So my Twitter today (and that’s the great thing about Twitter: there’s commonality and cross-over but ultimately everyone’s feed is unique – a conversational mix tape) has been largely full of shout outs for International Women’s Day. And in amongst all of that was some discussion about the guy who posted on some discussion board […]
The latest in TTA Press’s new novellas series (following on from Mike O’Driscoll’s excellent Eyepennies) is SPIN by Nina Allan. And, having been fortunate enough to get a sneaky early preview, I can tell you it’s a belter. Set in an alternative futuristic Greece, the story teases the familiar Arachne myth into something contemporary, relevant […]
Okay, so it’s January, which means, as I sorta promised last year, it’s time to see how I got on with my rather ambitious goals for 2012. In summary I hoped to: Novels: Finish Queen Of Clouds and have started The Poisoner’s Road Shorts: Write and publish 10 short stories Band: Release 2 or 3 […]
Really pleased to announce that my punky musical story, Arrhythmia, has been reprinted in Infinity Plus’s new Quintet anthology. Yeah, so Arrhythmia was nominated for the BSFA award and it’s one of the stories I’m proudest of, but what’s really cool is that it sits snugly in amongst stories by four writers whose work I absolutely adore. For me, […]
Since someone just asked, if anyone coming here wants to sample my fictiony stuff, there’s a secret page (cunningly hidden inside another one) that lists my Published Stories. The free-to-read online ones have links. This has been an aberrant moment of self-promotion. Normal irrelevance will be resumed in the next post. (ps If you actually […]
While researching the WFC panel I’ve come to the realisation that I tend to write about music quite a lot myself. My last publication was a piece about competition karaoke and sirens, and my next is near-future SF about music-sharing. I’ve written about well tempering a misbehaving child (rather than the piano she refuses to […]
Decent haul on the reading front this month. The novel for September was one Ian R McLeod’s Wake Up And Dream, a book I’d bought almost a year ago, read (and loved) part of and then had to put down for non-reading reasons. I then waited for a suitable period of quietness that’d allow me […]
I’ve been asked by the Scottish Writers Centre to take part in a discussion event at the CCA next week entitled: Other World Other Dimensions. Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Paranormal. Do they have a place in Literature? I have to admit that I find that last part a little provocative–I wonder if the panel will agree on […]
I know I’ve mentioned this before but there was a definitive moment in my life when I made the decision to try writing fiction. A moment, a place, a time. A story. I remember it with absolute clarity. It was 1990-91 and I was living in Shepperton. Sharing a house next to the film studios […]
Don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about contemporary horror. The following is an attempt to work out why, and – being a rummage around inside my brain – may well be doomed to being malformed and half-baked. So, apologies in advance. I think it started […]
March 8, 2013
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