Flash Fiction Friday 022: ‘A Damned Hot Day’ by Michael C Boxall

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the twenty-second piece of flash fiction in this weekly series. This week’s piece is a 477-worder entitled ‘A Damned Hot Day’ by Michael C Boxall.

A Damned Hot Day

It was a damned hot day and the man and the girl were drunk.

“Damn,” said the man.

“Yes,” said the girl. She was a very fine girl. She had her own teeth. Sometimes men looked at her teeth and whistled. Now the heat was making her perspire.

The man was thinking about a horse he had bet on with the Mexicans. It crept about in the middle of the night and ate cheese. It made little scurrying sounds. Nick Adams said it wasn’t a real horse. He said it was a mouse. The man wished he hadn’t bet money on the horse.

They had come to Venice to shoot elephant. They drank Cuba Librés at Harry’s Bar while Mjumbo built a hide on the Piazza San Marco. Now they were waiting under the mosquito netting in the burning sun. They waited for a long time. The man grew tired of waiting and stripped down his elephant gun. He rubbed the barrel up and down with an oily rag. He put the gun back together. There was a piece left over and the man held the piece in his hand, frowning.

“That is a big weapon,” the girl said. “It makes me want to …” She wrinkled her nose and laughed.

The man looked up sharply. “How does it?” he asked. “After last time?”

For a moment the girl made no reply. She watched a herd of rhino charge a tourist bus. Then she said,

“Last time?”

“In Havana.”

“Oh, Havana,” the girl said. “The old hair trigger problem.”

The man flushed angrily. “Damn.”

The girl said, “I never expected it to go off.” She laid a hand on his arm and gazed at him with her grey eyes. “It was just beastly damn bad luck. Don’t hate me for it.”

The man looked away. He remembered the hospital in the shade of the trees, and the smell of pine needles and other people’s feet. Or perhaps it was his own feet. Or rather, foot. He couldn’t be sure. Then he said, “We need to get rotten drunk.”

He thought of how he would drink Cuba Librés until he couldn’t stand up. Then he would fall down. Then he would get up and drink Cuba Librés until he fell down again. Then he would …. He lost the train of thought somewhere. But that was perfectly fine. He thought of the colossal headache he would have. And that was perfectly fine too. He would go to Harry’s Bar with Nick and drink pastis and eat a dozen bull’s testicles and sausage boiled in varnish with black mustard.

But first he would shoot an elephant on the Piazza San Marco. He listened for its trumpeting above the drowsy buzz of Lambrettas. He listened for a long time. His eyelids began to droop. It was a damned hot day.

I asked Michael what had prompted this piece and he said…

I was not so much inspired to write this as enticed, by the prospect of a trip to Italy and dinner at Harry’s Bar for the winner of a writing contest. The task was to write “a really good page of really bad Hemingway”. I didn’t win. Rats. Hemingway himself was not enthusiastic about parodies and said the step up from writing them was writing on the wall above a urinal. His reputation has diminished steadily since his suicide in 1961. But few writers have had such a distinctive voice. Who else is recognizable after just a few sentences?

Morgen: Not winning must have been disappointing (been there a few times) but it got you writing a story which you then had to give to me. Thank you Michael.

Michael C. Boxall is an expatriated English magazine journalist-turned-novelist currently living in North Vancouver, B.C. He is obsessed with the sales of his newly-published thriller, The Great Firewall. Even for a debut work by a writer no longer in the first flush The Great Firewall had a long gestation. The original idea came after a trip to Shanghai to do a travel piece. It was for a story set in the White Russian community in the 1920s, and it was to be not a novel but a multimedia game. But one thing led to another, and after aborted incarnations as a radio play and a movie script it became what it is now: the story of bankrupt software genius Daniel Skye, “Orson Welles with a laptop,” and his quest to Shanghai to find money for his dream project, and the enemies he makes in the process. You can read more about it (and see more short fiction on the blog) at www.thegreatfirewall.com. Even better, you can buy it at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. Reviews much appreciated.

If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here.

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with fantasy novelist Yvonne Hertzberger – the two hundred and eighty-third of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me. You can also read / download my eBooks and free eShorts at Smashwords.

 

Author interview no.282 with writer Helen Hollick

Welcome to the two hundred and eighty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical adventure fantasy author Helen Hollick. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

Morgen: Hello, Helen. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.

Helen: I am Helen Hollick, I live on the NE outskirts of London, England on the edge of Epping Forest – so the best of both worlds, town and country! I have always enjoyed reading, and started writing stories when I was about 13 because I desperately wanted a pony, but we couldn’t afford to keep one, so I made one up and wrote stories about our adventures – it seemed a natural thing to do! When leaving school I worked as an assistant at a local library, where I read and wrote science fiction and fantasy – but soon discovered the delights of historical fiction.

Morgen: Wow. How wonderful, to know what you wanted to be when you grew up before you did. What’s your journey to writerhood been like?

Helen: I was first published by William Heinemann (Random House UK) but when my backlist was not to be re-printed I obtained the copyright and re-published with a small UK independent company as part of their even smaller mainstream imprint. The company recently went bankrupt, however, so rather than fall out of print again here in the UK I republished with an assisted publishing company, www.silverwoodbooks.co.uk based in Bristol.

Morgen: I was going to say “oh dear” but you’ve certainly landed on your feet.

Helen: I am also published in the US by Sourcebooks Inc and I was delighted to make the USA Today best seller list in the summer of 2011 with my novel The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK).

I have recently become the UK editor for the Historical Novel Society Online Review, with the ultimate aim of improving the standard of self-published historical fiction novels – if you are an Indie author of HF details of how to get reviewed are here: http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/hnr-online-guidelines.htm

I firmly support writers who decide to publish their books as either “self” or “independent”, as I feel too many excellent writers are being overlooked for various reasons. It must be emphasised, however, that to be taken seriously self-published authors must produce their books to a professional standard. There is no reason why a self-published novel cannot be as good as any mainstream book. Which means professional editing and production. This costs money, but quality is never cheap.

Morgen: Absolutely. It’s the thing to do if you want to be taken seriously. I’m in it for the long-haul and really my only expense is an editor. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Helen: I write Historical Fiction and Historical Adventure Fantasy – both of which I expect to stick to for the time being, although I quite fancy having a go at murder mystery.

Morgen: Me too. Do you write under a pseudonym?

Helen: I use my own name – Helen Hollick has rather a good ring to it don’t you think?

Morgen: I do. Very alliterative. What have you had published to-date?

Helen: I am the author of

The Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy – the ‘what might have really happened’ story of King Arthur

The Kingmaking

Pendragon’s Banner

Shadow of the King

Published by Sourcebooks Inc US

And SilverWood Books UK

A Hollow Crown (UK title) published by Arrow Books UK / The Forever Queen (US title) published by Sourcebooks Inc

Harold the King (UK title) published by SilverWood Books UK / I am the Chosen King (US title) published by Sourcebooks Inc

The first two books of a proposed trilogy regarding the people and events that led to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings – probably the most famous date in English history.

Morgen: It’s one of the few I remember (that and 1665/6 and the two 20thC world wars). Sorry do go on…

The Sea Witch Voyages:

Voyage One: Sea Witch

Voyage Two: Pirate Code

Voyage Three: Bring it Close

Pirate-based adventure with a touch of fantasy.

Hornblower meets Richard Sharpe and Indiana Jones – at sea

If you enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, you will love these.

Published by SilverWood books UK

Morgen: Wow, they do sound great. We’ve touched on self-publishing but are your books available as eBooks? Were you involved in that process at all? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?

Helen: Yes, all my books are available as e-books – Kindle and Nook. Both my UK and US Publisher have the contract to publish my books in any English Language format, so as I am completely un-technology minded this is just as well!

I enjoy my Kindle – for one thing I have a sight problem, so it is lovely to be able to change the font size, but it is frustrating that maps and genealogies etc cannot be easily seen on an e-book, and I find it difficult to flick back and forth to check on details of plot of characters. I tend to read a real book if I know I am going to enjoy it, those by my favourite authors for instance, or books I know I will be wanting to keep to read again. Kindle is my “passing read” bookshelf; books I obtain because someone has said it is a good read, but would probably not be an obvious choice, and books I doubt I will want to keep or treasure.

Morgen: I’ve always seen paper books at home and Kindle away. I love the Kindle (I tend to just read text) but can’t imagine ever getting to the stage where it’s the only thing left on my bookcase. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?

Helen: I would love my Sea Witch Voyages to be made into a TV Drama series – I think they would be as popular as the TV series Sharpe and Hornblower. I am also working on a movie project based around my novel Harold the King/ I am the Chosen King. The movie 1066 is in development and I am co-scriptwriter. An exciting project!

Morgen: Oh wow. You said you ‘The Forever Queen’ was a different overseas title, did you have any say in the title / covers of your books?

Helen: My US publishers decided to change the titles of the two Saxon books – from A Hollow Crown to the Forever Queen and Harold the King to I am the Chosen King. Had I realised how much of a problem this would cause for my readers I might have objected a little more. I do get upset when receiving low star ratings on reviews and the occasional rude e-mail blaming me for the change of title. I wish readers would realise that titles are mainly in the hands of the publisher, not the author. I am as annoyed about the confusion as my readers!

Morgen: Oh dear. It’s a shame there can’t be an author’s note or something, a big yellow sticker on the back perhaps. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Helen: I write something every day, not always the work in progress though – the downside of being self-published is you have no one else to help you with promoting your books, so Facebook, Twitter, Blogs are a daily necessity. While this is essential, it is also important to attend the reason for being here – to write books.

I had the mammoth task of re-editing all seven of my books that SilverWood now publish because my small UK publisher went bankrupt last year and failed to return my files. I had old files – but they all needed a re-edit. To do seven books in five months was not easy. I rather think I burnt myself out with the effort as its taken a while to find the motivation to start again with my WIP. I’ll get there though!

Morgen: Oh ouch. I can relate to that. It’s great you have so much content… if that’s any consolation. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Helen: Actually, my stories seem to find me!

Morgen: Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Helen: My characters, to me, are real people. I “met” my pirate, Jesamiah Acorne on a beach in Dorset. I’d had the idea for Sea Witch – the main plot and characters, but had no idea of my protagonist. I sat on a rock looking out at a rather dull English Channel (imagining a blue Caribbean Sea) looked up – and there he was, standing a few yards away in full pirate regalia. He nodded, touched his hat and I said “Hello Jesamiah Acorne.”

A real “ghost-like” image or an over-active imagination? Who knows?

Morgen: A bit of both, perhaps. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Helen: I write a rough draft and I edit each chapter as I go along until I am fairly happy with it, then do the next chapter and so on until I have a complete MS – which I then print out and read and re-edit. This will then go to my editor for her first opinion – and usually, another edit by me. Then she will do a full edit – then a copy edit – and finally a proof read.

No one can edit their own work – I wish self-published authors would realise the importance of using a professional editor. This is not just for checking typos and grammar – does the story flow, does it make sense? Have you got your point across; or maybe you’ve done so too much. Are the characters consistent in behaviour and looks?

Morgen: There’s been a set-to on LinkedIn about this subject where a chap said he was going to edit his novel and post it and everyone (I think without exception) said he should get an editor… I don’t think he did. Do you have to do much research?

Helen: For my historical fiction, yes, and a fair amount for the Sea Witch Voyages – I have never been aboard a sailing ship in my life, yet I’ve taught myself the details (and I think I must have had something to do with the sea in a past life as a lot of it comes naturally). I am currently researching the tobacco trade of the early eighteenth century and the early Jacobite rebellions – I find these things fascinating!

Morgen: I’m so glad we’re all different; history was my worst subject at home and I’m not a fan of research (although the internet is great). Some writers like quiet, others the noise of a coffee shop etc., do you listen to music or have noise around you when you write or do you need silence?

Helen: I usually have a CD playing. What one depends on what mood I am in and what particular scene I am writing. Mostly I listen to Mike Oldfield and Loreena McKennitt.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Helen: Yes – several! I have one which I started writing over 40 years ago. I think it has too much dust on it to be read now!

Morgen: That’s a shame because you’re oh so much wiser and er… OK digging self out of hole. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Helen: As I said above for self-published authors – get professional help. I have an article on hints and tips for aspiring writers – you might find it useful. http://www.helenhollick.net/culpa41.html

Morgen: Brilliant, thank you. Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?

Helen: Why do writers write? Because it isn’t there.

Morgen: Where can we find out about you and your work?

Helen: Main website: www.helenhollick.net, Facebook: www.facebook.com/helen.hollick and Twitter: http://twitter.com/HelenHollick

Morgen: Lovely, thank you, Helen.

***

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.

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As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome critique for the four new writing groups listed below and / or flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays. For other opportunities see (see Opportunities on this blog).

The full details of the new online writing groups, and their associated Facebook groups, are:

• Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group (http://novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/508696639153189)
• Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group (http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934)
• Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group (http://scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/319941328108017)
• Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group (http://shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445)

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