The World Fantasy Convention was good, and as I paced myself a little better than normal, was not completely exhausting. It was nice to be back in a (rather windy) Brighton. Last in my current convention marathon is Novacon, this weekend in Nottingham. I’m on two programme items there: Saturday 4.30pm: ‘SF Characters in Search […]
Just taking a break from packing for World Fantasy Con to point anyone who is interested at UpComing4Me, the new(ish) fiction site who have been kind enough to let me go on about how I came to write Queen of Nowhere here.
Back from an excellent BristolCon, and it’s time to turn my attention to the next highlight in my autumn con marathon: World Fantasy Con. At 2pm on Thursday I’ll be at the Alchemy Press reading and … … at noon on Friday it’ll be time to launch the anthology I’ll have read from on Thursday, […]
As promised, here’s my BristolCon schedule: Midday – my kaffeeklatsch. Sign up at the desk… 6pm – Plausible Critters. “We see a lot of creatures in SF and fantasy that are just horses or dogs in cheap disguises. Conversely, we see interesting alien life forms that are hopelessly implausible. When sticking wings on a rabbit […]
Before we get on to my review of Dave Gullen’s debut novel Shopocalypse, there’s some stuff you need to know. Firstly, Dave is a friend. Secondly, Monico, who publish Shopocalypse, also published my short story collection Downside Girls. Given these two facts, you might expect a partisan review. However… When I write a review or […]
I had a fab break. Just the right mixture of work (Milford and Andromeda One) and play (relaxing in luxury hotel). I have spent much of this week tackling the Great Washing Mountain, and drying out my liver, which took something of a bashing. In addition there is the usual logjam of post-holiday stuff, but […]
Just so’s you know, the paperback of Queen of Nowhere is now available: click on the picture to the right to find out more. (I feel bad putting Amazon links up; I’ve known what they’re like for years, even before their tax shenanigans came to light, but I’ve come to see them, if not as […]
For the last week or so, I have mainly been critting. Critting, short for critiquing, has something in common with reviewing, and something in common with full-on literary criticism, but is in fact neither. When you crit(ique) a story you are not looking for ways to rubbish it or show how clever you are compared […]
This time last week I was at Nine World Geekfest. The convention was, all in all, an excellent experience, especially considering it was the first such event the organisers had staged. Personal highlights included being introduced to the fine art of tea duelling and sharing the dance-floor with an alien. I’ve got a packed schedule […]
I’ve got another panel at Nine Worlds next weekend, this one as part of the Creative Writing stream: Sunday 3.15PM – How important is science in science fiction? Does it matter if you get it right? And if you don’t have a PhD in some obscure branch of quantum cryptography or reproductive biology, how can […]