Follow Fest – around we go again!

Thanks to Natasha for posting her Follow Fest entry so soon and reminding me that it was time again.

What is your name?
Chris Kelworth.

Do you write fiction or non-fiction?
Generally fiction, or at least, that’s what I’m concentrating on writing and publishing here.

What genres?
Umm, science fiction and fantasy of many flavours and varieties, with some mystery and romance thrown in. For readers young and old, not always all at once.

Are you published?
Not yet.

What else do you do besides write?
Hmm. I program computers, both as a day job and a hobby. Listen to country music, walk up city streets, cook a fair bit, collect small electronic gadgets, watch lots of TV and some movies, read and listen to audiobooks and podcasts.

Tell us a little about yourself.
Umm, what else do you want to know? I’m the baby of the family, with a big sister and older brother–also a brother-in-law, two nieces and a nephew who are getting bigger every time I get a chance to visit. I live by myself in Hamilton, Ontario, and love travelling and going to writing workshops. I’m an Odyssey class of 2013 survivor.

What are you reading right now?
Well, I just started ‘Esrever Doom’ in the Xanth series, from the library. On the audiobook front, I’m reading Dune and Lani Diane Rich’s “Time off for good behaviour”. I’m also reading some Crossed Genres stories on my Kindle, and just discovered the Toasted Cake podcast. (Thanks for that go to Elizabeth Twist!)

Which authors influenced you the most?
Jim Butcher, Diane Duane, and Bryan Lee O’Malley.

Where can people find and follow you?
Right here on the wordpress blog–wordpress.com still doesn’t have a Google ‘army of followers’ widget, but the top three widgets down the right side of the blog are all followy: WordPress.com follow, RSS feed, and NetworkedBlogs.

Twitter: @ChrisKelworth, http://twitter.com/ChrisKelworth

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/chris.kelworth

Do you have a newsletter?
I don’t think I generate enough news for a letter. 😉

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
For his coronation, Napoleon summoned the Pope to Paris, then took the crown out of the Pope’s hands and put it on his own head.

Go here to see the Follow Fest list!

V is for Virus

For the A to Z challenge this year, I’m sharing science fiction and fantasy story ideas…

I’ve been thinking about this since a story came through the Team Ambitious critique group about getting magic powers from a virus. (Written by the incomparable Wendy Lambert.) Since reading it, I’ve been starting to wonder what you could do with beneficial viruses and super-powers from a harder sci-fi angle.

Viruses are pretty much the whole mystery of DNA after all, wrapped up in a pretty little protein sheath. Could you have a virus that makes somebody change shape? Heal wounds quicker? A virus that could spread to other people and heal them? What other remarkable abilities could you get from a virus?

If you’re interested enough to pick this up and write your own version, feel free; ideas are cheap. And let me know! I’ll be keeping the notions vague enough that lots of different stories might be written from them.

Thanks for visiting!

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 10

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Thanks to everybody for your feedback on the snippets I’ve shared so far, I’m going to be working to revise that scene this week as my sample pages for Kij Johnson’s novel workshop.

This time, I’m skipping ahead, but it’s still Vanessa and Gordon talking about their past:

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“Why did you come to Balance? I mean, you said that you were here when this was a growing ghost town.” I tried to think of what the community must have been like then–probably at least a third of the Libran construction had been finished, if not more, but without enough Earthlings to fill more than a few percent of that. Had they clustered in the buildings near the eight-way, to start with, looking for the security of fellow Earthlings against the oppressiveness of all those empty, alien-made buildings in the images of old Earth?

“Probably a lot of the same reasons as you. I thought there were opportunities here, to build a career and make plenty of money. I’ve got family connections in the hotel and hospitality business, like you do in restauranteering. I’ve turned my own hotel into a stable money-maker, and invested some of the profits into other deals; like this building for you.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.blogspot.ca/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 9

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s been telling them a bit of his family history…

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“Is that enough about my parents for now?”

Doomah barked quietly, (was that how Librans laughed?) and Vanessa nodded. “Certainly enough, especially if you’re talked out.”

“How did the two of you meet?”

“I was working at town hall,” Vanessa said, “and he was a protester, occupying the town hall as part of a stunt that was designed to get us to all leave the planet or something.”

My mouth dropped open for a second. “Really?”

“I was young and foolish,” Doomah explained, “afraid of what would become of our beloved planet if we started inviting lawless aliens to live among us.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.blogspot.ca/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 8

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s telling them a bit of his family history…

Snippet 1 Snippet 2 Snippet 3 Snippet 4 Snippet 5 Snippet 6 Snippet 7

“I went to a chef’s college in Paris once I graduated from secondary school,” I continued. “That’s where I met Tommy; he was one year ahead of me. I studied there for two years, and there was a charity cook-off the summer after that. Tommy and I both participated. He got runner-up, and I didn’t place nearly as well. Mom and I got into a big fight afterwards; she and Dad both came to watch the quarter-finals, but I’d washed out before they arrived. I stormed off to the airport with nothing but a computer tablet and credit chip, took the first flight I could get a seat on, signed up for university without even caring where I’d landed. A few weeks later, some movers showed up with all of my stuff from Paris.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.blogspot.ca/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 7

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s telling them a bit of his family history…

Snippet 1 Snippet 2 Snippet 3 Snippet 4 Snippet 5 Snippet 6

“When I was thirteen, I started to get interested in cooking, myself. Mother suggested some good training programs for adolescent chefs… actually no, that’s not right. Mother picked out ONE program and actually enrolled me in it, but my father pulled me out of that one. He said it needed to be my choice, not hers, so then she offered half a dozen alternative courses, and I picked one.”

“I think I’m sensing some mommy issues,” Vanessa said.

“I guess she was used to being in charge, especially when it came to the kitchen. Wyatt was her birth name; did you know that? Dad agreed to change his, when they married, because she was the brand, the star.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 6

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he’s just started telling them a bit of his family history…

Snippet 1 Snippet 2 Snippet 3 Snippet 4 Snippet 5

“My mother went on one of those reality video competitions when she was twenty-seven, won first prize, got an offer to run the kitchen for one of the top hotels in New York, then broke her contract there to start up Wyatt’s–when she fell in love with my father and he offered to bankroll her dream. When I was young, my parents were always running around the world, opening new locations, putting out fires, doing publicity stops. Sometimes they took me along, more as I grew up, but a lot of the time they left me with nanos and tutors, wherever they thought I’d be stable for at least a few months.”

“Nanos?” Doomah asked. “As in extremely small machines?”

“No, um… have you heard of nanos?” I asked Vanessa, and she half-shrugged and half shook her head, all at once. “It’s one of those slang things, maybe never caught on outside of… it’s a term for male nannies who specialize in taking care of young boys — the masculine, testosterone-laden, surrogate father figure equivalent of a nanny.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 5

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and he just asked a slightly rude question about the alien!

“Yes, I’m male, and I’m thirty-seven cycles old, which would be perhaps thirty-four Earth years,” Doomah said. “Is there any other statistical information you need?”

“No, that just about does it, thank you. Umm, your turn to ask questions, I guess; either of you.”

“Well–would it be unforgivable if I asked you about your mother first?” Vanessa asked.

“Not if you let me tell you about her my own way,” I said. “It’s weird to grow up with a mom who’s a celebrity chef.  I wasn’t around for her rise to fame, of course, but I’ve seen most of it on the video archives.”

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Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 4

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing with the sample chapters of my unfinished Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and things aren’t getting any easier for him! I’m skipping ahead a little in the scene, over the food talk. Gordon and Vanessa get a little bit of awkwardness out of the way, while Doomah the alien stays quiet.

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“Is it okay if I ask you more personal questions?”

“Yeah, but can I sneak one in first?”

“Is it about Doomah?”

I nodded, not quite sure how to phrase it.

“Yes ,we’re… well, in the Libran fashion, we’ve declared an intent to become life partners. In Earthling terms, I guess you could say we’re engaged.”

“Oh–I just wanted to know if Doomah was–a he or a she. Sorry, I know that they do have gender more or less the same way we do, but blast me if I can tell the difference.”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.

Weekend Writing Warriors – Measuring Alien Love on a Kitchen Scale 3

Welcome friends, followers, and Weekend Writing Warriors!

This week, I’m continuing on directly from last week’s excerpt from my Nano. Gordon is surprised to be out to dinner with a beautiful girl and her alien sweetie, and things aren’t getting any easier for him!

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Doomah smoothly took my hand in its own many-jointed fingers and gently lifted it up and down, as if a handshake was more like a properly choreographed dance move than… well, what the heck was it, really? Just a routine courtesy gesture that none of us Earthlings think much about anymore, do we?

“Thank you so much for coming, Gordon,” Vanessa said, shaking my hand too, and took her seat on the far side of the booth from where I’d been sitting, Doomah taking its place next to her.

“It’s my pleasure,” I said, turning to the menu as the most obvious distraction. “Any recommendations for what’s good?”

“I’d be curious as to your opinions on the chicken-fried steak,” Doomah said in a rich baritone voice. He seemed to be speaking English quite fluently, not using a translator pack the way most beings did when they needed to communicate with aliens. “Should I tell you what it’s made with first?”

Visit the other Weekend Writing Warriors at http://www.wewriwa.com/.