Dysprosium Approach

Eastercon’s outdone itself this year. Even the title sounds like a big budget sci-fi flick** And I’ll be down there as usual, and if you’re looking for me on the programme: Saturday 1pm-2pm Room 15 I’ll be talking to Nina Allan, Dave Hutchinson and Ian Whates about “That Tricky First, Second, Third, or Fourth Novel” Sunday 3pm-4pm […]

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 […]

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 […]

Enhance 224 to 176

Enhance, stop. Move in. This January seems to be the month of productivity. I’m not sure exactly why. Perhaps because over Christmas I did very little aside from eat nice food, catch up on movies and not think about either work or attempting to be creative. Whatever, it’s allowed me to recharge, refocus and click back […]

The Year of The Mouse

So, 2014? That’ll be a year I’ll not forget in a hurry. It was a year that started with an encounter with a mouse and, despite all of the good things that took place, remains characterised by a sort of skittish anxiousness. In April, The Moon King was published. People came to the launches and were […]

Songs In The Key Of : B

Continuing the return of the alphabetical trawl through the contents of my phone, one of the things I like is the way the titles stack up to almost tell a story. Anyway, here’s: Songs In The Key Of: B Backyard Skulls – Frightened Rabbit Baddow – Animal Noise Barton Hollow – The Civil Wars Bats In The Attic […]

Little Shop of Speculations

Really enjoyed my slot at The Speculative Bookshop last night. Great format, lovely audience and ace performances from all the speakers. Never much of a comics person, I nevertheless enjoyed John Lees’ introduction to horror comics and Adam Murphy’s career retrospective, and I’m loving Adam’s Corpse Talk, interviews with dug-up famous people. Leo Glaister provided a hugely […]

The Golden Nose

Issue 253 of Interzone arrives in July, and it features a story of mine called The Golden Nose. This is a strange wee story. It’s set in Vienna, which I loved after visiting on football duty last year and, as well as being the simple tale of a gifted sniffer (think Suskind’s Perfume, but […]