One Month to EasterCon

EasterCon is back at Heathrow this year, which is rather convenient for me. I will just about emptied my bookshelf of the numerous books I bought at WorldCon, so the timing is perfect. Looking forward to meeting authors and editors, talking about writing, listening to some panel discussions and browsing the dealer hall again.

Five New Stories

This week I finished my fifth story in a month, which is a surprising amount for me, and started a sixth. Four of them are now under submission, the other I'm still not quite happy with the final editing. The new story has started well, and joins two other partially-written stories from last year. They're mostly pretty short stories, but the advantage of that is getting a feeling of accomplishment from getting something finished. It's almost as good as getting something accepted for publication!

Space Station Inspiration

Deborah Walker, one of my collaborators on two different Astropolis stories, has just had a story published in Nature magazine, and in this blog post explains how Good For Something started life on Astropolis.

Austrian Story Sale

I'm very pleased that my Victorian SF adventure novelette The JourneyWithin has been accepted by Austrian magazine Visionarium, to be translated into German. It won't appear until next year, but it gives me something to look forward to. This will be my longest translated story to date, and my second in German. It was first published in the anthology Ancient New in 2013.

The Probable Tradesman

I'm very pleased to have sold my flash story The Probable Tradesman to pro mag Abyss & Apex, which should see publication later this year. It's my 8th pro sale, and starts the year off nicely.

Part 2

...and part 2 of Venus or Bust is now up at Beam Me Up podcast episode #425. It starts about 10 minutes into the podcast.

Venus or Bust

My oldest son Alex has his first story on-line now: part 1 of Venus or Bust on the Beam Me Up podcast.

Book Review: Voices by Colin P. Davies

Featuring a stylish cover by Richard Wagner, ‘Voices’ is the second short story collection from Colin P. Davies, whose stories have appeared in such magazines as ‘Asimov’s Magazine’, as well as many others for over twenty years. There are twenty stories in the collection, each of which have an honest, down-to-earth feel to them (even those not set on Earth) featuring characters from all kinds of backgrounds, but all of them sympathetic and accessible. Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

A Decade of Writing

Astoundingly, it was 10 years ago today that my first story was published, when A Feast of Eyes appeared on the now-defunct website Star Trek & Science Fiction Stories. It was a non-paying website that also featured fan fiction, but it was my first submission to its first venue and the acceptance inspired me with confidence to go on writing and submitting. I'm pleased with all the stories I've had published, the fact that I've completed 3 novels and that I'm still writing now. I've been in pro mags and semi-pro anthologies and translated into 24 languages. I've written over 100 book reviews, edited a steampunk anthology, met loads of other authors and publishers, been to cons and collaborated on stories, written everything from a TV screenplay totwitter fiction. I have a shelf full of magazines and anthologies containing my stories. It's been great.

Writing Plans

There's always so much to write and so little time. There's also so much to read, after having picked up 14 books at WorldCon and several more since. Currently I'm writing a short story about alien detective Ek-Lo-Don, who first appeared in The Sound of Death at IGMS earlier this year. I have ideas for 5 stories in that series and I'm seriously thinking about a novel too. That may well take over from the novel I started 2 years ago that didn't get very far, which if I continue will become a trilogy. I also have ideas for a novel in the same universe as Gap Years, as well as 3 or 4 in the Galaxy's Game universe. Meanwhile I'm also writing an interactive novel related to Galaxy's Game. I'm enjoying it, but it will be a long-term background project. I have another 2 partly-written short stories, which is unusual for me as I normally write one at a time and finsih them. Both are awaiting further inspiration. Then there are the usual ideas patiently awaiting their turn on the page - at least five definite short stories lurking in the background. That should keep me busy for a while.