New Story: A Necessary Void, by Grahame Jones

I'm delighted to bring you a new piece of fiction, set in the post-war Commonweal and focusing on Roach-kinden, amongst others, by new writer Grahame Jones. The story is here. Grahame writes, of himself: " Well, what can I say about me? Just the usual sort of fluff. In 1792 I was washed up on the shore of […]

No Matter How Thin You Slice It, It's Still Granola (1)

Being the latest in my occasional rants about foodstuffs. This has nothing to do with he book (2). In one of my sporadic and ill-informed attempts to eat more healthily I decided that I would forego all chocolate, biscuits & c and instead eat cereal bas. Cereal bars are healthy, right? Everyone knows it. Anyway, after scouring the […]

Terminator 5 : you heard it here first.

Or at least I think it's 5. Is the one that;s just been released 4? Only I got talking recently and the subject came up of the Terminator franchise. Now I've not seen Terminator 4. I've not seem Terminator 3, assuming there was one, and the one that's just gone isn't 3(1). My general lack of filmgoing […]

Across the Pond

A brief but happy post to announce that Shadows of the Apt, like a good missile, has now gone intercontinental. In early 2010 expect to see the first three books turn up on US shelves at intervals of around a month, bringing America up to date swiftly. Credit for this goes to Lou Anders and Pyr, the SF […]

Camouflage, by Adrian Tchaikovsky

So to another piece of first person perspective. First person stories have particular challenges, and there is a kind of continuüm that falls from the absolute purist first person, where what you get is exactly what the narrator would say or write, down to something that is basically a story like any other, with precious little concession […]

New story, new map, new book!

Firstly, there is a new story up in the relevant section: please find Camouflage here. This is a Thorn Bug (1) story which, as the wretched creatures aren't exactly at the heart of the kinden's politics and strife, might seem odd. However, I have a sneaking fondness for the misbegotten little trolls, and so here we go.  In other news… […]

War of the Words

As a special note for those who are hoping for publication in the fantasy/SF genre(1), Tor UK have got together with Sci Fi Now to bring you a grand competition in which the prize for the winner is… just that: a book deal. Read more about the competition here — they're looking for a synopsis plus three chapters by 20th […]

World of Bugcraft ‑and- new story

Firstly, there's a new story up, Counterspies by Adam Gauntlett, which you can find here. Secondly, some of you may be aware of a dalliance entitled World of Warcraft (1). Well now, one feature of this global pastime is something called the armory, wherein you can look up all manner of things. And search the player database […]

Counterspies, by Adam Gauntlett

A new story introducing a different kind of Fly-kinden. Find it here. Adam writes: "I’m Adam. I write. I suppose I’m a kind of Caliban in this brave new world; I don’t write a blog. I’ve never really learnt the knack. I do a little bit for Yog-Sothoth (the Bookshelf, on Yog Radio – look for it in the audio downloads at […]

The Teutonic Connection

First of all, and not particularly Teuronically, you should most definitely go out and get hold of this month's Deathray as they are premiering one of my short stories, The Sun of the Morning. Secondly, however, get a look at this:  These are the covers of the German translation of Empire in Black and Gold.   Covers, plural, […]