Author: quantumscribe

Attending the World Fantasy Convention

quantumscribeLeave a comment

A couple of weekends ago I was fortunate to attend the World Fantasy Convention in Brighton, UK which is an hour or so’s train ride from where I live. A fine time was had! Although I’ve got two World SF Conventions under my belt (Dublin in 2019 and Glasgow in 2024), this was my first World Fantasy Con. It was very cool with lots of great guests in attendance, and had the advantage of not being too crowded, yet well-attended. (And also superbly run by the organisers).

There was a great mix of panels and events, and a chance to catch up with some friends I hadn’t seen for a while. The convention hotel was very spacious and accommodating, with a good mix of rooms catering to different audience capacities, laid out across multiple floors – and connected by suitably maze-like corridors, connecting doors and ‘secret’ entrances. (There were rumours that the people we passed in the corridors who looked particularly harried were guests from the 2013 World Fantasy Con still trying to find their way out – but might just have been late night revellers).

One of my personal highlights was getting to chat with author (and editor!) James Logan after a panel he was part of. He was full of sage advice and general publishing wisdom. He very kindly signed a copy of his fantasy novel The Silverblood Promise which I started reading back in my hotel room, and I have to say it is a most excellent book. The second in the series (The Blackfire Blade) has just been published and it’s going straight on my TBR list.

Another highlight was seeing science fiction magazine ParSec win the 2025 British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine/Periodical. ParSec is a great SF/F magazine edited by the incomparable Ian Whates and I don’t think it gets enough mention. Obviously I am a little biased, having published my story Pennies in the Meme Jar back in ParSec issue 8, but the quality has always been very high, and in an era where high-quality SF/F outputs seem to be disappearing, ParSec has an important role to play. Let’s hope the BFA win brings in new readers and new subscriptions. (Subscriptions are available here).

One other thing that took my fancy was just along the sea front from the convention hotel. Brighton has a panoramic viewing tower called i360 which has a large viewing capsule that ascends a tall concrete pillar. Even though I’m not a great lover of heights, I quite fancied having a trip up – but alas, whenever I had free time away from the convention, the weather conditions weren’t right. (Brighton at the end of October is windy!). But I could see it from my hotel window and even in the middle of the night the capsule seemed to roost two thirds of the way up the tower. What I particularly liked was that if you got up close and tilted your head just so, without quite taking in the top of the column, it was possible to imagine it as an orbital tower with the capsule transporting passengers up to geostationary orbit.

Locus Poll – Read “Places You Have Never Been” for free!

quantumscribeLeave a comment

I was thrilled when my Analog story “Places You Have Never Been” made the Locus Recommended Reading List (which you can find here). I’ve never made the Locus Reading List before, so this is a new experience for me. It also means my story automatically appears on the listings for the Locus Award Poll – which I’m preserving for posterity here. (See? I said I was excited, didn’t I?):

However, If you missed it first time round, you can now read “Places You Have Never Been” for free! The publishers of Analog have kindly put their award-eligible 2024 stories up on their website for all to read. If you go here, you’ll find not only my story (eligible in the Best Novelette category) but also the wonderful “The Handmaiden-Alchemist” by Marie Vibbert (eligible in the Best Short Story category) which, coincidentally, was published in the same Jan-Feb 2024 issue of Analog as my story.

(Note: at the time of writing, the links to the two stories seemed to have been swapped over but you can still access both stories in full. I’m sure Analog’s web-master will fix this soon.)

And if you are thinking of voting in the Locus Poll you can do so via this link. Obviously, I’d be thrilled if you wanted to add “Places You Have Never Been” to your ballot in the Best Novelette category but there are still lots of great stories and books to vote for even if not. But don’t delay! Voting closes in just over a couple of weeks on April 15th.

The Locus Awards are voted on each year by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine Locus, although you don’t have to be a subscriber in order to vote; it’s open to anyone if you go here. There’s a brief survey to complete and then you’ll be emailed a link to the voting page. You don’t have to vote in all the categories if you don’t want to, and you can nominate up to five choices in order of preference in each category.

It’s a fun thing to do! So what are you waiting for?

Cover reveal – Vivid Worlds anthology

quantumscribeLeave a comment

Today (7th March 2025) is the start of the 5th World Conference on Climate Change and Global Warming in Vienna so it’s an auspicious day for the wonderful folk at The Slab Press to be launching the cover reveal for their latest anthology: a climate-themed solar punk collection of stories entitled Vivid Worlds.

Isn’t this a spectacular book cover?

The cover was designed by Welsh designer Paul Alex Condie. The anthology will be formally launched at Eastercon in Belfast next month, although sadly I won’t be there to see it.

I’m thrilled to have a story included in the anthology and can’t wait to read the other contributors. You’ll find more details of how to order a copy (paperback or ebook) on The Slab Press’s website very shortly. In the meantime, here’s the full list of authors and stories:

Holly Schofield, Oil and Water 

Cécile Cristofari, Tractors in the Mist

R.J.K. Lee, Don’t Blame the Tanuki Temple Thief

Toshiya Kamei, Post-Apocalyptic Survey of the Heart of Hokkaido

Ana Sun, Emily’s Farewell Coat

Rose Maxwell, Echolocation

Caolán Mac An Aircinn, Once More Unto the Breach

Cecil Wilde, The Story Keepers

Sierra Bibi, Blood and Water

Sue Oke, Final Report

Corey Jae White, Solar Strike

David Cleden, Going Out on a Limb

David Mancera, Through the Crimson Forest (translated by Monica Louzon)

Kay Hanifen, A Prayer on Rosary Peas

Liam Hogan, Low Tide at the Green Lagoon

Morgan Melhuish, Finding Armillaria

Nicholas Jay, The Mango Keeper

Rick Danforth, One Step at a Time

C. J. Hooper, The Cymric Sea

Shanna Yetman, Megacity Melancholy

Another year of books

quantumscribeLeave a comment

I few years ago I started the custom of stacking up each physical book I read during the course of the year and then, come New Years’ Day, taking a photo. This is purely for personal reasons, mostly so that I have a record that will be interesting to look back on in years to come. It’s never a big number of books in any given year – which is fine, I’m not competing with anyone. I do also read quite a few ebooks as well – possibly more than physical books although I’ve never counted – and consume a dozen or so audiobooks.

This year I took my New Year’s Day photo and then somehow it became February and I still hadn’t posted the picture. (How did it get to be February already?) Anyway, better late than never, here is last year’s reading:

Which ones did I enjoy? Pretty much all of them, although some a little more than others. I particularly liked ‘Eversion’ by Alastair Reynolds which was a glorious mix of SF, history and mystery. ‘Babel’ was also a standout of course, although I was coming late to it. ‘City of Last Chances’ by Adrian Tchaikovsky was particularly excellent and carries with it the memories of reading while also on holiday in Devon.

But now I have a confession to make. I did the same thing last year. I took my book photo on the first day of the new year, left posting it for a week or two, and then a month or two… and ended up not posting it at all! (What am I like?)

So to remedy that, here was last year’s (2023’s) book stack, to avoid a break in the photographic records!

Next year I promise to do better!

Awards Eligibility Post!

quantumscribeLeave a comment

Well, this is a first!

I’ve never written an awards eligibility post before – not because I haven’t had any eligible stories (I must be pushing on close to fifty publications by now) but mostly because of chronic authorly reticence when it comes to self-promotion. I understand this is something shared by many writers and that it’s simply necessary to push on through and just do it. So I’ve given myself a stern talking to and ordered the brain weasels who are always whispering But who cares? to take a back seat just for once.

I’m proud of all my stories. I think anyone who gets anything published in this day and age should feel proud. But pick of the bunch this year has to be Places You Have Never Been published right back at the start of the year in the Jan/Feb issue of Analog. Placing a novelette-length story with Analog felt special (and was a first for me). Reader reviews that I happened across were all positive which was nice. (Confession time: turns out it’s not hard to ‘happen across’ reader reviews if you google your name and story title. I know I shouldn’t but…) Places You Have Never Been also got a very positive review mention by A. C. Wise and made the Locus recommended reading list for that month. Here’s what she said:

I’m also sitting on some exciting anthology news regarding this story which I’ll share just as soon as I get the green light.

What else? What Remains of the Rainbow was a little short story published in Offshoots: Humanity Twigged, one of the Third Flatiron anthologies which are always fun collections full of stories which span the whole SF/F genre and loosely centred around a particular theme. This one amuses me because it has its genesis in a running joke with my wife. She came up with the title years ago while we were on holiday driving and saw a beautiful rainbow in the distance. Ever since, she likes to claim she has ‘basically written the story for me having gifted me the title – and please, why have I not finished it off and published it?’ Ideas swirled around for a year or two before I finally came up with something that worked and the editors at Third Flatiron took it for this anthology. So now I have ‘finished it off.’ So this one is for you, Vanessa!

In passing, I’ll note that this year also saw a couple of anthology reprints: Blue Shift, Passing By in the Best of British SF 2023, edited by Donna Bond and How Does My Garden Grow reprinted in Journeys Beyond the Fantastical Horizon (a Galaxy’s Edge Anthology). The latter counts as my most successful story so far, having been picked up for two best-of anthologies in addition to the original publication. However, neither of the above stories saw first publication in 2024 so are unlikely to be eligible for any award other than an anthology-related one.

So there it is. If you happen to have read Places You Have Never Been or What Remains of the Rainbow (details of where to find them are on my Fiction page) and like them enough to consider nominating them for an end of year award, I would be most honoured. (E.g. the Nebula Award ballet is open until Feb 28th 2025 here: https://www.sfwa.org/forum/ballots/)

There. Did it! Now I need to go lie down in a darkened room and recover.

The Astounding Analog Companion

quantumscribeLeave a comment

The very wonderful Analog Science Fiction & Fact magazine has a section of its website called ‘The Astounding Analog Companion.’ Here you can find a vast archive of short pieces written by Analog authors going back many years. (The archive, not the authors – although both may be true in my case). These are an eclectic mix of essays on science fictional subjects. I wrote one back in August 2022 called ‘The Humble Book Reimagined.’

Sometimes the essays explore a particular theme or idea in a published story. For instance, I’ve just enjoyed Sean McMullen’s thought piece on building a planet-sized space telescope, an idea which is the centrepiece to his story “Mirrorstar” in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Analog which I enjoyed very much.

Anyway, to coincide with the publication of my own novelette ‘The Touchstone of Ouroboros’ in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue, you can find my musings on this piece’s origin story, called (unsurprisingly) ‘Origin Stories’ up on the site which is free to read. Here’s the odd thing. At no point in ‘The Touchstone of Ouroboros’ do any rats feature. Not a single one. Yet I can trace the origin of this story back more than ten years to something that involved a LOT of rats! A whole man-sized ball of rats, in fact.

If you’re curious, please buy a copy of Analog and read ‘The Touchstone of Ouroboros’. Then read ‘Origin Stories’ and all will become clear. Let me know what you think!

New story in Analog!

quantumscribeLeave a comment

It’s always a delight to receive a new printed issue of Analog through the letterbox – but even more so when it includes a story of mine! Mostly I read e-versions of the various SF magazines I subscribe to but it’s a special treat to buy extra printed copies to give away to friends and family (whether they want one or not!)

The Touchstone of Ouroboros is a novelette-length story. It’s centred on an alien artefact, discovered long ago by a cult which has built an entire religion around its curious existence. Maintaining the cult’s authoritarian rule within the cave-like city of Ouroboros means preserving the mysteries of the Touchstone’s existence, bringing it into conflict with visiting scientists trying to understand its strange properties. Anything that comes into physical contact with the Touchstone for more than a few seconds is irrevocably bound to it. A senior cleric, losing his faith and weary of the in-fighting amongst the ruling elite, becomes tormented in more ways than one by the Touchstone. He’s driven to desperate lengths to find a way to break free – and even then he may fail.

I hope you get a chance to read the story! If you do, let me know what you think.

Stories in two new anthologies

quantumscribe2 Comments
Cover of book anthology "Best of British Science Fiction 2023" edited by Donna Scott and published by Newcon Press

The last couple of weeks has seen two new stories by me published in anthologies. First up is “Blue Shift, Passing By” in the Best of British Science Fiction 2023, edited by the very wonderful Donna Scott and published by Newcon Press. My story (originally published in Andomeda Spaceways Magazine) is in august company with the likes of Alastair Reynolds, Stephen Baxter and Adrian Tchaikovsky (amongst many other stellar names) all contributing stories. I was thrilled to be included – my second appearance in the anthology series! I also took part in the online launch party (where much cheese and wine was consumed) and that was great fun too. It really is a great anthology and a fine mix of stories – well worth checking out. Last year’s anthology won the BSFA award for best collection so it’s great to see the anthology series getting the recognition it deserves.

Cover of book anthology "Offshoots: Humanity Twigged" published by Third Flatiron

Second up is Twigged: Offshoots of Humanity, published by Third Flatiron. As you may know, this is a long-running anthology series and can always be relied on for some gem-of-a-story contents across a range of sub-genres, playing on variations of the anthology theme. This time the theme was on speculative future directions for humanity. My story “What Remains of the Rainbow” explores a conflict at the boundary of human / post-human development against a backdrop of early interstellar travel. I had a lot of fun exploring a particular solution to the time-dilation problem, given the impossibility of faster-than-light travel. With friends and family ageing by decades back home while you’re off travelling at near-light speeds, how can you avoid the inevitable separation and loss?

I’m working my way through the other stories in the anthology and enjoying them immensely. Plus a shout out to my old writing buddy Wulf Moon and his creative writing cohort who have come up with some humdingers!

Locus recommended reading!

quantumscribeLeave a comment

A few months ago the Jan/Feb 2024 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine carried my novelette “Places You Have Never Been.” The story plays on the theme of searching for lost things in a (slightly) dystopian future. This was my second story to appear in Analog and my longest story published anywhere to date. 

Now you probably don’t need me to tell you what a long and distinguished history Analog has. It stretches back to the early days of science fiction when giants of the field such as Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein were getting their breaks in its pages. It’s where treasures such as Frank Herbert’s “Dune” and Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” first appeared – and numerous others. (And since it’s a tough time for all SF/F magazines at the moment, please consider a subscription to Analog if you enjoy short fiction). 

Anyway, you can imagine how thrilled I was to be published here! Since then, my story has attracted some very nice reviews from various readers, which is always pleasing. (I find it very hard to be objective about my work, so it’s always lovely to be told that people have enjoyed my stories). 

The very wonderful A. C. Wise writes a regular review column in Locus Magazine – the monthly newsletter of all things SF/F and horror which is also a national, nay international, treasure and if you don’t already subscribe, then you should seriously consider it. A. C Wise is a terrific writer as well as a perceptive reviewer – see her superb novel “Wendy, Darling” for instance. She very kindly picked out “Places You Have Never Been” for a special mention in her review of that month’s Analog. Modesty forbids me from quoting what she said but you can read the review of the full issue here. So I’m doubly pleased therefore to have made it into an item of Locus recommended reading!

BSFA Award Winners

quantumscribeLeave a comment

Many congratulations to all the winners of 2023 BSFA awards which were announced at last weekend’s Eastercon in Telford, UK.

The full list of winners in all categories can be found here, courtesy of Locus magazine.

It felt like a very strong shortlist across all the categories and I’m looking forward to catching up on some gems on the shortlist I might otherwise have missed.

Amongst the deserving winners, I was particularly pleased to see Best of British Science Fiction 2022 (edited by Donna Scott) take first place in the Best Collection category. These anthologies have long been a favourite of mine, showcasing British science fiction talent – and of course I was thrilled to be included in the previous year’s volume with my story How Does My Garden Grow? Many, many congratulations to Donna Scott for getting much deserved recognition for her editing, and to Ian Whates and the whole publishing team at Newcon Press.

Full shortlist and winners:

Best Novel

  • WINNER: The Green Man’s Quarry, Juliet E. McKenna (Wizard Tower)
  • Descendant Machine, Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
  • Airside, Christopher Priest (Gollancz)
  • HIM, Geoff Ryman (Angry Robot)
  • Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (Gollancz)

Best Shorter Fiction (for novelettes and novellas)

  • WINNER: And Put Away Childish Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Rebellion)
  • Broken Paradise, Eugen Bacon (Luna)
  • I Am AI, Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
  • Europa, Allen Stroud (Flame Tree)
  • “Knotted Thorn”, Kari Sperring (The Book of Gaheris)

Best Short Fiction

  • WINNER: “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub”, P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny 1-2/23)
  • “Copper”, Jendia Gammon (Interzone 295)
  • “The Spoil Heap”, Fiona Moore (Clarkesworld 3/23)
  • “Lady Koi Koi: A Book Report”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Apex 6/20/23)
  • “A Little Seasoning”, Neil Williamson (Interzone Digital)

Best Collection (for collections and anthologies)

  • WINNER: The Best of British Science Fiction 2022, Donna Scott, ed. (Newcon)
  • Strange Attractors, Jaine Fenn (Newcon)
  • No One Will Come Back for Us, Premee Mohamed (Undertow)
  • Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology, Wole Talabi, ed. (Android)
  • Best of World SF: Volume 3, Lavie Tidhar, ed. (Bloomsbury)

Best Fiction for Young Readers

  • WINNER: The Library of Broken Worlds, Alaya Dawn Johnson (Harpercollins)
  • The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern, J. Dianne Dotson (Android)
  • A Song of Salvation, Alechia Dow (Inkyard)
  • Mindbreaker, Kate Dylan (Hodder & Stoughton)
  • We Who Are Forged in Fire, Kate Murray (Hardie Grant)

Best Non-Fiction (Long)

  • WINNER: A Traveller in Time: The Critical Practice of Maureen Kincaid Speller, Nina Allan, ed. (Luna)
  • Spec Fic for Newbies: A Beginner’s Guide to Writing Subgenres of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, Tiffani Angus & Val Nolan (Luna)
  • All These Worlds, Niall Harrison (Briardene)
  • Ex Marginalia: Essays on Writing Speculative Fiction by Persons of Color, Chinelo Onwualu, ed. (Hydra House)
  • “The Female Man”, Farah Mendlesohn (Eastercon talk)

Best Non-Fiction (Short)

  • WINNER: “Project Management Lessons from Rogue One”, Fiona Moore (adoctorofmanythings.wordpress.com)
  • “Dominant Themes in Afro-Centric Fiction”, Eugen Bacon (Aurealis 158)
  • “Weaving the Rainbow: Worldbuilding and SF”, Gautam Bhatia (Bombay Literary Magazine 4/23)
  • “Exposition Tax: The hidden burden of writing from the margins”, Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Ex Marginalia)
  • “Tech Billionaires Need to Stop Trying to Make the Science Fiction They Grew Up on Real”, Charles Stross (Scientific American 12/20/23)
  • “Prisoners in the Temple of the Muses”, Wole Talabi (Ancillary Review of Books 8/17/23)

Best Translated Short Fiction

  • WINNER: “Vanishing Tracks in the Sand”, Jana Bianchi, translated by Rachael Amoruso (The Bright Mirror)
  • “Bacterial”, Marcelo Cohen, translated by Kit Maude (Samovar 10/23/23)
  • “Retreat from the World Outside”, Gabriela Damian Miravete, translated by Adrian Demopulos (They Will Dream in the Garden)
  • “The Unknown Painter”, Henry Lion Oldie, translated by Alex Shvartsman, (Future SF 1/23/23)
  • “A Pilgrimage to Memories Tattooed”, Elena Pavlova, translated by Elena Pavlova & Desislava Sivilova (Samovar 6/26/23)
  • “My Guy”, Izumi Suzuki, translated by Sam Bett (Hit Parade of Tears)

Best Artwork

  • WINNER: Leo Nickolls for the cover of The Surviving Sky by Krikita H. Rao (Titan)
  • Elena Betti for the cover of Danged Black Thing by Eugen Bacon (Apex)
  • Christine Kim for the cover of Jewel Box: Stories by E. Lily Yu (Erewhon)
  • Julia Lloyd for the cover of Descendent Machine by Gareth L. Powell (Titan)
  • Juliana Pinho for the cover of “The Alphabet of Pinaa: An AI Reinvents Zerself on an Inhabited Moon” by Eugen Bacon (Interzone Digital)
  • Vinayak Varma for illustrations for “Strung Along in Seaforth” by Jonathan Laidlow (Interzone 295)

Best Audio Fiction

  • WINNER: The Dex Legacy, Emily Inkpen (www.thedexlagacy.com)
  • “When a Portal Comes Around”, Rick Danforth (Upbeat Tales 9/23)
  • “Carlos Explained”, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor (Welcome to Night Vale 7/14/23)
  • Simultaneous Times Podcast, Episode 67, Jenna Hanchey & Abigail Guerrero (Space Cowboy)
  • “The Pigeon”, Michelle Knudsen (Drabblecast 7/21/23)
2023 BSFA Awards Winners
2023 BSFA Awards Winners