The Cafe of Ideas event in Bath went well last night. There was live acoustic music from alt-folk duo 7 Days of Sleep; a couple of extremely interesting art installations from techno artist Kathy Hinde; and a panel discussion built around the event’s theme: how will emerging technologies impact our lives in the coming century?

The panel was hosted by Pete Francomb (centre) and the panellists were: myself (second from right); the aforementioned Kathy Hinde (far right); visual artist and “Futures Visualist” Molly van der Weiij (second from left); and former businessman Clive de Carle (far left).  There were some interesting questions from the audience, and the topics discussed included:

• Using social networks to clean up forests in Estonia
• Space elevators
• Using “Smart Dust” to create new forms of art
• Singularities in human history, such as the development of agriculture, healthcare, and the Internet
• What Britain will look like in 50 years time

Just a reminder that I’ll be participating in a couple of panel discussions this evening.

Cafe of Ideas is a membership-based organisation which holds informative and entertaining evening events for professional people. They have invited me to be on the panel for tonight’s event: Matrix or Metropolis: How will emerging technologies impact our lives in the coming century?

As well as the discussion, the evening includes live music, art and food. It is being held at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath and kicks off at 6.30pm. If you would like to come along, you can find details on the website: www.cafeofideas.com

Morpheus Tales is a printed magazine of horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Its fourth issue will be published on 1st April and will contain, in addition to some short stories and articles, an interview with me.

The topics I discuss in the interview include:

• Breaking into the short story market
• Finding inspiration
• Turning ideas into stories
• Finding time to write

The interview came about after the magazine reviewed my short story collection back in November last year, calling it: “… one of the finest collections of SF short stories I have had the privilege of reading.”

Copies of Morpheus Tales IV can be ordered online via the magazine’s website: www.morpheustales.com

I am delighted to say that I’ve just had a short story accepted by Ian Whates for his forthcoming anthology, entitled Conflicts.

The story is called Fallout. It is five and a half thousand words long and is set in the South West of England in the near future.

Conflicts is due to be published later this year. More details to follow.

If you go to the Links tab above, you’ll see I’ve added a section called Advice for Writers. This collects together links to articles and tips I’ve posted over the last few years, making them easier to find.

In April, Swimming Kangaroo Books release their latest anthology, Future Bristol.

The book contains nine stories imagining what the future holds for the South West’s largest city, including contributions from nine leading British authors: Liz Williams; John Hawkes-Reed; Stephanie Burgis; Joanne Hall; Nick Walters; Christina Lake; Colin Harvey; Gareth L Powell; and Jim Mortimore.

It will be released in April 2009 with a cover by award-winning artist Andy Bigwood, and its launch will be marked with two launch events:

• The first takes place at 2pm on Sunday 12 April as part of the Eastercon event at The Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford. Andy, Christina, Colin, Gareth, Liz, Stephanie will be present to read extracts of their stories and sign copies.
• The second event tales place at 1pm on Saturday 25th April at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in Bristol, and Andy, Colin, Gareth, Jim, Jo, Liz, Nick will be in attendance.

UPDATE 31/03/2009: Forbidden Planet event has been postponed by the store. I don’t know the full details but will post updated date and time when available.

Continue reading “Future Bristol Launch Event Details”

I am currently making some exciting progress with the plot for my next novel. It’s a mix of far-future space opera and near-future adventure, and I’m expecting it to weigh in around 100,000 words. Progress reports will be posted as it takes shape.

Recently, somebody asked me, out of all the stories I’d written, which one was my favourite. The answer is, this one:

Continue reading “My Favourite Story”

Café of Ideas is a membership-based organisation which holds informative and entertaining evening events for professional people. They have invited me to participate on the panel for their forthcoming discussion: Matrix or Metropolis: How will emerging technologies impact our lives in the coming century?

The event takes place at the Chapel Arts Centre in Bath on 26th March. If you would like to come along, you can find details on the Café of Ideas website: www.cafeofideas.com

The fourth issue of Morpheus Tales will be released at the beginning of April. It will include an interview with me that I did with the magazine a little while ago, where I talk about my writing habits and the publication of my first short story collection, which Morpheus Tales reviewed a few months ago.

Read the review here: Link to Morpheus Tales