Goodbye, 2018, Hello 2019...

I love this picture far too much not to use it again.

So... whew. It's really strange to think another year's passed already. But it has, and now we're nearing the end of the first day of 2019.

364 of them to go.

Some people are dismissive about New Year's Resolutions. I'm not: this is the perfect time to look back on what you've achieved, and look ahead to where you want to be.

I wrote a novel this year, and a play, and several short stories. I saw another novel into print, plus a mini-collection and (with Penny Jones) a chapbook. I saw a novelette published by Tor.com; I saw my fiction published in major anthologies, reprinted in The Best of the Best Horror of the Year.

Cate and I celebrated our second year of marriage, and our sixth year together.

I got to see Laura Mauro win a totally unexpected (on her part) and hugely well-deserved award for Looking For Laika.

I helped start up something new: Shock Against Racism, raising money to combat racism and the far-right.

I discovered a new sense of purpose in my writing, one I thought I'd lost.

So, for 2019, what do I want to strive for? Where do I want to be?

I still want the dusk. I still want to be able to earn my living doing what I love. Time is short, for all of us. God alone knows what the next year will bring, for the world at large and for the UK in particular. I want that time to count, to be spent doing the stuff I care about and that I was put here to do.

I'm still hoping against hope that we'll find a way to halt the national insanity that is Brexit before this deranged suicide cult screws us for decades to come. (Even if we do, there'll still be divisions, but you know what? Maybe, just maybe, it's exposed the hatred and ugly-mindedness that's festered so long in our country. We can't be in denial about those things any more. And yes, I know that not every Leave voter did so out of bigotry, but don't tell me that there isn't a sewer of racism, small-minded, mean-spirited spite and cruelty running through our public life and our national culture. Maybe, now it's publicly on display, we can hope to recognise it and drain it. Crazily optimistic? Yes, but you've got have some hope.)

I want to see a change of government too. So I'm going to try and be more politically active in both those causes in the coming year.

This year, I'm going to write the final book in the Black Road series. I'm going to rewrite the one I drafted in 2018, and try to complete, or at least begin, another book after that. I want to start learning how to draw. I want to lose more weight and become fitter and healthier. I want to find more ways to turning what I love to account, so I can spend all my time doing it.

One step I've taken in that direction is to launch a Patreon account. Among other things, I'll be serialising a novel, The Mancunian Candidate, there for my supporters to read. There's a free sample available to read, to whet your appetite.

Let's hope we can get through 2019, that the things we fear don't happen and that the things we hope for do. Let's hope we're all still here at the end of 2019, and that things are better for us than they were at the start.

Good luck, everybody.

See you soon.

2018 In Review #2: Awards Eligibilty And All That

So now we come to the 'obligatory blowing of my own horn' bit, which doesn't come easily to a lot of Brits...

Anyway, here are the works that saw publication for the first time in 2018 and are eligible for nomination for any relevant awards...

Novel

Wolf's Hill, published by Snowbooks.

Story collection

Singing Back The Dark (mini-collection), published by Black Shuck Books.


Novelette

Breakwater, published by Tor.com. (16,000 words long, so some would consider it a novella and some a short story.)


Short fiction

'If I Should Fall From Grace With God' (Crimewave #13: Bad Light, TTA Press)

'Deadwater' (The Devil and the Deep, Night Shade Books)

'The Bells Of Rainey' (Great British Horror #3: For Those In Peril, Black Shuck Books)

'The Judgement Call' (Two Chilling Tales, Fox Spirit Books, Black Shuck Books)

'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' (in Singing Back The Dark, Black Shuck Books)

'And All The Souls In Hell Shall Sing' (in Singing Back The Dark, Black Shuck Books)

'Moon Going Down' (in Singing Back The Dark, Black Shuck Books)

'Effigies Of Glass' (in Singing Back The Dark, Black Shuck Books)

'Dab and Sole' (Ko-fi)

'A Constant Sound Of Thunder' (Ko-fi)

The Inevitable 'What I'm Doing At Fantasycon' Post For Anyone Who Missed It On Facebook

Last year's FCon, with Priya Sharma, Lynda E. Rucker and Sean Hogan/

My Fantasycon 2018 Schedule: I'm a little on the busy side this year.

Friday
5.00 pm
Panel: Writing The Immortal Enemy
Simon Bestwick (m), Powder, Ren Warom, Clint Wastling, Den Patrick
A panel tribute to those villains who refuse to submit, lay down and die. Maybe you wrote an evildoer and you couldn’t let go? Maybe you’re a fan of one that we all know? Our panel talks about those recurring nemesii who we all love and hate.
 
7.00 pm
Readings (Horror)
Stephen Laws, Simon Bestwick, Tina Rath
Stephen and Tina are both ace writers. I don't know what they'll be sharing with the audience, but I'll be reading one of the tales from Singing Back The Dark.

Saturday
1.00 pm
Black Shuck Books Launch
Black Shuck's FCon releases include John Llewellyn Probert's The Last Temptation of Dr Valentine, Colleen Anderson's A Body Of Work, and Great British Horror #3: For Those In Peril. This sea-themed anthology of horror fiction includes my story 'The Bells Of Rainey.' So I'll be there.

7.00 pm
Writing Warfare
Simon Bestwick (m), Danie Ware, Andy Remic, Anna Stephens, Anna Smith Spark
From Homer to Warmaster Horus, the battle scene has been a mainstay of epic fantasy and space opera science fiction. Our panel discussion battle scenes, whether up close and personal, from a tactical  perspective or looking down from the god’s eye.

Sunday
12.30pm
Dead Bodies
Simon Bestwick (m), Steve Toase, GV Anderson, James Brogden, Simon Clark
Many good stories involve a mystery. Whether the case at hand has remained unsolved for hundreds of years, or happened in the first chapter of the book, a good puzzle provides the writer with an opportunity to engage the reader’s brain in finding the answer. Our panelists discuss unsolved conundrums, consider the role of accurate research, and look at a range of tools that are at the writer’s disposal to create intriigue for the curious reader. 

Singing Back The Dark

Some great news I've been sitting on for the past few weeks that I'm delighted I can announce now: I have a new book coming out this month! Small, but perfectly formed.

Singing Back The Dark will be published as part of Black Shuck's Shadows series of micro-collections on October 31st, because... well, it's Halloween, biyatches.

The five short stories range from the Lancashire moors to the Georgia woods, the forests of Maine to the Fylde coast, and you'll encounter everything from werewolves to the real, long-forgotten and very dark meaning of Christmas, but one thing connects all the tales: be it a Christmas carol or a bluesman finger-picking on his guitar, music always plays a part.

The collection includes the stories:

The Psalm
Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
And All The Souls In Hell Shall Sing
Moon Going Down
Effigies Of Glass

Apart from 'The Psalm', which previously appeared in Estronomicon magazine in October 2011, all the stories are published for the first time.

My thanks to the brilliant Steve Shaw of Black Shuck Books for bringing this little tome out.

You can order Singing Back The Dark here. And at Fantasycon next week, Black Shuck will have a number of exciting new releases on offer - including the new Great British Horror anthology, For Those In Peril. This anthology of sea stories includes my tale 'The Bells Of Rainey', alongside work by Stephen Bacon, Georgina Bruce, Kayleigh Marie Edwards, Johnny Mains, Paul Meloy, Thana Niveau, Rosalie Parker, Kit Power, Guy N. Smith and Damien Angelica Walters. And you can pre-order that here.