Tag: Nina Allan

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Events Workshop

BSFA 2018 Awards and Edinburgh Science Festival Workshop

If you’re in the Edinburgh area, attending Eastercon: Ytterbium, or a member of the BSFA, I’ve got news for you:

First of all, I’m thrilled that my Noise and Sparks columns for Shoreline of Infinity have been shortlisted for the BSFA Awards 2018 in the Best Non-fiction category!

Joining me in this category are the Sleeps with Monsters (Tor.com) and Time Pieces (Interzone) columns by Liz Bourke and Nina Allan respectively, Adam Roberts’ latest book Publishing the Science Fiction Canon: The Case of Scientific Romance (Free online from Cambridge University Press until 22nd February), and Aliette de Bodard’s lauded article on the Intellectus Speculativus blog, ‘On motherhood and erasure: people-shaped holes, hollow characters and the illusion of impossible adventures’. The full shortlist really is incredibly strong this year, so if you’re looking for great short stories, novels, art or non-fiction that you may have missed last year, I really do recommend checking those out.

The results will be announced at the 2019 Eastercon, Ytterbium, which takes place at the Park Inn Heathrow, London, over 19th – 22nd April. For more details, including how to vote for BSFA and Eastercon members, head to https://bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-2018-awards-voting-form/.

Cover image by Joshua Smythe

And here’s news for Scottish pals: the Edinburgh Science Festival has just released details of this year’s programme – and I’m delighted that Oliver Langmead and I will be back with ‘Discover New Worlds Through Creative Writing’!

Last year’s attendees found our popular workshop “brilliantly creative… very comfortable and relaxed”, “thought-provoking” and “inspiring”, so do join us in exploring the galaxy and building new worlds from 2pm on Saturday 13th April at the Pleasance.

This event is ticketed, so make sure you register online now at https://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/event-details/discover-new-worlds-through-creative-writing or click here for more ways to book.

For more details of this year’s Edinburgh Science Festival programme, check out the full brochure at https://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/.


Categories
Awards Shoreline of Infinity

BSFA Best Non-Fiction Longlisting

My Noise and Sparks columns for Shoreline of Infinity have been longlisted for the British Science Fiction Association’s Best Non-Fiction Award – alongside works by Adam Roberts, Aliette de Bodard, Nina Allan, Rob Malan, Erin Horáková and more!

Other plaudits for Shoreline of Infinity include Siobhan McDonald in Best Artist and Aliette de Bodard for her short story, ‘A Slow Unfurling of Truth’ in Issue 11.

If you enjoyed my columns in 2018, and you’re a member of the BSFA, you can now vote for them at https://bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-stage-2/. Thank you!

Categories
Awards Awards Conventions Fantasycon Fiction

British Fantasy Awards 2018: Best Short Fiction shortlisting for ‘The Anniversary’

I’m delighted to announce that ‘The Anniversary’, which first appeared in Black Static #61 last year, has been shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who voted me in to the jury stage – and in such wonderful company as Nina Allan, Stephen Volk, Laura Mauro, Joanne Hall and Stephen Gallagher too! In the face of such a strong field of contenders, I’ll take the chance now to thank Andy Cox at Black Static publishers TTA Press for taking a punt on this wee tale. This is my first shortlisting for this award, and I’m pleased as punch to say it was this one.

On an additional happy-but-heart-torn-in-two note, Black Static have also been shortlisted for Best Magazine / Periodical, alongside Shoreline of Infinity, which publishes my Noise and Sparks column. Good luck to them both, I say, along with everyone else who’s been shortlisted this year.

This year’s shortlist is a feast of wonderful things and great recommendations*, so do check out the full British Fantasy Awards 2018 shortlist here.

The awards will be announced over 19th – 21st October at the British Fantasy Society’s annual Fantasycon in Chester.

*I can definitely say this as a juror for the Best Artist category this year.

Categories
Events Fiction New Poetry New Story

The Week of All The Stuff

I mentioned last week that 2016 was going to be somewhat busier on the story front than last year. What I didn’t mention was how early all of this would be starting. Like… now! This week I’ve got a story and a brand new poem in two quite different anthologies. I’ll also be making a last minute appearance at A Thing In Scotland. So I should probably tell you all about those.

First up, Digital Dreams is the new anthology from NewCon Press, collecting ten years of great SF writing from one of Britain’s most celebrated independent presses into one e-book. As I understand it, a number of these stories are appearing for the first time in this format here – and a book with Lauren Beukes, Pat Cadigan, Justina Robson, Kim Lakin-Smith, Nina Allan, and more definitely deserves your time and attention. In short, it’s an unmissable retrospective from some of the genre’s top writers of the last decade. I’m proud to say my tale ‘The Honey Trap’ (which first appeared in NewCon Press anthology La Femme, and won me a BSFA award last year) can be found in here too. Digital Dreams is out now.

Secondly, The Speculative Book will be launching this Friday. This is the first anthology from the Glaswegian collective The Speculative Bookshop, and features tales and art from the likes of Peter Sutton, Neil Williamson, Brian Milton, Elaine Gallagher, and, well, me, all curated by Chris Kelso and folks from the Speculative Bookshop team. This should be a splendid anthology for those looking for brand new up-and-comers in SFF, and raw storytelling talent. My poem ‘Coronal Mass Ejection (Solar Minima)’, inspired by the experiences of Joan Feynman, can be found inside that. My first published poem. Which is nice.

In addition, it’s probably time I told you that I’ll be at The Speculative Book Launch this Friday 8th January at the Old Hairdressers in Glasgow, along with a good deal of the rest of the authors. So if you’re wanting something signed, that’d seem like a good night to get along to. Also, the marvellous Creative Martyrs will be performing, which is always… an interesting night out. So if you’re at a loose end in Glasgow this Friday, why not pop along?

A story, a poem and a live thing. That’s a busy week right there. I’d best be getting on with it.

Categories
Awards Conventions Eastercon Eastercon Fiction

New Interview and Contest on The Sci Fi Fantasy Network

Has it already been two weeks since Dysprosium? Well, you can relive some of the 2015 Eastercon via the good folks at The Sci Fi Fantasy Network, who have been steadily uploading their coverage of the weekend in recent days. While they were there, we caught up for a quick chat in my first ever interview – and you can now watch it online at the link below.
 
The SFFN
 
To tie in with the interview, The SFFN are also giving away a copy of La Femme, the NewCon Press anthology that contains my BSFA award-winning story ‘The Honey Trap‘.
 
So, if you fancy bagging a free copy, here’s me, Rob Malan and Francesca Barbini chatting about The BSFA Awards and NewCon Press. Stay tuned for a bit of extra footage on the end…
 
(PS. I’m not standing in a ditch. Honest.)
 
NEW Interview and Competition: http://www.scififantasynetwork.com/in-conversation-with-ruth-ej-booth-bsfa-winner/
 
Many thanks to Rob and Francesca for the chat – and to the techies at Dysprosium for allowing us the space to do this.