2017 Roundup

Time for my annual review of the creative year. It’s always interesting to compare what I’d planned for against what actually came to pass. I always feel that when it comes to creativity, you’ve got to be prepared to roll with it a bit. Some projects won’t work out, while inspiration for others will blizzard in […]

Silk Bones in The Dark

It’s the season for spooky stories. If that’s your bag, check out the November issue of The Dark magazine where you can enjoy scary tales by Lisa L Hannett, Octavia Cade, L Chan and, I’m delighted to say, me! Some of you might recognise Silk Bones from Secret Language. But if the story is new […]

Imposter Syndrome

I have a story forthcoming in an excellent new anthology of horror stories called Imposter Syndrome. Editors James Everington and Dan Howarth have ask the cream of the current British horror writing scene (and also me) for stories of eerie doppelgangers and doubles, clones and imposters, and I’m delighted to be sharing book space with […]

The things that happened in Helsinki

Worldcon. The clue’s in the name, really. It’s blinking huge. A colossus of an event featuring hundreds of programme items and thousands of attendees. I managed to book a hotel pretty close to the convention centre and my fitness tracker still reckoned I was averaging 5-6 miles a day just walking from panel to presentation, […]

Worldcon schedule

Flying out on Tuesday morning to the wonderful city of Helsinki, this years host of Worldcon, the world science fiction convention. I really couldn’t be more excited. Finland a country about which I’ve harboured a serious curiosity for years now and I can’t wait to finally get over there and spend some time enjoying their […]

BFS award nomination

Really pleased to discover that my short story collection, Secret Language, has been shortlisted for this year’s British Fantasy Award. It has some truly excellent company and whoever wins come the end of September will be a worth winner, I reckon. On the subject of the BFS awards, I’ve been asked to judge the Magazine/Periodical […]

Elasticity: the Best of Elastic Press

Really excited about the imminent release of Elasticity: The Best Of Elastic Press, edited by Andrew Hook. For the uninitiated, between 2002 and 2008 Elastic Press kick-started the careers of dozens of indie, genre and slipstream writers by giving them a platform to showcase their short fiction. I still treasure volumes by the likes of […]

No more heroes

So, I finished a book today. It’s called Queen of Clouds*. Those of you who’ve been paying attention will be all like: Oh, good job, son, well done, but didn’t you just have a book out? In addition to the one that came out this time last year? And don’t forget that anthology last autumn […]

Memoirist launch

The official release date for The Memoirist is this coming Monday, March 20th. You’ll be order it online and from your local bookshop from then. But if you live in the Glasgow area, why not consider coming to our wee, toaty launch event. It’s on Monday, April 3rd, at the Saramago bar in the CCA […]

Introducing…The Memoirist

What’s a “memoirist”, I hear you cry? Well, in my new book, it’s a woman called Fizz who assembles memoirs out of online data. It’s set in our near future, when a combination of surveillance culture, the degradation of privacy laws and social media ubiquity have made people obsessed with the face they present to […]