It's been a while since I have shared news with you about my writing activities. But what happened this weekend I do have to share with you. Last saturday saw the Dutch 'Theology Night', and part of the ceremonies was the awards ceremony for best theological book. And guess what? 'Woestijnvaders' (Desert fathers), the book I contributed to last year, was chosen for best theological book of 2015! I'm proud of that of course and I hope more people will read the book now. It's worth reading.
I wasn't present at the awards ceremony, but well ... the past months were not easy. I can share that much. It was an emotional roller coaster and then some. Writing did have a low priority for a couple of months, as I was glad of surviving every new day. But now it's getting better again. My energy is building up again and my creative juices start streaming. I was a bit anxious about not writing for some months, afraid I had lost my mojo, but it turned out not to be that dramatic. I just had to sit down at the coffee place, open up my lap top, and start to write, and in no time I finished the story I had begun working on in late march. After that I wrote some more stories, e.g. two stories for a SF-competition about 'Mankind in 2050'. The stories had to be between 600 and 1200 words long, I managed to turn them in at 1199 words both. But I think they turned out pretty well. Beyond that I sent in my story 'Gebeurtenishorizon' (Event horizon) to the publication 'Fantastische Vertelling'. The editors were enthousiastic and accepted the story for publication in the september edition.
Early april saw the awards ceremony of the Paul Harland Award at the fest of the fantastic novel. I had gotten my suit out of the moth balls and attended the ceremony, but sadly both my stories finished outside the top 70. Whether it is because they were 'hard SF', or because they were on the short side? I don't know. I'll just participate with two stories again next year, and maybe end up closer to the top 3! I also participated in the 'Fantastels'-competition, another competition for SF- and fantasy stories. My story 'De droom' (The Dream) ended up at the third place! That was a relief, after the disappointment of the Paul Harland Award. I was very happy with what the jury wrote, e.g. that my style reminded them of Arthur C. Clarke. That is a compliment to be proud of!
I'm still waiting for the results of the latest Trek Sagae award, but I can tell you the news that my story 'Tot de laatste man' (Up to the last man) is accepted for publication in Ganymedes-16, a yearly collection of Dutch fantastic stories. I had a story published in Ganymedes-15, and was very proud of that achievenment, and now to be published in the new edition too is a great honor for me!
Also I know the first part of fantasy duology 'De Krakenvorst' (The Kraken King) will appear later this year. My publisher is very enthousiastic about the manuscript. He is reviewing it now, and then I will receive it back to do some rewrites and editing. I think it will be an even better book after doing some more work on it. On the Elfia fantasy fair in april I saw work of the cover artist that will be asked to paint the cover and was impressed by his work! It will be a beautiful cover. The second book of the duology will appear in 2017.
Possibly also appearing in 2017: my new non fiction project. I'm busy collecting and editing my blogs of a couple years back about the sacramental world view and sculpt them into a manuscript. The prospective title: 'Het stiekeme koninkrijk' (The sneaky kingdom). I'm working on it slowly, as my energy has to be shared between the different projects. I do have to say i twill probably be my last non-fiction work for the time being, as I also have some great ideas for a SF-novel. And I want to publish some of my poetry as well. I hope to be able to tell more about that later this year.
Finalyy my book 'De loser die wint ...' (The loser who wins) got another great review. I'm happy with all the atention my book has received. Did you read it as well? Leave a review on goodreads and help others find the book too!