Hindi Response

 I'm very pleased that my story In Response to Your Reader, first published in scientific journal Nature, will now also be published in Hindi in scientific journal Vigyan Sampreshan. This follows on from the Greek translation, the English reprint and an expected Romanian translation. It will be my second story published in Hindi.

The Gondolier Remix - Shakespeare Edition

The second author I decided to attempt to emulate with a remixed version of The Gondolier is none other than Shakespeare.

The black prow of my gondola so swift,

Cut smoothly through the waters o so calm,

Upon canals the craft gives me a lift

It’s many years of service like a charm.

 

For many passengers along the way

Through city’s waters I have been a guide

For generations of the service pay

To ancient kin of mine who have now died.

The sun sank down upon the city old,

And turned the water to a lane of ink

Of ribbon lain between the bricks of gold

Of sandstone buildings warm and gold and pink

 

I breathed in deeply of the evening breeze,
No city stands that is more beautiful

This wondrous city of canals doth please

So never is a day within it dull

 

As the boat into its mooring eased

I stopped to gaze with satisfied huzzahs

Another day in which I was so pleased

To be beneath the darking skies of Mars.

Greek Mole Rats

 I'm very pleased that my short story The Righteous Indignation of the Naked Mole Rat has been accepted by Greek magazine Ef-Zin, to be published next year. This will be the sixth language for this story.

Spanish Anthology Award

The anthology Cuentos para Algernon: Ano X, which includes the Spanish translation of my story Five Ways to Accidentally Save the Earth from Alien Conquest' has won the Ignotus award for Best Anthology.

The Ignotus awards are the premier Spanish speculative fiction awards. Along with the other 12 authors and the editor, this means I can happily claim one fourteenth of the award.

Escapades in Romania

The Romanian translation of my dialogue-only story Escapades in Time is out now in issue #39 of Galaxia42 magazine.

This is the fifth language for this story, after English, Galician, Spanish and Catalan, my third story in Galaxia42 and my sixth in Romanian altogether.

A Response in Greek

The Greek translation of my story In Response to Your Reader is out today in issue #43 of Ef-Zin magazine.

This is the second language and third appearance for this story, my fifth story in Ef-Zin magazine and my eighth story in Greek.

The Gondolier Remix - Wodehouse Edition

My very short story The Gondolier has been translated into 56 languages so far, but I wondered what it would look like in English had it been written by somebody else. There are a few authors I like who sprung to mind that I could try to emulate. Here's the first of the remixed versions of The Gondolier.

The Gondolier Remix – Wodehouse Edition

 

The black prow of my gondola, if prow is what I mean – I’ve never got the hang of port and starboard, prow and whatnot - cut smoothly through the calm waters of the canals. The sleek craft had served me well for many a year, carried hordes of chums through the city’s waterways under the guiding hands of generations of my forebears. Or rather, my forebears’ valets.

The sun was preparing to say toodle-pip as it sank over the ancient city, turning the water to an inky ribbon lain between rather spiffing sandstone buildings. I took a good lungful of the cool evening breeze.

If anyone were to ask me, I should say there’s no place more beautiful than this wondrous city of canals. As Jeeves eased the boat into its mooring I stopped to gaze with satisfaction up into the darkening skies of jolly old Mars.

Letter to the Editor

I recently discovered The Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Weird Fiction Magazine Index, which has an entry for my publications.

Amazingly, it includes the long-forgotten fact that I had a letter to the editor published in issue #97 of Interzone magazine, back in July 1995 - my earliest appearance in print!

Slovakian Fantazia Award

I'm honoured to have been invited to serve on the jury for this year's Fantazia award, the Slovakian speculative fiction awards. I don't speak Slovak, but I'll be helping judge the 'Best story translated into English' category.

The Man from Chateaulin

 The annual summer holiday collaborative story writing projects with Alex and Haydn has produced such anarchic stories as A Detective Inspector, a Week-Old Haddock and the Means to Destroy Paris and The Good Ship Munders.

The earliest of these collaborations, and probably the most bonkers, was The Man from Chateaulin, written while on holiday near Chateaulin in France. I decided to give Wattpad a go and I've published it as a serial there. If you like Inspector Clouseau, this might be for you.

You can read it here.