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Conventions CYMERA Festival Events Festivals Readings Satellite

Satellite 7 and Cymera Festival

Thanks to everyone who made it to the Scottish Writing Centre last week, where the first ever reading from my novel-in-progress got an amazing response from the crowd! Wish you’d been there? Fear not. Over the next two weekends you catch me reading in-person, plus chatting online with Premee Mohamed and Ren Hutchings! Check out the details below…

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Book Launch Charity Events New Story

Flotation Device and Laura Lam’s Goldilocks

Story news from me this week as the Glasgow SF Writers’ Circle launch their Flotation Device, a new charity anthology, plus some disappointing news about an upcoming event.

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Conventions Satellite

Satellite 6 Schedule

The latest installment of the biennial Scottish SF convention, Satellite Six, kicks off a week tomorrow at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Glasgow. And the programme is out now! If you’re joining us over 25th to 27th May, here’s where you can find me.

SATURDAY

8:15pm – Shoreline of Infinity Event Horizon (Siduri)
“Join us for a blast of science fiction songs, stories and poetry featuring Ken MacLeod, Painted Ocean – and other exciting names to be revealed. Your host – the effervescent Andrew J. Wilson.”

While the full line-up has yet to be announced, I’ve got the go-ahead to reveal I’ll be joining Andrew J. Wilson and more for a special edition of the Edinburgh-based SF night.

SUNDAY

11:00am – Superhero writers (Siduri)
Paul McAuley (GoH), Ruth EJ Booth, Neil Williamson (M), Christopher Nuttall, Dave Weaver, Cat Hellisen
“The double-​life of sci-​fi scribes with everyday jobs. Writers at different stages in their careers discuss how to balance writing and making ends meet.”

If you’ve ever wondered how to squeeze in writing alongside an academic career (I know I do), pop along to hear a group of writers from different walks of life chat about how to squeeze in a writing career alongside everyday life.

Outside of this, come say hi if you see me in the bar. Hope to see you there!

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Academic Academic Events Book Launch Book Launch Conventions Eastercon Edinburgh International Science Festival Events From Glasgow to Saturn Readings Shoreline of Infinity

March/April ’18: BFS Open Night, Edinburgh International Science Festival, FGTS 40 Launch and more!

Readings, a workshop and more – here are my official plans for March and April.

March 15th – BFS Open Night (Waterstones Argyle Street, 6:30pm)

My next reading will be part of the British Fantasy Society’s Glasgow Open Night on 15th March. Joining host Shona Kinsella (Ashael Rising, Mirnya’s Oath), Neil Williamson (The Moon King, Secret Language), and I (other stuff) will be R. J. Barker, author of Age of Assassins, and we’ll all be reading and chatting about fantastic things for your entertainment. The night kicks off at 6:30pm on 15th March at Waterstones Argyle Street, Glasgow. For more details, see the Waterstones event page or Facebook event page.

If you can’t make this, I’ll also be doing a warm-up reading as part of the MLitt in Fantasy Reading Party on 7th March at DRAM! If you’re interested in attending this, please let me know and I’ll pass on the details.

March 30th – April 1st – Eastercon: Follycon (Harrogate)

More on this soon! Click here for details of my full schedule!

April 5th – From Glasgow to Saturn: Issue 40 Launch (The Raven, 6pm)

From Glasgow to Saturn will be holding a launch party for issue 40 at The Raven in Glasgow on 5th April. We’ll be hosting readings from some of this issue’s authors and poets, plus music, an open mic, and the infamous FGTS raffle. This is the first issue for which I’ve been an editor, so I’d love to see you there.

Update: Click here for the facebook event page!

April 7th – Workshop at Edinburgh International Science Festival (Summerhall, 2pm)

Edinburgh area writers, I’ll be joining Oliver Langmead (Dark Star, Metronome) for ‘Discovering New Worlds Through Writing: A Creative Writing Workshop’ as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival on 7th April. We’ll be taking you through exercises on exploring the galaxy, new worlds, and what it takes to get there – and this will be the first workshop I’ve given! Be warned this event will be limited availability, so best pick your ticket up sooner rather than later. The workshop runs from 2pm – 4pm on 7th April at the Anatomy Lecture Theatre, Summerhall. Click here to buy tickets.

April 26th – 27th – GIFCon 2018 (University of Glasgow)

Finally, GIFCon 2018 takes place over 26th – 27th April at the University of Glasgow. If you’ve submitted an abstract to the event, you should be hearing from us soon, but in the meantime, please keep an eye on our twitter, facebook, and instagram accounts, and on our website for announcements of details of how to register.

Hope to see you at one of these!

In the meantime, Shoreline of Infinity have uploaded video footage from February’s Event Horizon — where Hal Duncan, Neil Williamson and I staged a GSFWC invasion — to their facebook page. You’ll find us starting at about 1 hour 13 minutes in.

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Events Readings

Event Horizon February 2018 and The Anniversary Reviewed

2018 already has a bunch of events in the works, and the first is in Edinburgh on Thursday 8th February.

Event Horizon will feature a showcase of writers from the GSFWC, including magnificent speculative and slipstream author Hal Duncan, the masterful “Laureate of Loss” Neil Williamson and, well, me. It’ll be another splendid night from the folks at Shoreline of Infinity, and you can find the full line-up in the image below – or by clicking here. The night kicks off at 7:30pm on Thursday 8th February at Frankenstein Edinburgh.

In the meantime, my Horror flash piece ‘The Anniversary’ has had some very kind comments as part of reviews of Black Static 61. So, if you need a little incentive to come out to Edinburgh next month, here are a few of them so far:

TANGENT ONLINE
“Beautifully written, it is elegant, timeless, and deeply painful in all its tragedy… It is the high note within this issue.”
https://www.tangentonline.com/print–bi-monthly-reviewsmenu-260/219-black-static/3703-black-static-61-novemberdecember-2017

GRIM READER REVIEWS
“A work of poetic yet ugly storytelling and one that will stay with you for some time after.”
https://beavisthebookhead.com/2017/12/10/magazine-review-black-static-61/

And possibly the most poetic review I’ve ever had:

DES LEWIS’ GESTALT REAL-TIME REVIEWS
“A tantalising pearl of fiction as love’s requital – a pearl to scry, to smile or to gurn?”
https://dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/black-static-61/#comments

Thank you to Seraph, Adrian, and Des for your kind comments.

So, see you in Edinburgh next month, then?