I have co-written an 8400 word short story with Aliette de Bodard, called The Church of Accelerated Redemption. It was a lot of fun working with Aliette, and we’ll begin submitting the story to market in the New Year.

The lastest issue of Vector dropped through my letterbox this morning, accompanied by an Elastic Press “sampler” - a booklet containing an interview with Andrew Hook, the head of Elastic Press, and three stories:

• Love in the Time of Connectivity by Daniel Marcus
• La Macchina by Chris Beckett
• A Necklace of Ivy by Gareth L Powell

You can also read A Necklace of Ivy for free on the Fictionwise site by clicking here.

The British Science Fiction Association seeks nominations from its members for its annual awards. As my short story collection was published in 2008, three of the stories in it are eligible for the Short Fiction category, as their appearance in the book marked their first time in print:

• Flotsam
• Hot Rain
• Arches

If you’re a member of the BSFA and you enjoyed the book, you might consider nominating one of the stories. If you haven’t read it yet, you can buy it as a printed copy on Amazon or as an ebook via Fictionwise.

(Those of you who enjoyed the book’s title story The Last Reef when it appeared in Interzone, may be interested to learn that Flotsam and Hot Rain are both sequels to that story.)

If you haven’t yet read my short story collection The Last Reef, you might like to know that the ebook version’s currently on sale at half price from Fictionwise - which means you can download the entire 60,000 word book to read on your computer for only $4.00, which is roughly £2.29 - less than the cost of a pint of beer. You don’t need a special ebook reader, as the download is available as a pdf file.

You can read a sample story and buy the book here: http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/eBook71799.htm?cache

As well as the Amazon and Elastic Press sites, you can now pick up a copy of my short story collection via the Bristish Fantasy Society, Waterstones, Inpress, Blackwells, and Books Unlimited.

I’m currently in the early stages of drawing up plans for an exciting new web site. Whilst I’ve enjoyed using this Blogger platform for the last three years, I think the time has come for me to establish a more professional online presence - hopefully by the end of this year. Stay tuned for further updates…

I now have a promotional page on Facebook with a discussion board and some pictures. If you’re on Facebook, why not take a look and join in? http://tiny.cc/35zye

The Friday Flash Fiction Anthology, Illuminations, has been reviewed by The Fix, in an epic article by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro that manages to comment on every one of the sixty-six stories included in the book. And considering that the book was conceived, edited, designed and published in a ridiculously short period of time, I think it stands up pretty well. His comments on my nine contributions are quoted below, along with links to the online versions of the stories, for your reading pleasure:

William observes a “Snowball” from a dome on the surface of the Moon. The pacing in this very short flash piece is effective, the setting works, and, most importantly, the revelation of the last line is entirely consistent with what we know (and don’t know). This poignant, speculative outing is as fresh as snow.

Contemplating “The Point Furthest from the Sun” may lead one to inaction, even as a loved one is having a rough time. I missed the significance of the title, which, based on the skill of the writing, I’m sure was chosen with care. I found it intriguing. The repetition contained in the last two sentences certainly emphasizes the importance of what we’ve learned, but I’m not sure it heightened the experience for me.

The narrator of this tale learns of the horrors inflicted on some “Fresh Meat.” The attention to detail in this very compressed narrative, in conjunction with the sparse, polished sentences and strong rhythm, worked to make it a chilling experience.

A simple misunderstanding at an Amsterdam “Coffee House” informs this quiet, observational piece. It vividly captures a moment in the interaction between two characters and, through implication, portrays the characters and setting more vividly than might appear at first glance. Perfect coffee house reading.

Ed, on his way to take pictures of a crash site, stops at a roadside café and sparks up some conversation with the waitress, “Natalie.” There is an almost Ballardian sense of fragmentation and despair in this well-written tale, which artfully utilizes technological imagery to build tension in the setting and refract the character’s inner selves. An impressive feat given the space, this riveting piece transcends “flash” and approaches a less formalized version of the Ballardian “compressed novel,” in the best possible manner.

An unplanned hyperspace return to Earth provides Diego and Carla with a direct glimpse of cosmic “Lost Toys.” Powell again manages to imagine an intriguing situation and justify it with a rationale that is not only dramatically plausible but also thought-provoking. Some descriptive details, in particular, stand out. A tale to be found and enjoyed.

The revelation that ensues the narrator’s “Thai Curry” dinner with Nina is conveyed with elegance and emotion in this charged, biting, sad tale. With skill aplenty, Powell artfully builds not only a situation, but a mood, and places it in a broader context. More bittersweet than curry, but just as delectable.

In “The Red King’s Nursery,” Lawrence is vastly outnumbered and hopelessly outgunned by an enemy which, in the form of a talking remote, seems overly chatty and casual to be truly menacing. The whys and wherefores become revealed by the tale’s end. Though there were some clever moments and engaging writing, I didn’t find myself caring enough for the character to make this piece work on the psychological front, and I couldn’t ignore the weakness of the ending enough to make it work on a plot level either.

On his six-month watch aboard a starship forty years from its destination, with the remainder of the crew asleep in their pods, Kurt finds himself on “The Long Walk Aft” and the terrible fate to which it leads. The un-subtle situation is described in the no-frills manner in which its protagonist experiences it, and the detachment and realism only serve to strengthen the inevitability of its ending. It brought to mind Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations.” I enjoyed the image of a book being recycled for food; that seems somehow appropriate, under the circumstances.

On the whole, a pretty good review, I thought. You can read the whole thing here: http://thefix-online.com/reviews/illuminations/

In other related news, that cheeky scamp Shaun C Green has done a great impersonation of my flash fiction style over on his blog: http://www.nostalgiaforinfinity.com/?p=127

Now that the paperback version of Illuminations is on sale, Out Two Out have also made it available to download as a pdf, in return for a small donation to charity.

Follow this link to download your copy: http://www.oddtwoout.co.uk/buybooks.html

Odd Two Out press has announced the release of Illuminations - a new anthology showcasing original, cutting edge short fiction from eight up-and-coming young writers, including yours truly.

Illuminations collects together the best Friday Flash Fiction posted by myself and the other Friday Flash Fictioneers.

Edited by Paul Graham Raven (of Interzone and Futurismic fame), the sixty-eight pieces in Illuminations range from mainstream literature to far-out speculation; from horror to humour; from outright fantasy to straight-faced space opera. And being flash fiction, they are all less than 1,000 words long, making the book perfect for dipping into.

The collection is available in paperback from Odd Two Out Press for £6.99 including postage and packing, and can be ordered directly via: http://www.oddtwoout.co.uk/buybooks.html.

From the web site:

“Friday Flash Fiction started out as a writing exercise on the blog of fast-rising sf author Gareth L Powell but quickly became a bona fide web phenomenon with writers from across the world taking up the challenge. Illuminations presents some of the best Friday Flash Fiction, collected in print for the first time.”

The featured writers are: Dan Pawley, Gareth D Jones, Gareth L Powell, Justin Pickard, Martin McGrath, Neil Beynon, Paul Graham Raven, and Shaun C Green. We come from diverse walks of life – musicians, office workers, freelance journalists, students, magazine editors – and this new anthology collects together the best of our weekly output, along with introductions from myself and Paul.

All the stories in Illuminations are published under a Creative Commons licence that permits them to be reproduced in the public domain as long as no profit is made in the process.

Copies of Illuminations: The Flash Fiction Anthology will be available to order for £6.99 from Odd Two Out Publishing, or from the authors themselves. All profits from the sale of Illuminations will be donated to the NSPCC.

Alternatively, The Fictioneers will be running a flash fiction workshop as part of Orbital 2008, the British Science Fiction convention held at the Raddisson Hotel, Heathrow over the Easter weekend. Convention-goers are invited to come along to quiz the team and have a go at writing their own extremely short fiction.

From the back cover:

“Join the Friday Flash Fictioneers as they take you on a whistle-stop tour featuring the best of their stories from the last twelve months. From bright dawn on new worlds to the darkest shores of our own planet, from heartbreak to laughter - nowhere is off limits as long as it can be told in a flash. Spellbinding, unpredictable and entertaining. These small flashes – these illuminations – showcase the powerful art of very short fiction and reveal a group of writers for whom the sheer joy of storytelling shines through every word.”

Place your order(s) at: http://www.oddtwoout.co.uk/buybooks.html