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Awards End Of Year Shoreline of Infinity

Awards Season

Thanks for all your patience while I try to put a difficult year behind me (for those unaware, we lost my father in September after a lengthy illness). Despite all of that, I did manage to put out two new columns in 2023, so if you’re nominating in any of this season’s awards, please consider them for the following categories:

Non-Fiction (Long Form)
Noise & Sparks column (Shoreline of Infinity)

Non-Fiction (Short Form)
Four Queens and a Stone on a Hill (Shoreline of Infinity #34)
Letter to a Future Architect (Shoreline of Infinity #36)

You can pick up both issues now from the Shoreline of Infinity shop at the link below. Thank you!

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Awards Awards Blog Conventions CYMERA Festival Dublin Worldcon Eastercon Eastercon Edinburgh International Science Festival End Of Year Events Fantasycon Fiction New Non-Fiction New Story Shoreline of Infinity Workshop Writing Process

2019 Roundup: Passions, Portals, and Very Good Dogs

The cards have been sent, the gifts are all wrapped, and this afternoon I go into Newcastle for my annual Christmas whiskey-drinking session with a local pal. In other words, this is the perfect moment to reflect on the past year.

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Academic Events Awards Book Launch Conventions Edinburgh International Book Festival Edinburgh International Book Festival End Of Year Events Fiction From Glasgow to Saturn Shoreline of Infinity worldcon Worldcon 75

2017 in Review

There’s only hours left until the end of the year, so since it’s the season here’s a look back on my year in genre.

This year’s been rather quiet in terms of new stories. THE ANNIVERSARY was my first sale to Black Static, and appeared swiftly afterwards in Issue 61, which was a delightful surprise for the end of the year. Also, turns out flash fiction is eligible for all the awards, as far as I can work out, so if you read it and think it’s worth a nomination, please do so.

In reprints, GOOD BOY also made its first appearance in audio format on Pseudopod‘s Flash on the Borderlands XXXVIII: Letting Go episode. THE HONEY TRAP was also reprinted for the first time in the Edinburgh International Book Festival Special Issue of Shoreline of Infinity 8 1/2. I also made my first translation sale in Chinese of this story, which should be appearing in the new year. More on that soon, I hope.

I’m still writing the Noise and Sparks column for SF journal Shoreline of Infinity, which is also eligible for Non-fiction awards, if you reckon it’s worth a nomination. ‘The Legend of the Kick-Arse Wise Women’ (Issue 8), about the relationship between age, experience, and imposter syndrome, seemed to resonate with a lot of folks, so thank you for your kind responses. My favourite is still ‘The Company of Bears’, from the current issue (10), but party because this year I fell in love with the fact that there are real cosplay Faerie Markets over in the US, a discovery I made with the paper given by Georgia Natishan at this year’s GIFCon – and, in a way, isn’t that what all cons kind of are?

Most of my New Things this year have been in non-fiction. I helped organize my first symposium, in 2017’s inaugural GIFCon event, with keynote speakers Julie Bertagna, Phil Harris, Stefan Ekman, Robert Maslen, and Maureen Farrell. I also presented my first paper there, on Neil Gaiman’s American Gods and superhero modes of adaptation and revision, and I gave my first academic poster at Worldcon 75 in Helsinki, on Taoist Landscape and Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worldcon was my only con of 2017, but it was grand to get another chance to attend one of these in Europe. Once again, I appeared on panels, this time on Neil Gaiman’s ‘The Sandman’, and ‘From Literature to Movies and Television – Adaptation of Scifi and Fantasy’ – a pair of great discussions that not only gave us the chance for a bit of role-play, but a chance to catch up with old friends and new (and nerd out in front of Margaret Dunlap, who is currently working on the new Dark Crystal TV series – eeee!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around that time, I was also sitting on the jury for the British Fantasy Society’s Non-fiction Award, my second year out – and a tricky job this time, as anyone else in on the final decision will attest, but thrilling to find these conversations around genre criticism to be so difficult, indicating as they did the high standard of the shortlisted works. I also squeezed in a couple of interviews with authors at various things – Oliver Langmead‘s Glasgow launch for Metronome at Waterstones Argyle Street, and a chat with Laura Lam about Shattered Minds at October’s Event Horizon.

 

 

 

 

The last quarter of the year also bought some firsts: I was the lead for the Creative Writing Station at Night at the Museum: Fantasy Scotland event at the Hunterian Museum in Scotland, in partnership with the MLitt in Fantasy at the University of Glasgow. As the rest of the team will agree, this was an amazing night, and we were thrilled to see people at the event and online responding to our challenges so imaginatively. Huge thanks to my fellow station folks Oliver Langmead, Sarah Tytler, Angie Spoto, Mary-Kate Wagamon and Luc Bateman for their brilliant work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also became an editor for From Glasgow to Saturn, the arts and creative writing journal at the University of Glasgow. We recently sent out the acceptances for our 40th issue of the journal and, come the new year, we start working on readying these submissions for publication in early Spring. I can’t wait to share these wonderful tales with you!

There were also a few personal writing highlights: getting to see Nalo Hopkinson, Malika Booker, Alasdair Gray, and Christopher Priest read in person – and sharing a TOC with Nalo as part of Shoreline of Infinity 8 1/2. I also got to meet Samuel R. Delany, which was not only a delight because of how utterly charming and insightful he is, but because his biographical documentary ‘The Polymath’ helped me work through some personal issues earlier in the year. I also gave cosplay a try for the first time this year, going to Worldcon as The Corinthian from Neil Gaiman‘s The Sandman comics, and Night at the Musem as Lottie from Neil Williamson‘s The Moon King. And I had the joy of watching my coursemates graduate from the University of Glasgow, and another friend win her first Hugo Award. So that’s a good year, isn’t it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2018 will not only see my first issue of From Glasgow to Saturn as Editor, but also the second outing of GIFCon, for which I’m handling the social media presence (give me a wave sometime on twitter, facebook or instagram). I’ll be giving at least one workshop in the first half of the year in Edinburgh, as well as a brand new reading in Glasgow. Right now, I should be working on my column for the next issue of Shoreline of Infinity, a special issue for International Women’s Day. I’ll be entering the final stretch of my Masters degree in Fantasy next year.

As for what I’ll be doing after that, well I can’t officially say right now, but I hope you’ll stick around to find out.

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End Of Year

2016 Roundup

I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful and restful holiday at the moment, and looking forward to a better year ahead. With this being the time of year for reflection, here’s a rundown of what I’ve been up to in terms of Fiction, Non-Fiction and Poetry.
This year saw my first published poetry, including ‘The Love of a Season’ in Winter Tales (Fox Spirit), and ‘Coronal Mass Ejection (Solar Minima)’ in The Speculative Book (Speculative Bookshop). Particularly special to me was the last of these, ‘Picture, of a Winter Afternoon,‘ which appeared in Thirty Years of Rain, celebrating 30 years of the Glasgow SF Writers Circle. I wrote this poem around the time I first decided to move to Glasgow, so it was lovely to see this published in the group’s anthology shortly after I arrived here in the Autumn.
I started writing the Noise and Sparks column for Shoreline of Infinity, which was one of the more unexpected joys to have come out of this year for me. Ostensibly about my experiences as a new writer (though generally it covers whatever’s been occupying my brain, from the weight of expectation, to making decisions that may be better for you than your writing), it’s allowed me to return to a style I haven’t worked in since the days of Thrash Hits, and I’ve greatly missed that. So I’m very grateful to Noel Chidwick and the rest of the team for allowing me the space to explore and discuss ideas about creativity in this way – because, after all, art is a discussion. The third of these columns, ‘Interlude,’ is in Shoreline of Infinity #6, the latest issue, and can be picked up at the official website.
In fiction, ‘Dame Ammonia Dastardly-Truste’s Evil Genius College for Ladies Class of 2014: Graduation Speech [Transcript],’ my tale of love, betrayal and porpoises, came out in Fox Pockets: The Evil Genius Guide (Fox Spirit Press). And there were a couple of reprints: I was proud to be part of NewCon Press’s 10th anniversary celebrations, when ‘The Honey Trap’ appeared in Digital Dreams, the e-book only anthology celebrating their best SF by women stories. Meanwhile, Far Horizons were kind enough to put ‘Good Boy’ into their April 2016 Staff Picks issue, which has a rather lovely cover by Stephen Briggs.
There were a few other firsts. I did my first stint as panel moderator to a packed crowd at Mancunicon (this year’s Eastercon) on a panel containing Ian McDonald, Kari Sperring, Tiffani Angus and Russell Smith – and I did not die. I also did my first book launch interview with Becky Chambers, as she promoted A Closed and Common Orbit to a very enthusiastic audience at Waterstones in Glasgow. The latter was particularly fun, as I’ve really enjoyed the last couple of books in the Wayfarer series, so getting the chance to ask her about sensory analogues was a joy.
Outside of SFF, I photographed Emma Pollock for Drowned In Sound. I also ran another half-marathon after only seven weeks of training*, raising more than £300 for the Scottish Association for Mental Health. Thank you once again to everyone who took the time to sponsor me and support the vital work of the lovely folks at SAMH, helping sufferers of mental illness and their carers.
And, finally, I quit my job and moved to a new country to start a Masters degree in Fantasy. Which kind of explains why, despite all this, it’s actually been a relatively quiet year for me, creatively. Underneath my fiercest wishes for the coming year – for a restored belief in the rights of all humans to love and respect, and that considered, heartfelt words can still lead to the best of all consequences – my quiet, most selfish hope is that I can find that space to be creative again.

So a busy, and in many ways, tough year. Let’s see what 2017 has to offer.

*In just 12 seconds over last year’s time – but never again!
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Awards End Of Year Fiction

2015 in Fiction (and other things…)

It’s almost over. The turkey’s been stuffed, and stuffed again. The three wise men are still treadmilling their way across the mantlepiece, in the hopes of reaching the Advent Candle by New Year’s Eve. In short, it’s really time I’d done one of these end of year round up posts already and bunged it up online. You know how it gets. The presents. The relatives. The discovery of new species of hybrid plastic animals in your crackers. So here’s the summary of a year that’s been deceptively busy under it all.

This year was quiet in terms of new stories. Just the one, in fact – ‘Good Boy’, which appeared in the January issue of Far Horizons magazine. This was my first foray into horror, of sorts, and I’m actually pretty proud of the way it turned If you’d like to read it, click here to do that for free

That’s not all that’s happened. In 2015, I’ve also been able to indulge what’s becoming one of my favourite things about writing fiction – doing public readings. I read at Eastercon, and Fantasycon, and the Speculative Bookshop‘s July event. Here’s hoping here’s more on the way. On a writing-related note, music has taken a back seat since the mighty Thrash Hits decided to go out on their own terms, although I wrote a piece for The Independent on the sad passing of Lemmy from Motörhead (here). And though it’s not writing-related at all, really, I ran a half-marathon (the Great Scottish Run) and raised over £700 for Macmillan Cancer Support, in memory of my friend Carol, who passed away last year (if you’d like to make a donation, here’s my Just-Giving page).

The BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction

Of course, I can’t talk about 2015 without mentioning the BSFA awards. I mean, you smarten yourself up a bit and prepare a bunch of words, because it’s only sensible, right? But winning the award for Best Short Fiction wasn’t something I’d actually expected to happen. I doubt I’ve even realised it has yet – every so often I’ll remember it, and then I have to get it down and poke it a bit, so I can reassure myself it’s real. And then point it at Millie-cat and mke pew-pew noises, much to her utter disgust. Once again, thank so, so much to all the lovely folks who nominated and voted for ‘The Honey Trap’ in the BSFAs. It made my lifetime.

A lot of what’s happened this year went on under the surface. Writing fiction has been difficult this year, and it’s led me in directions I wouldn’t normally have gone in. Interesting ones, I hope, and ones likewise I hope you’ll see in print at some point. Tricky as it’s been, I’m hoping it’s all part of the process of becoming a better writer.

Talking of becoming a better writer, being invited to join the Glasgow SF Writers Circle was one of the highlights of 2015 for me. Come the new year, there’ll be 30 years of critique workshops behind the group (Amal El-Mohtar, Gary Gibson, Hal Duncan, Michael Cobley and Neil Williamson rank amongst its alumni), and I’m honoured to be part of it. Talking of which, there’ll be an anthology coming out in late 2016 to celebrate. Stay tuned to the website for more information.

2016, by contrast, is shaping up to be quite noisy. By my reckoning, there’s maybe half a dozen things in the pipeline due at some point next year. Of the ones I can talk about now, NewCon Press will be releasing a new ebook Best of called Digital Dreams, as part of their 10th anniversary celebrations – you’ll find a reprint of ‘The Honey Trap’ in that (click here to pre-order). And I’ll finally be able to call myself a published poet too. Both Winter Tales (Fox Spirit Books) and The Speculative Book (Speculative Bookshop) will be include a pair of my poems between them – my first to appear in print. Exciting stuff!

In the meantime, I’d better get back to it. 2015 was a year of the unexpected, and often giddying highs. 2016? Well… Let’s see what you’ve got, eh?

Cheers!