moving right along, agents, PS2 games

[erastes]

Yesterday was not a good day, and I'm going to draw a veil over it, learn not to be so idiotic/naive and move on. Saturdays are not good days for me right now, as it's still an anniversary of mother's death - always will be, I suppose but it's still a bit raw and I'm having trouble sleeping on Friday nights. But in the light of losing her, it brings every single thing into sharp focus - I compare other things that happen and think "What's more upsetting? Losing your mother or worrying about a bit of stupid bitchery?" There's no comparison, really, is there? The work is the most important thing. To write and write and write some more. To get Transgressions agent/publisher ready. To finish Junction X - I think it's more than half done, now - and then to get on with the next project - and to choose which one that is. I've had a fair bit of interest in learning more about Fleury from Standish, and I do want to write that, dear Padraig is tapping his toes in impatience, but there are other things I want to write. Mother gave me a bunny for a Shakespearian age thing - male actors playing romeo and juliet, that sort of thing - far more appealing to me than Gwyneth Paltrow!! And there's a couple of others in my ideas file, so I don't know. It's a puzzlement . I am just talking out loud here, of course, but the only way to decide is to finish JX and then see which project shouts loudest.

Talking of agents, does anyone on my flist have one? I have been trying to get one for a while, and of course it's difficult because I have little track record to give to them, don't know my sales figures yet - and they wouldn't be interested in my short story success of course. As far as I can see there's no agent who specialises in gay fiction - but there must be! Michael Manzilla has moved to non-fiction as far as I can see. I suppose at the moment I shouldn't worry - but if you have one for m/m I'd be interested to know which agency - and I won't mention your name if I apply!

rwday sent me a PS2 game - Splinter Cell, Double Agent! I cannot wait to play it. I just adore Sam, he's all gravelly and tough. Voiced by Michael Ironside. Yum.

And I should say, that Dan Brown has certainly made money out of me. I read Da Vinci, went to see the film (gag on both count) and most recently have bought the game. However, the normal trend is that a game franchise from a successful movie sucks big time, but DVC is the exception to the rule and is actually and intriguing and difficult puzzler. The puzzles are all different to the book, which is just as well, although the plot follows it, but it's very playable and actually had me punching the air a few times as I got "Decoded" up on the screen when I solved a problem. There's fighting, but it's piss easy, and that's the sort of fighting that I like - and you only really need to fight if you fail at sneaking around, and sneaking around is what erasteses do best in games. I can't tell you the JOY I felt when stealth made a major inroad into games. Hide under a table until the guard's gone past? Get in a cupboard? What BLISS! But no games for me until I've finished this chapter.

*head down, scribbles*

Hope you have a good weekend, y'all.

Comments

Want ...

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

... to write some SAm Fisher porn with me? :)

Re: Want ...

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Get thee behind me, Santa. No more fanfic for me! However I shall read and drool over anything you come up with. Shame you can't get M.Ironside to voice it.

I am so obsessed with Sam that there's a bit where he says "So I stay out of the courtyard." and I melt into little pools of lust.

Re: Want ...

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Santa? SANTA? *flails*

And - hey, it would just be something short. I'm not into fanfic, really, but Sam gets me to a happy place...

[mroctober.livejournal.com]

I have an agent.

As for ones that specialize in queer fiction, none do because most would find that a silly way to run a business or heterophobic.

There are gay agents, of course, who don't mind reading or representing gay fiction. Joshua Blimes and Christopher Schelling are two that come to mind.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you -- I shall check them out!

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

I picked up this book the other day and am finding it very helpful. There are a number of UK agents (although with communications the way they are, you could probably do just as well with any of the Canadian or American ones), and there are lots of agents that deal both with gay fiction and with newer authors. There's also a lot of good legal info, though legal matters may differ for you--maybe there's a UK version?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'll check it out. I live in despair for the English market - with most of the decent sized gay publishers now gone, there's no market to speak of. I think that I'm going to have to admit that my hope lies in America, which is annoying because in general the US is more anti gay than here.

*orders *

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

A certain vocal segment of the population (who don't tend to be big readers anyway) are anti-gay, but gay characters in novels seem to be popping up everywhere in mainstream literature, tv, and movies. With your talent, you really might consider approaching mainstream publishers--probably not romance publishers (who are still very conservative) but there's a big surge in gay characters in mysteries and spec fic right now.

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

I thought I referred various folks to the ARE website, if you're looking for suggestions on agents. Sorry, can't recall if I already gave this to you or not!
They do newsletters re: the business and agents, and they also tailor listings for writers at various levels of customizing, for fees. I heard of them on various panels at several World SF & F Con, so this is one of the few exceptions to the general rule, "money does not come out of the writer, money flows *to* the weiter!!"
They do have lots of info on agents, don't know what their success rate is at matching clients to agents, but they pull it off bigtime occasionally.
http://www.agentresearch.com/