A love of location

Location and landscape are some of my favourite parts of a book. I don’t just mean pretty descriptions and lovely nature writing. The best locations are the bedrock of the story. They reflect the theme and have a key role to play in the story. Very often they’re as memorable as the characters themselves. The […]

Queen of Clouds

I’m utterly thrilled to announce that NewCon Press are going to be publishing my new novel, Queen of Clouds. For those of you that remember The Moon King, Queen of Clouds is set in the same world several hundred years earlier and tells the story of how that strange, flooded world came to be. So, […]

Scifi-Fantasy Network, and a competition!

During Eastercon a few weeks ago I was interviewed for Scifi-Fantasy Network by Rob Malan. Rob asked me about how The Moon King came to be, about being shortlisted for the BSFA award, about the importance of independent publishers like NewCon Press and about the new book, Queen Of Clouds. And, honestly, I did enjoy the […]

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 […]

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 […]

Douglas Thompson and me : Scottish Writers Centre

One of the jewels in my already pretty sparkly and jam-packed full Worldcon (seriously it was like a Smaug’s hoard of good stuff), was bumping into fellow Glasgow-writer Douglas Thompson just before he launched his new novel, The Rhymer. This meant that I got to hear him read from what is possibly an genuinely unique enterprise […]

The Moon King ebook options

We’ve had a few queries about how to get The Moon King in a non-Kindle ebook format, so I’m pleased to be able to announce that Spacewitch.com is now offering a selection of formats (Kindle, mobi, epub or PDF) and presently for the teeny, tiny sum of £2.99. As far as I know, this is the […]

Giveaway : The Ephemera

All the chat over the last few months here has been about The Moon King. Complete new baby syndrome, for which I make no apology, but I’m aware that the older siblings have been somewhat neglected. Especially jogging my elbow for attention is my collection, The Ephemera, which seems to have picked up a few sales on […]

The Moon King : One month in

Since it’s been over a month now since The Moon King was published, I thought it’d be cool to take a wee look back at how it’s all gone down. Well, overall, I’d have to say the reception’s been a positive one. We had two launch events (at Eastercon and at Glasgow’s Waterstones, Argyle St). Both […]

Well and truly under sail

Well, I think after last night we can properly consider The Moon King officially launched. Serious and heartfelt thanks to all the family and friends who came along to hear me wibble on for a bit and buy the book. And deep gratitude to Emma, Caron and all the staff at Waterstones Argyle St for managing […]