In the way such things do, a possible definition of writing success recently popped into my head: when the number of hours people have spent reading your stories exceeds the number of hours you’re spent writing them, you’ve done it. Whatever ‘it’ is. I did wonder if it’s possible to, as our American friends say, […]

We’re back in sunny Hampshire: as often seems to happen, going on holiday has left me mentally refreshed but physically exhausted. That’s probably the right way round, though. While I was away a somewhat atypical story of mine, ‘A Mirror to Life’ has been posted up at ‘DayBreak’ magazine, the online story website for the […]

Thanks largely to the hacking skills of M the Uber-Geek, we have internet access here. As ever, our week in Portmeirion is passing far too quickly. It’s featured all the usual fine ingredients: decadent meals, chilling out with friends, late-night tabletop RPG sessions, cocktails, staring contentedly out at the fabulous views and vague discussions about […]

Up late tonight packing for our regular trip to The Village. Unlikely to be much activity here for the next week or so unless we can hack the coms while No. 2 isn’t watching. Be seeing you.

As anyone who lives in the UK can’t have failed to notice, we have a general election coming up. I was sick of most of the coverage before the first week was out, but this morning, waking up to the sound of Radio 4’s Today program as usual, I was treated to the Clangers explaining […]

I don’t read as much non-fiction as I’d like to, as reading for research has to take priority over reading for pleasure. And I very rarely read any works of scholarly criticism, despite knowing a few scholars and critics; not because I’m not interested, but because other things seem to end up nearer the top […]

By Charles Stross’s definition, I don’t write proper science fiction. He’s a writer I admire, and I think his argument is entirely fair and reasonable. My personal preference is for telling stories that are character, not idea, driven. That’s not to say I don’t want to explore ideas through my fiction; any writer who doesn’t […]

It was good, although I still hate the Raddled Non-Euclidean hotel. I seemed to spend an awful lot of time just trying to find rooms, including mine (yes, even when sober). I could also have done without the souvenir ‘con crud’ which has evolved into a quite impressive consumptive cough. My scheduled panels were both […]

… to Eastercon in a non-euclidean hotel in the barren urban wasteland that is Heathrow, just next to the eponymous international airport. I’ll be doing a few Official Things, but between times I can be found in the dealers’ room stall-sitting for the Awesome Ms Williams or else in the least-overpriced of the con bars. […]

No, not Chinese gangsters: sets of three. Storytelling, at least in western culture, does love its sets of three. It’s something I’m currently up to my eyeballs in as a reader, thanks to Ciaran Carson’s excellent translation of selected Irish legends from the Tain (that Cu Chulainn, what a little tyke he was). I like […]