Author: Richard Parry

The Difficulty of Being Difficult

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People seemed to like our regrets, so here we are: a fiesta of difficult and rewarding writing. I asked some of my homies which scenes were hardest to write, and which were the most fun. Let’s see where it landed up. Yudhanjaya Wijeratne I think the most fun scene I’ve ever written was the opening of (an unreleased) manuscript, where the angel Michael invents a new programming language and lobbies for it to be used in Creating planets. It’s either that or the entirety of the Slow Sad Suicide of Rohan Wijeratne, where an alcoholic from Sri Lanka signs up to fly into a ring singularity – basically torus-shaped black hole with nothing at the core. That was so fun the entire story just came out in one writing session. The hardest was writing the middle sections of Numbercaste. Mapping Read More …

Rekindling the Romance

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I’ve been getting deep into Upgrade’s sequel. It’s hard to return to a world five years on, but it’s also hard to put on pants and I do that most days. Most. Here’s a scene I’m working on. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it for the final. Here is the first time in the new book we see Harry and Lace. You probably shouldn’t read this if you haven’t read Upgrade, because it will quite probably cock up a bunch of the emotional pull of a subplot. You’ve been warned. Harry leaned close to Lace, smelling the back of her neck. She wore her hair up, a hint of a smile on her face at his touch. “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?” “I own this place,” she said. “It’s my place.” Harry Read More …

The Names We Regret

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You might remember my take on the power of names. I figured since I know about a zillion authors, I’d get their take and we’d turn it into something fun. We all make mistakes. Characters we’ve named without considering all the angles. I put out the call: what’s your favorite and least favorite character’s name, and why? And — this is vital — would you kill off the least-favorite in order to not have to type those foul letters anymore? Let’s see where we ended up. As a side note, and not in any way resentful, fuck all y’all with no regrets. Michael Cooper My favorite character name is obviously Tanis Richards. Tanis was the name of my first girlfriend, and also the name of a cool character from DragonLance. Often people think its a male name (because of DragonLance) Read More …

A Quiet Place

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We watched A Quiet Place. It’s fucking terrifying. Best damn frightener movie we’ve seen in ages. The basic plot is: monsters. A little more detail? Okay. The nasties track sound. The story centers on the Abbots, starting with a no-punches-pulled entree into the horrorscape Earth has become. One of their kids (played by Millicent Simmonds) is deaf, the family able to communicate in sign language before the invasion started. It’s saved them, and they’ve found a haven in a quiet farmstead. Haven, except for the at-least-three monsters in the area. The danger isn’t just “monsters.” That’d be too easy. Evelyn (Emily Blunt) is pregnant, and she must face giving birth and, with Lee (John Krasinski), raising a baby in a world intolerant of the slightest noise. How the family bands together, and the sacrifices they’re willing to make for each Read More …

Delilah: Part Nine

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Fair warning: this is your last Delilah snippet! Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger. Hold on for a store link at the end. If you haven’t encountered the awesome of Delilah before, start at the beginning. The room had one exit, a double door leading further into the facility. A double door meant they were used to taking people through here on a gurney. It was secured, biometrics and link security barring entry. Her optics scanned the room beyond, giving her overlay something to work with. It looked like another guard facility, desks and coffee machines and humans arrayed around. Delilah didn’t care about desks and coffee machines, but she cared about the three guards. They were already moving towards the door. Perfect. One less thing to hack. She waited for them to reach the other side of the door, watching Read More …

Bee Yourself

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Wild bee: just getting snackMe: no prob bee Mason bee: just make houseMe: build a way b Honey bee:jus sampling the lavendersMe: you know I got an assortment Bumble bee: hey *bonk* I jus *bonk* I hMe: *holds flower still* Wasp: I'LL SEE U IN HELLMe: U TELL THEM WHO SENT U — 🌙 C.M. Galdre 🔮 (@CMGaldre) July 8, 2018

Remastering at Speed

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Y’all want to see how the work on Upgrade’s remaster is coming along? Truth, it’s taking longer than I reckoned. My writing back in the day was … well, let’s agree my craft has progressed a shade or two since then. I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out, but to get to the satisfaction point I need to wade through the mire first. ICYMI, I mentioned I’m re-editing Upgrade prior to the sequel. This quick vid shows just how much of each chapter is changed. I’m keeping it pure so Han still shoots first, but also making it cleaner (read: deleting shit even I don’t understand anymore).

An Upgraded Upgrade

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Yeah, I went there with the post title. Upgrade is the book I am most asked for a sequel for. Sadly, it didn’t sell very well, so I never completed the next two (2!) books I’d planned in the series. Upgrade offers a complete story, but it leaves the door open for said sequels, leaving many people with nothing to do but send me angry emails with the subject: Where is the fucking Upgrade sequel?! I hear you. So, you’ll get the next story before year’s end (assuming I don’t get cancer and die first, or something else as dire … new kittens arrived, and they’re hell on productivity). Before I launch the new book, I need to ask myself a really important question. Why didn’t the first one sell well? I’d originally dismissed lackluster sales a result of people not Read More …