Everything ElsePosted by Neil Colquhoun Wed, August 25, 2010 22:22:19Like all those in the pod-casting and writing communities, I am saddened by the news that Tia L. Brink has passed away after a heart operation.
A talented individual, Tia edited a story of mine for Shadowcast, and now I never will be able to build on that working relationship. She helped plenty of writers to improve their work and will be sadly missed by all.
I would like to give my condolences to her family.
Tia, you now have been elevated to Supreme Goddess.
N
Infected FridayPosted by Neil Colquhoun Fri, July 30, 2010 06:59:50infected -verb (to affect so as to influence feeling or action)friday - noun (sixth day of the week)
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Hello and welcome, all of you who are in the Legion of Infected Followers. I hope you are well. This weeks Infected Friday posting is about the novel '1984' by George Orwell.
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In the novel '1984' Winston Smith is assigned the task of perpetuating the regime's propaganda by fasifying records and political literature (that scenario is not far off the truth...). He revises historical records to match The Party's contemporaneous official version of the past and, although he likes his work, he desires to know of the true past. He becomes disillusioned with his life and starts to rebel against the system, resulting in his and his girlfriend's arrest by the Thought Police. One day Winston is sent to Room 101 in the Ministry of Love where he is set to face his greatest fear: rats. He admits defeat, announcing his girlfriend, Julia, should be punished instead where he is then returned to society, brainwashed and in acceptance of the Party doctrine.
Big Brother is upon us. In fact, we have been watched in our daily lives for a while now. But when will it end? Or are we destined to end up like Winston Smith in the novel, 1984?
Big Brother is watching and the faceless, nameless people have tools at their disposal to use: cameras on the streets in our towns and cities; satellites in the skies which are able to zoom in to an extremely detailed level; databases with our personal information able to be accessed by countless agencies and government departments; internet spybots watching your every move online.
Privacy is becoming less and less of a given and more like a luxury.
Governments are retaining information, only releasing what they wish people to know - sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Control and flow of information, control of the population, control of our lives, national ID cards and databases holding information on the population - all envisioned by George Orwell in 1948 (yes, when he wrote it he flipped the numbers for the title) and still pertinent today.
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Thanks for reading. Any thoughts?
I hope you come back to read more and join the Legion of Infected Followers.
Stay Alive.
[posted by Neil]
Scott SiglerPosted by Neil Colquhoun Wed, July 28, 2010 22:50:45One of my favourite authors is Scott Sigler and if you haven't heard of him... then, get with it! Scott writes books that are part thriller, part adventure and part horror mixed with cutting edge science to produce something that will have you gasping for more.
The new book is Ancestor which is a tale of "genetic experimentation's worst nightmare come true". If you want to find out more about the works of Scott Sigler, then visit the site where you can see the trailer for the book or listen to the podcast episodes. There's an audio promo here and you can download an audio excerpt from Random House.
You really should back the book - And, last but by no means least, there's a competition over at BackMyBook where the best backer of this book will win an e-reader. Why don't you click here and help me to earn enough points to win the e-reader? Thanks a lot.
And buy the book! I highly recommend it.
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STORY SYNOPSIS -
Every five minutes, a transplant candidate dies while waiting for a heart, a liver, a kidney. Imagine a technology that could provide those life-saving transplant organs for a nominal fee ... and imagine what a company would do to get a monopoly on that technology.
On a remote island in the Canadian Arctic, PJ Colding leads a group of geneticists who have discovered this holy grail of medicine. By reverse-engineering the genomes of thousands of mammals, Colding's team has dialed back the evolutionary clock to re-create humankind’s common ancestor. The method? Illegal. The result? A computer-engineered living creature, an animal whose organs can be implanted in any person, and with no chance of transplant rejection.
There's just one problem: these ancestors are not the docile herd animals that Colding's team envisioned. Instead, Colding’s work has given birth to something big, something evil.
With these killer creatures on the prowl, Colding and the woman he loves must fight to survive — even as government agents close in to shut the project down, and the deep-pocketed company backing this research proves to have its own cold-blooded agenda.
As the creators become the prey in the ultimate battle for survival, Scott Sigler takes readers on the ultimate thrill-ride—and offers a chilling cautionary account of what can happen when hubris, greed, and madness drive scientific experimentation past the brink of reason.
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Infected FridayPosted by Neil Colquhoun Sat, July 24, 2010 09:50:55infected -verb (to affect so as to influence feeling or action)friday - noun (sixth day of the week)
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Hello and welcome to my Legion of Infected Followers. I hope you are well. This weeks Infected Friday posting is about the secrets that people keep.
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All around us in the queues at the supermarket, in the crowds milling on the streets and in the people driving their cars to work are people who have secrets. In fact, every single one of the people you meet and the ones you never have any contact with all have a secret - and they don't want anyone else to know about it. We all carry out our everyday tasks, oblivious to the fact that some of those people are harbouring a secret that is horrific and disturbing - we truly don't know what they are really like.
Horror is not confined to the darkness: the monsters are present in the daylight, but are careful and waiting for the right moment to strike. Just because the sun rises doesn't mean that the threat disappears - what happens is that the monster becomes inventive and has to wait for the right time.
The world we live in has people with secrets. Some are harmless and if we ever knew these secrets, then we wouldn't care much. Some are so bad that the keeper of that secret tries hard to ensure it remains hidden, for if it was revealed then we would see how bad some people really are.
Of course, we find out about the monsters like the serial killers, abusers and nasty people when they are caught. But some walk amongst us, trying very hard to maintain a facade which we don't give a second thought to. There's a subterranean world where people hide untold horrors yet walk alongside us, work with us and even eat with us. A dark, dangerous and highly secretive world.
How well do we know our neighbour? Or the man who serves us coffee in the cafe? Or our co-workers whom we spend a lot of time with every day? Do we know these people at all, what they do beyond the short periods of time which we spend in their company? We are in their lives for a little while, smiling and making conversation, then we leave and go about our business? You don't know what the guy, whom you thought of as harmless, is thinking. You don't know what goes on behind closed doors or in the dark basements and cellars of buildings.
To us, these people whom we interact with are passengers, visitors. We do not give them much time so we never know their secrets. We will never find out if they are the monsters we read about or hear about.
People have secrets.
The blonde girl reading the magazine sat opposite me in the airport lounge, the large man in the chair next to me, the woman reading a book and listening to her iPod, the man staring vacantly into space: maybe they are all waiting for something other than the plane to arrive.
Maybe they are waiting for a victim.
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That's it for this post, all you Followers of the Infected Legion.
Thanks for reading and see ya back here next week.
Stay Alive
[posted by Neil]
Infected FridayPosted by Neil Colquhoun Fri, July 16, 2010 15:35:17infected -verb (to affect so as to influence feeling or action)friday - noun (sixth day of the week)
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Hello and welcome to my Legion of Infected Followers. I hope you are well.
This weeks Infected Friday posting is about Paul E. Cooley and his fantastic fiction, which can be found at Shadow Publications.
Mr Cooley writes horror, supernatural and, well... why don't you listen or read them and see what you think! Horror movies, horror novels and loud industrial music seem to be a fundamental part of his brain food - which is not a bad thing! If you have iTunes, then through the feed you can get the stories, essays and other rants, or visit the site and download the individual episodes of great stuff like 'Closet Treats' and 'Tattoo'. You'll see the influences of his horror diet in these stories and you'll not be disappointed.
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Closet Treats is a dark and brooding novel with the main character, Trey Leger, having a mental illness that he has managed to live with. But reality starts to slip for Trey with the arrival of the Ice Cream Man in his life. Pretty soon, he is unable to tell real-life from the one conjured up by his damaged mind.
It's a damn good listen and Mr Cooley delivers the goods in this story.
Tattoo is a psychological thriller about Jackson, a journalist who discovers links between several murders in his city. When he investigates he is drawn into the world of tattooing where obsessions mean a whole lot more than some ink on flesh.
This is a creepy, horrific and disturbing novella which only bolsters the fact that Mr Cooley likes all things fiendish!
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In my opinion, Paul E Cooley is one of those podcast authors you really should be listening to. There are a lot of novels which have been podcasted, but there are a select few of authors who create and produce really great stuff. It's fair to say that if you like Scott Sigler, J.C. Hutchins, Phil Rossi and Jake Bible, then you're gonna like the works of Paul E Cooley.
I have to put Mr Cooley in the list of 'essential podcast authors to listen to' along with those mentioned above because I think he deserves to be there. I love this work and heartily recommend him to you.
Go on, check it out. You won't be disappointed!
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Well, that's it for this week my Infected Followers. I hope you check out my recommendation and enjoy the stories. Remember to leave a comment here and, if you see The Fiendmaster, tell him I said 'Hi'.
Stay Alive and see ya back here again for the next Infected Friday.
[posted by Neil]
Story infoPosted by Neil Colquhoun Fri, July 09, 2010 20:53:27My latest story
"Afraid of Sunlight" is available to read over at
ShadowCast.In case you don't know about ShadowCast, there's a piece I wrote and posted which can be read here.
I entered "Afraid of Sunlight" into a contest on the site and, while I didn't win, was selected as one of two runners-up. The other runner-up was Keith Dugger and his story, "Reticulating Evangelist" - Well done Keith.
I'm very pleased even to have been runner-up, and to top it all, it's available as a shiny podcast which you can download and listen to.
Read and listen to "Afraid of Sunlight" by clicking here. Remember to leave a comment!
I've got to give thanks and praise to the co-editors, Jason Warden and Tia L. Brink, for accepting the story and doing the work on it to get it ready. Thanks guys.
Infected FridayPosted by Neil Colquhoun Sat, July 03, 2010 22:23:20infected -verb (to affect so as to influence feeling or action)friday - noun (sixth day of the week)
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Hey there, all Followers of the Infected Legion how are you ? This is a little late seeing as I'm posting it on a Sunday, so it could technically be called 'Infected Sunday' but it doesn't have the same ring about it! Anyway, this week's post is about the ShadowCast Audio Anthology
This is a fantastic site where they look for the best Dark Fiction and bring it to you through podcasting.
As it says on their Homepage, 'There’s a lot of good stuff out there, and we bring all of it we can out of the shadows and into the light of day. Here you will find full, complete stories...' and 'Many of our authors have received prestigious awards, but are not names most people would know, and in that lies the purpose of the effort put into the podcast. We want to be the place you look for new authors and great stories. Stories that cross and blur the lines of genre definition, and authors who are bold and write with the belief that readers will appreciate a story well told.'
So, if you have some great dark fiction you want to hear being read aloud then visit the site and follow the submission guidelines. I promise you, it's a chance worth taking!
ShadowCast is run by the Co-Editor/Host Jason Warden and Co-Editor Tia L. Brink and they do a pretty good job. As well as running ShadowCast they each have their own websites - Jason is a writer and some of his own stories are available to read over at his Experimental Muse site. Tia provides an editorial service and a writers resource over at her site which can be found at Tia L Brink dot com.
My recommendation is to visit the ShadowCast Audio Anthology website, nose around and discover some dark delights. And if you're brave enough, submit some of your dark matter to them and you might have the honor of your tale being read by many more people.
Become a Follower and listen to the recommendations of the Infected Legion - it'll make your life so much more worthwhile!
Stay Alive and see ya back here next week, on Friday!
[posted by Neil]
Story infoPosted by Neil Colquhoun Fri, July 02, 2010 22:26:16Hey, all Followers of the Infected Legion, this is a little post to tell you about the status of the FREE stories plan.
First of all, thanks to those of you who asked me to send some content to you. I hope you have read and enjoyed them. Remember to pass them on to friends, family, colleagues, co-workers or anyone else you think might like to read my stuff!
Remember guys, I need as many people as possible to read my stuff and get my name out there!
And secondly, I'd appreciate some feedback! Send me an e-mail or comment at the bottom off the post.
The original post can be read here but see below for a quick recap.
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I need to get products out there for people to read and one of the ways to do it is to drive interest in what I write. There are some exciting things I am working on but I need people to see what I do. Admittedly, there is not a huge amount of stuff out there which I have written but if you visit my site, there is material to read, including the 'Jimmy and the Black Wind' series of stories (READ THEM NOW BEFORE THE REBOOT - and no, that's not the secret project!), stories I've had published and the journal with some interesting posts including 'Infected Friday'.
Why should you read somebody you've never heard of? Again, that's simple: because what I write is good and, like everybody else, I'm looking to get my stuff read and commented on.
So, all I want from you is time and for you to read the stories and forward them, asking those people to do the same and so forth.
In order to get the FREE STORY CONTENT in your inbox you can:
1. Comment at the bottom of this post.
2. Send me an e-mail - necol@neilcolquhoun.com
3. DM me at Twitter.
And have I told you about the secret project? Well, I hope you keep reading the stories, visit the site and drop me an e-mail to find out more! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the content when it wings its way through cyberspace to your inbox.
Become an Infected Follower. Stay Alive.
[posted by Neil]
