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F&SF, What's Going On?

There’s something going on at Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, but what it is isn’t clear. Back in 2018 I sold my first story to F&SF and woot, after 14 years of submissions, with The Moss Kings I had finally written something that was good enough! What validation, what excitement. What writerly joy! There some expected back and forth on my submission. I was given editorial commentary and…

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Life After Chemo

Bodies are amazing. It’s  two months since I popped the last pill following my last chemotherapy session. Since then I’ve slowly been getting better and better. Right now I feel about 80-90% normal. I write these pieces as much for me as for you. I have a loving family and many dear friends who want to hear how I’m doing, but I also need to order my own thoughts and check my opinions of things.…

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Cancer and Edema

There comes a time, a day, a morning when you wake up and you feel well. You might have been recovering from flu, or covid, or something else, body or soul. For me it has been edema, and today was the day. I woke up this morning and the sky was blue, the air felt clean and fresh, and my mind for the first time in days felt clear. In that moment I realised just what a tough few days I’d been…

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Go With the Flow

I love Queens of the Stone Age. Their music is straightforward but intricate, always promising to take you somewhere good, then taking you somewhere better, an alternative journey to a familiar place, so when you arrive you see things a little differently. We’re travelling down the side-roads that wind across and parallel the highway. Sunlight flashes through the trees. Music has always inspired…

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The Blackhart Blades - Inspiration Forgotten, Advice Remembered

It was a lovely as ever to receive my author copies of The Blackhart Blades from Newcon Press. For some reason this set me thinking about the original inspiration for this story and I realised I had absolutely no memory of that first spark. (Editing this post a couple of days after writing I still don’t – it’s gone.) In some ways that’s not too surprising, I’m five months into a seven month…

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Cancer, and the Power of Positive Thinking

Trigger warning: This article contains the use of the F-word. Not so copiously as to be considered an ingredient, more of a condiment. Because why the fuck not? Here we go: Catching up yesterday with Phil, an old friend of mine, he said ‘I remain convinced that a positive mental attitude helps defeat the bastard stuff…’ I think he’s right, and it made me wonder exactly why.  I don’t believe I can…

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A Tale from the Kalevala

Issue 7 of ParSec, the SF short story magazine from PS Publishing is now out. It includes my short story, ‘The Naismith and the Wild Boy’. Some stories from legend are adventures, others are fantastical explanations for natural events and places. Others bring insight into human nature. Ilmarinen, god, immortal smith, crafter of the dome of the sky, grieves the death of his wife. He is a…

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Milford SF 2023 Bursaries Announced!

Milford SF Writers are delighted to announce the 2023 bursary results. As a committee member it’s been a real privilege to be part of the bursary selection process, a serious and important process. This year we had more applicants than ever, and we have invited some of them to re-apply in future years. If you are one of those people and find yourself reading this, please don’t self-reject. We…

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A Mysterious Box Found in the Attic

Among all the ephemera from four generations of the my extended family that seems to have ended up in my attic have been some truly interesting, personal, and moving objects. Memories have been recalled, and feelings too. Sometimes I’ve sat and looked and remembered, and wondered too. I have also found: – Some ancient and rather crumbly 200ADs. – Lots of LARP kit, much of it decent. Apart from a…

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Mystery Tech from the Attic

This little instrument (about 7cm long) was an interesting attic find. It took me a while to work out what it is actually for. Look through the lens beside the numbered wheel and you see a double-image of whatever you are looking at. Rotate the wheel and the images move apart or together.  Move them together, until they overlap and the number on the wheel by the marker shows the distance to the…

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Chemo, Food, and Taste

One of the tiresome things about chemo is what it does to flavours and aromas. For me almost every taste is really dialed down, and many things are flavourless. Texture is a big part of enjoying food, but when that’s all there is, meals can be pretty dull.  Fortunately my appetite is still good but I can easily understand how people who have lost appetite as well as taste could lose all interest…

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Eat My Speculative Shorts!

7pm GMT this Wednesday (1st March) I’ll be taking part in one of the free Glasgow 2024 WorldCon online fringe events. “Eat my Speculative Shorts” is a panel discussion on that wonderful story form – the short story. Speculative short fiction is a booming industry… but do we show it the love it deserves? Are short stories a stepping stone for novels or a career in their own right? Is the TikTok…

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Short Story News - The Skull!

Short Story News – The Skull!

I was excited to take delivery of #9 of Tales from the Magician’s Skull yesterday. It contains my story, ‘The Glass Dragon’ – in the final slot no less! There’s a lot to like about Magician’s Skull. It’s a large-format print magazine, each issue is a lovely production, with every story illustrated. And for gamers one or two of the creatures in each tale are worked up as playable monsters. From my…

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The journey continues.

Earlier this month we went to Milford SFF Conference in Nantle, North Wales –  a week of critiques, writing, hanging out with other writers, and cake. Trigonos, the place we stayed, nestled in the foothills of Snowdonia, is determined we need never go more than three hours without something to eat. Vis: 8 am -Breakfast 11 am – Tea and biscuits 1 pm – Lunch 4 pm – Tea and cake 7 pm – Supper This…

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Over the Moon!

Each year the British Fantasy Society (BFS) runs an open competition for short stories. Judging is anonymized, which I really like. The SFF community is not small but it is friendly. Conventions pretty much guarantee most people know most people. To my delight my story And into the Tunnel, the Train placed first. I was, and still am, over the moon about this. I was especially pleased because And…

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Lord of WTAF?

Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light is one of my favourite SFF novels and, I would argue, one of the all-time-great SFF novels. This is a hill I’d happily die on, at least over a couple of beers with fellow readers and writers. Anyway,, this following, quoting heavily from Wikipedia, may be common knowledge, but it did slightly blow my tiny mind. Here we go: “In 1979 it was announced that Lord of Light…

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22 Ideas About the Future

22 Ideas About the Future

22 Ideas About the Future is a collection of short stories from Cybersalon that “focuses on four main areas of rapid change: money, communities and identity, health and food, and retail and the reshaping of our high streets”. My short story, Low Down on the High Street, is, as you might guess from the title, is one take on the ongoing and continuous reshaping of our high streets. You can order 22…