How writers write

Every writer has their own unique approach to getting from Idea to Finished Thing. A few weeks I was asked by the SF novelist Tony Ballantyne to describe how I tackle the writing process for a regular feature on his website. If you’re interested in that sort of thing (and you should certainly read Keith Brooke’s […]

The 3D Effect

So last night murnie had our first in-a-proper-rehearsal-room band rehearsal for a while. I say a while, we worked out that the last time was just before Simon’s eldest kid–who just turned five–was born. We’ve not been entirely idle in that time of course: there’s been recordings and the occasional songwriting session, but getting all […]

Introducing: The DIY Listening Group

Introducing a new group dedicated to the discussion of the indiest of indy music: the Bandcampistas, the Soundcloud collective, the DIY stuff recorded in kitchens and backrooms, the Low Fi recordings that don’t get distribution or airplay or any kind of love–or even notice–at all, but might, just might, contain a gem of a song, a […]

The Pop Group

Just read an excellent article by indie music net label, Eardrums Pop, which nails the key difficulty faced by indie/home/DIY bands and music producers. That of getting feedback on your music. Any kind, at all. From likes and retweets to comments, mentions and honest to god reviews, every single piece of feedback is more greatly valued […]

Obliques

Over the last few weeks I’ve been enjoying the slow reanimation of wur band. It’s been packed away up in the creative attic for a while (because..life) but now we’ve been working on some new songs and are well on the road I hope to getting them into a shape for recording and playing live. I say new […]

A Taste Of Black Honey

This is a straightforward plea, to those of you who have wider music knowledge than me. I’m looking for info/links/anything on a band called Black Honey. Here, let me explain why: Round about this time of year I start putting together my playlist for getting to know the bands I’ll be able to see at ex-Stag […]

For a limited time only…

Prompted by the BSFA award nomination, the very lovely people over at Spacewitch (and Amazon) are offering the ebook edition of The Moon King at a ridiculously low price. £1.99 – That’s literally as cheap as chips in many places these days. And if your preference is for paper books, Spacewitch are dropping the paperback price […]

BSFA Awards Short List

I… um… Nope, sorry. I got nothing. I’m supposed to be a writer and I have no words to express how it feels to learn that The Moon King has been shortlisted for this year’s BSFA award for best novel. So, I’ll just take this opportunity to thank profusely everyone that nominated it. There were a […]

Into The Black

Very, very pleased to announce that I’ve sold a supernatural short story, The Secret Language Of Stamps, to Black Static. One of my undisclosed writing goals for this year was to try and break into their pages, and I’m delighted to have done it so quickly. Black Static is a special magazine for me because its […]

Fish On Friday

The January 2015 issue of Interzone is out, and in amongst all the wonderful awesome Science Fiction stuff crammed between it’s lovely pages, they’ve managed to find room for my story: Fish On Friday. Authors should never explain their stories, so if you’re reading from outside of Scotland I wish you all the luck in the world […]