Rick Novy is the editor of the forthcoming 2020 Visions anthology. As part of the build-up to publication, he’s been posting profiles of the authors included in the book. Today, it was my turn.

Here’s what he wrote:

2020 Visions Author #13 – Gareth L. Powell

By Rick Novy

Although we are both members of the Codex writers group, I know Gareth L. Powell mainly by reputation.   In addition to being a fiction writer, he is a freelance copywriter and PR consultant, and is a former software marketer.  His fiction has appeared in Interzone and in the Shine anthology from Solaris (2010).  His story Ack-Ack Macaque won the 2007 Interzone Reader’s poll for best short story.  Gareth also has a regular interview and review gig with a music magazine out of the UK called Acoustic.

Continue reading “2020 Visions Profile”

Ian at NewCon Press has sent through the table of contents for the Conflicts anthology, due to be launched at Eastercon in April:

• Psi.Copath – Andy Remic
• The Maker’s Mark – Michael Cobley
• Sussed – Keith Brooke
• The Cuisinart Effect – Neal Asher
• Harmony in My Head – Rosanne Rabinowitz
• Our Land – Chris Beckett
• Fallout – Gareth L. Powell
• Proper Little Soldier – Martin McGrath
• War Without End – Una McCormack
• Dissimulation Procedure – Eric Brown
• In the Long Run – David L. Clements
• Last Orders – Jim Mortimore
• Songbirds – Martin Sketchley

It looks like a damn good line-up and I’m pleased to be a part of it. I’m certainly looking forward to reading the other stories.

James Maxey reviews the Future Bristol anthology for Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show. Of my contribution, he writes:

“The strongest part of the story is the budding love story between the narrator and a girl he meets in a bookstore. I found the dialogue to be very natural and plausible; often dialogue in short stories is simply there to push the plot forward. Here, the dialogue has nothing to do with the gee-whiz tech that will erupt a few pages later. As a result, it felt very real to me. It seemed like the way people actually flirt, and makes the story feel like an actual window onto life.”

Read the full review online here.

Over the past 24 hours, I’ve pulled together and submitted a 30,000 word book manuscript. It’s a collection of articles (mainly advice for budding authors), interviews and other pieces of writing, some of which first appeared on this website. It’s rough at the moment and probably needs the attention of an editor, but I’m still proud that I’ve managed to pull it together in such a short time – and I’ll post further developments as they happen.

This is a sneak preview of a story that will appear in the forthcoming anthology Conflicts from NewCon Press. The full story is around 5,000 words long. This is the opening scene:

FALLOUT
By Gareth L Powell

Despite what was to come, the day started well. An hour before sunrise they landed the rented jet at a decommissioned RAF base in Wiltshire, near Swindon. It was a cold morning and frost glittered on the grass at the edge of the runway.
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After recently selling stories to Future Bristol and Conflicts, I’ve had yet another short story accepted for a forthcoming anthology – but this time, I can’t tell you which one, as the editor wants to keep the contents quiet for the moment…

The Future Bristol anthology is now available to order from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. It contains the following stories:

1. Liz Williams ~ Isambard’s Kingdom
2. John Hawkes-Reed ~ The Guerilla Infrastructure HOWTO
3. Stephanie Burgis ~ After The Change
4. Joanne Hall ~ Pirates of the Cumberland Basin
5. Nick Walters ~ Trespassers
6. Christina Lake ~ A Tale of Two Cities
7. Colin Harvey ~ Thermoclines
8. Gareth L Powell ~ What Would Nicolas Cage Have Done?
9. Jim Mortimore ~ The Sun In The Bone House

See here for a review of the book: Link to The Fix

The first review of the Future Bristol anthology has appeared online at The Fix. In it, Lyndon Perry writes:

Through a wonderfully accessible selection of stories and genres—from steampunk to biotech suspense to superhero fiction—this anthology is entertaining, compelling, and thought-provoking. As for the writing itself, the craftsmanship of each story is superb. Editor Colin Harvey did a fine job of compiling a diverse yet complimentary collection of short fiction that celebrates, in his words, “the city that we moan about but also love. A city that, like British SF, believes in itself again.” Well, if the authors of Future Bristol continue to write at this high a level, then the future of British speculative fiction—and Bristol itself—is secure. This volume is a delight for science fiction fans of all stripes.

Continue reading “Future Bristol reviewed in The Fix”

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.