Return to Interzone

Some of you will know that I’ve a long held admiration for Interzone magazine. It’s the mag that made me fall in love with short form SF and Fantasy, and I’ve been reading it for forever. I’ve been published in Interzone several times–and several times before that in TTA Press’s first title, The Third Alternative–which is why it’s […]

Plans for Easter?

Hey, it’s almost Easter. And that means Eastercon where, for all but one of the last twenty years(!), I’ve travelled to a hotel somewhere in the UK and talked writing and science fiction with a bunch of great people. This year I don’t have far to travel because the event returns to Glasgow’s Crowne Plaza hotel […]

Eastercon shopping list

So, Eastercon is around the corner and as always there are a few books out there that I’m looking to pick up. Newcon Press’s Little Black Box, containing two anthologies, La Femme and Noir (which can also be published separately). These feature Newcon’s usual mix of established writers, great indie scribes and names which are entirely new […]

React, recoil, review

Two weeks and tuppence ha’penny til The Moon King is officially launched. I’ve finally accepted the shocking reality that people are going to read it. Read it and have opinions. This is good. This is progress. I’ve moved past blind terror and actually now find myself curious. Curious as to what people actually think of it. Do they […]

The explosion of stuff

…and suddenly you look around and realise that there is so much stuff going on that you’ve almost no time to tell people about it. So, to rectify that, here’s a rundown of what’s happening with the music and the writing and a few other bits and bobs. De Saw and Finkle have had a busy […]

Excited For

Another in my occasional series of slightly grumpy exclamations of bafflement at the way the English language changes Before My Very Eyes. Last time out the culprit was: This! Now the phrase that has accumulated sufficient irk points is: excited for. When did it happen that we started being excited for things? Hasn’t it always been that […]

How did I get to be here (and where exactly is here anyway)?

It’s funny how a bunch of isolated points of interest can coalesce into something you didn’t realise was concerning you. Take this past week for example, in which: The Clarke Award shortlist was announced and duly both praised and criticised for being “safe” and “core genre” A meme did the rounds of writer acquaintances (like […]

In case of book launch…

So, as April (and The Moon King) approaches, the pre-launch ducks continue to be put in rows. This weekend’s task was Choosing A Reading Passage. In case, you know, an occasion should arise where a reading might be called for (and there might, there might…I’m working on it). This is a new challenge for me. When […]

Making the job worthwhile

While working from home this week while we had our living room ceiling replaced (leaky washing machine, insurance claims, long story) I was reminded of how much the full time fiction writer lifestyle doesn’t suit me. Four days in the flat (indeed, in one room) connected to the office by the slender veins of VPN […]

The Sair Lug

On my way out for my Saturday writing session, I popped into one of my locals (since this is Glasgow, there are several; this is the one which shows All The Football) to catch the last half hour of my team’s struggle to muster enough enthusiasm to win the league sooner rather than later. The […]