Shadows of the Apt

There is no movie. Just keeping that out there. But I have had an enormous number of suggestions from here, FB, Twitter and just basically people in the street, so we now have a cast! Thank you to everyone who chipped in (list at the end, but let me know if somehow I've missed you off). I'm doing […]

Is not a thing. Let's get that straight right away. But as it's one of those things you speculate about, I'm interested in any thoughts people might have about actors and characters. Feel free to bung your suggestions in the comments, or to be on Facebook or Twitter (@aptshadow) or Goodreads. Then, when I have a few, I'll […]

I figure I've talked enough about how I'm shortlisted for the Gemmell Legend Award and desperately need every vote I can get so I want to highlight some excellent stuff I've read recently. I've been on something of a reading spree , mostly because I've been travelling around and that tends to give me more time for it. […]

Well, obviously my nemesis Doctor Penguino (1) has had word of my general allergy to awards, because I suddenly find myself on the David Gemmell Legend award shortlist! Seriously, though, I am insanely grateful to everyone who cast their vote for me. This is the first time I've clawed my way onto a shortlist, and it's with book […]

So a couple of weeks ago I was at the unveiling of (wait for it) The Lost Second Book of Nicoletto Giganti. This is not a sequel to a fantasy blockbuster about giants. Instead, it’s an early 17^th century fencing manual. Fellow author Anne Lyle was also there, and her report is here. This is a fascinating example of how […]

It's that time again, a small trumpet-blowing post appealing to your love of democracy (1). The David Gemmell awards longlist is up, and War Master's Gate is on it. Although I have a well-advertised allergy to any kind of award — meaning that the world, out of consideration for my fragile health, has ensured I never get near any […]

You have probably seen this link by now, at least if you live anywhere near my corner of the Social Mediadrome. The response has been pretty much what you might expect, with people essentially picking it up, carrying it to a big stack of wood and setting fire to it. Lynn Shepherd has been villified, accused […]

So, genre and gender is still making the SFF industry look ridiculous, now sufficiently so to catch the derisive attention of reporting well outside the genre, and at the same time as the ripples from that farrage(1) were still crossing the water, (NK Jemisin has a good take on it here) we got Foz Meadows' report that […]

TIme for something relatively trivial. I like MMORPGs. They're the game genre I've spent most time playing for the last seven or eight years, with occasional excursions for Skyrim, Portal 2 and a few others. When I started off there was a small number of them (1) and I played just the one. Now there seem to be hundreds and […]

Shotgun Linkstorm is most definitely my new band name. Anyway, dragging myself from the hibernation pod for another year I discover it's 2014. It's way too early in January to expect anything coherent so: Super Secret Project Zeta I will most definitely have some news on this, probably even next week. It's very exciting. To me, […]