David Rees-Thomas

Flower, Back to Root (Satori part one)

This short is the first in a series of stories about a young Japanese woman named Satori.

It follows her struggles in a near future Japan where her home town of Osaka has been destroyed and quarantined.

She is forced to reconsider many of the truths she once held dear. She has also heard rumors that her brother may yet be alive…

The story runs to about 5500 words and is available on Amazon and Smashwords

If you happen to like it, please drop me a line on Facebook or better still, write a little review. I will be putting up more stories soon.

Cheers!

Been a while.

Well, I’m coming tward the end of my time here at Clarion West. It’s been a hell of an experience and and one I shall cherish.

One of the instructors, Minister Faust talked to us about independent publishing, and issued us a challenge to get some content up on Amazon.

So, here is the first short story in a series. Obviously this does not mean I won’t still be actively supporting and trying the more traditional route, I just want to get a sense of what options are open for us as writers. The story is “Flower, Back to Root,” and it’s a story concerning a Japanese woman named Satori and her struggle to survive in a near future Japan. Enjoy!!

I will also be making it and other stories available on other platforms. If you like it, please drop me a line and let me know, or better still, write a little review:)

Hi,

Just a quick post. I’ve been successful in my application to the Clarion West Workshop this coming June/July 2011.

I am of course looking forward to it, and I’m sure I shall post more about it later on.

But, for now, the laundry beckons.

Hi all,

Just a quick update. We are fine down here in Kansai, though I have no idea what the coming months are going to hold for us.

When watching the BBC or CNN, it feels like they are reporting that the whole of Japan has been destroyed. It’s a little irresponsible to say the least.  Significant areas of the country are still the same. Luckily, this includes where I live, in Kansai (Osaka, Kyoto,Kobe etc) . Not to say we are not effected of course. It’s impossible for something like this to happen in the country you live in and not feel it on an emotional level.

It makes people feel extremely angry and helpless. I just hope that the nuclear issue can be brought under control before the situation gets worse.

So, if you are wondering about us here, thank you, it’s heartwarming to know. We are physically fine down here. Life is sort of going on as usual.

I will update this if anything changes.

The latest issue of Ideomancer is now online.

It features fiction by Sandra Odell , Emily Skaftun and Su-Yee Lin, as well as poetry by Mari Ness

It also features an interview with Mari, where I asked her about her poetry and how she views the wider speculative fiction and poetry field.

It’s been a lot of fun working with Ideomancer these last few months and the people who produce the magazine put a lot into it. I’m already looking forward to the next issue!

I shall be endeavoring to update this blog a little more often, but I’m still just getting used to things:)

I have a new article appearing in this month’s issue of Kansai Scene. It isn’t available on the online version unfortunately.

To those of you who know your conspiracy theory, you’re probably quite up on the enigma of Numbers Stations.

If not check out the wikipedia page or you can download some recordings from the old Conet page.

I shall update again soon!!!

Just in case anyone is interested in the curious and the odd, I have another article this month in Kansai Scene

It’s about a musical instrument called the Taishogoto. It’s a peculiar little thing, and as it stands at the moment, all I can play is Sakura , which is almost beginning to sound quite pretty.

It’s not exactly a traditional instrument as it’s only about a 100 years old, but it’s a lot of fun to play and somewhat singular in its existence.

I am hoping to use it on some Phenotypo stuff soon.

Unfortunately, the article isn’t in the online edition of Kansai Scene this month, but here’s a link to a Taishogoto site that gives some info. It is written in somewhat idiosyncratic English but you’ll get the idea.

Well, I’m beginning to get the hang of this blog stuff, some of it anyway.

I am pretty much decided that I am going to apply to Clarion and to Clarion West for 2011. I guess putting this info on my shiny new blog page kind of makes sure that I do as well!

I’ve known about the workshop for years, but in the past I always figured that it was probably something that other people did, and besides it’s so far away, and the costs, and the time off work, and the family, and the…

Yeah, well, no more excuses. I’ve been reading lots of blogs, journals and other musings about the experience, and it sounds fascinating (it also sounds intense and insane which is not necessarily unappealing:) ).

Luckily for people like myself who are considering applying, there is a nice page on Liz Argall’s website with links to all these Clarion musings, covering Clarion, Clarion west and Clarion South which is based in Australia.

A big thank you to Liz and all the people who have shared their experiences of Clarion over the years.

…or something along those lines.

I wrote an article about the TB303, TR808 and the TR909 recently, and it appears in this months (November 2010) issue of Kansai Scene magazine.

If you are at all interested in these little machines and their contribution to club music, please check it out here- How the Japanese invented techno

Well, I’ve had this web space for quite a while now and, to be quite honest, I haven’t done much with it because I had no real idea what the hell I was supposed to do.

And, I don’t just mean content, I mean that the technical prowess necessary to format the page seemed to elude me.

So, beginnings…