I've released my SF short stories on lulu.com in a free ebook. I've also redone the front covers for The h'Slaitiarr Conspiracy and Rodan's Enigma.
New blog entry: It's Time. You Gotta Use Protection.
New song — Time
A Techno mix of FatboySlim's Praise You and Moby's Porcelain styles.
New Layout — in the new year I'll begin to rewrite the content.
New SF story — You Gotta Use Protection
Beware the dangers of unprotected sex.
Warning — This is <R> rated.
New SF story — Reality Bytes
Don’t let it get into your head.
New blog entry: The Last Civilization?
New SF story — Luna Vegas?
On the Rocks!
Stupid Tourists!
New SF story — Death of Pretension
What right do you have to decide humanity’s destiny?
New blog entry: Death of Pretension
New blog entry: Oh-uh-oh What's a Good Friend Worth?
New SF story — Design Flaw
What does it mean to be alive?
Three new — songs now on lulu.
A Good Friend
Everyday
We Never Touch
We Never Touch is a FREEBIE!!! Download it now.
New blog entry: Fracture.
Just released in print and as ebook.
New SF story — A Question of Loyalty
Phillipa is loyal, but to who?
New blog entry: Just what is it to be human?
New blog entry: The dangers of unprotected sex.
New SF story — Resurrection
What’s it like when you can’t get your head around the future?
New blog entry: One Giant Leap — Predicting future history can require a leap of faith.
New SF story — One Giant Leap
Interstellar flight, and they said it couldn't be done.
New SF story — Intelligent Primates?
What a ridiculous idea!
New blog entry: Faster-Than-Light — Yet Another World.
E-book prices slashed to $US3. Yes! And I haven't even begun to market them yet. Am I crazy or wot?
Just released in print and as ebook.
New song — Run Away now on lulu.
My songs can now be bought from Lulu.com for 79c US each.
More details here
Click to download
from lulu.com
I must admit, this site is a bit of a conundrum. FUTURE + RIFF. You could say it has a split personality: schizophrenic, but with no added paranoia.
On one hand there is my writing, mostly science fiction (a term I much prefer to that wishy-washy ‘speculative fiction’ that is all the politically correct rage at the moment,) plus a few literary stories I don’t know what to do with. On the other side of the coin, I want to sell you my songs, either as MP3s for download or on CD for purchase from reputable sites.
I’m publishing my short stories on the net as a try-before-you-buy idea in the hope of luring you into buying my novels. Read all about this vain attempt to seduce you in Writing Stuff! The same goes for my songs. They’re a mixture of pop/rock/ballads and a few other styles, so go to Music Stuff! for more info.
To summarize:
Ahem! This site is nothing more than a cheap attempt to SEPARATE YOUR MONEY (aka few lousy bucks) FROM YOU, WITH ME (aka Wayne Austin) BEING THE BENEFICIARY.
This, I believe, is one of the few sites actually practicing honesty in advertising.
So who am I? (Wait...! I think I know the answer to this. Just give me a minute to make something up.)
I guess I only have myself to blame for being who I am. I’ve just hit fifty at a hundred miles an hour and the result isn’t pretty. Forty was bad, when everything sagged, but it’s nothing compared to how life has just stomped on the aging accelerator. Oh my aching bones.... The sad thing is — I’ve just entered my second childhood and I’m in no shape to enjoy it. I can feel another puberty beckoning, but I’ll need a couple of viagra tabs to boost those hormones, otherwise I won’t be running anything up my flagpole (oops! Now who’s a naughty boy...?)
Uh? What? Oh sorry, I just dozed off. That tends to happen a lot more often these days: dozing off and remembering the good ol’ days. Like when I was a teenager and thought I had glandular fever. It was really embarrassing. I showed my swelling to that young woman doctor and it turned out I didn’t have glandular fever at all — it wasn’t even a gland! But like an old pro, she didn’t even bat an eyelid. Just took a hold and asked me to cough. I remember that quite clearly, she had cold hands....
Now where was I ... ah yes. I’m an old IT hacker, currently out of work (but if you’re desperate ... :-) I’m your bozo.) Anyway, about six or so years ago, I got bitten by the writing bug bad and it’s been a long and depressing struggle ever since.
So, if you’re feeling depressed about yourself then be happy. At least you’re not me! Go on. You know, if you stand on your head, you’ll be smiling. I smile so much that my head is flat. I’d smile a lot more but the headaches are a killer.
I’m also a tragic songwriter. Thank god I’m such an optimistic pessimist or my life would really get me down. Actually ... now that I think about it, it does! But in a really uplifting way.
So read my stories (they’re that bad, I had to make them free) and listen to snippets of my songs AND (if you’re in a particularly charitable mood) buy them or my novels (or both).
Go on, make me smile, otherwise I’ll have to stand on my head again to look happy and you don’t want me to do that now that I’ve taken to wearing a kilt. Drats, that’ll be another sad secret revealed.
Actually I have nothing to write home about, although I did get ripped off once, when I bought a supposed history of the Austin family that was just a con. It was my father’s fault. I was suspicious, but when I told him about it, he urged me to buy it.
So I did.
There was thirty odd bucks down the drain. It was a photocopied piece of crap, full of general information about carrying out a genealogy search with spaces where the sucker’s surname could be inserted. I’ve still got it somewhere because the paper’s too rough to use as toilet paper. I know, I tried! Couldn’t sit down for a week.
So, apart from sitting in front of the TV, doing a great impersonation of a stunned mullet, or sitting in front of the computer, doing another great impersonation of a stunned mullet, or asleep in bed, doing a fantastic impersonation of stunned mullet snoring, my life’s not all that fishy.
Sadly, I don’t have many vices, because I’m crap at woodwork (or any work for that matter.) With the price of petrol, I’ve decided not to take up sniffing, and I have to say that despite my expansive waistline, I am getting fit, pushing the car everywhere. And if you believe that, you’ll believe anything.
