This Blog has moved….

It has now merged with my website at http://www.tonyballantyne.com

 

Colinthology

Colinthology is a collection of light-hearted, uplifting fantasy and SF short stories, put together in memory of Colin Harvey, who passed away suddenly in August 2011. All of the stories have been donated for free by friends of Colin, and all of the proceeds are being donated to Above & Beyond, the Bristol-based charity for which Colin volunteered in his spare time.

I was proud to be asked to contribute to the Colinthology. For some reason I’ve never quite understood, people thought that Colin and I were brothers. It became a standing joke at conventions, with Colin getting his friends to come up to me and pretend they thought I was him. Obviously, we were both blessed at birth with outstanding good looks, prodigious talent and incredible modesty, but Colin had something else that set him apart from me and most other writers. Colin genuinely enjoyed every aspect of the writer’s life. Everyone likes to talk about their own work, even if they pretend not to, but I’ve never known anyone with as much enthusiasm as Colin for other people’s work, other people’s workshops and other people’s talks.

Conventions will seem a little less inviting now that my brother will not be there waiting for me.

http://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/colinthology/

Stories from the Northern Road (Penrose 2.5)

Out today!

Hardback: http://newconpress.co.uk/books/stories-from-the-northern-road/

eBook: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-Northern-Road-Imaginings-ebook/dp/B00993EHMQ/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1347431200&sr=1-1-catcorr

Where do you get your ideas from?

Here’s a picture of me researching Penrose 2.5: Stories from the Northern Road.

Stories from the Northern Road

Ubuntu 12.04

Upgraded from 11.10 and running well (though the lens is a little slow) .  I like it!  

http://www.ubuntu.com/

The Cleverest Man in the World

This short story, originally published in Nature Magazine, is now up on the Concatenation website…

 

http://www.concatenation.org/futures/ballantyne_cleverest_man.pdf

Interview

Keith Brooke interviews me here…

http://keithbrooke.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/snapshots-tony-ballantyne-interviewed/

Spring Writing Weekend

Alex Davis has asked me to remind you all about the Spring Writing Weekend, together with the special Day Rates:

Alt.Fiction is proud to present its Spring Writing Weekend – the perfect chance for writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror to meet and work with like-minded people and enjoy workshops and talks with established authors in the field. Offering workshops, feedback sessions and expert advice, these weekends are sure to both inform and inspire.

Spring Writing Weekend, 20^th-22^nd May

Guest Speakers:
Simon Clark – acclaimed horror novelist and author of The Night of the Triffids
Tony Ballantyne – science fiction writer of the Recursion Trilogy and the Penrose Series

Venue: Legacy Chesterfield Hotel, Malkin Street, Chesterfield, S41 7UA

With a convenient location next to Chesterfield rail station and a wide range of leisure facilities, the Legacy Chesterfield Hotel is a great place to work and relax.

www.legacy-hotels.co.uk/legacy-chesterfield/

The Spring Writing Weekend costs just £180, including two nights’ shared accommodation, all meals and hot drinks, plus a full programme of writing activities throughout Saturday and Sunday featuring two guest authors.

Day rates are also available for the 21^st and 22^nd May at only £40 per day, including access to all workshops, lunch and drinks throughout.

To book your place, or for any enquiries, email alt.fiction@writingeastmidlands.co.uk

or call Alex on 07896 228367

Schedule information at http://sffeastmidlands.blogspot.com/

A £90 deposit is required to confirm your place, with a further £90 to be paid at least one week before the event. Deposits are non-refundable except in case of event cancellation. No refunds will be given in case of any changes to guest authors, or in the event of participants being unable to attend for any reason. Please note, the deadline for booking your place is 4 May 2011.

Alt.Fiction is a trading name of Writing East Midlands

The Cleverest Man in the World

A new short story of mine, appearing in Nature, 9th December 2010.

A Poem for Saturday

Referenced last night at a prize giving…

A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING.

by John Donne
AS virtuous men pass mildly away,

And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say,

“Now his breath goes,” and some say, “No.”

.

So let us melt, and make no noise,

No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;

‘Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love.

.
Moving of th’ earth brings harms and fears ;

Men reckon what it did, and meant;

But trepidation of the spheres,

Though greater far, is innocent.

.

Dull sublunary lovers’ love

—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit

Of absence, ’cause it doth remove

The thing which elemented it.

.

But we by a love so much refined,

That ourselves know not what it is,

Inter-assurèd of the mind,

Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

.
Our two souls therefore, which are one,

Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to aery thinness beat.

.
If they be two, they are two so

As stiff twin compasses are two ;

Thy soul, the fix’d foot, makes no show

To move, but doth, if th’ other do.

.
And though it in the centre sit,

Yet, when the other far doth roam,

It leans, and hearkens after it,

And grows erect, as that comes home.

.
Such wilt thou be to me, who must,

Like th’ other foot, obliquely run ;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,

And makes me end where I begun.