My award-winning story ‘The Honey Trap’ is available to read for free on SF Caledonia – now with snazzy new art by Becca McCall.
The Honey Trap is a story about perspective and fruit growers in a climate crisis future. First published in 2014 in La Femme, a NewCon Press anthology, it won the BSFA Award for Best Short Fiction the following year.
SF Caledonia, an offshoot of Shoreline of Infinity, showcases the best of Scottish SF, including Anne Charnock, Tendai Huchu, Ken MacLeod, Lyndsey Croal and more. So, it’s nice to have my wee story recognised as belonging with tales by such big names. It’s also lovely to see this story get its own art too, with Becca McCall’s interpretation of the Grower’s Fair from the opening scene.
Scotland’s only dedicated SF magazine Shoreline of Infinity have just released issue #33, one I’m proud to share with T.L. Huchu, Benjamin C. Kinney, Brent Baldwin, Callum McSorley, David Lawrie, Juliette Lee, Liana Kapelke-Dale, Lucy Zhang, M Luke McDonell, M H Ayinde, Michael Teasdale,Thomas Piekarski, as well as the winner of this year’s flash fiction competition.
After weeks of events, here’s something for those of you outside the UK as well as those inside it. Shoreline of Infinity 31 features my brand new Noise and Sparks column, ‘Case 3 in the Multiverse of Madness, Or Everyone Everywhere All At Once’.
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…
Shoreline of Infinity29 is now up for pre-order, and features my latest column (deep breath), ‘Beyond UK Black History Month: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of the Fear of Being Awful’. This one tackles the somewhat taboo subject of why many white folks don’t explore the historical contributions of POC outside of the annual celebrations. I’m hoping this will encourage folks to dig into their motivations for doing the work and take a chance on themselves. And if you’re unsure of where to start your own journey, this column also includes some recommended reading.
Issue 29 also includes the first print publication of my GSFWC buddy E.M. Faulds‘ short story ‘A Flight Of Birds’, as well as work by Tim Major, Callum McSorley, Ida Keogh‘s stunning flash fiction piece ‘The Reminder’ and a new interview with Ken MacLeod about Beyond The Hallowed Sky, his latest novel.
You can hear some of these stories, along with a brilliant reading by Eris Young and more, as part of Event Horizon’s takeover at Cymera‘s recent mini-festival. Check out the video below:
In other news, last week I had the privilege of dropping in to Newcastle University Law School to talk to students exploring “Emerging Technologies: Emerging Relationships” – part of an independent research module on the future of the Law. Here, I spoke on ‘Science Fiction and the Law of Relationhips’ and how genre can help explore our developing society, highlighting the work of authors such as Aliette de Bodard, Helen Sedgwick and Becky Chambers.
In return, I was delighted to hear the students working on projects exploring the Gender Recognition Act, Domestic Abuse, Social Media, Ghanaian legal approaches following R vs R (1991), and more. To see students even at an undergraduate level exploring the social responsiveness of the Law, especially with such timely topics, was particularly uplifting. I’ve attended courtrooms several times (either as court reporter or visitor) and sometimes come away rather disheartened – and so this research gives me hope for the future of the Law and courtroom decision making.
And that’s it! If I don’t post again before the holidays, here’s wishing you happiness and peace over the festive season, and all the hope and joy this new year deserves.
