Interzone

Silver lining following on from the day’s more depressing news is that Interzone 220 is now out and available. Stories by Jason Stoddard, Eugie Foster, Rudy Rucker, Leah Bobet, Gareth L Powell and me. Book reviews wrangled by Jim Steel and featuring Michael Cobley and Paul F Cockburn as well as an interview with Jeffrey […]

Interzone and me

So, yes, officially, my story Spy Vs Spy will be appearing in the next issue of Interzone. I talk about Interzone quite a lot on this blog: a/ because it’s personally important to me and fundamentally linked to my development as a writer and b/ because it remains a damned good read. And it has […]

The Short Stuff

Must be the time of year, but for some reason I’ve been innundated with new short fiction to read, and I don’t know where to start to enjoy it all. TTA Press’s usual bi-monthly swaparama of Interzone and Black Static have been supplemented by the latest Crimewave, which is always cause for celebration. From PS, […]

The Taste Of Mundanity

So, the Mundane SF issue of Interzone has come and gone. In case you’ve not been aware, there was a whole bunch of foohfarah about the Mundane manifesto, because I don’t know, the rhetoric rubbed people up the wrong way or something. And that was rekindled when IZ announced they were handing over the reins […]

As chance would have it…

Delighted to see that my story Amber Rain, first published in The Third Alternative yonks ago, has been reprinted in the very excellent new zine, Serendipity. Cool, huh?

The slow, creeping approach of Black Static

It’s finally, almost, here. TTA Press’s Black Static, the magazine that takes over where The Third Alternative left off for lovers of darkly fantastic short fiction is at the printers. We’ll see it in September. Can’t wait.

Interzone is 25

With the publication of its latest issue (in the shops now!), Interzone magazine is officially 25 years old. I’ve been reading it for at least 80% of that time and over the years it has introduced me to an uncountable list of fantastic writers that have enriched my life. I’ve eulogised about the mag before, […]

Rarities

There’s something that happens so occasionally in my world that you almost forget about it entirely. Almost. Not quite. Because, like a cosmological event, when it does come round it leaves a long blazing mark in the memory, and a hook of hope that you’ll see it, one day, again. What am I talking about? […]

This Is Music

In a musical frame this week. Not only did the band play last night (for the first time in months!), but the new issue of is this music? is out this week too. For those of you who don’t know it, itm? is a magazine that focuses on Scotland’s multifarious local music output. And to […]

Submission Angst

Something has always puzzled me about the business of writing short stories. It’s a phenomenon that seems mostly to strike newer writers, but it seems that more experienced authors aren’t immune either from the way it has consumed enormous amounts of energy on writing related blogs, forums and discussion boards ever since writers discovered the […]