Ode to an Earthworm

When I heard at EasterCon that Ian Whates of NewCon Press had an open submission call for his latest anthology, I was determined to send something in. NewCon publish some great anthologies and collections, usually with a whole host of well-known authors.

I've never written a story specifically for a themed anthology before, and Looking Landwards' theme of the future of agriculture is somewhat specialised. I thought about it for several weeks while several half-formed ideas came and went. I finally wrote it with only two weeks to the deadline, edited it, deliberated on the title and submitted it with only two days to go.

Ode to an Earthworm was accepted this week and will be appearing in Looking Landwards when it's launched in October.

Spanish Short Story Collection

One of the projects I've been working on occasionaly is to collect my ten stories that have been translated into Spanish and release them as a free e-book. Unfortunately it's such a long time since I turned Daybreak into an ebook that I don't remember how I did it. Meanwhile I've almost tracked down all of the translators to get permissions, so it shouldn't be too long.

Ancient New Anthology Published

The anthology Ancient New is out today from Deepwood Publishing, and it looks rather splendid. My novelette The Journey Within is a Victorian SF adventure and is my longest story so far published.

Part 7 Complete

I've completed Galaxy's Game part 7 and the book is nearing 80,000 words. I have an early draft of part 8 to re-write, then it will be on to new territory...

The Gondolier in German

My very short story The Gondolier has been published in issue 30 of German SF magazine Exodus. German is my 24th published language, and the 12th for this story.
 

Hiking in my Head

I'm very pleased that I have sold my short story Hiking in my Head to Daily Science Fiction, a fine venue that has published a plethora of great authors. I don't know when it will be published yet. I'l let you know.

Book Review: Anthology of European SF

I'm quite a fan of translations, foreign-language SF and languages in general. My stories have been published in twenty European languages, and nominated for awards in Estonian and Catalan, and one of my short stories appears in another fifteen European languages on my website, so I was very pleased to be sent a review copy of the ‘Anthology Of European Speculative Fiction’. The collection features both stories translated into English and originally written in English by authors for whom English is a second language. And two English people.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

101 Stories

This week I finished writing my 101st story. That's enough to make a fur coat!

Galaxy's Game Returns

A long time ago in a notebook far away...

Galaxy's Game was born. But it had a different title. I wrote it for ten years. Then I stopped for twelve years. Then I started re-writing it on computer for a year. After 40,000 words I stopped again. Then I went back to it after four years and decided it needed too much work to get it up to scratch. Then I found it again three years later and read it to my two boys, who love it and want me to finish it. So I've written another 15,000 words and I think I'll finish it this time.

What happens then is anyone's guess.

Anthology of European SF

As you may know, I'm quite a fan of translations, foreign-language SF and languages in general, so I was very pleased to be sent a review copy of The Anthology of European SF, featuring stories translated into English from around Europe. I shall be reviewing it soon...