A Year of Publications

The final tally is in – a total of 38 publications this year. I am amazed. Last year was my previous best at 16 publications. This year’s total includes:

7 flash ficiton stories
2 twitter ficton stories
21 translations
15 languages – 11 of them new this year
My 1st anthology appearance
4 reprints
2 reprinted translations
1 non-fiction article

I suspect I won’t be outdoing that next year!

A Year of Writing

The biggest milestone in my writing this year – in fact the biggest of my writing carrer so far – was the completion of my first novel Roadmaker. I wrote ‘The End’ in March, then after much editing and revising sent it to its first agent in September. After that I started work on my second novel Gap Years and I’m over 10,000 words in so far.

The next biggest project has been Quivira, the story I’m writing in collaboration with Jonathan C Gillespie. It’s just about novella length and almost finished.

Aside from that I’ve written one flash fiction story, two microfiction stories for Twitter and my first three comic scripts. That’s a lot less wordage than usual on shorts, but it’s more than compensated for by the novel-length work.

I still have 5 short story ideas awaiting , so one of them will be starting off once Quivira is wrapped up. Plenty more to do next year then.

Favourite Stories of 2009

Yes, it's that time again already. By my count I've read 18 SF magazines and 8 anthologies this year. Most of the anthologised stories were from previous years though. I gave up trying to narrow this list down to a top ten a couple of yeas ago, and this year my list of favourites amounts to 13, presented here in chronological order:



Out Of Time by Jack Westlake – Murky Depths #8

Come-From-Aways by Tony Pi – On-Spec #76

Rescue Stories by Andrew West - Focus Fiction Special

Our Man in Herrje by Andrew Knighton – Jupiter #24

Ghosts in the Machine by Ian Whates – The Gift of Joy

Dusting Tycho by Vera Sepulveda – Jupiter #25

Silence and Roses by Suzanne Palmer – Interzone #223

Sublimation Angels by Jason Sanford – Interzone #224

The Festival of Tethselem by Chris Butler – Interzone #224

Palimpsest by Charles Stross – Wireless

White Wall by Tim Nickels – Midnight Street #13

Funny Pages by Lavie Tidhar – Interzone #225

Radio Man, Frequency Woman by Alex Kurnow – Murky Depths #10

International Writing

I've just got the latest issues of Albedo 1 (OK, it's from October - I'm a little behind). The editorial talks about the lack of opportunities for international authors to be translated into English and outlines a brilliant plan to rectify this.

The editors have already been in contact with magazines from abroad to arrange an annul mutual story-swap. In the case of Albedo 1, the winner of their Aeon Award will be translated into 4 other langauges and published by the other participating magazines. Albedo 1 will be publishing translations from Dutch and French so far. The organisers are hoping to widen this by including other national awards, or where none exist, a story chosen by the editors of a country's 'national magazine'.

What a brilliant idea! You may have noticed that I'm really excited already about translations. I shall be offering all of my knowledge on the subject to the Albedo 1 team.

Pow!erful Tales Reviewed

Superhero anthology Pow!erful Tales has been reviewed at the prestigious Tangent Online site. Of my story The Ironic Man, the reviewer says:

a cute microstory about market branding and how difficult it is to come up with a superhero name that really captures the essence of the hero.

It's only a brief mention, but then it's only a brief story.

Novelette Milestone

Progress on my new novel Gap Years has been glacially slow up to now. This weekend I managed over 2,000 words though and crept past the 7,500 word barrier, into Novelette territory. I'll be off work for 10 1/2 days over the Christmas / New Year break. Is another 10,500 words possible? One can only hope.

Review Archive: Novels

40 Years by Bernd Struben

A
Absorption by John Meaney 

A Candle for Malka by Louise Carey 
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson
Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear 

Andrea Víctrix by Llorenç Villalonga 
After Atlas by Emma Newman
Alliance Rising by C.J. Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher
All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakaruzaka
Altered Seasons: Monsoonrise by Paul Briggs
Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Artemis by Andy Weir
Atlas Alone by Emma Newman 

A Strange and Brilliant Light by Eli Lee 
Austral by Paul McAuley

B
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu
Barsk: The Elephant's Graveyard by Lawrence M. Schoen 

Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky 
Before Mars by Emma Newman
Beneath the World, a Sea by Chris Beckett
Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller 

Blindspace by Jeremy Szal 
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Breaking Point by John Macken
Blood and Iron by Tony Ballantyne
By Force Alone by Lavie Tidhar
By Light Alone by Adam Roberts
By the Pricking of Her Thumb by Adam Roberts


C
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Central Station by Lavie Tidhar 
Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Clementine by Cherie Priest
The Coincidence Engine by Sam Leith
Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon
The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi 
Coming Home by Jack McDevitt
The Commons by Matthew Hughes  

The Compelled by Adam Roberts & Francois Schuiten 
The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi
The Core of the Sun by Johanna Sinisalo 
The Corporation Wars: Insurgence by Ken MacLeod
The Corporation Wars: Dissidence by Ken MacLeod
The Corporation Wars: Emergence by Ken MacLeod
Critical Point by S.L. Huang
The Cruel Stars by John Birmingham
The Cusanus Game by Wolfgang Jeschke

D
The Dalliances of Monsieur D'Haricot by Barbara Stevenson 

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett
The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Dark Run by Mike Brooks 

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 

Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill 
Death's End by Cixin Liu 
Diaspora by Greg Egan
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
Distress by Greg Egan
Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Dying of the Light by George R. R. Martin

E
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey 

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker
Europe at Midnight by Dave Hutchinson
Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson
Everfair by Nisi Shawl   

Eversion by Alastair Reynolds 

The Evidence by Christopher Priest 

The Extractionist by Kimberley Unger 

F
Final Inquiries by Roger McBride Allen
Flinx Transcendant by Alan Dean Foster 

Flux by Jinwoo Chong 
Fragment by Warren Fahy
Freefall by Mercurio D Rivera
From Darkest Skies by Sam Peters
From Distant Stars by Sam Peters
From Divergent Suns by Sam Peters 

The Future is Yours by Dan Frey 

G
Game of the Gods by Jay Schiffman
Gardens of the Sun by Paul McCauley
Genesis by Bernard Beckett
The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis

H
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 

Holdout by Jeffrey Kluger 

I
Immobility by Brian Evenson
Incandescence by Greg Egan 

Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds 

Inscape by Louise Carey 
The Iron Tactician by Alastair Reynolds
Invisible Ecologies by Rachel Armstrong

J
Jacaranda by Cherie Priest 

K 

Karma of the Sun by Brandon Ying Kit Boey 
Killing Is My Business by Adam Christopher

L
Last Year by Robert Charles Wilson
The Last Theorem by Arthur C Clarke & Frederick Pohl
Legion: The Many Lives of Steven Leeds by Brandon Sanderson
The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang
Life, the Universe & Everything by Douglas Adams
The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter
Limit, Part 1 by Frank Schätzing
Limit, Part 2 by Frank Schätzing 

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald
Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald
Luna: Moon Rising by Ian McDonald

M
Made to Kill by Adam Christopher
Mammoths of the Great Plains by Eleanor Arnason
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Moons of Barsk by Lawrence M. Schoen
Morhelion by Dominic Dulley
Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams
Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett

N
The Nemesis List by R.J. Frith
Nemo Rising by C. Courtney Joyner 

Neom by Lavie Tidhar 
New Model Army by Adam Roberts 

The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy 
No Way by S.J. Morden 

Nucleation by Kimberley Unger 

O
The One-Eyed Man by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
One Way by S.J. Morden
Origamy by Rachel Armstrong
Our Memory Like Dust by Gavin Chait

P
Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry
Patrimony by Alan Dean Foster
Perfect Circle by Carlos Cortez
Permutation City by Greg Egan
Phases of Gravity by Dan Simmons
Planetfall by Emma Newman
Planetside by Michael Mammay
The Prisoner by Carlos J Cortes
Provenance by Ann Leckie 

Purgatory Mount by Adam Roberts 

Q
Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling
The Quanderhorn Xperimentations by Rob Grant and Andrew Marshall
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Quiet War by Paul McCauley
Quofum by Alan Dean Foster

R
Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente 

Radio Life by Derek B. Miller 
The Real-Town Murders by Adam Roberts
Red Claw by Philip Palmer
The Redemption of Time by Baoshu 

Redspace Rising by Brian Trent 
Rejoice, A Knife to the Heart by Steven Erikson
Resonance by John Meaney
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

S
Sea Change by Nancy Kress
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill
Second World by Eddie Shah
Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley 

Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam 

Seven Mercies by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam 
Shattermoon by Dominic Dulley 

Skyward Flight by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson 
Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds
The Smoke by Simon Ings
So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish by Douglas Adams
Something Coming Through by Paul McAuley
The Soul Consortium by Simon West-Bulford
Spaceside by Michael Mammay
Starship Fall by Eric Brown 

Stormblood by Jeremy Szal 
Strange Music by Alan Dean Foster
Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Supernova Era by Cixin Liu

T
The Tel Aviv Dossier by Lavie Tidhar & Nir Yaniv
Teranesia by Greg Egan
The Thing Itself by Adam Roberts  

This is Our Undoing by Lorraine Wilson 

This Eden by Ed O'Loughlin 
The Time Roads by Beth Bernobich
Time Salvager by Wesley Chu
Time Siege by Wesley Chu 

Tomorrow by Chris Beckett 
Troika by Alastair Reynolds
Trouble Magnet by Alan Dean Foster
Twisted Metal by Tony Ballantyne 

Two Tribes by Chris Beckett 

U
The Unfamiliar Garden by Benjamin Percy 

Unholy Land by Lavie Tidhar

V

W
War of the Maps by Paul McAuley
Waste Tide by Chen Quifan 

Wergen: The Alien Love War 

X

Y

Z
Zendegi by Greg Egan 

Zodiac by Neal Stephenson 

Review Archive: Anthologies

2001: An Odyssey in Words edited by Ian Whates & Tom Hunter

 A
After the Sundial by Vera Nazarian 

AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Quifan 
Anthology of European SF by Cristian Tamas (Ed)

B
The Best of Larry Niven
The Best Japanese Science Fiction by John L. Apstolou & Martin H. Greenberg (Eds)
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
Broken Stars by Ken Liu (Ed)

C
Can and Can'tankerous by Harlan Ellison
Celebration by Ian Whates (Ed)
Celebration - A Taster by Ian Whates (Ed)
Crises and Conflicts by Ian Whates (Ed)

D

E
Eclipse One by Jonathan Strahan (Ed)
Eclipse Two by Jonathan Strahan (Ed)
The Edge of the Country by Trevor Denyer
Engineering Infinity by Jonathan Strahan (Ed)

F
Fun with Rainbows by Gareth Owens

G
The Gift of Joy by Ian Whates
Go Forth and Multiply by Gordon Van Gelder (Ed)
Grand Crusades: The Early Jack Vance Volume Five

H
Hard-Luck Diggings by Jack Vance  

Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu 

I
Invisible Planets: Collected Fiction by Hannu Rajaniemi
Invisible Planets by Ken Liu (Ed)

J
Journeys by Ian R Macleod

K

L
The Last Reef by Gareth L Powell  

London Centric edited by Ian Whates 
Luminous by Greg Egan

M
The Mammoth Book of Steampunk by Sean Wallace (Ed)
The Mammoth Book of Steampunk Adventures by Sean Wallace (Ed)
The Martian Chronicles - The Complete Edition by Ray Bradbury

N
Nebula Award Showcase 2017
Nebula Awards Showcase 2018
The New Voices of Science Fiction edited by Hannu Rajaniemi and Jacob Weisman 

Nova Hellas: Stories from Future Greece 
Now We Are Ten by Ian Whates (Ed)

O
Oceanic by Greg Egan

P
The Peacock Cloak by Chris Beckett

Q

R
Radicalized by Cory Doctorow

S
Shine by Jetse De Vries (Ed)
So Far, So Near by Matt Coward
Steampunk'd by Jean Rabe & Martin H. Greenberg (Eds)
Subtle Edens by Allen Ashley (Ed)

T
The Turing Test by Chris Beckett

U
Up the Bright River by Philip José Farmer

V
Voices by Colin P. Davies

W
The Wandering Earth by Cixin Liu
Wastelands 2: More Stories of Apocalypse by John Joseph Adams (Ed) 

The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang (Eds) 
Wireless by Charles Stross
With a Little Help by Cory Doctorow
The World and the Stars by Chris Butler (Ed)
World Science Fiction #1 edited by Francesco Verso
Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs

X

Y

Z 

Reviewing my Reviews

As the number of reviews I've written approaches 100, I've realised that my review archive is turning into an unmanageably long list. I plan to split the archive into 3 different pages - for magazines, novels and anthologies. I'll then list the entries alphabeticaly by title to make them easier to find amongst the crowd.

The reviews secton on the right hand side bar will still contain a list of the most recent reviews, but I'll also add them to the archive as I create them, rather than after they scroll off the bottom.

This should all happen over the next few days.

Four Stories

Brazilian publisher Lusiadas have published their two flash fiction e-anthologies, I Lusiadas in Poruguese and I Antologio Luzidoj in Esperanto.

Both contain my stories The Gondolier and The Emporer's New Forcefield. That makes 4 published languages for Emporer and 8 for The Gondolier, though it's 26 languages in total for the latter.

I'm up to 17 published languages now - 13 of them new this year, and a grand total of 38 publications this year.

Entertaining Rejection

I received a rejection from a foreign-language magazine this weekend, with this comforting note:

Don't worry, our decisions are very unpredictable, depending on mood, weather, some people being outside for a cigarette etc.

They have asked me to submit again though. :o)

Magazine Review: Murky Depths #10

Many genre magazines fail to make it into double figures, so it’s especially exciting to see Murky Depths hit the magic tenth issue. With the launch of a writing competition that stretches to issue 14 and with plenty more artwork and stories already commissioned for forthcoming issues, it looks like the publishers plan to be around for a while yet.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Gardens of the Sun by Paul McCauley

Following on from The Quiet War, Paul McCauley traces the aftermath of the devastating events of that novel through the eyes of the same half-dozen characters we came to know last time. As Gardens Of The Sun progresses we’re taken on a grand tour of the solar system, from Earth to Pluto and almost everywhere in between. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable story and seems more relaxed and elegant than its predecessor while showing the same adherence to scientific realism.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish by Douglas Adams

After three volumes of manic chaos and rambling anecdotes that are the most hilarious books I’ve ever read, we come to this the fourth volume and a distinct change of style. Neil Gaiman’s introduction to this new edition explains some of the reason behind this – the darker and more sedate tone, Arthur Dent’s love story and far more sentimentality than previously seen. Is it as much fun as previous volumes? The simple answer is no. But it’s still brilliantly witty and inventive.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

What has always struck me about Ray Bradbury’s short stories is the lyrical quality of his prose. The sentences seem to ramble, but always with purpose, always with poetic grace. Introductions by several authors make similar comments, and the introductions by Ray Bradbury himself display the same enthralling style.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Book Review: Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.