Why we keep writing
Long experience as a graphic designer means I started thinking about an appropriate image for this. There is no image. There shouldn’t be an image for this, because images stay … Continue reading Why we keep writing
Recent Posts
The Expert System’s Brother: Review
Cover Artwork by Raphael Lacoste The Expert System’s Brother by Adrian Tchaikovsky leaves the wasp sting of knowledge behind it. No wonder his signing comes with a small, perfectly-formed drawing … Continue reading The Expert System’s Brother: Review
Jeff Noon and the really weird
Jeff Noon, British cult novelist, playwright and one of a small but very recognisable group of contemporary writers of weird, or new weird fiction, was in the Forbidden Planet London … Continue reading Jeff Noon and the really weird
Is Anybody Listening?
“You can’t stop the signal, Mal,” says Mr Universe in Serenity. At the London Premiere we were six deep, waiting for Joss who wore the expression of someone convinced everyone else … Continue reading Is Anybody Listening?
The Naked Author … is not
I was wavering on whether Kazuo Ishiguro appeared as a Naked Author or not in The Buried Giant until Damien Walter came up with The 8 Tribes of SciFi (now The Nine Tribes … Continue reading The Naked Author … is not
The Naked Author 1: This Census Taker
Francis Spufford’s review of This Census Taker in The Guardian, heads the “stoic bleakness” in the novel with a choice of author photograph designed to bring out the same qualities. The familiar image … Continue reading The Naked Author 1: This Census Taker
Urban Fantasy is dead – What?
I feel an attack of slottishness coming on. Slottishness is when the book you’re submitting is the wrong genre for the current climate. You’ve learned, painfully resuscitating the trampled … Continue reading Urban Fantasy is dead – What?
The Continuation of Cats
This picture, from a series by Miyoko Ihara/Rex Features about her grandmother’s cat, Fukumaru, reminded me of something about the continuation of cats. A few years’ ago, I decided … Continue reading The Continuation of Cats
Fanfic is Real, OK?
‘ Well, maybe not “real” in the usual sense. Re-reading one of my fanfics it is a heady brew of reverent but extreme use of Joss Whedon’s wall-to-wall fan catnip, Buffy … Continue reading Fanfic is Real, OK?
The Muffin Bird
This afternoon, I was working on a short story when I heard a small ‘thump’ and found a half-eaten muffin on the flat roof outside my window. No-one can access … Continue reading The Muffin Bird
Are writers the worst liars?
Writers are well known for making things up. Neil Gaiman is known to over two million Twitter followers as someone who will eventually grow up and get a real job. … Continue reading Are writers the worst liars?
Living in Nine Worlds
The unstoppable force in agenting known as Juliet Mushens tweeted on the last day of Nine Worlds Geekfest 2014 Please can I live here. … Continue reading Living in Nine Worlds
UF or Hokusai’s Manga
http://uploads4.wikiart.org/images/katsushika-hokusai/ningyo.jpg The sun’s come out and you may have something better to do than burble around with me on this one. It was a very interesting Twitter with Amy Boggs … Continue reading UF or Hokusai’s Manga
