On Thursday, I caught a train up to London for the annual Arthur C Clarke Award ceremony, and saw China Miéville win the award for his novel, The City And The City (MacMillan).

In his acceptance speech, he made the following comments:

“Science fiction readers are among the most critical. They combine an extraordinary generosity with an extraordinarily rigorous critique in a way I don’t see among many other readers. The seriousness, the systemasticity, the fascination, the rigour with which the readers of this extraordinary field read is a constant amazement to me, and something I’m constantly very proud of. I think at its best, they are the greatest readers, and the greatest fiction, out there.”

You can watch the entire speech on YouTube.

Photographs taken on the day by Chris Teague.

(click to view)

Colin Harvey reviews Silversands for Suite 101:

Silversands is a worthy addition to any devoted SF reader’s library.

Read the full review here

Cheryl Morgan made a film of me reading at the book launch yesterday.

On Thursday, I joined the presenters of the WordPunk podcast to discuss the challenges of writing near-future speculative fiction, such as the danger that world events will render your story obsolete before it even gets into print.

The episode is now available to download and listen to on the WordPunk website.

http://www.wordpunk.co.uk/?p=679

The following articles have attracted a lot of traffic. It seems they’ve proven useful to a lot of people. In case you missed them first time around, here’s a convenient list of links:

• The Role of Science Fiction
• 5 Useful Writing Tips
• 3 Ways To Increase Your Writing Time
• How To Write Press Releases
• What I Learned From My First Book Launch
• The Difference Between SF and Fantasy

“The Church of the Accelerated Redemption” gives those concerned with their effect on the environment the chance to earn back some karma via the use of ‘Artificial Intercessors’ — sub-singularity AIs that pray on behalf of the Church’s sponsors. Both Gareth L Powell and Aliette de Bodard who wrote the story, have earned considerable reputations in their own right; in collaboration de Bodard brings scientific weight to the story, while Powell’s innate romanticism makes it soar. An outstanding early contender for Year’s Best lists.

The next couple of weeks are looking busy. As well as trying to earn a living, I’ve got three events lined up:

Firstly, I’ll be a guest on next week’s episode of the WordPunk Radio podcast, talking about science fiction and other related subjects.

Secondly, the launch party for Silversands takes place at 2.00pm on Saturday 24th April, in the back bar of The Shakespeare Tavern, Princes Street, Bristol. I’ll be signing copies of the book and having a few drinks, so come along if you can.

And finally, I’ve just booked train tickets to London for the Arthur C. Clarke Awards on the 28th April. This is the first time I’ve been invited to attend the ceremony, and I’m looking forward to meeting some new people and catching up with my Eastercon pals. If you’re going to be there, come and say hello.

SF Signal has published an interview where Aliette de Bodard and I talk about the story we co-wrote for the Shine anthology.

Read the interview here: click for link.

On his website, reviewer Mark Chitty writes:

Gareth L Powell has delivered a great novel in a very interesting setting.

To read the full review, click here.