B.G. Hilton – Writer

Workin’ in the Word Mines

I’m not doing as much writing as I’d like right now. Partly, there’s a lot going on for me right now, but mostly because the low-level background stress of 2020 life is keeping me tired and sapping my creativity. It kind of sucks.

So even though I theoretically have two novels underway, I’m back to something I already wrote. Do It Yourself is a novel I serialised a few years ago. It started as a little story about a reformed supervillain working in a big-box hardware store who was trying to come to terms with real-life problems that couldn’t be solved with freeze-rays or death-traps. As I was writing, the cast of characters in the store just got stranger and stranger – a dryad in the timber section, a water-witch in bathroom fittings, a killer cyborg from the future in arts and crafts, an ape-man in gardening, mysterious twin sisters who represent the light and the dark (who work in lighting and curtains respectively). The central premise remained the same – sort of a reverse urban fantasy, where instead of ordinary people getting involved in fantastic adventures, far-out creatures have to stack shelves and work the till.

I’m not planning on taking the original down from my website, but I am planning on spiffying up the text, editing out the terrible, terrible spelling and grammar errors and maybe trying to streamline it a little bit. But only a little – the disjointed storyline, the weird digressions and idiotic number of POV characters is part of what makes the story unique.

I’m not sure if I’m going to make it a free giveaway or put it on Amazon/Smashwords for a dollar. Either way, I’ll probably be handing out a few ARC copies. If you’re interested, watch this space for details.

And yes, for the three people who are interested, I’ll probably finish Trilobite Park soon, even if it’s just one big final act to tie it all up.

Aurealis Awards

While 2020 has been awful in a lot of ways, I’ve actually had a lot of luck with publication. Not only my novel, but a bunch of short stories. It occurred to me because the Aurealis Awards for Australian Speculative writing have just opened up for entry, so I’ve been listing what I have that’s eligible and it’s a pretty good list this year:

Champagne Charlie and the Amazing Gladys

Hole

Last Train to Colchis

Lord Apis and Tercio de Muerte

Specimen Boxes

No Refunds

So not bad. I count my blessings and all that. And the Aurealis Awards are open to all Australian citizens and permanent residents who have published/are publishing spec fiction in 2020. If that includes you, why not enter? There’s a fee for novels, but I believe most shorter works are free to enter.

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