Liam Smith

Night Shade: A Fan Fiction Review

1st November 201517th October 2020 Liam Smith 2 Comments

I’m not a fan of fan fiction. I think using characters that other authors have put their love and imagination into is cheating and disrespectful – especially (read: inevitably) when the writing isn’t as good as the author’s own. There can’t be much reward in it either – fan fiction isn’t part of the original story and is therefore in no way ‘real’ or ‘true’ to it. I don’t see the point in it other than as a writing exercise, and even then it’s a half-baked activity – the characterisation and interplay between different characters has been established for you. But maybe it’s time for me to consider the genre in a new light. Maybe it’s time for a fan fiction review.

Getting my teeth into The Black Library

Recently, however, I read one of Jack Yeovil’s The Vampire Geneviève stories; Geneviève Undead. Jack Yeovil is a non-de-plume of Kim Newman’s; he uses it when he writes for The Black Library, the publishing wing of tabletop wargames behemoth Games Workshop. The Black Library publish stories set in the fictional universes of their Warhammer and Warhammer 40,00 games.

What I Learned from the Super Blood Moon

29th September 201517th October 2020 Liam Smith 3 Comments

This morning at the unsocial hour of 3:47 am, the Sun, Earth and Moon were arranged in perfection alignment. The Sun’s rays, distorted and coloured by the Earth’s atmosphere, beamed upon the Moon – itself orbiting close to Earth as the Autumn Equinox approaches – and turned it a glowing red. This is a fairly rare astronomical happenstance – it last happened in 1982 and won’t happen again until 2048. It’s called the Super Blood Moon.

I hauled myself up at half three in the morning to have a look at it, and I’m glad I did. Here’s three lessons I learned from seeing the Super Blood Moon:

Getting out of bed is always a good thing.

Actually, I’ve suspected this one for a while and based my writing schedule around it. If I didn’t have to sleep I wouldn’t – you don’t even realise when you’re asleep that you are asleep. So there’s very little to take from it besides the obvious physical and mental recharge. As soon as you’re awake you can appreciate the sleep you’ve had – or, in this morning’s case, didn’t have. Which is endlessly preferable to not being able to appreciate either.

Steampunk Record Player: A Modelling Project

13th September 201516th October 2020 Liam Smith Leave a comment

Earlier this year I decided to steampunk-ify my trusty record player. I’d been considering it for a while – ever since I modded a couple of Nerf Guns back in my university days. Records are pretty old school; it would only make sense to play them on a Victorianate turntable. Eventually I bit the bullet and dug out my modelling saw. Here’s how I built my Steampunk Record Player…

The Brief

I knew I could achieve a steampunk look simply by dismantling the record player and painting it brassy colours, but I wanted to add something to the player whilst modding it – I wanted to add some functionality. For example, when I modded my Nerf Maverick, I added power to its firing mechanism and built in a shoulder chain for ease of use. I decided to add a speaker to my record player, so that I wouldn’t have to keep thieving my girlfriend’s Logitechs whenever I wanted to play an LP. Once I’d settled on this idea, it didn’t me long to decide to model the speaker on an old gramophone horn.

Topleft: Nerf Maverick. Bottom left: Nerf Jolt. Right: dismantled Maverick

Bands on the Run: Best Running Music

19th July 20154th October 2020 Liam Smith 4 Comments

Anyone following me on Twitter will know I’m into my running. It’s my favourite way of exercising, and I like challenging myself to hit faster speeds and longer distances. One of the main reasons I run, though, is for the opportunity to listen to a bit of music. On a run, it’s just you, your thoughts and your iPod. It’s a great chance to meditate over an album whilst getting a bit fitter. Here are five favourite bands that make the best running music. Read More

How to Build a Book Cover II: Paperback

28th June 201517th October 2020 Liam Smith Leave a comment

After self-publishing my novella complete with its cover art, I was desperate to get my hands on a physical copy of The Witching Hours. I’m a supporter of ebooks and e-readers, but there’s something to be said for holding a book in your hands; feeling its shape and taking in the tactility of it. I published my ebook though Amazon and CreateSpace, an Amazon company, offer a print-on-demand service for self-published authors. I’d already done the hard work – writing the book – and I couldn’t wait to have a printed copy of it too. This how to design a book cover, and its interior too.

I found CreateSpace a little less user-friendly than Kindle Direct Publishing. Nonetheless, it’s a fairly logical process and, like KDP, it begins with the trickiest bits – confirming your tax location and account details. Once this is complete, you can start the fun stuff.

Getting started: dashboard and setting up your title

The member dashboard is your default page, and it is here that you can add a new title. This is first step of getting your book to the printing press. Clicking ‘Add New Title’ first prompts you to enter the basic information about your book: title, author, series… The bits you know like the back of your hand. I found this really exciting. It really felt like I was placing my work out there into the world of printed books.

Author: Liam Smith