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7th July 2010, 12:48 PM
| #1 (permalink) |
| Mad Mountain Man  | OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Well...they actually very politely suggested that I come over here and introduce myself.  I'm a bit of a sad old hippy I guess, early fifties (God I hate typing that!), software engineer by trade now running digital photo lab in partnership with another guy (I do all the software, web site etc. and for my sins the accounting). Live 25 miles North of Inverness in the Highlands (though I confess to being English  )I am a bit of a mountaineer - hence the Vertigo handle (though since starting up the business I seem to find absolutely no time). I have climbed in the Alpes, the Andes and the Himalayas as well as the UK. I love skiing and have seriously considering moving out to live in the Alps.I dropped out of reading for a lot of years (decades) and got back in seriously about three years ago. I read both SF and Fantasy though probably tend more to the SF side of things. Current favourite authors in no particular order (I say current to avoid listing all my past favs like Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke etc. no less diminished but mostly fully read) Alastair Reynolds - even if he does make me pick up the dictionary all the time Peter Hamilton - love his commonwealth stories and don't mind the length of them Neal Asher - just getting into him but I'm already convinced he should be up here Iain Banks - Just love all his stuff - his books are really the ones that got me hooked back into reading again Terry Pratchett - what can I say - genius - how cruel can life be, that a man with his obvious intellect should be so afflicted.  Dan Simmons - a bit dark but engrossing David Eddings - though not so keen on his later stuff Kate Elliott - thoroughly enjoyed the Crown of Stars series Robin Hobb - just getting into her stuff but looks promising Tad Williams - just loved his otherworld series - was that SF or Fantasy? And let's be honest here - I love a bit of slap bang, swashbuckling all action adventure so I guess I have to include David Weber, Elizabeth Moon, Jack Campbell and others of their ilk. Some others I have not yet read but am hoping to add to that list are (many noted just from my short time on this forum): Richard K Morgan Joe Abercrombie Paolo Bacigalupi Raymond E. Feist China Mieville Paul J. McAuley Charles Stross - I don't know why but I have had his Accelerando knocking around for some time now but haven't got around to reading it I'm sure there are others but that just off the top of me head! So Hello from Vertigo aka Mike Franklin! PS - I apologise now but I have a terrible habit of not proof reading my posts before I post them full of tyyyyppoooos |
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7th July 2010, 01:37 PM
| #2 (permalink) | ||
| Moderator  Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Australia, Victoria
Posts: 9,197
| Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Quote:
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I'm of Swiss origin (courtesy of my father) but born and living in Australia, my father coming from a small village near the Jura mountains bordering France, north of The Alps proper. I actually learned to ski at Ski School at the foot of the Matterhorn in Zermatt, which was pretty cool. Never really gone mountaineering as such but I admire those who do. You've listed some pretty handy names there in Asimov, Clarke, Hamilton, Simmons, Williams (and yes Otrherland is generally regarded more SF than fantasy but likely falls into the cross-genre classification of science fantasy), Elliot (Crown of Stars is probably her best series to date) and Hobb. Morgan, Abercrombie (who has penned one of the best debut series bar none), Feist (whom I met and have read everything of up to a few years ago) and Mieville (one of the leading lights in the Genre, have all of his work). Not a big fan of Stross of what I have read..... Neil Gaiman is another you should add to that list. He's been prolific and is one of THE leading lights in contemporary fantasy (more than 15 years now) and the world of graphic novels. Also a really nice bloke to boot. As well as going in for SFF and Horror; generally referred to as "speculative fiction" I'm also a very big fan of "World Literature" that in my case equates predominantly to GREAT fiction/authors (incl. Nobel laureates etc.) who combine elements of the fantastic in their writing and who predominantly hail from non-English speaking backgrounds. Thanks for sharing something about yourself. Enjoy the stay. Cheers....  Last edited by GOLLUM; 7th July 2010 at 01:51 PM. | ||
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7th July 2010, 03:43 PM
| #3 (permalink) |
| resident pedantissimo  | Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Did it seem I was bullying you? I might have been, not very good with human relations. But the idea was to drag you over here so I could bully you, or at least subject you to my new, hard-sell, get involved in the fora welcome. What? Can't be very effective if I announce it in advance? I take an oblique approach; I don't believe a true sucker will take a fair chance. But I'm not looking for suckers, anyway; it's just a question of dragging horses to water. At http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum...irst-post.html there are a number of very short stories – 75 or fewer words – written by other inmates, and only requiring reading and a little choice; just which one you prefer. See, what could be easier? Well actually July 2010 Photo Challenge , where it's just looking at pictures, and voting at the end of the month. Obviously, if you are inspired to write or photograph something, everyone would be delighted, but that is not yet how I'm applying the pressure. And this is not trying to get you to vote for me, either; I can't produce anything in fewer than seventy-five words, as my entries have conclusively demonstrated. And if you're wondering, no this pitch is unique to you; I don't duplicate welcomes. Oh, yes, welcome – I'm supposed to be welcoming you in, aren't I? My book list is a bit different from yours, but then I'm a bit older – old enough to say that if you're going on that ski rebirth, make it soon; I live in Switzerland (no, between the Jura and the Salève) and my skis are festooned with cobwebs; somehow, getting the joints to function in the morning isn't as easy as it once was. And join you in the Pratchett commentary; why, he's younger than me… (just). So, while you're here, you can be a cheerful old hippy. We went through Inverness on our way to the Glasgow Worldcon – it rained. And no monster. (Logical route from my sister's place in Sussex to get to Glasgow: Reading, Yorkshire, Edinburg, the highlands, right up north and down the west coast. Obvious.) |
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7th July 2010, 06:10 PM
| #7 (permalink) | |
| Mad Mountain Man | Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Quote:
 ) So fitting in the time for forums as well....And thnks to all for the warm welcome I had forgotten how much I love the kind of discussions and debates you can have in places like this, especially when you live out in the wilds where the nearest pub is about 10 miles away. Chrispen I will attempt to get into the other stuff and maybe even submit some of my own photos (my Avatar is one of my own after significant Photoshop fiddling) - is photoshop fiddling of my own photos allowed in the comps? edit added: oh and Gollum you're right I really must read some Neil Gaiman - I loved his Good Omens collaboration with Terry Pratchett - had me laughing out loud in all sorts of embarrassing public places (I was doing a lot of business travel at the time). I just loved the Rider of the Apoclaypse turning into Hells Angels chapter: Revelations and Death disclaiming all knowledge of Elvis Presley's death. Brilliant! | |
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7th July 2010, 06:42 PM
| #11 (permalink) | |
| Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Shropshire
Posts: 4,126
| Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Quote:
What place has no pubs for ten miles? And by what terrible turn of fate did you end up there?  | |
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7th July 2010, 07:25 PM
| #12 (permalink) | |
| Causa Scientiae  | Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself We already met, too, Vertigo... but allow me to extend an official welcome to you, all the same. I see Chris has already done his thang, and welcomed you in -- complete with canvassing for our challenges. I'm glad you decided to enter our Photo Challenge. You've seen some wonderful places, and I'm sure you have some stunning pics. And although we encourage folk to take new pictures for each challenge, we've all entered old photos from time to time -- there's no problem, there. Your entry is very cool. And I'm jealous that you've been to Egypt. And yes, you can do any amount of Photoshop fiddling you like with your own photos. We've had stitched panoramas, HDRs, and other types of photo merge in the past. And my entries for the month just past were altered to make them look like old photographs. (As opposed to your entry this month, which is a 'proper' analogue photograph. Impressive!) If you fancy having a crack at writing a very short story, or even if you'd just like to read the entries of other members and vote at the end of the month for your favourite, then have a gander at our Writing Challenge, too! (Okay, okay, I know you already said you'd check it out, so I'll stop bugging you. Heh.) Quote:
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7th July 2010, 07:28 PM
| #13 (permalink) |
| Mad Mountain Man | Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Well it is the Highlands of Scotland and the next town down the road is about 30 miles. There used to be a pub in the village but it closed through lack of business (and this is Scotland ). It is a small village. There is an hotel but it is a coach package trip hotel and really not a nice place to go drink - none of the local go there. I actually came here by choice (to be in the mountains) however at the time I was doing a great deal of business travelling and was away about 50% of the time so didn't think it was an issue. Now I'm not so sure Ho hum. |
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7th July 2010, 07:35 PM
| #14 (permalink) |
| Mad Mountain Man | Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Thanks Seph - if you're still there maybe you can tell me what I did wrong with the photo - I'm only seeing it as a tiny thumbnail. The photo I uploaded should have been 428x670 pixels? EDIT s'ok figured the photo thingy now! Re writing - I'm afraid that really is beyond me - I just can't seem to do creative writing - when I read a particularly good passage in a book I think "why can't I think like that?". Note that I save "think" not "write" - my mind just dosen't seem to work that way. Never has - I was the despair of my English teacher at school. That's not to say I can't thoroughly appreciate other peoples good writing and I will have to drop in on your writing challenge for a look see. Last edited by Vertigo; 7th July 2010 at 08:06 PM. |
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7th July 2010, 08:30 PM
| #15 (permalink) |
| Causa Scientiae | Re: OK Had my wrist slapped so now I'm introducing myself Ah, okay, you figured it out. But if you want to have your photos displayed at their proper size in the thread, you can upload to a free image hosting site like Flickr or Photobucket, and then paste the [IMG] code into your post, which will link to your photo and display it here. That's what I do. And no worries. We all have our talents, and things we aren't so good at. I'm absolutely awful at drawing, painting, model making, etc.. No matter how much I'd love to be able to draw well, I just can't do it to save myself. If you end up finding a story you like in the challenge, though, we'd love it if you registered your vote. We have some talented writers here, and hopefully you'll find something you enjoy. And they're nice and short, so shouldn't take up too much of your time! |
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