FLY SOUP

I've always wanted to be a full-time writer, but I've never had a clear understanding of how to make enough money from my writing to survive. In fact I read an article on the ABC news website this morning stating that authors in Australia earn, on average, $11,000 to $13,000 per year , which sounds about right. I can't live on that. No one can. So my fears are clearly justified. Regardless, in 2017 I decided to throw caution to the wind and try to come up with a way to make enough money from writing that I could start to think about transitioning from my regular job to the coveted holy grail of full-time writer . I had this vague idea of combining two of my great passions, writing and gaming, to see what would come of it. I had no real understanding, at that point, of what I was getting myself into. The answer, of course, is interactive fiction. Interactive fiction - or digital gamebooks - are the modern version of Choose Your Own Adventure stories, which were among m...

Leife and I have worked for several months to cull the list of fantastic submissions down to nineteen of our favourites for A Hand of Knaves . There are some really fantastic stories in our bucket and it was great to finally put the author's names to their writing (as the reading for CSFG anthologies is done blind). I've been abroad of late and while I was away the CSFG released the list of stories and authors so I'd like to belatedly congratulate the successful writers, and let those who didn't make the cut know that we had a wealth of excellent stories to choose from so don't be too disappointed. Our list of authors/stories is as follows: Eugen Bacon,  Ace Zone Amy Brown,  A Tale Of The Marriage Of Gawain David Coleman,  Immortal, Coiled Tom Dullemond,  The Killblaine Legacy Maureen Flynn,  Gardening Through the Danse Macabre Rebecca Fraser,  The Pedlar Isobel Johnstone,  The Apothecary’s Apprentice Grace Maslin,  A Question Of Iden...

It's Done! Submissions are in and Leife and I have read them all. Every single one. There were a good number of entries given that the call was limited to Aussie spec-fic writers and there were some fantastic stories. I was truly amazed at the breadth of interpretation of the topic, with some writers really pushing the brief while still meeting the criteria and creating inventive material. Now it's time for Leife and I to don our gladiatorial armour and enter the ring to fight for our fave stories Hulk vs Thor-style. It's gonna be one helluva smackdown. Also, the crowd-funding campaign to raise some extra script to pay our long-suffering authors is up and running. The CSFG's anthologies are a significant part of the Aussie spec-fic writing landscape so please, please, please consider contributing, keeping in mind it's a not-for-profit organisation. Visit the Indiegogo campaign here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-hand-of-knaves/x/17109762#/ We...

If you're an Aussie writer and you haven't yet submitted your most knavish story to the CSFG's newest anthology, A Hand of Knaves , THEN GET ON IT! YOU ONLY HAVE UNTIL 15 NOVEMBER YOU FOOL!

Submissions for A Hand of Knaves - a new anthology from CSFG Publishing - ARE OPEN!! The editorial team has already put in a lot of effort to ensure this will be a great anthology, and just look at the card art already completed by award-winning artist Shauna O'Meara. Head over to the CSFG Publishing site to find all the details and once you've read the guidelines, submit to knaves.anthology.csfg@gmail.com . Leife and I are ready to read your fantastic stories!

Rogues are my all-time favourite characters, be it in books, movies, videogames, or tabletop RPGs (yes, I was the thief who stole your Ring of Featherfall while you slept and didn't say a word as you jumped off that cliff thinking you'd be fine) and thanks to CSFG Publishing I now get the opportunity to co-edit an anthology of stories entitled A Hand of Knaves - which will be 100% about thieves, scoundrels and rogues! So as you can probably guess, I'm stoked the CSFG committee decided to run with our pitch. In even better news, my co-editor is the unstoppable Leife Shallcross , who apparently doesn't have the word sleep in her vocabulary as she edits her upcoming novel The Beast's Heart , completes her second novel (which I've read and which is absolutely amazing), helps out with Conflux, as well as fulfilling her day job and doing all her other lifey things. We are super-excited for this and make no mistake, we both love the concept and want to produc...

This anthology launches today, and I'm very happy to be a part of it. Behind the Mask is getting some great press around the place and I have high hopes that people will really love the book in its entirety. I'll also point out that for the first time ever I made the cut as one of the named authors on the back, instead of being lumped into "and others..." (see below). A small thing perhaps but YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!! *fist pumps* And yes, I'm not blind. I can see that all the authors are named on the back, and rightly so because everyone did a bloody marvellous job.