The following short story was read out on BBC Radio Leeds on April 7th, 2020. You can find a clip of that audio recording here: Otherwise, the full text of the story is available below. This is a story I wrote sometime in 2019 when I was struggling to finish anything at all, even flash... Continue Reading →
Writing in troubled times
At the time of the Coronavirus lockdown, the biggest success to report is the continuing functioning of the Circle on-line. Ian Harker’s “Places of Poetry” workshop successfully moved to Zoom and proved a great success. The first remote Manuscript Evening was held on Monday, April 6th. Hosted by Graeme and chaired by Lucie, with no less than 18 members appearing on screen at the same time, it worked very well . The other groups are continuing to function too. Writers are irrepressible people.
The adjudication evening for the poetry competition had to be cancelled. The brief from judge Mark Connors was for a Persona Poem and the full results are now on the Competitions Page. Many congratulations to Gail Mosley, Andrew Lambert and Joanna Bucktrout as the main winners, and also to Sue Ryder, Adelle Kirk and Sunyi Dean. Hopefully we can celebrate and hear your poems at an…
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THE PLAGUE by Albert Camus
The Plague by Albert Camus My rating: 5 of 5 stars The last time I read a Camus book was 17 years ago, and it was a life-changing experience. Ever since then, I have studiously avoided Camus' writing in case his other novels were similarly affecting. But with the onset of Covid-19 and so many... Continue Reading →
NOPHEK GLOSS by Essa Hansen
Nophek Gloss by Essa Hansen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Caveat: This is not your usual book review; I've included some "behind the scenes" musings for once. If you prefer my usual reviews, this may not be your cup of tea. Okay, caveats out of the way--let's go! There's a lot of mutual back-scratching... Continue Reading →
King Far
I will not live in silent rooms where all my mothers died; forgotten women lost in time feet bound by cultural pride.
Writer Alliance: Publishing Round-up!
I try not to do promo-type stuff very often, either for friends or myself, but I want to talk very briefly about my amazing online writer group. Good critique groups make all the difference in a long writing journey. I remember all too well the confusion and mild horror of sifting through one bad beta-read... Continue Reading →
THE PURSUIT OF WILLIAM ABBEY by Claire North
The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North My rating: 3 of 5 stars Conflicting read "And I knew at last what I had wanted to know since I had met her: that there was no such thing as simple as the storyteller’s love in her, that love was a tangled measure of a thousand... Continue Reading →
THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR by Amal El-Mohtar
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar My rating: 5 of 5 stars Beautifully written: go read this. Eloquent, subtle, atmospheric; fast paced but still carrying depth. So much wordplay; if you delight in reading such things, as I do, then you will find the writing itself to be so much... Continue Reading →
DARK PLACES by Gillian Flynn
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn My rating: 3 of 5 stars Ehhhhh. In a nutshell: strong characterisation and good craft/writing, with a very atmospheric setting. But the novel was structurally messy, the main character has motivation and/or passivity issues, and the final reveal is incredibly convoluted. Without wanting to give any spoilers, I feel like... Continue Reading →
On the peculiar joy of feeding trolls
Let's talk about Hairy Baguette.
THE MONSTER BARU CORMORANT by Seth Dickinson
The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson My rating: 2 of 5 stars I adored The Traitor Baru Cormorant (Masquerade #1) and loved the *start* of book #2 in this series, but despite some excellent writing and characterisation at the start, the novel disintegrated for me at around the 30% mark. Structural problems were my... Continue Reading →
TELEPATHIST by John Brunner
Telepathist by John Brunner My rating: 4 of 5 stars #shortreview for Instagram: I finished reading the Telepathist this morning. It was a sad and rather brutal novel, about a man whose physical deformities enable him to develop powerful mental capabilities (telepathy, in this case). There's some dystopian-esque spy stuff going on in the background... Continue Reading →
Coming off submission: some thoughts
So much of an aspiring author's time (at least, for those aspiring towards trade publication) is taken up with querying. I can understand this, having been in the querying trenches last year (and the year before that). Doors open with agents, you might say, meaning it's natural to focus on such a big goal. Querying... Continue Reading →
A Possible Serenity reprint
This is the only other story I'll "reprint" on here at present, as it's the only other story which was been locked into a print-only magazine. A Possible Serenity https://nycteris.com/publications/short-fiction/a-possible-serenity/
Deserted Lies the City reprint
Feel silly listing this as a Publications but here we are anyway 🙂 I've put up an older short story whose publication rights have expired elsewhere. You can read it here, where it will remain permafree. As more of my shorts become available, I'll probably put them up here as reprints with links to the... Continue Reading →
THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins My rating: 5 of 5 stars Intriguing and nuanced I stayed up late to finish this, which is always a good sign! Extremely well done, and much better than Gone Girl (imo). I am reluctant to give spoilers so won't; the twists were less plotty than i... Continue Reading →
LWC 2019 Dialogue Comp
Grats to the lovely winners of the dialogue competition! Another great event with friendly writers and thoughtful judging. via Competitions
Query Construction: PAPERFLESH
A brief deconstruction of how I wrote the query/pitch letter for my current WIP. May be of use, or may not! Up to you 🙂
GONE GIRL by Gillian Flynn
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn My rating: 4 of 5 stars It was perhaps a mistake to embark on a novel which is, one way or another, centered on a tumultuous marriage, particularly when your own marriage is somewhat tumultuous. Still, I suppose it speaks to the relatability of the novel that, despite its bizarre... Continue Reading →
TOUCH by Claire North
Touch by Claire North My rating: 3 of 5 stars I have enormous respect for Claire North's writing. She has fascinating ideas, beautiful prose, poignant characterisations, a lively yet literary style, and keen observations on society/humanity. However, I didn't love this novel as I hoped I would. I started off thinking it would be a... Continue Reading →
The Best Of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe
The Best of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe My rating: 5 of 5 stars Awesome Obviously, I loved it. My favorite was The Eyeflash Miracles. Absolutely stunning story on every level. Here were my other standout stories: “The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories,” copyright © 1970 by Gene Wolfe; first appeared in Orbit... Continue Reading →
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel My rating: 5 of 5 stars A cautious but thorough endorsement I had to consider for quite awhile what rating i wanted to give this novel. The fact I had to think about it is, of course, its own sort of endorsement. Let's start with some context. I... Continue Reading →
Tales of the Fantastic — Leeds Writers Circle
Success comes in many shapes and sizes and we like to celebrate everything achieved by members here, whatever form that takes – a hint that we can’t publish those achievements unless you tell us about them. Don’t be shy. We’ve already celebrated some big successes this year and we now have a few others. Sarah […]... Continue Reading →
The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell
The True History of the Elephant Man by Michael Howell My rating: 5 of 5 stars Well-written and well structured as a book. Far kinder than the only other book I've read on Joseph Merrick (which, I think, was from the point of view of the doctor, and rather distasteful if memory serves.) I am,... Continue Reading →
“Are You Gay, Like Your Character?”
I very much agree with the points made in this article. I tick quite a few #ownvoices boxes and feel that pressure, both spoken and unspoken, to flog them like job credentials. But I’d rather my writing spoke for itself, to be honest.
Update 5/3/19. The author and I are both surprised by how much this has taken off! She (and I) are grateful for the real, thoughtful discussions you’ve been having around this. I do want to note, though, because I’ve had lots of comments (which I have chosen not to approve) from white folks using this as an opportunity to say they should get to write other folks’ stories. A lot have been specifically talking about how they, as white authors, want to write POC struggle stories. That’s not the conversation we’re having, and that wasn’t the point the author intended to make, so please don’t take it that way. We believe in #ownvoices stories. We don’t believe in white folks taking over the space that POC authors inhabit. The author’s story was one of a person in a position of power (an agent or editor) policing her marginalized identity. It…
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The Garments of Caean by BJ Bayley
The Garments of Caean by Barrington J. Bayley My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is one of those odd little gems that has stood out in my memory as a really sublime sf novel. On the outset, it's a book about a psychic suit that bonds with, controls, and manipulates its wearer for amazing... Continue Reading →
Troika by Adam Pelzman
Thanks to Essa for the recommendation!
Best of British Science Fiction 2018 Anthology
"--Good." has been selected for the BBSF 2018 Anthology this year. It's a small thing in the scheme of things--just one story in a reprint market--but I'm still quietly happy and very honored to sneak on the list 🙂 Flash is sometimes a hard sell for big anthologies, and many flat-out don't accept fiction of... Continue Reading →
The Outside by Ada Hoffmann
I received an ARC of this Angry Robot book via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. My opinions are my own 🙂
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks My rating: 2 of 5 stars From 5 stars, to 2 stars: a great concept, enjoyably written, that nonetheless lacked payoff (either emotional or plot-based). The ending hinged on a very unbelievable revelation that I couldn't buy into and which didn't wrap up all of the interesting elements that... Continue Reading →
