chunk of pie improves your day. oh, that and fine company :)

But yes, PIE.

New material written at work.

Movie Trailers- Why give away so much?

Rock music action figures article

More fiction, articles and... music soon.

One article I could do with writing is on the decay of the UK goth scene. That'd be a nice challenge to write.

Off out for some air before an evening at the Dev Cat.

Had a story rejection from Escape Pod. Ah well, next!

The builders are back next door- on both sides. Thus I can't concentrate on ANYTHING before I leave. Tempted to leave iTunes at full blast on a powernoise playlist and bugger off out.

Nah, I'm far too nice for that.

Although I would like a damn break. I'm working 12-9 today and have nothing of a morning to enjoy with all this racket.

Started a new story last night- and not SF. No wonder it was difficult. It is inspired by my father and his days as a club singer.

Am watching Saturday's Doctor Who- all the keyboards in the 51st century library are from Apple.... :D

Oh, and the episode? Brilliant. Moffatt is an incredible writer.

I've signed up to the Side Line forum as I was in need of somewhere full of people arguing to check out regularly, and nobody argues quite like Industrial fans/musos ;P Seriously though, it seems an entertaining/infuriating place and I've not been on boards much in ages. I'm hybridicon on there.

I'll be recording tonight, but not music (thats saved for the weekend- going to have a stab at some new Hybrid Icon stuff to see if I can wake up my enthusiasm for the project and get it done). Going to see if I can get the audiobook of the A.T.S.O.M. story done tonight, or at least the first pass at it.

Anyway, going to go and read some flame wars while dinner settles.