Philip Harris

Write-a-Thon!

Philip Harris, Writer Joined: June 18, 2012
Last Visited: August 01, 2012
Write-a-Thon Team: Team More Than Human
Website: www.solitarymindset.com
Blog: www.solitarymindset.com
Writer Bio: I was born in England but now live in Vancouver, Canada where I work for a large video game developer. Not content with creating imaginary worlds for a living, I spend my spare time indulging my love of writing. In the past I've written a lot of non-fiction with articles and columns appearing in such enigmatic magazines as EXE, WTJ and CGI. Nowadays, I focus on speculative fiction. My stories have appeared in So Long, and Thanks for All the Brains, Peeping Tom, New Horizons, Flurb and Blood Samples among others. I've also worked as security for Darth Vader.
Writing Style: I write all types of speculative fiction. A lot of my older stories would probably be classed as horror, but I've been dipping more into science fiction and stories that blend fantasy and the real world recently.

writing goal:

15000 words written

progress:

15163

days written:

write-a-thon goals:

I'm currently working on a rewrite of my science fiction novel - The Ghost Smuggler and I'm aiming to add another 15,000 words to the new draft during the write-a-thon.

funds raised: $50.00

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Excerpts

The Wall was well over four hundred feet high but the girl knew what was on the other side. Everyone did.

Mary flicked her wrist and a pebble skittered across the dusty ground and bounced into the base of The Wall. She hunted for another, picked a piece of soft brown rock and threw it hard and up, arcing it towards the top of The Wall. For a second she thought she might have gotten it over but then it dropped; hitting The Wall far short of the halfway mark. The rock shattered, leaving a brown smudge on the sleek surface. The Wall was peppered with similar marks where the other children had attempted to hurl assorted materials across the barrier. There were rumours that some of the older children, and some of the adults, had managed to get objects over but Mary had never seen it happen.

Sighing, Mary knelt down, picked up a stick and started drawing in the grey dust coating the wasteland. Random scratches became trees and a hill coated in flowers. A nearby bottle cap became the sun and Mary added thin rays of light stretching out from the cap, illuminating her landscape. Rummaging around in the dirt, Mary found a couple of small pebbles that might conceivably be called rabbit-looking and hopped them down her hill to play in the luscious green grass that she imagined surrounded its base.

A real world shadow drifted across the scene and Mary shivered. It was getting dark and her mother would be expecting her home soon. The rabbits tired of their games, hopped back up the hill and disappeared into their burrow. Mary stood up, dusted herself off and looked around for the finishing touch for her picture. She found just what she was looking for a few feet behind her. Mary dragged the piece of corrugated metal into place next to the hill and scratched a stick figure into the dirt on the other side. She thought for a moment then added a dress and a sad face before dropping the stick and scampering off home.

From "Insect Girl Climbs to Paradise". Published in Flurb Issue 9 (http://www.flurb.net/9/9harris.htm)