Yes, I'm still writing!

The photo has nothing to do with anything that I'm working on at the moment, but this little roe buck was foraging in my garden a few weeks back and I thought that a photo would make an interesting backdrop. I've been sat out in the garden today, editing a short story for an online steampunk fiction competition. There are a few signs that the deer have visited, but not seen one again.

Well, it has been over a year since I last posted on here. I must admit to being rubbish at this whole blog thing - despite my stage perfornances (and persona) and love of writing, I'm also quite reserved and self-depricating. Probably why I have so little published. Anyway, I thought that it was high time that I showed myself on here. I've just submitted "Test Drive" (a longer version of the snippet which I posted on here last April) to the competition, and now working on "Martian Overseer". I do like playing in the steampunk sandpit, but I'm not a fan of the goggles and airships styles. Good fiction needs to take the reader on a journey to somewhere new, and I always strive to do that with my stories.

Martian Overseer is set during construction of the Great Martian Railway. A low class Irish overseer in charge of an Indian labour gang gets into trouble with the military authorities. So basically Fenians and dacoits on Mars. Short stories still seem to be my main output, although I am working on a couple of novel drafts when I get the time. This last year hasn't been my most productive, due to a mix of illness, stress, day job work problems, plus multiple deaths of friends and family. Not asking for sympathy (and lots of this stuff will get into my writing somehow - one minor character in one of my steampunk projects is written as a memorial to an old friend who sadly passed last year), but just an explanation of why I've been so quiet on here.

Anyway, back to writing (and keeping an eye on the garden for any sign of the deer). Speak to you soon!

#steampunk #Mars #MartianOverseer #ArchibaldStokes